What does peace mean to us? International Peace Day 2022

This week I was back in Geneva - for the first time since having our second baby - attending #Genevapeacetalks event to mark the UN's International Day of Peace 2022. I took the train from our new home in France and cycled to the Palais des Nations.

Outside the gates, the Iranian community were protesting with regards to the JCPOA Nuclear negotiations and the recent death of #MahsaAmini. Being up close to Activists again, feeling their passion for change, was a stark reminder of the gut wrenching emotion of face-to-face activism.

Through security with passport and accreditation and inside the UN compound, I biked my way to Building E40, where the 51st meeting of the Human Rights Council was also in session. I was able to wander the current exhibitions which addressed the issues of gender based violence (She’s Gone) and the theme of the 2022 Peace day : End Racism - Build Peace. For the UN to be acknowledging the urgent need to End Racism, feels like a step in the right direction. I have observed institutional and structural racism across Europe, and met many people who have been victims of an unjust system which evidence strongly suggests is due to the colour of their skin.

As we entered the auditorium for the UN Peace Talks event we were asked ‘What does Peace mean to you?’ There were speakers responding from Palestine, Israel, Sudan, Pakistan, Mali, Yemen, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Ukraine. I quote some of them below:

“I remember my grandmother’s vine tree. I remember the feeling when sand gets between my toes when playing football in Gaza... I only started to think about peace when my first child was born and I was walking the streets with my baby, dodging the bombs.

In the 30 years since Oslo, there is an absence of progress. We need real democracy, social responsibility and activism for youth leadership with fresh ideas and momentum... I hate the phrase history repeats itself. I do not want my children to go through what I went through. I want to be liberated from my fears. We have an intergenerational responsibility to obstruct the status quo, to create co-resistance””

— Wasim Almasri, Palestine, Director of Programs for the Alliance of Middle East Peace

“It is not ‘What does peace mean to you?’, it is ‘What does peace mean to us?’

Peace is something we do together. Peace means hope. Peace means justice. We have a responsibility to bring back hope to the next generations.”

— Eran Nissan, Israeli Peace Activist, CEO of 'Mehazkim' an Israeli Progressive Movement

“I remember the taste of fear, crawling up my throat. Every time we would go out to protest we didn’t know how many would make it back alive.

Radical change is built on new systems of communication. Social media has been a haven for me... how can we tackle fear and misinformation? ”

— Ibaa Abusin, Horn of Africa Social Media Expert, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue

“Until I am able to align my heart, my mind and my tongue, I will never find peace...

Lay aside the burdens of the mind, it was self-worth I was seeking.”

— Amad Mian, Pakistan / UAE / Canada, Founder

I was also reporting back to the Peace Lovers’ Club, a 10k member network on ClubHouse founded by Ella Matheson @PeaceintheCity, London. I have been a Moderator for this Club since its inception in early 2021 and we join together for a weekly meditation and discussion from around the globe. The Peace Lovers group share the view that “Peace is the presence of social, economic and environmental justice”. In acknowledging this fundamental pillar of justice, we believe we can work together to “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible” (a book title from Charles Eisenstein).

I have noted the links shared by Peace Lovers contributors to the International Peace Day 2022 discussion below:

Contributed by @EllaMatheson

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/29/morocco/spain-horrific-migrant-deaths-melilla-border

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGaxE8ybNWg Playing for Change

Contributed by @Sikuapu Ts’inapu

https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/cybercrime-and-digital-threats/exploiting-ai-how-cybercriminals-misuse-abuse-ai-and-ml

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2021/3/12/nagpra-peabody-letter/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6601530/

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01166-x

Contributed by @DoctorErnest Johnson, PHD

https://www.historyvshollywood.com/video/ann-atwater-interview-best-of-enemies/

Contributed by @KaleemUX

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/03/israels-55-year-occupation-palestinian-territory-apartheid-un-human-rights

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/02/israels-apartheid-against-palestinians-a-cruel-system-of-domination-and-a-crime-against-humanity/

Three actions to dismantle Systemic Racism

Institutional racism still plagues policing, a chief constable has warned

Vikram Dodd

This quote is from an article last month, two decades after the Macpherson Report (1999) found that police failures allowing the racist killers of black schoolboy Stephen Lawrence to escape justice, were in part due to "institutional racism”. I remember it well as at the time I was a Law student studying Race Relations. 

Today, as we approach 2019, I have just completed a 16,000 mile journey with my family cooking with and learning from displaced peoples across Europe. Rarely, other than humanitarian volunteers and police authorities, did I see a white face in the makeshift camps and communities where we worked. I would argue that institutional racism goes far beyond the police force in the UK. Even more worryingly there is a surge in far-right activity. A talk given by the Institute of Race Relations’ Director Liz Fekete for a UK Parliament Roundtable on Racism and Hate Crime earlier this year can be read here.

HARLEM

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore-

and then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over-

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Langston Hughes

I know from personal experience that if trauma is not acknowledged and healed, it will not go away, but instead will fester. Can the same be said about trauma resulting from systemic racism? As a global society, if we do not acknowledge these entrenched injustice issues and actively facilitate the healing of trauma caused to Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, I do not believe we will ever be able to move forward together, as an inclusive, future-proof global society. 

“In our hands”, photograph of Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square, UK on the day of a ‘Calais’ reunion in London, 2016. Photo credit: Emma Barrett Palmer

So as white people, what can we do about it? Starting from today. Now. 

We must mindfully use our own privilege to the advantage of everyone in our communities. Dr Willie J. Parker, Ob/Gyn Physician and Reproductive Justice Advocate, describing a group of white women wearing hoodies in protest to a shopping mall, commented,

their practice of the same action without consequence, demonstrates how people with privilege can use it to dismantle the system 

Yet this is not simply a case of striding forward again with our own solutions. We must listen to and learn from the solutions that have already been offered by Black, Indigenous and People of Colour, and there are already many. Furthermore, it is not enough to be non-racist but instead "actively anti-racist” as demonstrated through the work of Americans Angela Yvonne Davis, political activist, academic and author and Rachel Cargle and her groundbreaking fund Therapy for Black Women and Girls.

Three tangible actions I can recommend today:

1. Educate yourSELF - Me and White Supremacy Workbook This first recommendation is a life changing opportunity to support your own role in enabling the healing of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. A free, yet priceless, download for you, your organisations and your communities. Layla F. Saad has invested her heart and soul into the creation of this work, sharing wisdom from her personal and professional journey to become a better ancestor. The write-up of an incredible Instagram challenge which took place this summer, a universal resource for us all to acknowledge our past, present and how to work together towards building a better, inclusive future for everyone. If you can, please pledge to support her work here and do not attempt to teach this work yourself, paid or otherwise, without carefully reading and understanding the instructions in the workbook.

2. Educate your KIDS - Teach and Transform I have no hesitation in recommending the inspirational social justice work of this incredible teacher, Ms. Liz KleinRock. The resources do exactly what it says on the tin. Teach and Transform. Check it out.

3. Educated MEDIA - Building The North Star I first learned of Frederick Douglass, a former slave who launched The North Star, a prohibition newspaper in 1847, in my history lessons. I thought anti-slavery activism was confined to history, but tragically twenty years later I have been proved it is certainly still necessary. With the permission of the Douglass family, Shaun King activist and journalist, and Ben Dixon have revived the newspaper 171 years later. I am proud to be a founding member of this newspaper committed to taking a stand and fighting back against injustice, avoiding venture capitalist investment and co-created by the people, for the people. If you can contribute financially to support The North Star, you will be contributing to an aspiration for a better future. When you decide to join, do mention my name at the checkout.  

Finally I want to share this story about Fannie Lou Hamer finding her voice. I hope it will inspire you to find yours on issues of racial injustice in your communities.

In August of 1962, eighteen local people from Sunflower County, Mississippi, including Mrs. Hamer, traveled by bus from Ruleville to the courthouse in Indianola. Despite armed white men milling about the courthouse, the group entered the registrar’s office, intending to fill out the voter registration form as best they could. Mrs. Hamer was the first to enter.

When the group began heading home, the bus–an old school bus now used to transport cotton pickers to the fields–was pulled over by the Indianola police at the edge of town. The driver was arrested for driving a bus of “the wrong color.” Fear rose among the passengers. But in the midst of the fear and uncertainty, Mrs. Hamer began to sing, raising her powerful voice first in church songs, then movement songs. This helped calm the other passengers. Mrs. Hamer’s voice continued to be a powerful tool that mobilized many in Mississippi and across the South during times of struggle in the Movement.

The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee