Pesan Perdamaian di Tahun 2010

“Sejarah perang adalah setua sejarah keberadaan manusia itu sendiri. Dari tahun ke tahun, tragedi kemanusiaan melanda dunia ini. Lihat bagaimana Thucydides menggambarkan Perang Pelloponnesia; Perhatikan bagaimana Karen Amstrong membingkai Perang Salib; Camkan bagaimana Edward Hallett “Ted” Carr mengambarkan Krisis 20 tahun di Eropa; Hitunglah berapa banyak perang dan penderitaan yang diakibatkan dan,  Bayangkan kehancuran manakala kita berhenti mengupayakan perdamaian!

Saudaraku, sambutlah hari-hari baru 2010 dengan harapan! Resapi nurani dengan pesan perdamaian !”

(Asrudin & Nila Ayu)

A piece of peace from AngelRays :

“Let us all remember

that God created

this planet

that we call earth”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reaching out to others

Trying to understand

Where we have gone wrong

How have we treated others

 

We are from one source

We all need one another to make it last

Why do we fuss and fume

When peace is what we ask

 

Peaceful tranquility

Is not a poetic thing

It is the only way

That we can live together in this place

 

Understand that we are different

We do not have to agree

Just let others live their lives

In sweet harmony

 

It is not right

For us to try to hate

We are all created equal

 

Equal does not mean the same

It only means… we try

To give our utmost love to all

If we want this world to survive.

 

Be kind and understanding

Stop trying to make others learn

What is right for me, my friend

Might be what brings you harm.

 

Put the weapons down

Let us strive to harmonize

Men, women, children

All created equal in God Eyes.

 

Believe with all the others

Believe like never before

See goodness in all countries

If we want our planet strong

                  

Islam Between the Ideal of Universal Peace and the Reality of Defensive War (*)

By Dr. Hassan Hanafi

 

1 ‑ Islam as Peace: Symbols and Images

1-1. In many studies on the relation between Religion and Society, an option is to be made between normative analysis and factual description, between Seinsollen and Sein, between textual analysis and factual data. The first is the realm of the desirable. The second is the domain of actualities and conse­quently undesirable. The first is joyful to hear and beautiful to meditate. The second is painful to see and horrible to expect. The tension between the Ideal and the Real is a constant challenge to the human soul and to the social sciences. What to choose? norma­tive analysis or factual description? Is it possible to combine both in order to measure the distance between the Ideal and the Real? If the distance is too great, is it possible to bridge it by implementing the ideal as well as by changing the real? With­out such a bridge, the Ideal will appear as an utopian thought, giving consolation or functioning as a compensation. The real will also appear very cruel and refractory to any hopeful change. Only the primary source in Islam, namely the Qur’an, was used in order to describe the Ideal. The bridge between both is left to the readers  interpreting the same Qur’anic verses and sharing the same experiences of the time. Phenomenological analysis of the Qur’anic texts as well as phenomenological description of the common living experiences between the author and the readers are substituted for historicism and positivism. Objectivity is recovered through Intersubjectivity rather than lost in Objectivism.

1-2. The word Salam, which means peace in all its derivative forms, is mentioned and constantly repeatedly in the Qur’an, more as a noun than a verb ^([1]). Since a noun is a substance while a verb is an action, we can say that peace indicated by the word Salam as a noun is a substance, a structure and a world‑system not only an action. It is an objective reality, not only a subjective mood.

1-3. Islam, the name of the Religion, is derived from the same root as Salam, which means peace. Islam, therefore, is a religion of peace ^([2]). The word this time is used more as an adjective than a noun. Once Islam is adopted as a belief‑system by an individ­ual or a group, it becomes an action and a life style, singular or plural, masculine or feminine ^([3]). One of the derivative nouns is al‑Silm, which means at the same time Islam and Peace ^([4]).

1-4. Al‑Salam (Salam with the article al), which means “The Peace,” is one of the ninety‑nine Divine Names ^([5]). Since Divine Names are considered a Universal code of ethics and peace. Therefore, they are a part of human behavior, individual as well as collective. Since the Divine Names are holy names to be sanctified, No Mus­lim can call himself Al‑Salam, since it is a Divine Name, but only Abd al‑Salam. That means the servant of peace. A Muslim is a Servant of Peace, implementing the Holy Name in his life and working for peace.

1-5. The greeting formula in Islam, determining the relation between Muslims is “al‑Salmu ‘Alaykum,” which means “Peace be upon you”. This greeting originates in some Qur’anic usage of the verb (Salam) which means “to salute.” ^([6]). Homes are to be a sanctu­ary of privacy. No entry is possible without permission of the dwellers. Breaking‑in, spying, bugging and all forms of assault on privacy are against peace. Peace is not only a matter of Inter­national Law and International Relations between Sovereign States. Peace begins inside the individual, expanding to family and social life.

A Critical Approach To The Study Of Conflicts: Lessons From The ‘Critical Turn’ In Security Studies

By André Barrinha (University of Kent, Canterbury, afd3@kent.ac.uk)

 

Conference on Conflict and Complexity Tuesday 2^nd – Wednesday 3^rd September 2008 University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

 

Introduction

            Until the 1980s, Strategic Studies was seen as the discipline responsible for the study of security issues, back then reduced to military affairs. Since then, Security Studies has become, particularly in Europe, a more widespread label to indicate the discipline responsible for the study of security. Such turn was largely informed by a ‘critical’ approach, where classical paradigms were put into question and new ways of thinking about security advanced. Underlying the vast majority of these new approaches was the idea that security is not a mere technical issue that should be left for experts to discuss, but rather a deeply politically embedded practice in need of careful look.

            One of the main compliments towards Peace and Conflict Studies has been, since the 1960s, its capacity to go beyond the mainstream, often to the very deep margins of academia, without fearing academic discredit. The ‘critical turn’ in Security Studies was, to some extent, inspired by the boldness of Peace and Conflict Studies. And still, such inspiring role was not enough for the field in itself to accept and integrate that ‘critical turn’ into its own works. The main argument of this paper is that such critical turn has still to take place within the Peace and Conflict Studies field, and that the fact that it has not, deserves to be carefully studied. 

            In that sense, this paper will start by discussing what Peace and Conflict Studies exactly mean, and then proceed to its historical evolution in parallel with the most relevant moments in the history of Security Studies. The paper will then focus on the links between the two fields until the end of the Cold War. How divergent/convergent  the paths of both fields have been since then and the relevance of the critical turn for the study of conflicts will occupy the last part of this paper.

Education for Peacebuilding in Latin America: The MA Program at the Rotary Center for International Studies in the Universidad del Salvador of Buenos Aires

By Martín Abel González[1]

 

International Workshop On Education For Peacebuilding United Nations University, Tokyo, 9-10 March 2006

 

Introduction

            The Rotary Center for International Studies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is based at the Universidad del Salvador (USAL).  With its headquarters and central campus in the downtown area of this prominent South American metropolis, a suburban campus in the town of Pilar, and three additional sites in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Misiones, USAL is one of the leading academic institutions in the country and one of its largest private universities.  It boasts a population of approximately 16,000 students (of which roughly 2,000 are postgraduates), a faculty body of around 2,500 academics, and an inventory of 70 undergraduate and 75 postgraduate programs.  USAL’s origins can be traced back to 1944, when the Society of Jesus, which had founded in the early seventeenth century the first Argentine university (the Universidad de Córdoba), established an Institute of Postgraduate Studies at the Colegio del Salvador.  In 1956, one year after the government allowed the creation of private universities in Argentina, the Institute became the Facultades Universitarias del Salvador and, three years later, the Universidad del Salvador.  In 1975, administration of USAL was transferred from the Society of Jesus to secular hands.  There followed three decades of sustained growth and mounting national and international recognition.  

            USAL was a pioneering institution in the study of international relations in Argentina.  Indeed, the establishment of its School of Diplomacy, in 1961, predated by two years the creation of a Foreign Service Institute by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Relations.  In 1964, the School began teaching one of the first Latin American doctoral programs in the field, demonstrating its ambition to become a leading research center.  The renaming of the School into the School of International Relations in 1968, and its incorporation as a Department into the School of Social Sciences in 1971, reflected USAL’s commitment to the scientific study of world politics and to the conceptualization of international relations as more than simply an extension of the dominating traditional fields of diplomacy, international law and history.  Without reneging on the positive aspects of the latter’s influence, the new unit gained in analytical depth by interacting with the Departments of Political Science, Sociology and Social Work as well as with the chairs of Economics and other academic divisions located outside the School.  The unrelenting growth of the Department’s reputation, student body, list of faculty, course offer and links with external institutions permitted the establishment in 1995 of the MA degrees in International Relations and International Cooperation, both of which received a formidable impetus in 2003 when USAL became the site of one of the seven Rotary Centers worldwide and the only representative for the region.