From the Ground Up
We invite you to read this poem, written by one of the participants from Build Peace 2024, and from words spoken during the conference:
Peace is in pieces.
The shrapnel diaspora of conflicts
past and future
strewn like rubble, sifted through
and swept up by our tired,
tiny hands.
We aim to rebuild.
We nurture seed to blossom
with humility, with nuance,
our words like bricks of clay
baked, fragile as ceramic.
We remember everything we do not know.
We humanise, rehumanise,
try not to dehumanise
the data of humanity,
we, the human data
at times at odds with ourselves.
The symbiotic battle with technology.
There is no technology without humans
We use modern tools to
help alleviate ancient ills
on this marathon of peace.
Voices, language, breath,
footprints on the sand
paved over with
intelligent artificiality.
Living stories thumbnailed
by avatars, apps,
antisocial media.
But an app won’t stop the bullets.
We march, we chant,
we sign our names to their campaigns,
readily apprehensive and critical.
We go to the sources, look
to the front lines, listen
to people on the ground.
We make flags. We march again.
We hold meetings,
make calls, send emails.
We look for our way in.
We use words like displacement,
marginalisation, occupation,
genocide,
and we pray to our god:
Let us build tolerance.
Let us create long-lasting conditions
for peace.
We work and represent.
We push frontiers
taking long, slow strides.
We tell stories.
We find meaning.
We imagine peace zones.
Regions, entire continents
where our models,
our action plans,
our information strategies
our data
are obsolete, annexed to history.
Where the geopolitics of mediation
is an outdated term.
We visualise an industry of compassion,
corporations of love,
skyscrapers of peace,
conspiring to be the norm
in an operation where
hate is the business model.
We walk prepared to trip,
unsure — often unaware — of our own tasks,
but confident that our discomfort
helps us succeed.
We trust the science because
science unembraced is meaningless.
We recognise climate-based
crisis zones that inhabit
nature-based solutions.
We are socially cohesive
– messengers as important as
the message.
We are disruptors.
We are resilient and know
that our vulnerability can be
a catalyst for peace.
We will sing more songs.
We will dance and discover
dancing is peace building.
We share joy with
our children, our community.
We unite with indigenous peoples
on this island earth
where rivers have the same rights
as humans.
We look to the coming storm
as a prophecy.
To build peace.
To make peace.
For peace of mind.
We don’t hold our peace
so we can be at peace,
always offering peace
to keep the peace.
We speak our peace
so that we should all rest
in peace.
And with a deep breath
we cleanse our souls
and clear our minds.
And we exhale love
until the determined mist
covers the ground in
a blanket of hope.
And we pick up the pieces of peace
and build again.
Thank you Jon for this gift. You can check out the rest of his work at: https://www.jonmagidsohn.com/.
