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Thursday, December 15, 2005
Oledan: Investments
By Radzini Oledan
Slice of life
INVEST in women and children and you invest for peace. One of the glaring weaknesses in the current peace and development program in Mindanao is the exclusion of the ordinary voices in the process of peace management in the different localities.
While existing customs and practices within communities recognize the role of women as peace negotiators and mediators, the reality is that there are also policies and systems that make these efforts and roles invisible.
Women's role in the community as peace mediators seem to be but an extension of our role in the kitchen-that is, to keep the peace within the family and contain conflict among the children and family members. There is no recognition of the women as peace negotiators in the more "formal, public, and official sense."
Men who are generals and lawyers--professions that thrive in conflict, dominate the peace negotiating team. In the whole peace process machinery from the principals down to technical and working group committees, there are elements that consider the negotiating table an extension of the battleground.
It is easy to predict what will happen at the negotiating table with only men around it. They will debate about weapons, territorial integrity, political power, self-determination, constitution, power sharing, elections, international laws, and politically negotiated settlement-the so-called hard issues. This is the legal rhetoric and diplomatic bullying that impedes genuine peace.
There is a need to go beyond and shift the current obsession on conflict and crises response to a more pro-active stance of managing peace.
For too long, the business of conflict resolution and peace building has been left to the experts and assumed to be too technical for the common tao, let alone the youth. Yet, investing in them is critical in ensuring the sustainability of any peace effort.
When the message of promoting peace is coming from young people, they can really help to change attitudes. People listen to them.
They are honest and carry a simple powerful message.
Peace building is necessarily creating democratic structures and processes that are fair and responsive to the needs of the entire population - institutions, which protect and advance the political rights and responsibilities of state and civil society, and which strengthen human security through the promotion of robust and sustainable economic, judicial and social practices.
Building the culture of peace then should also recognize the urgent need to correct social and political injustice that has systematically marginalized the people on the ground.
Rebuilding peace in Mindanao for ourselves, our children, and the generation to come entails recognition and respect on the ability of all sectors to think and chart their own future.
(December 15, 2005 issue)
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