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Role of Civil Society and Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues: Communities, SocialGroups, NGOs, Researchers, National & Local Government, etc.

The Role of Civil Society in the Peace Process

Monday 21, November 2005, 16:00 - 18:00

Traditionalpractices for

dialogueprocedure andIndigenousWomenStella Tamang,

Coordinator,

South Asia Indigenous Women Forum,SAIWF

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Indigenous Peoples and conflict

•We have been sharing the stories of thesituations of conflict in our lands and thestruggles we are waging, the stories of how weare building peace among ourselves and withothers and our definitions of conflict, peace,justice, and sustainable development and ourvisions of a future where justice and lastingpeace will reign in our territories and our tasksof building this future.

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•We believe that everything inenvironment has life and, as such, it hasa SACRED value: the earth, mountains,plains, caves, plants, animals, stones,water, air, the Moon, the Sun, the stars.Spirituality is born of this view andconception by which all beings that existin and with Mother Nature possess lifeand are interrelated. Spirituality is linkedto the sense of a COMMUNITY, wherebeings are interconnected andcomplemented in their existence.

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•To indigenous peoples, Spirituality isenergy, essence, and action; thespirit is inside matter.

•The cosmic view of life means beingconnected with the environment andthe world around us.

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•The fundamental premise of spirituality istherefore the quest for equilibrium and harmonywith ourselves and with others (Cosmos). Theloss of these two important principles has causedgreat disasters at local, regional, and worldlevels.

•Indigenous spirituality has variousmanifestations and means by which to achieveequilibrium. These include: ceremonies;festivals; hills; mountains; rivers; lakes; chants;songs; dances and offerings.

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Traditional and Cultural practices forconflict resolution and Indigenous women

•Tamang women, Nepal•Maranao women, Phillippines•Naga women, North East India•Masai women, Kenya•

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Tamang women•From the time of birth,Tamang women are taught andare encouraged to mediateand resolve conflict betweenthe family members andbetween families. The womenwith good mediation skillsare considered to be goodwives and mothers.

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•Tamang women do not considerthemselves oppressed orexploited within theircommunity. Whenever thereare conflicts in the familymembers, they know how tomediate and resolve.

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•They will doeverything inresolving conflictfrom cooking specialfood to performingrituals to provokepositive energy todrive away the devilor evil spirits fromthe family and thecommunity.

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•Family conflict resolution and peacedepends on women. The conflict is notlimited with human only. The conflict withnature too are taken care a lot by thewomen. That is the reason for having thispopular Nepali saying:•“Women are the homes and men are the

fences.”

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•If there is conflict between two families, thehighest valued and respected process forconflict resolution would be women taking“Shyalgar”which would contain chicken orgoat limb, local rice or millet wine, fruits andbreads covered with “Khata”, an auspiciousscarf. This gesture is taken as request or wishto stop the conflict by the most respectfulfamily member, the women.

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Maranao women•Maranao women from the Bangsamoro peoples

in Philippines view themselves as “tiglimpyo samga hugaw sa katilingban”(claeaners of thedirt of the community). They usually play therole of mediators in conflict situations.Whenever there is family conflict, it is always awoman who addresses critical issues and bringsthe parties to settlement. Within Maranaoculture, women do not consider themselvesoppressed or exploited because they know theirspecific roles and place within the community.Women are well respected and influential in thecommunity.

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•In the Arumanen Manobo tribe, women aresent to the enemy to settle conflicts.Arumanen Manobo women see this as acrucial role in their community life-mediating and resolving conflict even atthe risk of sacrificing their own lives. Moreoften than not, the women are successful inthe negotiation process and are able toprevent the conflict from escalating.

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Naga women•“It is a fact that conflict or

difference is a natural andunavoidable part of life butwhich, instead of takingotherwise, can be used as anopportunity for growth andlearning. We do not alwayscreate the conflicts thatcome our way but we canalways choose our responseto those conflicts. Our focusin conflict situation shouldbe to learn how to creativelydeal with conflict ratherthan to avoid it or to allow itto destroy us.”(NagaWomen Magazine:)

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•The decade-long campaign of “Stop AllBloodshed”of the Naga women hasproduced a social expectation of theirpeace role. The story is—NMAPresident Neidonuo Angami bursts forthin the midst of a battle between warringfactions in Phek township and appeals—“Listen to your mother, before youkill your brother”. It has become part offolklore, socially reinforced by thetraditions of pukrelia or demi.

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•Another Naga tribal tradition hasan elderly woman drop her meklaand shame the men into stoppingthe war.

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Masai Women

•In the Samburu pastoral community in theNorhtern Kenya and Maasai community womenand children and the aged are never attackedduring armed conflicts. The gesture of cutting thegrass and holding up means request to stopviolence and request for peace. (Sekuda, 1997-80). Grass is very important in the Maasaienvironment because their livelihood dependsmainly on its availability for their livestock.

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•The Maasai women andparticularly mothers ofwarriors who are calledNoongotonhe Ilmuranare so revered that nowarrior would dare hurtthem. Maasai womensometimes remove theirOlokesena, (lower skirts,or belts), to show theirrequest for peace forboth parties. They aremothers of all and cannotafford loss of life. Apartfrom the women childrenespecially girls, can helpto restore peace in aconflict situation. Theirinfluence by even wordof mouth can bring calmin a conflict. (Sekuda;1997-95)

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•There are many advancedtheories and formulas forconflict resolutions andreconciliations

BUT•those are the practices and

skills used by indigenouswomen.

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•The tradition was relived in Imphal inJuly, 2004, when Meitei women protestedin the nude outside the Assam Riflesheadquarters. It reinforced the agitationagainst the Armed Forces Special PowersAct. Under pressure, New Delhi agreed toAssam Rifles’s vacating their camp HQ atKangla Fort and to withdrawing theAFSPA in some areas. However, theMeira Paibis, who had been in theforefront of the protest were derided anddiscredited in the local media.

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Worry Dolls

Worry dolls come from Guatemala. They were made as toys for children. Children wouldtell their problems to the doll which would make them feel better. Often the dolls werekept in elaborately decorated boxes. Children would often sleep with their dolls.

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•Indigenous dialogue process starts not inthe form of conversation in words or paper.

•In most of the indigenous community, theywill engage in dialogue in the form ofrituals, feast, songs and dances.

•The balanced relationship is the mostimportant aspect.

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•Indigenous women have played key roles inpeacebuilding in their communities. Yet they havenot been given due recognition in the conflictresolution processes. Indigenous women are notadequately represented in peace negotiations in alllevels. At best, they are seen as auxiliaries inconflict, and are portrayed as passive victims andsilent spectators of conflict. When conflicts lead toviolent confrontations, indigenous women, lackingsupport mechanisms face the brunt of repressionand therefore become a vulnerable sector.

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•Invisibility of women in the peace process•While existing customs and practices within our

communities recognise the role of women aspeace negotiators and mediators, the reality isthat there are policies and systems that makethese efforts and roles invisible. Our roles in thecommunity as peace mediators seem to be but anextension of our role in the kitchen-that is, tokeep the peace within the family and containconflict among the children and family members.There is no recognition of the women as peacenegotiators in the more“formal, public, andofficial sense.”