Agape
International Political Camp, 15-21 August 2015, Prali, Italy
Peace
Pedagogy: Towards New Paradigms for People’s Security
Manifesto
Preamble
1. We are a group of more than 50 activists, students, social workers,
artists, teachers and pastors coming from different regions of the world, from
different religions and from different backgrounds and social contexts. We have
gathered together at the Agape Centro Ecumenico in Prali, Italy from 15 to 21
August 2015 to critically examine the current deathdealing geo-political and
economic order and to articulate new paradigms of people’s security as well as
a pedagogy of and for peace.
2. We recognize that we live in a time of empire that is generating
tremendous insecurity for the majority of people in the name of security for an
elite minority. In contrast, we envision a world where all people, regardless
of class, gender, race/ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation, experience
genuine security, that is: a nurturing and healthy ecosystem as well as freedom
from all forms of poverty and violence. Towards this end, it is our urgent and
crucial task to cultivate and practice a pedagogy of and for peace founded on
justice.
Deconstructing empire
3. We understand empire as the coming together of political, military,
cultural and economic powers constituting a system of domination led by
powerful states and transnational corporations, in collusion with national
elites within states, to protect and defend their interests
.
Empire manifests itself in many ways: from the more obvious global war on
terror that has claimed the lives of millions of innocent civilians and
triggered massive migration from strife-torn lands to the less apparent
austerity measures and structural adjustment programs enforced by global
financial institutions in many countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean for many decades and now in indebted European countries such as
Greece.
4. Empire peddles a false sense of security and, through a media
apparatus that sows suspicion and fear, narrowly defines security as the prevention
of acts of terrorism, where the terrorist label is now increasingly applied to
minority groups and those who dare to challenge or critique the prevailing
system. In the name of national security, wars are being waged in many parts of
the world and legalized systems of surveillance and control have been imposed
on – and curtailing the rights of – entire populations, especially those who
are considered different on account of class, gender, skin color, religion and
sexual orientation. In this way, empire deepens divisions and inequities along
class, gender, racial/ethnic and religious lines.
5. Motivated by the objectives of economic expansion and profit, empire
dispossesses and therefore impoverishes already marginalized peoples and
communities. Resource-rich lands are being grabbed from indigenous peoples and
plundered by transnational corporations with the complicity of military and
para-military forces. In diverting national budgets to military expenditures and
imposing economic austerity, empire strangles resources for health, education
and other social programs. It is invested in keeping youth in poverty, and then
promotes the military profession as an avenue to escape from poverty. It uses
the prison industry to deal with ‘problematic’ groups: it is easier to lock
these people up than to ensure the provision of decent and fulfilling jobs. At
the same time, empire profits from never-ending war. A mass of investment
banks, military technology developers, arms and weapon dealers, privatized
prison systems, etc. make up the military industrial complex, which is worth
trillions of US dollars.
Redefining security from the perspective of people
6. Language affects how we perceive and construct reality. Therefore,
if we are to break destructive cycles of war and violence, we must create a new
vocabulary of peace that will promote a culture of peace. We must reclaim and
redefine such terms as ‘security’ and ‘democracy’ from the perspective of
people, rather than the perspective of states, corporations and other powerful
institutions.
7. From the standpoint of people and communities, genuine security may
be articulated as the holding together of justice, peace and integrity of
creation. Therefore, promoting people’s security entails protection against
such threats as hunger, homelessness, joblessness, disease, violence in all its
forms including against LGBT communities, and human-induced ecological
disasters such as nuclear contamination and global warming. People’s security
is based on the principles of democracy, self-determination and sovereignty:
all of us have the right to participate in political and economic
decision-making processes that impact our lives and communities. It is
concerned with closing socio-economic gaps including through the design and
implementation of equitable financial and economic structures and policies,
creation of dignified employment and the universal provision of quality
healthcare and education. It is preoccupied with safeguarding the health of our
increasingly polluted and fragile ecosystems.
8. All over the world, various movements – feminist, LGBT, indigenous
peoples,’ antimilitarism, pro-democracy, anti-globalization and ecological
movements – are already engaged in realizing alternative visions and paradigms
of people’s security. Their struggles are a deep source of hope.
Pedagogy of and for peace
9. Now, more than ever, we believe it essential to expound a pedagogy
of and for peace in order to have the tools and the means to: challenge dominant
narratives that rationalize and justify wars; resist violence and oppression in
all forms; defend life; and advance social, economic and ecological justice
which form the foundation of a genuine and lasting peace.
10. While the contents of a peace pedagogy will depend on our varying
contexts and circumstances, some fundamental principles and defining features
may be identified. A peace pedagogy teaches us to value and respect the
intrinsic rights of all human beings, communities, and the whole creation. It
entails a careful listening to voices that have been deliberately silenced. It
enables us to engage in: critical personal and collective reflection on how we
may be imbibing or contributing to a culture of violence and domination;
creative dialogue with “the other” – or those who are different from us –
according to values of transparency, respect, and acceptance of diversity; and
activism for and together with the victims of an imperial world order.
11. A pedagogy of peace exposes the root causes of wars and violence:
greed for power and profit. It equips us with methodologies that will help us
to make everyday choices as well as deal with conflicts at varying levels
without resorting to violence or abuse of power. It necessitates continuous
dialogue between theory and practice: theory must enrich practice and practice
must enrich theory. It involves a constant process of unlearning the logic of
exploitation and accumulation and (re)learning how to build just and equitable
relationships from the level of households to the global level. Such a process
rarely happens in the formal confines of the classroom alone, but in our
everyday interactions with society and the rest of creation. A pedagogy of
peace has to be open to all and developed by all in a participatory and
democratic manner. It is a way to recognize our personal and collective
responsibility for constructing a better world and cultivating the conditions
for peace. Such a pedagogy takes us nearer to a spirituality of resistance and
transformation as an ethical political and religious stance.
Strategies to overcome empire, promote people’s security and a pedagogy
of peace
12. In summary, we discern the following as important strategies:
·
Expose and confront systems and structures that sustain empire such as the
military industrial complex, the neoliberal economic agenda, classism,
patriarchy, racism, and religious fundamentalism through deconstructing
dominant narratives of security and development and mobilizing our communities
to protest against injustices in all its manifestations;
·
Dismantle economic structures of militarism by challenging the commodification
of security and the justification for huge industrial prison complexes, and by
demanding transparency and accountability from our governments with regard to
military budgets and the costs – financial, human and ecological – of national
security programs;
· Lift
up and amplify the voices and stories of the many victims of empire and develop
and expand networks of solidarity from the local to the global level; and
·
‘De-school’ by re-appropriating and re-imagining what ‘security’ and
‘democracy’ mean from the perspective of people and by actively practicing a
pedagogy of and for peace that enables: critical awareness about self, others
and the systems and structures that maintain empire; consciousness of the
sacredness and inherent dignity of all life forms – human and non-human; and a
spirituality of resistance and transformation.
