Johan
Galtung & Fernando Montiel T.
The
indigenous rising in Chiapas, 1994 changed Mexico in several different ways. On
the one hand it placed hidden historical –and yet massive and painful- topics
just in the middle of the political debate: racism and indigenous rights among
others came out of the closet to be discussed, addressed and -hopefully-
solved.
Hard
politics entered the scene after the romantic episode of the Zapatista
rebellion -characterized by the masked men and women and their tale-writer and
political leader- by means of counter insurgency policies, paramilitary groups
and propaganda campaigns, among others. And it was exactly then, when more
concern and attention and clarity and coverage was needed from the
international community, that the eyes of the world started turning to some
other crises elsewhere. The massacre of 45 woman and children in Acteal (Dec.
22, 1997) briefly placed Chiapas again in the headlines but after the atrocity
silence ruled again.
Those
past events in the 90s seeded and nurtured much of the cataclysm that would
come later, which in recent past became known as the “war on drugs.” For these
reasons it is quite surprising that specialists fail to make the connection
between one crisis and the other notwithstanding the common ground. The special
forces used now to fight drug dealers/producers were formed because of the 1994
uprising; the militarization –now rampant and nationwide- began with Chiapas;
the abandon of the countryside –one of the Zapatista complaints- is fertile
soil for drug trafficking and NAFTA –North American Free Trade Agreement- which
was enacted the exact same day the rebellion started with three effects:
1) it
destroyed the little farmers –who now had to compete with the heavily
subsidized U.S. agro industry,
2) it
flooded Mexico with legal corporations –but not jobs- and illegal money, which
in turn
3)
flooded the US with drugs and Mexicans who were expelled from the countryside
and for whom their country has nothing to offer but corruption.
That is
a brief rough draft of the tragedy
And
now? Well, after six years of the “war on drugs” (which in fact is 42 years
old; it started in 1971 under Pres. Nixon; six years is the Mexican government
‘official’ count) just add a hundred thousand people killed, thirty thousand
disappeared, millions traumatized, the fact that one out of four Mexicans live
in the US as economic refugee, that six out of ten live in poverty, and that
ten million of them –out of a population of 120 million- live in misery, and we
will have an updated image of the situation.
Hopeless?
No. Certainly not.
Massive
structural violence as the one depicted above can only be addressed with
massive peace policies; and in Mexico, much of them are on their way -both in
national and regional levels- but even better, some of them are already here,
working, acting and yielding good results.
At the
national level an overarching program to prevent violence has been designed and
enacted. Despite the fact that it misses some important topics –such as peace
journalism, peace museums, peace business and nonviolent communication- it is a
bold proposal, grounded in a legitimate peace philosophy –one in which peace is
constructed through the satisfaction of basic human needs- and is well equipped
in scope and with enough budget and personnel to achieve transcending results
by construction of peace infrastructures (i.e. mediation centers, academic
degrees in peace for civil servants, etc.)
and the buildup of a mediation-dialogue-conciliation culture that had
been floating in the air for some years but is now becoming a very concrete way
of life not only in scholarly circles but also in civil society and government.
This
top-down approach is then linked with efforts bottom-up from the ground level
in the different regions. In the same way the State of Puebla was a pioneer in
boosting mediation in legal practice; the State of Mexico –a region of the
country- is a formidable example of how peace education can be better served by
summing up efforts in all directions from NGOs to government to individual
commitments. Under the overarching umbrella of a project called Programa para
una Convivencia Escolar Armónica (Program for a Harmonious Coexistence in
School) thousands of school teachers, parents and tens of thousands of students
are getting acquainted not only with strategies on how to deal with bullying
but also on a wide range of conflict transformation techniques for everyday
conflicts in all domestic contexts.
TRANSCEND
is an active partner in all of the above–and more. Supporting the development
of legal mediation throughout the country along with the Supreme Court,
enhancing the possibilities for the constitution of a National Commission of
Peace –now well advanced at State level with State Commissions already active
and supported by up to 300 NGOs now contributing with trainers instruction,
documenting experiences, designing proposals, certifying competences and
providing study material for dissemination and articulation of peace education.
This is
taking place right now; and next year –already around the corner- a giant leap
could take place: the creation of the first Peace Study Center associated with
the public administration.
Certainly
not enough, but not bad either.
Johan
Galtung. A professor of peace studies, is rector of the TRANSCEND Peace
University-TPU. He is author of over 150 books on peace and related issues,
including ‘50 Years-100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives,’ published by the
TRANSCEND University Press-TUP.
Fernando
Montiel T. Is a member of the TRANSCEND International Board of Conveners for
Mexico and a Ph.D. candidate.
