Will the “International Day of Peace” turn into a way of life that we live, and this would turn into a “utopia”?
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
– Jimi Hendrix. [1]
Have you heard of the human dream of a “utopia”? Utopia is the “Perfect State” where there is no war, conflict, or racism.
All you can see is love, cooperation, and brotherhood. Utopia was and remains the dream of all fighters, and those who call for building a world of peace. In fact, it is the dream of every human being, humanity has found its way to his soul.
It started in 1981 with the aim of “celebrating and strengthening the ideals of peace among all nations and peoples.” Two decades later, the General Assembly designated September 21 as the date to celebrate the occasion annually as “the Day of cease-fire and non-violence through Education, Public Awareness and cooperation to achieve a cease-fire worldwide” [2]
As a result of the development of societies, their problems have developed. The term “peace” no longer represents the antithesis of war only, and calls for peace are no longer based entirely on laying down arms and stopping the war. The term peace has been accompanied by a state of lack of tension, racism, and persecution, a state in which justice prevails between races, religions, and genders. We, as human beings and as a whole, stay away from violence, killing, and discrimination.
So the theme for 2022 is “End Racism, Build Peace.” [2]
The more the concept of peace expands and its pillars increase, the more people feel that it is a myth told to children so that hope remains within them, and they will never be able to obtain it. But in return, the rush towards it and the effort to achieve it has increased, to dedicate it to the next generation in order to preserve it. In fact, the task of peace is difficult task, but it is not impossible.
As its title tells us, the International Day of Peace aimed at calling on all warring parties to lay down their weapons, by observing 24 hours of non-violence and working for harmony. [3] For this reason and to emphasize the importance of conflict resolution and reduction, we published some conflict resolution techniques in a post in the first week of the campaign.
Although the issues of peace, its goals, and requirements have multiplied, the culture of peace has remained the culture of dialogue and prevention, as the peace we seek is to keep away from hate speech, racism, and persecution. These are cultures that will not be overcome without awareness. There is an urgent need to reject models planted in our subconscious, depend on the conscious mind and logic and work towards accepting others for who they are, and respect their freedom and customs.
It is not an easy task to reject the implanted ideas that have accompanied societies for hundreds of years and begin to create new ones, but this is what we must do to create and nurture a culture of peace.
Therefore, the International Day of Peace aims to spread love and address the root causes of problems, support education – the only way to inculcate the right way of thinking – promote freedom of expression, foster intercultural dialogue, respect human rights and cultural diversity and promote scientific cooperation. [4]
Just as one of the endeavors of the International Day of Peace is to support education; the right education helps to spread peace. Therefore, we launched a workshop on programs concerned with peace as well as an article on the role of education in building peace. We believe that integrating peace with educational methods and curricula will make a positive global difference if applied in the right way.
A woman, this beautiful, gentle creature, who throughout history has been a symbol of love, tenderness, and kindness, needs love and stability to thrive. For this reason and because we are fully confident in the importance of women in spreading peace, we have dedicated an article that talks about the role of Syrian women in building peace.
Since time immemorial, women have been striving for peace and walking towards it through all the calls that the woman made and sometimes expressed with their tears for the purpose of peace. The justice we demand is to reject oppression and discrimination between men and women, our right to a decent life without family or societal violence, and the women to be treated as human beings without fearing harassment, rape, and trafficking.
Women have never demanded more than their right to live in a society in peace, to walk on the roads without fear, and to work in a place that respects them and protects their rights.
Gender-based violence is one of the forms of violence that the International Day of Peace seeks to eradicate. No doubt that the International Day of Peace is a reminder of the war of all humanity against violence and hatred, because the war for peace is a set of battles on many fronts, and it is a war that continues and will not stop until we achieve the utopia that we dream of.
It is not surprising when we say that a secure society is one that is ready to thrive because peace gives people the opportunity to think about something else. Instead of looking for protection and stability. We conducted a discussion session focusing on the relationship between peace and development and their interrelationship in several aspects.
We can also see throughout history the impact of peace and stability on societies. The peoples, who began to write the history of civilization, are the ones that managed to settle next to the rivers, secured a source of livelihood close to their homes, and left the nomadic life
The only goal of human beings is to walk towards the future. You will not achieve your desire while you are fighting for your life or in order to achieve respect for your life, your gender, your choices, to have your voice heard, and to be seen only as a human being and not like anything else.
Through the Uplifting Syrian Women initiative, we presented the peace campaign, under the title Choose Peace, and our message through that campaign was “To reach peace, teach peace”, as we believe that spreading a culture of peace begins with each one of us. Everyone who lives in peace will automatically invite and inspire those around them to live in peace.
We started our campaign on the 1st of September. Our goals were clear through them, and we hope that if we do not achieve them, we will push our convoy one step further in order to achieve them. It was divided into three weeks, each week with a specific axis:
We hope that the “Choose Peace” campaign helped you start your own journey of spreading peace. This campaign is not the first and it will not be the last. We will not stop until we build and spread peace in Syria and in the whole world. So let’s walk together on the road, let’s try to spread love, joy, and peace together. Let us try to deter violence and eradicate injustice, poverty, and hate.
The security and peace of the world belong to us. Violating the rights of women and children in another country is a violation of our rights. Famine and humanitarian crises are devastating for all. How long will we pretend that these issues do not affect us directly?
Let’s join hands and get started now. Leave greed, indecision, and fear, and let us now begin the task of spreading peace and all that is beautiful and full of good to all mankind.
The Uplifting Syrian Women Initiative is a safe space that preserves the right to freedom of expression and treats with respect. We hope to be a station on humanity’s path toward peace, to broadcast to you the screams and tears of the women who preceded us in this cause, and that their sacrifices will not be in vain.
🌿 Uplifting Syrian Women Initiative aims at sustainable peace building in Syria through targeting women and providing them with free online courses, workshops, discussion sessions and trainings, with a view to achieving the goals of Gender Equality, Quality Education and Decent Work and Economic Growth, which all fall into the interest of society as a whole and serve the purpose of rebuilding it.
References:
[1] 7ekam
[2] UN
[3] UN
[4] Unesco