There certainly is a lot of anger and disgruntlement in response to the Talibans wrongdoing today at the school in Peshawar. But what if there was a peaceful way to respond to this? War raged between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government – and violence became an everyday affair. The war came to one woman’s doorstep, that of Vishaka Dharmadasa’s, when she found out her son was missing in action. Along with other mothers like her, Vishaka decided that the war would not see an end without a mature and sensible approach to peace. And so the Association for War affected Women in Sri Lanka was born. These women approached the members of the LTTE – all of whom were young men. These women spoke to the LTTE as mothers, not as official peacebuilders or negotiators. They spoke to these men and shared their worry for their sons – and appealed to them as mothers, pointing out to them the fact that all of them had mothers, too, who were probably worried for their safety as well. Vishaka and her team of women told these men that they should avoid fighting – if not for anything else, at least for their mothers. The end result of this effort was a ceasefire. What if, JUST what if? insightonconflict.org/2014/12/two-conflicts-one-problem-finding-new-solutions-old-wars/
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 18:07:39 +0000
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