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Amra Lugusic SOWK 679.08 University of Calgary Faculty of Social Work Reflective Paper

Peace Building & Social Justice class offered through U of C and presented by Dr. Jim Whitman was a valuable learning experience. This class was the second class that I attended which had classmates from other disciplines like International studies, social work and people from the general public. It was a good experience where there was a lot to learn from each other. This course made me reflect on things that I never thought about or that I thought were not important like skills for peace building and conflict transformation. The learning consisted mix of lectures, group dialogues, case studies, role-plays, socio-dramas and small group activities. The readings that stood out for me was Neoliberalism, Corruption and Legacies of Contention: Argentinas Social Movements, 1993-2006 by Roberta Villalon. The social movements in Argentina were evident after wave of mass unemployment and underprivileged citizens created organizations that moved traditional institutions such as unions and political parties as the main source of societal description. They were inspired by long standing crisis of state legality and by a rich heritage of social and political activism. They developed forms of disapproval with the system by forming: Puebladas (town revolts); Picketing or roadblocks; Cacarolazas (pot banging); neighborhood assemblies; graffiti protests, and barter clubs, (R. Villalon pg. 139). Citizens wanted to end illegal deals of corruption, favouritism and clientalism. Demanding economic conditions and unsatisfactory political situation led citizens to voice their demands. As Auyero noted, the protest was as much about the material living conditions as an individual and collective quest for recognition and respect of rights.(pg.140). Unemployment, poverty, corruption that led to inadequate

representation of social interest and clientelism promoted repeated opposition and became object of contention. Demands of protestors, besides welfare and employment benefits, were to end public policies, corrupt politics and against neoliberal economies. The traditional channels of representations had lost their influence and authority. It was interesting to find that Argentina had a rich collection of contention including protests against military regime of the 1980 and other radical movements. The protestors were young unemployed people, women, children, and old ones, ex militants, etc. It was interesting to read about each phase of contention, which was total of five, and how each was described. I like the fact that some of the forms of protests were successful in bringing down corrupted politicians and government authorities. In my opinion, it was very courageous from protesters to express their dissatisfaction with regime and local politics in original and successful ways. Argentinas social movements is inspirational for readers as it provides understanding of the societal structures and it shows how people resist dominant regimes by making social justice for underprivileged. Another great reading was by Jack Snyder and Leslie Vinjamuri, Trials and Errors: Principle and Pragmatism in Strategies of International Justice. I found interesting facts on International Criminal Court procedures and how they make their decisions about the prosecution of perpetrators of atrocities who are involved in criminal justice system for committing war crimes. It is a new learning point for me that ICC for war crimes makes their political decisions based on political situation in the country. This part is important for me as now I understand why ICC was not military involved in former Yugoslavia when it was clear that genocide and ethnic cleansing was happening in the 21 century (Becker K. Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing). As we talked at the class about consequences for not being military involved, which

ultimately pose a question, are they going to be human lives lost? Yes. The text also talked about time after the war in former Yugoslavia when ICC was looking for extraditions of war criminals, such as: Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. Apparently, according to the text, Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic threatened to withdraw support for the peace keepers asking them not to arrest or expedites war criminals as it may pose a further threat to peace building in Serbia (Snyder J. & Vinjamuri L. pg. 23). Now I understand why war criminals such as named above were not brought to take a stand at tribunal in Hague earlier. It took more than a decade to bring them to justice. Personally, I wish that former Yugoslavia followed logic of emotions with idea to prevent recurrence of atrocities and accepting the truth about past abuses by perpetrators, Snyder J. & Vinjamuri L. (pg. 15). It states in the text that emotional aspects of reconciliation are central to social cohesion. This is in case that the theory has a real goal in achieving peace. In case of former Yugoslavia, even after twenty years of peace, it is uncertain if conflicted relations would achieve justification. As we heard at the class that peace building is not always about social justice as peace pays a price for social justice. The interactive role-play and games were my favourite learning from the class. The Space Odyssey was the first exercise on the very first class. We were given 10 min. to transport ourselves to the other planet by rocket ICARUS, but we needed to decide who is going to go and who is going to stay. The same rules were given for the second ship Voyager whose chances of surviving were 80 percent. In this interactive game it was interesting to see how peace building skills were played while human lives were at stake. It was a tough decision about making human choices in the little time, and I was really happy to be in Voyager according to my title: trade union leader. The conflict styles that stood out for me in this exercise are:

collaboration and compromise. We had to use compromise style more than collaboration due to nature of conflict. Many people in the group had to give up to be saved in order to save and preserve a future life on a different planet. It was important to look at something that would justify survival of people, such as profession; otherwise, it would be difficult to determine who needs to go and who needs to stay. Group Decision Making: A Survival Scenario (Nasa exercise) was another great group exercise. Working on my own I picked the most important items for survival and my group answers were more accurate. This game showed skills of cooperation, competition and trust. I learned that when it comes to decision making skills that group decisions and judgement are better than individual ones. Another interesting game was suggested statements. This interactive group game had statements that stand out for me, such as statement regarding military intervention during Serbian aggression in Bosnia. Because I had a personal experience in the war in former Yugoslavia, I had to say yes, that I think there should have been military intervention. I am puzzled by the fact that perhaps my answer could be different if I didnt have that personal experience. At the same time, reading about Rwandan genocide, it is hard not to think why United Nations didnt intervene to stop the genocide. In 2000, UN explicitly declared its reaction to Rwanda as a failure. Kofi Annan commented on the events that international community failed Rwanda and that must leave us always with a sense of bitter regret (Rwandan Genocide, Wikipedia). Another statement that I can apply to situation in former Yugoslavia is that we should never compromise justice for peace. In my opinion, I cannot agree more that this has happened in Bosnia. Although, after witnessing too much death and the other consequences of warfare, I am most honoured by those who bring war to an end.

The Personal Conflict styles questionnaire was another great way of knowing your personal conflict style. My conflict style is a problem solver with another high score of compromiser. The Peace Game was challenging and required patience and cooperation between people in the group. It was time constricted and the responsibility was put on each member of the group to memorize the facts. It also required good listening skills to put all the pieces together. I liked the game because it involved team work and my classmates are helpful to solve game pieces together with me. At the beginning it seemed like a taunting job, but more pieces we put in the puzzle, more we gotten excited about solving it. My group worked hard and we used items on the table to mark each island, secretary general, weapons, universities and every other item that needed to be attached to it. As a group we had a great experience because everybody tried to solve the problem and contribute to the solution. It was a great feeling at the end that we were able to solve it and did it first as a group. It is evident in the group exercise such as this one, how the group functions and how each member of the group participates. It is easy to notice if someone from the group is not putting the same effort or sabotaging the work of others or in contrary if someone is in lead of solving the puzzle. The most anticipated exercise was Hawks and Doves Negotiation Exercise Mitrovica Hospital Simulation. We were assigned in two teams: Serb team is bidding for the building of a new wing for the hospital and team 2 is the Kosovar Albanian team bidding for the community clinics programme. Both teams have been assigned the task of bidding to collect $60 million for the project. We were given instructions on how to bid for each round over ten rounds of bidding. My team was Albanian and we felt immediately that we shouldnt trust Serbians at all. We played aggressively at the beginning and in the first three rounds showed a non-

cooperative strategy towards Serbians. It started to be more interesting when we tried to predict what the other team will do next and what they might predict what our team would do. After first negotiations, we changed our strategy and showed that we are willing to cooperate. Our group made a cooperative strategy and negotiate that it is better if we all gain rather than we all lose. After the second negotiations, it was obvious we have already given a lot to Serbians and on the last negotiations, we accepted their final proposal: to let them win all $60 mil and we score $36 mil plus a new Clinic. It was a win/win situation for both parties involved. Albanians didnt feel bitter because of the loss as we showed very good negotiation skills. We were not just interested in winning it all, but wanted to have a good relationship with the opposite party. We thought that even if we win it all, the conflict would continue or it could have gotten out of hand (escalated). In that case nobody would benefit. My group recognized the role of agreements in long-term dispute and what would be most beneficial and more sustainable in this conflict. The Albanian group showed collaboration and compromise styles of conflict. We worked on collaboration as both sets of concerns are too important (building a new Hospital), re-establishing interpersonal relationships and the longterm relationship is important. The role plays such as Janet and Annie conflict at the work place, was inspiring. The role play was a good example from real life situation, where conflict at work place can be difficult to resolve. When we played a role play in the class, it was better as showed a real faces of actors in the story. It was obvious who was a controller (Janet) and it seems that none of the roles were problem solver or compromiser. They both showed the controller conflict style. With

frustration and anger developed, we could see the enemy images and stereotypes. The conflict consisted negative emotions such as: anger, anxiety, jealousy, mistrust, hostility which clouded rational communication. However, conflict resolution strategy by Mediator was fruitions. The concentration was on value systems of the people in conflict and their opposed positions of power. Mediator used different tool when communication deteriorated from both parties, such as developing rapport and trust, ability to summarize each party views, polite tone of voice, conveying understanding and respect for each person, using breaks in right moment, setting ground rules, being sympathetic, etc. It was interesting to watch peace building and conflict transformation. Peace Building SOWK 679.08 course was a personally and professionally valuable experience. A legacy of social justice is a resource of inspiration and example for all who wish to partake. It can provide us with insight and knowledge as well as move us to action. This course thought me skills, values and attitudes in promotion of social justice, especially example of FGM exercise where we read about young girls being subjected to FGM. The role I had in this exercise as a Safeguard, organization for the protection of victims of FGM, clearly defended my attitude toward this unethical and unjust issue. Addressing FGM is global issue but begins with local initiatives and derives inspiration from the adage, think global, act local. Language is powerful and negation of womens identity is a serious injustice that supports other kinds of violence toward women. As a feminist, and crisis counsellor who works at YWCA in Calgary on casual basis, this exercise helped me gain some influence and perspective on different cultures, and their

customs. This valuable experience and learning about FGM have many benefits such as that I will continue to work towards the equal rights of women globally. I firmly believe that when women have access to education, the entire family gains literacy skills. This major learning will help me in initiating Stop Discrimination on Women Committee which remains the only YWCA of Calgary group committed to educating students, staff and volunteers on discrimination against women. Otherwise, it will not survive. Presently, I am willing to be a part of Mayors for Peace Consortium for Peace Studies through Faculty of Social Work, a group committed to achieve Zero Nuclear Weapons by 2020. Mayors for Peace are very active and plan and deliver numerous initiatives to raise awareness and reach the goal, not only in the University, but in the wider community, in particular, Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorial event on August 9, remembering the first cities targeted by nuclear weapons. As part of the pursuit of social justice, I am continuing to volunteer on the Mayors Committee for Social Engagement, seeking ways to engage as many people as possible in municipal issues. There are existing organizations that continue to work on social justice issue; there have been changes in policy and practices related to women in the university and workplace; the ideas remain and we have to provide an example of how one can pursue social justice goals by involving many others. There are many things that can be done to promote social justice action within fields. I like this quote by Anatole France: To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. I believe that in order to make changes we have to

change first. If we can change than we can make changes. I will confess that before this course I did not believe that I can bring change into anything. But this course has thought me in order to bring change sometimes you have to go beyond your comfort zone and I did go beyond my comfort zone and didnt hate it. Even if we cannot go all the way but doing little things can make a lot of difference. Social work is about making change in the lives of individual, families and community. Social work field is full of opportunities. We can promote social justice by standing up to injustice but in a non-violent way. We cannot achieve justice by breaking things and shouting aloud. People will think we are disrupting the peaceful environment and put us in jail. T hats why I am not taking part in violent rallies, but I am not afraid to work for the things that I am passionate about in a non-violent way. I remember a documentary that I saw in one of my previous classes of community and organization development. It was about a village in Palestine and how a Palestinian family man unites rival parties Fatah and Hamas, Western activists, and even groups of progressive Israelis in a nonviolent movement to save his village from being destroyed. The name of the village was Budrus. It was a very strong documentary. In other words it was the turning point in my life. I was touched by the courage and the stubbornness of the villages and the activists. It proved the idea of justice and peace and that we should not resolve things violently because instead of creating peace it will create more violence. I would like to finish with the statement I learned from the class that stood up for me: No-one has the final answer; each has a piece to contribute.

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References: Jack Snyder and Leslie Vinjamuri, Trials and Errors: Principle and Pragmatism in Strategies of International Justice, International Security, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Winter 2003/04), pp. 544. Roberta Villaln, Neoliberalism, Corruption, and Legacies of Contention: Argentina's Social Movements, 1993-2006, Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 2, (March 2007), pp. 139156. Rwandan Genocide. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2012 from Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide http://www.munfw.org/archive/50th/4th1.htm--- general search under the topics genocide and ethnic cleansing.