This is a place where we can communicate about issues related to peace work in wounded societies by armed conflicts. I am especially interested in the role of forgiveness to heal societies and sustain peace. In a transdisciplinary perspective I look at forgiveness as a measure and a gift alike which shows the interdependences between reconstruction and reconciliation efforts in peace architecture (Luc Reychler and the interdependencies among peace building blocks in peace prevention, peace-making, peace-building, peace-keeping, peace-enforcement).
To articulate forgiveness in the web of all interdependent measures of peace architecture in order to make peace sustainable I make use of Relational Constructionism (a way of understanding social constructionism by René Bouwen) which makes possible the emergence of a “mestizo” peace among different conceptualizations, models, theories, disciplines, values, visions, traditions, religions, cultures, etc., present in the parties and actors in a given conflict. This mestizo approach facilitates the development of mestizo networks and mestizo spaces.
Mestizo Peace Architecture Networks is a way of recognizing the advantage in crossbreeding available ways of peace practices and theories present in the parties involved in a given conflict in order to make peace viable and sustainable. The process of forgiveness and reconciliation is South Africa based in the African “ubuntu” and Western Christian traditions makes possible to overcome the apartheid regime. There is no peace without justice (also distributive justice), and no justice without forgiveness, a giving in excess that some call love. In this way, by the hand of forgiveness love enters in the political arena in transitional societies which have suffered gross violations of human rights, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.
We still are in the stone-age of humanity’s conflict transformations. We work for the prevalence of the words peace, reconciliation, forgiveness, and love as the last words in history of humanity. Mestizo Peace Building is a proactive and creative way of dealing with differences, crossbreeding them to give birth to a new life, a future life where all the parties feel recognized and shareing ownership.
