Peacebuilding Quotes

“When religious groups in a conflict eliminate the personal element and perceive themselves as representatives of collectives, heir actions tend to become more "radical" and "merciless." (Ch.3, by Jaco Cilliers, p. 48)”
― David R. Smock, Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding

“The fact that religions, which usually have at their core a promotion of tolerance and peace, have been exploited to carry out violence clearly indicates that individuals and groups have not discovered the true "peace message" that is inherent in almost every religion. (by Cilliers, Ch. 3, p. 55)”
― David R. Smock, Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding

“Peace and love to all.”
― Meagan Earls

“Throughout Peaceland, inequality permeates the relationships between interveners and local stakeholders.”
― Severine Autesserre, Peaceland: Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention

“International peacebuilders will need to act in novel ways that are likely to challenge deeply entrenched cultural norms and jeopardize numerous organizational interests. They will have to learn how to support grassroots conflict-resolution efforts. They will have to integrate bottom-up and top-down strategies to fully address the local, national, and international sources of tensions.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding

“Contrary to what most politicians and interveners preach, outside experts, national leaders, and top-down approaches are not the only means to reestablishing peace. Bottom-up initiatives can also make a difference, and ordinary people have the capacity to address some of the deeper roots of their country’s problems.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World

“...to end violence from war—and address lesser conflicts at home—we have to fundamentally change the way we view and build peace.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World

“They base their programs on local demands and ideas, put local staff in management positions, strive to be accountable to intended beneficiaries, rely on neighboring citizens to ensure their security; in brief, they escape the dominant modes of operation, suggest alternate ones, and in doing so undermine Peaceland’s structure of inequality.”
― Severine Autesserre, Peaceland: Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention

“I was so eager to make a difference in the lives of war-affected populations that I did not pause to reflect on the practices I followed while trying to accomplish this goal. It was not until I stepped outside of the expatriate bubble that I realized what an odd, self-contained community we interveners were.”
― Severine Autesserre, Peaceland: Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention

“International peacebuilders have their own world, with its own rituals, its own customs, its own beliefs, its own roles, its own stars, its own villains, its own rules, its own taboos, its own meeting places – in brief, its own culture.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding

“The Congo case is representative of a broader problem with international interventions. International peacebuilders often neglect to address the local causes of violence.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding

“Even though the Congo is the stage of intense international peacebuilding efforts, and even though it recently experienced a transition from war to “peace and democracy,” it continues to be plagued by the deadliest conflict since World War II. Why did the international intervention fail to help the Congo achieve lasting peace and security?”
― Severine Autesserre, The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding

“Everywhere that there is violence, there are also ordinary yet extraordinary people fighting it.... They are courageous, smart, innovative citizens taking risks for what they believe in. They are people who understand the ins and outs of violence in their village or neighborhood--and find ways to confront it.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Trouble with the Congo: Local Violence and the Failure of International Peacebuilding

“Everywhere that there is violence, there are also ordinary yet extraordinary people fighting it....They are people who understand the ins and outs of violence in their village or neighborhood--and find ways to confront it.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World

“It's daughters playing soccer with the children of the rival group, sons marrying outsiders, aunts trading with longstanding enemies, and individuals of all backgrounds sharing a market, hospital, school, or art center with the people they've been told to hate. In their day-to-day lives, ordinary people often engage in actions that observers view as banal and unimportant, when in fact these everyday acts help establish relationships that can prevent local outbreaks of violence and, at times, serve as the basis to deal with conflict.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World

“Model interveners often challenge the enduring stereotypes about local people. They point to authorities who have the expertise, competence, motivation, and work ethic essential to peacebuilding, and to ordinary citizens who are intelligent, selfless, and trustworthy. They emphasize that host populations have far more relevant knowledge, contacts, and means to resolve their own predicaments than interveners usually believe.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World

“Not all good things come together, and we can't have it all tomorrow. Remarkable interveners understand that building peace sometimes requires baby steps, and they look to local people as a guide for which foot to start on.”
― Severine Autesserre, The Frontlines of Peace: An Insider's Guide to Changing the World

“The way we want to unite for hate, war, destruction, and to support each other in fighting as allies to one another.

The world would have been different today if we would have united for love, peace, construction, and to support each other in building as allies to one another making this world a better place.”
― Aiyaz Uddin

“When you say unite and live in peace they become more apart but when you say unite to wage a war they come together. Humanity is nothing but a single community and we must stand by our values, morals, and ethics.”
― Aiyaz Uddin

“It never really matters whether you are black, brown, red, yellow, or white but what really matters is that the light of God and Truth within you shine bright.”
― Aiyaz Uddin

“To be a great blessing and peacemaker in this world, one needs to know the contents of the Word, which teaches compassion and reconciliation. On its pages are the keys to unity and peacebuilding.”
― Gift Gugu Mona, The Infallible Word of God: 365 Inspirational Quotes