Dear Reader,
in less than a month I begin studies in Conflict Transfomation. What is CT and why would I want to study it? Where am I studying and what does it entail?
The Masters in Conflict Transformation is offered in partnership with ACTS (Action for Conflict Transformation) and the Pannasatra University in Phnom Penh. There are several other course run in other continents (Balkans, eg) through the global ACTs network. It is a two-year program designed to be integrated into participants work-places. The final year is a major research project which I currently plan to be based on the experiences at Cheas Ponleu / WDO where I have been working the last 2 years.
Conflict exists everywhere, and at every level of society. There are many reasons and theoretical explanations for conflict. I am particularly interested in investigating conflict at the institutional and international level. We are living in a global community, and we cannot ignore the global effects our small, local lives have. The well-worn motto "think global, act local" sums up this intent pretty well.
In a place like Cambodia, institutional conflict is all around us, yet the political institution is resistant in letting voices of discontent to be heard. I hope to explore ways for Cambodians to express their voices of discontent in constructive ways, so that oppressed/oppressor can find common future paths, rather than seeing mutually exclusive ones. Many people's revolutions have simply turned the tables in who is oppressing whom. Iraq has demonstrated that while Saddam Hussein was an insane mad man, he kept an unsteady balance between warring factions. The military pre-emptive incursion in Iraq has created a blood-bath far beyond Saddam's regime, and has destabilised not only Iraq, but the political shere in the region. This, too could happen in Cambodia (but on a smaller scale). Hun Sen is the 'king-pin' of Cambodian political life. He holds many factions together and in somewhat-peaceful balance. This balance ensures that anyone who feels they are entitled to a piece of Cambodian wealth has it. Of course, this mainly benefits the Cambodian fat cats and usually disempowers and disenfranchises the poor, ethnic minorities, and sub-culture groups.
The 'answer' to Cambodia's 'problems' is not the removal of Hun Sen and his cronies by the powerless poor, thus turning them into powerful demagogues destined to repeat the horrors of the past, but to find a common future, where all can enjoy freedom of expression (of who they are, of dissent, of where they live, how they express religion, sexuality, personhood). Freedom to be truly human, not afraid to be such.
Right now I am pretty idealistic about Conflict Transformation, but I hope this course and my research will give me greater insight and practical applications for making positive use of the conflicts around us.
