The War in Ukraine is in its third year with no sign of stopping. It is beyond my imagination that the atrocities of war were chosen yet again. After 40 years of exploring options for constructive conflict resolution, endless conversations, and campaigning here we are killing people, destroying environments.
I am convinced we, the peaceful majority, know how to deal with conflict without destroying the earth. All around the world people are gathering to find a way to stop the war, first by having Russia stop the invasion. Second, by using peaceful methods to address the root cause of the conflict.
Many global discussions are identifying how there is no peace process. There is a campaign to establish a template for using peace processes to prevent, stop, and repair the impact of conflict now and into the future.
What is Canada Doing?
- Providing Safe Haven to Ukrainians
- Providing weapons and military training to Ukrainians
- Justifying hostility towards Russians by not challenging discrimination against Russians
- Placating the public by saying that Canada is not involved in this war but is directly implicated in the war as a member of NATO providing funds for weapons.
Canada is not secure from war while participating in wars against others
What Canada Could be Doing?
As a small country known as a peacebuilding country ( now more a reputation of the past) it could be inviting space for negotiations, acting as a neutral third party (after doing some trust building), using its many peacebuilders to facilitate forums to generate a path to positive peace. And more such as;
- Fund peacebuilders to train conflicted populations in nonviolent and conciliatory methods
- Free media to provide news and to refrain from “propaganda posing as news”
- Create a forum for free speech to discuss misleading information such as;
- Russian invasion was unprovoked
- Peace negotiations would ensure the loss of Ukraine’s territory and reward the aggressor
- Funding the design and implementation of a peace process that does not use the military culture as the foundation.
References:
Quakers: Canadian Friends Service Committee
PATRIR: Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania
World Beyond War
International Peace Bureau
Richard Rubinstein: Professor Emeritus, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Studies
Jeffrey Sachs: Sachs serves as the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University
What you can do?
- Between September 30 and October 8, the International Peace Bureau is organizing a Global Mobilization to end the war in Ukraine. We must all declare killing must stop as a means to resolve conflicts.
- Contact PM Justin Trudeau, your MP, MPP, Mayor, and your friends, family, and network to ask for their commitment to call an end to the use of violence to resolve political issues. It must start with us. If you support war with funds and weapons you get war, If you support peace with funds and peace processes you get peace
- Declare your intention to vote for Canada to fund peace and start a department of peace mandated to design processes to prevent, stop or repair the impact of conflicts.
Fund Peace
