Concepts of Justice & Peace

Vietnamese Concepts

Community

To Vietnamese peasants, community mainly means their own village or hamlet. If the head of a hamlet threatens to take the people in dispute to the commune management board, they begin to keep silence immediately. Being taken to the commune management board means being taken out of the familiar context of "neighborhood" where forgiveness works.

The tendency toward internal solutions to disputes is a traditional feature of rural farmers. They prefer that everything appears to be peaceful and right in their village. This is the attitude of each village member, including the village management board. Therefore, in village traditional regulations, the tendency toward internal solutions to disputes becomes the principle of the village. An old tradition of the 18th century illustrates this point.

"In the village, it is good not to take anything to the court. Any annoying case should be known in the village only and should not be in the public court. If the judgement in the village is not fair, then it can be taken to the court. If the judgement by the court is the same as the one by the village, there is a fine equal to one pig worth 3 "quan". And if somebody doesn't report about an issue to the village but reports to the court, the above fine from the village will be implemented.

This, to the Vietnamese, is a real village community. Villagers know how to create mutual assistance and solidarity. In relation to the outside, villagers co-operate and unify into a block that resists the power of authorities and those who intend to harm their community's interests.

Human Relationship

In the minds of Vietnamese peasants, the concept of human relationship is synonymous with kindness and impartial help in their everyday life. The following examples show certain changes taking place relating to this concept in the minds of peasants as a consequence of the adoption of market productions in rural areas.

In the traditional agricultural society, those who provide loans with interest were hated and insisting on getting the loans paid back was considered as very inappropriate behavior.

Similarly, in the traditional agricultural society, people usually did not get paid for helping others. Men who repaired the yard or the kitchen roof for neighbors were not paid. In this case, the family head just invites them to a meal or gives some present for their children. The helper was quite happy because they felt that the family head will not refuse to help them in case they need help later.

Elderly people and the common people now maintain these expectations as morality in rural society. For these people, kindness and impartial help to others is regarded as one of the moral virtues. Meanwhile, the youth and middle class have developed a "practical" culture imported together with the monetary economy. For them, help must be fairly and straight forwardly paid. Non-payment now would cause the same annoyance as payment did before.

"At present, everything needs money, neighbors who help each other expect some money; otherwise nobody wants to help."

"It's so annoying. Doing everything needs money. Negotiation was already made before hiring, but at the end of the season, he argued for the higher price. Everything has changed, not the same as before."

In research done in 1989, a rural household head told interviewers that he failed to get his son, who had just finished school, a job at a local administrative management agency although he had asked for a favor from a commune cadre.

"Before everything seemed easy. Just talk with someone I knew, then everything seemed OK. But now such acquaintance relationships doesn't help. The commune cadre even argues that in accordance with official rules and regulations, my son has to have a high school certificate. No need for me to ask for their favor if my son has that degree."

For this man, this is a break from traditional values, from the world of principles that he believed should be strictly observed in order to be true human beings. Kindness and impartial help as main principles are now replaced by requirements of certain standards.

Reflecting on Peace from the Philippines

I know for sure that each and everyone of us here often dreams of peace. But how could we take a piece of peace if those in power hold and keep peace alone in their hands? It is high time that we, the minoritized groups of people, must share equality and freedom with the rest of the peoples of the world...that discrimination and conflict imposed by the powers that be must end. To the Moros, the aspiration of peace stems from its history and their innate longing for equality before God.

History tells us that before the coming of Islam on our shores, the natives lived in a peaceful community. They had practiced a communal way of living. The source of livelihood depended largely on farming, hunting, fishing and trading. Food gathered was shared together according to each person's need. Land was owned through declaration or "pusaka" (heirloom) individual and communal ownership. There was no land titling and land was not for sale then but rather for donation according to the need of the individual or groups, for example the need for a school ground.

Every community or village had its own chieftain as well as group of elders as great and honorable leaders over their respective communities. Thus, the elders or chieftains settled their conflicts through serious talks, marriage and other forms of amicable settlement. Today, even in some instances, the offending party has to kneel down and kiss the feet of the aggrieved party. The underlying perception here is to develop humility.

During the Islamic era the Moro's (Muslim) perception of peacemaking developed. During the end of the blessed month of Muslim Ramadanor fasting, otherwise known as Hariraya Puasa, two conflicting sides would hug one another, make peace and offer and/or ask for forgiveness. So, to the Moros peace is also perceived through the command from the holy Quran.

Justice

What is the root cause of the conflict? Poverty, landlessness, lack of respect and recognition of culture and belief, inequality, discrimination, and the virtual disregard of the right of the Moros to determine their own political, economic and cultural destinies and not religion per se is the root cause of the conflict in Mindanao.

It is not the Moro Muslims, Christian farmers or the tribal Lumads but rather foreign and local big businesses (B.F. Goodrich, Sime Darby, Dole Pineapple, etc) who have the monopoly of Mindanao's vast natural resources. This monopoly has resulted in the marginalization of the Moro Muslims, Lumads and the Christian people. At present, there are about 485 multi-national corporations and transnational corporations in Mindanao. The income produced from Mindanao's wealth is repatriated to the mother countries abroad. The tall buildings and offices and beautiful houses in the urban centers, especially Metro-Manila, also come from the bowels of Mindanao. About 56% to 60% of the total strength of the Philippine military has been deployed to protect these foreign capitalist interests and not to protect the Mindanaons.

For as long as the peoples in Mindanao remain oppressed and exploited, peace will hardly reign. But as Muslims embracing peace, Moros perceive peace through the command from the Holy Quran:

"But if the enemy incline towards peace, Do thou (also) incline towards peace, and trust in God, for He is the One that heareth and knoweth (All things)." (Surat'l anfal or the Spoils of War (VIII:61)

While we must always be ready for the good fight lest it be forced on us, even in the midst of the fight we must always be ready for peace if there is any inclination towards peace on the other side. There is no merit in a fight by itself. It should be a joyful duty not for itself, but to establish the reign of peace and righteousness and God's law. (The Holy Quran, a Translation and Commentary by A. Yusul Ali, p. 430)

Now that the new millennium has come and the scourge of globalization continuous to hit us, it is high time that we strengthen our solidarity. Peace is a global issue faced with global concerns, it is right for us in the Asian region to promote and call for just peace. Let us continue to exert our effort and goodwill to contribute in the attainment of peace in the region. Let the minoritized peoples in Asia be heard and attain equality, justice and peace!

Peace

In most of the Moro communities we visited, opinions vary as to what they believe Peace is. One group stated that for them Peace is doing your work quietly without interference from others, doing the things you like to do and moving around freely without fear. Another expressed that peace is sublime and should start from within, for how can we understand peace when inside us is topsy-turvy? By accepting things as they come and to be contented with what we have brings inner peace. This in turn would make us deal with others peacefully because we have learned to appreciate the value of being at peace with ourselves and the environment. Thus conflicts become less.

Justice

The concept of justice for some people in the community can be seen in the way they deal with arrangement of sandbag carriers. If someone hires them for a day's labor, a price is set. The leader commands the group and he himself joins in carrying the heavy sandbags. He also has another task, that of taking note of those members who carry more loads than the rest. At the end of the days work, the leader may suggest a worker be paid extra if that worker has worked very hard. The leader in this case will pay more to carriers who carried more bags than others. The idea being that those who labor most will get the bigger pay. Nobody questions the system since to them it is fair and just.

Conflict

The majority of the people in our community believe that conflict is a natural process of interaction amongst people. We quarrel because one wants to do this thing while others do not. There is misunderstanding yet this is part of how we operate in our environment. What is unnatural is when conflicts get out of hand and start to involve different tribes. For example in a certain barangay (community) in Isulan, a group of Christian men burned the houses of some Muslims triggering a mass evacuation. This event resulted from a land dispute between two families. This kind of "Unnatural Conflict" which they equate with personal differences always has the tendency to divide people. The tribal differences would then be played up and division occurs. This is why the people of some communities are careful not to point fingers whenever conflicts arise but try to come together to discuss the problem and find a solution that will be satisfactory to all parties concerned.

Community

For some residents, the concept of community is best manifested in their way of helping each other care for their children and do household chores. When a mother in the household gets sick, the women of other houses would come and make house for her. They would take care of her children, do her laundry, clean the home and care for her. In turn, when she gets well she'll do the same for other mothers. In this way the spirit of togetherness amongst the residents remains strong.

Human Relationship

For the families, it's best understood in the way they treat one another. They try to be sensitive to the other person's feelings and needs. When they sense that the other person doesn't want to be disturb, they leave the person alone. When a mother needs someone to look after her children for a while, there is always somebody who would volunteer. According to them, the highest act you can do for another is showing your respect. By respecting that person you have to be sensitive to him or her. In this way the bond within the community is strengthened.

From India

Justice, Peace and Harmony

I am not going to separate each of the concepts like peace, justice, conflict, community, human relationship, etc into watertight compartments. I feel that all these aspects are so closely linked with the communities with whom I work, particularly with their socio-cultural life style. Hence I would like to look at these questions from that perspective of the extent to which concepts like peace, justice, conflict, community, human relationship exist in the life-style and culture of these communities.

In many regions of India the cultural identity of that region is the cultural heritage of the indigenous people. For example Jharkhand, the adjoining state of Chhattisgarh, has a similar heritage of tribal culture. In all the cases we would find that the most important aspect is that they have some basic values that sustain the mutuality of the community. That is the most important aspect of life. Sustainability of any community depends upon the strength of mutuality.

Some of the basic aspects that I would like to mention here from my experience and understanding are noted below in brief.

The life of a community is sustained through nature and cultural modifications which are done by human beings on the basis of mutual dependency. Nature sustains human beings and human beings sustain nature. The mutuality is so intense that it is impossible for one to live/exist without the other. The balance based on the mutuality between nature and culture has been continuing since pre-historic time, particularly among the tribals in the region.

Historically speaking the people of this region had an accommodative history where they allowed various cultures in this region to thrive. Population of many ethnic groups have entered here from different directions within the country, during the last 2000 years, having brought with them their own religions and faiths.

Till recent times the economic system among the people was more a community-based one, rather than private property, according to which land, forest and water are community resources and every member in the community has a right to use it based on this need. Hence a need-based assessment of utilisation existed rather than a greed-based assimilative economy. Briefly speaking the whole community is based on a sharing, caring and co-operation instead of competition, consumption and market.

This is one of the oldest regions in the country where a federal system of administration has been in existence for a long time. Every village had its own village mukhiyas (leaders) and most of the tribal villages were independent republics. Hence a federal system of governance existed in this region of the country until the arrival of the British. In some parts it started changing with the interaction with the Marathas.

However this spirit has not completely died among these communities. We can observe it more clearly if we closely analyse the action and lifestyle of these people.

I feel that an outline of how the grassroots people feel about concepts like justice, peace conflict, community and human relationship is mentioned above. Any effort to disrupt justice and peace by creating conflict has been strongly resisted by them. However they are not that aware of the co-relation of the forces of globalisation and fascism in rupturing the justice and peace of their lives. But they are well aware of the caste politics headed by the chauvinist Hindus. They are aware of the exploitatation led by the rich landlords. Often they are aware of the anti-people policies of the government.

As far as peace is concerned, to them it means to live in harmony with the community and nature. Similarly justice to them is something that sustains the harmony and mutuality of life and their existence. Conflict is something that interrupts the harmony of their community and mutuality.

Tribals are normally a docile society with a sense of community feeling and oneness. Today their oneness is being disturbed in various ways with the incursion of the state by usurping their land, forests and resources from them. With this, these people with a community sense are transformed into an exploited class. This very development is focussed in their culture and art forms. Their consciousness of prosperity is of higher degree and greater value. It is linked with the prosperity of all in common. For instance this chorus from a Malayalam dalit song reveals it apparently. It goes like this.

Naadu Poliyuga Nagaram Poliyuga
Ooru Poliyuga Ulagam Poliyuga.

Let my country be prosperous, let my city be prosperous, let my village be prosperous and thereby let the universe be prosperous.

From Nagalim

Indigenous concept of Peace, Justice and Human Relationship.

For the indigenous Naga, the importance of dignity of human relationship based on harmonious co-existence cannot be overstated. Anything that does not confirm to this guarded peace of community living is seriously viewed and taken cognizance of immediately by the village elders and the chief. Perhaps our understanding of ideal community living can be best illustrated by the customary mode of dispensing justice.

In the event of the dispute arising between the individuals, the families of the concerned persons try to settle/the case among themselves. If this attempt fails, the matter is taken up by the clans and finally to the village elders Council, who will then decide to deliver proper justice. Even if the dispute concerns two individuals, it is viewed as a matter that concerns the entire community in the close knit Naga family. In the case of two individuals belonging to two different villages, the village council of both the villages tries to settle the case with wisdom in the interest of maintaining neighborly and good ties with each other.

In the traditional Naga customary court, establishing the truth is the most important thing. Under customary law, the truth is obtained by appealing to the "conscience" of the wrong doer. The village chief presiding over a just concluded dispute pronounces:

"May those who uphold the truth be blessed with all things good; and may those who profess falsehood be damned and cursed through eternity."

It is a direct address to the higher power following which the group at fault and those who purposely conceal the truth will have to face the irreversible consequence of ill-fortunes and calamities. This curse follows if the accused (and presumably guilty) denies the allegations because he/she is made to testify his/her innocence by taking an oath:

"I invite punishment upon me and my clan's people if I have willfully lied under oath."

The only way to avoid calling upon oneself such a catastrophe would be to speak the truth, seek forgiveness and bless the victim's family. The guilty person will then have to face the penalty imposed by the village chief (according to customary norms) whether in terms of compensating the victim/victim's family or excommunication (usually in the murder case) for a certain period depending on the gravity of the crime.

Such was a form of restorative justice amongst the indigenous Nagas.

However with India and Burma's occupation of Naga country and the imposition of alien culture, the age-old traditions and custom of the Nagas are slowly declining. The establishing of legal courts, alongside the customary court, poses a unique conflict and problem in the judiciary system.

Among other problems, the fundamental discrepancies in the dual justice systems are the pursuance of goal in dispensing justice. The legal courts seek legal solutions and the matter ends there. But the customary courts seek an amicable solution so that the conflict is efficiently transformed and human relationship is restored. After delivering justice, strictly determined by truth, peace must be restored by building trust between the conflicting group/individual. A case in point can be cited to explain this.

A conflict arose between the villagers of Chupfuketa (Phek District of Chakhesang tribe) and Vishepu (Zunheboto district of Zumi tribe) over the felling of trees by the Vishepu villagers. The felling of trees from the forest located at Vishnu village disturbed the natural flow of water that flows to the neighboring villages of Chupfuketa and nourishes their paddy fields. The matter was taken up by the village councils of both the villages who agreed that since the cutting of trees denied the inhabitants of Chupfuketa the basic source of their sustenance, Vishepu villagers should stop cutting trees from that forest.

Hypothetically speaking, if this was taken to a legal court, ruling would most probably favor the villagers of Vishepu as immovable property Acts and other such laws would come into play as a result of which undesired animosity may arise between the two villages. However the magnanimity of Vishepu villagers in respecting the genuine need of Chupfuketa villagers would go a long way in forging friendly ties between them. In obtaining such amicable solutions that upholds natural justice and restores good human relation between the conflicting group/individual, the mediation process, which engages a third group, is of prime importance. The mediation role is normally played by village elders (jury members) who mediate between the two conflicting groups/individuals to reach an amicable settlement that will be acceptable and binding to both. To ensure a fair outcome of impartiality an oath is administered to the (jury) members.

Thus the wisdom of delivering justice in the Naga customary court is also to restore the human relationships that break down in a conflict. Justice at the expense of human relationship is avoided but this doesn't mean that justice is compromised for the sake of restoring relationships. This is made possible because justice is largely determined by the acknowledgment of truth by the wrong doer. If this acknowledgment takes place, the victim or the victim's family is willing to compromise and punishment becomes secondary. This nature of the Naga culture explains our high regard for truth and honesty on which lays the basis of justice, mutual respect and peaceful community living.