Peacebuilding and reflections on the current context at the International Forum Peacebuilding in Mexico

In order to reflect and analyze the challenges represented by the current scenarios of violence that are experienced in the various territories of Mexico, on October 25 it was held at the “Daniel Zebadúa” Theater, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, the “International Peacebuilding Forum in Mexico”, which was promoted by a wide variety of people and organizations belonging to different spaces of articulation of national and international civil society.

This activity is part of the First Face-to-face Meeting and public presentation of the Platform for the Construction of Peace in Mexico, a space for dialogue and synergy in which people and organizations linked to the Global Network have converged over the last two years. for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts (GPPAC for its acronym in English), to the Civil Service for Peace of Bread for the World and to the I International Forum for the Construction of Peace in Mexico held in Barcelona in 2019.

This is due to the fact that insecurity, violence and territorial disputes constitute an alarming reality that affects the lives of millions of people in Mexico and has a serious impact on human rights. Whether due to lack of capacity or collusion, the authorities – at their different levels of government – ​​are overwhelmed by this reality, marked by the coercion exercised by organized crime.

The bet is to create bridges of dialogue between different sectors of society, from the academy, the experiences of community organization, journalists, social thinkers and advance a joint peace agenda.

The Forum was articulated around four tables. The inaugural table “Keys to the construction of peace: a global reflection” was held with the aim of thinking about the strategic frameworks that have been promoted in other latitudes for the construction of peace, the needs and the obstacles; In it, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Nobel Peace Prize winner, Marta Ruiz, former commissioner of the National Truth Commission of Colombia, as well as Luis Jorge Garay, academic and international consultant, shared their reflections.

Table 2 called “Security, justice and territory”, started from the question How to stop violence?, especially in the context of a human rights crisis and insecurity in Mexico, to distinguish the various actors that exercise violence with a territorial approach.

This table was headed by Jenny Pearce from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom, as well as Guillermo Trejo from the University of Notre Dame in the United States and Francisco Huaroco Tomás from the indigenous community of Cherán.
Table 3 on “Restorative practices, dialogue and reconstruction of the social fabric” had the participation of the Center for Research and Social Action (CIAS for Peace), Improbable Dialogues, from Colombia and the Human Rights Center of the Tlachinollan Mountain.

While “The cultural and spiritual dimension of peacebuilding” was developed in table 4; In it, he brought together the academic and social activist Pietro Ameglio, the journalist and member of Fifth Element Lab, Marcela Turati and the Bishop of the Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas Mons. Rodrigo Aguilar.

In this space, the participants exchanged points of view and experiences on how education, spirituality, art, culture or journalism are fundamental elements for the transformation of the mechanisms that justify and support the exercise of violence in a society, but also for the construction of peace.

Peacebuilding and reflections on the current context at the International Forum Peacebuilding in Mexico