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| Sunday, 6 July 2003 |
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Conflict resolution : Translating political power into social change by Jayanthi Liyanage A new paradigm for sustainable peace -post-Tokyo aid pledge of US $ 4.5 billion -was examined at the discussion held at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) last week. It could not help but become a summary dissection of the neo-liberal agenda. "The neo-liberal peace", the dominant model of regional conflict resolution to emerge in the growth of capitalism after the collapse of the Cold War and the Soviet Union, has often been taken apart by social and political scientists. The reasons lie in this recipe's ability to positively connect economic revival with conflict resolution, and also its opaqueness at times, to filter to the "ground truths" and become an effective "ground therapy" for the grass roots at conflict. This panacea of globalization of the economy through free market, free competition, free trade, deregulation and privatization has also been blamed elsewhere in the world for unemployment, exploitation, robbery of national wealth, extreme poverty of certain parts of the population and abuses of human rights. For Sri Lanka, these connotations are deeply relevant. As Sunil Bastian, Senior Research Fellow, ICES, mentioned at the discussion, more than 75% of foreign aid received by the country has arrived after the 1977 liberalisation of economy. "The free market economy is the primary agenda of international donors," he says. "Sri Lanka being part of the globalised structures, its solutions too must be found within these structures. For the UNF Government, committed to carry out the neo-liberal agenda in the three pillars of deregulation, reduction of state and liberalisation, economic revival is interlinked with peace and the two develop together." He approves the credibility of the character certificate Tokyo gave us and how the aid generated there endorses the local economic and foreign policy, as foreign aid cannot be measured merely in terms of money but also in its legitimacy. Neo-liberal agenda And, now, for what may be missing in the neo-liberal agenda. Darini Rajasingham, Senior Research Fellow, ICES, argued that a peace process which fails to address the issues of social and economic inequality which led to a conflict and balance the changes wrought in the war years, may result in an unsustainable peace which could become a blue print for renewed violence later. Quoting Elizabeth Woods in "Forging democracy from below: Insurgent transitions in South Africa and El Salvador", noted that a peace process which addresses economic redistribution including land reform have a better chance of success in the long run. This brings to the fore long rankling issues such as rural poverty, unemployment and caste marginalisation in the map we draw to find solutions to social and economic inequality and exclusion. We are well aware of how the war has redrawn the political, economic and demographic landscapes of the north, the east and the other regions. A mere power distribution through a federal administrative structure for political stability, or, on the other hand, an economy-driven structure alone, will not address such inequalities and the issue of social reconciliation calls for a stable and sustainable peace. Rajasingham also comments that although Oslo, Washington and Tokyo did largely internationalised the local peace process, not much has happened on the North East grounds. It is true that international powers brokered peace negotiations in the former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland and the Middle East to establish democratic electoral procedure and revive the regional economy. "It has been successful in Europe. In Ireland, the local and international players transformed the liberalisation process to mitigate conflict with growing economic structures." Yet, the dynamics of what is happening at grass roots has not come adequately to light. "The neo-liberal model puts a system in place that gives the appearance of justice but much of the time it is not just," says Ronnie Lipschutz and Susanne Jonas, who edited the collection of articles, "Beyond the neo-liberal peace: From conflict resolution to social reconciliation." "Peace settlements may give equitable representation to different political blocs, but they can't alter the economic substructures of a region." Argument Lipschutz's argument is that without social reconciliation, peace agreements could represent only temporary solutions while what is more needed is ground therapy. The tremendous social gaps and the inequalities of power and wealth which created conflict in the first place needs to be firmly slotted and tackled through social programs and redistribution of resources. The enormous challenge for the Government lies in translating political power into social change. Rajasingham also spoke of the essentiality of absorbing social and human rights into the structure of resolution and analysing macro economic policies in terms of conflict resolution. She says, "The Sri Lankan conflict resolution addresses poverty, but the need is to address the inequality factors in an intra-ethnic and an ethnic context." As an example, she cites The regaining Sri Lanka document of the government which is based on the World Bank's poverty reduction strategy paper, "Connect to growth: Sri Lanka's poverty reduction strategy." As she emphasises, post-Tokyo scenario is a call by the people, specially at the ground level, for more transparency on information sharing and on how the aid-funded development is going to happen. "More transparency on policy making not just about budget accountability," she stresses. Priorities exist for a serious study of poverty and vulnerability in the North and East where 80% of people come from fishing and agriculture communities. The needs assessment for reconstruction and rehabilitation and the subsequent development efforts require the concentrated and knowledgable efforts of the local people to whom the benefits will come, not just the involvement of the international community. Challenge The success of rebuilding lies in the degree of the local ability to enjoy ownership and capacity-building in policy making. "How can people be owners of the process of peace and the rebuilding of their lives?", was the crux of the issue, expressed in a nutshell by Nimalka Fernando, President, International movement against all forms of discrimination and racism, who also spoke at the discussion. The ultimate challenge posed to the government in the neo-liberal agenda is to create a political, economic and administrative mechanism which goes beyond the usual inhibitive bureaucracy to filter tangible peace dividends to the ground level masses in the north/east and the south. This actually calls for the government, the private sector and the civil society to work together in partnerships and the ownership and responsibility for reconstruction to reside with civil society. |
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