Peace building

The reason for evil in the world is that people are not able to tell their stories, so says Carl Jung (quoted by one of my inspirations, the forensic psychiatrist Gwen Adshead). Peacebuilding is about stories, and unravelling myths. Exchanging stories with people you assume that you can’t or don’t want to understand is the key. So is distinguishing between conflict and violence, creating space where people can discuss and argue and start to resolve these differences: and listening, really listening to what their adversaries are saying, and to what they are themselves too angry or afraid to express. Building peace without justice is a lit match that cannot be dampened and will raise flames. Look at Israel’s war against the people of Gaza, the terrible cost to Palestinians, and to Israel and the horrific enaction of political power that assumes it owns the right to kill en masse without restraint. Inflection points, equalities and inclusion, strategies: these are each and all hollow without addressing who holds the power, and who back them.