DEVELOPMENT POLICIES IN THE REGIONAL VALENCIAN GOVERNMENT

COOPERATION FOR DEVELOPMENT FROM THE VALENCIAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT

In this Conference, that took place today, we had the chance to listen to one of the political figures in charge of Cooperation for Development , from the Valencian Government.

The talk put forward the necessity to have more control in what comes to be the destination and actual use of the public funds that the mentioned organism manages. In this way, the speaker was asked by some of the attendants about certain project controls, that should take place and seem not to work effectively in controlling the destination of funds.

In this way, some analysts on the topic have pointed out the necessity to change the current Valencian Law of for Development Cooperation, which indirectly is allowing private enterprises to manage the cooperation funds and is not establishing any parliamentary control on the program for Development.

Thus, cooperation in Valencia seems to have gained a relative discredit both within and out of our Community. As a matter of fact, the necessary conditions to be allowed funds are getting less and less restrictive, allowing newly-created NGO’s to be given huge amounts of money.

The assistance to this talk has been kind of deceiving in what comes to acquiring new knowledge about Development. The speaker was not able to answer all questions the way an expert would. The talk seemed to be rather a political speech (and I hope it had nothing to do with the fact that we have autonomic election in about two months), rather than an academic instance.

Furthermore, I believe for the Intercultural Seminars it might have been better to focus on the academic aspect of International Development Cooperation, rather than the political one. That is, the exposition of the claimed success of the current regional government in the field of Development was of no interest for most of the students there, who mainly come from abroad or other regions in Spain.

ARMED CONFLICTS AND PEACE PROCESSES

Conflict, Culture and Communication: Our Conceptual Imagination

Comments on the Intercultural Seminar given by

In this Intercultural Seminar we were presented to the different conceptions of culture and conflict and the way they can be related to intercultural dialogue. The seminar, which was given from an extremely theoretical perspective, assumed the fact that understanding the origin of these conflicts can be the key in order to apply them.

In this way, the presentation developed a prospection into the etymology and history of these concepts and the way they were used nowadays. It is a fact, however, that it was not easy to link such extremely theoretical investigations with the reality of Interculturality. In this way, questions that might have come to my mind related to the topic were not even mentioned and are part of important knowledge gaps I might expect to build in an intercultural seminar related to Interculturality.

In this way, understanding the necessities of our current globalized world and the challenges we face as future peace-builders against a very specific discourse claiming the end of Interculturality (like the German Prime Minister Angela Merkel affirmed) or the preponderating discourse in certain spheres that affirms the necessity to acknowledge a Clash of Civilizations and react against it are two key topics I would have liked to talk about.

On the other hand, the eternal discussion between Cultural Relativism, Communitarianism, Cosmopolitanism, etc... that have a direct relationship with the work of peacebuilders, peace educators and also peace researchers is also an unresolved one, but an interesting to have, in order to give grounds in order to orientate our work towards a certain structural change, and lead our future work with confidence and the acquisition of a specific goal towards which to continue in the thick of things.

PEACE RESEARCH: DEFINITION AND CHALLENGES

Comments on the seminar given by Professor Peter Lawler.

In this Intercultural Seminar, Professor Peter Lawler introduced us to his criticism of Peace Studies and the usual way of approaching Peace most peace scholars have.

Peaces Studies were started by Johan Galtung who, probably based on his scientific background, tried to set the notions of peace and violence in a strict way. Thanks to his research in the field we now use terms like Structural Violence, Direct Violence, Negative Peace or Positive Peace... Peace Studies have taken especially the notion of Positive Peace as their main interest, developing several instances of literature in which theory related to it is given.

However, it is a fact that Peace Studies have distanced themselves to the study of national and international structures, the ones that might be causing the structural violence, in order to define their incompatibility with the concept of Peace. Peace has become an ethereal term used by everyone without the necessary reflection in order to determine what it is and, above all, what it is not. Therefore, contradictions in the possible realization of Positive Peace are present all the time.

Some peace students and scholars might, for example, consider peace as the coexistence of different kinds of people, as stated in their religious beliefs. However, they might not consider necessary to include in this coexistence, the elements not included in their religious precepts, like homosexuals, transsexuals, or even women. This originates a set of big contradictions that put forward the necessity for a previous internal prospection which is not usually done in Peace Studies.

Taken from a post-structuralist point of view we might assert that Peace Studies must question themselves all the time. We know of the notion of Imperfect Peace, we know Peace is a process and not a final stage. Therefore, we must keep moving and changing. And change does not occur if we set absolute truths.

It is therefore necessary for Peace Students and Scholars to question the status quo of everything they consider as true, even their own religious beliefs, in order to foster the necessary evolution of Peace Studies towards a real eradication of structural violence. All what's left, further elucubrations about a "union in diversity" that no one can materialize or make concrete, is pure literature.

VISIONS OF CONFLICT IN LATIN AMERICA

NEGOTIATION MODELS

Comments on the Intercultural Seminar given by Susana Cavazos.

In this seminar we were presented the Harvard model for Conflict Resolution.
This way of negotiating presents the innovations of focusing on interests and not on facts. In this way, we will focus on interests and not on territories, wealth or other material things that might be the origin of the conflict. Negotiation will be based on looking for creative ways to accomplish both parties needs-interests the best way.

Negotiation will be based on identifying each other’s interests and educate or involve one another about them, in order to find suitable solutions for both. That is why this model focuses on negotiation and creates a comparison between Competition and Cooperation and states that a key factor for a long term-standing conflict resolution is trust.

Here we have an interesting video with the creators of this model:

MEDIA AND NON-VIOLENT STRUGGLE

Comments on the Seminar given by Cynthia Boaz.

In this seminar we were introduced to the way non-violent struggles are represented in the media. The Mass Media are a key part in the modern world for creating what we consider a Culture of Peace. In this way, usually for the Mass Media are not worthwhile to be reported or if so, their representation is as unaccountable and ineffective movements.

Otherwise, these movements might be represented as not so non-violent, taking out their credibility and usually taking out credit to their aims and means. That is why it is necessary to carry out a selection of the information we get in terms of conflicts and their resolution and rely on the information provided by alternative media.

Some of the alternative Media resources related to conflicts commented in the seminar and others I can recommend are the following:

Democracy Now

If Americans Knew

Aljazeera

Common Ground News Service

Corresponsal de Paz (in Spanish)

Peace News

Non-Aligned News Network