How to Recognize a Culture of Peace

2. How to Recognizea Culture of Peace Edrene McKay

3. In a culture of peace: People are transformed into instruments of peace.

4. They respect all life.

5. They share what they have with others.

6. They reject violence and endeavor to prevent conflicts.

7. They understand that power increases as they come together as a community.

8. And that power is based, not on force, but on cooperation.

9. In a culture of peace: People make friends, not enemies.

10. They practice equality without exception.

11. They listen to each other so that they may understand.

12. They provide for each other’s basic needs.

13. And they celebrate differences,not just tolerate them.

14. In a culture of peace: People communicate freely.

15. They value fundamentalrights and liberties.

16. They respect universal human rights.

17. They follow the rule of law– local, national, and international.

18. They are good stewards of the earth.

19. And they rediscover solidarity.

20. Do we live in a culture of peace? No, we do not. We livein a culture of war.

21. In a culture of war: People are transformed into instruments of hate and violence.

22. They have little respect for life.

23. They hoard their material possessions.

24. They embrace violence and endeavor to stir up conflicts.

25. They fail to understand that power decreases as they become alienated from the community.

26. And they have an increasing appetite for power based on force.

27. In a culture of war: People insist that they have enemies.

28. They allow suspicion and fearto destroy friendship.

29. They build fortresses to closethemselves off from others.

30. They exploit others and deprivethem of their basic needs.

31. Intolerant of differences, they rejoicein a tiresome lack of diversity.

32. In a culture of war: People practice secrecy and censorship.

33. They disregard fundamentalrights and liberties.

34. They violate universal human rights.

35. They ignore the rule of law – local, national, and international.

36. They shamefully exploit theearth and its resources.

37. And they forget all about community.

38. How do we bring about a paradigm shiftfrom a culture of war to a culture of peace?

39. The paradigm shift will come: When people are transformed into instruments of constructive change.

40. When there is education forall – especially women.

41. When qualitative values informdecision-making, not dollars.

42. When dialog, conflict resolution, and consensus-building replace the darkness of autocratic mandates.

43. The paradigm shift will come: When our institutions aim to sustain democracy, not suppress it.

44. When they conceive and nurture responsible citizenship.

45. When they promote democraticprinciples and practices.

46. And strengthen popular participation in governance.

47. The paradigm shift will come: When an independent mediasuccessfully challenges the self- interest of the mainstream media.

48. When violence is no longer elevated to a position of honor and labeled patriotism.

49. When the free-flow of informationreveals the value of disarmament.

50. And engenders respect for human rights and civil liberties.