Peace and education chapter 1

1. “
Welcome to
Peace Education!

3. Secular
Views/Concepts of
Peace and Violence
● Early secular writings on the subject of peace indicate that peace was defined
as merely the absence of war or direct violence. This negative formulation was
first given by Hugo Grotius in 1625.
● The simplest and most widespread understanding of peace was that of absence
of death and destruction as a result of war and physical/direct violence, an
understanding that was used as the initial point of departure in peace research
(Tee, 1982).
● Raymond Aron defined peace narrowly as a condition of “more or less lasting
suspension of violent modes of rivalry between political units” (Barash, 1999).
Like many others who preceded him, he defined peace as the absence of war or
other direct forms of organized violence.

4. However, an alternative view started to emerge, beginning with the late 1960s. Attention started
to shift from direct to indirect or structural violence.
It was realized that it was not only war and direct violence that caused death and disfigurement.
Structural violence also led to death and suffering because of the conditions that resulted from
it: extreme poverty, starvation, avoidable diseases, discrimination against minority groups and
denial of human rights.
It was further realized that a world marked by said conditions is a world devoid of peace and
human security; it breeds anger and generates tension leading to armed conflict and war.
Johan Galtung, a renowned peace theorist and researcher, argues that structural violence
occurs when the wealth of affluent nations, groups or individuals is based on the labor and the
essential resources drawn from nations, groups and individuals who, as a consequence, are
required to live diminished lives of deprivation (Monez, 1973).

5. ● Over the past many years, peace
workers have increasingly
challenged this conventional view
of peace and have declared that
“peace is not simply a lack of war
or nonviolence; peace means the
eradication of all facets of
injustice” (Cheng and Kurtz, 1998).
Toward a Holistic
Concept of Peace
and Violence
● Johan Galtung explains that peace
is the absence of violence, not only
personal or direct but also structural
or indirect. The manifestations of
structural violence are the highly
uneven distribution of wealth and
resources as well as the uneven
distribution of power to decide over
the distribution of said resources.
● He says peace is both the absence
of personal/ direct violence and the
presence of social justice. For
brevity, he prefers the formulations
“absence of violence” and
“presence of social justice”

6. Negative Peace
vs. Positive
Peace
● Negative peace refers to the
absence of war or physical/direct
violence.
● Positive peace refers to the
presence of just and non exploitative
relationships, as well as human and
ecological well-being, such that the
root causes of conflict are
diminished.

7. -
● Peace with nature is considered
the foundation for “positive
peace” (Mische, 1987). It is
because the earth is ultimately
the source of our survival,
physical sustenance, health
and wealth.
● It is not possible to pro survival
if nature’s capacity to renew
itself is seriously impaired. It
must also be remembered that
human behavior is intimately
related to the availability of
basic resources (Barnaby,
1989).
● When a shortage of resources
threatens lifestyles or life itself,
rivalry for resources can lead to
aggression and violent conflict.

8. Types of Violence
• Betty Reardon, a peace educator who has made significant
contributions to the field, defines violence as “humanly inflicted
harm” (Reardon, n.d.). It is a succinct description of what constitutes
violence in contrast to other types of harms that result from natural
causes.

10. • There are various forms of violence two of
which are mentioned in the earlier
discussion: physical or direct violence
and structural violence.
• Other forms of violence are described in
the conceptual map of violence that was
done by Toh Swee-Hin and Virginia
Cawagas (1987). It is a typology that
indicates the various types/forms of
violence and some examples/illustrations
of each type in the personal,
interpersonal, social and global levels.

11. She cited economic structures that lead to
unequal chances as well as repression of the
freedom of speech and of choice and the
repression of one’s fulfillment as features of
indirect violence.
Birgit Brock-Utne (1989) notes
that direct violence can be
categorized as organized or
unorganized.
Organized violence refers to
war which she describes as
organized and collective violence
which occurs between states or
within a state.
Unorganized violence includes
wife battering, rape, child abuse
and street crime.
She also notes that indirect
violence can either shorten life
span or reduce quality of life.

12. A Culture of Peace
• The UNESCO preamble tells us that “Since wars begin
in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the
defenses of peace must be constructed.” In keeping
with its mission, UNESCO began the Culture of Peace
Programme and it saw the potential of the programme to
become a global movement. The Declaration on a Culture
of Peace was eventually adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly in 1999.

13. What is a culture of peace? The Declaration (UN, 1998)
states that “a culture of peace is a set of values,
attitudes, traditions, modes of behavior and ways of
life that reflect and inspire:
• respect for life and for all human rights;
• rejection of violence in all its forms and commitment to the
• prevention of violent confict by tackling their root causes through dialogue
and negotiation;
• commitment to full participation in the process of equitably meeting the
needs of present and future generations;
• promotion of the equal rights and opportunities of women and men;
• recognition of the right of everyone to freedom of expression,
• opinion and information;
• devotion to principles of freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity,
cooperation, pluralism, cultural diversity, dialogue and understanding
between nations, between ethnic, religious, cultural and other groups, and
between individuals.

14. A Philippine Framework toward a
Culture of Peace
• In the Philippines, a culture of peace framework has been developed out of the
experiences and reflections of peace advocates in the country. The figure below is
a graphic representation of this framework and was called from the work of an
active Mindanao peace advocate, Antonio J. Ledesma, S.J., Archbishop of
Cagayan de Oro (Ledesma, 2007).
• In the following figure, six dimensions and six values are indicated. The categories
are not meant to be exhaustive but they represent the major concerns and the
needed values for the building of a culture of peace in the Philippines. To move
closer to the goal of establishing a peace culture, it is absolutely important that
personal and family integrity are protected and promoted.

16. Keeping the self and the family whole, in view of the various forms of
brokenness that surround them, is a foundation of a peace culture.
 Respect for human dignity, fundamental freedoms, democratic
participation, the fulfillment of basic needs and economic equity are
also major concerns in this framework because the aforementioned are
roots of peace.
Likewise, intercultural understanding or the acceptance and respect for
the “different other” as well as caring for the environment contribute to
peace. In view of the continuing threat of armed conflicts in the country,
the cessation of armed hostilities is a major concern as well as the
reallocation of scarce resources from “arms to farms” or from
buying/stockpiling weapons to undertaking activities that would redound
to people’s benefit.

17. Cultural Traditions with a Broad
Concept of Peace
The Greek concept of “irene” implies harmony and justice as well as the absence of physical violence.
The Arabic “sala’am” and the Hebrew “shalom” embrace not only the absence of war but also well-being,
wholeness, and harmony with one’s self and also between individuals, within a community, and among
nations.
“Shalom” also means love, full health, prosperity, redistribution of goods and reconciliation.
The Sanskrit concept of “shanti” refers not only to spiritual contentment but also to peace of mind, peace of
the earth, peace underneath the seas, peace in outer space-truly a cosmic view of peace.
The Chinese “ping” implies harmony, achieving a unity out of diversity, comparable to the ancient Chinese
concept of integrating seemingly opposed ele- ments as represented in the principles of yin and yang
(Barash, 1999).
It can be said that a holistic understanding of peace has been derived, on one hand, from a critical and
practical analysis of what the yearning for a durable peace really demands (that is, it demands both the
rejection of violence and the pursuit of certain positive conditions.). At the same time, the holistic view is also
derived from certain ethical, cultural and historical roots that have influenced today’s peace thinking.