Understanding Peace

To a layman, peace is calmness, mutual understanding, absence of war, orderliness, justice in the society. Professionally speaking, peace is beyond these even though it is quite correct. Peace is actually the absence of physical violence, psychological violence, structural violence and also the presence of

Justice.

Physical violence could be in the form of someone attacking one to cause bodily harm or injuries such as slapping, beating, kicking or the use of weapons. Psychological violence is built into the behavior of the aggressor without physically assaulting the victim. Examples of this violence includes calling people racial names, calling one names that depicts clearly his/her disability of problems which Makes them feel insulted, humiliated or being secluded from certain benefits amongst other people.

Structural violence has to do with the institutional frameworks of the society where certain structures favor some people at the expense of others and which breeds feelings of deprivation, inequality, social dissatisfaction, human rights abuses among others. Justice simply means giving to others according to his or her due. When this is absent, injustice becomes inevitable.

There is absolutely no country in the world where absolute peace is present. In fact, there is no such thing as permanent peace anywhere in the world; all that is present is sustained peace through the efforts of both state (government) and non-state actors (civil society organizations, social groups, influential individuals, communities etc). The absence of just one or more of the violence mentioned earlier means NO peace while the presence of all of the violence means WAR.

Philosophical view of Peace

Peace according to St. Augustine is the God given state of human existence. For him, it is the pre-corruption state of man. He distinguished between two cities: the city of God and the city of man. The city of God is founded on perfect peace and spiritual salvation and the earthly city of man which is founded on appetitive and possessive impulses is one that is corrupt and thorn by strife.

According to Jean Jacques Rousseau, peace is concerned with what he calls the ‘state of nature’- the original state of existence of man in which there are no desires. In that state of nature men were free, gentle, and savage. In this state of nature, men were naturally good. However, this tranquil state subsequently became corrupted by human desires and greed, thus undermining the pristine ‘state of nature’. He made a scathing attack on ‘private property’ which he saw as a major reason for the depravity of man.

For Thomas Hobbes, his argument is that the ‘state of nature’ was filled with conflict and violence. In this original state, a great man could be killed in his sleep or overwhelmed by great numbers of men. Life was solitary, nasty, brutish, poor, and short. In order to escape this nasty life, men resolved to create a social contract in which each gave up his/her right of self defense to the “Leviathan” which is a powerful force above all and to which all were subject, thus creating a more peaceful and orderly life.

To Plato, he took into account man’s social context in his discourse of peace. He discusses “Justice” as the most fundamental basis of ordered social life. To him, Justice is the basis of peaceful social existence. He defines justice as giving to each according to his or her due/needs.

Forms of Peace

Former United Nations Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali in his “agenda for peace” clearly defines the forms of peace in the international community as clearly stated in the United Nations Charter. The forms of peace are the various ways through which peace can be enhanced in any society. They are preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacekeeping, peace enforcement and post conflict peace building.

Preventive diplomacy are actions taken to prevent disputes from arising between parties, to prevent existing disputes from escalating into conflicts and to limit the spread of the latter when they occurred. Peacemaking is action taken to bring hostile parties to negotiated agreement, especially through such peaceful means as those foreseen in Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter.

Peacekeeping is the deployment of a United Nations presence in the field, hitherto with the consent of all parties concerned, normally involving the United Nations military and/or police personnel and frequently civilians as well. It is through peacekeeping that cease fire is maintained between belligerent parties and agreements are signed. The peacekeeping armed forces use the blue helmet and are lightly armed for self defense and the protection of civilians.

Peace enforcement is used to enforce the will of the United Nations. It is used where there is total breakdown of law and order within a nation such that it has lead to many civilian deaths, total abuse of the constitution of the state and it is affecting neighboring states. In this case, peace enforcement is of utmost importance with the use of armed forces to bring peace to the nation by all means, dislodge the belligerent combatants and protect innocent civilians. In this case, there is no restriction to the activities of the armed forces to ensure peace.

Post conflict peace building is action taken to identify and support structures which would to strengthen and solidify peace in order to avoid a relapse into conflict. Under the post conflict peace building, issues are involved such as disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation, reintegration, International tribunals to try war crimes, religious models focused on forgiveness and reconciliation, Liberal models focused on Human Rights and freedom, reparations, Order, conciliation and Justice.

Peace in Africa

Peace to Africans is achievable in the sense that it is imbedded in the concept of Ubuntu that originated from the East, Central, Horn and southern part of Africa. Ubuntu as concept does not have one a single meaning attached to it and encompasses such good virtues as compassion, generosity, compromise, tolerance, unity, empathy, forgiveness, sharing, care, sense of belonging among others. When an African say ‘Yu U Nobuntu’, it means that he or she has Ubuntu. In fact, ‘In Xhosa Ubuntu Ugamtu Ngabanye abantu’ means ‘I am because I share, I participate, I belong’

However, the concept of Ubuntu is gradually losing its treasured meaning among Africans given the new wars, intra and inter-ethnic clashes, genocide, xenophobic attacks, post election violence and the latest of all which is the issue of immigration and religious extremism and terrorism. In recent years, there are cases of suicide bombings which were previously alien to the African people.

Finally

It must be noted that it is only in the atmosphere of peace that development and seed of hope can take place that we can demonstrate being our brother’s keeper. In order to ensure peace in our society, we must involve women in all formal and informal peace processes; ensure inter-faith dialogue among the various religions as well as separation of religion from politics, follow the ‘Golden Rule Principle’ which states that ‘do to others what you want others to do to you’, teaming up to fight extremism in all its ramifications, preserving human rights and justice by all means