PEACE 100

Intang, Karen Mae C. July 26,2017

BSA-4 2:00-3:00 MWF

PERSONAL PEACE

Peace More than Absence of Violence

By Betsy Whitfill

The International Day of Peace, sometimes unofficially known as World Peace Day, is observed
annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence
of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combatzone
for humanitarian aid access.To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN
Headquarters. The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa,
and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as "a reminder of the human cost
of war"; the inscription on its side reads, "Long live absolute world
peace". Wikipedia/International Day of Peace

What if we really aim for that higher goal: "Long live absolute world peace"? What if "world
peace" means more than the absence of war and violence? Can we hope for absolute world
peace, even during today's storms of terror and endless war?

One of the very few sources of steadfast hope, Share International Foundation, brings renewed
energy to this year's celebrations of World Peace Day, by proclaiming the active presence and
influence of the World Teacher Maitreya. Maitreya comes to teach humanity how to save itself
from the disaster that looms ahead as the result of our polluting the air, waters and land, and
our growing habit of conflict fueled by ever more powerful technology. We will not survive, he
warns, unless we can learn to live together in peace as true men.

We cannot create peace until we create justice among men and women everywhere. Maitreya
and His group of experts, called Masters of the Wisdom, are among us now, offering guidance
on the only way to create world peace: sharing resources so that all may have the basic
necessities of life. Those necessities, he says, are nourishing food, safe shelter, effective
medical care and all the education needed for self-development and sustainment. They are the
basic needs for everyday living everywhere, as a matter of human right. Permanent and equal
access to those resources brings justice, freedom and the mutual trust needed for peace.

The calls for justice ring out across the planet. The voice of everyday people is becoming more
potent every day, and is the most powerful agent of change in the world. It will not be silenced,
because it is backed by the forces of light. These are the same forces that backed the Allies
against the Axis Powers in World War II, inspiring us to act for the good, through sacrifice and
united effort.
Human Rights

Duterte told: Retract threat to bomb Lumad schools

By: Vince F. Nonato - Reporter/ 06:21 PM July 25, 2017

MANILA A left-wing party-list group has demanded that President Duterte take back his
threat to bomb Lumad schools which he claimed were not permitted to operate.

ACT Teachers Party-list Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro said Mr. Dutertes statement on
Monday evening was akin to an endorsement of violence and murder against indigenous
peoples.

We demand that the President retract his statement. We demand justice for all victims of
militarization of communities, including the thousands of bakwits due to martial law. We
demand that he order the military to pull out of civilian communities and end all forms of attacks
against Lumad schools and peoples organizations, their statement read.

By accusing the tribal schools of training children to become rebels, the President effectively
ordered the military to continue branding innocents and their institutions as communist guerillas,
the two congressmen said.

They described Mr. Dutertes actions as a clear red-tagging on a large scale.

It is an order for the AFP to target civilians as rebels, and to intensify the militarization of their
communities, the threats, intimidation, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture,
and charging of trumped-up cases against students, teachers and tribal leaders, and the
encampment and destruction by the military of schools, they said in their statement.

They added that some tribal schools have long been operating with the Department of
Educations recognition.
Yet, peoples organizations and local community members have to maintain other schools and
learning centers due to the absence of public schools offering free education in their area.

The lawmakers added that many applications have even been denied by the government as
part of the systematic attack against indigenous peoples which the President is now openly
advocating.
Alternative Learning Center for Agricultural and Livelihood Development, whose executive
director was killed allegedly by military units in 2015, even won the DepEds National Literacy
Award in 2001 and 2005.

President Duterte should encourage and protect them instead of targeting them as enemies of
the state, ACT Teachers said.
Meanwhile, National Union of Peoples Lawyers President Edre Olalia said openly threatening
to bomb Lumad schools is as monstrous as it can get.

First you distorted human rights, now you taunt international humanitarian law. Stop the
madness already, Olalia said.
Mr. Duterte said in his post-State of the Nation Address press conference: Those schools of the
Lumad, they are operating without the Department of Educations permit because in their
schools, they are teaching subversion, communism, everything. So get out, I will bomb those. I
will include your structures. I will use the Armed Forces, the Philippine Air Force.
STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE

Beyond disarmament in Mindanao

By:Karen Pimentel Simbulan /Published 11:34 AM, November 12, 2014

From past experience, we all know that the signing of a peace agreement between the
Philippine government and a non-state armed group is but the first step in the long, complicated
path towards peace.

Johan Galtung, one of the experts in peace and conflict studies, explains the complex
conception of peace by differentiating negative peace from positive peace. Negative peace
refers to the absence of direct physical violence, such as when hostilities between the
government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces cease and a peace agreement
is signed. Positive peace refers to the presence of social justice within a society, when there is
equal development through the fair distribution of power and resources.

The Galtung concept springs from the understanding that violence manifests not only in terms of
direct physical violence, but also through the existence of laws that discriminate against
minorities or institutions that promote unequal development.

In this sense, violence can be either direct or structural in nature. The Mindanao experience
illustrates both concepts of violence.

Remembering war

The all out war waged against Muslim insurgents by President Estrada in 2000 and President
Arroyo in 2008 are just among the more recent examples of the direct violence experienced by
the people of central Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
These two instances of aggressive central government policies led to the displacement of nearly
one million people.

In the case of structural violence, an examination of modern Philippine history reveals the
consistent marginalization of Muslim Mindanao in terms of political representation, economic
development, and social exclusion. To illustrate, the policy adopted by the Philippine
government in the late 1950s to resettle Filipino Christians from Luzon to Mindanao was
plagued by complaints from Muslim Mindanaoans of forcible land grabbing. The implementation
of this policy resulted not only in the shrinking landholdings of the Muslim Mindanaoans, but
also made them minorities in their homeland.

This was compounded by the central governments apparent neglect in providing effective
economic and social welfare policies for the development of these areas. As a result, ARMM
persistently has the highest poverty incidence, with poverty incidence in 2012 at 46.9%, more
than double that of the average nationwide poverty incidence of 22.3%.

Beyond traditional DDR

One of the key aspects of post conflict peace consolidation in central Mindanao and ARMM is
the successful implementation of a Disarmament, Demobilization, and Rehabilitation (DDR)
program for former combatants.

The traditional understanding of this process focuses solely on the former combatants, with an
emphasis on the collection and destruction of weapons, breaking down of the command
structure of the armed groups, and reintegration of former combatants into society by providing
them with skills that will allow them to move away from armed struggle and towards full
participation in, and contribution to, the economic and social life of their communities.

The application of the traditional form of DDR, however, has proved problematic, as noted by
post-conflict specialist Desmond Molloy.

Learning from his experiences in implementing a DDR program in post-conflict Sierra Leone, he
recognized that the focus of the process solely on ex-combatants caused the broader
community to feel isolated from the peace process.

One of the problems of DDR processes that focus solely on the reintegration of ex-combatants
is the possible perception of the rest of the community that the former combatants are now
being rewarded for taking up arms against the government. This could cause feelings of envy,
and foster a sense of injustice among the civilian residents of the communities towards the
former combatants who now want to join the community. This will most likely be felt by
communities that have been subjected to the direct violence perpetrated by the conflict their
homes destroyed by armed groups/military forces, their goods or harvest stolen or destroyed,
and their sense of well-being violated after witnessing violence perpetrated against other
people.

For DDR programs to be successfully implemented, stakeholders need to recognize that the
peace process involves not just ex-combatants but also members of the communities which
these ex-combatants will now become a part of.

After all, the peace process should not be understood in the narrow sense of reconciliation only
between the government and the armed combatants, but must also strive for the reconciliation
between the combatants and the communities that witnessed the violent insurgency and bore
the brunt of the consequences.

To address these concerns, Molloy formulated a more integrated form of DDR, which seeks to
place weapons beyond use, in the context of improving community security through social and
economic investment in the community." Success thus rests on broad community economic
development, coinciding with Galtungs conception of positive peace and the need for programs
aimed at enhancing livelihood opportunities, not just of ex-combatants but of the civilian
residents as well, while focusing on job creation, provision of social services, and rebuilding
community infrastructure. This is done with the ultimate goal of enhancing social justice and
equity in the affected areas.

In this regard, the measure of success of this conception of DDR lies less on the number of
weapons collected or the inclusion of former combatants into the governments law enforcement
apparatus. Instead, success of the DDR program can be measured by the reduction in the
number of violent confrontations between ex-combatants and the other members of the
community.

This would work well particularly in the case of Mindanao, which has a deeply entrenched gun
culture. Since gun ownership appears to be connected to notions of masculinity and social
status in the ARMM and central Mindanao, it is highly improbable that the DDR program can
successfully disarm the ex-combatants.

Signs of hope

The disarmament should not be the be all and end all of the peace process. As the recent story
on the communal fishing venture in Kabacan, North Cotabato, shows, where a development
project is being properly implemented within a community, former armed enemies can live and
work together with other members of the community in harmony.

Perhaps the key to the success of this project is that it is a livelihood project that incorporates
Moro values by employing the consensus-building tradition in the management of the project,
allowing all members of the community to participate in the venture. This helps not only in
providing the community with an additional source of income, but also by building and
strengthening relationships between and among ex-MILF and ex-Moro National Liberation Front
members, as well as the other members of the community. -

Bibliography:

https://www.opednews.com/articles/Peace-by-Betsy-Whitfill-Change_Conflict_Equal_Freedom-
160920-135.html

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/917434/duterte-told-retract-threat-to-bomb-lumad-schools

http://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/74709-mindanao-disarmament-peace