This blog comes from behind the locked gate of our office and is written with the tinge of tear gas in the air around.
In the aftermath of the country’s recent elections there have been calls for peace in Malawi. While court is yet to decide on allegations of electoral fraud, today marches have been organised across the country calling for the removal and prosecution of officials involved in the disputed election process.
For some elements of those protests calls for peace have fallen on deaf ears. In Mzuzu, a billboard featuring the president was torn down and burned on a roundabout. Public buildings have been targeted along with local businesses. I myself witnessed a peripheral element set on violence and the attack of vehicles and looting of businesses. They discouraged me from taking photos with angry shouts and waving sticks.
Malawi is, by and large, a ‘peaceful country’. Violent outbreaks like this are rare, though previous political protests in 2011 led to the deaths of 19 people. This during the presidential term of Bingu wa Mutharika, brother of the recently re-elected Arthur Peter Mutharika. The current protests follow allegations of rigging in what have been dubbed the ‘tippex elections’ after the use of tippex to amend the counting sheets at election tally centres.
However, reading my bible tells me that peace is not simply the absence of violence and this is clear in the work we are involved in here too. The bible talks about ‘shalom’ – peace in every aspect of our living and being. According to Tim Keller:
It means complete reconciliation, a state of the fullest flourishing in every dimension–physical, emotional, social, and spiritual–because all relationships are right, perfect, and filled with joy.
Generous Justice, page 174
Last week, when considering post-election peacebuilding in Malawi, I came across the academic writings of Johan Galtung on the topic of peace. They reflect the biblical idea that peace is not simply the absence of conflict and violence. Such peace he describes as negative peace. However, to enjoy positive peace then human society must be fully integrated.
Malawi is often heralded as the peaceful and ‘warm heart of Africa’. However, the peace Malawi enjoys would be better described as ‘negative peace’. Yet it does not yet enjoy ‘positive peace’, because of persisting issues of, for example, structural poverty, health and education inequalities, gender-based violence and rampant corruption. Therefore, in this context, peace building is not simply the protection of negative peace, seeking to eliminate acts of violence, but also the building of positive peace. As such electoral processes should serve the people of Malawi in swiftly delivering representative governments which are accountable to the electorate and are effective in working towards Malawi’s development and prosperity.
In biblical terms we can understand peace as right relationships. Right relationships with ourselves, with each other, with the world around us and, ultimately, with God.
As such, the opposite of peace is not violence, but poverty. Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert explain this well in their book ‘When helping hurts’. A broken relationship with ourselves results in the poverty of being (issues of self-worth and self-image). A broken relationship with others the poverty of community (isolation and racial divisions). A broken relationship with creation, poverty of stewardship (just look at our climate emergency). A broken relationship with God, the poverty of spiritual intimacy (a worldview where God doesn’t exist or isn’t relevant).
As such we see a lack of peace the world over. Yet not all poverty is equal. The bible tells us that God has a special concern for those who are poor, weak and vulnerable. Jesus’ public ministry began with these words:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.”
Luke 4:18
And so I remember Jesus’ assertion within His sermon on the mount, that ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’. Peacemakers, not peacekeepers. We do not foster peace simply by keeping violence at bay. Instead, we must do what we can to foster the peace of God, helping people relate to themselves, each other, the world and Him. Wherever we are, let’s be peacemakers, and look beyond the peaceful façade to what lies beneath.