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Waiting for the government to address contemporary violence
Without understanding the very thing we want to prevent and stop -- violence -- peace will remain elusive
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Without understanding the very thing we want to prevent and stop -- violence -- peace will remain elusive.
Aimed to address global violence, the Second World Peace Forum, sponsored by Muhammadiyah, the Cheng Ho Foundation and the Center for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilizations (CDCC) and held in Jakarta on June 24-26, concluded with a number of calls and appeals.
One of which is to return to the basic teachings of one's religion. It is premised in the belief that each religion promotes and spreads peace. Another call is for all religions to play an active role in combating both direct and structural violence through their own communities and groups.
Based on news reports, various speakers at the forum presented a host of forces that cause violence in the world today. One speaker attributed the continuing and growing violence to superpowers like the United States, Russia and Germany, which produce large numbers of arms and weapons. These arms and weapons usually supply the arms and weaponry needs of groups in conflict.
Most speakers followed familiar scripts, saying that religion has a role in preventing and stopping violence. Others said that violence is not a "religious problem". Rather, it has to be looked at as a human rights issue. One related interview pointed out that the politicization of religion causes violence. When religion is used for non-religious purposes, that is when violence occurs.
In the end, there was a unified call and appeal urging religious leaders to highlight common issues that incite violence such as poverty, injustice, human rights abuse and discontent, among others, instead of stressing the differences of belief that divide communities.
Interestingly in the same city where the peace forum was being held, there were violent protests led by students on the streets. Thousands of students were demanding to scrap the order to increase fuel prices and the release of their detained comrades. They were able to pull down part of the fence around the House of Representatives' compound. The tearing down of the fence was a symbolic fall of public order that day. Dozens of protesters were arrested and some properties were vandalized and destroyed. One police car was burned by protesters.
The violent scenes in Jakarta are a replay of what's happening on streets around the world. Lately, the world has seen protests turn violent in South Korea, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Nepal, China and even in European countries. Clashes between protesters and police have resulted to injuries on both sides. Sometimes, opposing protesters collided.
I think protests and responses to protests by authorities and their supporters are forms of contemporary violence.
Does religion play a role in this contemporary violence? Thus far, it does not and hopefully will not.
South Koreans took to the streets to resist a beef-import deal between their government and the United States. The Thais went to the streets to show their opposition to the newly elected government acting as a proxy for ousted former prime minister Thaksin. Indians mobbed the streets to protest soaring fuel prices.
This was the same reason for Indonesians, Nepalese, Spaniards, French and other Europeans to hold picket lines and smash windows of the trucks or cars of those drivers uncooperative with their aim.
Pakistanis toured the streets and burned effigies of President Musharraf to force him to resign and to call for the reinstatement of expelled judges. Tibetans in Nepal gathered to demonstrate their resistance to the rule of China in their homeland. Chinese protesters torched a government building and cars to denounce a ruling by officials about the mysterious death of a student.
What we are witnessing is violence on the streets brought about by political and/or economic dynamics, and not by religion. Protesters nowadays are political and/or economic beings. They are not religious ones.
Protesters demand participatory governance and transparency in South Korea, accountability in Thailand, subsidies and tax breaks on fuel prices in India, Indonesia, Nepal and European countries, accountability and judicial independence in Pakistan, autonomy and/or independence in Nepal by Tibetans, and liability and the end of corruption in China.
Since the contemporary violence that we have now is political and economic in nature and consequence, it can apparently be addressed by the government. Unfortunately, the government is a party to the contemporary violence.
The writer is an intern at ASEAN Secretariat based in Jakarta. He is a student at the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica and Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, taking the Dual-Campus Master's Program in International Peace Studies. He can be reached at his blog (http://mensab.wordpress.com).
