27 May 2015 - TRANSCEND was founded as a network in 1993 by Dietrich Fischer, Fumiko Nishimura and myself, after experiments in Norway with governmental financing, and a University of Oslo chair. The former was controlling; the latter was free, academic, but bureaucratic.
During more than twenty years as a free network, financed by our services--Transcend Peace University (TPU) courses and Transcend University Press (TUP) books, now problematic--quite a lot happened. The network is now taking roots on the ground, settling, growing, basically self-financing, on its own--in our minds-- very reasonable premises.Like the following:
•A broad concern, the UN goals: Peace, Development and Environment; by peaceful, developmental, environmental--not violent--means;
•A deep commitment to humans and nature suffering from violence--direct structural, cultural, natural--to remove the causes of violence;
•A broad approach: peace studies linking theory and practice, words and action, in field work with dialogues, concrete visions, and promotion;
•A broad domain: all levels of human organization, micro-meso-macro-mega and anywhere in timespace, in history and geography, including future;
•A tested base for inspiration: health studies, also linking theory and practice, through the diagnosis-prognosis-therapy triad;
•A philosophy, Occidental (aristotelian-cartesian) atomism-deductivism-empiricism and Oriental (Daoist-Buddhist) holism-dialectics-pragmatism;
•A primacy to yin/yang-contradictions-forces/counterforces-conflicts as driving force in relations-structures, in timespace, at all levels;
•An axiom guiding work: the root of violence is unsolved conflict, past-present-future; the root of conflict is incompatible goals, and means;
•A focus on conflict solution, by peaceful-developmental-environmental means, to remove causes of violence and to build causes of peace;
•A focus on trauma conciliation for the unsolved conflicts of the past, leading to violence and traumas in the present and in the future;
•A method, mediation, based on dialogues with all parties to conflicts, also nature, aiming at a sustainable new reality acceptable to all;
•A respect for the parties' ownership of their own problems and conflicts, trying to be helpful, to propose, not to impose solutions;
•An orientation toward all human rights; the basic needs of humans and nature; and the rule of laws compatible with basic rights and needs.
The places differ, but have Transcend Peace Service in common:
•Basel-Germany: TPU, TUP, Transcend Peace Channel; courses on line-on site; Naakow Hayford, and Transcend co-founder Dietrich Fischer;
•Olbia-Sardegna: TPU, on site courses, research; Erika Degortes
•Oporto-Portugal: Transcend Media Service, Members; Antonio C. S. Rosa
•Alfaz-Spain: Academia AlphaDeltaPi, International Center for Conflict Solution with 3 days mid-month dialogues on conflicts, problems and training courses; Ricardo Barreno, Alberto Andrés, Johan Galtung
•Jondal-Norway: Hardangerakademiet for fred-utvikling-miljö (peace-development-environment); with monthly training courses in the three fields; Johan Galtung, Johanne Hartwig, Rune-Vidar Sirevåg.
•Kongsvinger-Norway: SABONA--TRANSCEND in daily life--family-schools from kindergarten to university, work: Synöve Faldalen, Lars Thyholdt
•Osaka/Kansai-Japan: Peace-reconciliation and community-based arts approach, mediation and training for Northeast Asia; Kyoko Okumoto
•Washington DC: Courses at SCAR George Mason University (GMU), visions, dialogues; Lester Kurtz, Diane Perlman, Richard Rubenstein
•Puebla, Mexico: Reducing violence and building peace in all political and social spaces, judicial mediation; Fernando Montiel T
•Congo Kinshasa: Dialogues, courses, mediation; Rais Boneza
•Nagercoil, Tamilnadu, India: Transcend South Asia (TSA) offers talks, seminars, courses and workshops on the linkages among Environment, Development, Nonviolent Action and Futurism. S. P. Udayakumar.
•Katmandu, Nepal: Conflict solution, human rights/security, interfaith, enforced disappearances, federalism, India-Nepal: Bishnu Pathak.
Johan and Fumi are also landing in our home in Alfaz-Spain and our hut in Jondal-Norway; mediating by Skype preferable to flights and airport harassment. Alfaz is an oasis of peace with inhabitants from more than 100 nations; an "Parque por la Paz Johan Galtung". 4-7 June: Roads to Peace--solutions, criminalization, universal jurisdiction.
And in Jondal 31 July-2 August: Symposium on the three themes.Apartments in Kyoto and Washington also make for some presence,like late June and late August both of us in Seoul and Tokyo-Yokohama.Agreements about MA and PhD courses at GMU, Free University Brussels (EU) and the Richardson Institute Lanvaster are taking shape, based on A Road to Peace: Global Peace Studies 101 Theory and Practice (1015).
