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The World Council of Churches (WCC) marked the end of its Decade to Overcome Violence with an International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC). Attended by some 1,000 delegates from all over the world, it took place in Kingston, Jamaica, 17-25 May 2011. |
The IEPC took the next step in an ecumenical journey intended to explore in depth the concept of “just peace”, to address ethical and theological questions, and to strengthen the networks and partnerships necessary for ecumenical peace-building and peace advocacy today. The outcomes of the IEPC will influence the agenda of the next WCC Assembly, taking place in 2013 in Busan, South Korea, on the theme “God of life, lead us to justice and peace”.
It was the WCC’s 9th Assembly that decided to end the Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010) with the IEPC. Much of the programme was built around four themes: Peace in the Community (so that all may live free from fear); Peace with the Earth (so that life is sustained); Peace in the Marketplace (so that all may live with dignity); and Peace among the Peoples (so that human lives are protected). Music was an integral part of the programme, including a steel band (seen right).
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As part of its commitment to the IEPC, WACC organized a workshop on media and gender justice in Haiti. It was led by Jéruscha Vasti Michel, a young Haitian woman who studied social communication at the University of Haiti and who works with Sosyete Animasyon Kominikasyon Sosyal (SAKS), a WACC partner. SAKS uses popular communication to assist the Haitian people – both rural and urban – to participate as actors in their own development.
The workshop focused on the unbalanced representation of women in the media and how it relates to women’s absence from decision-making on ways to resolve conflict and strengthen peace. Participants discussed the findings of WACC’s Global Media Monitoring Project 2010 (GMMP) in the context of applying United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325.
The plenary sessions at the IEPC took the form of short presentations or panel discussions followed by participants’ talking in small groups. The following only offers a glimpse of the rich debate that ensued. Full coverage and many supporting documents can be found on the IEPC web site here.
Peace in the Community
The first theme focused on violence against women, the violence of racism and other forms of discrimination, and the violence caused by the assertion of religious identities. It affirmed the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings by exploring positive and life-affirming actions that enhance people’s capacity to be compassionate and considerate towards those they live with.
Dr Deborah Weissman, President of the International Council of Christians and Jews (Jerusalem) spoke of the violence caused by the excessive assertion of religious identities. Describing overcoming violence as a particular challenge for the volatile Middle East, she noted that religion can promote peaceful dialogue. Religious cultures may contain problematic texts and revisions but they also contain tools for alternative interpretations. Citing the example of a Huguenot village that saved Jews during the Second World War, she said that collective memory gave moral precedence for translating dreams for peace into concrete steps in day to day lives. Dr Weissman quoted Rabbi Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, who wrote, “One should not despair thinking that one cannot make peace, but rather one should pursue peace today and tomorrow and the day afterwards until one reaches it.”
Ms Asha Kowtal, General Secretary of the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch, India, took the theme “Cast out caste”. She spoke on behalf of 250,000,000 Dalits in South Asia and elsewhere, underlining the silence of violence and the sexual abuse of dominant caste men because of religious discrimination. “I stand before you to lodge a protest on behalf of little children prevented from sitting in the front row of class at school and forced to clean the toilets,” she said. Describing caste as the largest systemic violation of human rights anywhere in the world, she invited participants to “think of Dalits as human beings, as people aspiring for dignity in life. Join the struggle for the despised and discriminated and strive for a world of greater peace and justice.”
Peace with the Earth
The second theme sought to raise awareness about threats to creation. It offered theological and spiritual insights from different religious perspectives on peace and shared practical examples of what churches can do.
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Rev. Tafue M. Lusama (left), General Secretary of the Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu and chairperson of the Tuvalu Climate Action Network, described the negative impact of climate change on his homeland. It has led to longer droughts – there are no rivers in Tuvalu and the underground water-table has turned saline so people depend on rainwater. Destruction of coral has not only meant losing a first line of defence, but also the erosion of fishing grounds. Traditional knowledge has also been compromised by changing weather patterns. For the people of Tuvalu, evacuation and relocation are “Plan B”. Plan A is saving the country. |
Sra. Ernestina López Bac, a Kaqchiquel indigenous theologian from Guatemala and Secretary of the National Commission of Indigenous Pastoral Ministries of the Guatemalan Bishops’ Conference, offered the traditional greeting of indigenous peoples. In the light of furthering peace today, she asked permission for being in the land of Jamaica and forgiveness for past crimes against people committed there. She said that to speak of the cosmovision of indigenous people is fundamentally to speak of the interrelationship between nature, human beings, and the heart of heaven.
Peace in the Marketplace
A panel discussion moderated by Rev. Garnett Roper, president of Jamaica Theological Seminar, introduced the third theme, which took stock of economically related violence particularly against vulnerable groups such as women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities and how peace and justice can be forged in the market by sharing better practices. It sought an ecumenical way forward to promote peace based on economic justice.
Ms Omega Bula, executive minister for the Global Justice and Ecumenical Relations unit of the United Church of Canada, suggested that people have been pulled into a single model of a market economy. Alternative models are being ignored and alternative voices are not being heard. She said that the marketplace of domination and exploitation needs to end in the South and North, but also in the South within the North and the South within the South. For her, the ideology of racism is alive and well and can be seen in the logic of a system that moves large groups of people from one place to another for the sole purpose of wealth. Unfortunately, such a system needs victims, so consumers become complicit in the marginalization people all over the world.
Rev. Dr. Roderick Hewitt, minister of the United Church in Jamaica, former moderator of the Council for World Mission, and currently lecturer at the University of Kwazulu Natal, asked, “Is the church ambivalent towards globalization?” He pointed out that the church is a partner in the globalization project, so much soul-searching is required. Some churches give theological credence to poverty and it becomes impossible to address the issue of marketplace when the church is complicit. “The church likes its comfort zone,” he said. “The market is demonic, it co-opts and deceives. Are we prepared to pay the cost of facing up to the awesome forces aligned against economic justice?”
Peace among the Peoples
Introducing a panel discussion on obstacles and opportunities for building peace among peoples and nations, Mr Kjell Magne Bondevik, president of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights and former prime minister of Norway, said that, “Just peace is more than the absence of war. Just and lasting peace requires respect for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Conflict prevention is crucial.”
In response, Dr. Christiane Agboton-Johnson, deputy-director of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, asked if the responsibility to protect translates into military intervention or into building the capacity of civil society to protect itself? She commented that, “There is a UN mentality of security that assumes intervention and protection instead of prevention. Women’s security and violence against women are key issues that are often overlooked. Women also need to take up the theme of security and defence.”
Her words were echoed by Ms Lisa Schirch, professor of peace-building at the Centre for Justice and Peace-building at Eastern Mennonite University (USA). Having recently worked in Pakistan and Afghanistan, she noted that, “Security does not land in a helicopter, it grows from the ground up.” A critical mass of women is needed who can make an impact on conflict prevention and peace-building as well as delegations of influential church leaders talking to government about peace and security.
At the end of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), participants agreed a message stating that, “With partners of other faiths, we have recognized that peace is a core value in all religions, and the promise of peace extends to all people regardless of their traditions and commitments. Through intensified inter-religious dialogue we seek common ground with all world religions.”
The IEPC message captures only part of a truly historic event, said the Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, moderator of the World Council of Churches’ Central Committee. “You take with you much more than a text. You take with you a profound ecumenical experience and the complexity of the issues we have addressed will certainly require further work, reflection and action.”
No just peace without just communication
The IEPC comprised plenary discussions, workshops, a documentary screening, and various cultural events focusing on aspects of peace-building. It offered an extraordinary panorama of what the churches are trying to achieve in many parts of the world and pointed to numerous paths that can be explored during the current decade. However, it seemed to overlook one crucial issue: What is the role of communication, mass and community media in building awareness of obstacles and alternatives? Where does communication fit into the scheme of bringing about a “just peace”?
Today, the worldviews of a majority of people and communities are shaped and reinforced by the mass media of communication. Information and knowledge, news and opinion, visual proofs and confirmations are provided by corporate media entities that operate digitally, globally, and relentlessly. Most of the providers of such news and information are for-profit corporations. With notable exceptions, very few retain a public service ethos.
Mass media ownership and control – the consolidation and management of media sources and resources – has led to manipulation, misinformation, and bias. Examples of political manipulation can be seen in media coverage of war and conflict, of migrants, refugees, and displaced peoples. Examples of misinformation and bias can be found in how the media represent women, and how they portray social justice issues such as poverty, land rights, water rights, climate change, and the claims of Indigenous people, Dalits, and people living with HIV and AIDS. However, there are alternatives. One is to practise the widely recognized distinction between “war journalism” and “peace journalism” – those choices that editors and journalists make when reporting conflict and violence. The concept of peace journalism could easily cover questions of social justice.
Accessibility, accountability, affordability, diversity of opinion, and, crucially, giving voice to minorities and marginalized people are questions of communication rights and the democratization of communication. As there can be no just peace without recognizing human equality and dignity, so there can be no just peace without recognizing the right to communicate.
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