VALUES AND VIOLENCE
Voluntary Service and Conflict Prevention in the Mediterranean
10-14 October 2004, Safi, Morocco
The link between value education and the prevention of conflicts seems to us one of the absolute priorities in today's seemingly bi-polar world. We clearly want to underline that peace education and dialogue cannot be achieved through force and arms. We are deeply concerned about the current tendency to paint the world in the colours of "terrorists" and "civilized nations" of the "good" against the "evil" and we believe in the need to strengthen and continue the dialogue between young people from the concerned regions in order to avoid easy simplifications.
Most rebels, soldiers in Civil wars, kamikazes or other "holy" fighters are young people. What can we do to give them a perspective other than violence, how can we render the slow and complex process of peace building as attractive and rewarding as the image of being " a real man with a gun"?
The seminar,
which took place in Safi, Morocco from the 9th to the 14th of October
2004 focussed on the Mediterranean basin because a lot of the CCIVS members
are directly touched by this reality, which focalises a lot of the world's
conflicts
like in a magnifying glass. We believe that the dimension of supposed
or real religious and cultural divisions is particularly strong
in the region and we, as voluntary service organisations, have tried to
define ways to address this specific issue.
The participants were from Mediterranean countries, as well as from other countries which are far, even very far, from this region: from Morocco, Algeria or Palestine, and France, Italy or Catalunya, but also from Ukraine, Scotland or Ivory Coast, for example. This diversity gave a tremendous relevance to the issue of this encounter between non-reducible differences. This paved the way to the idea of tolerance and above all, of mutual recognition and respect.
The interactive and participative methodology applied to deal with this complex issue and the enthusiasm, willingness and energy shown by all the participants helped to create the kind of atmosphere which makes one believe that "another world is possible!".
Now, the real challenge is to put the theory into practice. The proposals are ready but we still have to transform them into actions! Hopefully, the values carried through international voluntary service will be the antidote to the violence born from clashes between differences and the exploitation of these clashes by some powerful people throughout the world.
We would like to thank the host organisations and all the participants for making this seminar a wonderful and valuable experience, and the Council of Europe for enabling us to organise it.
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