“Is peacebuilding an art or a technique?” With this question, Carmen Magallón, president of the Peace Research Seminar Foundation and Honorary President of WILPF Spain, challenged those of us attending the annual AIPAZ (Spanish Peace Research Association) conference, which ICIP co-organized on 24-25 October 2024 at the Pau Casals Museum in El Vendrell.
Although there is no single answer to this dichotomy, the conversations led us to delve deeper into how we can better appropriate the creative processes, and the products of these processes, to advance in the construction of more just societies with less violence, understanding that cultural and artistic representations contribute to shape the realities in which we live.
We are aware that talking about peacebuilding implies talking about creativity and innovation; about processes that are not linear, but rather need constant readjustments to contexts, to situations, to people; peacebuilding implies talking about individual and collective transformations that promote and lead to changes in values and practices in the pursuit of sustainable and lasting processes.
Culture can be a tool for creating safe spaces conducive to dialogue and coexistence. It can help us find common ground since creativity makes it easier to see the humanity of the “other” and, therefore, to develop empathy. We see that memory is often a space for disputes, a scenario of wanting to win in the terrain of dominant narratives. Thus, for example, artistic exercises for collective memory building can contribute to promote dialogue; generate bonds between people from groups considered opposed to each other; and build positive discourses and strategies in the face of feelings of hatred, anger and fear.
The transformative and healing capacity of art in psychosocial processes is also worth mentioning. It can be used to express and manage emotions, trauma and experiences since it allows people to communicate in different ways and from different places. Thus, as part of ICIP’s work with the Colombian Truth Commission, we promoted the collective creation of two songs with victims in exile and singer-songwriter Marta Gómez. More than 100 people participated in face-to-face and virtual workshops to compose group lyrics that could capture what exile and leaving the country meant to them. As a result, today Marta Gómez has two songs: “Surcos de amor,” which is the message of exiles to Colombia; and “Vuelve,” which is the answer, the message they would like to receive from their native country. This process not only had an enormous impact on the healing of wounds, in transcending from the individual to the collective, but these songs endure over time and convey the experience of exile to anyone who listens to Marta and her songs. Another example is the process of writing and publishing the book Exilio y lejanías, written and illustrated by thirteen Colombian women who live far from Colombia.
Art and culture can also play an important role in awareness raising and education. For example, at the end of its mandate, the Colombian Truth Commission delivered its final report, entitled “There is a future if there is truth,” which comprises eleven volumes and more than 10,000 pages. Without downplaying the importance of having all the findings and recommendations documented and included in the report, we have to be realistic and recognize that this document reaches a limited number of people. That is why we worked in parallel on the creation of artistic materials. There are numerous documentaries, plays, exhibitions, books and murals that reflect, in different languages, what the armed conflict in Colombia has brought about. These products of different artistic practices constitute a space of memory and truth and are also part of the legacy of truth in Colombia. In fact, an exile in Italy who had contributed their testimony said, “Art is a report without words.”
Moreover, we cannot forget that all of this plays a key role regarding guarantees of non-repetition of violence and conflicts. Culture and memory are a guarantor that will keep alive the experiences of the past and the lessons learned, and prevent what happened from happening again.
Is peacebuilding an art or a technique? We can conclude that peacebuilding needs both technique and art. To generate truly transformative processes, and even seek to reactivate and expand the peace movement, we need a broad and creative vision that is not limited to technicalities. We are faced with the challenge of reaching and engaging new audiences, connecting with diverse actors, from museums, theaters, festivals or publishers that, on many occasions, contribute to the creation of narratives and dynamics for more peaceful societies, although they do not do so under the umbrella of “peace.” We need to explore new languages, new ways of communicating and imagining together a different future – even one that is ideal and utopian – with greater inventiveness, hand in hand with new actors, and seeking diverse and innovative partnerships.
Sílvia Plana, Head of Strategic Alliances at ICIP