Committee for Conflict Transformation Support |
CCTS
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The Ethics of Post War Intervention - dilemmas of conflict transformation practice: Discussion NotesOur role as individualsSeveral participants emphasised that, in addition to our duties a professionals, whether in the area of conflict transformation or some other field, we do also have duties as citizens to speak out about, and try to influence, the policies of the government that claims to act in our name - although the difficulties of living up to this ideal in a 'workaholic' culture (while also honouring family commitments) were acknowledged. It was noted that some organisations make this 'broad spectrum' involvement easier to maintain. The Mennonite University, for example, earmarks 10% of a person's working time for 'activism'. For some, there is the added belief that one cannot work for peace in the community at large unless one is also working for peace individually and internally. The scale of public opposition to the recent Iraq war was unprecedented, but it did not succeed in preventing it. Even so, it can be seen as worthwhile, because the UK government continues to pay the price of ignoring such substantial opposition, and because the world (and the war on Iraq itself) is different as a result of it. But it must be possible to do more. One participant reminded the meeting that, while 1.5 million marchers against the Iraq war seemed magnificent, 4.5 million people voted in a recent TV edition of Fame Academy. Of course, the voting was much less effort than the marching! If only one could influence government policy simply by pressing a button on a TV remote control.
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