Breathe
By Alba Medina
Almost all wars begin when a group of men see the possibility of realizing their ambitions and find the right soil to sow their hatred. Nineteen years ago, in front of a television camera, four men dressed in black suits announced the beginning of a war. From that day to date, all our dawns have been stained with blood. Never theirs, always that of others.
Starting a war is easy, and there is no heroism in it. All it takes is a few nationalistic speeches, a few outlandish fallacies and a "straw man" who represents evil in the highest degree, and we get the perfect supply of terror to make a conflict eternal.
On the contrary, contemplating peace as a possibility is an exceptional act. It almost always arises from an innocent dream -although dreams are almost never innocent- and little by little this idea spreads among people until it reaches the great collective catharsis where the only possible option is reconciliation.
Throughout history, women have been protagonists in peace processes: Colombia, Guatemala, Ireland, Rwanda, South Africa, Cherán, and particularly Liberia. The dream of peace begins in the most pilgrim places like a fish market. In the midst of one of the most terrible governance crises that this African country has gone through, Leymah GBowee, mother of four children, put a white scarf on her head and called other women from her Christian church to pray in the middle of a public market to demand the end of the civil war in Liberia, which favored the large economic interests that meant the exploitation of natural resources such as rubber and diamonds; and was ideologically sustained by the inequality between the different ethnic and cultural groups. Children between the ages of eight and 15 were recruited, drugged, armed and trained to kill without remorse. GBowee worked with these children and what she saw in their eyes prompted her to act. Muslim women rallied to her cause and created the Liberian Women's Mass Peace Action movement. Their peaceful resistance was crucial in bringing about the end of Liberia's second civil war in 2003 and convicted former President Charles Ghankay Taylor of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Together with Tawakkul Karman, Leymah GBowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.
The experience of this movement and of the thousands of women who have believed in conflict resolution reminds us that peace is possible, it is always possible, otherwise humanity would have become extinct centuries ago. The days of any war are numbered because sooner or later men get tired of dying senselessly and women get tired of sending their husbands and sons to the slaughter.
In Mexico, 19 years ago we were told that the only solution to violence was more violence, open the door to hell and look the devils in the eye, set fire to the burrow and wait for the rats to come out and find the poison.
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