Formulating Nonviolent Concepts in Peace and Conflict Studies: How
Active Learning can Enhance Tolerance, Respect and Dignity Towards
‘The Other’
Nonviolent action according to the peace theorist Gene Sharp is wrongly perceived to be
passive. ‘It is not inaction. It is action that is nonviolent.’ The terrible casualty figures of war
and conflicts in the twentieth century and the proliferation of war and conflict as well as the
emergence of global terrorism in the twenty first century have called for approaches that
address a world challenged by negative attitudes and escalating violence, both religious and
social, against what has been termed ‘the other’.
The other is often perceived as a fallacious or hostile threat to one’s own security,
whether in the form of a belief, a person, a culture or a nation. The Mid 20
th
Century
legislation, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights called for dignity, respect, and
tolerance towards others, and yet since its inception human rights continues to be denied to
many groups, particularly those in the South. Whilst conflict is inevitable in life, indeed all art
can be seen as conflict, and conflict is by no means solely a negative force, violent conflict
however is not an inevitable factor. As the old Chinese saying goes, he that strikes first has lost
the argument.
Comprehensive human rights training through the medium of active learning is able to
instill ethical and moral perceptions, and focus on threats to security, tolerance, mutuality, and
justice. By highlighting case studies of injustice and intolerance and encouraging restraint and
responsibility through such citizen-based nonviolent concepts as the Hague Agenda, active
learning, utilizing such methodology as role-play and constructive controversy inquiry, can
show citizens ways to challenge inequality and intolerance towards others.
Perhaps the most famous of these non violent case studies is how in 1955 Rosa Parks
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Convention