Peace Centre needs more support

A story about the McMaster Centre for Peace Studies published in the Hamilton Spectator

TheSpec.com - Opinions -

Peace Centre needs more support
Ray Cunnington

The Hamilton Spectator(Apr 4, 2008)

After five years of fighting, with some 4,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, and the loss of so much international prestige, it is worth recognizing the value of alternatives to destructive force.

Hamiltonians can be justly proud that McMaster was one of the first universities in Canada dedicated to the study of peace. At present, the program's first year attracts some 300 students and now leads to a combined Honours B.A.

While many people have heard about the Centre for Peace Studies, few know what goes on, still fewer are aware of the progress that is slowly being made globally in peace research and the science of conflict resolution.

At McMaster, the discipline of Peace Studies began some 25 years ago during the era of "Mutual Assured Destruction" -- the doctrine at the climax of the nuclear arms race between America and Russia.

Appalled by the inability of world leaders to halt the disaster course on which they were headed, some local academics including Hanna and Alan Newcombe, Paul Dekar and Graeme MacQueen decided it was time the university addressed the need to study peace. They realized that the content of many courses already being taught at McMaster included insights on both peace and war.

At that time many professors of physics, chemistry, engineering, social science, religion, and medicine were recognizing the pressing dangers of nuclear annihilation, so an inventory was made of the courses that might logically be brought together to design and create the new discipline of Peace Studies.

While regarding war and certain kinds of violence as problematic, it did not mean that everyone who entered the program had to be a pacifist or condemn all violence or every call to arms. In the 19 years since its inception, the passion of its instructors and associates have achieved extraordinary things with very few resources. The centre was officially established by the university in 1989.

Through its combined Honours B.A. program, its students have studied protracted wars such as in Vietnam and the Palestine/Israeli conflict as well as peace efforts sponsored by the United Nations. By helping to raise funds, the centre has sponsored the annual Bertrand Russell Peace Lectures and the Mahatma Gandhi Lecture on Non-violence.

International teams working with McMaster have studied the effects of war and sanctions on the health of children in war zones; projects which together have brought some $2 million to the university in funding for research and action on war and peacebuilding.
The centre has been able to host two internationally supported medical conferences on teaching Peace through Health.

It has also co-sponsored workshops in Afghanistan that resulted in a Peace Manual translated into both Dari and Pashto languages, and peace education being introduced into the curriculum of Afghan schools. Other McMaster teams have studied conflicts in Sri Lanka, in Gaza and in the war zones of Croatia and Serbia. A Hamilton team also visited India, studying the work of the Shanti Sena, a highly effective women's peace brigade movement started by a follower of Gandhi.

Today's students say no subject is more urgent or more relevant than Peace Studies, reporting that it gives them skills they can apply in their daily lives. Some go on to further education in the department of peace studies at Bradford University in Britain, or teacher's college, or obtain positions in governmental or non-governmental offices.

Two former students, Samantha Nutt and Eric Hoskins, founded War Child Canada, and are among the heroic ones who have made a difference in active war zones. In a world facing climate change, and shortages of oil and water, you might think that peace research would be given a high priority among world leaders. Yet, like the problem of global warming, the study of peacemaking has often been discounted or marginalized. At McMaster, because it operates out of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, the budget for Peace Studies is difficult to assess.

The centre's new director is Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh, a historian with a warm, engaging personality who brings to his job a wide experience in human rights gained on three continents. While maintaining the high academic traditions of peace studies he accepts the need for town and gown to work together.

To advance its important work the centre needs more support.
It needs public figures to call for a fully funded faculty, and local benefactors like a Michael DeGroote or a David Braley to make the major donations needed to find effective answers to age-old problems. Ordinary citizens are far ahead of their governments in wanting a world without war. With increased support the centre could truly become a leading voice in Canada for transcending conflict.

Ray Cunnington writes on peace issues. He lives in Dundas.