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The Country and Its Local Strategies
This essay will analyze the United States of America and the approaches to non-violent conflict resolution that were employed in it. The United States is a diverse environment where a variety of cultural and racial conflicts have existed for a considerable amount of time.
One such issue is racism, which remains a concern in parts of the country to this day. The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission notes the government’s failure to address one such situation and the community response via grassroots organization (21). The non-hierarchical style of the structure served to empower members of the black community and achieve improvements. The idea can serve as an example of appropriate forms of aid to disadvantaged communities in other countries.
Ultimately, the black workers and their supporters decided to organize a rally in protest against the Ku Klux Klan tendencies they observed in the community. According to the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the effort ended in tragedy due to insufficient community engagement and planning (21). These issues can be attributed to the top-down structure of the organization that organized the march, but ultimately, as shown by the consequences, public demonstrations are an effective tactic. They help gather attention from the public, and the reaction of various groups to the rally can be used to show their beliefs to the world. Lastly, the approach is universal, and demonstrations are commonly accepted as one of the fundamental methods for non-violent protest.
Peacemaking and Peacebuilding
The United Nations’ efforts to reconcile countries are commonly used as an example of a peacemaking approach. Forces that are engaging in conflict or are close to it are separated by a neutral party that encourages negotiation and reconciliation. The goal is to mitigate or remove the threat of violence, and the peacemaking forces stand down when they are convinced that the two groups will not engage in combat.
However, the underlying motives and reasons for the altercation are left for the two sides to try and resolve. As such, the approach constitutes peacemaking, as its aims are immediate and do not provide any confidence that the conflict will not resurface in the future.
An example of peacebuilding would be humanitarian aid to disadvantaged regions, especially those where civil war is negatively affecting the societal situation. The provision of food and supplies to all members of the population helps to reduce the number of cases where people would attempt vital resources from others by force. As such, the approach aims to prevent acts of conflict instead of mitigating the result, a trait that Christie et al. describe as the critical difference between peacebuilding and peacemaking (20). The former is proactive and aims to change the situation while the latter is reactive and attempts to maintain the status quo, leaving resolution efforts to the participants.
Case Study
The case study will use the situation in Greensboro, where misdirected activism efforts led to a shooting during a demonstration march. The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission has described a variety of recommendations for the improvement of the situation, most of which can be considered to involve development initiatives (29-37). Suggestions include improved acknowledgment and transparency about the circumstances, increased social services budgets, and more awareness about racism and each person’s role in its propagation and elimination. The overall aim is to transform the city and its community into ones where social justice is valued and supported by law, creating a more comfortable environment for everyone involved.
The tragedy of 1979 has been enabled by a combination of the inadequate organization on the part of the protesters, the poor reception of the march by the community, and the unhealthy social climate maintained by the government. The suggestions offered by Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission seek to address the latter two, as the report states that the advocates for social justice have learned from their mistakes and restructured themselves (21). As the Commission identifies racism as the primary concern, they seek to introduce changes that will help eliminate it and provide disadvantaged people of color assistance should they need it.
Peacebuilding Strategies and Principles
Racial and ethnic conflicts are prevalent in the United States to this day, with particular endangered population categories including Hispanic people, African Americans, and Native Americans. Two strategies listed by Popovic et al. that can and have been used to alleviate the disagreements are public speeches and mass petitions (252). Martin Luther King Jr. became famous due to his active social justice efforts, in which speeches played a vital role. Petitions, on the other hand, help display widespread denouncement of racial and ethnic hatred and focus public attention on specific cases of injustice.
However, social change does not happen immediately and should not be forced on people harshly. As such, peacebuilders should apply the principle that states that peace is a long-term transformative process. Through the efforts of last century’s activists, racism has become socially unacceptable and is being eradicated from the minds of the people. However, while incidents of racist behavior should be noted and highlighted, efforts to control what people think would only meet with backlash and strengthen hateful tendencies. Instead, it would be best to ensure that beliefs based on inequality do not take root in the minds of young people and therefore fail to spread.
Works Cited
Popovic, Srdja, et al. Canvas Core Curriculum: A Guide to Effective Nonviolent Struggle. Canvas, 2007.
Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report: Executive Summary. 2006. Web.
Christie, Daniel J., et al. “Introduction to Peace Psychology.” Peace, Conflict, and Violence: Peace Psychology for the 21st Century, edited by Richard V. Wagner, Daniel J. Christie, and Deborah Du Nann Winter. Prentice-Hall, 2001, pp. 1-25.
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