(continued from previous page)

The six principal components of the Programme include the common goals and methods associated with the various groups involved.

(I) Power is redefined not in terms of violence or force, but of active nonviolence. This builds upon the experience of active nonviolence as a means of social change and its proven success during the twentieth century. Using nonviolence as a means and strategy, social movements contribute to the establishment of new institutions with the other components of a culture of peace.

(ii) People are mobilized not in order to defeat an enemy but in order to build understanding, tolerance, and solidarity. This component, corresponding to the central tenets of nonviolence developed by Gandhi, King, and Mandela, emphasizes the need to liberate the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and places strategies for developing unity at the center of deliberation and action.

(iii) The hierarchical, vertical authority which characterizes the culture of violence and war is replaced by a culture of peace characterized by a democratic process in which people participate on a continuing basis in making the decisions which affect their lives. This approach represents both a tactical means and a strategic end, engaging people in decision making at all levels, involving them, and empowering them through the victories achieved.

(iv) Secrecy and control of information by those in power is replaced by the free flow and sharing of information among everyone involved. The accessibility of information undermines authoritarianism and encourages social change. It is the necessary basis for the kind of participation necessary for real, participatory democracy, both in the process of social change and in the new institutions resulting from it.

(v) The male dominated culture of violence and war is replaced by a culture based upon power sharing between men and women, especially the caring and nurturing capabilities traditionally associated with and developed by women. This strategy - and goal - places the engagement and empowerment of women at the center of the process of peace-building, as well as in the new institutions emerging from it.

(vi) Finally, the exploitation that has characterized the culture of violence and war (slavery, colonialism, and economic exploitation) is replaced by cooperation and sustainable development for all. This component distinguishes the culture of peace from static conceptions of peace which perpetuate the violence of the status quo, and links it intrinsically with social justice and the changes necessary to attain and to preserve it.

(continued on next page)

The address of this page is http://www.culture-of-peace.info/annexes/IPRAnewsletter/page2.html.