|
Friends United Meeting |
 |
May 2001
Cultures of Peace
By Mary Lord
I have always been impressed by the power of grass and weeds to some how grow through and break apart tough city sidewalks. The plants themselves seem so fragile and flimsy. The concrete appears to give no light at all. But, in the darkness of the city soil, small seeds grow, put down roots, connect, and gradually, with persistence, grow toward the light. It is one of the small wonders reminding us of the power of life to overcome obstacles civilized humanity puts in its way. Annoyed as I may be by the persistence of the grass and weeds that break apart the sidewalk in front of my house, I must still admire their flexible strength and determination.
One of the gifts Elise Boulding has given me and others is helping us learn to see the power of the ordinary and seemingly frail things around us, that harbinger of hope and optimism for the realization of a peaceable kingdom. I have had the joy of serving with Elise on a number of committees: the AFSC Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Committee which she chaired for several years and in which I began to see the breadth of her international networks of peacemakers; at academic gatherings in international studies and peace research where her scholarly work on the sociology and culture of peacemaking is highly respected, and as Co-clerks of the then newly forming Friends Peace Team project, where I got to see her organizational skills first hand. I have been blessed in the course of these gatherings to become part of her wide circle of friends. As she moved to Massachusetts near my mother, we also shared the difficulties of accommodating the limitations of age.
This spring, Syracuse University Press published Elise Boulding's newest book, Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History, a significant look at opportunities and obstacles to building the peaceable kingdom. It provides a hopeful analysis of the lessons and skill humanity already has to bring to this task, if only we are wise enough to see and heed and value what we already know. The book gives the reader a lot to think about, but it is written for the average person interested in peace, not just for activists and scholars. As I have read and reflected on it, I found themes that were the most meaningful lessons Elise Boulding helped me learn.
Peacemaking is an action. A peaceful culture or society is active, dynamic, inventive, nurturing, and problem solving. Too often, we confuse pacifism (making peace) with passive-ism (doing nothing), or appeasement (bribing a bully and hoping they'll be satisfied). Elise explores the basic human needs for individuality or uniqueness with the need for bonding with other people and being part of a family or group. This tension between the need for space and the need to be together is in us and in every group. Building a culture of peace is about finding creative solutions to these tensions and nurturing differences that bring fresh insights on how to solve common problems. A passive person or group is static. A peaceful person or group is dynamic. There is nothing boring about the peaceable kingdom.
We learn how to be peaceable people. Elise shares the viewpoint that human beings are capable of both peacableness and aggression, and our societies teach us how to act toward others. Our parents, our schools, the mass media, sports, rituals and theater all show us how we should act, while holding up certain models of behavior for us to follow. Our parents and family, of course, are the most important models. Cultures of Peace describes some of the cultures in the world that are peaceable, and finds common themes of equality between men and women, valuing listening and negotiation, attention and nurture of the natural world, and discouraging aggression. Quaker educators, in particular, have long understood the importance of teaching children peacemaking skills.
There are many examples of peacefulness in everyday activity. This idea was a real revelation the first time I heard Elise speak about it. I had always thought a peaceful world was something to aspire to in some distant future. I had not noticed most of my daily activity involved practicing peacemaking and negotiation--in my workplace, figuring out how to share resources; with family and friends, negotiating schedules; in encounters with strangers, shopping; and in Quaker business meeting, trying to be patient and listen. Acknowledging the peacemaking aspects of everyday life gave me hope. Peacemaking becomes more doable; I can learn to live effectively and peacefully. American societies, and especially the mass media, don't pay much attention to these kinds of activities. Believing women's activities of nurturing children and working in community are more apt to develop peacemaking skills than the more competitive activities associated in our culture with men's work, it is therefore especially important to notice and value women's ways of working.
There are many examples of effective peacemaking in our world. One of the great contributions of Cultures of Peace, is the constant reference to the effective peacework being done by hundreds of individuals, organizations, and small associations all over the world. These range from UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to associations of indigenous peoples working to preserve their environment, the traditional knowledge of living with the earth to workers for peace in Serbia or other regions of ethnic violence. Rarely reported in the mass media, which emphasizes wars and violence, Elise believes in the power of associations and organizations to transform our world, and to harness the creative energy and wisdom of individuals. These NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are like the grass I see breaking up the concrete. They look fragile, but they have the capacity to break up structures of violence and build cultures of peace.
Dream and try to envision a peaceful world. We cannot create what we cannot imagine, so it is important to imagine a peaceful world. For many years, Elise developed and led workshops on envisioning a world without nuclear weapons. It was a powerful experience working with other workshop participants to create a peaceful future, and then imaging steps leading from where we are to such a future world. In Cultures of Peace, Elise gives a history of utopian dreams of peaceful communities, and the role utopian concepts and experiments play in critiquing the current ways of doing things and trying out new ideas and relationships.
Diversity helps build a peaceful culture. Peaceable societies have to solve problems and resolve conflicts creatively. Different cultures have wisdom, experience and fresh perspectives to contribute. To solve the difficult problems facing the world, we need the creativity coming from such diversity. Just as many different kinds of plants and animals living together makes for a stronger ecosystem in nature, so different cultures bring knowledge and skills that make for a better and more peaceful world.
What happens in the Two-thirds World is important. Americans tend to think of the developed world as the most important, with the developing world as less important. It is hard to get news of Africa, Latin America, or Asia, unless it deals with a disaster or conflict. Elise reminds us about two-thirds of the worldÕs people live outside North America and Europe. They have much to teach us, about ourselves, about the dangers our world faces, and about some of the creative solutions possible.
Cultures of Peace is a secular book, but Friends already know Elise's spiritual gifts and writings. Sometimes I have heard Friends say that the work of spiritual formation and the work of peace and justice are separate. A person can do one or the other, but not both at once. My own experience is that the two are inextricably linked. Without a spiritual foundation, it is very difficult to sustain effective peace work. Without outward expression, spirituality can become self-absorption. Elise gives us a remarkable example of a life lived with both spirituality and activism.
In the final chapter, Elise offers her own vision of how the world might build on existing peace cultures and knowledge to solve the formidable challenges of militarism, inequalities, pollution, and injustice. This statement of hope and faith moves us forward against the darkness. Our vision may well be different, but we have been offered an antidote to despair and fear--one possible path of hope and peace.
Mary Lord, a member of Adelphi Friends, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, is currently working for Friends Committee on National Legislation to develop a new project on peaceful prevention of armed conflict.
Copyright (c) 2001 Friends United Meeting
Return to May 2001 Contents page