(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
"Peace is the absence of war," one says. "Peace is acceptance and coexistence despite differences," says another. Around 20 people have gathered in a ring on the floor and are busy with ideas.
We are at the Peace House in Oslo. The occasion is a workshop on the establishment of a peace ministry. A separate ministry or directorate responsible for education in nonviolent methods has long been a topic of various peace organizations in Norway.
Now the attendees at the Peace House hope to get the topic on the agenda of the Norwegian parties ahead of the September elections.
"It's important to build peace from the grass roots and up."
"The time before the parliamentary elections this fall is a very favorable time to put this on the agenda," says Susanne Urban from the International Women's League for Freedom and Peace (IKFF). "We hope that many parties will program a report by a Ministry of Peace." Together with Bestemothers for Peace and Norway's Peace Team, IKFF is organizing the workshop, which is part of this year's Climate Festival in Oslo.
In January, Ny Tid wrote about the peace tax, as a natural reintroduction of the civil service. Such a tax will provide an opportunity to redistribute part of the tax money that now goes to military purposes, to finance peace-building, non-violent work.
Already in 1964, Johan Galtung put forward the idea of a Norwegian Ministry of Peace. The purpose was to create a platform where the peace movement can meet politicians and the administration and present their views and proposals.
IKFF presented a proposal to set up a Ministry of Peace as early as the 1980s, but the proposal was not actively followed up until the annual meeting in 2008 – when a separate working group was set up for the theme.
Work on bridge construction. The Ministry of Peace is intended to be a kind of parallel to the Ministry of Defense and Emergency.
"We do not believe that a peace ministry should replace a defense ministry, but that they should be run in parallel," Urban says. «Every year Norway spends more than NOK 44 billion on the Armed Forces, while peace organizations get a total of about four million. We also think there is an imbalance in the fact that the Defense is state-organized, while peace work is mostly in the voluntary sector, ”she continues. "Where the Department of Defense is working with the military, a peace ministry should work similarly for peaceful conflict resolution."
Connected. In 1972, Norway – as the first country in the world – created its own Ministry of the Environment. This story should serve as an inspiration to be early with a peace ministry as well, Urban believes. And since war and conflict are often inextricably linked to other factors, such a ministry should be interdisciplinary:
“Since peace, development and the environment are interconnected, an interdisciplinary ministry is needed. It is important to build peace from the grass roots and up. Causes of conflicts must be identified, legitimate targets must be identified, damages incurred must be recognized and remedied if possible – and the conflicting parties must be reconciled, ”says Urban.
“Empathy is a prerequisite for bridge building. Educated peacemakers are needed who can promote the parties' ability to see the conflict from the counterpart's point of view as well – and often help the parties use creativity to create new opportunities. This is where creativity and history knowledge come into play – it always helps to learn from others who have managed to cope with similar challenges. ”
Bridging between legitimate goals and recognition by all parties to a conflict is, according to Urban, the key to a nonviolent approach to conflict resolution:
«As a basis for this, we can, for example, use Johan Galtung's Transcend model. It is about building bridges between legitimate goals, and involves, among other things, identifying and acknowledging all parties to a conflict, and conducting individual meetings with each party to find out what is behind the conflict. What dreams is the conflict standing in the way of? How can a gradual disagreement be reached? ” says Urban to Ny Tid.
