An Introduction to the Institute for Community Peacebuilding
By David S. Pankratz, Director, Institute for Community Peacebuilding
The idea of the Institute was conceived in the late 1980s when Menno Simons College was formed; it was reaffirmed when Canadian Mennonite University was formed; and then born, brought to life when John G Dueck, a retired farmer from Lowe Farm, put some money on the table.
At this point we have funding for a 1⁄2 time program for three years. The institutional growth task in the next three years is to grow the resources of the Institute to fund, and develop programs to justify, a full-time program well into the future.
What is 'The Institute for Community Peacebuilding'?
Perhaps a better question is, what are the visions we have for this infant? As we look at this new life, what are our hopes and dreams? Well, we have named it, so what can we learn from the three words we have used to name it?
Defining the name
1. 'Institute' refers not just to the Director, but also to the faculty and staff of CMU and MSC who will provide the expertise the Institute needs, the many volunteers who will advise, support, and participate in implementing the programs, and of course those who provide financial support.
2. What is 'Community Peacebuilding'? When I first heard it, it sounded too small and tidy, too 'domestic' for my liking; but, as I was informed of what the visionaries had planned, I became very excited about it. There is a wealth of meaning in that term, and while it does restrict some activities, it does permit a great many more.
3. What is a 'Community'? Encarta Dictionary defines a community as any group of people with a common background or with shared interests in society, or a group of people who live in the same area.
So, we have right next to us the Spence Neighbourhood community, defined by Portage Avenue, Sherbrook Street, Notre Dame Avenue and Salter Street. That community has concerns about safety and I've attended a meeting in that regard. A community defined by geography.
The Winnipeg Congolese community has an interest in the elections coming up in the Congo, wanting them to be peaceful and fair. As well, they want to inform Winnipeggers about the situation in Congo, where 4 million people have been killed in the last decade – they ask 'isn't there something we should do about this?'. We're looking at how we can help that refugee community accomplish its goals, both here in its adopted community, and in the communities of Congo where election violence might affect those they left behind. A community defined by a common background and shared interests.
So 'Community' is broadly defined and, for our purposes—if we have something to offer and can muster the resources—we'll do so with any community anywhere in the world. That's hardly a small or tidy vision!
4. 'Peacebuilding', too, is a word with a large territory. For the Institute, any involvement we can have that builds healthier, more cohesive, more peaceful communities, is something that we'll consider.
The 'Community Peacebuilding' we want to do will make the world a better place one community at a time.
Why 'Communities' and not 'Individuals'?
When we read our newspapers we note that it is almost always individuals who have broken the peace—crimes, shootings, and other ways that peace is broken—why don't we focus on individuals? There is truth in that question, and let me respond to that.
First, there are already many organizations that work with individuals—counselors, trainers, mediators and others. This isn't our expertise, and others are doing that. But a stronger reason comes from my observations over 50 years of life, working in over 40 countries for periods of time anywhere from three days to three years–and the observation of those who formed the Institute—that the community is crucial in making or breaking peace.
An individual can commit a crime, and if the community of which he or she is a part does not participate in that crime, it remains as such and doesn't break the peace—such as when one clan in Somalia pays another clan 12 camels for a murder committed by one of its own against one of their own. It doesn't reverse the murder, but it prevents retribution and keeps the peace, because one community agreed, and offered, that it would collectively take responsibility for that crime, and the other community accepted that offer. The individual offender, then, is subject to the censure of his own community – a censure that will lead to health and wholeness rather than inter-community conflict and violence.
I have also seen individuals, good in and of themselves, but within a dysfunctional community, start to make decisions that reflect the community ethos more than their own values and upbringing—and eventually they are as much a part of the problem as the rest of the community.
The community is stronger than the individual.
When the community endorses the crime,
such as when an entire village of Christians or Muslims
in Central Nigeria burn the other's houses—the peace
is broken and violence escalates out of control. This is
a community decision to do violence, to define an enemy
and respond as such—and the return response is, of
course, predictable. However, when a community is resourced
to respond to violence with overtures of peace, or when
the offending community is resourced to offer to rebuild
what has been destroyed - and both have happened in Nigeria—then
peace gets built.
It is our belief that communities that respond to other
communities peacefully are almost always those that have
found how to be peaceful within themselves—strong
communities that live well with their own diversity, differences,
and transgressions, and thus know how to do it with other
communities.
We have chosen to work with the community.
Why 'Communities' and not 'Nations'?
We're not going to address national and international conflicts either. That is beyond our scope and, again, many organizations with larger resources than ours are working at that level. Does that mean that these conflicts are irrelevant to us? Not at all. As you already heard, the national situation in Congo—both the violence that engulfs the countryside, and the national elections of that country impinge on the Congolese community here in Winnipeg, and have an impact on communities in the Congo. We will work at these issues at the community level. To the degree that we, and others doing similar things succeed, we contribute to the growth of a larger peace—one community at a time.
We at the Institute are about community and communities. Healthy individuals are grown and nurtured by strong, healthy, peaceful communities; strong, healthy, peaceful communities build strong, healthy, peaceful nations.
What will we do to fulfill our mandate?
The statement of purpose in the founding document says: The Institute for Community Peacebuilding promotes just and nonviolent policies and relationships in communities. The Institute pursues this goal through research, public education, and informed dialogue.
We will hold public dialogues, such as the forum we held in November in Eckhardt- Grammate Hall entitled, 'Guns, food, and medicine' in which we brought together several aid workers and a military person to discuss their very different viewpoints on whether aid could or should be delivered by people carrying weapons. And there is the election forum we're holding next week Tuesday on 'Canada's Place in the World'—a discussion of the diverse plans of the federal parties regarding Canada's foreign and military policies and how they plan to address safety and security concerns. We believe that the public discussion of differing viewpoints makes for stronger communities and we'll facilitate that discussion.
We will facilitate the research of the faculty of CMU and MSC—research that gets done in communities around the world – and when the research is done and the paper written, we'll hold an event to tell those interested what the research teaches us about our communities.
We will engage in public education. We are in discussion with Gene Stoltzfus, the founding director of Christian Peacemaker Teams, to come to Winnipeg and explain to those who haven't yet heard, what CPT is and does, and why. Gene was here last year and spoke to about 20 people, most of whom already knew a lot about CPT. We are expecting that the interest in the four CPT hostages will generate a much broader interest in CPT and people will come who know very little about CPT and the 'nonviolent option'. The nonviolent peacemaking that CPT does is something about which there is little public discourse because so few know about it. As a result, the discourse about options for the response to terrorism, for instance, is very limited. We want to bring the nonviolent option into the public discourse—when communities understand that there are viable non-coercive, nonviolent options to coercion and violence they can become stronger and healthier and more peaceful.
We will help communities implement plans to make themselves stronger, such as the assistance we're providing the Winnipeg Congolese community to strengthen the capacity of their home communities in Congo to hold a peaceful and fair election.
We will do whatever is needed to build peace in communities—in Winnipeg, and around the world. We invite you to join us in that effort—through your encouragement, participation, and financial support. We look forward to working together with you, our institutional and ethno/religious community, to make the world a better place through building peace in the communities that make up that world. Together, as a caring, active, resourceful community, we will build a more peaceful world—one community at a time.
January 11, 2006
