Justice, Equality and Peace in the family, in the community, in the country and in the world. Harmony at the grassroots is best promoted by those whose stakes are high: the urban and rural poor. Putting women’s concerns center-stage to ensure development is equitable and sustainable.

1. Dr. Vibhuti Patel, Director, PGSR
Professor and Head, Post Graduate Department of Economics,
SNDT Women’s University,
Smt. Nathibai Thakersey Road, Churchgate, Mumbai-400020
Tel91) (22) 22052970 Mobile-9321040048
E mail: vibhuti.np@gmail.co
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2. Sustaining Harmony
 Justice, Equality and Peace in the family, in the
community, in the country and in the world.
 Harmony at the grassroots is best promoted by
those whose stakes are high: the urban and rural
poor.
 Putting women’s concerns center-stage to ensure
development is equitable and sustainable.
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3. History of Communalism in India
 Partition and Communalism
 Historical Considerations
 The ‘they’ and ‘us’ divide
 Faces of India’s political pogrom
 Attacks on Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Dalits
 Identity Politics: The Shah Bano controversy
 Ideological Attacks on Secular forces:
 Building up of Tension (1085-1992)
 Gender, Identity and Violence-Sex Segregation, Dress
Code, Moral Policing, Attacks on Right to Work &
FHHs, Communalised Education, VAW, Ban on Inter-
caste, Inter-religious and Inter-racial Marriages.
 Sachar Committee Report
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4. Approaches to Peace & Conflict Resolution
(Peace Education Working Group –UNICEF)
 “The process of promoting the knowledge, skills,
attitudes and values needed to bring about
behavior changes that will enable children, youth
and adults to prevent conflict and violence; both
overt and structural; to resolve conflict
peacefully; and to create the conditions
conducive to peace whether at an intrapersonal,
interpersonal, inter-group,
national or international level”
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5. Promoting Tolerance & Peaceful
Existence
 Transformative Education*: Unlearning casteism,
sexism, communalism, ethnic chauvinism, racism
 Collaboration in Reciprocity*: Mutual respect,
respect for plural lifestyles- dress code, food habits,
music, art, craft, aesthetics, cultural-national history
 Dialogue among Cultures*: Cross cultural get-to-
gathers, festival celebrations, quiz, study tours of
shrines, liberative dimensions of religions
(Acknowledgement: “Spirituality & Intercultural
Dialogue”)
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6. Mahatma Gandhi on Violence
 If I can have nothing to do with the organized violence of
the Government, I can have less to do with the unorganized
violence of the people. I would prefer to be crushed between
the two.
 For me popular violence is as much an obstruction in our
path as the Government violence. Indeed, I can combat the
Government violence more successfully than the popular.
For one thing, in combating the latter, I should not have the
same support as in the former.
 I make bold to say that violence is the creed of no religion
and that, whereas nonviolence in most cases is obligatory in
all, violence is merely permissible in some cases. But I have
not put before India the final form of nonviolence.
 I object to violence because, when it appears to do good, the
good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
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7. Acceptance Speech of Martin Luther King Jr.
The Nobel Peace Prize 1964
 Nonviolence in the civil rights struggle has meant not relying
on arms and weapons of struggle. It has meant noncooperation
with customs and laws which are institutional aspects of a
regime of discrimination and enslavement. It has meant direct
participation of masses in protest, rather than reliance on
indirect methods which frequently do not involve masses in
action at all.
 Nonviolence has also meant that my people in the agonizing
struggles of recent years have taken suffering upon themselves
instead of inflicting it on others. It has meant, as I said, that we
are no longer afraid and cowed. But in some substantial degree
it has meant that we do not want to instill fear in others or into
the society of which we are a part. The movement does not seek
to liberate Negroes at the expense of the humiliation and
enslavement of whites. It seeks no victory over anyone. It seeks
to liberate
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8. Conflict Resolution
 refers to the process of resolving a dispute or a conflict
permanently, by providing each sides' needs, and
adequately addressing their interests so that they are
satisfied with the outcome.
 Teach effective conflict resolution and peace building
skills to build bridges of cultural understanding and
mutual respect through art and media.
 Amnesty International- Taking care of survivors-
Psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, counseling-
 Conflict analysis and prevention; Mediation and conflict
resolution; Post-conflict peace and stability operations;
Religion and peacemaking
 Anthropologist-Ravinder Kaur’s article on Valentine’s Day
14-2-09 in TOI, Dharma Kumar’s article after 1984 riots in
TOI
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9. No Peace without Social Justice
Sarvajan Hitay, Sarvajan Sukhay
 Civil Rights Movement: Dr. Martin Luther King
 Anti War Movement of 1970s: “No to Bombing of Vietnam”
 Tamil refugees (1988)
 Kashmir (1990)
 Afghanistan, Iraq (2000 onwards)
Conflict Transformation, Media Development, Child
Protection, Project Management, Humanitarian
Assistance, Human Rights Protection, human
development-Health, education, employment
 UN Refugees-Accountability
 Retributive Justice: international War Crimes Tribunals
Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Gujarat: Punishing the guilty
 Restorative Justice: Rebuilding shattered lives
 Reconciliation: Collaborative work, community based work,
trust building
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10. Three stages of Conflict Resolution
 Peace building is the process of restoring normal relations
between people. It requires the reconciliation of differences,
apology and forgiveness of past harm, and the establishment of a
cooperative relationship between groups, replacing the adversarial
or competitive relationship that used to exist. E.g. OLAKH, PUCL &
SAHIYAR (Vadodara)
 Peacekeeping is the prevention or ending of violence within or
between nation-states through the intervention of an outside third
party that keeps the warring parties apart. Unlike peacemaking,
which involves negotiating a resolution to the issues in conflict,
the goal of peacekeeping is simply preventing further
violence. (The UN Peace Keeping Force, UNHCR in Afghanistan)
 Peacemaking is the term often used to refer to negotiating the
resolution of a conflict between people, groups, or nations. It goes
beyond peacekeeping to actually deal with the issues in dispute,
but falls short of peace building, which aims toward reconciliation
and normalization of relations between ordinary people, not just
the formal resolution which is written on paper. (Peace rallies,
appeals, efforts thro’ media)
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11. Peace Begins from Home Women’s Initiatives:
25th Nov. to 10th Dec
 Moholla Committee Movement after Mumbai Riots
in 1993
 Manipur: 2004 Hunger strike
 Nagaland: Women’s Protest
 Burma: Peace Rally
 Tibet: Demanding comprehensive dialog with H.H.
the Dalai Lama
 Latin America: Mothers of Missing Children
 Women’s Rights are Human Rights
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12. Justice & Peace Commission, Mumbai
Community work, Peace festival, MIHRE
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13. Exposing the game of
 Competitive Communalism between Majority &
Minority communities carefully engineered &
crafted by their elites to retain their power-base
Hindu-Muslim, Shia-Sunni, Muslim-Christian
 Use of child soldiers as cannon fodder by
fundamentalists/ terrorists
 People’s Initiatives in Kashmir, Iran, Gujarat
 Ethnic Strife in Kenya- Multi tribe alliance against
Kibaki from wealthy Kikuyu tribe
 Crosscutting of Economic divide & identity Politics
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14. Religion as an ethic that informs
human actions/ projects
 Integrated humanity founded on peace & justice
 Deconstructing the discourse around monolithic
construction of “Muslim” identity or “Christian
Identity” and projecting concerns for social justice,
gender justice and distributive justice
 Countering exaggerated sense of paranoia about
Muslim or Christian identity in our country that
keeps in check all the other contradictions &
solidarities
 Liberation theologies within Hinduism, Sufism,
Christianity, Buddhism, materialist school
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15. To give peace a chance, make
peace the story
 Faith: “In every conflict, there is always something
retrievable”
 Popularize peace journalism
 Felicitations of persons involved in rescue
operations and rehabilitation
-Sisters without Borders
-Nurses of Cama Hospital in the midst of terrorist
attack on 26-11-08.
-Gujarat Riots-Unsung heroes & heroines
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16. Five Priorities
 Dialogue, communication, networks- CSSS
 Contemplation-Communalism Combat
 Community Life-Moholla Committee
 Justice, peace & integrity of creation in solidarity
with the most vulnerable- JPC
Simple living, Solidarity for Social/Economic Justice
 Focus on Youth: Sports for peace, quiz for peace,
songs for peace, debate/discussion on peace,
painting for peace, Theatre for peace, politics for
peace, Rereading history of Wars & Peace
(Acknowledgement: : “Spirituality & Intercultural
Dialogue”)
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17. Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam for Local
as well as Global Harmony
 Let us celebrate and promote the spirit and
philosophy of satyam, sivam, sundaram (Truth,
Goodness, Beauty) and live life purposefully and
peacefully.
 The concept of vasudhaiv kutumbakam – the world
is but one family - culture of peace and global
citizenship should be inducted into all aspects of
human life and education, especially humanities.
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18. International Peace Museum, Dayton
 The Peace Museum honors Dayton-native Sister
Dorothy Stang with an exhibit in the Dayton room.
 Sister Dorothy spent half her life in Brazil and the
Amazon, starting in 1966. She joined the religious order
of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Cincinnati in
1948, and remained active in the order until her brutal
killing on February 12, 2005. Her message was
nonviolent throughout her life. She worked to save the
Amazon from deforestation by lumberjacks, wealthy
cattle ranchers, and soybean farmers. Brazil exports
these products at growing costs to the earth's
environment. Dorothy Stang led a movement of
peasants for a sustainable use of the rain forest. The
exhibit will remain as part of our permanent collection.
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19. Peace through Art
 The Peace Gallery was created by Returned Peace
Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) to help fulfill the Third
Goal of the Peace Corps - to help promote a better
understanding of other people and cultures around
the world.
 The Peace Gallery began in 1997 to support the third
goal of the Peace Corps - "to strengthen
understanding about the world and its peoples."
With hundreds of photos with descriptions by
returned Peace Corps Volunteers, the Peace Gallery
provides a view of the world rarely seen outside of the
Peace Corps experience
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20. Peace Rallies
 There were over 67,000 people protesting the
Vietnam war. They all ended up at Kezar after the
march (Spring Mobilization) to hear speakers,
songs, etc. I was looking for a way to symbolize the
crowd with the message. I saw the peace symbol
with streamers and the crowd combination. The
shot made up itself.
 In 2004, over one million people in different part of
our Globe had candle light marches to stop US
invasion in Iraq.
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21. THOUSAND CRANES PEACE NETWORK
 The Thousand Cranes Peace Network is made up of
groups and individuals who are willing to fold a
thousand paper cranes (or as many as they can
manage) as a symbol of their hope for, and
commitment to, peace and non-violence.
 A visit to the Peace Park and the Peace Memorial
Museum allows the visitor a glimpse into the
horror of the world's first use of the atomic bomb
against people on 6 August 1945.
 It is a reminder that we must work together to
make sure that such a tragedy never happens
again.
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22. Thank You
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