The Art of Peace-making

The Art of Peace-making

We might not have noticed yet, but since the end of the Cold War, armed conflict and nearly all other forms of political violence have decreased. The world is far more peaceful than it was. Published in 2005 and 2006, the Human Security Report, an independent study funded by five countries and directed by Andrew Mack (University of British...

Read more: Armed conflicts are diminishing

The Art of Peace-making

For the last 30 years, most of the news about Colombia, the country where I come from, has been negative. Drug traffic, the guerrilla or paramilitary forces which took over the drug business after the big drug cartels’ dismantling have been the dominant news stories. My generation has witnessed a history of violence punctuated with slow and...

Read more: Colombia: Full Peace Requires Full Justice

The Art of Peace-making

I feel sorry for God. In any war the believers on both sides flood his ears begging for victory. God either has to please the side who wins and disappoint the side that loses or come up with some way that they both can win. What would happen if instead of praying for their side and against the other side both sides began to pray for each other...

Read more: Do I really have to pray for my enemies?

The Art of Peace-making

Conference at Fordham University, November 2003

EU-US relations are a very hot topic, especially with the Iraq conflict. These relations are made of a wide range of issues which have evolved enormously since World War II. The international political environment has also considerably changed from a fierce and dangerous cold war to a still very...

Read more: Europe and the US: allies or competitors

The Art of Peace-making

In the last decades, the movie industry has produced hundreds of blockbusters in the post-apocalyptic genre, i.e. science-fiction movies picturing the end of civilization and the human race after great disasters such as a natural catastrophes, nuclear wars or plagues. These films, often considered as “B genre” movies, might have a certain...

Read more: Fear in the post-apocalyptic movies of the 90’s-2000's

The Art of Peace-making

Try a tour of tibo’s favorite links"

Kosovo, South Africa, Rwanda, Cambodia... Just by mentioning these countries the reader can already grasp that the problem of forgiveness has indeed a political dimension...

These countries have experienced ethnic or religious persecutions sometimes so extreme that they have required external...

Read more: Forgiveness, Justice and Peace

The Art of Peace-making

A little more than ten years ago, the word “globalization” became widely used in newspapers, books, scholarly publications, even daily conversations. Everything that was happening, from inflation to musical trends, was explained by “globalization.’ For sure, this was not only empty talk: the rise of internet was abolishing time and...

Read more: Globalization / Clash of Civilizations / Terrorism

The Art of Peace-making

First of all, starting from the position I am holding in Hong Kong since a few years, I ask myself: what do Hong Kong people see in Taiwan, and what attracts them there?
They come to see the cultural values of this place, from Eslite bookstore to small eateries in the mountains, puppet shows of the Huang family, aboriginal people’s songs and...

Read more: How Culture Transcends Politics

The Art of Peace-making

“Democracy” does not only define a given political system, it is based on a set of cultural attitudes. Some of these attitudes have been thoroughly studied: there is no real democracy without debate, listening of other people’s opinions, fairness in elections, transparency of the political process… Other values are more controversial: as a...

Read more: Justice / Forgiveness / Democracy

The Art of Peace-making

An essential component that appears to be lacking in society today is the art of peacemaking. Rather than justify the widespread violence of our time with the common belief that "aggression is inevitable," or that “it is all in the past” is not enough to neither ensure persisting peace nor improve the lives of the masses.[/dropcap]On the 21st...

Read more: Meeting Cambodia and its Peacemakers

The Art of Peace-making

Lin Poyer is a professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming. Her recent work focuses on the Micronesian experience and history of the Pacific War, during the Japanese colonization and afterwards. In December 2011, she was invited to Taipei by the Taiwan Center for Pacific Studies to give a series of lectures presenting her research. We...

Read more: Micronesian Memories of War in the Pacific

The Art of Peace-making

Past and ongoing conflicts affect Asian people’s identity
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Keiko Hara grew up in Hiroshima. Her dad saw the world collapse around him on the 6th of August 1945, when the Americans launched their atomic bomb on Japan. “The atrocity of the past is still present here. The historical memory...

Read more: Open Dialogue is the key to a more united Asia