218
The process of a culture of peace is marked by the sharing and free flow of information. Secrecy, restrictions on the flow of information, and the exclusive use of knowledge for profit and power have been part of a culture in which the 'other' is seen as a target for exploitation or a potential enemy. Therefore, activities which ensure transparency the free flow and sharing of information make an important contribution.
The full participation and empowerment of women is essential to the development of a culture of peace. Women have a special reason to work for peace. It was the monopolization of warfare by men that led from the beginning of history to the male dominated hierarchical organization of society and the exclusion of women from power. Women bring to the task their experience with giving birth to and parenting the next generation as well as the management of informal economies which give them an appreciation of life and skills of exchange, co operation and solidarity.
A culture of peace cannot be imposed from outside. It is a process that grows out of the beliefs and actions of the people themselves and develops differently in each country and region depending upon its history, cultures and traditions. As a village elder in Mozambique told UNESCO, You can bring us the culture of war in a plane and humanitarian aid in a truck, but you can't bring us the culture of peace, because it is a tree with its roots deep in our land.' It is a long term process that must be cultivated and nurtured.
Some people might define a culture of peace as the absence of conflict, but that is too passive and is not consistent with a world of rich diversity. In a world of diversity, conflict will continue to be part of life itself. Instead of fearing conflict we must learn to appreciate and cultivate its positive non violent aspects courage, heroism, creativity, the redressing of injustice. As stated in the debate of the UNESCO Executive Board when the Culture of Peace
Programme was first introduced in 1992, 'conflicts are unavoidable, necessary and they can even have their benefits in innovation and activity, identity and reflection. But the benefits will depend on our ability to manage conflicts, to resolve them fairly, and to prevent their violent destructive manifestations.'
In practice, the key to a culture of peace is the transformation of violent competition into co operation for shared goals. It requires that conflicting parties work together in the development process itself. It may be understood as the managing of conflict through the sharing of development.
The culture of peace transforms and ultimately replaces the culture of war it can only flourish in an environment where war and the root causes of war have been eliminated and their functions have been replaced by other, positive alternatives. Therefore, the process of establishing a culture of peace is a vast project, multi dimensional and world wide in scope. It is linked to: 1) economic security and development; 2) political security and democracy; 3) military security and disarmament; 4) cost benefit efficiency and economic conversion; and 5) the development of global solidarity.
1. Economic security and development are fundamental. Research suggests that in the beginning, war probably served as a last resort for societies faced with starvation because of drought or other natural disasters. Under such conditions, it was worth the risk to plunder the food supplies of neighbouring societies rather than suffer death by starvation. Peace can only be assured when people are free from the fear of hunger.
Today the world has the resources to ensure that every person has enough to eat. Although this goal has not yet been realized, the obstacles are no longer technological; instead, they concern the organization of society, the division between rich and poor.
In practice, a culture of peace is the transformation of violent competition to co-operation for shared goals. It requires that conflicting parties work together in the development process.
A culture of peace is a vast project linked to economic security and development, political security and democracy, military security and disarmament, cost-benefit analysis and economic conversion and the development of global solidarity.