I HAD the good fortune of being invited back to moderate the Public Forum of the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute (MPI) 2016 last May 21.
Annually organized by the foundation bearing the same name, this year’s MPI was on its 17th run.
The Public Forum that bannered the theme “Overcoming Challenges: Making Just, Peaceful and Inclusive Societies a Reality” was particularly poignant because the day before, the participants had found out about the murder in Indonesia of an MPI alumnus, Robert Jitmau.
As I listened to Joan McGregor, international peace activist from South Africa and the United Kingdom and forum main speaker, and the four people who gave responses, the words of Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau of “a cabinet that looks like Canada” came to mind and I thought here is a public forum that is like the world.
For not only were key places like Africa, the Pacific, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East covered in the forum, women and men from non-government organizations, international organizations, government, and the academe discussed realities, experiences, challenges and responses. The conversations dwelt on societies that were in the heat of war, already emerging from, or hovering on the blink of conflict.
I wished that like the Solomon Islands, the Philippines would be among those emerging from conflict, instead of being in the middle of it—a situation we share with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
McGregor noted a “new level of demonizing others—a fear of inclusion, and a tendency to be boldly arrogant at best, and downright prejudiced at worst” in conflicts around the world.
Although McGregor was referring to global trends of rising extremism, terrorism, radicalism, xenophobia, fear and uncertainty, and threats to peace builders, I could not help but reflect that her words about demonizing, arrogance, and prejudice could also describe what Philippine society went through during the May 2016 electoral campaign and its aftermath.
But in the same manner that McGregor pointed out that these are challenges, and not necessarily the causes of violence, it is important that we do not lose sight of the fact that the election-related fractures in Philippine society are just challenges and not causes, and that our real problems are generations of domination, exclusion and terrible human suffering.
And like the rest of the world, the MPI Public Forum welcomed the first time inclusion of peace, justice and strong institutions in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which succeeded the Millennium Development Goals. SDG #16 aims to significantly reduce all forms of violence and, to work with governments and communities to find lasting solutions.
The thoughts of McGregor and the responses of the four panelist reflected matters of global interest: what constitutes peace, how might it be achieved, and what would contribute to its attainment. The essentials of peace (vision, life-giving systems and structures, and a sense of accountability and belonging) were reiterated, as well as the relationships of development and peace—that development needs peace, that it can be undermined by unpeace, as well as being the cause of it. The experiences of the four response-givers: BulabulaOdile from the Congo, Christian Tabea from the Solomon Islands, Shagota Chisim from Bangladesh, and Tirmizy Abdullah from Mindanao illustrated what McGregor referred to as the seven functions of civil society in peacebuilding.
Around the world, civil society is engaged in the protection of civilians, monitoring of human rights violations and peace agreements advocacy for peace and human rights, peace education, intergroup social cohesion, facilitating dialog, and service delivery as entry point for peacebuilding. But the response-givers also cited other peacebuilding roles such as research, policy development and implementation, and capacity building.
Going back to the theme, “Overcoming Challenges: Making Just, Peaceful and Inclusive Societies a Reality” there have been ample discussion about the challenges. But the question “who will do the overcoming?” needed to be raised.
While among the first answers that came to mind would include societies, communities and peacebuilders who as McGregor urged should “not stand by, not give in, not give up”, the list could also include international actors who, as one member of the audience said, “must take responsibility for their own actions” and thus must continuously and mindfully examine themselves and the effects of their deeds and non-deeds. The youth, who are being targeted by radical forces around the world, must be part of that “overcoming”.
But McGregor cautioned that radicalism could be defined in many ways—ideologically, politically and religiously—and counseled that a response that would help manage diversity better would be to listen to young people and their responses to the questions “What does it mean for you? Why is it so important? What are the questions you want answered?”
Again, I could not help but think that Philippine Government and society would do well to also ask these questions about the issues that the Bangsamoro, the National Democratic Front, and indigenous peoples would bring to the peace process and engagement table, and mindfully listen to their answers.
As peacebuilders around the world like Robert Jitmau make the ultimate sacrifice, or suffer from growing frustration and a sense of betrayal as has been expressed by peacebuilders involved in the Bangsamoro peace process after the non-passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, the blessings offered by McGregor at the end of her talk provided a measure of comfort.
Her dedication went: “May the blessings of light be upon you, may dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities and promises. May you go into the night blessed, sheltered and protected. May your soul calm, console, and renew you.”
Much like the world that is seeking positive and peaceful outcomes, with such a blessing the MPI 2016 Public Forum ended with reference to the theme and the conclusion that an inclusive, diverse and mindful “we” shall overcome, and make just, peace and inclusive societies around the world a reality.
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