Keeping Cultural Conflict to Scale: How to Use Racial, Ethnic and Tribal Terms

The biggest setback to political, social and economic gains in ongoing tribal conflicts like that of the Northern Sudan is the lack of common goals for opposing sides to share, according to a recent article in the Sudan Tribune. Illiteracy and lack of common language increases the failure of laying any groundwork on which to build a durable conflict resolution that resists eruptions of violence. But in order to reach a resolution, it is important to be able to accurately articulate the structure of the conflict's origins.

Keeping Conflict to Scale
Conflict is inevitable and is almost impossible to prevent, but it can be managed. In order to pick apart the cause of conflict, it is first important to describe the framework within which tensions arise. The terms used in describing this framework can be misleading and tend to change the scale of the conflict. To define a conflict to scale, it is important to understand the difference between three terms which commonly appear as interchangeable adjectives:

1. racial
2. tribal
3. ethnic

Racial Tensions Carry a Specific Weight
Using any of these terms when describing conflicts tends to detour around the actual political or economic forces at play. And swapping one term indiscriminately for the other is equally dangerous, as each term carries a different specific weight within the framework of a crisis or conflict. For instance, the word "racial" has a genetic or biological weight, and is the most specific of the three terms. A racial conflict is limited to one issue: the discriminating factor of race.

Tribal Interests Add More Weight to the Issue
The word "tribal" is less specific, and carries more geographic and territorial weight than the word racial. Tribal refers to a social division within a larger group that includes families of common geographic origin or lineage but does not exclude individuals that have been adopted or enslaved into the group. The group shares common characteristics amongst its members that distinguish it from a larger social group within the society at whole. Tribal interests are not limited to one specific geographic area, especially in the case of nomadic tribes, but tribal culture remains constant.

Ethnic Conflicts Involve a Broader Scale
Using "ethnic" to describe a conflict employs the broadest term of the three and views the conflict on a larger scale. Ethnic conflicts involve classifying large groups of people by a common background, including common origins of language and culture, religious, tribal or national interests. Ethnic conflicts appear to be more severe than those involving racial or tribal tensions. Former colonies, like those of the African and American continents in the 18th and 19th centuries, have long histories of conflict incited by colonial powers that chose to pit ethnic groups against each other in order to diffuse a united effort to overthrow the imperial power. The footprints of those old conflicts remain today.

Conflict Resolution Depends on Clarity of Terms
Conflict resolution methods have been successful in resolving issues that involve racial, tribal, or ethnic tensions, but only when the terms are clearly defined and one term is not "swapped" for another indiscriminately. The use of each term changes the dimension in which the conflict is viewed and helps to clarify the role of outside political and economic forces involved. Once the terms are clear, it is easier to shape shared goals and manage the conflict in ways that avoid the outbreak of violence.

US Military Continues to View Cultural Training As Effective Tool

Modern soldiers are equipped with many options for resolving conflict on and off the battlefield. The role of one of those options, cultural training, is being discussed this week by representatives from the academic arena, defense contractors, government agencies, and representatives from all branches of the US military in Sierra Vista, Arizona, at the Training and Doctrine Command Culture Center (TRADOC TCC)'s fifth annual Culture Summit.

A soldier's duty includes the responsibility of understanding the culture and language of an area of operations, no matter how basic that level of understanding may be. The TCC provides resources for making sure a soldiers initial entry into foreign lands is augmented by language skills and cultural awareness.

Lt. Gen P.K.(Ken) Keen, military deputy commander of the Southern Command, outlined the value of cultural training, cultural competency and culture tactics as important components of success in military operations in foreign countries.Keen is charged with operations and security for the Latin American and Caribbean region and has experience serving in Panama, Honduras, Brazil, Columbia, and was recently assigned to the Joint Task Force dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti last year.

Conflicts Flare in Arab States, Testing an International Culture of Peace

On the playground, the bully attracts immediate attention by resolving conflicts with his fists; yet remains isolated from the rest of the children. But the articulate child, wise enough to use his skills to gather friends and persistently discuss a problem until it is resolved attracts the largest continuous network of followers, eventually winning over the bully, or rejecting him altogether.

Sustainable Culture of Peace
Similar scenarios like the one above were used in a decade-long effort by the United Nations to spark a global turning away from a culture of war towards a more sustainable culture of peace. A U.N. Report on the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) summarized a decade of advances from 1,054 civil society organizations working worldwide. That decade came to an end in January 2011, just as unrest in the Arab Region flared.  Some of the most notable advances came from the Arab States:

“Through training activities, we have witnessed an increasing number of participants and
people becoming more interested in our activities and in peace actions in general.” – The
Institute for Peace Studies (Egypt)
“It has been found out that schools dropout rates were reduced, youth became more
engaged, online content increased drastically and collaborative projects among children across
borders were produced and newsletters among nations were exchanged to communicate about
issues of conflict in a friendly and peaceful manner.” – World Links Arab Region  p.20

Progress Meets Obstacles
According to the Report, the desire for peaceful change needs to be articulated into the public awareness of every country of the world. The means to get that message across comes with a hefty price-tag, at a cost which all participants agreed is more easily managed by organizations promoting war and violence. Twitter, Facebook, and Internet access proved instrumental in mobilizing networks of activists in Tunisia, but states are quick to respond by cutting access. Getting the message out is not the only problem. The Report also found fault with unfiltered messages that reach a culture from afar:

“The news media and entertainment media present a very real obstacle to peace for both
adults and children. There is a steady stream daily of films, television shows, video games and
Internet promotion of blatant sexuality, lack of self esteem, violent behaviors, lack of regard for
human rights and lack of respect for human life.” p.14

“Media has no ears for the culture of peace and nonviolence, they never want to
participate in peace activities.” – The Japanese Society for Developing the Culture of Peace
(Japan)p.23

The Global Movement for the Culture of Peace outlines several areas of concentration including changing the values, behaviors and attitudes of a culture from that of war to that of peace. The goals are lofty, including the following:

CULTURE OF WAR AND VIOLENCE	CULTURE OF PEACE AND NON-VIOLENCE
Belief in power that is based on force	Education for a culture of peace
Having an enemy	Tolerance, solidarity and international understanding
Authoritarian governance	Democratic participation
Secrecy and propaganda	Free flow of information
Armament	Disarmament
Exploitation of people	Human rights
Exploitation of nature	Sustainable development
Male domination	Equality of women and men

Critical Mass
Success in an effort to change a culture of war to a culture of peace may all boil down to numbers. He who has the larger network of people aligned with him wins. He who does not must either join the movement or face rejection. In this manner, non-violent power can best be described as an equation of critical mass.

The Power of Unbridled Human Imagination as a Political and Cultural Force

Politics alone did not drive the recent throngs of people in the Middle East, like those in Tunisia and Egypt and now Libya and others, to rise up against corrupt and deceptive governments. What drove these masses of people to demand change was their belief that by replacing these governments, the life they imagined would be realized. The powers of state no longer represented nor promoted the populations' aspirations for a better existence.

In a thoughtful article, "Culture Matters More Than Politics", Creighton University Theology professor R.R.Reno posits that the "most powerful force in political life is human imagination". He refers to the fact that the constant drumming from partisan politics in the U.S. is making U.S. citizens "Marxists by default", enabling a political machine to define cultural/social values rather than the people themselves. But those members of a political machine who think they can control public opinion are mistaken, especially as the economy remains tenuous.

"Marx held that economic realities are fundamental, and questions of culture are epiphenomenal.
To use the technical terms of Marxist theory, the struggle for economic power functions as the base of social reality, while literature and poetry, music, and the arts are part of the “superstructure” that is determined by the base. Thus the primacy of politics, for whoever controls the levers of state power can influence and guide economic affairs, and thus control everything."

Pundits and partisan panderers may think they hold the reins of a social consciousness, but they are mistaken. Like hot coals from a past fire, something deeper lies smoldering at the core of a people's collective imagination,waiting for a single spark to ignite. As of yet, no state has employed inception to steer the dreams and imagination of its people. The force of human imagination remains unbridled, and therefore, a worthy force in inciting upheaval over dominating authority.

In a "G-Zero" World, Military Might Takes a Backseat in Cultural Conflicts

The United States has defined, driven, and determined the global outreach of its culture and economy for the six decades since World War II. With 2011, however, we've emerged into a "G-Zero" world, in which no outstanding power drives the rest. Several cultures compete for dominance, or merely to remain vibrant and alive. The conflict no longer carries the military weight it once wielded. China, for example, is just as intent on preserving and promoting its culture as well as its products.

The forecast for resolving cultural conflicts may appear more daunting to North America in the decades to come, as it has lost its position as the heavy hand in negotiations. To decrease the tension with sparring partners, it must rely on its capacity to remain confident that in the act of awakening democratic possibilities in other people, it empowers them to imagine and share the "American dream".The trick is to remain authentic in this effort, even when overshadowed by emerging powers.

Economic Loss Equates with Cultural Diversity Loss: Merkel Pins the Tail on a Muslim

German Chancellor Merkel mourned the loss of "German-ness" this week as the advance of economic hardship in Europe puts strains on tolerance for ethnic and cultural diversity in Germany. The best way to make a man retentive and conservative is to threaten to take away his property, thereby creating a shift towards intolerance of ethnic or cultural differences. The problem is not as elementary as Merkel wishes it to be when she equates economic hardship with the threat of German "Christian "values against a perceived onslaught of Muslim infiltration. We've watched this movie before - as recently as 1930s Germany, when economic hardship caused leaders to pin the tail on another ethnic group. But black and white solutions, like the one Merkel proposes, are dangerous. The stability of a nation depends on its level of ethnic and cultural tolerance. Once the pendulum swings too far in one direction or the other, the system starts to tilt away from any hope of a solid economic or social foundation.

Codification of Culture

David Miller of Matador.com reprimands travel writers for utilizing a detached style of observation that mistakenly assumes a common culture.