Peace is a universal
value. Everybody wants peace. Peace is not only the absence of war, but the presence
of justice and human rights for all. Makers are proactive people who create the
change they want to see. Peacemakers will be a global social movement for all
human beings who want to struggle for peace. Peacemakers is about idealism and
hope for a better future for all. Security and protection are rights that all
people shall enjoy. Participation and democracy is for all 7 billion people of
the world, not only the rich and powerful. Development, equality and freedom
from poverty must be secured for all people living on the earth. This kind of
peace for all is necessary.
Peace is just. We
cannot accept that large groups of the world’s citizens are living their lives
with daily injustices and human rights violations. Peace is possible. The world
has enough for everybody’s need, but not for everybody’s greed. Today many
policies are based on greed. People create policies, and people can change
them. We must create the change that we want to see. Peace is not guaranteed.
There are always reasons to avoid the risks of peacemaking. But peacemaking is
always right. Jesus said in his sermon on the mountain “blessed are the
peacemakers, they will be called children of God”. Muhammad
said, "Not one of you believes until he loves for his brother what he
loves for himself." This golden rule is the basis for Peacemakers.
Peacemaking is the
only path to true security for all. There will be no peace without justice. Peace
has to be made between people, not only governments. Peacemaking is about
dialogue between people from different groups. Peacemakers will make non-violent
peacemaking stand out as more brave and more effective than for instance stone
throwing, hate-preaching and suicide bombing.
Vision of Peacemakers: Together making global justice and peace.
Mission of Peacemakers: Peacemakers see the world as it is, and work
for making it as it should be with justice and peace for all citizens.
Peacemakers will put pressure on policy makers and policy shakers to formulate
and implement policies that create global justice and peace.
Philosophy of Peacemakers: Peacemakers is based on the S2C (Subject to
Citizen) philosophy and emphasisesglobal universal citizenship as key to peace
and justice.
Values
of Peacemakers:
1.
Open: everybody is welcome in our movement, irrespective of religion,
ethnicity or education.
2.
Courageous: we do not let fear stop us to challenge powerful institutions or
people.
3.
Just: we put human rights as our law and just peace as our goal.
4.
Committed: we engage dutybearers by showing our commitment to global peace.
5.
Creative: we use creative arts and communication to promote our non-violent
messages.
6.
Loving: love for neighbours all over the world is imperative for all our
actions.
Characteristics
of the Peacemakers Movement:
1.
International: Peacemakers will be a global movement with grassroots
groups everywhere.
2.
Inter-faith: Peacemakers is a multi-religious movement where people of all faiths
are welcome.
3.
Inter-generational: Peacemakers is led by young people and supported
by people of all ages.
4.
Inter-organisationalPeacemakers is springing out of several
organizations sharing the same goal.
Core
methodology of Peacemakers:
1.
Campaigning:
Peacemakers run advocacy campaigns addressing root causes of injustice.
2.
Knowledge
sharing: Peacemakers build understanding ofhow to overcome barriers to peace.
3.
Group
Reflection: Peacemakers use silence to reflect on our values, faith and fellowship.
4.
Information
Technology: Peacemakers use IT platforms to share knowledge and mobilisefor action.
5.
Arts:
Peacemakers use artistic and cultural expressions to communicate our message of
peace.
6.
Celebration/Partying:
Peacemakers use parties and fun-events to celebrate unity.
7.
Dialogue:Peacemakers
use dialogue to build bridges across divides.
3
levels of Peacemakers work:
1.
Micro/individual/family level: livelihood, life skills and food security. Peacemakers
use save and investment groups as our main tool for mobilizing people. We share
information about technologies that our members can use in their businesses and
give entrepreneurial training for our members to develop successful businesses.
Our group members also receive life skills training. The local groups will have
multi-religious and multi-ethnic composition when this is the local context.
2.
Meso/community level: rights-based services, reconciliation.
Peacemakers provide services in the community. Our movement keeps local
government accountable and maintains a continuous monitoring of public budgets.
Peacemakers will initiate justice based reconciliation interventions with the
aim of engaging the entire community in action that can promote justice and
peace for all rightsholders in the community. Advocacy to improve public
service delivery is important.
3.
Macro/national-global level: policy advocacy, campaigning. Peacemakers
identify policies that represent barriers to justice and peace at different
levels. Together with knowledge based networks we develop campaigns and
strategies to achieve policy change. Our advocacy campaigns will be coordinated
with the most competent networks within each thematic issue.
Change
strategies for Peacemakers:
1.
Confronting injustice:Peacemakers use media strategies, boycotts and direct
action to confront actors responsible for human rights violations, directly or
indirectly. Companies that do not agree to comply with human rights obligations
are systematically boycotted by Peacemakers.
2.
Dialoging with policy makers:Peacemakers maintain communication with the
policy maker throughout the lobbying and influencing process and make it clear
what kind of policy changes we are asking for.
3.
Mobilising
people:Peacemakers empower
rightsholders with key information about key issues and
ask people to participate in strategic action to build social power and send
strategic messages to policy makers.
Slogan
of Peacemakers versus policy makers or policy shakers:
First they ignore you
then they laugh at you
then they fight you
then you win
Inspiring
quotes for Peacemakers:
‘We are the winning team’, Bishop Desmond Tutu.
‘A cause supported by youth cannot fail’, Nelson
Mandela.
