The World Peace Day: Social Solidarity amidst Physical Distancing

The World Peace Day is once again upon us at a time when relationships are being tested in unprecedented ways with physical distancing becoming part of the norm due to the pandemic. Over the last few months, we are seeing a rise tension in how we relate to the other in terms of empathy, sympathy and compassion which explains the rise in the number of incidents of domestic and inter personal violence.

So this year as there is great play made towards reaffirming global and national peace processes, there should be thought paid towards how one works on inner and inter personal peace. Much more thought has to now be given to how safe environments can be developed at homes where people can pursue conflicts without violence and harm to themselves or others. In this regard, a recent product issued by the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and World Vision International, the Child Friendly Space at Home activity cards, is a great tool for families to work on providing safe spaces for children at home.

Creating this safe environment for people requires an understanding of the values of equity, fairness, inclusion and respect for human dignity, and with that the importance of human relationships that are fulfilling and functional for peace. Unfortunately, the understanding of values is in short supply but as Jack Ma has stressed, is a key life skill to be learnt in the future of education.

This year in particular with the physical distancing, we are confronted with overcoming exclusion based on difference. World Peace Day has to reinforce the commonalities of existence such as values, ethics, social justice and social responsibility. We have to build communities that are resilient to stress and strain; that are knowledgeable, healthy and can meet its basic needs; that are socially cohesive; that has economic opportunities; that has well-maintained and accessible infrastructures and services; that can manage its natural assets; that are connected. This is the essence of tackling the differences arising out of the pandemic lockdown.

In order for this to happen, there needs to be strong advocates for creative dialogue, and diplomacy that understands the context and addresses civic empowerment. These should ultimately lead to the view that conflicts can and should be resolved peacefully as much as is humanly possible, i.e. that every effort should be bent to that end. And where and when that proves impossible, every effort must be devoted to returning to a situation in which violence does not threaten every person’s safety and wellbeing, and in which conflicts can be handled by dialogue, discussion, the law and settlement.

This is very much the concept behind developing respect and understanding which was articulated by Nobel Laureate Professor Amartya Sen in his book ‘Identity and Violence’ that the key to good citizenship and social cohesion is the encouragement and retention of multiple identities. People have several enriching identities: nationality, gender, age, and parental background, religious or professional affiliation. They identify with different ethnic groups and races, towns, or villages they call home, sometimes football teams; they speak different languages, which they hope their children will retain, and love different parts of their countries. It is the recognition of this plurality and the searching for commonalities within this pluralism that will lead to greater respect and ultimately understanding and acceptance. Thus, these new solutions will have to challenge people to accept diversity and create equal opportunities for diverse communities, ethnicities, traditions, cultures and faiths. The new solutions will also have to take into account the existence of multiple identities which add a richness and variety to diversity and pluralism as part of a common wealth that needs to be celebrated in the global civil society and integrated into life as a positive force for development.

True inclusivity can only be obtained when we carefully position all elements to create a compelling cosmopolitan mosaic. There is a need to remain committed to engineering the software needed to work effectively in a range of situation. This will never be easy, but remains vitally important for, it involves creating the very 'ideas and institutions that will allow us to live together as the global tribe we have become' as Kwame Anthony Appiah wrote eloquently in Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers.

This starts with the empowerment of young people to be part of and take the lead in building peace. Young people are agents for peace, engaged in transforming the structures and institutions that hinder the socio- economic and political well-being of people living in fragile and conflict affected communities. As the COVID-19 pandemic has shown, young people have been on the front lines of self-organising and responding to the pandemic.

Dealing with addressing conflict and building peace is about the long term. While political leaders’ decisions are required to make these unfold positively, to sustain or protect them, they do not come about at the flick of a leader’s switch. Similarly, while peace is most likely and strongest when many individuals gear their actions toward peacebuilding, the effects of activism are not necessarily either quick or linear. Rather, change is indirect, incremental, and cumulatively transformative and above all it is personal. It is at this personal level that we need to start.

It is at this personal level that we need to pause and hit the reset button this World Peace Day in terms of building back relationships and social solidarity despite the physical distancing.
This originally appeared on New World Order

Peace Day 2019: Its time to be climate smart

World Peace Day, which is marked every year on September 21, has just passed. The chance to do some soul-searching with regards to the state of peace on our planet is as important as ever before.

For all the relative calmness and progress of the second half of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, we still see a world that is hurting due to increased fragility that is spreading at the pace of our fast-evolving planet. The battlefields of today are everywhere — they are not defined by geography. The battlefields of today are on our streets, in our hospitals, in our schools, in our places of worship. There may not be a new world war, but we are still a world at war. Just a cursory glance at the headlines shows us that we are in a slightly poorer state than the year before.

So, on top of the protracted crises in places like Syria and Yemen, we have seen new signs for violent conflict surfacing. From Sri Lanka and the Middle East oil crisis to the situation in Kashmir, it is clear that conflict remains and the propensity for violence is particularly acute as tensions manifest themselves into deep sociopolitical cleavages.

In addition, there are new risks and challenges that will make violent conflict more inevitable. For example, a newly-released report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) points to the growing threat of climate change to vulnerable communities and its humanitarian consequences. In reading this report, it is clear that the implications for climate change will affect the drivers of violent conflict, and that the future of peace is tied in with being climate-smart and working on climate adaptation that prioritizes the poorest and most vulnerable.

Striking for the Climate

In this context, World Peace Day 2019 came at an opportune moment, buttressing the international climate strikes that took place before the Global Climate Summit on September 21-23. Ironically, World Peace Day appears as an intergenerational bridge between the youth and the elderly in this debate, and perhaps this is where a revamp of the day should be.

Globally, the number of young people is on the rise. We cannot ignore the fact that, in many parts of the world, the majority of people are under 30. The youth are not just the future as the cliché goes, they are the present. This means they need to be included and embedded in processes taking place now, not as token representations but with agency and influence. And it’s not like they don’t want that engagement. The movement on climate change is a testimony to this.

Despite the rise of populist movements that focus on differences, the climate change movement paints young people as wanting to bridge differences — particularly with young people having a greater commitment to doing something to contribute to their societies and their world. There is anger among our youth, impatient with the lack of progress being made on tackling this and also frustrated by being shut out.

So, there is much to reflect on around reigniting young people who are passionate about climate change to rediscover the spark that has been lost in the world: of empathy, sympathy and compassion.

As a bridge between the climate strikes and the climate summit, the annual World Peace Day must shine a light on how the youth are part of and can take the lead in building peace in our societies. Young people are agents for peace, engaged in transforming the structures and institutions that hinder the socioeconomic and political well-being of those living in fragile and conflict-affected communities.

Engaging Young People

So, we need to do more to invest and engage with them, but this requires a holistic approach. First, though, we need to remove the prejudice that many of us have when it comes to engaging young people. We must stop thinking they are apolitical and more interested in following the latest installment of a reality-TV show than in engaging with the serious questions of the world around them. We should channel their enthusiasm to express and get involved.

Yet, at the same time, we must be honest about this approach. We need to give young people the space to be innovative and shape or rethink new models for the communities and societies in which they live — perhaps outside the globalized economic and “social” system they will inherit from other generations. In doing this, we have to answer some hard questions about whether we are ready for that and what it will take for each of us to work together toward a fairer world for everyone. In short, we have to be prepared for a hard shift in how we work and engage.

The youth can no longer be “represented.” They have to be mainstreamed, included, nurtured, listened to, consulted and worked in partnership with. It is about understanding how young people can build peace; how they build an environment where people can pursue conflicts without violence and harm to themselves or others; and how they promote the values of equity, fairness, inclusion and respect for human dignity — and with that the importance of a relationship with Mother Earth.

In the face of the current global challenges with the multitude of conflicts we are facing, this year’s World Peace Day must lead to new solutions and new agents that challenge exclusion based on difference.

True inclusivity can only be obtained when we carefully position all elements to create a compelling, cosmopolitan mosaic. There is a need to remain committed to engineering the software needed to work effectively in a range of situations. This will never be easy, but it remains vitally important. To quote Kwame Anthony Appiah, it will involve creating the very “ideas and institutions that will allow us to live together as the global tribe we have become.”

This originally appeared on Fair Observer

Reflecting on Peace Day 2017: Resetting the Button

The World Peace Day has come and gone. For many it is a time of celebration and for others it is the annual time to do some reflections and soul searching with regards the state of world peace. This time round, it seems that the state is slightly in a poorer state than the year before. The global incidents make it clear that there is a need for a pause and reset button in terms of just the basics of relationships. Somehow over the last year, it is clear that what has been lost is the very basic element of relating to someone: of empathy: sympathy and compassion.

So this year whilst we have seen protracted conflict, we have seen unexpected conflict turning violent, with many asking the question, why? We know that there are many drivers of conflict. Often, in many cases where there has been a cessation of violence and hostilities, peace agreements and the accompanying international apparatus to support their implementation have suppressed the violence but not addressed the causes of conflict. Accordingly, the risk of a re-eruption remains. One of the best indicators of where there is risk of future violent conflict is simply identifying where there was violent conflict before.

Yet for example if we examine what happened last month in Charlottesville, USAand the simmering tensions since then, one might be tempted to say that this is not the case. After all the USA has not been in conflict internally since the end of the Civil War in the late 19th century. Yet and this is the point, conflict can remain and tensions manifest themselves into deep socio-political cleavages, if moves are not made to bring about structural peace and reconciliation. A simple end to a violent conflict or war with one side being victorious over the other is not enough to build peace.

So the concept of building peace remains different to how we normally understand it. The common understanding of peace is often misinterpreted as a hippie type of affair with utopian love. The more working definition of peace is more disciplined than that. It is about defining an environment where people can pursue conflicts without violence and harm to themselves or others. In other words, it is not conflict that is the problem, but violence. Indeed, conflict is often a necessary condition for making social progress, and the ability to manage conflicts without violence is an important means by which we do so.

Thus in talking about peace, we talk about maintaining of a balance of certain conditions that encourage people to handle conflicts peacefully and prevent serious problems from emerging, as well as offering many other shared goods. These conditions draw on the idea of human security and 'positive peace' (a peace that is more than just the absence of violence). They express both what needs to be aimed for and how one assesses whether a society is indeed moving in a peaceful direction. The concepts of political power: safety and security of people; economic prosperity; rule of law and justice and wellbeing all factor in these conditions. If these are in balance, you have a better chance for peaceful conditions to be met.

Running through these five peace factors are values of equity, fairness, inclusion and respect for human dignity, and with that the importance of human relationships that are fulfilling and functional for peace.

What these conditions also point to is the long term nature of things. While political leaders' decisions are required to make these unfold positively, to sustain or protect them, they do not come about at the flick of a leader's switch. Similarly, while peace is most likely and strongest when many individuals gear their actions toward peacebuilding, the effects of activism are not necessarily either quick or linear. Rather, change is indirect, incremental and cumulatively transformative.

In the face of the current global challenges with the multitude of conflicts we are facing, this year's peace day has to call for new solutions, that challenge exclusion based on difference. Peace Day has to reinforce the commonalities of existence such as values, ethics, social justice and social responsibility. We have to build communities that are resilient to stress and strain; that is knowledgeable, healthy and can meet its basic needs; that is socially cohesive; that has economic opportunities; that has well-maintained and accessible infrastructures and services; that can manage its natural assets; that is connected.

Understanding how the different elements of risk interact with each other, is fundamental to conflict analysis and to understanding what can be done to build peace in any particular context and to build resilient peaceful communities. The capacity to respond to challenges is necessary but not enough and relying on crisis response is truly inadequate. It is essential to meet emerging problems upstream.

In this age of growing long-term risk, the international community as a whole needs to be better at risk management. In order to be able to meet problems upstream, there need to be strong advocates for creative dialogue, and diplomacy that understands the context and addresses civic empowerment.

True inclusivity can only be obtained when we carefully position all elements to create a compelling cosmopolitan mosaic. There is a need to remain committed to engineering the software needed to work effectively in a range of situation. This will never be easy, but remains vitally important for, it involves creating the very 'ideas and institutions that will allow us to live together as the global tribe we have become'.

This originally appeared on Huffington Post