CCTS
Newsletter 11

Connecting surface and deep demilitarisation

A peace based on grass roots action is far more likely to succeed than one imposed from outside. (Compare, for example, the peace achieved within Guatemala with that brokered at Dayton.) The real need is to identify a peace constituency at all levels in the community (leaders, middle-level brokers and grass roots) and to connect them together. Participants found it hard to identify a good method of achieving this objective, other than by the lobbying of one level by another.

The grass roots level often presents the greatest difficulties, especially after a long war, when violence can persist long after the primary cause has been forgotten. The entrenched positions, where "it is easier to fire a bullet at your opponents than a question at your own side", are hard to dispel. In addition, conflict leaves people feeling disempowered, and it can be difficult to find methods of giving them a voice again. The partisan attitudes of the diplomats and politicians who are sponsoring the military intervention can also be problematic.

Ironically, it can be relatively easy to work constructively with the military. In a recent visit to the Pentagon, one participant found that US military chiefs were very aware of the problems associated with the long-term reliance on military peace-keeping missions, but frustrated by the lack of imagination shown by civilian institutions in finding viable alternatives. This is a challenge that peacebuilders cannot afford to ignore.

Bridge-builders at the middle-level can often act most easily. In the Caucasus, for example, local NGOs have been able to co-operate even when there is little or no high-level political communication, and when grass-roots action is often stifled by local politics. In these circumstances, however, the NGOs are often regarded as anti- rather than non-governmental, and workers can feel isolated; groups such as CCTS provide welcome insight and support.

newsletter  |  ccts