Peace & Reconciliation Through The Hands Of Powerless, But Never With The Powerful
By Rehan Fernando –
[an article of a group of students under the supervision and edition of their facilitator (Rehan Fernando) at Lanka Bible College: Rose, Nisha, Indika, Christopher, Kavindi, Danushka, Shehani, Yohan]
Preamble [Rehan]
In terms of peace and reconciliation, these words have become a commercial business rather than working realities or workable realities. The world needs these two realities today more than any other day. However, people’s misuse of these terms has obstructed achieving as generations. Responding to these matters quite more authentically, I, together with a group of students have critically reflected on some key aspects of peace and reconciliation in an academic course. The results and outcome of this effort are now arranged in this article, which is an ideological effort for certain practical realities.
Why peace? [Rose]
PEACE IS RIGHT! AND IT’S RIGHT FOR EVERYONE. The more society strives to promote peaceful association the more opportunity to resolve conflicts peacefully. Peace as we know it is the way of living amicably within society while sustaining human rights. Positive peace creates room for better attitudes and livelihood.
The heartbreaking truth is that peace is always sort by the lowly and the powerless, while the powerful remains in their slumber with true peacebuilding under the carpet. While the powerless strive for equality and sustainable peace the great and the mighty mockingly them. Earth stands witness to the sweat, blood, and labor of the true peacebuilders. Peace has become yet another fancy word that is being spoken in international forums, but the true requirement of peace is left on the burner. Peace is such a powerful requirement of society that it brings upon the responsibility on each human shoulder to strive to create and sustain it.
Why reconciliation? [Yohan/Shehnai]
Reconciliation on the one hand is a process of peacebuilding in conflict situations and it’s a main key to peacebuilding. It’s a way of life. Reconciliation is not a process of just approaching the other party or our side without a proper reconciling process. First of all, inner healing, tranquility, and peacefulness is necessary to approach others. particularly, the internal approach for reconciliation is the first step before the external approach. Most of us miss to heal ourselves first before we heal the world outside. So, reconciliation is nothing, but one’s way of life which leads us toward harmony.
Reconciling methods and approaches could be different from one situation to another.
A voice from powerless [Nisha/Indika]
From the depths of powerlessness in Sri Lanka comes a voice that whispers a truth that can be heard all over the country:
Peace and reconciliation are not the work of the strong but of the powerless. It’s a truth that goes against the usual ideas of strength and authority. Instead, its power comes from the strength of people who have been ignored, mistreated, or left out. People with a lot of power have often used it to control and divide, sowing the seeds of strife that have hurt the country for years. But history shows that it’s not the powerful who suffer the most from these kinds of wars. People who can’t do anything about it, like regular people, families torn apart, and towns torn apart, are the ones who suffer the most.
There is a saying in Sinhala, “බලය තියෙන අයට මො ළය නැ හැ, මො ළය තියෙන අයට බලය නැ හැ “.
From the ashes of hopelessness comes the voice of those who have no power. It talks about getting along with others and getting better. It talks about recognizing pain and grievances, listening to stories of suffering, and walking together toward a future that is built on empathy and kindness. People who don’t have power aren’t tied down by the chains of ego and desire that often come with it. Their strength comes from being humble, being able to see beyond what’s on the surface, and being determined to make links where others only see gaps. They know that real peace doesn’t just come from government talks; it also comes from talks between people who have been hurt and lost. Because they have been through hard times, the weak know how important it is to make peace. They know that it’s not about erasing the past, but about learning from it, admitting the mistakes, and committing to a road that will make sure this kind of pain never happens again. They know that healing is a process, not a goal and that it takes time, patience, and a firm belief in people’s ability to change.
In the hands of those with no power, the process of making peace looks different. It becomes a force of the people, by the people, and for the people. It isn’t driven by power and control goals but by everyone’s wish for healing and peace. It is a movement that gives people the tools they need to be in charge of their own lives, bridge the gaps that have kept them apart, and build a society where the hurts of the past become the building blocks of a better future. As the voice of the powerless gets louder, it echoes across the land, telling all who hear it that the real power to heal and make peace is not in the hands of the powerful, but in the hearts of those who have been hurt. It is a voice that gives hope, brings people together, and holds out the hope that Sri Lanka will become a place where peace is not just a dream but a living fact.
Zero efforts of powerful [Kavindi, Danushka/Christopher]
Powerful people are always less affected by issues facing a nation, the reason for it is they have either the ruling power or the power of financial strength. It’s always the intermediate man or the third-class man in the country that gets affected. E.g.: in a country like Sri Lanka, the ruling powers are silent on peace matters instead they prefer the problems prevailing in a country to excise their power over the middle-class people. If there’s no issue in such a country, they have no income or recognition to receive from the powerful nations. The powerful nations also never allow Third World countries to practice any peace and reconciliation due to the reason if there’s a war only in a country the trade of their arms can be exported to such countries. As it happened in Sri Lanka.
In a country where leaders are identified as powerful are considered important people. Protecting them is the country’s duty. Recently the discussion of how to reduce the number of securities assigned to these leaders was discussed in various stages as the main topic. During the civil war, if the people had left the village borders in the northern part of the country towards the Colombo area, those village borders would have been developed today.
We know that people who have heard the shots of a gun and who were amid the dangerous war value peace and reconciliation rather than those who have never heard a gunshot, thinking of peace and reconciliation. Another reason for the zero effort of the powerful is the ignorance of the subject of peace and reconciliation by the leaders who are assigned to carry out the task. Taking part in this task is not another job entitling people to a wage and benefits derived from the government. This is a position of responsibility for protecting every human and generally the whole country as well.
A leader who never understands the feelings of soldiers killed on the battlefront and the lamentations of ordinary humans will never know the truth and the dark side of the war. These leaders block the way of peacemakers by selling their self-esteem for the greed of money. These people try to create again and again a devastating war in the country once more. An example of this is the Canadian wise president’s speech in the previous month trying to bring out the unwanted, buried areas of the once ugly war to create an ethnic conflict or misunderstanding among the people in the country.
Conclusion [Rehan]
Peace and reconciliation are not overnight resolutions. It takes perhaps a whole lifetime of effort to come true with a process. Contextually speaking, Sri Lanka will need at least another five decades to heal most of the wounds that have been willingly created. Conflicts can happen unexpectedly, and such situations can be tackled because of our hard work. Yet Sri Lanka faces a different, difficult, and complicated problem. It is a problem not only externally existing but also internally creating among people. So, there is no compromise. Often our team attempted and still does to work from some ground-level contexts.
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