Ending violence - creating models for peace

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ENDING VIOLENCE,

CREATING MODELSFOR PEACE

ENDING VIOLENCE,

CREATING MODELSFOR PEACE

Text collection for the Grace pilgrimage

“Hope for Colombia”,

in Bogotá, Colombia,

1st - 9th of November 2010

Text collection for the Grace pilgrimage

“Hope for Colombia”,

in Bogotá, Colombia,

1st - 9th of November 2010



Contact:

Institute for Global Peace Work (IGP)

Tamera Peace Research Center

Monte do Cerro, 7630-303 Colos, Portugal

Tel: +351 283 635 484

Fax: +351 283 635 374

[email protected]

www.grace-pilgrimage.org

» GRACE reminds us of walking in the service of

the higher mission, in the service of life and its

inherent justice. Those who are walking in the name of GRACE do not come to accuse. They

do not come to impart a new ideology on a

country or on a land and its people. They come

in the service of openness, of perception and of

support.

GRACE says that I am willing to end the war

and to understand the means by which it can

be ended, and I place myself in the service of a

solution. «

Sabine Lichtenfels



Grace Pilgrimage 2010 –Hope for ColombiaEnding Violence,

Creating Models for PeaceThe invitation by Sabine Lichtenfels, theologian, co-founder

of Tamera Peace Research Center and initiator of the

Grace pilgrimages:

A wave of violence is sweeping Latin America.

People are deported, tortured, and killed. The

activities of multinational groups, the drug maa,

guerrilla, paramilitaries and corrupt regimes are

the reason why there are hardly any places left

where truth, trust, and security are possible.Still, there is a reason for hope.

In Colombia we got to know one reason for hope:

The community San José de Apartadó with 1,500

members has been working on the establishment

of a peace model for thirteen years. Under un-

speakable conditions they have been sticking to

their decision for peace. Neither do they cooper-

ate with any of the conict parties, nor do they

consume drugs, nor allow armed people within

their community. They have created their owncommunity rules for solidarity and mutual support.

If you want to put an end to the continuous murder

you have to leave the system of violence – this is

the discernment they have revealed and they want

to comply with on all levels.

We have grown to deeply understand and know

the Peace Village San José de Apartadó. We have

been cooperating with them for ve years now to

create the so-called “Global Campus”, an interna-

tional university for the foundation of Peace Villag-

es worldwide. Our common approach of coopera-

tion is: “Putting an end to the system of violence,

creating models for peace.” This mental-spiritual

guideline could spread all over Latin America and

turn into a source of power for a non-violent revo-

lution.

In this context we invite you to participate in a

pilgrimage in the region of Bogotá from the 1st

to the 9th of November. It will be a planetary pil-grimage uniting people from all over the globe

who are threatened in a similar way – protected

by the presence of representatives of international

groups. The pilgrimage will be accompanied by

Sabine Lichtenfels, Benjamin von Mendelssohn,

Padre Javier Giraldo and other committed indi-

viduals. We do not ght against a system but webear witness of the possibility of an alternative,

which is applicable to all of humankind, all over

the globe. Around the world we are working on

the development of self-sufcient lifestyle models

in which the fundamental values that are true for

all human beings on all continents can be lived :

Truth and trust amongst each other, love for the

creation and all its creatures, mutual interest and

support as well as cooperation with animals and

other nature beings.

It is the same longing for life that calls in every

single one of us. We are establishing the “Global

Campus” for the worldwide manifestation of these

values. With the village “Mulatos” in the Colom-

bian rain forest a new planetary center for peace

knowledge comes into being. Mulatos is part of

the Peace Community San José de Apartadó.

We invite all the courageous forces of peace:

Please help to make these models known inter-

nationally thus providing them with the protection

they need. Contribute with your nancial support.

Help to save lives.

Together, let’s make the Miracle of Mulatos a prec-

edent for a new wave of hope for Latin America

and all its inhabitants, above all peasants and in-

digenous. May all people get access to the knowl-

edge and the means enabling them to leave the

cycle of murder and violence!

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If this pilgrimage is to be a success in terms of

inner and outer peace work, a spiritual source

will be needed. This will make us, as pilgrims, act

in both a correct and healing way despite any dif-

cult situations. In search of a name for the pilgrim-

age we came across the term GRACE. Grace hasmany connotations, and in English means more

than the word “Gnade” does in German.

GRACE is mercy, favour, charm, sweetness, readi-

ness, charity, consideration, congeniality, and also

stands for the act of Grace itself.

GRACE reminds me of walking in the service of

the higher mission, in the service of life and its in-

herent justice. Those who are walking in the name

of GRACE do not come to accuse. They do not

come to impart a new ideology on a country or ona land and its people. They come in the service of

openness, of perception and of support.

GRACE pledges not to worsen a war but rather to

end it wherever it happens to be. In the name of

GRACE I am always on the lookout for a nonvio-

lent solution, a solution which creates justice and

healing amongst all concerned. Often clear judge-

ment is necessary to do this, but never condem-

nation.

GRACE says that I am willing to end the war and

to understand the means by which it can be end-

ed, and I place myself in the service of a solution.

GRACE is not man made.

GRACE catapults us to a higher level of order in

life itself. It is not me that will judge, but life itself.

No matter where I happen to be and where I am

coming from, I put aside all prejudice and judge-

ment. I do not arrive with preconceived ideas of

who the other one might be or might not be, and I

do not make my opinion the yardstick for my ac-tions.

What is the Meaning of GRACE?

Since 2005, Sabine Lichtenfels has led annual pilgerimages “in the name of Grace”

with up to 500 participants through Israel-Palestine, Colombia and Portugal. In the

following passage from her book ”Grace – Pilgrimage for a Future without War“ she

describes the inner peace work, which this pilgrimage is based on:

I practised and learned to see the Christ in every

human being wherever I was and during all of the

pilgrimage.

At rst I turn to the human being who happens to

be my counterpart and let myself be touched by

his or her history. To do this, I anchor myself asfar as possible in the present moment. Again and

again I imagine that the person sitting in front of me

could just as well be me. I could be a woman set-

tler, a Palestinian woman or a young Israeli woman

about to enter the military. I could be the soldier

that is about to shoot at Palestinian kids with tear

gas. I look for the core of the human being in all

its roles and behind all the masks of alienation.

It is often difcult to be in this kind of presence.

How often have I been outraged about the views

of the world which I had to endure, for instance,from an extreme rabbi or a fanatical Muslim? And

how often did I feel an inner defensiveness or a

reaction of disgust when listening to the never-

ending accusations and stories of suffering from

the Palestinians in the West Bank or to the fanati-

cal speeches of the settlers?

GRACE demands self-knowledge; and self-

knowledge is not always easy. To discover aws

in others is much more pleasant and easier than

to unmask oneself. Everything within me wants to

cry out in anger and outrage when I sit opposite a

young ofcer listening to his excited explanations

about the ideological values of his country.

All of a sudden it occurs to me that he could just

as well be my son, and immediately I begin to see

in him not only the soldier, but the human being

behind his role. This is a rst step which creates

an opening. Now everything depends on whether I

will be able to tell him the truth of what I see with-

out any fear.

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Then GRACE happens.

I let myself be touched and I try to touch others.Whenever possible, I enter places with my heart

open. This was the case whenever I met with sol-

diers and ofcers, Palestinian peasants or farm-

ers, or Israeli settlers.

GRACE comes from the strength and the con-

nectedness with the source of life.

This must not be confused with a timid attitude

where I dare not speak up against injustice when

I see it.

I do not condemn anyone or anything when I amin the state of GRACE; rather, I gather up the cour-

age to speak the truth. I want to speak the truth in

such a way as to reach out to others and to change

them, from feeling that only they are in the right,

and also to avoid worsening even further the war

situation. In our everyday reality we shut out both

sides. We shut out the truth of the victim as well

as the truth of the perpetrator. We then are quick

to impose our view of the world on either one of

them; and most important of all is that our view

of the world is the right one! We do this to protect

ourselves from being touched. We can only bear

to watch the constant and terrible news because

we are so shut down; and we are relieved when

we are able to distinguish the good guys from the

bad guys. We carry on living our comfortable eve-

ry-day lives and believe that we are good people

when we manage to show some little charity in our

lives. This is the way the insidious fascism of our

times is bred through indifference.

People shut their good middle-class front doorsin the face of reality. They do it until suddenly they

themselves are caught by a wave of real life which,

up until then, they have been successfully sup-

pressing. Suppression now hits back and shows

its most cruel and violent side. It is not life itself

that is cruel. It is through suppression that it ap-

pears to be cruel and violent. We see this in mar-

riage crises, in illness, in growing suicide rates,

in psychic sickness, alcoholism and other similar

problems. That is, until we wake up!

GRACE reminds us of another truth and reality at

work behind the terrible dimensions of a culture

which will soon have exhausted its last resources.

The truth is simple and the same everywhere.

When forming an opinion, we tend to forget that

we do this mainly from a level of interpretation.

The truth lies beyond all opinions. The truth is dis-

tinct from ideology in as much as truth is both sim-

ple and true.

I was shocked to realize that conicts more often

than not are kindled and rekindled by the ideolo-

gies and the convictions which people continually

re at each other. Because of our fear of the truth

of life, we consider our opinions and views to be

true and defend them right until the bitter end. This

is psychological warfare that nally results in real

war. We hold to be true that which has nothing to

do with truth. This is the story of our socialisation

with which we identify.

All of a sudden you look into the distorted mirror ofmankind which has separated itself from its roots.

Grace pilgrimage walking through the desert of Israel-

Palestine, in 2007

PHOTO: Lasse Ehrich

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6

You look at the same patterns of fear, anger, pow-

erlessness and trauma which are everywhere, and

at the resulting war with its destructive acts of re-

venge. It is the suppressed life itself that chooses

revenge in order to survive.

At this point appeals to morality are useless. Just

imagine your child is killed in front of your own

eyes. Is it not revenge that is your foremost and

strongest impulse?

You see it everywhere, sometimes in lesser, some-

times in worse forms; but the basic pattern re-

mains identical everywhere. It can be found be-

hind every ideology, behind all religions, behind all

views of the world. We have, in equal measure, all

become victims of an imperialistic culture. Behind

this avalanche that rolls across the regions of war

on this planet, writing its painful history of victims

and perpetrators, you come across the same hun-ger everywhere – a hunger for life, a hunger for

love, a hunger for trust and belonging, a hunger

for acknowledgement and a hunger for wanting to

be seen and understood. This hunger is independ-

ent of race and creed. It simply exists in every hu-

man being for as long as he or she still deserves

this name.

When I am out there in the name of GRACE, I try to

meet the human being and let myself be touched

by them rather than by the world views they rep-resent.

All would be lost whenever our meetings started

with a debate about world views. Nobody kept

listening, and as a result the meetings ended in

emotional upheaval. The meetings unfolded in a

completely different way whenever people were

touched by each other in a deep and humane way.

GRACE always reminds you of this.

GRACE is like a consciously chosen naivety that

helps you nd your way through the chaos of

world views so that you recognize and protect the

elementary and simple truth behind all things. You

create an opening for the cry for life.

You see the collective body of pain in front of you,

this body that has presented the Jews with their

terrible fate. You equally recognise the collective

delusion of the German people who have still not

been able to truly look at and heal their past. You

see the effects of a patriarchal religion and cul-

ture which has taken a wrong turn for thousandsof years; and you see how war is an inseparable

part of it, just as much as thunder and lightning

are part of a stormy night.

The history of victims and perpetrators, and our

identication with either one of them, has to come

to an end. At this point world history awaits a big

transformation, the nal awakening!

GRACE reminds you always that this change does

not come to pass by way of one’s own forces.

GRACE reminds you of the sacredness of life itself

at every moment.

GRACE reminds you that the only way back out

of the dead end street is for humankind to suc-

cessfully return to the very basis of life and love,

of trust and truth.

GRACE is the power of a long breath that is go-

ing to last because it can see a new dawn at the

horizon of history, a paradise of love and charity,a culture honouring variety while at the same time

acknowledging common values.

GRACE is the umbilical cord that connects us to

this vision and guides us, as of this moment, to

act and behave out of its “Geist,”* its freshness,

its abundance and beauty.

(*The noun “Geist” (adj. geistig) is used to better reect the

notion of “intellect, spirit and soul together” as expressed in

this German word.)

■ www.sabine-lichtenfels.com



Where there was pain, let healing awaken.

Where there was anger, let the power for change emerge.

Where there was fear, let safety and trust grow.

Where there were enemies, let the awakening of mutual compassion begin.

Where there was oppression, let freedom reign.

Where nations were divided, let sympathy for planet earth lead to shared responsibility.

We have come as a reminder: If we want planet earth to survive, then all the walls of separation must

fall, the walls between peoples, between Israel and Palestine, between Europe and Africa, between the

so-called rst and third world. And likewise with the walls that we have erected in our own psyches,

the walls between the genders, and the walls between humans and all creatures.

May all displaced people nd a home.

May the pure indigenous wisdom and source gain recognition and respect.

May the people who are willing to risk their lives for truth and justice receive the protection they need.

May the voice of justice and truth and compassion and solidarity with all beings be heard all

over the world, and may it spread and become a powerful movement that stands for the

protection for life and planet Earth.

May the seed of peace communities blossom and may the rst self-sufcient communities be a sign

and show that it is possible to develop societal systems which reso- nate with the universal laws of

love and compassion, and of truth and abundance of life. May we become carriers of hope for all who

come after us.

May we set visible signs which show that the eternal life will win over all systems of wrong power, of

destruction and exploitation.

We have come as a reminder of the original beauty and truth of life: Every living being has a right to

be free and to unfold, a right to love, and a right to genuine truth and trust. Let us set examples forovercoming violence wherever we are. Let us stand up for life and for love so that fear can vanish on

earth. Let us form a worldwide circle of power to safeguard all creation.

In the name of all those who had to give their lives, in the name of justice and truth, in the name of all

that has skin and fur. In the name of all creatures, and in the name of GRACE and the movement for a

free earth.

May this prayer or something better come to be.

Thank you and Amen.

Global Grace Day

9th of November 2010:

A Meditation by Sabine Lichtenfels

The following meditation text by Sabine Lichtenfels will be read on many places around the world at the9th of November. At this day we celebrate the Global Grace Day. Peace workers from many countries

dedicate this day to Grace and to the international solidarity. The meditation serves like a sign that we as

humankind can no longer accept the inner and outer walls we have set up on a global scale.

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Dear friends in the world!

We live and work in the Peace Research

Center Tamera in Portugal. Here we enjoy a

freedom which is rare in this world. We know that

many of you have to live and work under muchmore difcult conditions. Therefore we want to do

everything to make best use of our place for glo-

bal peace work and – as far as we can – support

your work.

We live in a time of worldwide transformation. The

power on Earth no longer lies on the side of impe-

rialistic violence, but on the side of those groups

who today connect worldwide with the forces of

transformation. Not terror and violence, but trust

and solidarity will rule the world. This is not a wish-ful dream, but the objective reality of the coming

epoch. The shift of power has already begun if we

cooperate with each other in the right manner. I

refer to my text “Beyond 2012”, describing the di-

rection of this transformation.

For this purpose we have been working for several

years in Tamera on building the so-called “Global

Campus” – a world university with branches on all

continents. The main focus is the establishment of

centers in which the guidelines of the new era can

be explored and implemented in a model.

The future workshop Tamera in Portugal is one of

these centers. It was founded 15 years ago. At the

current state of development it is the international

base for the Global Campus. Social, spiritual and

technological research are combined here into a

concrete vision of future life. Training for interna-

tional groups can take place here, which is needed

for the development of functioning communitiesand peace villages all around the world.

Worldwide, the matrix of violence and the matrix of

life are colliding with each other. Worldwide, peo-

ple are killed, animals tortured, and landscapes

and oceans destroyed in this collision. Worldwide,the pain bears down on all people involved and

all those who are still capable of compassion. It is

a global and historical pain, not a local or private

one.

Even the best resources of individual people are

not sufcient to change the system of violence.

The globalization of violence cannot be overcome

by moral appeals or by political protests, but only

through an effective alliance of diverse peace

forces on Earth. This worldwide alliance needs acommon mental-spiritual base, a common tech-

nological/ecological know-how and a common

planetary perspective. Participants from all coun-

tries should know that they belong to a new plan-

etary community.

In this planetary spirit the forces we need for the

development of new models multiply, all the way

down to the most elemental human issues of sex,

love, partnership, home and trust. They are the

same questions in the East and West, from Mexi-

co City to Sao Paulo, Sekem to Tilonia, from San

José to Bethlehem. The same human issues in

both the rich and the poor countries, in the perpe-

trators and in the victims.

After all, behind all pain still shines the sacred ma-

trix, the universal order of love and the unity of all

beings. Our goal is to connect worldwide with the

powers of the sacred matrix and allow a new hu-

man civilization.

For a Future without War

Greeting message by Dr. Dieter Duhm, psychoanalyst,

sociologist and one of the founders of Tamera Peace Research

Center in Portugal

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May God’s blessing lie on our common work!

In the name of the children.

In the name of love.

In the name of warmth for all creatures.

With best regards,Dieter Duhm

■ www.dieter-duhm.com

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Solar Power Village in Tamera, Portugal: A new model

for self-sufciency is part of the “Global Campus”

PHOTO: Maria João Soares



A fter an eight-hour march through the jungle,

over steep mountains and past paramilitary

and guerilla, we are wearily arriving at the tiny ham-

let Mulatos, which is now just around the corner.

Our Caminata por la Vida, the “Pilgrimage for Life”

is slowly reaching its destination. We are campes-inos and indigenous people, political activists

from Colombian cities, journalists, photographers

and international peace workers from many coun-

tries. Children, elderly people and mules accom-

pany us. While we are walking through the lush

nature, joyful excitement is in the air. Sometimes it

is almost as if we were in paradise. But we are not.

We are constantly reminded: we are not to leave

the paths. The forest is full of mines.

Many of us have been here before. We walked the

same path almost two years ago. Back then it wasthe rainy season, and endless mud and repeated

crossing of a river reaching our chests took us to

our physical limits. Compared to that, the ascent

today is easy.

We are invited, as we were two years ago, to par-

ticipate in the Global Campus, a global peace uni-

versity that was initiated by the Peace Research

Center Tamera in Portugal and takes place at dif-

ferent locations around the world. In this case, the

peace community San José de Apartadó has in-

vited us.

Just a few days ago the peace community told

us that the ten day event would not take place in

the valley, in the main village San Josecito, where

there are at least a school, community kitchen and

simple shelters, but in Mulatos – high in the moun-

tains, and accessible only by foot. From our last

visit we only remember the site as a small clearing.

Besides a little shed there was only a small chapel

in memory of the massacre that happened here in2005: Luis Eduardo Guerra, one of the visionar-

The Miracle of Mulatos –A Center for Planetary Futurein the Colombian Jungle

Report by Martin Winiecki, May 2010

ies and leaders of the peace community, and his

whole family were brutally assassinated by mili-

tary and paramilitary.

How will it be possible to host an international

peace university here – including accommoda-

tion, food and education? The people from SanJosecito smile and say nothing.

As we nally come around the river bend and

see what has been built here, we are breathless.

Who would have imagined such a thing! There is

a whole village. A sign at the entrance says “Wel-

come to the Peace Village Luis Eduardo Guerra”.

In the space of only a few weeks, the farmers and

refugees, men, women and youth who are mem-

bers of the Peace Community have succeeded

in clearing three hectares of forest and have builtshelters for 120 people, a school house and a

kitchen – many hours away from where they live.

They did all this constantly threatened and sur-

rounded by armed groups, far off any roads and

without money. They must have worked night and

day. But still: to us it is a pure miracle - the miracle

of Mulatos.

What gave them the strength? What was their

motivation? What made this miracle possible?

They say: “Here we want to manifest the vision of

a planetary community of peace that leaves the

situation of war behind. In the years to come, we

want Mulatos to become a lively Peace University

for Latin America.”

We – as international guests who have seen the

miracle of this place, this power of vision and the

people´s courage to build a new future – we think

that this could become a model for Colombia and

furthermore a model for all suppressed peoples in

the world. We know immediately that we want tofollow up this miracle – the miracle of Mulatos

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is the miracle that is necessary to show the way

towards hope everywhere that violence currently

prevails.

What is this Peace Community?

San José de Apartadó is situated in the north of

Colombia, in one of the most violent regions of

the country. Not only is the region rich in natural

resources and agricultural diversity, but also its

proximity to the border of Panama is strategically

valuable because it connects Central and South

America. North American corporations have plans

for big economic projects in this region. They want

to exploit and ship natural resources and industr-

ialised agricultural products from here. Dry ports

(“puertos secos”), that are planned close by are

part of a geostrategically important trafc con-cept: an addition to the Panama Canal to bring the

much-wanted economical upswing to Colombia.

For decades there have been uncounted expul-

sions and massacres of the peasant farmers, who

by their mere existence stand in the way of the

plans of the multinationals and the government,

and the state offers no protection. The history of

this region is an example of the merciless violence

with which the globalisation of markets is being

enforced in large parts of the world.

Under these circumstances, some of the leaders

of the community San José de Apartadó met more

than thirteen years ago. They thought about what

they could do to protect themselves against the

eviction. Together with Padre Javier Giraldo, a hu-

man rights activist who supports many persecut-

ed activists and communities in Colombia, they

came to the conclusion that they had to leave the

system of the state – not only was the state not

protecting them, it was even ghting them.

They decided to form a peace community, a neu-

tral village, in which all inhabitants were to under-

take non-violent resistance against the warfare

of any armed party. In March 1997, after a peak

of violence by the paramilitary, 1350 campesinos

of the various hamlets of San José de Apartadó

gathered to sign the constitution of the peace

community. Those who join commit not to co-op-

erate with any of the conict parties, not to own

weapons, not to consume drugs or alcohol and to

contribute to the communal work-life. These prin-ciples are the core of their communal identity and

thus their basis of survival.

In the course of the thirteen years of their resist-

ance, almost 200 community members have been

killed by paramilitary, army and guerilla. Yet, they

keep on going. They live in simple wooden huts

between chicken and pigs. They work hard on co-

coa and banana plantations. They face the armed

forces in rubber boots and with bare hands. The

only thing they have is their power of vision, their

solidarity and the power of community.

With this they have been able to resist many

threats to date. They have also survived subter-

fuge: in March 2005 the police occupied their main

village San José de Apartadó, allegedly to protect

them. But a police station in the middle of their

living space undermined their basic principles of

neutrality and not using weapons. Besides, theyhad experienced that even state groups partici-

pated in violent actions against them. How could

they trust the police – or any other state organ?

The peace community acted with great determi-

nation: they gave up their settlement. 300 people

– the majority of the community – left their homes,

moved a few kilometres downriver and built a new

provisional village on a meadow: San Josecito –

the small San José. That’s where they are still liv-

ing, under the simplest conditions. San Josecito

has become the main village of the community.

To date, the leaders of the community cannot dare

to go into the nearby city Apartadó without be-

ing accompanied by internationals. In the ofcial

controls at military or police posts, members of

the council are repeatedly pulled out of the cars

and arrested without trial or directly murdered at

the roadside.

The members of the community have been de-

clared outlawed by the highest authorities of Co-

lombia: the media and politicians of the country

– above all president Uribe – publicly slander them

as terrorists. They claim that the village is a gue-

rilla camp. Any visitor can see that the opposite is

true. These voices, however, are not heard in the

Colombian media scene.

The constant threat has made the inhabitants re-

alize how essential it is to trust each other and to

rely on each other. Careless conduct with informa-

tion may cost lives.

11



12

There is nobody in San José de Apartadó that re-

member times of peace. Even before the civil war

that has been going on during the last 40 years,

there was violence, murder and dominance by big

agricultural business. And still, right here in this

country, where basic human rights have long been

disrespected, they have reconquered their moral

right, their right for a humane life.

They do not do this for themselves but for all who

are suppressed. San José de Apartadó has be-

come a pioneer of a whole movement: about 20

communities in Colombia have declared them-

selves to be neutral peace communities in this

sense and build non-violent alternatives. Some

of them even created the so-called “University of

Resistance”, an alternative system of education of

the peace communities. Their urgent wish is to of-

fer the youth a perspective that goes beyond theillusion of a wealthy life in the cities and that sup-

plies them with peace knowledge.

The peace community was awarded the Aachener

Peace Prize in 2007 and was nominated for the

Nobel Peace Prize in the same year. International

attention is their protection. Networks of solidarity

were formed in Italy and Spain. Human rights or-

ganisations such as Amnesty International started

to become involved; Peace Brigades International

and Fellowship of Reconciliation have been con-stantly present for years and offer as much pro-

tection against attacks as they can.

One of the most severe crises of the community

was the assassination of Luis Eduardo Guerra. He

embodied, more than almost any other, the power

of the community to always take one more step.

His murder was such a heavy blow that the com-

munity almost fell apart. Gloria Cuartas, who as

the former mayor of Apartadó had co-founded

the peace community and has accompanied their

work to this day, started an emergency call to all

her friends to help the peace community in this

difcult time.

One of the initiatives that offered to help was the

Peace Research Center Tamera in Portugal. They

offered to invite two representatives of San José

to Tamera. It was the beginning of a continually

deepening cooperation and an ever more pro-

found friendship between the two very unequalpartners: A community in the security of Europe

and another in civil war-shaken Colombia. Many

mutual visits took place. In 2008 Sabine Lichten-

fels, co-founder of Tamera, led her annual “Grace

pilgrimage” through the region of San José de

Apartadó to draw international attention to the

peace community and its overall situation.

Padre Javier Giraldo and Eduar Lanchero, two

other visionaries and supporters of the peace

community, visited the Tamera project in Sum-

mer 2009. They didn’t participate in a conference

where you meet to talk about peace and then sep-

arate again, as usual in Europe, but they entered

a completely new living model. They saw that the

people here, members of a wealthy society, had

given up their own careers to voluntarily live under

very simple and experimental conditions, because

they wanted to nd out how to manifest the dreamof a peace community.

What is Tamera?

The Peace Research Centre Tamera is based on

over 30 years of radical research for peace. Di-

eter Duhm, one of the geistic leaders of the Ger-

man student revolution of ‘68, had left behind

his conventional life and also Marxism, because

he couldn’t participate in any structure that was

based on violence and exploitation of others anylonger. He met Sabine Lichtenfels and others to

found a project of a new kind for a different notion

of revolution. They knew that resistance and po-

litical appeals alone would not put an end to war

but that new, real living systems were necessary.

They wanted to create a peace model that was

not in any way based on violence and hypocrisy.

Besides all the questions of architecture, ecology,

water, food, technologies and so on, the commu-

nity soon discovered the inner elds of conict in

relationships amongst humans.

Here, in the inner human domain of love, sexual-

ity, trust and community, all communities and at-

tempts to change the world for a better had so far

failed. For exactly this reason they had to nd a

real perspective in this eld. They had to nd an-

swers. What does a social system look like where

there is no more jealousy when a beloved one

opens up to someone else? How can the underly-

ing rivalry about power, money and sex be turned

into trust and complementarity?They wanted to effect the changes they wanted



The newly established Mulatos center, in March 2010

PHOTO: Elias Barrasch

13

to see in the world in themselves. They knew that

they would not nd new answers using old meth-ods - therefore they were looking for new methods

to reveal the human underground. They succeed-

ed in doing the exceptional: to create a sustain-

able community.

In 1995 Tamera was founded on a spacious ter-

rain in South Portugal - a rst global pilot model

for a planetary peace culture. Since then Tamera

has become an international community with 160

people. In the frame of their peace university they

work together with their founders Dieter Duhmand Sabine Lichtenfels on the human issues

to dissolve the collective human trauma and to

deeply reconcile the genders. Besides this a self-

sufcient system for sustainable ecology and wa-

ter landscapes is developing in cooperation with

the Austrian permaculture specialist Sepp Holzer

as well as the so-called “SolarPowerVillage”. This

is a new kind of solar technology for villages in

sunny areas of the world, developed by the inven-

tor Jürgen Kleinwächter.

Padre Javier Giraldo and Eduar Lanchero saw that

this is the dream the people of San José have al-

ways known intuitively, the dream of a peace com-

munity in which humans and all beings live against

in trust together. In their difcult situation they had

almost lost faith in this. But now it reawakened.

Back in Colombia they came together with their

community and considered, “Shouldn’t we make

a fresh start? What about making the original ideareality and building a completely new place?”

Seen rationally, it seemed quite impossible, giv-

en the circumstances they were living in. But the

power of the dream prevailed.

The seed that makes the miracle possible, germi-

nated. People who are living in the midst of a war

decided to believe again in a dream of humanity

and to manifest it in the form of a center for the fu-

ture. They chose the place which reminded them

particularly strongly of the trauma they had suf-fered: Mulatos.

In early December 2009 they began to build far

away from their homes. In February 2010 the en-

tire infrastructure was available for a seminar with

120 participants in the jungle of Colombia.

Global Campus meeting in 2010

In Mulatos we experience the emergence of a glo-

bal community. Indigenous people, campesinos

and internationals mingle in the jammed Kiosko,

the brand-new local assembly hall. Many languag-

es are spoken simultaneously. “The community

has been resurrected.”, says Eduar Lanchero.

What is emerging here was the vision of Luis Edu-

ardo himself, exactly ve years after he was killed.

He knew that the politics of death could not be

overcome with ideology but only through new

ways of life where men and women transform the

capitalistic reality into a reality of life. Now, a partof his vision has come true: this place of horror



14

has turned into a nucleus of new life. In the rst

university meeting of the Global Campus in Mula-

tos, foundations for a future perspective are laid.

Padre Javier Giraldo: “A time bomb is ticking in

the communities: the youth are tempted to move

to the cities by an illusion of wealth, which doesn’t

exist in this sense. For years this has been one of

the biggest challenges for the peace communities

in Colombia. What does a future perspective look

like that is more attractive than the temptation of

the cities? Many young people leave the commu-

nities. They came as children with their parents

and they don’t have an inner connection to the

principles.” What kind of an education can deal

with the heartfelt questions of the young people

and offer answers to their longing for a meaningful

life?

On a material level the concept of the education

comprises simple technologies that aim to simpli-

fy the everyday life of the campesinos and to help

them to become self-sufcient. With this comes

knowledge about independent health provision,

sustainable ecology and construction as well as

the rst forms of a new kind of technology. One

group built a simple solar dryer for cocoa beans.

For the members of San José, an independent

health service is essential for survival, and a po-litical step. The people of the community have

often been refused medical aid by the local hos-

pitals: a perdious instrument of power that has

caused many deaths. A health team now gathers

the regional knowledge about healing plants of

the indigenous people and campesinos. It will be

summarized in a manual that can be used beyond

the peace community. Gardens for healing plants

have been started in the various hamlets of the

peace community; old knowledge of how to treat

many illnesses meets a modern holistic concept

of healing.

In the context of the Global Campus a perspec-

tive of abundance arose – an abundance that is

no longer based on consumption but on coop-

eration with nature. Together they developed the

complete plan of a potential self-sufcient village:

it includes the supply of clean drinking water, self-

grown fruits and vegetables, construction using

local materials, a bio-gas facility for environmen-tally friendly energy supply, etc.

At the same time, stones in which they chiselled

symbols for a new peace culture were set around

the chapel of Luis Eduardo Guerra. In this way a

sacred space is created that is independent of any

particular religion. Everyone who comes here is to

be reminded that he is part of a bigger creation

and that he has to re-learn to cooperate with it.

Christian and indigenous elements inuence the

work and complement each other without con-

icting with each other.

Sabine Lichtenfels who initiated the Global Cam-

pus together with Benjamin von Mendelssohn,

says that in a new culture of peace no one aspect

of creation will stand above another, and neither

will aspects be excluded. Peace is the secret of

balance and cooperation between all forces and

beings.

On the village square many people surround Clau-

dio Miranda de Moura, a beaming samba musician

from Brazil who is also participating in the Global

Campus. With relentless joy he teaches the chil-

dren and youth new songs. He lives in São Paulo

in one of the most brutal slums in Brazil. Many

stories he hears here could be his own stories.

As a young man he saw how many of his friends

were killed. On a deeper level Claudio knows that

there is no difference between the youth of the

peace community and those who join the militaryor paramilitary. He says: “The youth need a kind

of orientation. If they don’t have parents they join

people they admire, such as the military. I want

to show them something more attractive so that

they don’t have to take part in the violence.” In the

slum, he built a centre for music, poetry and crea-

tivity to help the young people to get off drugs.

For some days the youth of the widely scattered

villages meet in Mulatos. They study together, they

transform the school house into their youth centre

and learn about the cultures of the world. Slowly

and shyly they begin to express themselves. They

talk about why they are in the peace community,

about the inuence of the media and culture in

Colombia, and above all they say that they want

to be part of a new culture, that they want a dif-

ferent kind of life, that they are no longer willing to

project on the Western world.

Ever more women start to talk. We hear moving

stories of the losses of their husbands and chil-dren and how they afterwards struggled to stay



Global friendship between women: Doña Brigida from

the Peace Community and Sabine Lichtenfels

PHOTO: Elias Barrasch

15

faithful to their love. It is devastating to see how

much these women have suffered in their lives.Still, they do not only talk about their pain. It is

surprising how many of these women even in the

most difcult moments encountered a loving pow-

er they call God. It is the power that has enabled

them not to seek revenge but to contribute to the

peace community. Over many years the women

have silently kept the social basis of the commu-

nity together. They let the men hold the speeches

and lead the community. Now they nd encour-

agement and support to dare to come forward

more and to raise their own voices in solidarity.

Perspectives

At the end of the rst meeting of the Global Cam-

pus in Mulatos, Eduar Lanchero describes the vi-

sion for the peace village Mulatos in three years:

a place that creates peace every day, a village in

which people are lled with the power of commu-

nity that unites them in a relentless commitment

for peace. He says, “It is our challenge to become

new men and women and to create real alterna-

tives in which the future is not the future we have

been taught, but one that is created by all of us.”

Now Claudio Miranda talks about the changes in

São Paulo that he has experienced since he came

back from Tamera last summer. In Tamera he had

the vision to turn his slum – in Brazil a symbol of

the drug war – into a lively peace community. He

calls it “Favela da Paz”. The certainty grew in him

that if it would be possible to turn a place that is

known for its brutality into a place of lived peacethen all of Brazil would sit up and take notice – and

even more, that then there would be a model for

slums all over the world.

Back in São Paulo he was showered with offers of

help which he could never have imagined before.

His vision suddenly turned him into the magnet of

its realisation.

I am very moved by all this. Here in Mulatos, in the

Colombian jungle the miracle of a new power ofpeace has begun. This miracle needs our support,

the help of the global public. It needs nancial,

technical and journalistic support. It needs further

international attention.

Please help.



In the late twenties, landlords from other areas

started to come, US multinational companies

also started to come: Together they started to

plant bananas and plantains. The rst company to

come was the US multinational company, the Fruit

Company, which later became Chiquita. In orderto kick the farmers off their lands, they started

to carry out massacres. Around 1960, and peo-

ple began to be displaced to the mountains, they

were kicked out from their lands. In 1960 the gov-

ernment began to show its presence; they built a

small military base, the rst military base where op-

erations were carried out against farmers in order

to throw them out. Already back then, the military

instruction documents in our country mentioned

the creation of paramilitary groups whose function

was to murder the leaders of the farmers in orderto expel them from the territories. Since that date

this fact is the beginning of an era in our country,

it is a war which we are still living today, a political

war our country is still living through today.

In 1964 the guerrilla groups are created, the rst

one is the FARC (“Revolutionary Armed Forces of

Colombia”). This group is created in the South of

Colombia, it is a rural farmer group, they were part

of the Liberal Party. They went against the gov-

ernment and they created the guerrilla. But as we

mentioned before, the paramilitary groups already

existed since 1960, we mention this because

throughout the world it is said that the Colombian

problem is a guerrilla issue. Our basic problem

has always been the attack against the farmers

for their lands.

While the banana companies were setting up, they

began to hire the original land owners, who now

became workers in order to survive. They began

to create unions, this is how the well known farm-er unions of our country emerged. They did a lot

of peaceful acts in order to vindicate the farmers

and workers because the companies did not allow

the creation of unions and they also carried out

massacres. At the end of the 70s, around 76 and

78, the FARC guerrilla started to spread over the

country and they came here; also another guerrillagroup was created in the North of the country.

In 1976, the army carried out the rst massacre

in the hamlet of Resbalosa. They murdered eight

farmers and four people are still missing. It is the

rst case of crimes against humanity commit-

ted in this area; we mention this because the rst

thing the army mentions on record is that guerrilla

members were murdered, and the guerrilla wasn’t

present in this area until 1978. It is at this moment

when the continuous killings against the people of

this mountainous region began, and at the sametime a strong organizational process by the farmer

organizations and unions began not only in the

lands below but also in this region - the Vive re-

gion.

In 1985 the government and the guerrilla start

peace talks, the rst agreement was to allow the

guerrilla to create a political party, so in this way

they can begin to leave their weapons aside and

be part of the elections. This political party was

called la Unión Patriótica (“Patriotic Union”), many

of the guerrilla soldiers joined the party and they

began to do political work throughout the coun-

try. This attracted the attention of all the farmers

in the country and in 1986 – just one year after

the party was created – they ran for elections at

all levels, mayor, congress, even for president.

They became the second strongest political force

in the whole country, and in Urabá they become

the strongest political force. They won seats for

mayor and council in seven out of the eight mu-nicipalities. These UP municipalities did a better

Respecting Life

Speech by Eduar Lanchero, member of the internal council of

the peace community, about the history of the peace commu-

nity San José de Apartadó

16



job, they built schools and health care centers in

the hamlets because the last government didn’t

do this for the people. The UP began to gain a lot

of strength and so did the unions.

We want to focus our attention on what we are

currently going through, this is the strongest para-

military phase our country has seen. The UP con-

trolled all the municipalities of the entire country

All the municipalities and councils were from the

UP. So the strong people of this country – along

with the military and the police, who have always

been against the people – saw the UP as a threat

and this is why they planned very well what para-

militarism was going to be.

The rst phase of paramilitarism took place from

1987 until 1994. Throughout this period – together

with the military and the police – they murdered all

the members of the UP that had leading politicalpositions. They also murdered three presidential

candidates, they exterminated the UP by murder-

ing all its members. This phase is called The Total

Extermination of The UP.

Between 1994 until 2002 the second phase of

paramilitarism took place. This phase is known as

Leveled Land, not only were UP members were

murdered, this phase saw the extermination of

any kind of organization: women’s organizations,

unions, farmer’s organizations, community organi-

zations, all types of organizations became a mili-tary target to be exterminated. The armed forces

annihilated all leaders, the few remaining ones had

to escape, this period was when our country suf-

fered its major displacement.

After gaining control of all municipalities, the para-

military – together with all armed forces – began

to penetrate to the rural areas and thus began the

displacement of the farmer’s. This exile was car-

ried out through massacres, horrendous murders

that generated tremendous fear: they cut heads

off, they disemboweled people, they tore them

into pieces. This happened throughout the whole

country.

It is exactly at this moment – while the paramili-

taries were leveling the land, displacing the re-

maining rural people and ghting off the guerrilla

– when the community was born. The idea from

which the community was born is: How shall life

be respected amidst this war, amidst the ghting?

This was the rst principle which inspired peopleto get organized. So we had to be neutral because

the ongoing logic of the government and the guer-

rilla is that you are either on their side or you are

the enemy. In our country, the rst attempt to-

wards an autonomy which calls for respecting life

is the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.

It was the rst one that said to both armed forces

that it wished to be neutral, that it would not be

part of either of them. So the community is in a

rural area composed of 32 hamlets. So everyone

agrees to be neutral and on March 23rd 1997 we

declared ourselves as a peace community.

When we began we were naive because these

processes demand commitment in a conscious

way, to be transparent. At the moment of forming

the community everyone just agreed and we just

asked questions: how is this and that? And every

time everyone agreed. But we never imagined the

history we have lived during this whole time. Wekept it very simple, we gathered, we commented

on the situation, we declared ourselves neutral,

and everyone agreed.

So what happened then? That same week, after

the declaration of March 27th, the paramilitaries

together with the militaries began indiscriminate

murders and bombings. In less than two months

the 32 hamlets emptied out, almost everyone left

– a population of over six thousand people. 320

displaced people remained in San José, at this

moment we changed our focus, not only were westaying to defend our lands, we remained in order

to defend life itself, so we realized that not only the

armed groups were responsible, so there and then

we adopted a new way of living.

The massacres slowly began. In 1997 a military

base was built right outside Apartadó - over 40

people were murdered there, including three lead-

ers. The government began to annihilate the com-

munity because it stood on its way to appropri-

ate all the land. The community also became a

problem to the guerrilla because it was the rst

community that said: “No, we will not follow your

orders, we are not on your side, we do not sup-

port you; we want nothing to do with you.” So

both armed groups began to hit us on all sides,

they wanted to exterminate us. We were hit hard-

est by the government and also the guerrilla mur-

dered more of our leaders. The logic of this war is

that by murdering people in such a horrifying way

they create immense fear so people become quiet

and bow. This was our most difcult moment, thecommunity would not bow to anyone, not even if

17



Commemoration march for the murdered members of

the Peace Community San José de Apartadó, in Apar-tadó, 2007 PHOTO: Martin Funk

18

their leaders were murdered. We did not step back

from either armed group. Here was when we start-ed to develop the principles for the community.

So we then had to look at a fundamental issue.

On the one hand we were saying no to the armed

groups: “We are against the death you bring and

we want you to stop being part of this death,” but

the armed groups were not the only ones who mur-

dered, it was the whole logic behind the system,

the way people lived, generated this death. Thus

we decided we had to be different if we wanted

to generate life. We began to analyze the way in

which the society that imposes this paramilitarimslives like. So we began to ght daily against this.

One of the aspects that had to change was land

property, land must be collectively owned and

cared for, and we realized that people were ex-

ploitable when they were afraid. This is why we

had to work in groups, in a communitarian way.

The armed groups, as well as the government lied

all the time, so we realized that we had to be trans-

parent, we had to tell the truth no matter the con-

sequences. We realized that the essential element

that would nourish these principles was to search

for justice. Not our country’s justice because there

can be no justice within a government which’s

logic is death. This is why we began to realize that

it was vital to build justice with other people, peo-

ple that proposed something different from death.

So we began to search for the solidarity of oth-

ers, because we saw that through solidarity and

partnership – we believe that partnership or walk-

ing together is not paternalistic – we can achieve

justice; together we can make a peaceful world, ano-death world. A no-death world means not only

stopping war but also stopping the other condi-

tions which also generate death.

The other fundamental issue that kept us alive

was not to fall into the armed groups’ game of

being horried by their killings. So we began to

understand that if we had a different way of liv-

ing then death would have a completely different

meaning, death would bow to this life. So then the

memory of those who had died was not death,they are alive here with us. This made us over-

come our fear to this death and horror the armed

groups create. Our lives are joined to a greater life,

that of humanity. So we shall always be here even

if they annihilate all of us because annihilation is

their logic and not ours. This is why memory is so

important to us. This is the way in which we began

to build our community, with lots of errors and in-

coherences, but we have a choice, our choice is

life itself, which corrects us and guides us. Many

people are moved by our history of death, but we

should be moved even more by the fact that in this

community we still have more life than the death

we have seen during these last twelve years.

■ http://cdpsanjose.org



When you open your soul to the divine light in

all of existence, you will experience not only

that a great joy and power come to you, but also

an innite pain and sadness. You will be touched

by divine compassion. Those who become seeing

will not be able to avoid commiserating with all

creatures.

This commiseration is so strong that it threatens

to pull you into personal emotions. Outraged that

the world is the way it is, you will want to close

your heart again. In this distorted mirror of emo-

tions, even the Divine appears cruel and violent

to you. But it is the closed off human being who

is cruel.

The Soul of the World calls out in you: remain see-

ing, here too. Remain with ME, here too. Then a

new healing power can operate inside of you. Do

not destroy what seems to destroy you. Otherwiseyou will be destroyed. Do not hate what seems to

hate you. Otherwise you are on the side of those

who hate. Do not close off your heart in fear of the

reality that you live in. Hear MY healing call, which

calls out for new paths of love, in these processes,

too.

Love is the only true source of survival. If you re-

main rm in your heart, then the power of innite

love reigns in your compassion and gives you a

new authority to act.

It is especially here that the Soul of the Worldis waiting for the rst humans who do not close

themselves off from MY call, so that the work of

change can occur. Suffering decreases with every

awakened heart. Every dissolution of a boundary

opens up a new, greater and more encompassing

world in ME.

With ME you can go to the limits of death without

fear. You will know yourself when I call you and

when it is time to change worlds.

Connected with ME, you receive the protectionthat you are seeking. In this connection, you can

Pain of the World

Morning attunement

by Sabine Lichtenfels, from the book:

“Sources of Love and Peace”

enter the danger zones and bring about some-

thing new. Do not follow fear. MY compassion

gives rise to the sacred rage that does not act out

of revenge, but that acts with absoluteness.

Every pain that the world has been subjected to is

MY pain and therefore also yours. Once you have

seen the misery of the world with MY eyes, you

will no longer wait. You will set off until you have

found the answers that connect you with the au-

thority to act. You will act wherever you can. You

will act with an open heart, and you will see that it

is only through trust and in trust that you can be

effective.

You will not be able to heal a closed heart, but

wherever hearts begin to open again, MY healing

power can take effect. This principle operates until

death. There are those who do not become seeinguntil in the hour of their death. Others resist the

law of innite love even here. Yet there can only be

redemption through innite love.

You become active when you are connected with

innite love. You will then no longer dwell in the

feeling of impotence. The sacred rage that comes

from love gives you a power that emphatically

rejects everything that does not serve love. You

will protect life wherever you are. And you will ac-

company dying souls and show them the way to

where eternal life can be found. In everything thatyou meet, you will seek ME. For there is only one

existence.

Sacred rage is higher than all violence. It does not

judge, it does not reproach, it does not stand in

judgment, it does not hate, and it does not fol-

low the energies of revenge. Connected to sacred

rage, you will no longer project onto the power of

those who follow destruction.

There is a point where they lose their power over

you. Here, the power of change prevails. You are

protected by being connected to the laws of eter-

nal life.

If you follow this principle of life, you can achieve

innitely much. You even change souls that only

know hatred. If, even in the areas of fear and

threat, the full and conscious principle of trust can

take hold in you, then your power of change is in-

nite. It operates across generations.

It is the only power that can save and heal thisplanet.

19



The development of humankind seems to be

entering into a dead-end street, one that can-

not be overcome by traditional means. The work

of the UN, of NGO-groups and innumerable peace

projects is both important and indispensable.

However, it cannot deceive us from the fact thatthere is nearly no positively oriented aim of glo-

bal proportions in existence anymore. Under the

given circumstances, a convincing perspective for

a violent-free co-habitation of our planet’s inhabit-

ants is no longer visible. In order to create more

favourable preconditions centres would have to

emerge in which the violent-free co-habitation of

the human being with all co-creatures can be re-

ected and developed in an exemplarily manner.

The aim of the Healing Biotopes Project is to really

construct such centres.

The projects consists of the development of in-

ternational and, as far as possible, autonomous

communitarian organisms in which the living con-

ditions for a violent-free future are researched

and practically applied. The new centres are de-

ned as “Healing Biotopes” or “Peace Villages”.

The rst has been in development for some years

now in the future workshop ‘Tamera’, in Portugal.

What is to be developed in these centres is a

type of “Biosphere 2”, but no longer as a closed

eco-system as in Arizona, but a new living sys-

tem that has the ability to connect the living ar-

eas of human beings and nature, socio-sphere

and biosphere, in a violent-free way, and to cre-

ate the necessary inner (social, human, spiritual)

preconditions within human communities. In

these centres the possibilities of the co-habitation

of human beings and the co-habitation between

humans and nature are researched. Thereby, all

questions of co-habitation – social organisation,roles of the genders, ecology, ethics etc. – will be

The Global Thought

Excerpt of: The Healing Biotopes Project. Project Declaration 1,

by Dieter Duhm

regarded in a new way. It is about the questions:

How do we create real life structures without fear

and violence? Under what circumstances could

a human culture of solidarity emerge? Are there

possibilities for new solutions for the central is-

sues of love, sexuality and partnership? How doestrust emerge? How does happiness emerge? How

does a new integration of the human world into

the higher orders of life and creation emerge?

The project contains the following

basic thoughts:

First: The outer (economic, military) violence ex-

ecuted today against nature, peoples and the bio-

sphere is connected with an inner (of the soul andthe mind/spirit) corrosion and loss in the root of

human life on earth. The ecological and the psy-

chological/spiritual destruction are two sides of

the same general problem: Only in looking at them

at the same time can they be rightly understood

and solved.

Second: The human problem deriving from this

destruction is the consequence of a collective dis-

ease of civilisation and can, thus, not be solved on

the individual level alone. The “therapy” requires

the building up of new human and ecological life

systems.

Third: A peace project can only affect as much

peace in the outside as it has reached in its own

human inner. Therefore, the outer work belongs to

the inner work in the sense of self-change in all the

participants.

Fourth: Inner healing requires a healing in the areaof love, for there lies the greatest injuries.

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Fifth: The necessary healing work requires a com-

prehensive co-operation between the human be-

ing and all creatures of nature, and a new embed-

ding of the human society into the higher orders of

life and Creation.

Therefore, new social organisms have to be es-

tablished where these guidelines for a violent-free

future are taken into consideration and applied in

practice. This is not a private project but a project

of humankind.

THE GLOBAL THOUGHT

The project represents a global aspect in two

regards:

First: Through the economy of globalisation hu-

manity has been torn from it’s anchor. Such an-

chors are or were: The land one lived on and off,

life in the tribe or the big family, organic commu-

nity organisms, far-reaching autonomous econ-

omy, embedding into nature and creation, home

in the protection of a superior whole. This natu-

ral anchoring is reected in an inner value system

of truth, trust, holding together, mutual support,

hospitality, helping the neighbour, and taking care

of the natural environment. This natural value sys-tem has been torn apart by a historical process

of de-rooting. Through the totality of the capitalist

“colonisation“ (Edward Goldsmith) and its man-

ner of economy billions of people lose their in-

ner and outer anchor, their basic human values,

their home, their trust and their meaning in life.

The ecological and military destruction on the

outside, that is inevitably connected with capi-

talist colonisation, corresponds to an immeasur-

able misery in the inside. The epidemic-like in-

crease of criminality, drug addiction, alcoholism,

violence, depression and psychosomatic dis-

eases also belong to this. From this context the

wars of our time, carried out with an epidemic

rage of killing and destruction, also explain them-

selves. It is obvious that humanity has to nd new

forms of life to be able to end the epoch of terror.

This global view automatically results in the ab-

solute necessity to build new community organ-

isms in which the inhabitants can rediscover their

natural values and resources on a new level. In theHealing Biotopes such community organisms are

to be built as models. Thereby, no old systems

shall be copied, but new ones shall be developed.

Second: The “new world order” aimed at by glo-

balisation with the cash-less trafc of goods and

electronic identity badges, with so-called “free-

trade zones” and the extermination of all domes-

tic subsistence economies etc. an increasing part

of the earth’s population (indigenous, poor, un-

employed, landless, sick, oppositions, freedom

ghters, truth seekers, autonomous thinkers and

unpopular inventors) is excluded from the sup-

ply of goods. Moreover, the general purchasing

power will decline due to unemployment lead-

ing to part of the production becoming senseless

while unemployment, in turn, increases again. In

this way, a special kind of global vacuum emerges

as the part of the earth’s population that drops

out of the economic system will need a new pos-sibility of living. Here also, the Healing Biotopes

could present a possibility for solutions. What is

to be built are new community organisms inde-

pendent of banks, multinationals or states with a

mostly autonomous supply in all vital areas. It is,

in a certain way, a “return” to local economy sys-

tems that are based on community but in connec-

tion with new technologies and social structures,

including a new relation between the genders.

How can local groups arrive to a global effect?How can the conditions of a structural peace

which are created at a few places have an effect

on the whole earth? The answer results from the

specics of holistic (all-encompassing) systems.

Together with all life on earth, humankind builds

a holistic system. The whole works in every detail

– and vice versa: what ever happens in a part has

an effect on the whole. This effect can be minimal

but increases with the signicance that the local

change has for the whole. In the case of a high

signicance, a process develops in the whole that

can be described by the terms of “resonance”,

“iteration” and “morphogenetic eld building”.

This is the decisive process for the globalisation

of peace (I described it in more detail in my book

“The Sacred Matrix”). When a piece of informa-

tion that is sufciently complex, sufciently impor-

tant and sufciently compatible with the whole is

entered into an organism this information has an

effect in all cells. When a piece of information is

entered into the informational body of the earth,that is important for a violent-free co-habitation of



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all creatures, the mental/spiritual layer of the earth

(noosphere) enters into a “stimulated state”; the

entered information works latently in all creatures.

If the information is entered by means of existing

Healing Biotopes a global eld of probability for the

emergence of similar life forms emerges on manyplaces of the earth. What is decisive for the success

of such peace projects is not how big and strong

they are (compared to the existing apparatuses of

violence), but how comprehensive and complex

they are, how many elements of life they combine

and unite in themselves in a positive way. In the

eld buildings of evolution it is not the “law of the

strongest”, but the “success of the more compre-

hensive”. Otherwise no new development would

have been able to impose itself for they all begun

“small and inconspicuous” (Teilhard de Chardin).

In this context we can formulate the central re-

search question of the Healing Biotopes as

follows: Which social, ecological, economic,

spiritual preconditions should be realised in a

way that – on the basis of the current state of

our evolution – the general information neces-

sary for planetary healing work can emerge?

The main problem does not lie in the question of

whether the centres can be globally effective butwhether we are able to really create them. As they

are a part of the whole the burden of the whole

also depends on them. They can only be suc-

cessful if they reach that “universal ground” they

share with the whole. That universal ground is

the invulnerable basis of all human beings, their

common source and dowry, their divine core. It

shows itself in the capacity for truth, for love and

for the acceptance of the higher orders of life.

Communities begin to be globally effective once

they have found in the tapestry of humankindthe very dimension in which all inhabitants of the

earth are connected with one another. On this ba-

sis, fragments of life that had been separate for

so long converge and unite: man and woman, hu-

man and human, sexuality and mind/spirit, Eros

and Agape, human and nature, human and God.

Here, the indispensable spiritual dimension of fu-

ture healing work becomes apparent. Healing is

the return from being banned, it is the negation of

the original pain that consisted in the separation.





The Grace pilgrimage is a cooperation between the Grace

Foundation, the Peace Community San José de

Apartadó and the Peace Research Village Association.

The Grace pilgrimage is a cooperation between the Grace

Foundation, the Peace Community San José de

Apartadó and the Peace Research Village Association.

Ending violence - creating models for peace

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