[Nettime-bold] “Retaliation Will Not Bring Lasting Safety andPeace!”

[windseye <windseye@cei.net>]

La Crescenta, CA -- September 27, 2001 -- international mediator
Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D, issued the following statement today:
After the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, millions
of people throughout the world are feeling deep pain and grief.  They
feel outraged, scared, powerless -- and very vulnerable.  Many have a
deep need to feel safe again.  They long for a world where they can live
in peace.  Others have a deep desire to get even.  They long for revenge
and retribution.
Currently, the United States has decided that it must take action, and
other countries have decided to join them.  Some people want the goal of
these actions to be peace and safety; some want these actions to focus
on retaliation and punishment.
This presents a real problem: If our leaders base their actions on
retaliation and punishment, I believe they cannot achieve the goal of
lasting world safety and peace.
Why do I say this?
For the last 35 years, my associates and I have worked throughout the
world to help resolve conflicts between warring gangs, ethnic groups,
tribes and countries.
Over and over, we have observed that actions motivated by the desire for
punishment produce retaliation from the other side, and that actions
motivated by a desire for peace produce acts of peace from the other
side.  In either case these actions create cycles that can go on for
years -- generations -- centuries.
I, and others in my organization, have worked with people from the
warring factions in Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, South
Africa, Serbia, Croatia, Israel and Palestine.  Our experience has
taught us that real safety and peace can be achieved, despite enormous
odds, only when people are able to see the “humanity” of those who
attack them.  This requires something far more difficult than turning
the other cheek; it requires empathizing with the fears, hurt, rage and
unmet human needs that are behind the attacks.
Our work is designed to help people learn to empathize with one
another’s needs and concerns, and begin to see that the “other side” is
simply a group of humans trying to protect themselves and meet their
needs.  We have seen hatred and desire for punishment transformed into
hope -- when people received empathy from those who had killed their
families.  We have seen those who committed the violence sincerely mourn
-- when they received empathy from those who had been violated by their
actions.  We have seen people on both sides lose the desire to punish
each other -- and then work together to ensure that everyone’s needs are
met.  We have seen former enemies create programs together to make up
for the harm they created and ensure the safety of future generations.
The United States government has declared its intent to make the world
safe from violent acts -- such as those in New York and Washington --
and from those who perpetrate them.  Other nations have joined them.
If the goal of the nations forming this coalition becomes retaliation
and punishment, each action they take will be determined by the answer
to this question:  “Will this action take us closer to punishing those
responsible for the pain we have suffered?”
However, if their goal is peace and safety for the world, each action
will be determined by answering a very different question:  “Will this
action bring us closer to lasting peace and safety for the world?”
It is my fervent hope that our leaders will not seek punishment, but
will keep their focus on creating peace and safety.
To create short-term safety, we will need to protect ourselves from
further threat.  This may include actions taken in, what I call, the
“protective use of force.”  We may need to capture and imprison the
perpetrators so that they cannot attack us again.  And we may even have
to kill some of them if we can’t otherwise restrain them.
But, for the long-term, we also need to begin creating lasting safety
and peace in the world.  Our leaders need to establish relationships
that will give rise to true and permanent cooperation between nations.
They need to start now to change the circumstances that give rise to
violent behavior.  The wealthy countries of the world need to work
together to create a world where all people have access to basic
life-serving resources and protection for their human rights -- where
all people are safe and free, and have the opportunity to create a
satisfying life.
If there is an answer to the enormous problem before us, it is to seek
solutions that will meet the needs of all concerned.  This is not
utopian idealism.  I have seen such solutions created -- over and over
again -- around the world.
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) In Action
? In Northern Nigeria, in Kaduna State, Dr. Rosenberg mediated between a
warring Christian tribe and Moslem tribe.  One year before he got there,
one hundred out of the four hundred people in that community were
killed.  Midway through the training one of the Chiefs stood and very
emphatically said, "If we know how to communicate in the way that you're
talking about, we don't have to kill each other. I would like to be one
of those people trained."  Before he left that day, people from both
sides eagerly wanted to be trained and the violence between the tribes
ceased.
? At the beginning of peace initiative training in NVC skills, citizens
from Serbia and Croatia were screaming in rage at one another. In 7 days
they left singing one another’s songs and dancing one another’s dances,
and went on to create an educational project that has brought these same
skills to over 30,000 children and 3,000 educators in the former
Yugoslavia.
? When Dr. Rosenberg entered Palestinian refugee camp a man began
yelling, “Murderer!” Immediately a dozen more joined him in a chorus of,
“Assassin!” “Child-killer!” “Murderer!” By the end of the evening this
same man invited Dr. Rosenberg home for a Ramadan dinner. Since then
over 400 schools and kindergartens have been exposed to NVC in the form
of shows and presentations, while approximately 24 schools and 100+
kindergartens received in-depth training programs. NVC trainer Miri
Shapira has been appointed to the position as National Trainer For The
Prevention of Violence of The Ministry of Education. In 1999, the
Israeli Education Ministry officially endorsed and recommended NVC as a
program for kindergartens and schools.
ABOUT MARSHALL ROSENBERG
Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D., is an American psychologist and the author of
“Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion” (PuddleDancer Press
– www.NonviolentCommunication.com).  Over the last 35 years, Rosenberg
has trained thousands of people in more than 30 countries to use
Nonviolent Communication.  He and his associate trainers have worked in
prisons (with guards and inmates), schools, social service agencies,
health care centers, spiritual and religious communities, and with
government leaders.
Although he is nearly 67 years old, Rosenberg maintains a grueling
training schedule -- 250 days a year in North and South America, Western
and Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.  (His schedule is on the web at
www.cnvc.org.)
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION
The Center for Nonviolent Communication is an international nonprofit
organization that offers Nonviolent Communication training and
educational materials.  Founded by Marshall Rosenberg in 1984, it is
headquartered in La Crescenta, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles
There are now more than 100 certified CNVC trainers working throughout
the world offering training to individuals and organizations, helping to
bring peace to troubled areas.
Headquarters for the Center for Nonviolent Communication:
2428 Foothill Blvd., Suite E
La Crescenta, CA 91214, USA
Phone: 818-957-9393   Fax: 818-957-1424
Email:  cnvc@compuserve.com



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