Peace by peace

Creating an environment of peace is no longer a question of political will but a value system that needs to built by every individual.

A UN exhibition on building a culture of peace that is being held in Dubai right now illustrates how you and I can contribute towards this change.

"It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work for it."
– Eleanor Roosevelt

As the world marches into a new era, violence, war, exploitation and regional and ethnic conflicts escalate threatening the very survival of the human race on this planet. It has now become imperative for us to recognise Peace, not because it is considered fashionable to do so but as a prerequisite to our very existence. For which it has to percolate to the smallest, most insignificant and involuntary act of our everyday life.

Investing yourself

So what are the ways in which you can make a difference?

Helping a neighbour, creating a social cosmopolitan group to share the anxieties of modern living, running errands for the sick, helping the illiterate read and write ... any positive and constructive step that you take for the benefit of the society can be counted as your contribution to peace.

Winston Churchill, who led Britain during The Second World War and kept up the sagging hopes of his nation with his daily broadcasts, once said about peace:

"If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another."

We all have our share of bitterness and rough experiences. While that is a fact, what is more important is what we do with those experiences. If we can rise above those unpleasant moments and use them to heal the wounds of a society, we can then be said to have given peace a real chance. And there are many people in the world, who have been through war, violence, poverty and abuse, who have found the courage to rise above their individual sorrow to bring collective relief and enlightenment to society.

What it's all about ...

The culture of peace idea emerged on the global platform in 1997 when the UN General Assembly first proclaimed the year 2000 to be the International Year for the Culture of Peace. The UN defines the culture of peace as a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root cause to solve problems through dialogue.

The exhibition is an inspiring multi-media production that demonstrates ways in which everyday people – not only professionals or diplomats – contribute to peace, while stimulating viewers to ponder how each can make a contribution towards building it.

The presentation features Eight Actions for Building a Culture of Peace, and includes materials aimed at individual empowerment, a salute to peace leaders and organisations, including Manifesto 2000, and 21st century networking resources. There is an interactive section especially for children, which includes peace essays and artwork. There will also be a focus on local community programmes and their contributions to peace.

This exhibit brings together the ideas and examples of hundreds of people, organisations and movements dedicated to opening a path to lasting peace and focuses on the limitless potential of the individual to build peace in today's world. It concentrates on concepts such as self-mastery, dialogue and tolerance, community and culture.

The exhibition comprises nine thematic segments presented on panels that feature a combination of text, photographic images and other designs. The exhibition is very interactive. It first takes us through a brief introduction to the Barriers of Peace such as greed, prejudice, environmental irresponsibility and nuclear negativity. Then it presents eight areas of action. Visitors are questioned about the status of Action areas in their own lives.

They are:

Then it focuses on the segment of Paths to Peace that reminds viewers how peace can start with a single life and other paths such as dialogue, community building, global awareness, the interconnectedness of life and the ending of reliance on weapons.

It then focuses on the role of religion and how it can be used to promote connectivity among people.

The section on 'Children are the Future' presents a powerful display of art and literature by the children of the world and how they can build the foundations of peace.

Towards the end, the exhibition focuses on people who have made outstanding contributions to peace and leaves the viewer with a simple question and food for thought: Can you become a peaceful person? What is your dream for peace – in your school, workplace, community, in the world?

In Dubai, the exhibition opened to a rousing presentation of the musical Clown by the children of Dubai Modern High School. Darryl Bloud, principal of the school, firmly believes that the culture of peace needs to be perpetuated for our children who will inherit its legacies from us.

"Peace can be defined as the absence of war, harmonious relations free from dispute, absence of mental stress and anxiety and general security. In other words, it aims at a state of harmony."

The UN General Assembly proclaimed the decade 2001-2010 as the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World. An indispensable component of the Year and the Decade is the Manifesto 2000.

The Manifesto was drafted by a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates who translated the resolutions of the United Nations into everyday language to make them relevant to people everywhere. It was immensely popular. Although the Manifesto was presented to the General Assembly in the autumn of 2000, the document is still open for signature. By December 2003, more than 75 million people had signed it and committed themselves to the principles of peace and nonviolence that the Manifesto espouses.

Therefore it is not an exhibition that is just to be watched and stored as a nice memory. It goads the viewer into action and provides a framework for ushering in peace.

– The exhibition is on till December 5 at Foyer 2B, Knowledge Village, Dubai.

Values of peace

"With today's war and disaster struck world, it is a culture of peace that will save the planet. These young children from around the world are the leaders of the future. When they come together today, they can unite as one and support one another's ideals and values. Let us harness these energies and build these bonds – and we will truly find the world we dreamt of. This exhibition truly builds that necessary culture of peace.

"There are six statements every child knows in some language or the other – a universal set of values imparted to every child. 'Yes', 'No', 'Thank you', 'Sorry', 'Please', and 'I love you'. These six basic statements remain with us throughout our lives and were we to use them with those around us, would build a foundation for a peaceful and united world. It's amazing how the most fundamental universal values can travel with us for a lifetime and remain the most meaningful words of our lives".
Shiraz S. Gidwani

Ambassador-General, UNSM-Youth Development Programme; Director-General, 2008 World Summit, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General

Unsung heroes ... and heroines

These three people are among a list of 12 peace builders identified by the United Nations – ordinary people who faced extraordinary challenges in life and who rose to meet those challenges with incredible courage and all of them feature in UN's international exhibition "Building a Culture of Peace for the Children of the World" which came to Dubai this month. The exhibition, a joint venture between the United Nations, Sokka Gokkai, an international peace-building organisation and many other organisations, opened at the Knowledge Village on November 2 and will tour the Middle East.

Veneranda Nazambazamariya, Rawanda. When the Rwandan genocide erupted, she did not go into shock or bitterness; instead, she seized the opportunity to urge thousands of Rwandan women to rise above ethnic differences and come together to rebuild their nation. She has dedicated herself to the cause of empowering the women of her country both politically and economically and struggling against laws that are biased against them.

Zalata Filipovic, a teenager, known as the Anne Frank of Sarajevo, was caught in the war zone and throughout the two years from September 1991 to October 1993 she maintained a day to day account in her diary (called Mimmy) which was later published as Zalata's Diary. She survived and has used her experiences to lecture students in war zones to fight stereotypes and racial prejudice.

Geoffrey Canada of South Bronx created the Harlem Children's Zone in his passionate desire to make the lives of children caught in poverty and violence of the neighbourhood safer and more successful.

He has dedicated his life to helping children who grew up in conditions similar to his family's find educational and economic opportunities. He wrote the critically acclaimed book The Fish Stick Knife Gun and has received many awards in the US.