Peacebuilding &conflict transformation A ... - Peaceworkafrica

Examples▶ In our society we don’t allow women to vote.▶ Only those taller than 1.80m can be part of the team.▶ Families with only two children are not entitled to a house.…Isms for instance racism, tribalism, sexism, fundamentalism … They might bepassed down from generation to generation and be perpetuated in politics oreven in deeper aspects of the culture that legitimise them.4.2 PowerConflicts often centre on the search for more power or the fear of losing power.People in conflict may assume that they do not have enough power to establish abalance of power or to bring about change or peace. Power has many positive andnegative meanings; power can be used for constructive and destructive purposes 20 .Often the word ‘power’ is mixed up with ‘force’ or mistakenly used as ‘violence’.Therefore one has to distinguish between the negative power that destroys and thepositive power that builds up. Some examples:Negative power Destructive physical power, destructive military power, the powerof propaganda which manipulates individuals’ thoughts — in this light, poweris negative as it is directed against the well‐being of people.Positive power The power of the truth, love, justice, solidarity, skill — in this light,power is positive as it is directed towards building people up.Power does not exist in a vacuum; it is present in relationships (parent to child, governmentto citizen, citizen to government, manager to worker, citizen to fellow citizen).It is the way one communicates and reacts that might show ‘power’. There arevarious possibilities for executing power, for example:▶ A parent can choose to either listen to a child or not.▶ A government can choose to react to ideas of the citizens or not.▶ Sharing information and linking people by means of mobile phones orinternet. In this way, ordinary people gain access to information that was previouslybeyond their reach and organizations can speak to millions of othersabout their concerns. The more people around the world have access to theinternet, their collective power for joint action increases immensely.4 . S o u r c e s o f c o n f l i c t 109