The Decade to Overcome Violence was timed to coincide with the United Nation’s Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World, 2001–2010. On the last frenetic day of the Harare Assembly, when Fernando Enns of the German Mennonite Church stood up to propose that 2001-2010 be a Decade to Overcome Violence, the Assembly summarily approved the motion. From this action sprung the September 1999 official declaration by the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches of the Decade to Overcome Violence – “Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace”170. Consistent with the common understanding and vision, that:
We are convinced: the churches are called to provide to the world a clear witness to peace, reconciliation and nonviolence, grounded in justice... But we are also aware that Christians and churches have added, through word and actions, to growing violence and injustice in a world of oppression and graceless competition... As we engage in constructive efforts to build a culture of peace, we know that we are required to embark upon a deep process of change, beginning with repentance and a renewed commitment to the very sources of our faith...171
In order to move peace building from the periphery to the centre of the life and witness of the church and to build stronger alliances and understanding among churches, networks and movements which are working towards a culture of peace came out with the five basic goals of
169Manchala, D. “Decade to Overcome Violence - Message, Letter, Basic Framework”. WCC Central Committee’s
Minutes of the Fiftieth Meeting. Geneva, Switzerland, 26 August-3 September 1999, pp. 185-195.
170Raiser, K. To Be the Church: Challenges and Hopes for a New Millenium. Geneva: WCC Publications, 1997, pp.
43-44.
171Marilyn J. “The Decade to Overcome Violence”, In Manchala, D. Introducing the Decade to overcome violence.
DOV, as endorsed by the September 1999 Central Committee. The goals are predicated on the conviction that peace making must be at the core of the life and witness of the churches172:
1. "Addressing holistically the wide varieties of violence, both direct and structural... and learning from local and regional analyses";
2. "Challenging the churches to overcome the spirit, logic and practice of violence, to relinquish any theological justification of violence, and to affirm anew the spirituality of reconciliation and active nonviolence";
3. "Creating a new understanding of security in terms of cooperation and community, instead of in terms of domination and competition";
4. "Learning from the spirituality and resources for peace building of other faiths, to work with communities of other faiths in the pursuit of peace";
5. "Challenging the growing militarisation of the world, especially the proliferation of small arms and light weapons”.
In the light of these goals, it was obvious from the start that the Decade would need to follow a self-critical approach, given the compliance of churches in violence as well as their traditional ways of legitimising it. At the same time, the WCC wanted to draw on the rich theological, liturgical and practical resources of the church traditions in peace building and healing as well as their critical potential to confront the powers of violence. The WCC could not do much more than offer the “ecumenical space” to pursue these goals together; provide a forum to meet, discuss, reflect and develop together the state of the churches in their respective communities and contexts and how they can become credible ambassadors of reconciliation; allow its members to be challenged and questioned as individual churches and together as an ecumenical family. Regional and local councils of churches have provided spaces for that as well. In the end, the churches will have to answer the question, which goals have we achieved? It is not so much
about converting the other, but rather a question of allowing oneself to be part of that programme173.
It is a fact that in its recent deliberations on the DOV, the Justice, Peace and Creation Advisory Group named violence as one of the most destructive forms of the misuse of power, and one which accompanies other forms of oppression such as racism and sexism. While focusing all its attention on the need and initiatives to overcome violence, this Decade to Overcome Violence will place a special emphasis on structural and systemic forms of violence. It will also give a special expression to the voices, concerns and visions of marginalised communities such as women, youth, indigenous peoples, and racially and those who are ethnically discriminated against, for example, the Dalits in India. This approach recognises that reconciliation requires a process of reparation, restitution and reconstitution which is accompanied by the reconciling of memories and communities across deeply entrenched differences.
As the churches deal with common human issues of “violence” and join the creative stream of those who are already trying to overcome violence, it is necessary to examine what is distinct about their response as a community that claims its origin and inspiration in the power of the prophetic voice. In overcoming violence, the Nigerian churches need to seek peace and reconciliation not as governments and NGOs, but precisely as churches. They are not to be satisfied with mere peacemaking or peacekeeping. As the faces of the perpetrators of violence are exposed, the churches need to talk about violence not only as a psychological trait but also as an instrument of power.
It is important to mention that the approach by the DOV aims to provide a platform to share stories and experiences, develop relationships and learn from the positive experiences of the churches and groups working to overcome violence. Part of the contribution of building cultures of peace involves listening to the stories of the primary victims of violence, especially the poor, women, youths and children, persons living with disabilities and indigenous peoples, and
173Raiser, Welcome Remark from WCC. See also, 2001 WCC Activity Report - this account largely reproduces a text
on the WCC International Affairs, Peace and Human Security - Peacebuilding and Disarmament, website http://bit.ly/ghjTaS. It also draws on material posted on the now dormant Peace to the City website: http://bit.ly/dZMrgJ. Accessed on 27th June 2010.
learning from them about the kinds of skills and creativity that are necessary for survival and resistance of violence.
The DOV is now a Council-wide programme involving all the units of the WCC. As mentioned above, it was launched by the Central Committee on 4th February 2001. The prospect of a global impact depends on the active participation of all units. Setting up an international network of churches and related peace organisations to sustain and promote the agenda of the Decade, and ensuring that the Decade continues to draw its strength and support from the initiatives of local groups will require planning, coordination, mid-Decade visits based on the model of the Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women, and follow-up. As cited above that, in a recent Justice, Peace and Creation Advisory Group, the purpose of the DOV was discussed from the perspective of violence as a symptom of the prevalence of unequal and unjust relationships174. The WCC Central Committee also specified that DOV’s activities would be informed by and built on the insights gained and lessons learned from the Council’s earlier programmes of the Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women and the Peace to the City Campaign.
In addition, Hoglund affirms that the DOV is the result of the WCC’s long history of involvement in the issues of peace and justice175
. In fact, the WCC took its shape in response to the context of a world deeply divided – politically and economically – by two successive world wars. Churches also gave a divided witness – on the one side identifying with different nations in conflict and on the other continuing to take different stances on the question of the legitimacy of violence. As the churches began to engage in reflection and action towards greater expressions of unity, they were confronted with the realities of increasing economic polarization, militarisation, the inhuman practice of racism, large-scale poverty, and so on, compelling the task of seeking unity within to culminate in the vision of the unity of humankind. The unity within was
174Raiser, Overcoming Violence, pp. 54-55. Raiser points out that, “the purpose of the DOV is not to do away with
violence once and for all, although this programme clearly states that violence, although prevalent, is unacceptable and has to be overcome. To view violence this way is our purpose, and to deny violence any claim to total control and space. Many instances of human tragedy and beauty and, above all, the cross of Christ, suggest that one may be a victim of violence and still overcome it—by not giving violence the last word. Overcoming violence happens by not buying into the spirit and logic of violence even when succumbing to it. Viewed in this way, the Decade to overcome violence is at its heart a decade to overcome the spirit and logic of violence. The often-forgotten subtitle of the DOV is "Churches Seeking Peace and Reconciliation". If we overcome the spirit and logic of violence, what do we overcome it with, and what is going to fill the void? It is crucial to keep peace and reconciliation in perspective, lest the struggle to overcome violence be one of shifting symptoms of the same illness, so that the hurt appears in different forms elsewhere.”
understood as a sign of witness to faith in God who reconciles the whole world. The WCC began to pursue the ideal of oikoumene as an alternative to a disintegrating world. Such a journey of faith in purity of life has resulted in several innovative events and initiatives during the past 50 years of the WCC’s life176.
Manchala shows that the DOV stems from the WCC’s passionate engagement with issues of justice, peace and the integrity of creation, even as it continues to explore the goal and purpose of Christian unity in a broken world. It is a call of the churches to work together to overcome violence, both within and without. It is an idea that is expected to take shape through the sensitivity, creative responses and committed involvement of churches, organisations, movements, and all people of good will, as they deal with their own experiences of violence in their own areas177. Manchala further remarks that the DOV is being seen as a new ecumenical rallying point, as churches seek unity in witness and partnership with one another and with all – including people of other faiths – to make a difference in a world pervaded by the culture of violence. This worldwide ecumenical initiative offers several creative opportunities to churches to discover the meaning of being church in a violent world – to build peace based on justice, to enter into a creative and critical engagement with the world, and to overcome violence within that world178.
Newman and Richmond state that the main objective of the Decade is “to build a culture of peace by striving to overcome the spirit, logic and practice of violence179. As a matter of fact, Dickinson highlights that the WCC understands its role as facilitator of this process by analysing,
176Ecumenical Consideration for Dialogue and Relation with People of Other Religions 2003. See also, WCC, 2001
(http://www.eclof.org). After the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa, during the 1994 meeting of the Central Committee of the WCC in Johannesburg, church leaders from the region challenged the WCC to move from the “Programme to Combat Racism” which worked closely with the churches in South Africa to a “Programme to Combat Violence”. This spawned the WCC’s “Programme to Overcome Violence” (POV), of which the “Peace to the City” Campaign was a primary component. The POV ended in 1998 at the Eighth Assembly of the WCC in Harare, giving way to a decade-long engagement with the initiative to overcome violence. The “Decade to Overcome Violence” was affirmed as a call to and commitment by the member churches to work together with other Christians, churches and ecumenical bodies, and all people of goodwill to overcome violence through justice and peace. In the Decade, the churches find the possibility of discovering the meaning of shared humanity as they work with people of other living faiths and movements for the sake of a better world. The new ecumenical charter document “Toward a common understanding and vision” and the recommendation which was adopted in response to the pre-Assembly festival closed the 1988-1998 decade.
177Manchala, Introducing the Decade, 2003, pp. 1-12. 178Manchala, Introducing the Decade, pp. 7-10.
179Newman, E. and Richmond, O. Challenges to Peace-building: Managing Spoilers during Conflict Resolution.
interpreting, challenging and assisting various responses to violence180. During the first three years, the WCC's work was guided by four thematic foci namely anthropological presuppositions which legitimise violence; the use, abuse and misuse of power; the various aspects of justice involved in the task of peace building; and exploring the possibility of peace building through creative interfaith approaches. Dafne Plou claims that, in this process, the WCC also initiates and encourages181: (1) studies on the structures and cultures of violence; (2) campaigns and movements; (3) production of peace education material; (4) innovative theological and liturgical initiatives; and (5) sharing experiences of overcoming violence.