(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Under Arendalsuken 15. – 20. On August, several peace organizations presented a proposal to establish a peace ministry in Norway. This is something many peace groups have been working on for a long time. The title of the proposal circulated in thousands of copies in Arendal reads: “Peace needs a budget, a plan and a peace-
Minister of Culture. ”The starting point is that the peace movement wants a new discussion on the establishment of a Norwegian Ministry of Peace, as a specification of the need for national work for non-violence and peace culture. You want a change from a culture of defense and war to a sustainable culture of peace. Here, culture of peace is understood as a counterbalance to militarism, a civilization of security policy and, not least, preventive measures against violence and armed conflict.
Internationally, there is also a movement for centralizing state peace work through the establishment of peace ministries. Founded in 2005, the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructers for Peace has held six international conferences on the topic to date. The alliance consists of peace groups in about 50 countries. To date, only four countries have established their own peace ministries: Costa Rica, Nepal, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. In addition, South Sudan, Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines have established forms of government-level peace offices (see http://gamip.org). This type of centralization of states' peace-related tasks helps to make peace work more visible in politics. If one intends to establish a culture of peace through nationwide peace education, the establishment of larger systems for mediation or the like, the ministry's thinking may be appropriate.
A crucial building block. When going from a ceasefire to a peace treaty, such as Colombia, for example, these days, it is especially important to define what is needed to prevent the conflict from recurring. This means that one has to have a firm look at establishing a culture of peace. A culture of peace is in this context a culture where conflicts between individuals, groups and states are handled and resolved by nonviolent methods such as dialogue, negotiation, mediation and judicial decisions. It is difficult to imagine any comprehensive peace agreement that does not lay down guidelines for just this.
For example, the peace agreement for South Sudan of August 2015 states that the parties are "ffirmly committed to end the culture of the use of force, as a means of settling differences and misunderstanding and to promoting a culture of peace and dialogue». This type of intention can be intuitive and easy to express in an agreement text. When the peace culture discussed here is to be operationalized in the peacebuilding phase after armed conflict, it all becomes far more complicated. This is where conflict-sensitive aid and proactive peace work from below become crucial. When about every third peace agreement reached falls apart within five years, it is most often due to a lack of effort in precisely these fields.
Peace culture at UN level. At the UN level, declarations, resolutions and work programs for peace culture have been negotiated. Thus, we also know a lot about what is a viable currency when peace culture is to be defined internationally. The UN Declaration on Peace Culture from 1999 states that peace culture is a set of values, attitudes, traditions and patterns of behavior that limit violence and contribute to dialogue and cooperation. As in so many UN compromises, the culture of peace presupposes support for principles such as state sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as human rights, gender equality, pluralism and democracy. In any case, the culture of peace is clearly defined as non-discriminatory, non-violent and inclusive.
In the UN language on culture of peace, great emphasis is also placed on human ability to cooperate and our ability to change perspective. As stated in the UNESCO purpose clause: Since war starts in the minds of men, it is also in the minds of men that the defense of peace must be established. UNESCO is also the UN body that has been given the culture of peace as its specific field of work. There are several national peace culture programs around the world, and most often they are initiated from here. Since this UN organization also has education and research on the agenda in addition to culture, there is a relatively short distance from peace research and peace education to peace culture in their work. UNESCO has established many forms of partnership with civil society in addition to the state cooperation channels, which usually go through the Ministries of Education and Research. If you really want to contribute to a culture of peace internationally, UNESCO is a natural place to start.
Art as a tool. At the time of writing, a new peace culture group is being established in Norway's peace team. The prime mover in this is Kari Anne Næss, who has extensive experience with the use of theater in practical conflict management. In this group, the use of performing arts in peace work also becomes a main focus. By playing a conflict in theater, one can give the audience the opportunity to participate as conflict managers, by inviting the audience to instruct the play towards a solution to the conflict. Through forum theater and similar methodology, the audience can be introduced to both conflict theory, mediation and peace education. This has proved particularly effective in working with diversity and integration.
In the same way as for military marching music, peace cultural art expressions should also be understood as something more than pure entertainment.
In the same way as for military marching music, peace cultural art expressions should also be understood as something more than pure entertainment. It is about meaningful art that fosters a certain type of attitudes and values in the audience. When this year's largest peace conference Disarm! A climate for peace Held in Berlin from September 30 to October 3, artists and artists also contribute. Many artists like to contribute to such peace policy events even if they do not proclaim peace policy in their art. If the expression is perceived as culturally relevant to peace, the artist often feels at home on a peace policy stage. Larger artist communities that regularly contribute to such peace events, such as the International Committee of Artists for Peace, gather around an individual issue rather than a peace policy program. This is connected with artists' desire to express something universally human in a custom context rather than acting as a political microphone stand.
Renowned Norwegian documentary filmmaker and peace activist Deeyah Khan shared some very interesting considerations about how art can facilitate dialogue during the Safemuse conference in Harstad earlier this year. One of her main points is that art can transcend most interpersonal barriers. Therefore, art can also create new spaces for dialogue. The challenge of art expression also contributes to this, as provoking tends to bring us closer together. Since peace work is not necessarily about minimizing conflicts, but rather about dealing with conflicts constructively, Khan's points are very relevant to peace cultural work.
See also our other peace cases on Colombia: «Norway as guarantor in peace talks» and Terje Dragseth about literature festival in Medellin.
