The nine topics of the nine chapters of the Online Journal for Modern Peacebuilding and Nonviolence are linked thematically as much as they are complex topics in their own right. The purpose of this side note is two-fold - to first remind us of those interlinkages and then to explore this topic in greater depth to provide greater explanation for the interlinkages.
The Interlinkages ....
This single theory has Peacebuilding at its center - the idea that you must have equality, justice, inclusiveness and strong democratic institutions in order for peace to last.
But the myriads of details of that ideal are found in the definitions and the relationships between:
Peacebuilding - creating peace that lasts,
Peacekeeping - combined with Peacebuilding (known as Sustaining Peace) - the balance to keep the peace in the short term while working on long-term peace,
Nonviolence - the core of peacefulness, practiced at 5 levels,
Culture of Peace - transforming cultures, one of Galtung’s main points, assists with every other facet of Peacebuilding,
Measuring Peacefulness - promises to scientifically facilitate Peacebuilding programming,
Individual Psychology - optimizing outer peacework by optimizing inner peacework,
Social and Sustainable Development - the parallels between peace programming and development programming is indicative of the interdependency of peace and development, and therefore showing how peace is better for the economy than violence and war.
Disarmament - fact that weapons are machines of death and destruction and by definition only make things worse, means regulation is a requirement of Peacebuilding and peacekeeping.
But even greater details are just as important because they affect millions of lives across the world - hence our researchers and filmmakers continue to produce and include new materials every day. Don’t let the volume and diversity of it all overwhelm you, but celebrate it as it provides you many colorful and interesting opportunities to enrich your life by connecting and understanding new peoples and new ways of doing things. As they say at the UN: Welcome to your World, and as we say: Welcome to the Online Journal of Peacebuilding and Nonviolence: Creating Peace that Lasts !!
(now here are greater details on our conclusions; excerpted from Modern Peacebuilding and Nonviolence: Creating Peace that Lasts, by David Kirshbaum….)
Conclusion
So why are there still wars, so much violence, and so much gun violence?
One important point to understand is that there are so many wonderful things happening around the world as well, but the mainstream media will not report about it because “it does not sell newspapers”, and therefore is not considered “newsworthy”. But when you regularly visit alternative websites (like the UN website - https://www.un.org), then you see that things are not as bad overall as the impression you might get from the mainstream media.
Also, when looking at human conflicts big and small, across the globe, one sees how Galtung’s theory of violence and peace describes very well what’s going on, but the problem is that in too many situations, people and leaders want peace but they don’t want to change what is causing the conflict - they don’t want equality and justice for everyone, or to cooperate and include everyone, they don’t want to deal with painful issues or other people’s issues, and they don’t want to spend money and time on a peace infrastructure and regular schedule of peace conferences. It seems that peace takes work and sacrifice, and they’re just not willing to do that. They don’t really want peace that much.
This is despite the proven fact that peace leads to greater economic benefit than violence - this might be a concept that they cannot believe in - because it is a concept that is too abstract, that contradicts their current income flow, or that they find it to be counter-intuitive, or they just don’t care.
Thus we find that Galtung’s theory of peace truly provides the answers we need, but the challenges he describes in his theory of violence are truly huge, and thus while we see that the suggestions of his theory of peace are doable, unfortunately they will take a very long time, especially if people don’t really want peace, or are not willing to sacrifice or work for it.
In my opinion, this is a problem of culture - prioritizing peace is not part of their culture which includes their value system and understanding of the universe. So the main challenge is changing cultures, which I think is happening slowly and naturally with the spread of globalism. Globalism definitely has it’s negatives, but it also has positives because it spreads ideas about human rights and equality, etc.
Six important conclusions from this work of Galtung, the UN, the heroes of nonviolence and IEP:
Stopping and preventing violence alone will not create lasting peace.
Lasting peace is dependent on there being equality, justice, respect for human rights, democratic processes, respect for rule-of-law and environmental protection for all.
Lasting peace and lasting development/prosperity are interrelated and interdependent - you cannot have one without the other.
Peace is more economically beneficial than violence. The important challenge is to make this common knowledge.
We must support the scientific measurement of peacefulness. This is worth investing in and will make a significant difference in making peace last.
Reasonable gun control saves lives.
To read more articles and watch videos about this topic, check out the nonviolenceny.org/journal.