Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed. Thus says the preamble of the UNESCO Constitution. Nowadays, violence has permeated all aspects of society. Everywhere around us, the culture of violence is proliferating. In school, children bully those who are weaker than them. People take the law into their own hands and resort to violence for any trivial matter. The media glorifies violence and in television and cinema, we are bombarded by images of violence. We feel helpless and we do not know how we can stop this culture of violence from snowballing. Is there a way out? A culture of peace is possible and can be achieved and this culture is necessary for our survival on earth.

A proliferation of regional, local ethnic, religious and civil conflicts occurring around the world emphasize the need for a global transition from a culture of war to a culture of peace. To demonstrate this, the Bharat Soka Gakkai, an affiliate of Soka Gakkai International, an organization dedicated to peace, culture and education, is holding an international exhibition ‘Building a Culture of Peace for the Children of the World’ in Guwahati from October 11 to 30. The exhibition opened for public viewing from October 11 to 16 at Pragjyoti ITA Centre for Performing Arts, Machkhowa to be followed by Ganesh Mandir Indoor Stadium, Khanapara from October 20 to 22, Guwahati Town Club auditorium, Judges’ Field from October 23 to 26 and Assam Textile Institute, Ambari from October 27 to 30.

This exhibition was hosted at the UN headquarters in New York on February 4, 2004. At the opening, UN Under Secretary General Anwarul K Chowdhury stated that tomorrow’s world would be a better place if youth grow up internalizing a culture of peace. He also introduced a message from SGI president Dr Daisaku Ikeda, who himself has worked tirelessly to spread peace, that a culture of peace is not a distant dream but begins in our own hearts in the effort to foster the spirit of respect for diversity and caring for others.

What then is a culture of peace? According to a United Nations definition, a culture of peace is a set of values, attitudes, modes of behaviour and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling the root causes and solving problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations. The culture of peace idea emerged on the world scene when in 1997 the United Nations General Assembly first proclaimed the year 2000 to be the International Year for the Culture of Peace among individuals, groups and nations. During this time, all living Nobel laureates signed an appeal for peace called the Appeal of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates for a Decade of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World, with Dr Michael Nobel serving as chairman of the Appeal Foundation. Subsequently, with the success and popularity of the principles of the Year, and with the hard work of the Appeal Foundation and others, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the period 2001-2010 as the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World. An indispensable component of the Year and the Decade is Manifesto 2000. The Manifesto was drafted by a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates who translated the resolutions of the United Nations into everyday language to make them relevant to people everywhere. It was immensely popular.

In the exhibition ‘Building a Culture of Peace for the Children of the World’, after a brief introduction, the ‘Barriers to Peace’ segment examines impediments to peace ranging from greed and prejudice to environmental irresponsibility and nuclear negativity. Eight action areas are then presented and explained in an understandable manner. Visitors are made aware about the status of the action areas in their own lives or in the communities where they live, and what is being done about it. The action areas include education, economics, gender equality and human rights.

“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” This quote from the famous former US first lady Eleanor Roosevelt starts off the section that presents issues connected to the culture of peace on the level of the individual. It reminds the viewer that peace starts with a single life. ‘Religions and Peace’ counsels the viewer that religion should be used to connect people to one another, and not to divide. The next few panels underline children’s dreams for peace and that we are all responsible for ensuring that the children of the world live in peace. Towards the end, ‘The Power of People’ introduces people who have made outstanding contributions to peace. It goes on to explain that some of these individuals are famous, while others are ordinary people. As Indians who have obtained independence on the basis of a non-violent movement based on peace or ahimsa led by Mahatma Gandhi, the concept of a culture of peace is not new to us. Needless to say, this exhibition will be a unique opportunity for the Guwahatians to strengthen their perceptions about peace.

Danny Hall, a member of SGI USA who was a panel speaker at the exhibition in Columbia University, said, “While physical violence is easy to recognize, passive violence is more subtle. Passive violence is anything we do that undermines the fundamental dignity of another human being or ourselves. Passive violence includes verbal abuse, psychological abuse, emotional abuse, teasing, taunting, putting someone down or making someone feel bad about themselves.

“Passive violence is also oppression and suppression of various types whether it be economic, political, cultural, religious, social, etc. While many people think of oppression as something that only occurs on a large scale, the reality is that it can very much exist in our own homes, in our interpersonal relationships, schools, workplaces and local communities. Passive violence is also choosing to step back and do nothing when you see acts of violence in the environment around you. Gandhi had a theory on the relationship between passive violence and physical violence. He said that passive violence is the fuel that feeds the fire of physical violence. So if we want to put out the fire of physical violence, logically, we have to cut off the fuel supply of passive violence.”

Nobel Peace laureate Betty Williams spoke at the opening of the ‘Building a Culture of Peace’ exhibition at Columbia University in New York on August 13, 2003. She said, “The work of peace is never easy in our world, and at this particular time in our world’s history all of us who want peace and justice both for ourselves, our families, communities and towns are going through an agonizing time. It’s been one of the worst situations in history, that’s going on right now in our world. Peace begins with me. If I want to stand here tonight and speak to you about the issue of peace, I better be sure inside myself that I am not lying to you. Because peace for me is a daily struggle. I used to look at Dr Martin Luther King on television and as an Irish Catholic I was a Black American, because I knew what that suffering was like. The suffering of injustice. The suffering of never being able to get a decent job, because of your religion. If we were to get one per cent of the world’s military budgets a year, in just five years, we would be able to get rid of world hunger.”

So we must each of us realize that peace is not an abstract term but it is something that we each of us can achieve in our daily lives. Each one us has to change our attitudes so that we can live in peace in our immediate environment. Each one of us has to give up our attitude of confrontation and instead we have to try to resolve our problems through dialogue. When we do so, this groundswell of peace will spread to our communities and to our nations. This is the legacy we must leave for our future generations. As Dr Ikeda has said, “A great inner revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and further, will cause a change in the destiny of humankind.”

Neelakshi Saikia