Peace belongs to us all!
Establishing peace through teaching peace:
The
Role of Education in Establishing Peace and Preparing for the Real Life
Obstacles and Opportunities
Arms Reduction Coalition (ARC) in association with World Disarmament Campaign (WDC) Public meeting
The House of Lords, London
Monday, 19th June 2006
Vijay Mehta
Vijay Mehta
Speaker
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Why education is an extremely important global issue?
3. What is peace education? What are it’s goals, scope and purpose?
4. Culture of peace – 8 action areas for peace in school, home and community.
5. Obstacles, opportunities and the social purpose of peace education -Abolishing war, Renouncing violence and Establishing justice.
6. Conclusion – A campaign idea, quotes about peace and a peace poem.
7. Report of International Organisations on culture of peace.
The full version of this speech can
be downloaded from:
· VM Centre for Peace www.vmpeace.org
· Arms Reduction Coalition (ARC) www.arcuk.org
Vijay Mehta is a author, peace and development activist. His latest book, The United Nations and Its Future in the 21st Century, discuss ideas about the UN’s central role in contributing to international peace and security. He is president of VM Centre for Peace and Chair of Arms Reduction Coalition, and World Disarmament Campaign. He is also a founder member of the New School of Athens. He is a member of the National Council of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Vice Chair of Action for UN Renewal.
1.Introduction
Why education, especially peace education is an extremely important global
issue? What is peace education and what are its goals, scope and purpose? What
is a culture of peace and what form of action can we take at schools, home and
in our communities to advance peace? And what are the obstacles, opportunities
and contribution we can make to modern education?
The biggest hindrance to education is military spending and war-related costs. The US govt spends approximately $1 million every minutes on military expenditure. The recent increased military spending once again for the sixth successive year rose to the trillion dollar mark since the height of the Cold War, an average of $162 per person, with the United States accounting for nearly half - 47 per cent - of the total at $455 billion and the UK at $47 billion.
Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has made the first bold attempt to quantify the financial side of hidden costs of the Iraq war, coming up with a whopping price tag of over $2 trillion dollars, ten times more than prewar estimates.
Let us note some stark facts about education, poverty and compare them with
social spending:
| Almost 1 billion people are illiterate around the world. |
| More than a billion people struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day. |
| If 10% of the military expenditure were diverted yearly, then we can make poverty history forever and achieve the goal of Universal Primary Education. |
And consider the Global priorities in spending in 1998.Source: Consumerism, Volunteer Now!:
|
Global Priority |
$U.S. Billions |
|
Basic education for everyone in the world |
6 |
|
Cosmetics in the United States |
8 |
|
Water and sanitation for everyone in the world |
9 |
|
Ice cream in Europe |
11 |
|
Reproductive health for all women in the world |
12 |
|
Perfumes in Europe and the United States |
12 |
|
Basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world |
13 |
|
Pet foods in Europe and the United States |
17 |
|
Business entertainment in Japan |
35 |
|
Cigarettes in Europe |
50 |
|
Alcoholic drinks in Europe |
105 |
|
Narcotics drugs in the world |
400 |
|
Military spending in the world |
780 |
It would seem ironic that the world spends more on things to destroy each other (military) and to destroy ourselves (drugs, alcohol and cigarettes) than on anything else.
Look at another graph of Military vs. Social Spending prepared by Economist Allied for Arms Reduction, ECAAR.
2.Why education is an extremely important global issue?
Universal primary education and getting rid of illiteracy is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)[1], to be achieved by 2015. However the reality is that one in six adults on the planet cannot read or write. Some 600 million women and 300 million men remain illiterate around the world. Some 115 million children between six and eleven-one in five-are not in school. Of those who go to school, one in four drop out before completing five years of basic education. South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East are the three regions where these problems are most severe. Many children in developed and developing countries have been deprived of their education owing to child labour and poverty.
India has approximately 350 million people who can not read or write, the United Nations Children’s Fund has said that it is the most illiterate country in the world. The image of 350 million people being unable to read and write isn’t just frightening; it’s daunting.
Moreover, throughout the developing world, the equality of primary, secondary and university education is rarely up to the standards required by the new world economy. And globally, we are far away from seeing the emergence of a badly needed system of international accreditation.
Why is education a global issue?
| Education is key for an ethical foundation of our society and to protect core values of life. These shared values comprise some of the most basic aspirations of human kind – freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, shared responsibility and multiculturalism. |
| Education is central to the construction of genuinely democratic societies including good governance and the rule of law. Even from a moral standpoint, one could argue that education is a kind of universal right because it provides “human capabilities,” to make choices, and steer towards a better life. |
| Education is key to building the sense of global citizenship that global problem-solving requires. And it is a major tool for developing a sense of shared global values that may help bring harmony between civilizations and cultures. |
| Education is the most powerful instrument for reducing poverty and inequality and for laying the basis for sustainable growth. It has strong links not just to productivity growth but to improve health, to the ability to understand the need to care for the natural environment, and even to the growth of population. |
· Environmental education is important for countering the effects of climate change, for turning our back on oil, gas and coal and for finding alternative sources of energy.
| The new world economy, with its knowledge intensity, requires a leap forward in each country’s education effort- from primary to higher education, and even to lifelong learning and the accreditation of competencies. If that does not happen in a very large number of countries, expect even grater inequalities between countries over the decades to come. |
| We need universal education to tackle global issues of wars, terrorism, poverty and climate change. Lack of peace education is the primary reason for conflicts, terrorism and mayhem around the world. Global security and environmental crises are both pressing problems of our age, yet poverty is the most defining challenge of this century. At the beginning of this century, the majority of nations, at the United Nations voted to half poverty by the year 2015 and tackle other major global ills such as hunger, illiteracy and diseases as part of the MDGs. The United Nations Development Programme declared in their report recently that at the rate of present development it will take 150 years to reach the target set by MDGs. It seems unlikely that the MDGs can be reached unless issues of military spending, security and conflict are brought into the diagnosis of the obstacles hindering their attainment. |
| Education is necessary for the advancement of science, culture and civilization for all of us to share a common vision of humanity. It is vital to have craving for knowledge and a global quest for excellence and critical thinking which can only come from ideas generated by reading books and education. People cannot have this opportunity to realise this dream if they are unable to read and write. Total literacy requires commitment, sacrifice and huge goodwill. |
| Education is development. It creates choices and opportunities for people, reduces the twin burdens of poverty and diseases, and gives a stronger voice in society. For nations, it creates a dynamic workforce and well-informed citizens able to compete and cooperate globally – opening doors to economic and social prosperity. |
| Education is essential for media coverage for shaping the events in war and peace. It challenges the one-dimensional war reporting offering concrete alternatives rather than mere criticism and maps a conflict rather as a roundtable consisting of many parties, many issues offering concrete alternatives rather than mere (if solid) criticism. The major thesis is that the present way of reporting war leaves out the most important part of the story: how a conflict might be transcended. |
3.What
is peace education? What are it’s goals, scope and purpose?
Peace education is a
global vision, a long-term way of investing in the education of our youth and
adults as future peace makers, responsible citizens and democratic leaders.
Education enriches knowledge of World affairs, Conflict resolution and the
Global economy. It helps to build today’s youth to become tomorrows global
ambassadors and business leaders.
Peace education embodies the very essence of education, its methods, principles
and overwhelming potential, so that we may offer and nurture within all our
children and adults those attitudes, values and skills that are conducive to
living in harmony with others, respecting their human rights, resolving
conflicts non-violently and building understanding and solidarity with those who
are different in culture, religion or language.
Peace Education believes in the critical role of transforming cultures of
violence and war into cultures of peace worldwide, where being different is
being unique and the concept of world citizenship is celebrated.
There are parallels in Gandhi’s view on education and J. Dewey’s work in
America. Both of them advocate that goal of education is a preparation for real
life and the education of the heart. As such the personal and moral growth,
leading to a non-violent approach to life is the key goal. The work we are
undertaking today for conflict resolution and mediation under peace studies
would have been approved by both of them.
Recent decades have witnessed increased interest in peace education address global problems. It inquires into problems of violence, war, and injustice at all levels, from the local to the global, have been devised. Thus a range of multicultural education, gender education, environmental education, development education, interfaith education, education for human rights, education for values, conflict resolution, and non-violence are now available to peace educators.
It is increasingly maintained that peace education should provide opportunities for realistic and informed appraisal of these global problems, emphasising positive alternatives and multiple possibilities for problem resolution to balance the many negative images of an inevitable global disaster to which the young and adults are exposed on a daily basis. To achieve the balance, there is a need for the development of critical inquiry and problem solving skills and for the nurturing of creative imagination to envision alternatives.
An alternative peaceful future is defined not only as the absence of open hostilities, or negative peace, but as the presence of peacemaking processes and conditions likely to ensure a secure, durable, positive peace. It implies a state of wellbeing, a dynamic social progress in which justice, equity, and respect for basic human rights are maximaised, and violence, both physical and structural, is minimised. Comprehensive peace education is rooted in this holistic, dynamic view of peace and is explicitly value – based. Two core values of comprehensive peace education are non-violence and social justice. These values underline and are defined through all process of peace learning. A value such as non-violence is manifested through other values such as respect for human rights, freedom, and trust, while social justice is realised by values such as equality, responsibility and solidarity.
The deepest purpose of all education should be the promotion of the world characterised by peace, that is cooperation and fraternity, where conflicts are managed constructively and non-violently. Education is a key element in the fight against poverty and ignorance.
4.Culture
of peace – 8 action areas for peace in School, home and community
The culture of peace consists of values, attitudes and behaviours that reject
violence. In a peaceful world, we solve problems through dialogue and
negotiations.
Culture of peace is a stage where differences of two conflicting individuals or
states melt into a relationship of peace, harmony, co-operation, love and
understanding. When you reach that level, no one is ever at war with anyone
else, and the need for peace education becomes obsolete.
However, we are living in a world of wars, conflict, hatred and fear. The last century was the most violence-ridden century in the history of mankind. In the name of country, ethnicity, religion or belief, people were harmed only because they appeared to be different … neighbors harmed neighbors, women were dishonored and children were robbed of their future.
To me culture of peace is a set of values, attitudes and ways of life based on principle of freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, and respect for diversity, dialogue and understanding which will bring about the transformation from a culture of war to a culture of peace.
For the success of our message , we need a 'grand alliance’ for a culture of peace. Civil society has a very important and definite role in that alliance. Without its proactive role, we can never involve communities and societies in the building of a global culture of peace.
Teachers and students should teach and
learn and spread the virtues of peace. All of us need to join the global
movement for a culture of peace and make a contribution for peace. And please
remember, there are no small contributions for peace. They all add up.
Nonviolence is the cornerstone in building a culture of peace. The core
values of nonviolence-respect for life, and the pursuit of justice and dignity
for all humanity-reflect key values from the world's main spiritual
traditions. For some people, nonviolence is a set of values that bears witness
to their religious beliefs. These values are shared by many people who do not
identify with any particular religion. They also form the basis of important
international human rights treaties.
Nonviolence is a way of life. It is also a means to make social, political and economic change. Exploring nonviolence begins with looking at power. Many people define power as the opportunity to control other people or resources. In this definition, power is assumed to be based on violence: to gain more power over people or resources means using more violence. Nonviolence offers another definition of power. Nonviolence seeks to empower communities and individuals. It works to help people find power within themselves, and to share power. This is power inside and power with people, not power over others.
Nonviolence assumes that power derives
from cooperation. All systems of injustice need people's cooperation to
continue. A change in the power relationship can occur when cooperation is
denied or withdrawn.
Examples of this took place throughout the 1980s and 1990s in Latin America,
the Philippines, and Eastern Europe. In these cases, masses of nonviolent and
unarmed people toppled governments who used physical, psychological and economic
violence in order to stay in power.
More concrete examples of spiritually-based nonviolence include the Christian Plowshares movement. Inspired by the Biblical passage (Micah 4:3), which states "they will hammer their swords into plowshares", Plowshares activists enter military bases in Europe or the USA and hammer planes and other military equipment. They use the resulting court cases against them to educate the public about the suffering the arms trade creates. In another example, Buddhist monks and nuns in Cambodia now organize dhammayietras, traditional walks from village to village in order to explain Buddhist teachings, to spread life-saving information about HIV/AIDS, land mines, and the need for peace.
8 Action Areas for Peace
The General assembly of the United Nations has
designated 2001-2010 as the International Decade for a culture of peace and
non-violence for the world. It has 8 action areas which are:
1) Fostering a culture of peace through education
by promoting education for all, focusing
especially on girls; revising curricula to promote the qualitative values,
attitudes and behavior inherent in a culture of peace; training for conflict
prevention and resolution, dialogue, consensus-building and active
non-violence...
Is there a conflict prevention and
resolution training program at your school?
Can you start or join one?
2) Promoting sustainable economic and social development
by targeting the eradication of poverty;
focusing on the special needs of children and women; working towards
environmental sustainability; fostering national and international co-operation
to reduce economic and social inequalities...
Do you know what a biosphere reserve is? Can you find out?
UNESCO supports arts and crafts programs for women and publishes a Guide to
International Craft Trade Fairs.
www.unesco.org/culture/crafts
3) Promoting respect for all human rights
by distributing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at all levels and fully implementing international instruments on human rights...
Do you think violence in movies and television affects children? Is there
anything you can do about violence in the media?
UNESCO’s Clearinghouse on Children and
Violence on the Screen has resources and publications.
www.unesco.org/humanrights/indext.htm
4) Ensuring equality between women and men
by integrating a gender perspective and promoting equality in economic, social and political decision-making; eliminating all forms of discrimination and violence against women; supporting and aiding women in crisis situations resulting from war and all other forms of violence...
What are some examples in your community of ways that women are not equal to
men? Do you believe that women have a special role in creating a culture of
peace? Why?
5) Fostering democratic participation
by educating responsible citizens; reinforcing actions to promote democratic principles and practices; establishing and strengthening national institutions and processes that promote and sustain democracy.
We should celebrate and put it into
citizenship curriculum that is from the Magna Carta, and other constitutional
documents of our past cultural and social history which are monumental for a
vigorous exploration of our democratic heritage in schools and communities
alike.
Magna Carta curbed the power of the monarch, safe-guarded the Church and gave ordinary people rights under common law. Although not regarded as enormously significant at the time, it set down basic ideas of liberty, democracy and constitutionalism which, after 800 years, are taken for granted.
Does your school teach democratic citizenship? What can you do to help
children learn responsibility?
6) Advancing understanding, tolerance and solidarity
by promoting a dialogue among
civilizations; actions in favor of vulnerable groups; respect for
difference and cultural diversity...
Our beautiful planet is torn apart by religious dogmatism and extremism. In this respect, the role of education especially teaching freedom of thought – compassion, forgiveness and creativity cannot be overestimated. This is what makes us difference from other species.
Do you have friends from other countries or cultures? What are you doing to fight prejudice and stereotyping?
7) Supporting participatory communication and the free flow of information and
knowledge
by means of such actions as support
for independent media in the promotion of a culture of peace;
effective use of media and mass communications; measures to
address the issue of violence in the media; knowledge and information sharing
through new technologies...
Do you know how to access the Internet on a computer? What could you do to help people in poorer countries get the equipment and the knowledge that you have?
8) Promoting international peace and security
through action such as the promotion of general and complete
disarmament; greater involvement of women in prevention and
resolution of conflicts and in promoting a culture of peace in
post-conflict situations; initiatives in conflict situations;
encouraging confidence-building measures and efforts for negotiating
peaceful settlements.
In this respect, the role of media,
especially peace journalism, is important. Instead of one dimensional war
reporting between ‘goodies’ or ‘baddies,’ journalists should offer concrete
alternatives as a roundtable consisting of many parties, rather than mere
criticism.
5.Obstacles, opportunities and the social purpose of peace education
Obstacles and Barriers
|
Barriers to education for all.
If education is so valuable, to individuals and to societies, why has it
been so difficult to achieve universal primary education? The opportunities
for education – and the barriers to it – vary by country and locality. But
there are three common barriers: poor quality, insufficient funding, and the
lack of schooling for displaced children. Cultural factors and gender roles
can reduce the demand for education. |
|
Teachers are the
crux of any educational system and its quality. A study of schools in India
found that in half the schools investigated, there was no teaching going on
at the time that the study team visited. The reason for parents’ and
students’ – disillusionment with schooling arose not from their economic or
gender biases but from the dismal quality of schooling. The study also cited
a loss of interest in school as the most common reason boys drop out. |
|
Costs also matter.
Providing schools, especially good quality schools, requires political will,
financial resources and a solid institutional structure, whether public,
private or non-governmental. When governments invest too little in
education, an astonishing proportion of household expenditure must go to
meet the costs of primary school. “In Sub-Saharan Africa, the costs of
getting a child through primary school can represent more than a quarter of
the annual income of a poor household”. While parental involvement is
critical, costs of this magnitude clearly subvert the right of every child
to primary education. |
|
In emergencies,
children are often denied the normalcy of education precisely when they need
it most. Many children – displaced by conflict, or development projects, or
disasters – live in temporary communities without access to schooling. This
is cause for alarm because displaced and refugee children can benefit
greatly from the stable social environment that schools can provide. |
| These are but three of the issues that need to be addressed for a global commitment to schooling. The barriers to universal basic education vary in different places. But they are not mysterious. And they are surmountable. |
Opportunities and Recommendations:
| To change the mindset from culture of guns to culture of peace is the foremost challenge of our age. At every level, peace education and dialogue has to be part of life to settle disputes and renounce violence. |
| Promote lifelong education for all: give priority, in this regard, to adult education, particularly for women, through intensive technical and vocational training in their own language, the universalization of basic education and the inclusion of the excluded. |
|
The best way to educate and
get the message to the illiterate is through music and the visual arts.
Art should be used to encourage young and adults alike to read and write. It
should be used to tear down road blocks and pave the way for
progress. |
|
Encourage
continuous training for teachers and the upgrading of their skills
in order to create an interactive context for a lifelong learning process at
all levels. |
|
Devise all
education system along a dual axis: encourage all personal initiatives of
knowledge acquisition and available methods and offer every one a basic
education that is a source of personal development, cultural and ethical
identity and civil responsibility. Education must both build societies and
train individuals; redefined civics classes should, to that end, be given
priority in the whole range of curricula. |
|
Anchor local
dimension in worldwide dimension and individual dimension in collective and
civic dimension: accentuate the interpersonal relations in the exchange of
information, provide scope for the expressions of all local and regional
specificities within the world wide network, while preventing the creation
of any hegemonic culture. |
|
Devise an education
system in its plurality: plurality of methods, plurality of careers,
plurality of traditional and new instruments, plurality of actors, plurality
of contexts (schools, but also libraries, museums, local communities and
governments, enterprises and family); plurality of time sequences (childhood
learning stages, but also professional life and retirement). |
|
Enrich the
concept of knowledge:
moving from the idea of knowledge through accumulation to the concept of
awareness of methods and objectives. Learning to learn rather than merely
learning. The training of teachers who are completely familiar with the
new technologies and the new requirements of society must be a priority. |
|
Encourage
all initiatives aiming at universal access to the new information
technologies, universal
not only within countries but also between the industrialized and the
developing countries, in order to reduce all forms of bipolarity. As regards
education, the aim should be to establish a worldwide network of education
accessible to all, without frontiers or distance of any kind. |
|
Develop at national
and international levels policies for building communication infrastructure,
whether traditional (libraries, audio-visual and computer equipment) or
related to new technologies (multimedia, CD ROMs, connection to the
interne), by placing special emphasis on disadvantaged and isolated areas
and by attending the interface of this infrastructure. |
|
Transform
universities into centres which can provide lifelong education for all,
in accordance with Article 26.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
that stipulates that ‘access to higher education shall be equally accessible
to all on the basic merit’. |
| Grant to every individual a ‘training voucher’, providing access to a number of years of education which every individual can use according to choice, career, academic experience and time scale. |
|
Host
MUNGA’s (Model United Nations General Assembly) or global classrooms for
students across the country or the world by internet where they can step in
the shoes of UN Ambassadors to debate and resolve current international
issues. It will help the youth of today to acquire critical thinking
necessary skills to become tomorrow’s global leaders.
|
The social purpose of peace education
Abolishing
war, Renouncing violence and Establishing justice.
The main social purposes of peace education we advocate here are the elimination of social injustice, the renunciation of violence, and the abolition of war. War and all forms of violence are interrelated, as evidenced by the culture of violence that surrounds us. War is the core institution of the present global security system, the fount from which pour the rationalization for and habits of violence found in so many aspects of life.
The knowledge, skills and, most importantly, the values that have been at the core of peace education for the past five decades are those required to meet the new peace challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. These challenges and opportunities, among other concerns, require of peace education more intense and focus on the practical, political uses and skills of non-violence and on the institutional tasks involved in the abolition of war. There is a widespread belief that violence is inevitable, often necessary but there is little knowledge of the multiple alternatives to violence. Armed conflicts abound within and between nations. War is still accepted as a legitimate means through which nations can pursue and protect their national interests. It is a legally based, if not legally controlled, institution within the nation-state system. Because nation-states tenaciously hold to the right to organise and use armed forces, others, especially those seeking to challenge or take over state power, amass arms and engage in armed conflict.
The failure of nation states to actively seek alternatives to war perpetuates a belief in its legitimacy and inevitability. War must be addressed as an institution and alternatives considered in any education seeking to contribute to sustainable global peace. It must be recognised as a systematic problem requiring an education for systematic change.
To facilitate the a systematic view of war and armed conflict, peace education seeks to develop a global perspective on the problems and an understanding that humans are a single species. Peace educators have long recognised as fundamental to the prevention of war the need to develop and teach the concept of global interest and to engage a sense of human identity to complement and extend the national and ethnic identities through which we form our national and international loyalties and affiliations. There are a wide range of strategies available to educators seeking to achieve these particular educational goals. What we need to develop now is an equally wide range of teaching materials and approaches to deal with the tasks of institutional change, so that all learners can understand and be politically effective in the hard work of disarmament, non-violent conflict resolution, peacemaking, and peacekeeping – all that has heretofore been left to the experts, because it is assumed to be too technical for the average citizen.
All citizens need to be educated to assess and evaluate
possibilities and preferences for alternative, global security systems.
Demystifying the technicalities that have obscured fundamental security issues
from the general citizenry is a crucial challenge to education to abolish war.
So, peace education now needs to address practical proposals for disarmament and
demilitarisation. Societies can be transformed if citizens see the possibilities
for transformation, if they understand the mechanism of institutional changes
upon which the transformation can be built. Enabling learners to see these
possibilities and to understand these mechanism is a primary responsibility of
the field of peace education for the 21st century.
Quotes:
1
a. “You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for
war.”
b. “War cannot be humanized. it can only be abolished.”-Albert Einstein
2 “There is no way to peace. peace is the way.”-Mahatma Gandhi
3 “If the world could end apartheid the world can end war.”-Archbishop (Ret.) Desmond Tutu
4 a. “Wars make poor tools for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”
b. “It is not the violence of a few that scares me, it is the silence of the many”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
5 “It is not power that corrupts, but fear. fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” -Aung San Suu Kyi
6. “We cannot have it both ways. We can’t be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of arms.” -Jimmy Carter, former US President
7. “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.” - UNESCO
I shall end with a Peace Poem from Pablo Cassals, the cellist from Spain, that never fails to inspire me to do more for peace.
“Sometimes I look around me with a feeling of
complete dismay. In the confusion that afflicts the
world today, I see a disrespect for the very values of
life. Beauty is all around us, but how many are blind to
it! They look at the wonder of this earth and
seem to see nothing…
And what do we teach our children? We teach them
that two and two make four, and that Paris is the
capital of France.
When will we also teach them what they are? We
should say to each of them: Do you
know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years
that have passed, there has never been another
child like you. … Yes, you are a marvel.
And when you grow up, can you then harm another
who is, like you, a marvel? You must cherish one
another. You must work -- we must all work -- to
make the world worthy of its children.”
I thank you all.
Quotations:
1
a. “You cannot
simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.”
b. “War
cannot be humanized. it can only be abolished.”
-Albert Einstein (1879-1955) physicist, anti-war activist, awarded
the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922
2. “War must cease to be an admissible human institution. The abolition of all war must be our ultimate goal.” – Joseph Rotblat, Nuclear Physicist and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995
3 “All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family, and each one of us is responsible for the misdeeds of all others.”
4 “There is no way to peace. peace is the way.”
-Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian leader of satyagraha,
theory and practice of nonviolent resistance. He led the peaceful Indian
resistance
to British rule.
5 “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
6 “If the world could end apartheid the world can end war.”
-Archbishop (Ret.) Desmond Tutu (1931- ) Johannesburg, South Africa, founder of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
7 “The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain
until it is secured for all of us and
incorporated into our common life.”
-Jane Addams (1860-1935) founder of the social settlement Hull House in Chicago in 1919. The first president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931
8
“There is no trust
more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more
important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is
protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in
peace.”
Kofi A. Annan, (1938- ) Secretary-General of the United Nations.
9 “Peace
begins when the hungry are fed.”
–Anonymous
10 “In separateness lies the world’s great misery; in compassionlies the world’s true strength.”- The Buddha. Founder of the Buddhist philosophy, born around 565 B.C. in Nepal. Buddha means “enlightened one”.
11 a. “Wars make poor tools for carving out peaceful tomorrows.”
b. “It is not the violence of a few that scares me, it is the silence of the many”
-Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) U.S. Christian Minister and leader of the U.S. civil rights movement, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
12
“It is not power that
corrupts, but fear. fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of
the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.”
-Aung San Suu Kyi (1945- ) Leader of the democracy movement
in Burma, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She was the democratically
elected President, and in a coup d’etat was arrested and remains under
house arrest.
13
“It isn’t enough to
talk about peace. one must believe in it. and it isn’t enough to believe in it.
one must work at it.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), American human rights
activist, stateswoman, journalist, educator, author, diplomat; First Lady of the
United States (1933-1945). She chaired the committee that drafted and approved
the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
14
“The pacifist’s task
today is to find a method of helping and healing which provides a revolutionary
constructive substitute for war.”
-Vera Brittain, (1893-1970) Pacifist, best known for her book
Testament of Youth, in which she tells the story of her harrowing
experiences in the First World War.
15 “Peace is
not the product of a victory or a command. it has no finishing line, no final
deadline, no fixed definition of achievement. peace is a never-ending process,
the work of many decisions. “
-Oscar Arias (1941- )Born in the United States. President of Costa
Rica from 1986-1990, mediated a peace agreement in Nicaragua and received the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. Re-elected President in January 2006.
16 “For the concept of a war-free world to become universally accepted and consciously adopted by making war illegal, a process of education will be required at all levels; education
for peace, education for world citizenship. war is not an
inherent element in human society.”
-Sir Józef Rotblat
(1908-2005), Polish-born British physicist, Nobel
Peace Prize 1995 for his efforts towards nuclear disarmament. One of the most
prominent critics of the nuclear arms race, he signed the Russell-Einstein
Manifesto in 1955 and was knighted in 1998.
17. “To me culture
of peace is a set of values, attitudes and ways of life based on principle of
freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, and respect for diversity,
dialogue and understanding which will bring about the transformation from a
culture of war to a culture of peace.” -Vijay Mehta.
18. “Peace education in schools is essential and through a national
database, can be used as a way of networking and informing the general public.
At a global level, the role of UNESCO is important to spread its message of a
culture of peace to overcome violence and conflicts.”
-Vijay Mehta.
19. “Peace education should be linked to the wider expression of ideas. Such ideas need to be exciting to the younger generation.” -Vijay Mehta.
20. “Peace hero’s, rather then military hero’s, should be made more visible in our cities, monuments and museums.” -Vijay Mehta.
21. “Peace Education is a set of human values and not simply a subject. It is a life time endeavour which doesn’t always bear immediate results but rather requires perseverance to bear fruits.” -Vijay Mehta.
22. “Peace begins when the hungry are fed, poor are clothed, children are fearless, human rights are protected, non-violence becomes a way of life and human dignity and justice prevails” .-Vijay Mehta.
23. “The ultimate purpose of education is to serve and benefit humanity by developing qualities of love, compassion, generosity and tolerance.” -Vijay Mehta.
24 “Teaching peace takes a lot of time and hard work. But if you continue and keep the goal in mind then Global peace, harmony and happiness can not be far way.” -Vijay Mehta.
25.” The best way to educate and get the message to the illiterate is through music and the visual arts. Art should be used to encourage young and adults alike to read and write. It should be used to tear down road blocks and pave the way for progress.” -Vijay Mehta
“Vijay Mehta is an author, peace and development activist.
26. “A culture of
peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems;
have the skills to resolve conflict constructively; know and live by
international standards of human rights, gender and racial equality; appreciate
cultural diversity; and respect the integrity of the Earth. Such learning can
not be achieved without intentional, sustained and systematic education for
peace.” - Global Campaign for Peace Education.
27. “We cannot have it both ways. We can’t be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of arms.” -Jimmy Carter, former US President
28. “Militarism must be recognised as idolatry. The way in which it is looked at shows that it is more than a system and even an ideology.” - World Council of Churches (WCC), Report of the Consultation on Militarism and Disarmament (1989)
29. “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.” - UNESCO, Declaration of a culture of peace
30. “To tackle the underlying roots of violence and conflict, we need a massive international effort to reduce poverty and injustice, and to promote development, democracy and human rights.” - Clare Short, Former UK International Development Secretary
7.Report of International Organisations on culture of peace.
PROGRESS AND OBSTACLES AS SEEN BY INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Excerpts from some of the 111 international organizations that have provided
reports on the culture of peace
(for full information see http://decade-culture-of-peace.org/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi).
Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University:
"The BKWSU has certainly seen progress towards a culture of peace and non-violence within its domain of action … Around the world, the BKWSU’s meditation classes and sessions have attracted greater attendance and there has been a growing awareness of the need to develop
and maintain inner peace in order to create a lasting culture of peace.”
Hague Appeal for Peace: “Collaborative effort
(1996-1999) to bring together 10,000 individuals and organizations in The Hague,
The Netherlands … launched 12 campaigns worldwide to foster nonviolent
alternatives to war. The Hague Appeal for Peace adopted the Global Campaign for
Peace Education” “Obstacles to the Hague Appeal for Peace mission to see peace
education integrated into formal and non-formal education worldwide include
lack of political will, resource constraints i.e., teacher availability, set school curricula, understaffing, and under funding, and resistance of teacher education institutions to
broaden the scope of education.”
International Baccalaureate Organization: “The
International Baccalaureate Organization is educating this year approximately
200,000 children in 1,500 schools spread across 117 countries for a world that
is free of violence and filled with understanding where the rights of
children and adults are respected. The annual increase in IB schools and student numbers is 15%, so our contribution has been spreading as the decade for peace moves on.” “The main obstacle in …the developing world and poorer countries) is cost…”
International Federation of University Women:
Many reports were received from IFUW national affiliates of progress in establishing a culture of peace and nonviolence and they are published on the World Report website (see Internet address at top of this page) under the country concerned or under the main heading for IFUW.
International Fellowship of Reconciliation:
“There is greater awareness of the reality of violence at the domestic level and greater awareness that the use of violence needs to be challenged in all levels of society. [especially] violence against women and children.…The impact of the media and especially of the dominant American culture has been to entrench violence as an integral aspect of conflict resolution … the invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies was a major setback …”
International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility:
“In the past years the INES activities were
intensified … INES reinforced its contacts with international
organizations like the Middle Power Initiative and the World Federation
of Scientific Workers. INES participated in the European Social Forums
of Paris and London by the organization of workshops and seminars in
collaboration with other NGOs…”
International Peace Bureau:
“Democracy-building, women’s participation (esp. work
on UNSC Resolution 1325), anti-poverty, International Criminal Court, nuclear
abolition, landmines, small arms, conflict prevention, nonviolent intervention,
human rights, human security and UN reform. In most of these areas - despite a
very challenging political climate - we have seen some significant advances in
the last 5 years.” “The most severe hurdles for civil society relate to a) lack
of resources, primarily financial and b) mobility restrictions such as refusal
of visas for essential
travel, and restrictions on UN access rights….”
International Society of City and Regional Planners:
“As a non-governmental organisation with the
aim to bring together professionals in the field of planning on our
annual conferences ISoCaRP feels that it constantly contributes to a
culture of peace; specifically by organizing Young Professionals
Workshops (in 2005: already the 15th
one) until now supported by UNESCO.” “However, due to a shift of priorities, UNESCO has informed our society that it can no longer support these workshops as of 2006.”
Life -Link Friendship-Schools Programme:
“There is progress since year 2000 *through
formulation of an operative peace concept: “Care for Myself – Care for Others –
Care for Nature”, *through spread of a manual to schools in 70 countries, *by
inspiring 400 schools to perform well above 2000 peace actions reported to the
Life - Link interactive website. One of actions is named: ‘From a Culture of
Violence to a Culture of Peace/Care’”. One obstacle is that “Teachers that are
in contact with the Life -
Link programme have told us that they have little time within their official working hours to engage and promote peace education and international programmes.”
Pax Christi International:
“We have seen progress, particularly in getting
movement toward peace discussions among Palestinians and Israelis. We have sent
our members to Israel and Palestine and organized meetings among professional
and ordinary citizens of both parties.”
“The greatest obstacles are the governments and the unyielding religious
conservatives who have an ideological determination to persist in what they
believe is a God-given right to certain land and religious sites.”
Peace Boat: “Overall, we would argue that there has
been progress towards a culture of peace and non-violence …emergence of civil
society as the "other superpower" in the massive worldwide demonstrations
against the Iraqi war, and in the reasonable amount of coverage given to such
activities in the mass media. The emergence of the World Social Forum movement,
… significantly increased number of people joining our peace education voyages
and our volunteer activities…” Obstacles “include a lack of cooperation between
governments, UN and NGOs/CSO in the peace and security fields, and a lack of
coordination of activities in NGO networks...”
Peaceways-Young General Assembly:
“In July 2000, people under the age of 18 established
an international organization dedicated to achieving a permanent Culture of
Peace brought about with the assistance of Child Participation … There are 91
Member organizations in 57 countries involving over 2 ½ million young people
worldwide…”
“The hardest obstacle to overcome is the attitude that people under 18 are not
capable of making decisions or initiating responsible action towards building a
Culture of Peace…”
Soka Gakkai International: “We have developed several
educational programs to promote a culture of peace and nonviolence such as the
‘Building a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World’
exhibition, the ‘Victory Over Violence’ initiative, and several initiatives
related to the theme of ‘Women and a Culture of Peace.”
Soroptimist International: “Maybe that the progress is
not measurable, but within the communities where the projects have been realised
a better understanding, more tolerance and solidarity has been achieved.”
“Obstacles : Especially for the youth the influence of the media is negative.
Very seldom we find positive examples, in the headlines we find war, violence,
murder. We would need more positive role models. The media should observe their
responsibility.”
The World Peace Prayer Society:
“Yes, the Culture of Peace has been greatly advanced
during the past 5 years. The World Peace Prayer Society promotes the prayer and
message 'May Peace Prevail on Earth' around the globe as a constant reminder for
people to hold peace in their hearts. Peace Poles, which are monuments with the
message 'May Peace Prevail on Earth' inscribed in various languages, have been
dedicated in over 180 countries and now total well over 200,000…”
“One of the greatest challenges to creating a Culture of Peace has been the
prevailing culture of violence evident in much of today's media and popular
culture…”
Transcend:
“Progress: We have contributed to the peaceful
resolution of a number of international conflicts. In 2005 alone, Transcend has
mediated in Sri Lanka, the Middle East, Chiapas, Aceh, Uganda, Liberia and many
other conflict regions. As an earlier example, one positive experience was the
creation of a BINATIONAL ZONE between Ecuador and Peru which has been an example
for other conflicts….”
Obstacles: “Only run by volunteer work, lack of permanent staff. No grants or
financial support.”
United Network of Young Peacebuilders (UNOY):
“We have seen progress since 2000 which is reflected in the number of new activities and organisations involved. Of particular importance we consider the involvement of organisations which do not traditional work on this issue, for example, students associations and clubs in secondary schools and universities and religious organizations …”
“The main obstacles we have faced and are facing are: 1. Lack of coordination among all institutions and actors involved. 2. Leadership of the Decade is not determined enough. More efforts need to be made by UNESCO….”
United Religions Initiative : “URI has seen definite
progress toward a culture of peace as our organization -- committed to promote
enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence
and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all
living beings -- has grown from 85 Cooperation Circles (our local groups) in
2000 to nearly
280 CCs in 60 countries in 2005, with activities annually engaging over 1 million people. These numbers … don't measure a more critical factor -- the depth of transformation that comes from forming mutually respectful communities whose members have rarely, if ever talked with each other and/or worked cooperatively to realize a shared vocation for peace, justice and healing.”
Women's International League for Peace and
Freedom: “Our organization, working in 37 countries, has seen minimal progress in the first half of the decade. We have, however, seen remarkable progress within our own
education, and on a grassroots level. The growing awareness of a culture of peace and nonviolence within and without the organization has indeed progressed…” “Funding is one obstacle that has prevented us from completing some specific projects on furthering the
decade.”
World Alliance of YMCAs: “…The World Alliance of YMCAs
has been promoting a culture of peace for many years through its 40 million
members at local, national, regional and international levels. As a youth
organization the YMCA is particularly focused on engaging young people to
promote a culture of peace. The World Council of YMCAs meets every 4 years. In
the first World Council meeting after the Decade for the Culture of Peace, in
Mexico 2002, the Council adopted three Global Youth Priorities, one of them
being to promote a culture of peace.”
World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts:
“Progress: Yes, through our joint peace work with our brother organization, WOSM, more girls and young women and boys and young men have taken part in peace activities. Together we have almost 40 million members. We are running many different peace projects - some long-running and some new - all of which are being taken up enthusiastically by different countries. For example, a small peace project developed on the Olympic games, involved over 13 countries.”
World Council of Churches - Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV): “There clearly is progress in making peace and nonviolence more of a priority in the constituency of the World Council of Churches. Several National or Regional councils have made overcoming violence and/or peace building the theme of their general assemblies, and church agencies have made overcoming violence a programmatic priority or a criterion for evaluation ... DOV and the UN-Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World are
in growing convergence and synergic development.”
World Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centers and Associations:
“Since 2001, WFUCA has conducted numerous sub-regional and
international projects in the domain of the culture of peace … These
actions (see full report) address not only a broad public of youth and
young adults, but also children who are sometimes the main
actors…” “Despite a special website for ‘Confluences – the newsletter of
WFUCA ’ - too many members of UNESCO Clubs in developing countries have
no direct access to
Internet…”
http://decade-culture-of-peace.org/report/report2005summary.pdf
The full version of this speech can be downloaded from:
| VM Centre for Peace www.vmpeace.org |
| Arms Reduction Coalition (ARC) www.arcuk.org |
Vijay Mehta is a author, peace and development activist. His
latest book, The United Nations and Its Future in the 21st Century, discuss
ideas about the UN’s central role in contributing to international peace and
security. He is president of VM Centre for Peace and Chair of Arms Reduction
Coalition, and World Disarmament Campaign. He is also a founder member of the
New School of Athens. He is a member of the National Council of Campaign for
Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and Vice Chair of Action for UN Renewal.
[1] 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by half, 2. Achieve universal primary education, 3. Promote gender equality and empower women, 4. Reduce child mortality, 5. Improve maternal health, 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, 7. Ensure environmental sustainability, and 8. Develop a global partnership for development.
[2] Read 101 Peace Ideas to find inspiration for action, at www.vmpeace.org.