July/August 2006 Featured Story Moving Toward the Center of Violence by Nicholas Mele Is the job of a peacemaker to move away from violence or into the midst of it? What can a small number of nonviolent interveners do when a regional conflict spirals toward war after several years of uneasy peace? How can nonviolent peace activists respond if they are threatened or find themselves in the midst of a violent situation?
These questions and challenges face the members of Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) in our work around the world. Our overall goals are to build support for nonviolent intervention, to increase the pool of trained people available for such work, and to deploy teams as large as hundreds or thousands of professional nonviolent peacekeepers. And we have found these issues placed on dramatic display in Sri Lanka, in the midst of rising violence that has generated international news in recent weeks. Sri Lanka – whose people are still recovering from the devastating December 2004 tsunami – has become a low-intensity war, according to reports by international monitors. As the conflict heats up again, small teams of three to five international peacekeepers, trained and sent to Sri Lanka by Nonviolent Peaceforce, live in the midst of the violence. Our mission is to deter and reduce violence, to increase the safety of civilians so they can contribute to a lasting peace with justice. NP teams in Sri Lanka work to protect local leaders and activists, whether by accompanying them, offering a neutral meeting place for representatives of communities in conflict, or facilitating the formation of formal and informal networks of civil society organizations and activists. Each life protected by an NP accompaniment or presence is another native voice speaking out for peace and healing in a land wounded by communal violence, battles, assassinations, and suicide bombings. One local group began with the simple step of painting the word “life” on a main road, an action which has led to tree-planting ceremonies and more road painting to resist the culture of violence and remember in a public way the victims of the conflict.
How does this work fit in with formal international efforts to promote peace, whether a European Union-sponsored monitoring mission or shuttle diplomacy by the United States’ and other nations’ senior officials? Formal efforts – like the negotiations between the government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), who began their armed struggle in the 1970s – have had sporadic success. But at the grassroots level, where decades of violence have suppressed the civil society essential to a just peace, there is great desire and need for further international support. A Sri Lankan who works with us says, “We have now nothing to lose but hope.” Each dialogue that NP facilitates fosters new hope and encourages initiatives, as was the case when a Hindu community had concerns about a larger, neighboring Muslim community. The religious leadership of the Hindus spoke to the NP team operating in the area about their concerns. In response, the NP team arranged for and provided protective presence at a meeting of the Muslim community’s leader with the Hindus. Some assurances were offered as a result, some agreements concluded; most hopefully, the two communities have initiated a joint youth program and continue their dialogue. At the same time, the international NP teams model nonviolence in their dealings with one another and with the people of Sri Lanka. Their presence and engagement in the most threatened communities is occasionally dramatic, as was the case recently when one team’s vehicle was attacked by a group of young people, who smashed all the windows and threatened the team. Afterwards, rather than avoiding the young people, the team sought out the leaders of this group to understand what had happened. The youth leaders apologized for the attack. After a lengthy dialogue, the NP team invited the young people to attend peace gatherings held at the local NP office. The youth leaders agreed to do so, a first step away from violence. As the head of another international organization in Sri Lanka has said, most international groups move away from violence when it threatens, but NP teams move into the center of the violence. Sometimes we pay the cost, for this is dangerous work. In late May, a grenade exploded outside our Mutur office, injuring Fabijan Periskic, a field team member from the former Yugoslavia, and two passers-by. Similar attacks occurred at the offices of two humanitarian agencies in Mutur. There is as yet no evidence as to who is behind these attacks. Peters Nyawanda from Kenya, also a member of the Mutur team, commented, “We remain committed to the work for which we came here, and we will not be cowed by the groups who want to instill fear in us.” NP teams support the formal peace process through nurturing of grassroots peace initiatives, facilitating dialogue among the religious and ethnic communities in conflict, and networking local, regional, national, and international groups working for peace. Some of the network members are recognized international actors with whom NP has partnered on particular issues, like UNICEF; some are Sri Lankan national organizations, like Sarvodaya, which requested NP’s assistance in creating a “rapid response peace army” of Sri Lankans trained in nonviolent intervention and communication; and many are local governmental and non-governmental actors whose cooperation has reduced the impact of renewed fighting. In one area, as violence escalated in late 2005, over 1,600 families fled their homes. They returned to their homes after Nonviolent Peaceforce facilitated meetings of local government representatives, non-governmental organizations, and community leaders that resulted in actions and assurances of security. In June 2006, Nonviolent Peaceforce is sending a two-person advance team to Mindanao in the Philippines to prepare for a small-scale deployment project created by local peace organizations in partnership with NP. Additional projects are under development in Uganda and Colombia. Nonviolent Peaceforce is working with partner organizations around the world to increase the pool of trained nonviolent peace workers available for large and small-scale unarmed peacekeeping around the world. Its first training of trainers will take place this summer in Thailand, and core trainings are scheduled for Africa and the Americas in the fall. Linda Sartor, a member of the first group of NP field workers in Sri Lanka, recently observed “I find it amazing (and hopeful) that just one unarmed person can make such a difference, and I think it provides a good model for the world that security can be provided without weapons.” For more information about Nonviolent Peaceforce, and to learn how to get involved, e-mail info @ nonviolentpeaceforce.org, visit its Web site (www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org), or fax the U.S. office in Minneapolis at 612-871-0006.
Nicholas Mele, a retired U.S. diplomat, is Director of International Communications for Nonviolent Peaceforce.
©2006 Fellowship of Reconciliation
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