Commentary
Commentary Islamabad Peace Exchange
Zahid Shahab Ahmed, Insight on Conflict’s local correspondent for Pakistan, reports on a recent conference. In April, the Islamabad Peace Exchange bought together 20 peacebuilding organisations from across Pakistan for three days of capacity-building, collaboration and networking. Read more >>>
Commentary The invisible genius of KONY 2012
Annabel Smith, a teacher and community educator, discusses the Kony 2012 campaign. Arguing that, despite the many flaws of both the campaign and organisation, it has given us a reason to be proud of our young people.. Read more >>>
Commentary Bosnia 20 years on: remembrance but not reconciliation
Mirjana Kosić and Ian Bancroft from TransConflict – a peacebuilding organisation based in the Western Balkans – examine obstacles to reconciliation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Twenty years on from the start of the war, the country struggling to move towards the sort of reconciliation necessary to transcend the country’s persistent ethnic divisions. Read more >>>
Commentary Young Nigerians illustrate life beyond war
Dialogue in Nigeria: Muslims & Christians Creating Their Future is a new documentary which follows 200 young Nigerians who took part in the 2010 International Conference on Youth and Interfaith Communication. The film’s creators, Libby and Len Trauman, explain the motivations behind the project. Read more >>>
Commentary How do I deal with a bully, without becoming a thug?
Drawing on stories from her inspirations such as Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi, Peace Direct co-founder Scilla Elworthy gives a TEDx talk in which she shares six methods has identified that we can use to counter violence without having to resort to force ourselves. Read more >>>
Commentary What does climate change have to do with conflict?
Rebecca Sargent looks at how climate change and extreme weather effects peace and security. Climate change creates huge risks for increased conflict, and countering this requires a fundamental shift in the way institutions are organized and the way inter-linkages between organizations are addressed. Read more >>>
Commentary Guardians for the future
Dr Scilla Elworthy, co-founder of Peace Direct, explains the idea of Ombudspersons for Future Generations – guardians who would be appointed at global, national and local levels whose job would be to safeguard environmental and social conditions by speaking up for future generations in all areas of policy-making. Read more >>>
Commentary How to improve relationships between locals and donors
Donor support is often vital to local peacebuilders, and a growing body of literature is revealing specific ways in which the relationship could be enhanced. When Chris Preager compared the views of peacebuilders working on different problems, in different ways, in different regions, he found some of the frustrations at the demands donors place on recipients were notably consistent. Read more >>>
Commentary Planning for the future
Dr Scilla Elworthy, co-founder of Peace Direct, reports from a recent World Future Council meeting in Egypt. The World Future Council is a group of 50 experienced specialists in Climate and Energy, Sustainable Economies, Future Justice, and Peace and Disarmament. Coming from all five continents, together they form a voice for the rights of future generations. Read more >>>
Commentary Neuroscience and Social Conflict MIT conference
Josh Gryniewicz, from CeaseFire, writes about the recent Neuroscience and Social Conflict conference. The conference was hosted by the Project on Justice in Times of Transition (PJTT) as part of their mission to reassess global conflict resolution in the 21st century to develop new strategies. Read more >>>
