Education for Peace

Training for a Civilization of Peace

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Welcome to Education for Peace

Welcome to the Education for Peace (EFP) Blog!

The wish for peace has always occupied a special place in the hearts and minds of people. However, humanity forever has lived in conditions of conflict and violence. And now it seems that many people have given up on the idea of peace and have concluded that we humans are by nature violent. This is a devastating and wrong conclusion. The purpose of this site is to discuss the nature of peace, the requirements for peace, and the way we as individuals and communities of people could create peace—inner peace, interpersonal peace, inter-group peace, global peace.

We will begin with the role of the individual in creating peace. We have a choice regarding peace. We have a choice to be peaceful or filled with anxiety, fear, and anger. We have a choice to be a unifier or create conflicts and animosities. We have a choice to make peace-creating decisions or conflict-creating decisions. We can resolve our differences peacefully or vengefully. We have a choice regarding justice, regarding equality, regarding universality. We are free agents in the arena of life and we are capable of creating truly free, just, and peaceful families, communities, nations, and the world.

But to accomplish these we need to learn the ways of peace. We will begin by focussing on the fundamental requirements and principles of peace and on how we can put them into action in our lives. And this is what we hope to do together.

You are most welcomed to join us in this task. We deeply appreciate your comments, questions, and suggestions.

International Education for Peace Institute – Canada www.efpinternational.org

Making our schools even better!

What is the primary purpose of education?
Is there a relationship between education and civilization?
What is the main quality of a progressive civilization?
Does your school reflect the main qualities of a civilized environment?
What is the relationship between civilization and peace?
What is the relationship between peace and education?

Does your school offer a “peace-based education”?

What is the relationship between conflict and civilization?
What is the relationship between conflict and violence?
How about bullying and education?

Is your school conflicted? Violent? does it have bullies?
How about “peace-based education” for your school?

For details of courses on Education for Peace (EFP) see EFP Academy at http://www.efpinternational.org/efp-academy

The Victims of Violence

Ninigui Village woman
Photo: P. Casier (CGIAR)

 

Social conflicts have always been with humanity. But, they seem to be more frequent and destructive in our highly populated, diverse, and technologically advanced world. Consequently many people are suffering. These disasters cause emotional, interpersonal, and social problems. Among emotional problems are sadness, anger, fear, guilt, depression, and discontent. Some interpersonal difficulties caused by violence are marital conflict, family breakdown, and mutual mistrust. Also, such problems as crime, racism, and drug and alcohol abuse, as well as gender inequality, extreme poverty, and disregard of universal human rights and responsibilities are often present in conditions of conflict and violence. Problems caused by human conflict and violence are so devastating because humans make choices and with choice comes responsibility.

In every act of violence there are perpetrators, primary victims, and secondary victims (bystanders, relatives, friends, etc.). Both perpetrators and victims of violence need healing and recovery. To prevent human violence effectively and fully, we must help perpetrators and victims alike. The act of killing another human being is fundamentally an un-human act. Among the main qualities of humanness is love and respect for life, in general, and for human life, in particular. Through our love of life, we have reverence for life and express our humanness. For this reason one of the main functions of the military establishment and leaders in acts of terrorism is to convince their soldiers and subordinates that “the enemy” is a dangerous subhuman species. Thus, they are “justified” and have the “responsibility” to kill such an enemy and by so doing, both protect their own and their kin’s lives and simultaneously reaffirm their own humanness.

Perpetrators of violence usually deal with the negative consequences of their own actions in three ways:

  • Self-destruction through carelessness, neglect, alcohol and substance abuse, self-loathing, and other personal/interpersonal destructive behavior;
  • Self-delusion, believing that they have committed no wrong and continue in their ways if not prevented; and
  • Self-correction, through good deeds, repentance, acceptance of punishment, prayer, and begging for forgiveness.

All three groups would benefit from an appropriate healing and recovery program. To be continued in coming blogs.

(H.B. Danesh)

 

Conflict and Unity

puzzle pieces

Image by Brad Montgomery

We live in a conflicted world and quite often we experience conflict ourselves. In fact, conflict is so universally present that we take it for granted and consider conflict as an inevitable part of life. This approach to conflict has significant consequences; among them is the fact that by taking conflict for granted, our efforts to resolve it often fails and conflict turn into violence. There is, however, another way of understanding conflict—conflict as absence of unity.

Unity is the primary law of existence. Life takes place in the context of unity and when the law of unity is violated, conflict and violence is the outcome. Everything that exists is the outcome of the operation of the law of unity. At the physical level, the law of unity ensures order and stability in the manner in which subatomic particles, atoms, molecules, stars, and galaxies cohere and operate in a harmonious and integrated manner. At the biological level, the very process of formation and continuation of life is dependent on the proper operation of the law of unity. The same is true at the social level. Families are happy, healthy, and stable when unity exists between all its members. Communities of people prosper and are safe in the context of unity, and nations advance in every area when peace is present. At all levels of human life—intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, and international—unity, not conflict, is the fundamental operative and creative force.

What is unity? Unity is a conscious and purposeful condition of convergence of two or more diverse entities in a state of harmony, integration, and cooperation to create a new and evolving entity or entities, usually, of a same or higher nature.

What is conflict? Conflict is, simply, the absence of unity.

To create peace we need to learn the ways of unity. (H.B. Danesh)

 

12 Week Online Courses with Leading Peace Educators

The Transcend Peace University TPU is an all-online university, currently headed by Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung. Their inter-disciplinary courses are designed to cover issues pertaining to peace and development studies. TPU seeks to promote trans-border, inter-disciplinary peace studies, and make them accessible to as wide a community as possible. For this, they have opted for an online format. Recently, corresponding tutorials and courses on-site can be attended at the associated Galtung-Institut in Germany (www.galtung-institut.de)

The Galtung-Institut for Peace Theory and Peace Practice (G.I.) is a reflection of the program of TRANSCEND International and is the on-site carrier of the TRANSCEND Peace University (TPU) program, offering on-site tutorials on Conflict Transformation in Grenzach-Wyhlen in Germany.

The G.I. is a multilingual, independent research- resource- and study-center for peace founded in May 2011 by Prof. Galtung, his three assistants, two professors of peace and conflict studies, two former representatives of the U.N and a former representative of the Goethe-Institut. The G.I. is proud to be related to TRANSCEND International  the premier global network of specialists working for Peace, Development and Environment by peaceful, developmental and environmental means.

In the upcoming term, March 5th to May 25, 2012, the following courses are being offered:

Advanced Conflict Theory by Prof. Johan Galtung

Peace Econonics by Prof. Johan Galtung

Education for Peace by Dr. H.B. Danesh

Principles of peace-based leadershp and governance by Dr. H.B. Danesh

Nonviolence by Prof. Jørgen Johansen

Methods of Analysis & Research for Peace by Prof. Alberto l’Abate

The Crisis of Democracy and Capitalism: From the Arab Spring to China’s Bloggers to Occupy Wall Street by Prof. Paul Scott

All online course are designed for fully-employed participants and students who want to broaden their expertise additionally to their professional work combining autonomous work, exchange with participants from all over the world and constant feedback from highly experienced course instructors.

To enrol visit Transcend Peace Universities website.

 

 

Creating Bullying-Free Schools

image of heart drawn in the sand

In recent months in Canada we have experienced loss of precious, innocent lives of young people who killed themselves when the evil impacts of continuous bullying by a few cowardly classmates made living too difficult for them to endure. Unfortunately, these individuals are neither the first nor the last innocent victims of this malignant practice.

 

Let us reflect on some facts. From the economic, human, and natural resources Canada is one of the most fortunate countries in the whole world.  Many Canadian schools, compared to schools in other parts of the world, have the highest economic resources, the most educated teachers and administrators, and, by and large, very concerned and involved parents. 

Canada has one of the most diverse populations with people from all countries, races and ethnic backgrounds. As such CANADA IS THE WORLD and the WORLD IS IN CANADA

And yet, in spite of these remarkable facts we have schools that are unsafe, burdened with conflict, with enough bullies to have many innocent victims.

We need to correct this enormous challenge and we can do it.

Undertaking any monumental task such as this, three specific conditions are required:

  • COURAGE: Courage to acknowledge that we have a challenge, the problem of bullying;
  • HUMILITY: Willingness and openness to seek new answers; and
  • VISION :ability to transcend the immediate obstacles and see new and broader horizons.

Bullying is not only a sign of fear, cowardice, self-doubt, and self-hate, it is also a product of ignorance of what makes us human. Once parents and teachers begin to teach children and youth about their humanness, bullying will become as rare and unacceptable as other inhumane practices such as slavery and fascism.

In my considered view and based on my experience with scores of schools, thousands of teachers, tens of thousands of students and their parents, the new horizons for reform of our schools lie on the foundations of PEACE.