| Posted: April 29 2005,04:46 |
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PROGRESS: Has your organization seen
progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain of
action and in your constituency during the first half of the Decade? |
Partly
in reaction to the developments that will be described at question 2 we
experience a strong dislike of violence. Both in the streets as in
politics the call is heard that all political means are permitted,
except the use of violence. Physical violence against women, children,
elderly persons, homosexuals, cultural minorities or any other group is
widely resented and no (cultural) justifications of violence are
accepted any more. More and more people have got access to the
possibilities to fight these forms of violence or are at least put in a
position to express their need in an adequat way.
In this line
we also see that in the Dutch society people rediscovered the ability
to organize themselves in order to present their resistance to
injustice and violence. We experience this ability with the examples
mentioned above regarding physical violence, but also against
psychological and structural violence, economical and humanitarian
injustice. The war against Iraq motivated tenthousands to demonstrate
for the first time in years and gave rise to the awareness that
resistance against unwanted developments make a difference. Such
awareness is an essential condition to the promotion of democratic
participation.
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OBSTACLES: What are the most important obstacles that have prevented progress?
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Influenced
by (the war on) international terrorisme that possesses the world and
also internal relations since 9/11 (2001), we expecienced a strong
hardening of interpersonal relations in which the limitations of
physical, psychological and structural violence are widened. War
returned as means to solve political problems; the freedom of speech
lost its end of free communication on political and societal issues and
the government introduces new fears and repressive measurements which
are harmful for those fellow citizens who are already blamed for
everything.
All these measurements reflect a way of thinking of
short-terms-and-quick-results that leaves no room for building a
society in which people live together and that is based on the
principles found in the culture of peace and nonviolence. Many of these
measurements are even a drawback in this respect and nurse a soil for
conflicts instead of contributing to the prevention of such conflicts.
The very fact that the Dutch government so far did not pay any
attention in any form whatsoever to the UN decade for the Culture of
Peace and Nonviolence is a strong example for this attitude.
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ACTIONS: What actions have been
undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the first half of the Decade?
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A
first action is the establishment of the Platform itself and the
process of joining capabalities that was made possible within the
Platform and that is presented to the outside world in a general flyer
and a flyer on education as well as in the NIEUWSBRIEF (newsletter)
that is published four times a year and pays attention to the
activities of the member organizations of the Platform. Meanwhile we
also published two brochures in which we present ourselves and the
three priorities (peace education, peace politics and civil peace work)
we are focussing on and one of the members of the Excecitive Committee
of the Platform published a book on working at the establisment of a
culture of peace. Within the first half of the Decade the Platform
organized 5 conferences with over 50 participants each and the Platform
was present at many activities organized by others. Finally Platform
members were active in many ways to invite national and local
governments (especially the city of Rotterdam) to develop a policy
supporting the culture of peace and nonviolence.
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ADVICE: What advice would you like to
give to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to promote a
culture of peace and nonviolence during the second half of the Decade? |
1.
that the United Nations should request from its member states that they
should create National Commitees as prososed in the plan of action of
the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates;
2. that the United Nations should
involve a Nonviolent Peaceforce in the Peacebuilding Support Office
that has been proposed by the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges
and Change;
3. that UNESCO returns to a policy in which the Culture of Peace has a visible priority, especially in the realm of education.
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PARTNERSHIPS: What partnerships and
networks does your organization participate in, thus strengthening the
global movement for a culture of peace? |
The
Platform itself is a still growing partnership of meanwhile 18
organisations. The Plaform itself or through its member organizations
cooperates with other organizations of partnerships in the Netherlands
(like the Platform against the ‘New War’ and the
Dutch Coalition for the Prevention of Armed Conflict) or is out on such
partnerships.
Internationally the Platform is member of the
International Coalition for the Decade, the Global Partnership for the
Prevention of Armed Conflict and the EURopean EDucation-network.
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence in the second half of the Decade (2005-2010)? |
Our
plan is to make the coherence between our own activities, those of our
member organizations and those of others more visible, aiming that for
both the general public as we ourselves it becomes more clear that all
those different activities are in the context of the Culture of Peace
and Nonviolence. We propose to our memberorganisations and other
organisations to use the common slogan ‘Samenwerken aan een
Vredescultuur’ (working together on a culture of peace).
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Postal address of organization
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PO Box 1528
3500 BM Utrecht
the Netherlands
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E-mail address of organization
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platform@vredescultuur.nl
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Website address of organization
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www.vredescultuur.nl
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Highest priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Education for a culture of peace
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Second priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Democratic participation
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Highest priority country of action (or international)
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the Netherlands
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Second priority country of action (or international)
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