The Hindu : Kerala News : Adding woman’s touch to peacemaking

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Monday, Mar 31, 2008
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Adding woman’s touch to peacemaking

“There is so much of violence around because societies continue to train men for war.”

Isabelle Geuskens

Peace activist Isabelle Geuskens speaks to John L. Paul on the importance of the idea of non-violence.

The biggest challenge facing peacemakers across the globe is the double-standards of developed countries, most of which preach peace while minting money exporting weapons to undeveloped countries and groups that are at war, affirms Isabelle Geuskens, programme manager of the Women Peacemakers Programme (WPP) of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR).

The 31-year-old Ms. Geuskens, who hails from Holland, was in Kochi recently for the launch of the Asian Regional Desk of the WPP. “As agents of civil society, we educate people on the need for peace and pressurise governments to shun violence and weapons manufacture. Governments must understand that people can be empowered through active non-violence.”

She was drawn to the movement very early in life and spent many years in war-torn Bosnia and Northern Ireland. According to her, most conflicts arise after there is some false propaganda followed by shrewd manipulation of facts. “The mental barriers ought to be broken at first,” she says.

IFOR believes in the power of people to bring about change. In most places, people have to be taught non-violence because the emphasis is often on violence or a bloody revolution to bring about change. WPP also faces major obstacles in European countries, where capitalism and too much of individualism have made it difficult to create a mass movement decrying violence and war.

Ms. Geuskens points out that there is so much of violence around because societies continue to train men for war. “We need to make men more peace-loving, since they have the inherent capacity to be loving and nurturing,” she says.

Ms. Geuskens believes that education has a crucial role to play in spreading non-violence. “Out in Holland, academic text books do not speak of people like Mahatma Gandhi. Governments and curriculum framers must change their mindset and include topics on non-violence and reconciliation in text books,” she says.

The WPP strives to make people and peace organisations aware of women’s strengths at peace making and negotiations. Despite being the worst affected in war and strife, women are generally not taken seriously in these issues. The U.N. had in 2000 recognised that women are crucial stakeholders in peace initiatives. The programme is trying to link together peace organisations in different countries by training over 40 women peace leaders, who have in turn trained over 3,000 people, including men. The WPP is most active in Asia and Africa and work with women at the grassroots level. Martin Luther King was a member of IFOR and the organisation has won six Nobel Prizes for peace. The forum’s has adopted Mr. King as the role model for evolving strategies like the Civil Rights Movement.

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