Contemporary
. . . .Champions of PeaceWhen I was asked by a dear friend and mentor to write this brief article on peace, I knew right away that the main challenge would be condensing too much information, rather than expanding on too little information – and judging by the vast amount of written literature on this subject, I was not disappointed. It also became clear very quickly that it would be virtually impossible to write a truly original article. So, with that preamble, let me dispel from the outset any pretense of originality. I decided that the best I could achieve would be to inject occasionally into this (heavily borrowed) “Piece on Peace” my own personal style of writing and my own personal feelings. And there’s no better way to start than to be reminded of the peace efforts of some of the great originals.
Mahatma Gandhi suggested that if an oppressive society lacks violence, the society is nonetheless not peaceful, because of the injustice of the oppression. Gandhi articulated a vision of peace in which justice is an inherent and necessary aspect; that peace requires not only the absence of violence but also the presence of justice.
Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience as an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, in the resident Indian community’s struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he set about organizing peasants, farmers, and urban laborers in protesting excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, for expanding women’s rights, for building religious and ethnic amity, for increasing economic self-reliance, but above all for achieving Swaraj—the independence of India from foreign domination.
Gandhi famously led Indians in protesting the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, on numerous occasions, in both South Africa and India.
Gandhi practiced non-violence and truth in all situations, and advocated that others do the same. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as means of both self-purification and social protest.
During the 1950s and ‘60s, when Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement carried out various non-violent activities aimed at ending segregation and racial persecution in America, they understood peace as more than just the absence of violence. They observed that while there was not open combat between blacks and whites, there was an unjust system in place in which the government deprived African Americans of equal rights. While some opponents criticized the activists for “disturbing the peace,” Martin Luther King observed that
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.”
A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–6) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history.
In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts to end poverty and oppose the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective.
I just have one thing to say to those who have criticized (and still oppose) these two icons of peace: can you imagine the decades of violence and destruction which would have ensued had Gandhi and King preached violence instead of peace? I rest my case.
Peace can be a state of harmony or the absence of hostility. Peace can also be a non-violent way of life. Peace is used to describe the cessation of violent conflict. Peace can mean a state of quiet or tranquility — an absence of disturbance or agitation. Peace can also describe a relationship between any people characterized by respect, justice, and goodwill. Peace can describe calmness, serenity, and silence. This latter understanding of peace can also pertain to an individual›s sense of himself or herself, as to be “at peace” with one›s own mind.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded annually to notable peacemakers and visionaries who have overcome violence, conflict or oppression through their moral leadership, those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations.” The prize has often met with controversy, as it is occasionally awarded to people who have formerly sponsored war and violence but who have, through exceptional concessions, helped achieve peace.
Many different theories of “peace” exist in the world of peace studies, which involves the study of conflict resolution, disarmament, and cessation of violence. The definition of “peace” can vary with religion, culture, or subject of study.
One concept or idea that often complements peace studies is development. Economic, cultural, and political development can supposedly take “underdeveloped” nations and peoples out of poverty, thus helping bring about a more peaceful world. As such, many international development agencies carry out projects funded by the governments of industrialized countries, mostly the western, designed to “modernize” poor countries.
The concept of peace has been linked to the wide idea of development, assuming that development is not the classical pursuit of wealth. Peaceful development can be a set of many different elements such as good governance, healthcare, education, gender equality, disaster preparedness, infrastructure, economics, rule of law, human rights, environment and other political issues. The measuring of development uses not only GDP but also numerous measures such as:
■ Literacy rates
■ Life expectancy
■ Per capita income
■ Maternal survival rate
■ HIV infection rates
■ Number of doctors per capita
■ Human Development Index
and others
Finally, although we tend to focus mainly on high profile individuals when it comes to champions of peace (for many Iranians, Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi is an example), it is instructive to know of the many organizations worldwide who use talent and money to promote peace in well managed and highly organized ways.
Frankly, the business of peace is too important to be left only to fly-by-night individuals and amateurs (and especially some world “leaders”).
American Friends Service Committee: religious Society of Friends (Quaker) affiliated organization which works for social justice, peace and reconciliation, abolition of the death penalty, and human rights, and provides humanitarian relief.
The McGill Middle East Program in Civil Society and Peace Building: International program actively engaged in building peace in individual communities, both in Canada and the Middle East.
Nonviolent Peaceforce: International NGO engaged in the creation of a large-scale international unarmed peacekeeping force, composed of trained civilians.
Pax Christi International: Lay Catholic peace movement
Peace is Active: Peace community and social network.
Peaceworkers UK: British NGO providing training for potential peaceworkers in nonviolent, civilian techniques of conflict transformation.
Seeds of Peace develops and empowers young leaders from regions of conflict to work toward peace through coexistence
Spirit of the Sword: a youth initiative active in Wellington, New Zealand between c.1977-1990
World Peace Council: International Organization for the struggle for peace.
Ulster Project International: International peace-project involving Protestant and Catholic teenagers from Northern Ireland and America.
Peacekeeping: personnel units of the United Nations deployed as a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace.
The Peace Alliance: A grassroots lobbying organization working to build a culture of peace in the United States through legislation to create a cabinet-level U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence.
Peace Parade UK: an organization dedicated to promoting observation of the United Nations Day of Peace and Non-violence through active participation of young people and adults in their local communities throughout the UK and the world. Working in partnership with Truce International, FC Unity and Foundation for Peace.
Post scri pt
For the record, this article was originally submitted to the monthly publication, Iran Shahr, for inclusion in their special October edition in honor of this year’s Mehregan. For reasons not entirely clear, Iran Shahr’s editors chose not to publish the article.
