Issue number 2, May 2001

By launching the Decade to Overcome Violence (2001-2010) at the meeting from 29 January to 6 February in Berlin of its Central Committee, the World Council of Churches (WCC) was inviting its member churches to commit themselves to ten years of effort to overcome violence.

The 4 February Decade launch began in Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächntniskirche with a worship service that was broadcast live on TV across Germany. The deeply moving service was evidence that spirituality is a fundamental aspect of overcoming violence. "It is not only through activism or studies, but also through spirituality that violence can be overcome; we find the strength to undertake this initiative from our worship and prayers," explained Fernando Enns, a Central Committee member from the Mennonite Church in Germany.

The 150 Central Committee members' commitment to the DOV initiative was expressed in various ways during their nine-day meeting in Potsdam, and particularly in a strong pledge to overcome violence issued at the end of the meeting: "In the Decade to Overcome Violence: Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace, we must begin with ourselves, with the ways we think and the ways we act in our families, our neighborhoods, our countries, and our churches. The real strength of the church remains in the seeming powerlessness of love and faith. We must seek every day to rediscover and experience this power. Overcoming violence calls and challenges us to live out our Christian commitment in the spirit of honesty, humility, and self-sacrifice."

Worship at the Berlin launch of the Decade to Overcome Violence

Candles form the DOV logo at Berlin's Brandenburg gate

The message challenged the churches to:

Cameroon campaign against war toys

"We cannot claim to build a society of peace and security, and at the same time nurture violence and war in our children." The argument advanced by the late Rev. Norbert Kenne, a member of the WCC Commission of Churches on International Affairs and founder of Cameroon's Ecumenical Service for Peace (ESP), was one of the key messages used during a campaign organised in early December 2000 in the nation's capital, Yaoundé, against war toys and firecrackers.

The decision to run the campaign was just one of many resolutions adopted at a two-day reflection on the "Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons as a Threat to Peace and Security; a Challenge to Religious Authorities" held in Yaoundé last November. In Cameroon like many other places, it is common for shops as well as homes to be flooded with all sorts of war toys. Children play with them and watch violent films. They are thus conditioned to perceive violence as something normal, and acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to handle weapons, all of which contributes to building a culture of violence.

Reactions to the campaign were many and varied. Many toy shops were closed and the dealers complained of poor sales. In future, ESP has plans to mount another campaign, this time against violent films. The campaign will be targeted at video clubs throughout Cameroon.

For more information email

Overcoming violence in Palestine

Ghassan Andoni is the director of the Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement Between People. He expressed the following views in a telephone interview: "To overcome violence we need to stand firmly, for the victims and against the perpetrators".

The situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is drenched in violence. Hundreds have been killed, thousands injured, and hundreds of homes destroyed.

The Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement Between People (PCR), a WCC Peace to the City Network partner, has been actively engaged in countering violence and injustice by organizing campaigns to help rebuild bombarded homes in the city of Beit Sahour.

The "Displaced Shepherds" project, initiated by Rapprochement and implemented by young activists, is a model for community sharing and caring and a way to deepen the community service tradition among the younger generation. Channeling the energy of the youth into community service is essential for the prevention of urban violence, especially in schools.

The project is centered around a website used for advocacy and for accumulating needed resources to rebuild destroyed homes and accommodate displaced families.

With the participation of Palestinians, Israelis, and international representatives, Rapprochement recently organised a peaceful demonstration at the Israeli military base. This base was regularly shelling the city of Beit Sahour. Demonstrators asked the soldiers to leave the site. When the demonstrators left, a Palestinian flag was waving on top of the tower in the middle of the camp as a sign of solidarity.

Holding to the tradition of working together through such difficult times will positively influence the conflict and reduce the level of ethnic violence.

For more information e-mail
PCR website

International gold medal for Fiji peace film:

A documentary on peace-building efforts in Fiji made before the May 2000 coup has won the UNESCO gold medal award in the first annual New York Festivals Awards Competition for TV documentaries by producers from developing countries. The documentary entitled Where the Rivers Meet was commissioned in 1998 by the World Council of Churches' Peace to the City Campaign. It was researched and produced by Dr ‘Atu Emberson-Bain, with camera and sound by Michael Rokotuiviwa Preston, who composed and performed the film's original music.

Where the Rivers Meet is set against the backdrop of Fiji's 1987 military coups and a colonial legacy of ethnic division. It features the work of three civil society organisations to build cultural understanding, religious tolerance and respect for human rights.

DOV Launches

AFRICA

Other related events:

The time has come to put words into action

"I grew up in the 40-year-old war in Sudan,
I got married in the same war,
I raised my children in the same war,
I am about to become a grandmother in the same war."

The words may sound like a poem, but they are a bitter reality for a distraught mother who shared her experience during a Decade to Overcome Violence regional ecumenical forum held in Kampala, Uganda from 21-24 March 2001.Her words still ringing in their ears, participants were left with a thorny question that none of them had dared to ask aloud: "Is she going to die in the same war?"

The experience prompted them to realise that it is no longer viable to come to meetings and discuss violence unless ideas, suggestions and resolutions are put into action. "Whilst we are talking and debating, people are dying every day. It is high time for us to put words into action!" said Dr Peter Kanyandgo, vice-chancellor of the Catholic University of Uganda.

The ecumenical forum, that concluded with a regional launch of the Decade to Overcome Violence, was organised by the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa (FECCLAHA), a sub-regional ecumenical organisation based in Kenya.

The two-day forum was the occasion for national councils of churches and churches in the region together to plan concrete and realistic actions to be undertaken during the ten-year initiative.

Delegates agreed, among other things, to:

Overcoming violence: young people's perspectives

Valtteri Mujunen (17) from Finland wants to be a theologian when he finishes his studies.

Psychological violence is always the beginning of physical violence Many people around the world are discriminated because of their religion, sex or race. People expect you to be something that you are not, and when you rebel it results in physical violence.

However, the best way to end violence on earth is to educate people that the small things we take for granted can cause more harm than good. A change in one's behaviour starts in the mind. Once our minds are educated against all forms of violence, then we might begin to see some changes in behaviour.

I truly pray and hope that "a world free of violence" could be reality one day. I am sure that the educated new generation is interested in overcoming violence.

Clare O'Sullivan (15) is from Preston, northwest England. She hopes to become a doctor and work in a developing country.

I don't like to walk alone in certain areas of my hometown when it's dark because I'm afraid of violence.Recently, my friend was physically attacked by a woman whilst she was standing at a bus stop. It was not provoked and there was no explanation for why it happened. I can't help feeling that it was not the physical damage that harmed my friend the most, but the lack of any reason for the attack.

I feel that all violence stems from desperation, a lack of understanding and a lack of knowledge. If all those who became Nazis had known that the Jews were no different from themselves, then ethnic cleansing would probably not have occurred. If the woman who attacked my friend had felt that her problems were being listened to, she may not have carried out the act of anger that she did Communication seems to be the only way not only to solve, but also to avoid violence. In a world where global communication is not only possible but commonplace, we must ensure that everyone has not only the means to "speak" but also to be heard.