Getting through chaotic moments

Everyone experiences the confusion, frustration and chaos which conflict can bring. Everyone can learn how to move through those moments of chaos with calm resolve as well. There are a number of components to chaos that you need to be aware of in order to move through such situations. As you read these you will most likely know them. The difficult part is applying your knowledge. You must apply it as often as you in order to excel at getting through those chaotic moments.

Emotions and communication are the two factors that are often the most poorly managed. Case in point is the situation in Syria. At first the people protested against the government. During these protest emotions of panic set in, non-violent communication was lost and bullets were fired. This same situation continues to this day. That is a very simple breakdown but in reality that is exactly what transpired.

To get through the chaos you need to be able to keep things as simple as possible. The complications will work themselves out. Breaking the situation in small goals is the best plan. For example in Syria the small goal was a ceasefire agreement. Neither side adhered to that which brings the entire situation back to chaos and even further distrust. However the ceasefire agreement is crucial and must be implemented. What we are faced with is how a ceasefire agreement is to be implemented.

The average person in Syria most likely wants an end to the violence. As usual the ones that seek to destabilize a society are in the minority. The question now becomes, how do you reach a peaceful resolution when both sides are locked on destroying each other? This question is a very difficult situation.

The common element in poor conflict resolution rest with the people involved. With the case of Syria there has to be a different set of voices now. The current voices are distrusted and have too much history attached. In order for a peaceful environment to take root there needs to be new leadership. The issue will always be the same but the people need to change.

Whether or not the people can transcend the history is the main obstacle. For example we can look at the Palestine/Israel wars. These people have carried the history, violence, revenge, hatred and distrust for generations. The face of the war has become ambiguous, inhumane and demonized. There have been small breakthroughs with the Israel/Palestine war, 1994 was one. Since then there has been stalemates and regression. The people are in dire need of new visions, leadership and voice.

To transcend conflict, an open mind is crucial. New perspectives and a willingness to focus on the future is vital as well. All too often relationships get mired in what I call “stacking bodies”. This is when people bring up past wrongs as they race to stack up the most injustices incurred. This tactic is very common yet rarely works to resolve a conflict, (I have never experienced this tactic working).

Getting past stacking bodies is a challenge that must be overcome. If history is not let go of, the conflict will only spiral into further frustration.  The emotional attachment to those past injustices will gain more moments to fuel the anger. To get past this tactic takes a certain amount of resolve and hard work. Focusing on the immediate situation will help. The moment you start to talk about the context or situations that began the chaos you have started stacking bodies.  This is where the hard work is most needed.

Emotions and attachments need to be managed so that a peaceful solution can be found. Doing so is made more difficult when the other side will not or is not able to do the same. However someone has to have the intelligence and the willingness to let go of old tactics.

How the world sees conflict

How the world sees conflict or situations of difficulties is in direct correlation as to the options it sees to solve those situations. If the world is stuck in the path of old grievances it will continue to have those as barriers to achieving peace.

The old events of injustice have to be acknowledged but they must also be understood as history which can not be changed. All that can be done is to work at the task of ensuring such events are no longer part of the future.

Take the past situations, look at them and see what should have been done to ensure a different outcome. As those situations arise again, the people involved will feel similar emotions swell in their hearts and minds. These are the moments where decisions of difference must be made. However, the task is to recognize these emotions during those moments.

As the moments present themselves it takes a great amount of energy to stop and think in the moment. The skill to do this only comes from experience. There will be setbacks but those have to be recognized as learning curves for success.

All of that seems great on paper. It is quite a different element when the set back is lives lost, homes destroyed and people injured. These are very difficult events to come to terms with. The fact remains that once such an event has taken place that is it. There has to be an element of resolve in the wake of such destruction.

Lamenting the loss is part of the process. In equal importance a focus on a future of peace must be kept in view. I am not saying that we forget or excuse events that cause injury. What I am saying is that these events have to be understood as part of a larger process. Mourn such events and point to the useless acts of creating more harm. If the reaction to such events is to seek revenge the cycle of chaos will cement itself in a spiral of annihilation.

To put that ideology in context, many weapons have been developed to cause such great destruction that the opponent would see the end result as complete annihilation.  In simple terms we are discussing the zero sum game theory.

The common belief that nuclear weapons would result in complete annihilation is a major factor in the global pursuit to have them banned. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “I am not sure what world war three would be fought with but I know world war four will be fought with sticks”. With that we can see the show of force in Syria as a similar point where the complete destruction of the country is being gambled.

Power is not the use of force, it is the intelligent use of force. Furthermore power is also shown in the use of restraint. Being able to control emotions and understanding the impact of forceful actions. A true leader would understand the negative impact of shelling a city, shooting people all the while pointing blame at everyone but yourself. Especially when all that was needed was an intense/inclusive discussion. Yet that discussion was so feared that killing was seen as the better choice.

These are the events of insanity that wreak havoc daily around the world. People who call themselves leaders because they use fear and destruction to gain power are the biggest challenges to peace. In reality such people will always exist. All we can do is to work as hard as we can with such people to retrain them somehow.

Seeing these options before us is needed. The world could have pressured all the people in Syria to the negotiation table. Instead we allowed them to shoot each other. We must learn form this. Forcing the negotiation is not an act of breaking sovereingty, it is the act of strengthening it. For some reason we just do not see that in todays world.

How the world sees conflict or situations of difficulties is in direct correlation as to the options it sees to solve those situations. If the world is stuck in the path of old grievances it will continue to have those as barriers to achieving peace.

Educating for a peaceful future

http://www.educationandtransition.org/resources/the-role-of-education-in-peacebuilding/

The above link leads to a UNICEF website that has a report which studies the impact of education in conflict areas. 

For many years I have noticed that every society has a form of peaceful conflict resolution within its culture. This cultural knowledge is quickly destroyed when wars are prolonged. I have noticed such a loss of knowledge in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sudan, Central African Republic where war has taken place for decades.

As the loss of life grows so will the cultural knowledge. This loss is not well known or understood but the loss of identity as a people is still there. Through education we can save cultures and identity.  Yet there does exist a side where doing so can prolong wars. We see in Palestine/Israel where the youth are taught to hate the other, this is a poor use of education. So we have to be careful as to the content of the education.

Any form of education that is built upon blaming the other is broken and peace will not be a result. When we engage in such methods of blaming and pointing to past wrongs, I call this "stacking bodies". The end game is who ever has the most bodies stacked up is justified in their actions.  In my mind such a game theory/tactic is useless because each side will be embroiled in such a battle until the no one is left to stack any one. It is a zero sum game.

This is where education is most vital. We need to break those methods. I am not saying we forget, I am saying we take responsibility for the future. The past can not be changed and the future people must be educated in such a manner that they can feel unburdened by our past mistakes. As it stands now in Palestine/Israel, everyone is still carrying the burdens of people two thousand years ago. We have not changed any of the past yet we have killed millions of eachother to prove which side was right or wrong.

At some point the past has to be left there so the future can grow more peacefully. Education is our only method of ensuring we can do that.

Isreal and Palestine, what a mess

“When the United Nations General Assembly voted on November 29, 1947, to partition British Mandatory Palestine into two states — a Jewish and an Arab state — joint American and Soviet support for this policy represented an extraordinary case of Great Power concordance.”, writes Shlomo Avineri, Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in a publication for the 2010 Halifax Forum.

That decision to separate a state without the support of that state to be separated is authoritarian rule at its finest.  There is no limit to how stupid we can act at times and this first mistake made by the United Nations is proof, here is the vote break down:

In favour: 33

Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelorussian S.S.R., Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxemburg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukrainian S.S.R., Union of South Africa, U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Uruguay, Venezuela.

Against: 13

Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen.

Abstained: 10

Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.

Source http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/UN%20General%20Assembly%20Resolution%20181

You will notice that the majority of those against are in the region and they knew it was a bad idea.  Too late to go back now.  With each passing day I am slowly seeing that a two state solution is no longer viable.  There has to be a new image of the future, perhaps a one state solution.