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DRC’s future: Youth must be engaged in non-violent movements

By
Christian Cito
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Op-ed: Christian Cito Cirhigiri is a peace journalist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and founder of the Peacemaker 360 campaign.

The risks of violent protests, and the emergence of a civil war, are imminent in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) if President Kabila holds on to power beyond December 2017. Among many efforts to prevent further escalation of violence and deterioration of democracy, Catholic church leaders through CENCO, a network of Catholic bishops in Congo, have been instrumental in leading top-down efforts aimed at diffusing tensions among parties supporting president Kabila, opposition parties, and social movements ready for a political change. However, in order to be more effective, Catholic Church leaders’ advocacy efforts for peace needs to be supplemented by a bottom-up youth-led movement against violence.

A non-violent youth movement would act as a mechanism to credibly channel frustrations against the government. While protesting is a useful tool to manifest anger, youth run the risk of being killed – government forces have violently repressed all forms of civil disobedience. Supporting an ecumenical non-violent youth movement, the Catholic Church would expand its base to include half of the Congolese population, which belongs to other faith traditions. Together, the church would be able to foster non-violent spaces where young people from all faith backgrounds critically explore alternatives to pressure the current regime, from a united front. Such work would require that religious leaders put aside their differences in order to intensify an inter-faith dialogue aimed at defining common advocacy approaches for a swift and peaceful democratic transition in Congo.

As a united inter-religious front, a youth movement would help revive Congo’s already weakened civil resistance by forging national cohesion for the immediate organizing of elections, in the short term, to the strengthening of democratic institutions, in the long term. According to one study between 1900 and 2006, campaigns of non-violent resistance were more than twice as effective as their violent counterparts (Maria Stephan & Erica Chenoweth, 2012). These movements have resulted in successful transitions of power despite complex political situations such as in Iran, the Palestinian territories, the Philippines, and Burma. Similarly, a youth movement would result in strategic organizing and training of youth in civic education in order to better articulate its agenda for a peaceful and democratic transition, within legal boundaries.

In August 2017, young faith leaders from various religious backgrounds launched Jeunes Croyants Congolais en Action (JCCA), a non-violent and apolitical movement of young faith leaders who meet once a month to pray together, critically examine their roles in promoting peace, democracy, and sustainable development, in their communities. JCCA is active in Kinshasa, Kasai Oriental, Haut Kasai, and Goma, and continues to spread to other provinces. The motto of the movement is “Together let’s pray for Congo. Together let’s non-violently act for Congo’s peace and stability. Together, let´s save our future”. With more than 400 members from diverse faith backgrounds holding monthly prayers and vigils for the DRC, JCCA is one existing group that – if scaled up into a larger ecumenical youth movement and supported by inter-religious leaders – could shape the church´s political leadership. Young faith leaders face many risks in their non-violent resistance but are a burgeoning hope of positive inter-religious opposition to the current political impasse. Among other parallel efforts, Catholic Church leaders through CENCO can stimulate growth of such grassroots movements as part of their current contributions for a positive democratic transition in the DRC.

Photo: JCCA members, supplied by Christian Cito

Israel-Palestine: Taking Peace into their Own Hands

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admin
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The Israel-Palestinian conflict has been raging for 70 years. Numerous peace attempts have been made at a state level, but a different approach is emerging.

The Minds of Peace experiment tried something new in peace negotiations.

“One of the missing components in almost all of the peace processes so far is the participation of the people in the struggle to end the conflict,” said Dr Sapir Handelman, Minds of Peace founder.

“Without public involvement, it is impossible to build an effective peace process and to end the conflict,” he said.

Minds for Peace host public meetings where rival group representatives can negotiate solutions.

“The idea is very simple: You take an Israeli delegation, and a Palestinian delegation, in front of an audience, and the most important thing within the delegation is to seek people from within all the political spectrum and from all walks of life,” Dr Handelman said.

They have conducted 26 public negotiations in the past 3 years, about difficult issues like borders, Jerusalem, refugees, and security. Almost all ended with agreements.

“Our mission is to translate this result to a mass movement that will lead to the establishment of a major Israeli-Palestinian public negotiating congress with political power,” Dr Handelman said.

“We have two choices…killing each other or living together,” said a congress attendee, Maze. “And the whole Israeli [delegation} and the whole Palestinian [delegation] – all of them said to me ‘we want to live together’.”

People Choosing Peace: Angelica (Colombia)

By
Peace News Staff
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I was born in Buga, a town in the Cauca Valley, a region where the sun shines all year long, where Salsa moves everyone’s hips and the Pacific Ocean blesses you. I have been always a migrant, always traveling and exploring, but London has managed to enchant me with its multiple faces.

I arrived eight years ago to study and to stay, at least for a while. At that time, I felt Colombia hostile and distant to whom I was. But life is humble and it will always give you a deeper and broader perspective of things you once thought were definitive.

For that reason, I found myself looking for my roots and on this path, the Truth, Memory and Reconciliation Commission was the perfect re-encounter with Colombia: it gave me a strong, challenging and very real taste of the country I left, but it also prized me with a loving, generous and life-changing experience.

The Commission has been a door to a gifted world, a world of art and politics, creativity and self-expression. But most of all, a world in which it is possible to contribute to peacebuilding for my own country from abroad. Peace does not have borders and we do not stop being Colombians when we’re not living at home. Distance shouldn’t be a reason for not actively contributing to the achievement of peace in one’s homeland.

This is precisely why, despite being a migrant, I am today part of a project that looks to burst disruptively into the political landscape of Colombia through the empowerment of ordinary citizens; within Colombia, and amongst Colombians abroad.

This project has been challenging, but we have been blessed with the strength of those brave and determined leaders from the most difficult and forgotten regions of my country. Despite putting their lives at risk every day, they are still willing to give everything to achieve a more peaceful country. There is much to learn from them.

There are still so many more things to do, many more stories to share, and much more to create. But, for now, I want to leave this note thanking the Commission for all it has given us, for the photographs and for this space that allows to us express who we are.

Source: Conciliation Resources Photo: Ingrid Guyon/Conciliation Resources

Reintegration or Re-recruitment: Preventing Old Wars from Fueling New Wars

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admin
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The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), devastated Uganda, and its neighbors, for decades, and its leader Joseph Kony became infamous with the Kony2012 campaign. An estimated 12,906 fighters have returned to civilian after fighting with the LRA, but when fighters return from armed groups their prospects are often limited. Now, experts are alarmed that many are being re-recruited into other violent groups.

“You have youth who are incredibly vulnerable to armed group recruitment,” said Sean Poole, from Invisible Children.

“Whether that is forced recruitment because they live in a really remote location, or incentivized recruitment, that we see so much of in the Central African Republic or the Democratic Republic of the Congo where armed groups become the most viable employment offer in a region,” Mr Poole said.

Returned LRA fighter, Ogot, was abducted when he was 15, and spent 5 years with the rebel group. He told us that violence is a difficult pattern to change after returning.

“Because, you know, when you are in the bush your mind is thinking of killing, arresting [abducting] others. Then afterwards you want to destroy the whole world – you have that black heart,” Ogot said.

“We continue to see victims of one conflict be enveloped into another and we are seeing that right now with central Africa and South Sudan,” said Mr Poole.

“I would say there’s no easy solution to these problems but we see the strongest efforts to push back against armed-group recruitment at the local level, so we really push that we should be supporting local leaders who are developing community-to-community interventions to support victims that are returning and limit the exposure of individuals to armed-group recruitment,” he said.

Aid agencies are providing psycho-social support and conflict-sensitive education for returnees.

“Like Gulu Support the Children Organization (GUSCO), and those of Windle Trust, who gave us advice, and they were even taking others to school,” said Ogot.

“GUSCO helped us a lot, giving me advice. You could stay there and [they would] counsel you like they were your real parents.”

Could Direct Talks Build Peace between the USA and North Korea?

By
Peace News Staff
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Despite harsh rhetoric from the USA and North Korea increasing fears of another Korean war, and concerns over nuclear threats, recent talk of peace negotiations have provided some hope.

A ceasefire agreement ended the Korean War in 1953, but a full peace treaty was never signed, and now with North Korea testing its nuclear program, tensions have reached a dangerous level. A war of words between Washington and Pyongyang has observers worried.

“The United States has great strength and patience with its allies, but if it’s forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” US President Donald Trump said at the United Nations in September.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reciprocated, stating that “The mentally deranged behavior of the U.S. president…insulted me and my country…Action is the best option in treating the dotard…”.

The situation has major repercussions for the rest of the world, even before it reaches the level of war.

“Any kind of instability in Asia that raises the specter of war, at a minimum could rattle global markets, and at a maximum could bring us into a global recession,” said Gregg Brazinsky, a specialist on U.S.-East Asian relations at The George Washington University.

Suggestions for resolving the crisis have included economic sanctions, military strikes on North Korea’s nuclear facilities, and the forging of a protective nuclear agreement between China and North Korea.

Former US president Jimmy Carter has had a lot of experience negotiating with North Korea and he said that none of the suggestions offer and immediate way to end the present crisis, because the Pyongyang government believes its survival is at stake.

So, what could help de-escalate tensions?

“I think better mutual understanding between the United States and North Korea – I think Americans’ overall understanding of North Korea and why they’re developing nuclear weapons programs and why they’re so hostile to the United States is very poor,” Dr Brazinsky said.

“I think a lot of what the North Koreans really want is direct talks,” he said.

President Carter said from his experience direct talks were indeed what leaders in North Korea wanted – he even offered to attend negotiations himself, if need be.

“I admire Former President Carter’s commitment to peace and I believe he’s very sincere in wanting to try an bring about a solution, I am just skeptical that he alone could accomplish very much, there needs to be a broader shift in US policy for us to achieve anything in this situation,” Dr Brazinsky said.

Peace talks could take several different forms, one option is multi-lateral talks – involving other nations like South Korea and China, but some observers believe direct talks between the US and North Korea may have more success.

“Of course we would have to be very cautious in keeping South Korea informed on everything we do if we were to undertake this kind of bi-lateral talk, but I do think this kind of direct approach might enable us to improve the overall climate of US-North Korean relations in a way that the multi-lateral talks never seem to,” Dr Brazinsky said.

“You know, it’s not going to change North Korea overnight, it may not even get them to abandon their nuclear weapons program, but it would make them less likely to use any weapons they develop against the United States and our allies, and I think that’s what we really want,” he said.

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