Author: Tajana Vlaisavljevic (Zagreb, Croatia)
Although the course touched on different areas and challenges of working in the field of peacebuilding in divided societies, while deciding what to write about, I kept coming back to the area I have a strong love and a strong resentment towards- education. Short explanation to the question what I have a strong love for it- the potential of young people. What I have a strong resentment towards- almost everything else about the education systems I used to work in; because I believe they could help to develop that potential so much more.
I kept telling myself that I could look into something different this time, that I am also interested and would love to focus more on gender, work place and workers’ rights, or doing peacebuilding work in the West (now that I’m living here)…And all of that would be true. Still, I felt that I’m circling back to this old saying that the youth is our future and to the notion that persisting and amplifying its importance in the field of peacebuilding is a key element I want to focus on.
Maybe focusing on youth is in part shifting the responsibility from my and older generations to youth. After all, the mess we live in is the one we have created, and expecting them to deal with it is quite unfair, even with the most optimistic perception that we would be there to help. Nevertheless, I am impressed every time when young women such as Malala Yousafzai or Greta Thunberg show us what leadership can look like. At the forums in Rwanda, organised by the local organisation GER and CFOR- the organisation I work for, strong and brave youth (mostly young women), challenged the elders, asked them to speak openly about the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, and wanted to actively be involved in the process of reconciliation. The pupils in Jajce, BiH fought against segregation in schools, and that story travelled well beyond the borders of their country. I find these young people incredibly inspiring in the way they are reclaiming their future. After seeing such examples, I can only ask myself- how can we support this youth, amplify their voices and ideas, and how do we create an environment in which more of them can thrive?
When we are linking youth voices with the divided societies, it is also important to remember that ethnic conflicts have proven to be a recurrent phenomenon[1]. In addition, it’s a very complex one, and so are the models of prevention of such conflicts, where various additional tools need to be used to set foundation for sustainable, positive peace[2]. Otherwise, precisely the youth will be in the position to participate in the continuing cycles of violence.
Divided societies, as a consequence of ethnic conflicts, encounter numerous problems in relation to this division, as we have repeatedly heard during this course. They can manifest at all levels, from the community level to the state level: “In severely divided societies, ethnicity finds its way into a myriad of issues: development plans, educational controversies, trade union affairs, land policy, business policy, tax policy.” [3] And, as people embrace their ethnic identity through various sources (family members, neighbours, peers, wider community, education system, media and politics…) it is a particularly difficult challenge to have influence over the perception of “us” and “them”, and to tackle negative stereotypes, and the lack of understanding and trust created by the conflict. A lot can be said about the roles and influence all these different sources have on youth, and how peacebuilding work with the youth needs to include all of them. In this essay, the focus is on education as one of the tools which have the power to influence this perception and the division, because “it enables a large number of people to learn, simultaneously, which ethnic group they belong to and what are the cultural characteristics of that group.”[4] Also, there has to be awareness about the possible “manipulation, selection of reinterpretation of history for political or other purposes” which can become “an important activity in the creation and re-creation of ethnic allegiances.”[5] This essay acknowledges different influences education systems can have on youth in terms of the division, and it will try to express support to those practitioners and academics who claim that the education system is one of the tools that could also be used to significantly support peacebuilding efforts.
When introducing the question of the role of education in conflict and post-conflict societies, Tony Gallagher presents the two contrasted points of view. The first group he sees as optimists and says that it “...might be those who believe that education can subvert the process to the extent that alternative and peaceful discourses of change can emerge and prevent violent conflict breaking out in the first place.”, and the second group he calls the pessimists and states that it “...might be those who feel that the best we can hope for is that the experience of violent conflict will encourage people to see education as a route to the future.”[6] Over the years, I have aligned with both groups, which was accompanied with waves of both hopefulness and hopelessness while working in the education system in Croatia and briefly in north-eastern Greece. I could have approached this topic through the lens of several modules from the course, but if I need to select one lecture that I keep coming back to, it would be the one of Vahidin Omanovic and the example he gave when he was talking about the project they did in schools. Officially, they called it ‘Genocide prevention’, but it also incorporated many other topics related to diversity and awareness.[7] Just to think how much work first has to be put into designing the project and creating the workshops, and that this part is just the start. He talked about how they had to reach out to Ministries, meet with schools directors, to get to work with teachers, who would then implement these workshops in the classrooms. I believe that many practitioners in the fields of education and peacebuilding could recognise this long process, and some of the obstacles and benefits he has mentioned. His example was at times disheartening, but also immensely inspiring. One of the mentioned obstacles was the lack of support from people who were elected to represent the community and work in its best interest, and many could recognise the frustration that this lack of support brings in practitioners. This is aligned with Horowitz’s thought that “in divided societies, ethnic conflict is at the centre of politics.” [8], and as Vahidin eloquently explained it- it is challenging enough that the political structures don’t do their job, and even more difficult when they are actively undermining the work done by peacebuilders.
I would maybe even widen that thought and say that at every societal level, people who are appointed to serve the community in some way should have the responsibility to work in the best interest of that community, and help it thrive and develop its potential. And that they have to be held accountable if they don’t (whether they are politicians, religious leaders, community workers, teachers…). If we link it to the topic- again; the education system in ethnically diverse societies can be used in two different ways: as a means to deepen the division, biased view towards “the other”, and for glorifying a certain ethnic group; or as a platform on which different points of view can be presented, which will include all members of society along with their needs, beliefs and culture, and therefore as a foundation for building sustainable peace. That would be serving the community as a whole, as it would include all of its members. The latter way aligns with the inspiring part of Vahidin’s story- their workshops helped to create such platforms in schools where they finally managed to do their project.
When they got to the schools and implemented the project, the feedback from the teachers was that they finally learned who is sitting in their classrooms, and realised that they had prejudice and misconceptions about just how much diversity they are surrounded with, whether it was ethnic, religious or other kinds. As a result, most teachers included these workshops in their regular curriculum because they saw how beneficial they are both for the students, but also for them as practitioners, and as people.
However, the most important part of the whole story is, of course, the children. They said they realised how much they were hurting themselves by not speaking up about the discrimination and other problems they had faced in schools, how they learned how to express themselves without fear in front of the teachers and parents, and how they learned about their own prejudices and prejudices others had about them… If I am being completely honest, I’m even a little bit envious, as I never had the opportunity to learn something like that when I was in school. I did try to include more of similar topics and workshops in my teaching, although the curriculum was heavily monitored and overburdened, and the response from the pupils was very similar. And I believe these are the skills and values that everyone could benefit from, not only children.
When taking about the education in general and peace education in particular, there is one more layer I would like to add, and widen the topic a bit more by adding the voices of youth. Not just as passive recipients of knowledge/ skills/ values, but as active co-creators of the content and active contributors to the system. As I mentioned at the beginning of the essay- there are young people everywhere who have amazing ideas, great leadership skills and enough courage and energy to take the lead. I would like to see the Lederach’s peacebuilding pyramid[9] applied in education systems or broader, with youth as its active and more prominent component. I believe that this exchange of ideas, energy and respect could set a foundation for longer lasting results.
I am aware that this is a wide and complex topic, which deserves much more work and a much deeper analysis than we have time and space for here. I was trying to show how education can have a negative role of emphasizing divisions between “us“ and “them“ in divided societies, or it can have a positive role of teaching about ethnic identity while promoting the understanding and tolerance towards “others“. If it’s based on the principles of building peace, “it puts a priority on developing attitudes of self-respect, tolerance, empathy, justice, and fairness. It invites people to become active participants in their world, not just passive bystanders.”[10]
As I mentioned earlier, and to conclude and summarise, the topic of education and youth could have been connected to some other topics of the module- it is occupies the same amount of time in one’s life as the work place and it’s also linked to the economic situation; it could greatly benefit from more input and knowledge from the practitioners; it could be analysed from a gender perspective…After a lot of thought, I chose this example from Sanski Most because it paints a vivid and unembellished picture of good practice, with all the positive sides of such initiatives, as well as the significant challenges. In part, I also wanted to honour and write about the inspiring and difficult work of peacebuilding practitioners, to make their often ‘invisible’ work more visible. And say how important this contribution is for the communities, with hope that sharing these examples, and insisting and persisting in such work, will bring a long-lasting change for future generations.
References
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland (2002) Ethnicity and nationalism (Second Edition), Pluto Press, London and Sterling Virginia
Fisher, Simon et al. (2000) Working with Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action, Zed Books, London
Gallagher, Tony “Approaches to peace Education: Comparative Lessons”, in McGlynn, Claire et al. (eds.) (2009) Peace Education in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies: Comparative Perspectives, Palgrave Macmillan, UK
Galtung, Johan (1996) Peace by peaceful means; Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization, Sage, London
Horowitz, Donald L. (2000) Ethnic Groups in Conflict, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London
Lederach, John Paul (1997) Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies, United States Institute of Peace Press, Washington, DC
*All Vahidin’s examples are taken from his lecture Peacebuilding in Divided Societies, Module 4: Sanski Most, virtual excursion
[1] Horowitz, Donald L. (2000) Ethnic Groups in Conflict, University of California Press, Berkeley Los Angeles London, p.4.
[2] The concept of 'positive peace' is taken from Galtung, Johan (1996) Peace by peaceful means; Peace and Conflict, Development and Civilization, Sage, London
[3] Horowitz, Donald L. (2000) Ethnic Groups in Conflict, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, p. 8.
[4] Eriksen, Thomas Hylland (2002) Ethnicity and nationalism (Second Edition), Pluto Press, London and Sterling Virginia, p. 90.
[5] Eriksen, Thomas Hylland (2002) Ethnicity and nationalism (Second Edition), Pluto Press, London and Sterling Virginia, p. 90.
[6] Gallagher, Tony „Approaches to peace Education: Comparative Lessons“ in McGlynn, Claire et al. (eds.) (2009) Peace Education in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies: Comparative Perspectives, Palgrave Macmillan, UK, p. 5.
[7] All Vahidin’s examples are taken from his lecture Peacebuilding in Divided Societies, Module 4: Sanski Most, virtual excursion
[8] Horowitz, Donald L. (2000) Ethnic Groups in Conflict, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, p. 12.
[9] As described in Lederach, J.P. (1997) Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies, United States Institute of Peace Press, Washington, DC
[10] Fisher, Simon et al. (2000) Working with Conflict: Skills and Strategies for Action, Zed Books, London, p. 142.
