Communication, from Confrontation to Reconciliation

Estela Barnes de Carlotto

Our Institution was set up during the military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-83) in response to the systematic kidnapping of our grandchildren, both those taken with their parents and those who saw the first light of day in the clandestine prisons where our daughters gave birth. The group of mothers that got together in order to appeal for their return changed over the years into the Association of Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo – a site of struggle and resistance. United, we set aside social, cultural, ideological and religious differences to begin the most ecumenical of projects: the search for our grandchildren.

Conflict between the sexes may be as old as time. At certain times in certain places the struggle may be for equal pay and equal rights, at others, it may have to do with life and death. WACC has long been committed to supporting communication and advocacy programmes that promote gender justice, hence the Congress plenary ‘From Criticism to Dialogue: Waging Change’.

Interspersed throughout the programme of Congress 2001 were ‘stories of reconciliation’. One was presented in a ‘double-act’ by Shirley Bonk and June Mitchell, representatives of Intercultural Grandmothers Uniting (Regina, Canada). This group of older Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women began in 1992 with the aim of combating discrimination and abuse relating to sexism and ageism. They have done literacy and story-telling projects in schools where they can influence children and young people and their work has been featured on CBC radio and television as well as in local media.

Edgar Gutiérrez

While we were doing the Project for the Recovery of Historical Memory,1 six years ago, at the end of a workshop held in the Kekchí indigenous region of Las Verapaces, a young man came up to me with these words: ‘Now I understand that if my community had kept in mind its history, it would not have fallen prey to division and hate... We were a tree without strong roots, brought down by the harsh wind of war and calamity...’

Cees J. Hamelink

Languages are today being killed at a much faster rate than ever before in human history and linguistic diversity disappears more rapidly than biological diversity. Yet, linguistic diversity is as necessary for the sustainability of our planet as is biological diversity. There is an interesting correlation: the areas in the world with the highest biodiversity also have more linguistic density and the loss of language also implies the loss of environmental knowledge.

Eveline Herfkens

'Communication: from confrontation to reconciliation': that is the title of this conference. Lack of communication can indeed breed misunderstanding and exclusion, sometimes with violent results. But this doesn't mean that communication is a kind of miracle cure that automatically leads from confrontation to reconciliation; a magic formula that opens the door to a world without poverty or violence. That is the question we are concerned with here: can better information channels aid reconciliation - and thereby help reduce poverty and violence? And I would like to set the ball rolling.

Aloisea Inyumba

Rwanda has over the years experienced bad governance based on discrimination and division of its people. As a result, a prolonged period of corrupt and repressive regimes saw the entrenchment of ‘divide and rule’ as a principal of governing. Inevitably this repressive culture led to massive human rights violations which culminated in the 1994 genocide that saw up to one million Rwandans perish.

Konrad Raiser

Let me begin by greeting you warmly in the name of the World Council of Churches. I have gladly accepted the invitation to preach at this opening service of your World Congress since this offers me an opportunity to affirm the links of co-operation and partnership which have developed over these past 25 years between the WCC and the World Association for Christian Communication. The theme of this World Congress ‘Communication: From Confrontation to Reconciliation’ allows us to acknowledge together the centre of our ecumenical calling, i.e. to be agents of reconciliation.

Sulak Sivaraksa

Culture is such an intangible network of beliefs, rituals, language, and history that it is difficult to start this talk with a functional definition. Similarly, reconciliation is a concept that is constantly evolving and adapting to changing situations. What is clear is that a culture of truth, forgiveness, and co-operation can foster the evolution of reconciliation and that acts of reconciliation, in turn, can work to bring out the life-affirming aspects of culture. Together, a culture of reconciliation is our best hope to heal past injustices and foster individual and societal transformation.

How can reconciliation take place in a world riddled with violent confrontation? This was the key question facing more than 300 communicators from 83 countries who took part in WACC’s third international Congress on the theme ‘Communication: From confrontation to reconciliation’, held in The Netherlands 4-7 July 2001.