Seeds Of Terror

[Magdalena Liendo]

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Youth delegations representing the Middle East, Balkans, Cyprus, India and Pakistan, exchanged perspectives on the root causes of hatred and violence in and across communities, with particular focus on the roles of the media, pop culture, education, economic disparity, safety and security, religion, and government. On Thursday, November 15, 2001, the youth delegates accepted and presented the Charter on Uprooting Hatred and Terror to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Saturday, November 10: The conference opens with a welcome to the Seeds by John Wallach, Bobbie Gottschalk, and Tim Wilson. Committees meet for the first time to explore the roles of media, pop culture, education, religion, principles of government, economic disparity, safety and security, and guiding principles in making this a safer or more dangerous world. The delegates are addressed by a panel of expert speakers and return to their committees to continue debate.

Sunday, November 11: Delegates start the day at brunch with Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan. Her Majesty addresses the delegates at an ecumenical service officiated by leaders of faith from around the world. Delegates share a private meeting with Palestinian Authority official Nabil Shaath. Richard Berman, president of Manhattanville College, hosts the delegates for dinner, with a keynote address by Aaron Miller of the U.S. State Department.

Monday, November 12: Expert speakers, including Jerrold Post, Farooq Kathwari, and Robert Hormats, address delegates at the morning plenary session. Delegates continue drafting resolutions in committee meetings.

Wednesday, November 14: The Foreign Ministers of Jordan and Israel, along with actor Chevy Chase and author Karen Armstrong, address the delegates at the morning plenary session. The delegates visit the United Nations for an afternoon briefing, and continue committee meetings. After final committee sessions, delegates come together for a farewell celebration.

Thursday, November 15: Delegates convene for the final plenary session and the Report of Committees on the Draft Charter. The International Youth Conference on Uprooting Hatred and Terror formally closes with the presentation of the Charter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.

The Charter on Uprooting Hatred and Terror is the work of all 120 youth delegates, representing the eight conference committees (Declaration of Principles, Media, Education, Religion, Economic Disparity, Religion, Safety & Security, and Popular Culture).

Declaration of PrinciplesWe, Seeds of Peace, young people representing 22 war-ravaged nations, hereby declare that we are tired of hatred, violence and terror. At Seeds of Peace Camp, we ascended together to the peak of appreciation that peace is possible. We entered Camp full of stereotypes and prejudices against our enemy; after three exhilarating weeks of coexistence, we returned home with an understanding of the other side and acceptance of our common humanity. We learned that we are strong together.

In our home countries, by contrast, we have grown up in tense, fearful environments. We have lost loved ones and seen our sense of security and normality in life shattered. The sight of humanity reduced to rubble on September 11 served as a terrible reminder of the tragedies we have witnessed in our lives.

In the wake of so many tragedies, we have come together to search for enduring solutions to hatred, terror and violence. We define hatred as the wish that another human being or human group not exist, or that their existence be filled with suffering. The common physical expression of hate is violence, the intentional use of aggressive force to inflict pain upon other human beings. Terror is the organized implementation of violence against civilians in order to spread fear and achieve political or ideological goals.

In order to achieve a society free of hatred, terror, and violence, we must establish and follow basic principles of human interaction which create an environment of security, absence of fear and respect for one anothers opinions and ways of life. Highest among these are the sanctity of life and the preservation of human rights and basic freedoms as recorded in the Charter of the United Nations. The greatest possible level of social equality, coexistence and compassion are guidelines to which we must aspire, with our ultimate goal to live in harmony, recognizing our uniqueness and difference in culture and religion but acknowledging our mutual humanity. In politics, we advocate the eradication of policies which undermine these principles, which value land or money above human life or turn citizens into the tools of government. In society, we move to eradicate all forms of racism, sexism or extremism which deny the equality and humanity we have learned to recognize in each other.

Do not dismiss this as youthful idealism. Many of us live in places where killing and humiliation, poverty and homeless refugees are commonplace. We are surrounded by an atmosphere of hatred created by unjust realities . Violence does not begin when a gun is pointed or a rock is thrown, but in the hate-filled graffiti and political posters decorating the walls of our cities. When this hate takes physical expression in acts of terror, the victims often call for revenge, perpetuating a cycle of violence.

Yet at Seeds of Peace, we have experienced real equality, unity, understanding & joy. Having faced this stark contrast, we now refuse to accept what is when we know what can be, if we truly implement these principles in our homes and our hearts. We refuse to be victims. We know it is possible to redirect human passions, even calls for revenge, toward the positive goal of creating peace.

In order to address in depth these issues, we have created seven committees to analyze elements of society that have in the past been used as catalysts to spread hate, violence and terror: Education, Religion, Media, Pop Culture, Safety & Security, Economic Disparity, and Principles of Government. Each committee worked to identify the ways in which these elements of society can be changed to create an environment which fosters peace.

Media (print, audio, and visual) are forms of organized and constructed communication. They greatly influence public opinion and with the power they possess, media either encourage or discourage violence and hatred. Media are profit oriented and will therefore use violence or offensive language even in times of peace, in order to provide stimulus and attract consumers. Therefore, they have a major role in creating or enhancing tension or a negative atmosphere.

In times like these, of war and extreme conflict, media tend to use elements of propaganda. They are nationalistic and demonize the enemy while increasing compassion towards the side that they choose to support. They also act to eliminate a moderate path and polarize the opinions of the masses. Information is distorted into propaganda and creates a situation in which the people do not have enough information to think critically about the circumstances. During times of intense situations, the enemy becomes faceless, and one becomes desensitized to violence.

Media reflects upon people and how they think and wish to express themselves. This expression cannot be taken away from the people, nor controlled by an authority. We would like to suggest a few changes. Media in general should be objective, responsible, interactive, mediated, available internationally, humanitarian, and respectful as it pertains to social responsibilities. The media should portray our common humanity. It should do this by reporting more human interest stories which encourage empathy and instill understanding between people. Media needs to understand the critical role it plays and behave responsibility, serve as a voice of morality, assert different values, and promote an environment that stimulates thinking. Media should be a platform for all voices to be heard and show us all sides of an issue or conflict. Only a free and independent media with integrity and humanity can assure the credibility and efficiency of this institution and show a fair and truthful picture of this world.

One week ago, fourteen seeds began a journey of growth. We learned that a simple task of making a statement about education actually educated us in itself. In our discussions we shared information, we challenged that information, and then we intensively and critically examined how to apply all that we learned.

What we gained from this process was a first hand understanding of the important role education can play in uprooting hatred and terror. What is education, we asked ourselves? Education is an ongoing process of receiving, processing, and applying information in our lives. Through education we gradually discover ourselves and create a path that leads to success. We acknowledged that formal education taught in school is intertwined with media, the internet, society (including social interactions), religion, and family heritage, all of which create our world of education.

For the sake of facilitating the task of this committee, we will be drawing an artificial line between formal and the other sources of education, which are being addressed by our peers in some of the other committees. We will be specifically looking at that part of formal education that we believe promotes violence in our societies, such as history and social studies. Formal education shapes the way people think, which in turn influences their actions and whether or not they resort to violence.

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