Peacebuilding…..what is it?

Today in our IFP meeting we discussed what peace building was and how it connects to what we do at IFP. We discussed that peace building can be anywhere, it is not only with stopping wars, it also deals with standing up for someone who is being bullied, or standing up for a minority group in a local community.

We were then asked to look at Galtung’s ABC triangle of conflict, Galtung believes that there is visible conflict and invisible conflict. Visible conflict is usually the behaviour exhibited such as punching somebody, or bombing a country. It is the action taken due to the invisible conflict. The invisible conflict is the Attitude and the Context of the conflict, this aims to look at the feelings and perspectives of the people involved which led them to take that action. Whereas context mainly looks at the historical background, economical and political stances of the parties involved.

Using this ABC Triangle we were asked to look at the Syrian conflict and then categorise the different events that took place into Attitude, Behaviour, or Context. We looked at how this entire conflict started and the possible reasons behind this horrible tragedy still taking place.

I believe that through doing this activity, we, as people who have no direct attachment or direct involvement in this conflict were able to get a better understanding of what is truly going on and the underlying issues which have led to this horrific war going on in Syria. This activity really helped me understand the reasons for this conflict and the very unethical decisions that were made in order for certain countries/ people to maintain power. I hope through many activities such as this I will be able to get a better understanding of many of the current events and their underlying issues and not just look at the actions (behaviour) being taken.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Leave a Reply