THE SEVILLE STATEMENT 0N VIOLENCE "The Same species who invented War is capable of inventing peace." Support Network c/o David Adams, Wesleyan Psychology Dept. Middletown, Connecticut USA 06459-4008 NEWSLETTER - VOLUME 7, NUMBER 2, JAN 1993 --- Many of you have responded enthusiastically to the proposal to address the social and cultural myths which lead people to believe that organized violence is inevitable. Such a step would be a continuation of the process begun at Seville which addressed the corresponding biological myths. The proposal. as reported in our April, 1992, newslettor, was one of the recommendations at the Advisory Working Group established by UNESCO as a followup to the International Congress on Peace in the Minds of Men held in Yamoussoukro. Ivory Coast, in 1989. --- There is an increased global awareness that we must address the social and cultural factors which underlie the violence taking place around the world, The U.N. Security Council is addressing this violence by means of increased peace-keeping actions, but it is widely recognized that military force, by itself, cannot solve the problem. We need long-term solutions based on education, culture, communications and development. As was pointed out in the August newsletter, this is the theme of the section on "post-conflict peace-building" in the important document by U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali,"An Agenda For Peace." --- Responding to the challenge, the Executive Board of UNESCO has voted to initiate a new programme for "cooperation to promote a culture of peace." The resolution, enclosed here was passed by acclamation following a very spirited and positive debate on October 28. It calls not only for strengthening and coordinating ongoing activities, but also for a programme of action which would be complementarv to U.N. peace- keeping efforts. --- As pointed out to us in the enclosed letter from Francine Fournier, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO, the new action programme for culture of peace gives us the opportunity to both generate hypotheses and to test them in the field. --- As soon as a first draft of the action programme is available, I will send it to all of you who have written to say that you would like to be involved in the next step of addressing the social and cultural myths which support organized violence. Your suggestions and ideas will be appreciated, the more concrete the better since it is now necessary to establish an action programme which puts these ideas to the test --- One particular idea (is it a myth?) that is especially prevalent today in view of the rise in ethnic conflicts concerns a so-called biological basis to the antagonisms often seen against "outsiders”" or "others", whether in terms of nationality, ethnicity, race, language, etc. The view is expressed by psychologist M. Brewster Smith, in the enclosed excerpts from his article, "Nationalism. Ethnocentrism, and the new world order." Elsewhere in his article he speaks about the great importance of the Seville Statement on Violence and its contribution to consciousness for Peace. However, he wonders if the Seville Statement needs to be supplemented by addressing the question of why conflicts so often arise between people who are of different nationalities or ethnic groups. His question merits debate which hopefully will be stimulated by this newsletter.