Possible concept of peace museums and related institutions by Ursula-Marie Ruser

Peace Museums today
The concept of Peace Museums is rather new and there are as many approaches as there are individuals or groups who are responsable for their establishment. The majority of Peace Museums and related institutions as assembled in this guide were set up in the tradition of the anti war Museum of Ernst Friedrich in the 1920s. Their most common approach is that of deterrence by revitalizing and reconstructing local or national historical events such as wars, violence, terror, genocide and others. Paradoxically, this could be considered as continuing an act of mental violence against those who, as visitors to a Peace Museum, do not necessarily expect such scenes.
The educational programmes similarly often emphasize information about past events but mostly add educational programmes including modern problem solving methods such as special environmental, youth and children’s activities.
In general one can state that a common concept or understanding of what a Peace Museum should/could look like has not been found yet.

Peace begins at home
Assuming that we agree that peace is not a goal but a proces and that each individual human being is involved in this proces, the task of Peace Museums could be that of becoming centres where this fact is made understood by using historical events to illustrate that unawareness of this understanding had supported war activities in the past.
Furthermore, the task of Peace Museums could be to point out that peace starts at home – an ancient understanding of peace is harmonious and peaceful communion where people eat, speak, communicate, play, dance and work together. If this natural state is disturbed – be it by argument, outside influence and/or manipulation, greed or fear – violence and wars can be the result.

The role of arbitration and the United Nations.
Throughout the centuries, when such violent phases where reached, arbitration was used to settle the conflict. The first phase was to “make peace”, meaning to stop the fighting, so that arbitrators could bring the two parties to agree to a peaceful settlement after eliminating the source of the conflict. Then the initial state of harmonious communion would be re-established. The role of the arbitration was executed either by family members, neighbours or neighbouring countries, if States were involved. Lawyers or the law were commonly used as a last resort.
As a result of the first International Peace Conference (1899), the Hague Court on arbitration was established followed by the Permanent Court of International Justice (1922) and the United Nations, the role of arbitration has acquired a new relevance – especially in recent years through the very personal approach of Kofi Annan and former Secretary-Generals.
It is a fact that today wars arise and most of the time, the underlying conflict can not be settled – at least not with the help of neighbouring countries – this is the situation where the United Nations can come in  as a arbitrator – provided that their function and mandate are accepted on both sides and by the people.

At the press Conference (24 February 1998) following his visit to Baghdad, Kofi Annan expressed the need for a very important understanding if arbitration is used: namely the need for “respect”; to quote: “We in the United Nations, as well as United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) staff members, also have to handle Iraq with a certain respect and dignity and not push our weight around and cause tensions. And I think we need to make other arrangement and take steps to ensure that the relationship can be maintain smoothly. We should have a mechanisme for resolving conflict before they become dilemmas and almost bring us to the verge of war”. In a proces like this, “courage, wisdom and flexibility” are necessary on all sides and Peace Museums could be a place to provide the tools for people to learn these qualities and skills.

A new approach
Instead of mainly concentrating on past events, Peace Museums, as part of their objectives, could tactical support the mandate of the United Nations and its Secretary-General. This could consist of the following suggested approach:

Peace Museums and related institutions
Illustrate the present situation using history to explain the cicumstances resulting in the conflict, thus making a syntheses of past and present to find solutions, a new awareness of political and and social situations, and of personal responsibilities;
Provide possibilities for research to discover which peacemaking means worked and which failed in the past and the underlying reasons, and explore the individual versus the institutional role in the peace-building process – so as to find ways of how to do better;
Research the philosophical and psychological background of official State orders, cultural and religious concept and laws and find e.g. the manipulative power behind the initiation of armed conflict;
Uncover the ideas behind military force demonstration, uniforms, hero myth as illustration of power and pomp;
Provide a forum to help override old patterns and believe systems and facilitate the educational and self-educational process.

The ultimatief goal of Peace Museums and related institutions
Peace Museum and related institutions have to become more than just museums in the common sense, they have to become places where the Muses can be experienced; where people understand – with the help of historical facts – that peace cannot be imposed by law and order nor by institutions, organizations ar governments, but is a process in which everybody is equally involved and has responsibility; that peace cannot be installed once and then lasts forever. It has to be maintained and worked on, if necessary with the help of organizations like the United Nations. Basically, peace is not something outside of us, it starts inside each human being, and is a reflection of how we create our personal circumstances and life.
The visitor to a Peace Museum should leave with a smile on his face and the conviction that his cooperation and contribution are of utmost importance in the process and that each of us can support the peacemaking proces of Kofi Annan, the United Nations and all other peacemakers by starting at home.

If there be righteougness
In the heart, there will be
Beaty in the character.

If there is beauty in the
Character, there will be
Harmony in the home.

If there is harmony in
The home, there will be
Order in the nation.

When there is order in
Each nation, there will
Be peace in the world.

(very old Chinese proverb)

Refugees Worldwide

20 000 000?

Or 30 000 000?

Maybe even 40 000 000?

In each case we talk about several millions of people who are on the run at the moment. When you are on the search for a exact number, you will find various numbers. The one or other has to deal with the official definitions of the concept ‘refugee’ (see further). But it is of course difficult to define how many people there are on the run worldwide. The number fluctuates continuously. Just think about the conflict between Israel and Libanon: 1 million people break adrift in just on or two weeks.

When go man on the run? When does someone leave his house, his home, ‘his regular life’? The answer on that question is clear: danger. When you fear for your own life and for your family’s life, than you haven’t much choice left. Your instinct forces you to find a safe shelter, you simply want to survive.

The danger can come both from nature and from  mankind: nature disaster, famine, extreme poverty, oppression, war...are after all profound reasons to run. But according to official regulations not everyone is therefor a refugee.

The Geneva Convention has been placed the official definition of a refugee on record as followed: a refugee is a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country” (Article 1A 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees)
Also people with no nationality fall in that category. That is the legal definition of a refugee. So, people who are on the run for war, or live a hopeless live caused by poverty can not appeal to this convention. They call this people war refuge es, economic refugees or labour immigrants. For war refugees Europe enacted a guideline that should offer this people a subsidy protector. Belgium was one of the last european countries that adjusted its asylum procedure in that sense. Subsidy protection is described as a real risk for serious harm (like deadth penalty, executions, not human or humiliating treatment or punishing, serious threat of life caused by arbitrary violence in case of an armed conflict) in case of return to country of origin.

Some clarified number.s Approximately 25 million of people are on the run in their country of origine. They are called “internally displaced people” or IDP’s.  Asia represents with 36% the biggelt number of “refugees”  followed by Africa with 25%, Europe 23%, Latin America 11%, North America 5% and Oceania 0,4%.. The countries that receive the most refugees are Iran, Pakistan, Germany, Tanzania and the USA. In 2005 there were 15 957 asylum requests in Belgium. 3692 people have been acknowledged as refugees. In the first and the second world war 1/5th of the Belgians ran to neighbouring countries to find a safe shelter.

Many organizations and ngo’s take care of the sad fate of the refugees. The biggest organization is UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency). Other famous ngo’s are: `The Red Cross, Doctors without borders, The Red Half Moon and Oxfam Solidarity.

Source:UNHCR

Interview Bob Geldof
Broadcasted on Beglian television: VTM news for the festival Ten Vrede.

What’s so funny about peace, love and understanding, you know I believe in that. Some say its’s boring, it’s a cliché but what’s wrong with that. And so if there is something in 2006, a political climate where they talk about tolerance, well I will be there

Reaction about racism:
I think that racism is probably in us. The fear of the stranger is probably necessary, from the very early time. Who are you, you look different, you know, in the group you look different, who are you? And it’s probably for that we have this perversion. Of that naturally. And you know when you embarrass yourself when you lose your temper. You feel it coming and you can’t stop it. And you say you lose your temper. But it isn’t you. It’s a version of you. You say stupid things, you feel embarrassed. I think racism is something like that. But it’s like a rasicist always loses his temper.

About his roots
My grandfather came from Yper. He moves to  England because for a assession and he met an English Jewish girl. So this Belgian Catholic married a Jewish English girl. He married her and they moved to Dublin in  catholic Ireland. My mother’s father was a drunk german dentist. Her mum was a Irish katholic. So I’m Ebnglish jewish, irish katholic, german protestant, Belgian katholic.

The Flemish Peace Institute

In 2004, the Flemish Peace Institute was established as a paraparliamentary organisation within the Flemish Parliament. On the initiative of the members of the Sub-commission on Arms Trade, the decree establishing the Flemish Institute for Peace and Prevention of Violence was adopted with a large majority of votes by the plenary session of Parliament on 5 May 2004. The decree determines the four tasks of the Institute: the Institute conducts scientific research on peace issues, gives advice to the Flemish Parliament and the Flemish Government, collects information sources about peace and makes them available to the general public and informs as many people as possible on topics related to peace and non-violence. The Peace Institute wants to help develop a peace culture in Flanders, Europe and the world by means of scientific research and other activities. For its operation, the Peace Institute receives a working allowance from the Flemish Parliament.
The Peace Institute consists of a Board of Directors, a Scientific Council and a Scientific Secretariat. The broad civil society of Flanders is represented in the Board of Directors, chaired by Nelly Maes. The internationally assembled Scientific Council, with chairman Prof John Groom, supervises the research activities of the Scientific Secretariat. The Secretariat is a team of six, directed by Tomas Baum.
Peace research, both fundamental scientific research and research related to current events, is the core activity of the Institute. The Peace Institute studies various subjects related to peace within the context of international relations. In its research it adopts a multidisciplinary approach and enters into national and international relations with similar institutes or organisations and universities worldwide. The Institute applies established methods of peace research and prevention of violence, but also explores new approaches.
The Peace Institute formulates general or specific advice on its own initiative or on the request of the Flemish Parliament or the Flemish Government.
Parliament and government can call upon the expertise of the Peace Institute for matters concerning their activities. The Decree explicitly states two advisory tasks. The annual policy letter of the minister responsible for arms trade includes a list of situations for which the advice of the Peace Institute is requested and each decree approving international agreements between Flanders and its partner countries is accompanied by advice from the Peace Institute. The Peace Institute itself can at all times formulate advices on the basis of its scientific research.
On the website of the Peace Institute (www.flemishpeaceinstitute.eu), all research results are published, documentation pages on peace topics are available, and the collection of the Institute can be consulted.

The Scientific Secretariat has been fully staffed since May 2006 and the first research topic is the Arms Trade in a Flemish context. Two reports have been completed: one on the Flemish production and trade in military goods and services, and the other on the juridical context of Flemish Arms Export Policy. The reports were presented on the first conference ‘Peace and Economy” of the Institute on October 20th 2006.
The Institute also published advisory notes on Flemish Policy and UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, Non-Recurring Costs Fund and Joint Strike Fighter and transparency in reporting on the Flemish foreign arms trade.

The results of the research project “Peace in Flanders”, a survey of the perception of peace by the Flemish people will be available in spring 2007. A research project on ‘peace education’ is planned in  2007-2008.

Chechnya: The Vietnam of the Kaukasus

Recently, Moscow presented proudly the death of Chamil Bassajev. Bassajev was defined as the most wanted terrorist in Russia. The death of the fundamentalist Bassajev was a big cope for the rebels or freedom warriors of Chechnya. According to the Russian secret service FSB, Bassajev found his death during a special operation in the area of Ingoesjetia, a neighbour republic of Chechnya. Bassajev took place in a convoy when a bit further down the road a bomb truck exploded.
The Russian president Vladimir Poetin said that Bassajev’s death is a perfect retaliatory for all the acts of terror he committed.
In September 2004 Bassajev was the brain for the hostage of a little school in the north Ossesian town Beslan. But that was not the only time he showed up in the world news.
Bassajev is with his unique fighting capacities the symbol for the chechnian warrior. This image was already indoctrinated centuries ago by Russian authors like Poesjkin, Lermontov and Tolstoj. The republic in the north of the Kaukasus is full of a warrior mentality and is linked with strong views to a code of honour and dignity. Every man is in the first place a warrior. His dearest possession are his weapons.
Chechnya (the surface equals the half of Holland) is situated between Dagestan and Ingoechnya and border on Georgya and the enormous Russia. In 1998 the rebellious republic consisted 1,1 million residents. In 2002 only 784 000 residents. Since 1994 – the beginning of the first Chechnyan war – there were between 200 000 and 300 000 victims. Ten thousands of people were dislodged  from their houses and ended up in dehumilating camps in neighbouring republics. A number between 3000 and 5000 people disappeared or have been kidnapped. Now, Chechnya is still occupied by 80 000 Russian soldiers. Many Russian soldiers died in the republic of Chechnya. Regularly Russian and Chechnian soldiers are involved in fights. Meanwhile there is nothing much left of the Republic in the Kaukasus. In the past the Russians
rant and raved like beasts and they wanted to break the determination of the Chechnian people. But the rebellious people did not break down and carried on.
The yearning for freedom was always present in the Kaukasus. Already in 1722 the Chechnians took up the weapons against the well –trained soldiers of Peter the Great. When in 1858 the writer Alexandre Dumas travelled through the Kaukasus, he noticed how combative the Chechians were. All these mountain warriors were very brave and fanatic. All the money that comes in, they spend for weapons. A Chechnian can wear in clumsy clothes but his weapons are from high standards. Like with many tensions in Russia, the conflicts in the Kaukasus go back till Stalin was in charge. In the 1920’s when the Bolsjevic army had control over the region, Stalin made his plans to subject the rebellious people. Stalin divided the area in that way that religious and ethnic differences could develop the best. The Kaukasus became a dangerous area and the Red Army was always present.
After the end of the second World War the Chechnians and Ingoesians were deportated. Stalin accused this people of collaboration with the Nazi regime and moves them to Central Asia and Siberia. On their way, thousands of people died. It was one of Stalin’s big genocides. In 1957 Chroesjtsjiv gave permission to the people to return to their homeland. But the moral was broken and 50 year long they listened to the red oppression.

Finally independent
But in the last Sovjet years, the chechnians were the first people the put the Moskva authority to the test. After the fall of the Sovjet regime, Doedajev declared Chechnya independent. He was the only Chechnian who had an important function in the former Sovjet Union. He was commander of an Estonian atomic bombing squad. Later he became Estonian president. He was the only leader of Russia’s 89 regions that refused to sign the Boris Jeltsin federation pact. He had the courage to break openly with Russia
At Newyear night 1994, Boris Jeltsin answered the independence with an intervention. Chechnya have much oil in his soil. With that oil Chechnya could have his own source of income but that was against Russia’s will. 1994 is seen as the beginning of the first Chechnian war. It’s the beginning of a long and miserable conflict where the shattered Russian army stands against the determined Chechnian guerrillas. Jeltsin forgot to learn the lessons of the past and rapidly Russia was involved in an expensive en unpopular war.
The Russians became murder machines. Human right organizations discovered about 80 mass graves. Russia made sure that the press stayed away from the frontline. So the world did not react. Now and than it was possible to hear a meaning of indignation but Russia always indicated that the conflict was an interior affair. The Western world accepted this explication as a valid answer. The army of journalists and press people you can see in the Iraq war now, did not come to Chechnya.
When the Russians surrendered the capital Grozny, they shot and bombed the town down for days. Grozny became a ruin. In 1995 a journalist of the Sudan Telegraph succeeded to enter grozny and compared the capital with Berlin in 1945. The French newspaper ‘Le Monde’ declared that 24 000 civilians died. Peopled were kidnapped by Chechnian militias that cooperated with federal Russia. Their cruel actions are doubtlessly the basis of the Chechnian terror. The French journalist Anne Vivat was one of the less brave people that visited Chechnya during the war. She landed in a by corruption, guerrilla and terror unsettled society. Her book “ the Chechnian Labyrinth”  describes her journey.
In the summer of 1996, Chechnian warriors recaptured Grozny. Russians and Chechnians signed a ceasefire. So the Russian bear broke his teeth on the small amount of Chechnian people.

The second Chechnian war
 In the following years Chechnya languished by the low level of economical and judicial infrastructure. Without result they have introduced, the Sharia (Islam Law). The independent republic was ruled out from Russia and the economical blockade did its job. The number of kidnapping for ransom increased and fuel smuggling prospered. Chechnya wan the war but the republic became an enclave without any form of law. The republic became a magnet for Islam terror. Chechnya became a ticking time bomb. In the summer of 1996 1200 Chechnian rebels invaded the border region of Dagestan. It was an attempt with credibility to unite the Islam states in the Kaukasus. This desperate attempt was followed with bomb attacks in Moskva and the rest of Russia. The second Chechnian war was a fact. The first war was a war against a colonization but the second war was a religious and ideological war. The radical Islam was a source of inspiration for Chechnian rebels.
The Russians wanted revenge for the lost war and the bomb attacks and started to shot and destroy Chechnian villages. In 2000 when Vladimir Poetin became president, the order was given to shoot Grozny into ruins for the second time in the same decennium. The embittered `chechnian soldier started to find strength in the radical Islam. The influence of the Wahabism (a severe streaming in the Islam) grew. The Sharia was introduced. Chechnya became an Islam State and the religion determined the political decisions. The Chechnian cause became a symbol for Islam warriors. The attraction of radical Islam organizations and the second invasions of the Russians formed the fundamentalism in Chechnya. They called out a Jihad against Russia. The Russian invasion was not the only cause for the radicalisation of the Islam in Chechnya but it was the base. The war was the seed for the plant of a radical society in Chechnya. The Chechnians started to experience their identity on a more radical  way in which they used religious and ethnic elements. But also the Russian society became more radical (political and diplomatic). Poetin controls state companies and put figureheads in charge. He controls television and media and praises Stalin as a big head of state. Russia’s big days of communism and tsars become an inspiration source. Not really good for the relation with Chechnya.

Chechnya remains occupied land
Grozny is clearing away his ruins now. Once it was a city  with 400 000 inhabitants. Many of them worked petrochemical industry. Now Grozny is a city with 250 000 inhabitants. Slowly they start to rebuild the city. The Russian soldiers are in a less number present. Many checkpoints are closed. The heavily armed Russian soldiers do not leave much their bases. In the University must not longer try to drown out to make themselves understood in the noise of gunfire. But for the people of Chechnya, there is still no room to make illusions. A revival of the society and a real rebuilding is not at the order.
The elimination of many Chechnian rebels and leaders is a big success for the Russian affair and helps to give Chechnya a more normal and less radical society. Very striking is the death of Bassajev and the former Checnian president Jandarbijev in the state of Qatar. Janbarbijev was killed due to  a bomb in his car. Everybody knows that this attack was completed by the Russian secret service.
The Chechnians are tired of the war. They want peace. The struggle for independency is ebbing away. For so far, the Russians have won the war. Chechnya remains occupied area. For so far, they can not taste freedom yet.

Dutch text by Julien Borremans

Ten Vrede 2007

Ten Vrede is a musical happening. The nonsense of all forms of war and violence, now and before, here and everywhere, is illustrated with music, poetry and visual art forms. The concert takes place in Diksmuide every year, at the IJzer Tower. This tower is an official landmark of the Flemish Community, is classified as a monument and is a part of the list of international peace museums of the United Nations. No more war is mentioned in four languages on the tower flanks. The tower is a symbol of some universal values: Peace, Freedom and Tolerance.
Headliners on the stage are: The Dubliners, John Watts of Fischer-Z, The Internationals, Kadril, Daan, Kaye Styles, Willem Vermandere and many more.
Ten Vrede International takes place in the weekend of the 11th and the 12ft of May.
Entrance price for the whole weekend is € 15,-

‘Refugees’ is the central theme for this edition of the festival. A refugee camp will be built on the festival ground. During the 5 May solidarity night, interesting people can spend the night in the camp. They can join following program:

18u: Opening of the Camp
19u: Official section
19u15: music performed by the folk band FLOES
20u15: Maya Jakovlev, a Kazachstan refugee tells her story
22u: Movie: Quando sen nato
24u: night at the refugee camp

The refugee camp is built as close as possible to the real life situation but we want to put the emphasis on the symbolic value.
In the refugee camp information will be given to the visitors.  We want try to find answers on questions like: Why can people not go to or stand where he/she wants? How can you be ‘illegal when you are a human being? Why can you not move to another country when you have no future in your country of origin? The answers are not that easy but we will be happy if we can bring more tolerance into people their mind.
In the tents of the refugee camp, people can learn more about some ‘refugee issues’ such as: The Darfur situation, Asylum, Kurdistan, The USA and Mexico wall/border, Tibet, Palestina and Marroco walls, Myanmar. Many aid organizations work together with us and tell visitors about their work. Red Cross, SOS Birma, Caritas International, Tibet Office, Flemish Palestina Komittee. Also the army will be present because in many missions the soldiers deal with refugees. All this is added with pictures, documentaries, texts, poetry and debate.

Thursday the 10th of May, there is a song happening for children. Approximately 3000 children will sing - together with the Children of the street band - peace songs. We give a peace flag to all participating schools. The benefit goes to the water and school project of the Woodabee children in Niger.

For more information, please check out our website www.tenvrede.be

Animals in the war

Did you ever hear the heartrendingscreech of an injured hors? An animal, nervous of the artillery roar, that has to tow away gigantic loads, and suddenly his leg is ripped off by a shell scarf. Can you imagine his panic and fear?$You ever had lice? Can you feel the itch, only just by thinking about these lice. Little animals, almost unable to find but so dagged. Try to imagine that the little creatures are not only in your hair but also in mass number in your clothes, your armpits... Did you ever see a rat with the size of a cat? A monster stuffed full with human flesh. Did you ever hallucinate? An old lady on a donkey along the dangerous frontline, every day to bring the soldiers soup. A sprankle of humanity in a period ruled by hate and death. This and much more can you discover in the new exhibition 'animals in the war'. This exhibition is located in the IJzertower museum in Diksmuide. It is a gripping, educational and visually strong exhbition with...horses, donkeys, canaries, lice, rats, dogs, cats ... and a peace pigeon.

The history of the Red cross started in the Italian city Solferino.

On June the 24th, 1859, two armies stood poised to  fight outside the village of Solferino in Northern Italy. Emperor Napoleon III of France was backing Sardinia against Austria-hungary during the second war of Italian independance. When the battle of Solferino was over, more that 30 000 soldiers had lost their lives, and thousands more had been wounded and maimed. A young Swiss businessman named Henry Dunant happened to witness the battle, and the suffering and lack of medical treatment he observed, made a profound and lasting impression on him. He swiftly mobilised the local people into action, setting up crude infirmeries in churches, monasteries and makeshift tents. All the wounded soldiers, regardless for which side they were fighting on, were given care: Tutti fratelli, they are all our brothers, said the woman who helped Dunant at Solferino. The germ had been sown.
After Solferino, Dunant returned to Switzerland. His experiences after witnessing the battle and the relief efforts he had organised inspired him to write A memory of Solferino (1862), where he launched his plan: in times of peace, all nations should establish voluntary relief societies to aid sick and wounded soldiers during times of war. The objective was that all soldiers, friend or enemy should receive medical care. The book was printed at Dunant’s expense, and with a preface written by the Swiss general Guillaume-Henri `dufour it was spread to national leaders and influential politicians in Europe.
Dunant’s book was translated into a number of languages, and his simple yet realistic idea had great appeal. In the autumn of 1862 he was approached by Gustave Moynier, a lawyer who was president of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare. On their initiative a committee was formed in Februari the following year, with Dunant, Moynier, General Dufour and two physicians as its members. Thanks to the committee’s efforts and Dunnant’s skills of persuation, an international conference was held in Geneva in the autumn of 1863, the international committee for the relief of the wounded was founded, composed of the five Swiss members that had convened in February. Now this organization is named The International committee of the red cross. A red cross on a field of white was adopted as the emblem of the organization, and national red cross societies were to be set up in each of the countries represented at the conference.
The newly established committee wasted no time. Delegates from a number of countries convened in 1864 to adopt the first Geneva Convention. Under this convention, all medical installations in the field in time of war are to be granted immunity as long as they provide shelter for the wounded and medical personnel are to treat all wounded persons impartially, under the protector of badges and flags displaying the red cross emblem. In the cours of the following two years, twenty states had ratified the convention. Dunant’s idea had taken hold.

In 1901, Dunant, the founder of the red cross won the first nobel prize. The international committee of the red cros was awarded the nobel prize in 1917, 1944 and 1963. This makes te red cross unique: no recipient has been awarded the peace prize as often as this organization. The 1963 prize was jointly with the league of red cross societies. The league which was established in 1919 at the initiative of an american named Henry P. Davison, is a federation of all the national red cross societies. The task of the league is to coordinate humanitarian work carried out by the national red cross societies on an international basis during times of peace, such as relief aid for refugees and emergency assistance in response to natural disasters. In 1993 the league was renamed the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies.

Source: Nobelprize.org

Ten Vrede 2007: Highlights

On May the 11th and May the 12th the music festival Ten Vrede opened his arms for young and old. Despite the rainy weather, the festival could welcome 10 000 people.

During our special children day, 3000 children filled the tent and sang for peace and for the benefits of the water and school project of the Woodabee children in Niger.

On the senior day, the festival offered 500 seniors a nice cultural and musical day out.

During our solidarity night, many people spent the night in our symbolic refugee camp. The gave the beautiful sign that many people are concerned about ‘the refugee problems’. They gave a sign that their is still a long way to go to get peace and peaceful world.

More than 2000 children joined our refugee experience game. This game showed the children the dangers of mine fields, the feeling to have no papers and the fears that refugees experience. So they could experience that not all children have the privilege to play. Some children have to run away from war and struggle for their life. At the end of the game, a refugee meal was offered to them in the symbolic refugee camp.

During Ten Vrede International, the festival organisators were proud to present the Irish Folk Band ‘The Dubliners’ as headliner. Their performance was of high standaards. Many others took place at the stage and referred to the probleem of war and refugees in the world.

Peace Symbols

A peace symbol is a representation or an object that symbolizes peace. Several symbols have been used throughout history, of which the dove, olive branch and the nuclear diagram symbol are perhaps the best known.

The dove and the olive branch
In Christianity and Judaism, a white dove is generally a sign for peace. This comes from the Old Testament: a dove was supposedly released by Noah after the Great Flood in order to find land. The dove came back carrying an olive branch in its beak, telling Noah that the Great Flood have receded and there was land again for man. This symbolized that God was ending his “war” with mankind. The wapenrace of the rainbow at the end of the flood also represents peace, whereby direct his “bow” towards himself, an ancient symbol of cessation and hostilities. The motif can also represents “hope for peace” and even a peace offering from one man to another. Often the dove is represented as still in flight to remind the viewers of its role as messenger.

The CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) or Peace symbool
This forked symbool was adopted as its badge by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in Britain, and original, its use was confined to supporters of that organization. It was later generalised to become an icon of the 1960s anti-war movement, and was also adopted by the counterculture of the time. It was designed and completed February 21, 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a commercial designer an artist in Britain. He had been commisionised by the CND to design a symbool for use at an Easter March to Canterbury Cathedral in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in England.

The symbool itself is a combination of the semaphoric signals for the letter “N” and “D”, standing for Nuclear Disarmament. In semaphore the letter “N” is formed by a persoon holding two flags in an upside down “V”, and the letter “D” is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. The two signals imposed over each other form the shape of the peace symbol. In the original design the lines widened at the edge of the circle.

A conscientious objector who had worked on a farm in Norfolk during tje Second World War, Holtom later wrote to Hugh Brock, editor of Peace News, explaning the genesis of his idea in greater depth: “ I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hand palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it.” He also mentioned that he had intended its obvious resemblance to the anarchy symbool.

However, it is more commonly believed that Holtom merely put a circle around a symbol that appeared throughout the English countrysite near airbases. That symbol was of a strategic bomber which could be seen on road signs indicating where the air fields were located. This is a much less creative and emotional explanation for the symbol.

The peace symbool flag first became known in the USA in 1958 when Albert Bigelow, a pacifist protestor, sailed his small boat outfitted with the CNC banner into the vicinity of a nuclear test. The peace symbol button was imported into the USA by Philip Altbach, a dressman at the University of Chicago who travelled to England to meet with British peace groups as a delegate from the Student Peace Union (SPU). Altbach purchased a bag of the “chickentrack” buttons while he was in England, and brought them back to Chicago, where he convinced SPU to reprint the button and adopt it as its symbol. Over the next four years, SPU reproduced and sold thousands of the buttons on college campuses.

Antagonism
The fact that the symbool resembles a bird foot in a circle gave rise to spurious alternative interpretations, ranging from plain mockery of “crow’s foot” or “the footprints of the american chicken” (suggesting that peace activists were cowards) to a number of occult meanings, such as an upside down crucifix with the arms broken download, suggesting the way that Saint Peter was martyred. Other have claimed that the symbol resembles a medieval sign known as “Nero’s cross” that represents Satanism. Alternatively, some have suggested that the symbol is an inverted Elhaz rune, which would reverse the rune’s meaning, according to the critics, from ‘life’ to ‘death’. As well, a commonly repeated conjecture during the 1960’s was that it was an antichrist symbool: a representation Jesus on the cross upside-down. Gerald Holtom’s explanation of the genesis of the symbool and his first drawings of it, however, do not support those interpretations

The Peace Rainbow Flag
In recent years, especially in connection with the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, there has been a surge in popularity of the Peace flag, a series of seven rainbow colours (red on the bottom) with the word “pace” (peace in Italian) boldly printed across the middle. The more recent usage originated in Italy. In most of the world, however the rainbow flag (red on the top) is most often connected with gay pride. The usage of the rainbow can either be tracked back to pacific coexistence  of different people, or to the rainbow that god showed Noah at the end of the great flood, as a symbol of peace between god and mankind. The flag in its current shape appeared as early September 24, 1961, in an Italian peace march. It had previously featured a dove drawn by Pablo Picasso.
The flag was flown from balconies in all Italian cities by citizens against the war. Its use spread to other countries too, and the Italian Pace was replaced with the correspondent translation in the local languages.
According to Amnesty International, producer Franco Belsito had produced only about 1000 flags for 18 years, and suddenly had to cope with a demand in the range of millions.

The V-signs
The V-sign with the fingers shown towards the viewer, is a hand gesture often used as a peace symbol, though it is also often used to represent victory.

Source: Wikipedia

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Diksmuide:
The period that the day of the pilgrimage to the Yser Tower was the only highlight in a year is passed forever. Temporaly exhibitions, Ten Vrede Festival, 11 November in the Tower, etc... should bring the ‘No more War”-message to the youth.

Since his appointment as secretary of the ‘Yzer pilgrimage committee’ thirteen years ago, Dirk Demeurie saw the annual number of visitors rise from 25.000 to over 80.000.
This year the traditional Yser pilgrimage took place for the 80th time, not many events of that order do better. For the moment we work on a new formula, a big challenge for the future.
Dirk Demeurie suggests that our message is based on three pillars: Peace, Freedom & Tolerance. In essence nothing of the objectives of the past, especially Flemish soldiers Yser Will, has changed.
Steven Maes (35) works already ten years as education officer on the site of the Yser Tower.

-Steven what brought you here?

However, my context will have to explain it. I grew up in a ‘Flemish’ family and  I have  always been interested in the history of WO1. I was fascinated by the pacifist element. I met Dirk Demeurie in 1991, he was organizer of a study tour to Prague about that subject. Ten years ago I decided to work here.

-What’s exactly your job?

In fact my job consists of three parts: the preparation of the annual Yser pilgrimage, the Festival Ten Vrede and the functioning of the museum in the Tower, which is my main job. I receive schools and groups, guide them through the Tower and introduce them to the exhibitions and the projects we have here. We also accompany daytrips in the region, which is very interesting especially to link the youth in an intensive way to the horror of WO1. This is not a history with emperors and princesses or even with heroes. This is the tale of ordinary people of flesh and blood who experienced terrible things.

- Are young people still interested?

For sure! After visiting the Tower many youngsters are deeply impressed. They say: “How could it happen in God’s name”. We also must be able to pass on that indignation to the individual person. What I want to say is: the basic principle about violence remains always the same, how large the scope might be. If Bush wages war against Saddam that’s regarding the principle the same as if two small children fight for a candy and tease each other. Frank Dingenen has here for quite some time a creative and organisational input. Recently he wrote an ABC for Small Peace and Large Peace and for Small Dissatisfaction and Large Dissatisfaction. As a matter of fact in 15 years time a lot has changed. In former days for many people the Tower was a ‘black tower’. After all those years it seems like Dirk Demeurie has figuratively spoken painted the tower in white. All forms of extremism have been kept out or were banished. More than ever before we have become a symbol for our values: Peace, Freedom and Tolerance.

-Meaningless violence is unfortunately a current event.

Indeed, and that’s terrible. This year the theme of the “Ten Vrede Festival” was about the ‘refugee problems’. Next year the topic will be: meaningless violence. By means of such initiatives we try young people to make aware of the importance of our message for peace. A lot of schools from over the whole country come to visit us. That’s a opportunity that we cannot let pass. Soon we’ll start together with students of the KTA Diksmuide with a ‘Good News’-newspaper. The young people will compose it and the newspaper will be spread as large as possible.

-There are also remarkable exhibitions.

For the moment we have a very succesful exhibition concerning animals in the war. Many youngsters have a pet, and here they see what happened with these animals during the war. Once again the emphasis is horror.

On May 12th 2006, we had the Peace Festival in Diksmuide, right under the “Yser tower”, with Bob Geldof headlining. (The tower is the tallest Peace Monument in Europe. The original was built after the first World War, but got dynamited at the end of the second. The irony! So, they built a new one and put ‘NO MORE WAR’ on it.)

With the banner home, I wasn’t about to waste the opportunity. I contacted the concert organization, and after negotiations, they promised they’d try to get me in around noon. Noon? Better take a day off. That Friday morning, I go to the Zoo, and what do I find? A post from Max with Bob Geldof in his signature.  HAH, it’s those weird coincidences again! Turns out it’s for someone’s birthday, who happens to be a major Boomtown Rats fan.

At about 11 in the morning, I get another call from the organization: Bob Geldof won’t arrive that early, I have to call them later for updates. As it’s a beautiful day, I take a book and go sit outside. Forgot to put sun lotion on, so by the end of the day, I have this lobster look. Swell!

I call again at 5. No news. At 6, the answer is that I will most likely get to meet him after the show. Hubby and I head to the festival, have a few beers and a few chats, and go to the front to watch the concert. Reflex camera this time, excellent pictures and we had a great time. Some 5 minutes before the end of the show, we leave and walk to the entrance of the Yser tower. Amazing really, I could see that tower from the backyard of my childhood home. Never thought I’d be there to do this. I need to thank Dirk Demeurie for making it happen.

A few more people arrive. I see Rik Stael, who works for Stageco (the firm that also builds U2’s stages). He’s there to deliver a 6,000 euro cheque to Sir Bob. Some 15 to 20 minutes later, the manager lets us know we can go in. The pick me to go first. There I go...

Me: “It’s such a pleasure to meet you. I have something to show to you, and I hope you’ll be willing to sign it.” ‘Someone helps me to open the banner, he had the kindest eyes, I might add)

Sir Bob: “Wow, what is this? Zootopians? What is that?”

Me: “Zootopians are U2 fans who are on the message board of the official U2 website. What you see are the signatures of people from all over the world who have joined ONE/MPH, and many of those have been running a campaign locally to spread the word. Bono and Edge signed it too, and i hope you’ll add your signature.”

Sir Bob: “Bono signed it? I’m not signing this”, and he starts laughing.

I chuckled, as I somewhat expected this kind of reaction, and replied: “You know what, this whole thing is a story of inspiration. You are the very source of that inspiration. If you don’t belong on this banner, I don’t think anyone does.”

Sir Bob; “I’ll be happy to.”

I give him the read pencil i brought. Put the journal under the part where he chooses to sign and read “They learned everything from me y’ know” and see an arrow pointing to Edge and Bono’s signatures. I burst into laughter.

Me: “thank you very much”, and I give/get a hug and 2 kisses.
I suddenly remember something else and say: “One of my friends in the Zoo, she lives in Seattle;  she’s been part of our group that has been campaigning for ONE for over a year now. She’s a huge admirer of your work, both musically and humanitarian. Would you please sign this picture, so I can send it to her?”

Sir Bob: “What’s her name?”

Me: “Sammi Fredenburg.”

I give him another pencil, one that won’t rub off from a picture. I open it, but one part sticks to the pencil. I take it back and take the rest of the top off, so he can actually use it to write. Guess who’s laughing this time. He writes “for Sammi, Love, Bob Geldof X” and I thank him again.

I turn to go, and then change my mind and turn back to him. I grab his arm gently, look him in the eyes and tell him “Please, don’t ever stop fighting for Africa.”
He grabs my hand and replies “No worries, I won’t “ and smiles.