Archive Article: Decade To Overcome Violence. 28 March 03.
December 27, 2008

Is there any alternative to war? While President Bush is arguing that somehow September 11 changed the world, for many people we just seemed trapped in the same old culture of violence. If it is not this war, then it is some other.

The World Council of Churches, based in Geneva, has a project on the “Decade to Overcome Violence”. The project was launched before the onset of the current Iraq conflict but the conflict provides additional evidence – if it were ever needed – of the importance of creating new ideas for the handling of violence. The project is co-ordinated in this country by the National Council of Churches in Australia, based in Sydney.

The project is more than just “anti-war”: it looks at the deeper issue of the use of violence generally in society. The new Australian study kit, available from the National Council of Churches, encourages discussion on four key themes: transcending the logic of violence; addressing the issues of use, abuse and misuse of power; the search for justice; and the question of religious identity and diversity in a world of many faiths as well as secularism.

The study kit materials then encourage discussion of four questions: is violence inevitable? How do we use power? How do we act justly? What kind of identity?

As someone who has been involved with “peace” issues for almost four decades, it is pleasing to note that there is now – as shown in the study kit – a greater realization that “peace” is more than just simply the absence of war. First, peace also involves co-operation and non-violent social change, aimed at creating more equitable and just structures in the communities and societies in which we live. The search for peace is active and not passive.

Second, there is also now a greater realization that countries can win wars but lose the peace. The United States has won the war in Afghanistan but it still has not won the peace. There are still many warlords and bandits running around – and Osama bin Laden has still not been located.

Third, the World Council of Churches’ attention to “violence” is a reminder that the issue is not just about war alone. In the 20th Century more people were killed by their own governments rather than by foreign invaders. In other words, in many countries people stood a greater chance of being killed by their own rulers and citizens than by foreign rulers and their citizens. Stalin in the Soviet Union, Hitler in Germany, Mao Zedung in China, and Pol Pot in Cambodia all killed far more of their own citizens than the number of citizens killed by foreign invaders.

Fourth, there is also a recognition that peace is more than just the scrapping of weapons. Ironically, the “peace” movement is often just a “disarmament” movement, with an emphasis on getting rid of nuclear weapons. A greater challenge is to covert the weapons of war into the tools of peace: from swords into ploughs.

Finally, given the fallen nature of humankind, I think that there will always be some violence of some sort. Nothing ever goes quite according to plan. This is not a counsel of despair. It may not be for us to complete the task but we are certainly expected to attempt it. After all, it is possible to make some progress.

For example, this is the first time in many centuries that France and Germany have not gone to war with each other. It seems hard to imagine that they will again. Indeed, they have been working together to discourage the United States from doing so. They have learned the hard way that you can gain more from peace than from violence.

Broadcast Friday 28th March 2003 on Radio 2GB’s “Brian Wilshire Programme” at 9pm.