Approach to and breakdown of the topic on war, terrorism, resistance, and peace

Approach

Today, one of the central topics of the global agenda on the resistance to war and the building of peace has to do with the need to identifying the main dimensions of war. Among them, we can mention the links and impact of the application of differing antiterrorist and anti-war policies, as well as present social counterforce strategies arising as a result of such policies.

In this sense, the object of the topic on wars, terrorism, resistance and peace, is to develop lines that will allow us to explore the following considerations:

What are the premises, strategies, and actions that presently make up anti-terrorist and anti-drug policies? How do these actions manifest themselves at a local and global level, and what have the consequences of such actions been? What are the bounds of social resistance, and what are its limitations at the local, regional and global levels, as an exercise of counterforce? What is the impact of anti-terrorist and anti-drug policies on cities? What factors are associated with violent conflict in cities?

Globalization of reasoning on world security or the preservation of life and dignity

To achieve the said objective we start out from a series of premises:

1. Beginning with the events of September 11, 2001 and the later reactions to them, different governments, international organizations, and multilateral agencies have put in motion a series of strategies that have as their main objective the maintenance of a certain world order. In this context, economic and geo-political interest are prioritized, which are placed above the issues of (global, international, hemispheric, and national) security in the face of the exercise of individual and collective liberties.

2. Attempts to implement the new scheme by military, political, economic and/or humanitarian means have taken place primarily through the war on drugs and the war on terrorism. Nevertheless, important actions and debates have been put forth by organizations, sectors, and movements associated with the local, regional and global orders. These proposals of collective reflection signal the different contexts, interests and hedges of those promoting war as the strategy of intervention and control. Another objective of these movements consists in bringing into question the premises of the aforementioned approach on security, as well as bringing to light the effects of its application.

3. The present-day situation is presently debating itself within the framework of tensions between the application of the military strategy on the part of the few but very powerful economic and political sectors, versus the huge majorities who suggest the need to implement an effective autonomy in relation to the matters of self determination and complete realization of human rights as the necessary stage for the achievement of peace. Therefrom derive global conflicts in nature, and the different manifestations of intervention in the spheres of countries, cities, and rural areas, among others

4. The process of settlement of urban areas (which are inhabited by 70% of the world’s population) has not been devoid of the multiple tensions that surround conditions of urban life nor have they been exempt from the forces of organization of the use of space and territory, among many others. In some of these conflicts, violence has become present and has remained at the core of the impact of everyday life on urban dwellers, thus affecting the exercise of their human rights. The presence and persistence of urban violence has been associated to multiple factors, such as: conditions of socio-economic exclusion and special segregation, weakness on the part of the state, the bi-social and cultural disposition of certain groups within the population (blacks, the poor, foreigners, etc.), The thrust of criminality associated with the drug trade, etc. Violence has come to be seen as a legitimate option in conflict resolution, which, however, makes it necessary to differentiate what types of urban conflict contemplate this violence as an intervention strategy.

Work topics
--- Global debate on war.
--- Global and internal war
--- Violent urban conflict

In the case of critical analysis of war strategies, it becomes necessary to recognize and reflect systematically upon the following aspects:

1. Intervention modes (1)
a. Military intervention
b. Humanitarian intervention
c. Political intervention
d. Economic intervention

2. The market and the arms trade, and disarmament policies.

3. Forced and economic migrations as a strategy of war.

4. Urban violence, its causes, manifestations, and treatment.

Job approaches

--- comparative studies and emblematic cases
Among the emblematic cases useful in analyzing present-day wars and their relationship to anti-terrorist and anti-drug policies, we may point out the following: Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Ireland, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Palestine, Chechnya, East Timor, the Philippines, and Colombia; these present themselves from a regional point of view as an expression of an intense human rights and humanitarian crisis. Likewise, it is of great importance to look more closely upon the outbreak of internal strife, the way it is expressed and the shapes it takes within urban confines, where extremely diverse and complex problems converge. We must therefore deepen our analysis on some emblematic cases, such as: Rio de Janeiro, Medellin, Mexico city, New York, Peruggia, Bombay, San Salvador, and Johannesburg.

--- the role of governments and multilateral agencies
With respect to the role of governments and multilateral agencies we address the debate concerning duty and the right to meddle. From this perspective it becomes compelling to examine the notions of complex humanitarian and political emergencies as, too, present reasoning of some intervention modes. Furthermore, we shall analyze the different facets of humanitarian aid and international cooperation, as well as the obstacles and mechanisms provided for their application and development.
In the case of urban strife, we cannot set aside those measures which
Different governments as well as multilateral agencies have applied for their management.

--- social global movement
In the case of the social global movement it becomes relevant to know and discuss the different strategic expressions of resistance and counterforce such as active non-violence, the transformation of conflicts, the social global movement against war, the teaching of peace, the social movements for the rights over land and territory, the right of autonomy and self determination and the application of the principle of civil disobedience. We also deem it important to examine the obstacles faced by this social organization in the framework of armed internal and international conflicts, within the bounds of the war on terrorism and the war on drugs.Main conference, panels and discussion tables

Main conference

Peter lock, ”the new wars and preventive wars”
Panels

1. Wars. Terrorism, and security.
Speakers will undertake discussions on the marketing and trafficking of weapons; wars within globalization; internal wars and forms of intervention.

Guest speakers:

--- Rodolfo Mataralo – United Nations Mission Chief In Sierra Leone And Haiti, Expert On International Security And Internal Conflicts.

--- Federico Andreu – Member of the International Jurists Mission, expert on human rights and on the subjects of security and terrorism.

--- Tariq Ali – Barcelona, Akal editors

--- Susan Santon – analyst from the United States.

--- Michael Klare – ex-US military, expert on war and security policy, and expert on United States Security Agencies.

--- Manuel Vasquez Montalban – international analyst.

--- Josu Perales – expert analyst on the subjects of security and war, member of the ptm in bilbao.

--- rafael moreno – jesuit priest, versed on the situation in mexico and central america.

2. Urban violence and strife and drug trafficking.
The topics addressed by the panel are: urban violence and armed group with territorial claims; the dynamics of urban crime, international networks and drug trafficking; economic exclusion and spatial segregation, as well as public policies toward the treatment of urban violence and safety.

Guest speakers:

--- christopher mitchell -- georges mason university

--- pablo emilio angarita – ipc university of antioquia

--- hector diaz p.

--- ana maria aragones

--- ana esther ceceña

3. Wars and the humanitarian crisis.
This topic will center on forced migration, displacements, refuge and humanitarian intervention.

Guest speakers:

--- roberto cohen - brookings institute

--- bjork peterson – norwegian council of refugees data bank.

--- victor currea de lugom, madeleine alingue – senegal externado university

--- july el-bushra gender and refuge

---- sebastiao maccineri
-- onic

Moderator: jorge rojas -- codhes

4. Civil resistance and counterforce to war.
This panel will examine in retrospective the social movements against war and will analyze the present social movement against war.

Guest speakers:

--- antonio elizalde or juliano fontana –citizens movement for non- violence

--- representative from the women in black

--- representative from the jerusalem center for peace

--- representative from the via campesina (peasant way) movement

----abadio green – onic

----marco chancoso – peru and ecuador resistance movements

Discussion tables

1. War, economy and development

Guests:

--- ian bannon - world bank

--- paul cammark
--- ana maria salazar – ex advison of the united states department of state on security matters.

Moderator: jaime zuluaga

2. Wars, sovereignty, and the role of the international community.

Guests:

--- oxfam u,k,
---- acnur
---- mark vincent
---- adam isaccson

3. Local and global movements against war, limitations and grasps.

Guests:
--- oscar useche – colombia
---- noami klein
---- ulmek oslender
---- manuel castells
Moderator: luis sandoval

arriba