Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:15 -0500

Society as Mediator for Conflict Resolution

by Tamara Muruetagoiena

Download full notebook below. [*note]

In this notebook you will learn how Elkarri, a group based in the Basque Region, has used a form of dialogue they call social mediation to encourage the broadest possible participation from all arenas of society to discuss solutions to the conflict. Community members were given a broad choice of ways to get involved: from signing a petition to becoming a member to participating in and organizing discussion groups. But however people chose to participate, they learned that they had a role to play in mediating the conflict that affected their lives and created pressure on the groups in conflict to make steps toward seeking peaceful resolution.

There are more than forty significant ongoing political conflicts in the world today. One of these is the continuing conflict in the Basque Country. More and more, civilian populations find themselves caught in the crossfire, powerless to influence the conflicts that profoundly affect their daily lives. Elkarri is attempting to empower all elements of Basque society, constructing a "space" wherein the people of the Basque Country can mediate for their own well-being. Across the political spectrum, all public opinion surveys conducted over the last 10 years reflect consensus amongst Basques on several principal points. Foremost, the population firmly rejects the use of violence to achieve political aims. Even as the Basque population recognizes that there are serious political problems requiring resolution, the population strongly supports dialogue as the path to resolve these differences and wishes a voice in determining the future of the Basque Country.

In the last twelve years Elkarri has taken up this mandate and sought to promote a culture of dialogue and peace. In an effort to overcome the dynamic of confrontation, the organization has worked to create an atmosphere of cooperation, leveraging public sentiment toward the establishment and maintenance of a continuing viable dialogue. In this sense, Elkarri’s endeavors have been directed toward society as a whole: the citizens, mass media, political parties, institutions and all the actors in the conflict. Given the context of extreme political polarization in the Basque Country, the founders of Elkarri felt it was essential, from the start, to clearly establish the independent character of this social group along with its complete independence from all of the involved parties.

A fresh outlook and a new vocabulary have proven fundamental in creating spaces for meeting and discourse instead of the common attitudes and expressions of hostility, coercion and intractability. Elkarri does not adhere blindly to rigid criteria such as "neutrality" or "equidistance." Rather, the movement is guided by an active commitment to the establishment of conditions favorable to a balanced and democratic process of dialogue. This social movement is continually evolving its own language and modes of action, unmistakably distinct from the concepts, words and methods employed by the parties embroiled in the conflict. Elkarri provides an "a la carte" menu of participation to maximize grassroots support. Rather than dictating one or two prescribed means of involvement, Elkarri aims to maximize accessibility by providing a wide range of options. Because the pace of contemporary society limits the amount of time, energy and resources that people are willing and able to commit, we allow people to tailor their involvement to match their capacities.

The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by the broad support for Elkarri’s Peace Conference of 2001-2002. While it culminated in a single event, the Peace Conference encompassed a year-long, four-part process operating on three levels–among the general population, among political parties and internationally. It began with a signature drive that netted 50,000 signatures and small donations that added up to US$500,000. Eventually more than 4,000 people joined the organization as members while 1,200 volunteered their time and 180 ongoing local workshops and one-time events were held throughout the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre, as well as in Madrid, Barcelona, Brussels and New York. This notebook is an attempt to share some of the valuable insights and experience we gained through this process of social participation. We hope that this information will be useful to others seeking to broaden the base of participation in conflict resolution.

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