Stop Violence workbook 1 - Unesco

We Can Stop Violence
Chapter 2
Managing Conflicts
Key Objectives
After finishing this chapter you should be able to:
1. Define ‘conflict’
2. Describe why it is important to have conflict solving skills
3. List at least three causes of conflict
4. Give at least three suggestions for the management of conflict
12
Violence Breeds Violence
‘That man dissed me,’ says Peter. ‘If I ever tell you what I want to do to him now. I
might just do it too.’
‘You just calm down,’ says John. ‘Plenty of people like you are in prison. You feel
angry for half an hour and you have years to regret your anger. Many a man wishes
that he had just thought differently before he acted.’
‘No man, and I mean no man, must diss me like that.’
‘You have it all wrong,’ says John. ‘Suppose your son disrespects a man tomorrow. You
really want that man to take out his gun and shoot him? What would you think of that
man?’
‘That’s different. A big man must control himself when he is talking to a boy,’ says
Peter.
‘You mean he must be strong and not weak,’ says John ‘He can’t throw a tantrum like
a little child who don’t have any self control. Violence breeds violence. Violence is
weakness, you know. A violent man can’t control himself but he wants everybody to
think he is strong.’
‘That man really dissed me though,’ says Peter. However, John notices that he does not
seem as angry as he was ten minutes ago.
‘Think of your children, them not having a father to work for them,’ says John. ‘Think
of the suffering. Is that man really worth all of that? Are you giving him and what he
says so much power in your life? Does everybody have that kind of power over you -
over yourself, over your children, over your freedom? You must think this man is
God.’
‘Okay, okay’ says Peter ‘I will find another way to deal with it. Or maybe I just won’t
bother. Why should I have to run from police because of that man, or hope nobody
tells the police about me.’
‘And besides,’ says John ‘There are other ways to handle conflict.’