AFTER VIOLENCE: 3R, RECONSTRUCTION, RECONCILIATION ...

may also cut the issue in a too simplistic manner, mesmerized by
mainstream onesidedness.
At a deeper level the very idea of polarization, and the
underlying dualism will have to be critiqued. As this is a basic
feature of Wester civilization we are dealing with an uphill
struggle. But the West also has pluralism and tolerance in its
baggage, both of them protected by human rights.
Like for restructuration the task of the peace worker is
obviously to know a lot about these issues and then stimulate
dialogues, and debates. Dialogues and debates are the lungs of a
democratic society. The round table is an excellent vehicle for
this if we can assume that the conflict is in a phase where the
parties are willing to see and even to listen to each other.
Take a case like human rights. They are crucial; monitoring
them is peace work. So is information and debate; most people
have only vague ideas about human rights./63/ Peace workers have
to do their reading on the subject and have the material ready.
The task is to be a good catalyst for the debates/64/. With
increasing world gaps between rich and poor, economic rights will
become increasingly important, like civil and political rights
when the gaps between the powerful and the powerless increase. In
a democracy all such issues can be discussed; a good measure of
the degree of democracy is absence of taboos. And even if not all
conditions are fulfilled one can also promote democracy by
behaving as if it is already there.
But the peace worker should also help identify gaps in
emerging peace cultures. The opposite of extreme polarization ("I
63