In the past two months we have carried no less than 18 articles about culture of peace from Latin America, as the continent continues to set an example for the rest of the world.

The leading edge is in Colombia which is emerging from decades of civil war. In Havana on September 23, the government and the FARC guerrilla movement signed a peace accord. And what is most important the entire Colombian people are becoming involved in the peace process. CPNN was privileged to take part in the National Encounter for Peace Education that took place October 1 and 2 in Bogota, involving a wide range of the civil society as well as government officials. Articles about the Encounter by Alicia Cabezuo of the International Peace Bureau and by David Adams are published in CPNN along with a link to a video of the meeting and an interview by Cabezudo about peace education. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos took part in a nationally televised program on peace education with some of educators who took part in the Encounter. Earlier, the National Congress of REDUNDIPAZ met from September 21-23 to address “The Role of the University in Building Peace with Social Justice.” Then, on October 10, the government of Chile announced it is establishing a group of experts, veterans of peace processes in their countries, to work out of El Salvador on behalf of the Colombian agreement. This is a kind of international solidarity for peace that is rarely seen in other continents.

The culture of peace, as such, is on the agenda in Latin America, as shown by other recent CPNN articles. Cuba announced that it will advocate for this at UNESCO. In Argentina a cycle of events dedicated to this was held during the week of the International Day of Peace. Bolivian students marched for culture of peace.

In Brazil, a public hearing of the Congress was devoted to culture of peace in schools. While in Curitiba the Instituto Mundo Melhor (IMM) brought together police officers to discuss the culture of peace. And Cardinal Peter Turkson, the President of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace, spoke at an international symposium on “Promoting a Culture of Peace in a World of Conflict” that was held in Rio de Janeiro.

Latin America continues to make a major contribution to sustainable development. The governments of Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela announced at a forum in October that they will advocate for “Pachamama,” or Mother Earth, and civil society at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December. In this regard, CPNN recently carried articles about women dealing with waste management in Nicaragua, terrace farming by indigenous farmers in Chile, and a victory by the indigenous farmers of Guatemala against the monopoly practices of Monsanto.

In Guatemala, The Latin American Council for Peace Research (CLAIP) and the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) devoted their Third Regional Conference to “Latin America on the quest for sustainable peace: tools and contributions.” While in Honduras, the struggle of peasant movements for the reclaiming of stolen land is celebrated in the new film, “Fertile Ground“.

As we say in the video of the National Encounter for Peace Education in Colombia: “If you look at the news from around the world, there is war everywhere. . . [but] when we see that Colombia is going towards peace, it is an inspiration. If Colombia can make peace, se we can make peace in other countries also.”

Each year the International Day of Peace (September 21) reveals the spread of anti-war consciousness throughout the world. Last year the bulletin for October 1 concluded that “we have seen this month the most impressive mobilization for a culture of peace since the International Year for the Culture of Peace 14 years ago. In other words, we can say with certainty that the culture of peace is advancing.”

Can we say the same this year? Qualitatively, we can see many examples that suggest we are advancing.

As usual the UN Secretary-General marks the International Day of Peace by calling for cease-fires in the wars around the world. Others, such as the Director of Greenpeace, Kumi Naidoo, use the occasion to urge solidarity with refugees as well as the cessation of the wars that have forced them to flee. He salutes the many acts of solidarity by individuals and communities across Europe, and he quotes the poet Warsan Shire that ‘No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark’. In a similar vein, the International Peace Bureau has given a share of its annual MacBride Prize to the Italian island of Lampedusa whose people have helped thousands of refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean to find asylum in Europe, and the Bureau makes the point that they are fleeing the military interventions by Europe in their homelands.

Peace One Day has been campaigning for over 17 years, making the case for Peace Day. This year it is sponsoring ‘ONE’, the Peace Day anthem recorded by musicians together from five African countries: Zwai Bala (South Africa), Ice Prince (Nigeria) Maurice Kirya (Uganda), Alikiba (Tanzania), Wangechi (Kenya) and Dama Do Bling (Mozambique). The anthem was premiered at the Peace One Day Youth Celebration in Kigali, Rwanda which featured performances from artists from across the Great Lakes region of Africa.

In the United States, the Campaign Nonviolence coordinates hundreds of actions around the country to foster a culture of peace through the power of nonviolence. Last year the campaign was launched with 239 actions and events in every part of the nation.

Here are some other celebrations from around the world:

The United Nations Association of New Zealand celebrated the International Day of Peace at Parliament in the Legislative chamber. In Zimbabwe, dancers, actors and poets came together to commemorate the International Day of Peace with performances at Zimbabwe Hall in Highfield. The Kashmir Peace Network is celebrating International Day of Peace at ‘Samad’s Island of Peace’ in Nageen. They are participating in the Global Feast for Peace, coordinated by the International Cities of Peace, along with many other cities around the world.

The peace activists of Ashland, Oregon (US) have used the day to launch an official City Culture of Peace Commission. And activists in Colombia are including the day in the 7th National Congress of REDUNDIPAZ, dedicated to the role of the university in the construction of peace with social justice.

The celebration of the Day is so widespread that it is difficult to give a quantitative measure. After surveying some of the websites and social media devoted to the International Day of Peace, I conclude that all of our estimates are under-estimates and the celebration is more widespread that we can calculate.

As the government of Colombia and the FARC enter their 40th cycle of peace talks, the people of Colombia are optimistic that an end is in sight to the half century of civil war that has torn their country apart and they are preparing for peace.

The peace talks reconvened August 20 in Havana with “a renewal of confidence in the peace process, spawned by the parties’  expressed willingness to accelerate the pace in Havana and to de-escalate the violence in Colombia.” Among their decisions in recent talks was the promise to create a truth commission. As the peace talks have advanced, the amount of violence has decreased according to a recent study by the United Nations.

As Amada Benevides explains in her letter to CPNN from Colombia, “The process of negotiating a peace agreement with the FARC has advanced many topics, including education for peace. For the first time in Colombia it is being mentioned explicitly, and not by other names, and in this sense we have several new initiatives . . . [including a] National Meeting on Education for Peace, to be held on 1 and 2 October.” She adds, “Since we have been working more than 15 years to put forward the necessity of peace education in Colombia, this is really a very exciting time.”

Peace education is becoming a required subject in the schools of Colombia. According to law 1732, adopted in 2014, the national government has decreed that “the teaching of Peace is regulated in all educational institutions of the country”. Culture of peace and sustainable development are to be implemented in the academic syllabus before December 31, 2015, in the areas of social sciences, history, geography, politics and democracy constitution, life sciences, environmental education, ethics, human values and principles.

There are many local and regional peace initiatives in the context of the talks between the government and FARC:

An important precedent over the years has been set by the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, formally established in 1996, which has been able to resist involvement in the civil war by means of a vast array of nonviolent tactics ranging from public declarations to establishing alternative educational institutions and markets. This impressive tactical diversity has gained considerable international support and, to this day, helps sustain the Community’s resilience. 

In Cundinamarca a regional meeting was devoted to strengthening the national policy of coexistence and security in the issue of reconciliation. Jerome Gordillo, secretary of Government of Cundinamarca, said that is the responsibility of mayors and ombudsmen to efficiently handle the peace process.

In the city of San Agustin, the Faculty of Education of Surcolombiana University held the first International Biennial of education and culture of peace from 13 to August 15.

In Cartagena, the first regional meeting was held to construct a Caribbean Regional Peace Assembly. The meeting was supported by the workers’ labor union -USO- and the company Ecopetrol. It was attended by delegates from Atlantico, Bolivar, Sucre, Córdoba, Cesar and Guajira.

In Bogota, more than 350,000 people attended the Rock in the Park Festival which was dedicated this year to the culture of peace.

At a national level, the Second National Assembly for Peace will take place in November. It will will include four conversations and 10 regional assemblies which will take place in Antioquia, Barrancabermeja, Cartagena, Choco, Villavicencio, Neiva, Puerto Asis, Tibu, Arauca and Popayan. They will focus on three themes: 1) mining and energy policy; 2) regional development and peacebuilding and 3), culture of peace and followup to the peace accords.

In many remote regions in Colombia, radio is the only medium to which people have access. For this reason, the Office of the High Commissioner for Peace this year began training journalists and announcers working at hundreds of small community radio stations across the country to manage programs that bring citizens in touch with the ongoing peace process.

In sum, the people of Colombia are preparing for peace at all levels, providing us lessons for the eventual transition from the global culture of war to a culture of peace.