Peace-building
The group 'Peacing Together' came together to promote Peace in Otepoti/Dunedin, Aotearoa/ New Zealand, through a series of events culminating in a multicultural festival, held expediently on the United Nations endorsed International Day of Peace 2015. The event was named Kotahitanga Manaakitanga Te Kawa. This name described our peace kaupapa as including an overriding hospitality towards our multiple identities and a shared commitment to unity.
Consensus decision-making was implemented in order to work together non-hierarchically, without giving any one person authority, while at the same time ensuring that everyone's voices were heard. The kaupapa in our group became an anchor point in times of crisis and conflict, and became a tool for retuning ourselves to nonviolent communication and remembrance of our unified purpose when we were exhausted. Organising Kotahitanga Manaakitanga Te Kawa, openly, without hierarchy or ownership, was itself an experiment in peace.
The day itself was very successful, with ninety cultures representing themselves through music, food and cultural sharing. A qualitative survey was undertaken during the day of 100 attendees. This represented approximately 10% of those who attended the day. The feedback was that many local residents were surprised at the cultural diversity in their town.
We hope that sharing our own reflections on successes and challenges of our experiment in peace may be helpful for others engaging in similar projects in the future.
This piece is a shortened form of an article which you can read here.