Concerned about our country

NOTE: Article reflection published by Dr. John Odría Borea, Director of the College of Hector Cardenas, during Fiestas Patrias Peru.

Fiestas Patrias offer us the opportunity to visit some of our beautiful homeland, but also give us a few days released the overwhelming pace of daily life that we can devote some time to reflect. When a person is not given for reflection inevitably lose much of their personal decision and end up dancing to what others get.

As a citizen, I reflect on the past few months and come on and feel concern. The conflicts that erupted violently is far from being resolved, they are only postponed, and new conflicts in the background. Not all conflict is bad and is a historical fact that societies are moving in the midst of conflict, and if they did not exist "status quo" acquire patent eternity. So ... how to turn the conflict into a source of new favorable situation for the majority?

The causes of conflict

The first step is awareness of the causes of the situation of the actors and the environment in which they thrive. In this step we have failed a lot in recent times and especially in the conflict in Amazonian communities. Number of blurred vision, biased, ignorant or interested deformed mingled with the more accurate, so in this mare magnum of views was difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Mutual interests

A second step, when you really know this, is to seek the interests of the parties involved. The word "interest" is not understood in a negative way. Each social group has rights and legitimate interests that are needed to harmonize with others to get together. Demonize the interests of another group attempting to devote themselves as if they were of all is a common but mistaken face situations.

Conscious dialogue

Once interest is the work of dialogue, which must begin with each group making an awareness of their genuine interest (not always aware of them) and take too aware of what is of interest to the adversary (which calls placed in the shoes of the other). Without this step falls into a "dialogue of the deaf" doomed to failure. The dialogue often requires an intermediary acting as a catalyst and help prosecute.

The solution with concession

Produced dialogue must be a solution. A solution requires mutual concessions to move forward. It is the responsibility of those involved in this that these concessions do not affect the existence, rights, and the ethos that sustains human groups. When this process does not occur, is the road of violence, which can be expressed in clashes in the open or to subjugate each other, which is violent, but it can be mistakenly confused with the peace (in any case would be the peace of the cemeteries).

Actors responsible

In conflict resolution there are many social responsibility. Not only the executive enters into dance. There are the responsibility of other branches of government (Legislative, Judicial, Electoral), the regional and local governments, the churches, public and private institutions, the media, the social leaders. The concern that I assaulted a citizen is: dowe have institutions capable of dealing with the conflict? Will force some actors to fill the obvious shortcomings of others?

The responsibility of the citizen

In any case, the citizens on the street "we have an important role to play. Sitting to criticize without providing the social construction of the necessary information for their own education and those who depend on us is, in essence, a betrayal of our civic duty.Because it is only when citizens feel responsibility for the country and is honored that responsibility with actions.

Juan Borea Odría

College Héctor Cárdenas

Jesus Maria, Peru.