16 Days: The role of the Olympic Truce in the toolkit for peace

23rd June 2004

Scilla Elworthy spoke at the launch event for the Olympic Truce on Wednesday 23rd June at the Science Museum. This is the text of her presentation.

Having been in the business of peace-making for over 30 years, I have been asking myself why I support this initiative of the hundreds which surface each year. It came down to a few words. It's heavyweight, because it has history behind it; it's operable, because it comes with the Olympics; it's worth your support, because it works. There is no doubt about the importance of a ceasefire or truce in laying the foundations for peace. A truce, even for one day, can allow desperately needed medical supplies to get through, children can be inoculated, messages can be carried. Let me give two of the examples which are less well-known than those in this first-class booklet "The Olympic Truce".

In the case of Wajir in NE Kenya, after years of drought and violent confrontations between Kenya and Somalia, by 1993 a desperate situation had arisen with looting, murder, all NGOs pulled out and the death toll spiralling out of control. Wajir Womens Group was set up between women of opposing sides. They established strict guideleines, namely: "If my clan were to kill one of your relatives, would you still work with me for peace? If you can't say yes, don't join". They insisted on setting up a forum for elders to meet. Under pressure from the women, the elders eventually agreed a ceasefire in Sept 93, followed by a cessation of stock theft, a gun return scheme, publicity through the BBC World Service, and the creation of Rapid Response Teams for use when violence flared.

Next a slightly different idea - a development of the notion of truce - in the Uraba district of Colombia. The population was caught between guerrilla movements like FARC, and the Colombian army, often in league with paramilitaries. Since 1985 2m people had been forced to abandon their homes. In San Jose de Apartado in particular, in 1996/7 16,000 displaced, many assassinated, so villagers decided to set up a 'neutral zone'. It had 5 specific ground rules: participate in community work efforts, say no to injustice, not paticipate in the war, not carry weapons, not give information. Now there are more than 20 such peace communities "to allow displaced citizens of the region to autonomously reconstruct their lives in communities that are self-proclaimed zones of peace" thus offering a grain of hope for all Colombians, as they continue to face huge challenges.

These 2 examples come from a study that examined 250 cases of non-violent interventions in conflicts worldwide, and published details of the 50 most effective. A link to the study is available at the bottom of this page.

Today the challenges for the Olympic Truce are substantial, given at least twenty violent conflicts in world - in Burundi, Dem Rep of Congo, Uganda, Sudan, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Afghanistan, India, Kashmir, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Chechnya, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti and of course Iraq and Israel/Palestine.

These examples illustrate both the need for and the potential role of the Olympic Truce in the toolkit for peace. The toolkit - not just as used by policy makers, but by ordinary people too - also contains peace-keeping and third party intervention, citizen protection, arms controls, gun collection, control of militias, free elctions, free press, mediation and bridge-building, and ultimately truth and reconciliation commissions.

All of these tools require training in non-violence. In combat you may risk your life to kill others; in nonviolence you may risk your life so that no one else will be killed. This requires rigorous training and deep conviction; the effect it has on violent, cruel or angry people is more powerful than more violence. It affects them at a profound level. This is the power Martin Luther King taught and used to vast effect in de-segregating the deep South. It is what Aung San Suu Khi used when she walked unarmed straight up to the machine guns of Burmese soldiers who had been ordered to shoot the demonstrators she led. It is what Nelson Mandela developed during 27 years in jail and used to prevent a civil war in South Africa on his release. It was the power behind the 'Velvet Revolution', which brought down the Iron Curtain. It was the power that deposed President Marcos in the Philippines, General Pinochet in Chile and Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia.

Let me say one more thing about nonviolence. It requires of those who practice it, from whatever religious or cultural background they may come, an extraordinary commitment. It requires serious learning, which is now available, it requires practice, and devotion; most of all it requires the transformation of ourselves. We have to look deeply into our own anger, our aggressiveness and our fear. It's as hard as training for the Olympics. And the results are no less rewarding.