Friday 27 June 2014

To lay the demons of Iraq to rest Labour must rediscover peaceful internationalism

From the ashes of Al-Qaeda and the Ba’athite party in Iraq a new and more terrifying threat has emerged. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has already begun the process of annexing Eastern Iraq, executed over 1,000 soldiers and looted over $2 billion. They are now the richest terror cell in the world.
 

Tony Blair’s unhelpful comments on the current crisis miss the point – military intervention in Syria would have done nothing to calm the ISIS jihadist threat. The Free Syrian Army is fighting a different struggle, in a different country, for different reasons against different enemies. The failure in Iraq is a mirror of many of today’s conflicts – a failure to invest in long term peace and stability and unwillingness to redefine British foreign policy outside of traditional military intervention.

Labour has a proud history of internationalism. Organisations like Socialist International and the newly formed Progressive Alliance uphold the idea that the struggle of the working class is not just a British problem, but a global one.  The first Labour Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, articulated this concept best when he said: “our true nationality is mankind”.

Labour’s current strategy is to focus on the everyday concerns of voters with big policy announcements on rent, energy bills and the bedroom tax. If Labour wants to appeal to first time voters, disconnected voters and lay the demons of Iraq to rest it must also redefine itself as the party of peaceful Internationalism.


There are past experiences the party can draw on to achieve this. The Labour government started contributing to the international Conflict Pool in 2001, a pot of money designed to fund peacebuilding and conflict prevention initiatives across the world. The Conflict Pool was supposed to herald a new era in foreign policy, one that sought to address the root causes of conflict. This was instead overshadowed by 9/11 and the interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The problems affecting the operational capacity of the Conflict Pool are numerous: a lack of transparency, funding and strategic direction have dogged the initiative since its start-up. Recommendations laid out by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact for improving the Conflict Pool have never been reported back on.

With reform, the Conflict Pool could become the centrepiece of a Labour approach to international development – ensuring that the principle of “Prevention is better than war” becomes the cornerstone of British foreign policy.

The conventional wisdom is that there are no votes in international affairs. I would like to remind Ed Miliband of one of the more profound reflections of his leadership.


“The most important lesson of New Labour is this: every time we made progress we did it by challenging the conventional wisdom.”
 
As ISIS marches across Iraq don’t be fooled by the war hawks saying it was lack of guns, bombs and soldiers that allowed this situation to escalate. Investing in a more peaceful world speaks to the idealist in all of us. Labour should be led by a peaceful internationalist spirit which can build stability, prosperity and influence across the Middle East.

Wednesday 18 June 2014

What Should Be Done To Protect Human Rights in Brazil?

The World Cup seems to conjure up emotions for everyone around the world. Whether it be the excitement of rooting for your home country, the pleasure in watching your favourite athletes duke it out, or a socially acceptable reason to get smashed at the pub on a Tuesday, this four year inaugural tournament celebrating the ‘beautiful game’ is hard to ignore. This time around Brazil is the chosen one, the country that has been elected to herald this month of international joviality, unparalleled athleticism, and above all- the unprecedented love of football.

Brazil is a country of contradiction. As one of the BRIC nations it is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, yet suffers from incomparable amounts of poverty, crime, and corruption. Earlier in 2013, the 20 centavo (6 pence) rise of transport fares led to mass strikes and riots. What started as an isolated outcry developed to become a country-wide explosion of dissatisfaction and anger, underlying citizen’s issues with poor healthcare, education, and policing.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Choque_lan%C3%A7ando_bomba_de_gas.jpg


The rest of the world reacted in horror as pictures and videos were released of Brazilian citizens being pelted by police officer’s rubber bullets, sprayed incessantly with tear gas, and in some horrifying instances, stun grenades were used against rioters expressing their fundamental freedom to protest against inequality.

Having the World Cup in a country where it is common for military tanks to be deployed in the streets is problematic and ultimately raises many humanitarian concerns.
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In order for human rights to be upheld it is vital that Brazilian riot police be given adequate training on how to successfully quell a mob without resorting to potentially life threatening weapons. The injury and death toll at the result of the rioting is despicable, and in order for Brazilian’s to feel safe in both having the World Cup in their country, as well as feeling safe with expressing their discontent with that decision, the police have a responsibility to provide non violent security.

As the World Cup is now officially underway, the average Brazilian qualms against their country have not been quieted. Riots are still very active as Brazilians desperately fight against FIFA’s temporary invasion of their homeland. In past World Cups the streets were lined with customized art and Brazilian flags adorning almost every street corner, but this time around there is a palpable feeling of somberness throughout many communities. As you watch the game it’s easy to allow yourself to be ignorant to the ethical abominations that are happening streets away from the newly erected massive mecca-esque stadiums. These stadiums came at the cost of thousands of displaced families with favelas being destroyed in order for these structures to arise.

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For human rights to be protected there needs to be a transparent front that shows how money is being allocated. Many Brazilians are frustrated with how funds have been spent in order to support the World Cup. The investment in the Cup has come at the cost of public taxpayer money. This means that taxes were raised in order to support a month-long celebration, instead of being invested towards permanent solutions to country-wide humanitarian dilemmas. Money that was put towards building stadiums and increasing World Cup tourist security was money lost on bigger schools with better qualified staff, better trained police officers, or more developed welfare for the country’s poorest citizens.


Brazil has a responsibility to ensure a safe and pleasant month for the visitors to enjoy the World Cup, but it's questionable whether or not that should come before Brazil’s permanent residents.


UN Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing and professor at University of Sao Paulo Raquel Rolnik has stated that “It’s very clear that the human rights legacy was not a real concern” in regards to constructing the parameters of the World Cup. In order for the public to both enjoy the festivity and true fun that is the World Cup and respect the strife that Brazilian’s are facing in light of this event it’s important for the athletes to take an active role in promoting humanitarian concerns.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/120663298@N03/13560096934Statements like “Brazil’s riots are not about the World Cup” from former Brazil striker Ronaldo continually perpetuate a false optimism that deflects from the true and just cause of the riots. When speaking out about the future of Brazil, athletes should look to the likes of former Brazilian footballer Zico who publicly admits that the World Cup comes at a deep humanitarian price to all Brazilians. 

In order for Brazil to protect human rights during this month of exaltation it is vital that they maintain international transparency on the issues that they are fighting for. The world wants to stand with Brazil on issues that are deeper than football and booze. Long-term peacebuilding can only be reached with international political engagement that is rooted in public to politician conversation, honesty in the media, and an importance put on the citizen’s right to free expression.

Tuesday 10 June 2014

We Need To Talk About Peacebuilding

Prevention is better than cure has been the guiding principle of modern medicine. This simple mantra has for some become a philosophy of how to live better – we deal with problems before they develop, avoid potential issues through careful management and plan cautiously for an uncertain future.

Government policy has never been a big fan of prevention – there aren’t always votes in solving a problem before it escalates. A bigger problem is how you measure prevention – if the problem happens anyway you will be blamed for wasting money. If you avert the problem entirely you will blamed for wasting money. In the prevention game it can often be a no-win scenario.


 

Conflict prevention has proven itself to have real value time and time again. Civil servants and academics have been aware for some time that there are key metrics that suggest a country is on its way to becoming a failed state. The proliferation of small arms, violence against women and democratic illegitimacy all indicate a drift towards war.

Dealing with these problems is a difficult and dangerous process which could involve teaching people how to vote in Afghanistan or educating women against FGM in Mozambique. It might involve cracking down on crime lords in Sierra Leone or strengthening the police investigation capacity in Iraq.

Peacebuilding works – so much so that the government is tripling the resources dedicated to it over the next three years. Investing in a more peaceful world is something that appeals to the idealist in all of us – but something must be amiss if the government doesn’t want to talk about it.



The last annual report on the government “Conflict Pool” (the funds that support UK peace building efforts abroad) was commissioned in 2009/2010. All government policies must be reviewed in order to be effective – we are facing a whole parliament without a review of how the Conflict Pool is (or isn’t!) working.

Recommendations laid out by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact for improving the Conflict Pool have never been reported back on, and if you want to find out about individual projects financed by the Conflict Pool, good luck – most are considered politically sensitive and therefore classified – therefore we as citizens don’t know where our money is going.

What is the Conflict Pool funding? Appeasing a despot? Digging a well or buying arms? There’s a saying in management – if we don’t track it, it doesn’t matter. Peacebuilding matters and more must be done to make the Conflict Pool more transparent.




Potentially wasting public money is tragic enough – but when it costs lives, exacerbates extremism and dooms states to totalitarian rule or mafia states, Liberals everywhere should be screaming about it.

Foreign policy in the 21st century won’t be the gunboat diplomacy of centuries past – it will be the building of stability, prosperity and influence through long-term peacebuilding.

The government should be shouting its commitment to peace from the rooftops. It’s an election year now and we need to talk about peacebuilding. Clearly the government doesn’t want to – and now we need to find out why.

Monday 9 June 2014

Syria: The Middle East's Most Avoidable Conflict?

It’s both difficult and problematic to track the beginning of conflict. The roots of war start at many different points- pre-existing tension, disputes over oil and resources, and at times some things as basic as a culture of violence can allow a conflict to manifest. 

More often than not, as a conflict rolls into its first stages of development, the leaders of each party echo with the fears and concerns of their citizens. 


This mentality is detrimental in reaching a solution because it allows the people in power to put pride and patriotism behind peacebuilding reform and conflict resolution. This notion of jingoism is getting in the way of change is especially relevant in regards to the current Syrian crisis. It’s thought that this abhorrent crisis could have been avoided if the international players such as Russia, China and the USA had kept their humanity and dealt with Syria with a focus on non-military peacebuilding. 

Instead, it was dealt with like a game of Risk, with the lives of Syrians being used as pawns as the media propagated fear mongering. As the Syrian elections are currently under way its important to understand how Syrian ‘democracy’ has been tampered with. At the beginning, Syrians were not aching for the ejection of al-Assad, but after years of neglect they lost patience.

 Corruption took hold and morphed the needs of Syrians to demand more of a voice in their government eventually allowing the violent crisis that we are aware of today to develop.


Syria’s future is in the hands of a war criminal, whose power has been bestowed upon him by his oligarch father, and this power has found continual progression with the help of foul, unsupervised, and inevitably undemocratic elections. Syria’s descent into civil war despite mass support for democracy has many open ends. 


It could be the wounds Syria has yet to heal from past attempted coups in the ‘40s which has resulted in mass government spying against their people. Following the structure of other democratic states Syria has certain key pillars missing, most importantly it’s lack of a grounded middle class. 

Reforms that Middle Eastern citizens had confidence would flourish have tragically failed. All policy reforms that would incite global exporting investments rooted in free trade, or basic female humanitarian rights have been squashed whilst the power still remains in the hands of a few extraordinarily rich men. These men ubiquitously have demonstrated that their priorities will always lie with the security of their Swiss bank accounts, not with the security of their people.

Syria is at a standstill. The opposition is only growing more radical, and the international community has wholly, and indeed rightfully, decided that military intervention would only create more chaos. For Syria to find it’s place as a democratic country, peacebuilding is going to have to happen from the inside out.


Unlike reform in India, Syria lacks a sacred Gandhi-esque figure or a Malala Yousafzai who has volunteered themselves to be the poster child for non-violent resistance. Citizens of the Middle East have voiced that they are thankful for the Arab Spring, as it has given them organized hope with worldwide clamour and recognition.

Democracy could take decades, but as long as Syrians remain passionate, engaged, and above all- collectively dedicated, democracy will be a reality in Syria.

Tuesday 3 June 2014

The Ethical Consumer



As consumers living in a democratic capitalist country we are inevitably torn between two contrasting sets of ideals. We are led to believe that we have complete control over our choices; that the way in which we spend our money is our absolute decision.


Every day we all choose where our money is spent. We can choose to buy our trousers from the corporate chain, where the money will be kept away from the workers who manufactured them, or one could enter a charity shop and revive their wardrobe with a piece of clothing that will be given new life with that money going into the bigger pot of charity donations.


We should all have the ability to be ethical consumers.  This can be a naive statement because the more money we have, the more economic freedom we possess. Therefore it is much easier for wealthier consumers to be committed to spending in the most ethical way. This degree of freedom should be available to everyone.



We, in a perfect world, have the power to use our consumerism to bolster our ethical beliefs. Yet, the fundamental building block of democratic representation, taxation, does not follow the same credo. Our taxes should mirror our political, moral, and ethical beliefs just as our purchases have the power to do.


It is morally reprehensible for UK taxes to go towards war efforts when non-military peacebuilding has proved time and time again to be more effective in conflict resolution. If you were planning on buying a gallon of milk from the farmer’s market but on your way a government official stopped you and forced you to buy the milk from a supermarket in order to push their own agenda, clearly one would be baffled and furious. It’s unethical that the money that the UK population tirelessly works for is taken from us in order to perpetuate killings, invasions, and assaults against the rest of the world.

We should not be seen as pawns, whose earnings have no more value than to add to the military’s
brute power. Conscience campaigns towards a future in which government taxation does not equate to lost lives, demolished villages, and displaced families.


Conscience is not ignorant to the necessity of national security. But there are many non-military ways to go about keeping our nation secure. Conscience advocates for non-military solutions, such as peacebuilding talks and conflict prevention methods, that are more effective and more ethical. Help us rally for the cause of non-military peacebuilding by visiting our website and learning how you can make a lasting difference and help build a more peaceful world.