and

       launch                

The first of the series of PeaceTalks was held on Monday,  9^th August 2010

The session had Sushobha Barve (Executive Director, Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation) in conversation with Farooque Shaikh, actor and activist.

Sushobha, who has just returned from Kashmir, talked about the root causes of violence and issues of identity with Farooque.

PeaceTalks is a part of CfP's Secular Rethink project --- a  dialogue-based process of asking how we as Indians can live our lives peacefully alongside others who eat, speak, think or pray differently from us. 

India struggles with problems of inequality and separatism. Violent conflicts around caste, class, region, gender and religion are reported as sensational news but seldom addressed in a thoughtful manner, with the intention of finding peaceful solutions.

PeaceTalks is designed to address these issues. To find creative answers and share examples of what has worked. The initiative seeks to explore innovative, sustainable solutions to the violence around us and to promote conversations that help in resolving these issues peacefully. We want to invite some of the best minds in the country to speak on a range of issues that affect us all. We want to create a space for intelligent discussion and thoughtful exchange of ideas for constructive action.

On a regular basis, a speaker (or speakers) will be invited to present a talk on a theme relevant to our times before a small live audience. CfP will invite outstanding thinkers, writers, sociologists, political scientists, philosophers, activists etc. to address these sessions.

We aim to make PeaceTalks a highly sought after monthly event in Mumbai, drawing a diverse crowd – from bright young students to respected academicians, from well-known activists to unknown members of the public.

Each session of PeaceTalks will be filmed, edited and diseminated as DVDs, on YouTube, websites etc.

Citizens for Peace inaugurated its Peace Talks initiative on Monday
August 9th with an insightful talk by Sushoba Barve, director of the
Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation, who has been working to resolve
conflicts for several decades. Ms. Barve was in conversation with

noted actor Farooque Sheikh.

When people of a region or a community are angry and frustrated, said
Ms. Barve, the first thing they need is to be heard.  The
justification for their anger, and the merit of their demands can be
addressed later. But we have to begin by creating spaces where anger,

grief and tensions can be expressed in a safe and non-confrontational
manner. In this respect, she made two interesting distinctions:

* between debate, where participants score points, and dialogue, where
participants seek to understand other viewpoints.

* between the need for justice and the need for reconciliation.

Her talk was topical because for the last ten years the focus of her
work has been in Jammu and Kashmir; and as she said, over the last few
weeks "Kashmir has been in the news for all the wrong reasons", with a
few dozen Kashmiris shot dead by security forces.

Yes, the problems of the Kashmir valley are complex but at present

they are compounded by the feeling of young Kashmiris that civil
society in the rest of India does not care what happens to them. This
is why, said Ms Barve, it is imperative that people across India show
the people of Kashmir some empathy about the loss of young lives.
Political disagreements about how to resolve the problems of Kashmir
need not prevent us from reaching out to the people there at a purely
human level. This very act itself is far more powerful than we
imagine.

Still, such initiatives from citizens are a necessary but insufficient
condition for peace. For there to be peace in Jammu and Kashmir, Ms
Barve said there must be, among other things:

* Accountability (of the security forces and of the government), and
more generally, better governance in J&K

* Forces to be trained in better methods of crowd control

* A resumption of the dialogue with Pakistan

* But perhaps above all, sincere and persistent efforts to settle the
political issue of Kashmir.

During the communal riots that struck Mumbai in 1993 Ms. Barve led a
team of social activists who worked for harmony in Dharavi – where
some of the worst acts of violence had taken place.

When Hindus and Muslims were brought together for a dialog in Dharavi
the gathering at first seemed explosive. Muslims lashed out in anger
since they had borne the brunt of the violence. But once the anger and
hurt had been expressed and heard with some degree of empathy, spaces
for dialog opened up. In due course leaders of both communities
collaborated and Hindus stood guard to ensure that the Friday namaaz
at the local mosque took place smoothly. In return Muslims worked to
restore normalcy in Hindu dominated areas.

Ms Barve reminded the audience that communal riots are entirely
different from the situation in Kashmir. Yet it is her experience
after the riots in Mumbai, the examples she mentioned to us, that she
draws on in her work in Kashmir.