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Re-examining and rethinking Hong Kong through the peace lens

Social conflicts continue, now flanked by anxiety brought on by a pandemic. How can Hong Kong, smothered by feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness, find an open window and breathe? How can we learn to examine ourselves and the state of society with a different lens, through which we see strength and hope?

Ten students from local universities gathered for five days in the Peace Fellowship organised by Peace Generation. Using peace as their lens and working side by side, the Fellows investigated and reflected on “peace” and its relationship to a variety of social issues, exploring an alternate possibility for themselves and for Hong Kong.

Building a safe space

The first Peace Fellowship, held in early January 2021, invited local specialists in the fields of law, media, social welfare, psychology and physical and mental well-being, as well as those engaged in international peacebuilding work, to share the close relationship that exists between peace and their professions. Together with the Fellows, they discussed conflict transformation, culture of violence and nonviolence, media & hate speech, nonviolent communication, inner peace and social justice.

In addition to imparting knowledge, this five-day Fellowship incorporated a variety of personal and sensory experiences. During a trip into Hong Kong’s countryside and time spent in a forest, Fellows experienced the inner peace found in nature. In another activity, they learned to listen to their own and others’ needs in everyday exchanges. A formerly incarcerated person was also invited to share his experiences, offering a humanised perspective on how a just society can be realised.

Fellowship activities gave prominence to the younger generation’s point of view and participation. The issues mentioned above were discussed with various real-life cases as examples. Participants also took real-life examples from their own surroundings, helping them to illustrate their appreciation of the interactive relationship between conflict and peace and to reflect on ways of transforming conflict.

In the safe space for open discussion and sharing that the Peace Fellowship created, Fellows learned to express themselves and understand different and even opposing points of view. But more than this, they learned how to rebuild and strengthen confidence and trust between people — even among different communities and in society.

What are peace studies?

Those who wish to embark on the “road to peace” must keep an open mind and break through the conventional understanding of “peace work”. After multiple large-scale wars in the early 20th century, many different social sectors actively engaged in the study of the causes and impacts of war, hoping to reduce the outbreak of conflict. In the post-war 1950s, however, scholars discovered that it was equally, if not fundamentally, important to shift their research focus to peace. Just as when resolving a marital crisis, rewinding to circumstances where both parties were happy and in sympathy with one another is even more important than understanding the factors that led to the discord.

Peace can never pause. Walking this road requires a continuous joint effort that forms part of daily life, by people learning empathy in order to share others’ hurt and happiness. Only then is peace sustainable.

Johan Galtung is a Norwegian sociologist who began to advocate peace research and its practical implementation in the mid-20th century. He established the concepts of positive peace and negative peace, distinguished between direct, structural and cultural violence and developed other theories now central to peace studies. Galtung specifies “negative peace” as the lack of direct violence. Even when violence is absent from the streets, society may not be enjoying true peace. Achieving “positive peace” requires less structural and cultural violence and more justice. Otherwise, despite the outward calm, social and interpersonal conflicts will resurface, creating a vicious circle.

Peace Studies is a broad field that straddles many disciplines and encompasses diverse perspectives. Putting its concepts into practice in daily life is no simple matter, especially in today’s divided and antagonistic Hong Kong society. But with a widened perspective and some imagination, peace can be less remote than is commonly thought.

"By peace we mean the capacity to transform conflicts with empathy, without violence, and creatively — a never-ending process." Johan Galtung

Fellows sharing

"A genuinely great learning experience! I loved how interactive the sessions are, especially the nonviolent communication session where we could practice right away. The environment made me feel safe to share my feelings and felt heard by others.”

“I appreciate bringing other social issues to light, such as how social justice ties to social welfare policies which are relevant to our everyday lives, and the hate speech that is omnipresent in our immediate surroundings.”

“The introduction to peace studies allowed me to view my advocacy work with more clarity – and to see how peace and justice are interlinked, despite being opposing at times. It offered me a lot more perspective on issues that I previously considered non–controversial and straightforward.”

“I now realised that self–awareness is the first step towards conflict transformation, and it is also crucial towards improving ourselves. Being able to recognise our own privilege also makes us more aware of those in need, so I was really glad when we all came together and brainstormed future projects!”

“If I wanted to listen actively, I should focus on the other party's needs and feelings. What is more important is to listen to my own needs and feelings, which I have often neglected.”

“I especially enjoyed the constructive dialogue and personal sharing from all of the participants, including the speakers. It proved to me just how important and powerful a safe space could be. I think a non–judgemental space is quite hard to come by especially in the divisive environment of Hong Kong nowadays."

和平之路，行行重行行

讓我們以和平的目光，重新省思香港

持續不斷的的社會衝突，加上疫症帶來的焦慮不安，當下香港，如何能夠在無力和無望之中，找到一扇窗口，好好呼吸，並學習以另一種目光，檢視自身和社會的處境狀態，從中看到力量和希望？

由「和平世代」主辦的Peace Fellowship，招募來自本地多家大學共十位年輕新世代，一連五天，以和平為視覺起點，共同探討及思考「和平」與各種社會議題的關係，為自己，為香港，探索另一種可能。

營造安全空間

2021年1月初舉行的第一屆Peace Fellowship，邀來本地多位來自法律、傳媒、社會福利、心理學、身心靈健康，以及在國際間從事和平建設工作的專家，分享和平與這些專業之間的密切關係，共同就轉化衝突（conflict transformation）、暴力及非暴力文化（culture of violence and nonviolence） 、媒體與仇恨性言論（media & hate speech） 、非暴力溝通（nonviolent communication）、內在和平（inner peace）、社會及法律公義（social justice）多個不同議題作出探討。

一連五天的Fellowship除了知識傳授，更著用體驗和感受，不但走到郊野，在森林中親歷大自然如何帶來內心的平和； 學習如何在日常交談對話中聆聽自己和他人的需要； 更邀來前在囚人士親身分享個人經歷，以人性化角度去理解公義社會如何得以實現。

活動重視新世代的視覺和參與，不但就上述議題以各類真實個案作例子進行討論，參與者更會選取自己周遭的生活實例，演繹他們眼中衝突與和平的互動關係，並思考轉化衝突的方法。

Peace Fellowship建立了一個讓人安心的空間，開放地去討論和分享，並學習表達自己，理解他人不同甚至相反的觀點，重建、鞏固人與人之間，以至不同群體及社會上的信心和信任。

什麼是和平學？

要踏上「和平之路」，前題是要抱持開放態度，突破對「和平工作」既定的理解。在二十世紀初，世界經歷了多次大規模戰爭後，各界致力於研究戰爭的成因和影響，希望減少衝突爆發；戰後五十年代，學者卻發現，轉移以和平作為研究重心，同樣重要，甚至更為根本。一如要化解婚姻關係的危機，除了解夫婦不和的因素，去追溯能令兩者共鳴及快樂的部份更形重要。

和平不容停步，一路走來，需要人共同不斷努力，並將之變成日常，學習同理心去感受別人的傷痛和快樂，和平才有可能永續。

來自挪威的社會學者Johan Galtung於上世紀中開始推動有關和平的研究及實踐，並確立了包括積極和消極和平（positive & negative peace）；區分直接、結構和、文化性暴力（direct, structural, cultural violence）等多項重要理論，成為「和平學」（peace studies）的中心思想。Johan Galtung將「消極和平」規範為無直接暴力，然而社會上即使沒有街頭暴力，也未必享有真正的和平。要達致「積極和平」，便需要減少社會上結構和文化的暴力，增加公義，否則即使表面看來平靜，但衝突仍會浮現在社會或人際關係之上，惡性循環不休。

作為一個學科，和平學涉獵的範疇非常寬廣，更有著跨學科及多元角度的特質，要在日常中實踐，殊不簡單，尤其對於當下處於分化和對立的香港社會。但只要放開視野，運用想像力，和平並非如一般人想像那麼遙不可及。

「要轉化社會、群體，以至人與人之間的衝突，我們要以非暴力的方法，並善用同理心和創意去進行。和平工作是一個永不完結的過程。」- Johan Galtung

參與者分享

「這是一次真正非常好的學習體驗。我喜愛課程的互動性，尤其是我們立刻可以練習的『非暴力溝通』那部分。整個環境讓我安心地分享自己的感受，同時也感覺到被他人聆聽。」

「很欣賞 Fellowship 將社會公義和與我們日常生活相關的社會政策之間的關係，以至充斥我們身邊的仇恨性言論等議題帶出來。」

「 有關和平學的介紹，讓我對自己的倡議工作有更清晰的理解，認知到和平和公義的關係，儘管兩者有時會對立，亦提供到甚多新的角度審視從前以為簡單和不具爭議的議題。」

「我現在知道，要轉化衝突，自覺性是第一步，也是提升自己的重要一步。認識到自己的特權，讓我們更留意到有需要的人。所以好開心我們大家聚在一起，為未來的項目集思廣益！」

「專注地去了解別人的需要和感受，才能聽得更深入。但我往往會忽視了自己的需要和感受，聆聽自己 也很重要。」

「講者和其他參與者的個人分享，以至過程中各種富有建設性的對話，都令我獲益良多。我深深感受到一個讓人安心的空間如何重要，尤其在當下香港分裂的環境，一個不予評論的空間，是如何難得。」