The Peace Movement

By Rohaniza M. Sumndad

Let us all rally on the streets, not for politics but this time for PEACE.

As a Maranao Muslim with my mother’s roots from Bulacan who is a Balik Islam, I have
lived my life studying and dealing with both cultures – Muslim and Christian. Most would
say that I am a living epitome that Muslims and Christians can possibly get along, and
for this I would say that my journey has made me discover what Allah has bestowed
upon me. I have always seen my role neither just breaking the barriers between
Christianity and Islam nor being the voice of my fellow Muslims or Mindanaons, but
providing opportunities for Mindanao to develop its resources and giving a chance for its
people to live a good life. Being a peace advocate has not only made me help others
but it has given me the opportunity to explore my own culture especially with that of my
Maranao family. I come from a family with diverse backgrounds – royalty, on politics,
peace advocacy, resolving conflict, martial arts, MNLF and active movers of the society
to be of assistance to the people. I always tell myself that my advocacy and mission in
life run in my blood and a result of my passion to bridge the gap between all cultures. It
has always been my dream to rally on the streets, not for politics but to promote
PEACE and ONENESS amongst us. The thing that I would like to do most is to bring
peace to each person. This would be my legacy.

“Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time”
as stated by Lyndon Johnson, the thirty sixth president of the United States. Peace is
said to be one of the universal values, but I think its universality is quite ironic. I always
say in my speeches that peace is the road less or even least travelled. According to
Martin Luther King, "One of the most persistent ambiguities that we face is that
everybody talks about peace as a goal. However, it does not take sharpest-eyed
sophistication to discern that while everybody talks about peace, peace has become
practically nobody's business among the power-wielders. Many men cry Peace! Peace!
but they refuse to do the things that make for peace." We often say that we want peace
to prevail over war, but are we doing our part to build the framework for peace? Same
with politics, peace has been a never ending concern of all countries. The only
difference is that there are more thousands of people fighting for good governance, to
oust or impeach a president than shouting for unity and peace. All of us may have our
own reasons but I believe continuing to have such kind of mentality on this issue could
not make us achieve peace. We all want peace so we should work for it for peace also
takes work. Our goal should be built on not just attaining peace at present but for the
future generations. I would have to admit that peace is a more complicated matter to
understand and most of us are not aware of what steps to take to be socially involved
especially with the youth. Many of us do not feel that we have a voice on the issues of
conflict. We often think of peace as the work of the government and leading institutions
like the United Nations, and most of the time we read, study and talk about it. But it is
not enough that we talk about peace, we should believe in it and of course work at it.
What we do not realize is that there are simple steps and things that we could do to
contribute to peace. Peace is a never-ending process, thus should be taken in an inter-
generational approach. As Mairead Corrigan Maguire, the co-founder of the
Community of Peace People, an organization which attempts to encourage a
peaceful resolution in Northern Ireland said, “If we want to reap the harvest of peace
and justice in the future, we will have to sow seeds of nonviolence, here and now, in the
present”. And the only way that we could possibly do this is through influencing the
different generations.

I work for an organization called the Asia America Initiative that practices an inter-
generational approach in countering terrorism since both the children and the youth
have been potential recruits for terrorism. I believe in our approach because of the fact
that if we want to positively change a generation and be able to reinforce an action
towards a peace movement, then we should already change the mindset in the early
years of a child up to its maturity. The younger generation has been very innovative in
expressing their sentiments towards their advocacies and throughout the anomalies that
they see around. I have always believed that the youth also has a great potential in
creating a culture of peace across the nation. They once have impeached a president,
so they also have the ability to counter conflict. During our video conference together
with other young leaders with one of the Ramon Magsaysay Laureates, Mr. Jun
Ungphakorn, he said that he believes in the potential of the youth. He emphasized that
if we can create an understanding of peace, we can create a better society. We should
recognize the diversity of cultures and allow some form of autonomy to exist so that
different sectors can have more control on their own. Different institutions especially
schools should implement this approach. Mr. Ungphakorn’s work could attest to the
youth as a great potential towards creating a culture of peace. It’s just a matter of doing
an orientation and making them realize how they could contribute to a lasting peace in
our society. There should be more venues for our youth to practice advocating for peace
and be equipped with the right knowledge on setting action plans and other ways on
how to be involved. Each one of us can make a contribution, and quite often we tend to
look at the big things and forget that however it seems to be and wherever we are, we
can make a difference. Imagine multiplying thousands or billions of people doing the
same passion and having the same commitment. This portrays the power of what we
can do; this is the power of the people.

"Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the
only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one," as sung by John
Lennon makes me stop and think of all the people especially the children who got
affected by conflict. I may also be a dreamer taking part in trying to attain peace, but it
takes one’s dreams to do what is right. I see peace as a gift to the world. I see peace as
a gift to my family. I have witnessed war as early as seven years old when my family
was still in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Gulf War disrupted classes, made some Filipinos
leave the country which caused them to leave their jobs and caused their kids to stop
schooling and had lost lives. These are just some of the realities; realities that should
push us to take the steps to build a peaceful nation. On a common note, we say that we
should give peace a chance, the truth is there is no way that it could be given a chance
if we do not do our part. Everything that we do now will be the fruit of our toil – toil
towards peace.

Even if at times I know that peace would still travel a long journey, I’d still choose to take
that path for peace. I strongly believe that it could also take one person to make a
change or create a miracle. As Mother Theresa would put it, we should not wait for
leaders to do it; do it alone, person to person. In the same way as Christianity portrays
it, Islam also expresses one’s role in practicing peace. This is even expressed in every
Muslim’s greeting, Assalam-o- Alaikum (Peace be Upon You). Both Christianity and
Islam aim at making all individuals peace-loving to the ultimate extent. One little person,
giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people giving some of their time can
make history (Peace Pilgrim). With each one of us joining hands in fulfilling a mission
towards a culture of peace, we can change our history. What should motivate us is the
beauty of peace. Peace is said to be a beauty of life. Menachem Begin, a nobel peace
prize winner said that peace is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother,
the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory
of a just cause, the triumph of truth. Peace is all of these and more and more. As
powerful as multiplying the thousands and billions of people advocating for peace,
peace is merely our way of life. And as our way of life, it shall put calmness into things in
this world.

We must want peace to have peace. Let us all march towards a Peace Movement and
declare ourselves as People for Peace.

Declaration of the Peace People:

Betty Williams

We have a simple message for the world from this movement for peace.

We want to live and love and build a just and peaceful society.

We want for our children, as we want for ourselves, lives at home, at work and at play to
be lives of joy and peace.

We recognize that to build such a life demands of all of us dedication, hard work and
courage.

We recognize that there are many problems in our society which are a source of conflict
and violence.

We recognize that every bullet fired and every exploding bomb makes that work more
difficult.

We reject the use of the bomb and the bullet and all the techniques of violence.
We dedicate ourselves to working with our neighbors, near and far, day in and day out,
to building that peaceful society in which the tragedies we have known are a bad
memory and a continuing warning.