Where to Find Johan Galtung (In memory of:)
It is with deep gratitude for his immense contributions to political theory in general, to the fields of sociology, political science, international & interstate Relations, journalism, history, future studies, ethnology and intercultural studies (to name just these), that we bid farewell to the founder of the academic discipline of Applied & Solution Indicative Peace Research.
The point about it all, as you always insisted dear Johan, was to recognize the causes, manifestations and consequences of violence, whether cultural, structural or direct beforehand, in order to be better positioned to prevent the pain, misery, trauma and cycles of revenge & revanche they predictably bring along.
When politicians listened to you in your capacity as a mediator, they acquired (A) tools for the swift and enduring undoing of salient violence & past trauma in the interest of the humans under their guardianship & (B) tools for the construction of a cooperative future built on legitimate mutual & equal benefits. Easier said than done, but: the very essence of your Art of Peace.
The carnage underway in West-Asia, which you warned about decades ahead of time, is now unfolding in gruesome detail for all to see, live from the merciless killing-field that Palestine has become. In this, as in countless other conflict-analysis instances, you had the courage to speak publicly, with candid clarity and uncanny specifity of the scenarios your prognostic tools enabled you to predict – always ahead of the curve. Just like when you told of the coming implosion of the Soviet-Union within 10 years in 1980. Some are still not convinced that the past 5 years are unveiling the unravelling of the Pax-Americana. Just as you predicted more than 20 years ago.
- You taught us to not fear negative feedback from vested interests.
- You taught us to question the cult of unbridled power.
- You taught us to speak truth to power.
- You taught us the “Will to Peace”.
Dear Sensei,
we bid you farewell and bear in mind, that you are always nearby through your writings, indicating how to generate nonviolent, mutually satisfactory solutions to what most perceive as intractable conundrums at the geo-strategic, the socio-political or even the micro-relational levels of violence-prevention & peacebuilding.
We’ll know where to find you when we need you:
Thank you for everything, your cascading Gakuseis.
P.S: We promise to remain “undisciplined by the disciplines.”
On this subject, please contact: info@galtung-institut.de
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