"Our values of interdependence are no longer crazy talk. Our language has been mainstreamed." Diana Francis reports on a discussion between peace academics about how to globalise the work of conflict transformation
As the number of interfaith and faith-based peace initiatives grows, women peace activists from twenty one countries met in Nicosia to discuss how to use faith to build peace
If we are to present a credible challenge to the system of interlocking interests that combine to entrench militarism, our movement needs to be able to engage with that complexity. Celia McKeon, Judith Eversley and Steve Whiting join the conversation.
How can we build a strong and effective global peace movement?’ Cynthia Cockburn, Howard Clark and Dave Webb reply to Diana Francis
Positive peace is more than the absence of war. Groups campaigning to advance the causes that are vital to building it would find greater synergy if they recognised their interdependence. A local experiment confirms this.
Inclusive democracy is a key constituent of positive peace. Does the surprise coalition government in Britain have lessons for the peace movement?
If violence is out, what power can nonviolence offer? Courage, numbers and solidarity are vital to confront oppressive power, but macho dynamics perpetuate aggression. Human connections are the key to transformation
Two very different ways of viewing the world result in radically different ways of approaching conflict. When we come from the viewpoint of ‘eat or be eaten’, the whole of life is a contest for control; when we ground ourselves in the notion of interdependence we work to a very different agenda.
As Shelley Anderson suggests, war and gender are intimately related. Gender lies at war’s heart and the conduct and impact of war are equally gendered. Although conflict transformation is based on values traditionally regarded as ‘feminine,’ it struggles to implement them in a world shaped by masc
The global phenomenon of war distorts our ongoing attempts to build peace in conflict after conflict and in many different ways. Diana Francis looks at some of the evidence and asks if war can be justified
What is conflict transformation? How do you begin to approach the mutual hurt of conflict embedded in systems and culture? There are many strands to a challenging and delicate process. Here are some of them
Diana Francis finds in an exhibition of quilts and arpilleras made by women from Ireland to Chile, a rallying call to say no to violence, public and private, on any scale; to work for the abolition of war and to transform the culture of violence in which women are objectified and subjugated.
