WINPEACE - VISION AND ACTION
by Margarita Papandreou, Greece

Two super-powers had for more than forty years determined the world scene in terms of managing conflict and causing wars. During that time other countries found themselves divided into categories: pro-communist, anti-communist and a smaller number of neutral countries making up the non-aligned movement, thus maintaining a tight clamp on individual or group actions working outside of this framework. With the breakdown of the Berlin Wall and the fragmentation of the Soviet Union, many political and civil forces were liberated and found opportunities to be actors on the world stage of international relations and foreign policy.

This was a freeing of dynamic and creative forces for conflict resolution. Because I come from the Women's Movement, let me state why I think women in particular should work at the NGO level for peace. Working for peace is working for equality for women. Militarism and sexism are related. War is the ultimate weapon of the patriarchal society. Little boys are taught in direct or indirect ways that fighting for their country is their patriotic and glorious duty. Little girls understand that they are the cheer leaders for the men and responsible for keeping the home fires burning. From this picture stems the structure of the society we have today. Women's secondary role is embedded in the consciousness of the people. Globalization - economic globalization - nourishes this kind of world.

Where can NGO's be effective in changing this kind of world? What can they do against war and the militarization of international relations? Let us look first at phases of a conflict. I am arbitrarily naming three. First, the period leading up to the conflagration; second, the war itself; and third, the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase. The first phase requires an understanding of the history, the culture, power relations, the antagonisms and the prejudices of the conflict itself. It requires knowledge of the conditions in the area. In this phase the N60 attempts to prevent the use of force and set the foundation for a peace culture, for interethnic or inter-nation coexistence.

In the second phase, the war itself, NGO's are considerably impotent. Our political activity is limited to demonstrations against the war and articles in newspapers, including efforts in the midst of violent confrontation to provide both sides with breathing space to compose their differences ala the Olympic Truce practice. In other words, we work for a cease fire. Our constructive action is largely humanitarian, particularly with refugees.

Women are particularly effective and called upon to participate in the third phase - the reconstruction and rehabilitation stage. Looking at it in a cynical way, one can say: governments and the military destroy; the civil society picks up the pieces. Because our purpose is never to get to this third stage, we put our emphasis on the first stage.

The first phase, which we can call preventive diplomacy, is where N60's can mobilize their power and be potentially the most productive in determining an outcome. It is in this phase that we warn of an impending clash, and it is in this phase that we develop initiatives which, using democratic techniques, push for a friendly coexistence.

I would like to give an example here. For years NGO's and scholarly centers of research and strategic studies had warned of the impending troubles in Kosovo. Since 1989, if not earlier -when Milosevic removed the autonomy sttatus from Kosovo - the warning signals were out - the red lights were flashing. NGO's continually brought this to light. Various organizations had begun working for a healthy coexistence, all with the aim of changing the situation in a constructive way as preventive measures against a war. Members of our network had internet contact with a great group of Albanian Kosovar women as well as Serbian women; the Helsinki Citizen's Assembly was active; there were local women's organizations active, and there were international organizations. In other words, a very positive process had begun which was brutally interrupted by the war and which is hard to replicate after the passions of the killing fields have been unleashed.

About sixty billion dollars are spent on foreign aid throughout the world. Whether this is in the form of charitable donations or in the form of huge loans from the World Bank, or from one government to the other - the money is released for a variety of purposes - relief in natural disasters, for food for the starving, and for help in economic development. How much of this ever reaches the needy? How much is used to avoid a war. to build a new ethos in human relations, in international relations?

WINPEACE has a theory of action which we believe circumvents bureaucratic inefficiency, misguided policies, political corruption and other methods of frittering away enormous sums of money. We believe our role is to help people rediscover ways of helping each other directly, according to their needs and aspirations as they themselves define them, with their own priorities and guided by their own agendas. It means educating people to educate themselves; putting the action and decision-making into the hands of the people. I means, in short, building a civil society.

We need to exert our energies in two ways, one as a strong lobby to force the "big guys," that is, those who have the economic resources, to create a whole new orientation toward the question of aid. This means, as one example, that large donations should go directly to scholarships to train the young people of a troubled nation. A scholarship board in cooperation with citizen members of the country, or ethnic group, can be set up by the donor, let's say the World Bank. The scholarships will be set up to cover the field of technology, business education, administration and all of the human needs fields, like health, social work, language, environment, etc. The basis for the choice of subjects will depend on how the skills acquired play a significant and positive role in conflict management, that is, are they important to building a structure of peaceful coexistence? The OSCE had some success in the Baltic countries, but could have been even more effective if funds were available to develop such a program.

Now for the "little guys," the array of NGO's which have sprouted in the wake of the cessation of the Cold War. We are the raisers of consciousness. We are, and should be, the educators. We can get people together who through action can learn democratic skills. We can boost their awareness of the possibilities of citizen participation in resolving their personal and public problems. We can bring them to a new awareness of selfhood and have them look critically at their social situation, motivating them to take the initiative to transform the society that still looks at war as the ultimate solution to unresolved differences.

While we may have an ideological identity, we are in general independent of party connection or governmental guidance. We are, if you like, the bulwork of a civil society. This decreases our possibility for financial support unless governments and international bodies change their criteria for giving In the organization that I represent - WINPEACE - a Greek-Turkish Women's Peeace Initiative, our joint projects are developed with women at the grass roots level, through conversation, through dialogue. This requires an intense faith in people, faith in their ability to create and re-create, faith in their capacities to be more fully human. The WINPEACE woman believes in other women even before she meets them face-to-face. This is undoubtedly an essential element for everyone functioning within a civil society - a belief and faith in human beings.

As a women working in a non-governmental organization we have a natural concern, apart from our belief that wars do not solve the problems, because women and children are the principal victims of war. While more and more technologies allow mostly men soldiers to die in their beds, women and children are amongst the majority of civilians killed, maimed and traumatized by war.

On the other hand, women are potentially the most important contributors to peace. The improvement in their status, the empowerment of women, undoubtedly is the key to a reduction of violence in the world, and to fewer wars. In a debate that went on for many years on population control, and on reviewing the results of contraceptive programs, it was determined that the main determinant of population control was the education of women. Support of women's education, formal or informal through citizen participation opportunities, by various institutions, foundations, private donors and governments is an effective way to develop conditions for a culture of peace. What I am saying here is that education of women is the KEY to a healthy civil society and a healthy globe.

In three years WINPEACE has developed projects we can work on together, thus also requiring new members to join and adding to our network. We are translating women's books in the other's language; we are working together on a documentary to be used as an educational tool; we are setting up training sessions for the development of small business.

Within a few months we start conflict resolution training by professional trainers to give us the expertise to deal with conflict at a more professional level, and we also intend to collaborate in training sessions on democratic techniques. We have proposed working on a book together on early parent-child relationships in a long-term strategy for creating adult behavior that rejects violence in all relations.

If we, and other NGO's with similar goals, can get financial support, and we don't need much to gain results, we can be partners in the efforts of the Big Guys, as long as they change their practice and look at how they can help people to help themselves. This may be a dream world, because financial aid is more often given to satisfy the interests of the giver than the needs of the victim. But one thing we know: people who work in NGO's do have dreams, do have a vision, and do have a theory of action.

March, 2000