When my peace become your violence

Lecture for global citizen




There would be no one in the world who hates peace. But, even at this moment, many wars and conflicts in the globe shows clearly that we live in the world far away from peace. Indeed, is it possible for us to bring the peace to this earth?
 

Into the lecture for peace
In April, even if Spring has not come yet, Seoul YWCA opened a program called . In the first class held on 4th April (Wed), , an expert in peace studies, Lee Dae Hoon, who is professor of Sung Gong hoe University, gave a lecture on the subject of "What is the global peace"


Professor Lee said that 'to think when my peace become your violence' should be the starting point of a discussion for global peace. He commented that we will never bring the global peace on the sidelines with half-hearted pacifism, adding that active reflection on peace should be originated from myself with the questions such as "Why is not world in peace?" "Then, what should I do for peace?" The unpeaceful situation is caused by discrimination, exclusion, and the structured violence that are widely penetrated into our daily life as well as international politics. Thus, when you look into others' sufferings caused by peaceful you regardless of your intention, you stand on the starting line to improve a structured violence.



Spot for a Heated Discussion and Questions
Various members such as college students, businessmen, NGO staffs, housewives, college professors have joined in this lecture. They had a heated discussions and questions as the lecture went on. An NGO staff said. "I doubted if development assistance for the developing countries is for the sake of a genuine world peace." One businessman raised other question; "Whenever we talk about peace, the national division issue that Korea faces has been brought up. How should I understand this matter." And, the another question is. "Why has our society a severe racist stereotype? Is it because we have a relatively short experience in terms of time span on various ethnic groups?" With the contentious discussions and questions, one conclusion is drawn that we should be the starting point of peace on the each person's level to achieve peace on the global level ultimately.

In the next three lectures, participants will review specific cases of peace and conflict such as Burma's democratic movement story, racial conflicts in Africa, disputes between Palestine and Israel. Participants' eyes with passion already stays to my eyes. The famous Korean poet Park Rho Hae defined peace in his poem like this. "Rejecting little violence in a daily life, reflecting on ourselves as we condemn others and society, and having war stay out of our life though living in the war.