“It’s easy to militarise societies and
start wars. Powerful people know how to do it. The world has
accumulated all the needed intellectual and material
resources.
Preventing, handling and stopping conflicts and wars
is more difficult. We know less about what it requires, and
only tiny resources are allocated by governments. The UN –
humanity’s leading conflict-management organisation – has
been sidetracked, exhausted and denied the minimum funds for
peacekeeping. The OSCE has a “conflict prevention centre” so
small that it stands no chance to adequately meet the
challenges ahead,” says TFF director Jan Oberg.
“In the fields of post-war reconstruction,
reconciliation, peacebuilding where human beings and
societies move from violence to sustainable peace and
development, the global society is virtually without a clue.
It lacks adequate research, organisation, professionals,
funds, philosophy and strategy. Only a handful of small
research centres work with these tremendously complex
processes – such as the War-Torn Society Project in Geneva
and UNESCO’s Peace Culture programme.
The global system is deplorably immature: it knows how to
fight wars within hours but lacks about everything it takes
to handle conflicts, to prevent violence, to settle
conflicts and reconciliate. Top-level decisionmakers often
lack knowledge about social, psychological and cultural
dimensions of conflicts – vital for the noble UN norm of
creating peace by peaceful means.”
“TFF is a tiny civil society organisation, CSO, devoted
to research, field conflict-mitigation and peace work. We
know that the commitment of citizens diplomats and civil
society to peace and viable solutions to conflicts is
essential and that intervening foreigners can only be
facilitators, should never steal the conflict or impose
their solutions – in contrast to most inter-governmental
organisations that don’t seem to be exactly burdened by
humility or respect for local people and culture in the
conflict areas,” Dr. Oberg continues.
“During the last months TFF has conducted eight “Learning
Conflict” courses in both entities in Bosnia, in Croatia,
Yugoslavia and Macedonia. We select CSO representatives with
mixed backgrounds and work with them on how to understand
and analyse conflicts, how to mediate, identify solutions,
negotiate, forgive and reconciliate. Through mini-lectures,
role play and brainstorms – where the human, social and
cultural dimensions are in focus – the participants seem to
be empowered. One thing is to build houses of bricks;
something else is required to build homes and neighbourhoods
on the basis of tolerance, hope and visions of a better
future. Small as we are we seek to empower a few among the
majority of “good guys” – to counter the minority of “bad
guys.”
Yes, it’s an experiment. There are no quick fixes. It
takes time, but it has been a success,” says Jan Oberg. “We
have learnt that ordinary citizens have a deep wish to be
constructive and work for peace and that they often still
look for somebody offering them that opportunity.”
TFF now works for the United Nations Transitional
Authority for Eastern Slavonia, UNTAES, in Croatia to help
bring about reconciliation and mutual understanding in this
war-ravaged region. The UN here is a very impressive
mission, an untold UN success story. They wanted us to focus
on the educational sector, helping headmasters, teachers,
pupils and parents to overcome their fears and develop
respect and a cooperative spirit.
The foundation also delivers input to three seminars this
autumn arranged by the UN and the Council of Europe for
Croats and Serbs in the school sector, from ministry level
to local schools, on how to get peace and human rights
education into the curriculum and the daily running of the
schools.
Many CSOs do a fine job for peace in the trouble spots.
But silently. Powerful media still promote the illusion that
governments are the major agents for reconciliation and
peace. You may have begun to see a different reality. This
PressInfo just tells you what we do,” Oberg concludes.
