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 HUMAN >  PEACE > Irenees.net :
Last updated: November 23, 2008
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## Irenees.net : A website of Resources for Peace http://www.irenees.net/en/index.html
A true space for exchange and reflection, irenees.net proposes more than 50 dossiers on the major challenges to peace today and counts thousands of visitors per month : it is a reference not only for the actors of peace who work in the field, but also for analytical specialists of conflict management and peace-building.
Irenees.net constitutes a tool for assessing know-how, emerging from the numerous initiatives for peace, destined to promote the exchange of knowledge and the transversal nature of the various approaches in order to elaborate an international expertise to aid in the progressive construction of an art of peace.
Irenees reveals itself to be much more than a tool ; it is also a method :
- Of capitalization and systemization of know-how about peace acquired from action.
- Of an identification of the important issues for peace via personal encounters, dialogue, and mutual enrichment of knowledge and experience.
- Of transmission of this know-how through the use of pedagogical tools.
Reliable, alternative, innovative, this website, developed as a citizen movement, supports the joint development of an innovative approach to peace oriented towards the identification of the challenges and the expansion of propositions for peace.
To know more, you can consult our dossiers, files and file sets that are by-products of a capitalization and systemization of the abundant knowledge and experience of the Irenees members.
If you wish to contact us, please use our e-form or write to us by regular mail :
Info(@)irenees.net
Happy surfing!
## The irenees.net team :
- Henri BAUER, Director.
- Nathalie DELCAMP, Project Director.
- Vincent CALAME, Website Developer.
## Irenees : from multilingualism to cultural pluralism.
Multilingualism is a first strategic necessity for Irenees : it alone can enable cross regards, cross knowledges and practices, opening the dialogue of cultures that apparently are opposed, to encourage them to overcome their differences and to build together a real Art of Peace.
Irenees is now trilingual, It has documents in French, Spanish and English.
Irenees’ development in other regions of the world, with the creation of various regional centers – in Europe, Central America, Andean Region, Southern Africa, Great Lakes Region, and India- and the birth of the (international) Alliance of Artisans of Peace, naturally gave rise to multilingualism in resources of irenees.net, as well as to the establishment of an interface in three languages (French/Spanish/English).
Through their language, dossiers’authors convey their world view, their history, their culture. Important concepts of our problem have not always or everywhere the same meaning: words like « conflict », « violence », « war », « peace », can be interpreted very differently. Irenees has therefore set the goal of establishing a genuine trilingualism to open up new opportunities and enriche itself by contributions from various regions of the world.
That’s why all the site’s pages now take account of this need by providing links to the English and Spanish versions of the site. As for the indispensable translation of website and a considerable number of documents, it is supported by a network of translators qu’Irenees chose among its partners for its performance and knowledge of the spirit of the Initiative for to avoid the pitfall of literal translations.
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## Interview with Henri Bauer, Founder and Director, website irenees.net
- EIDO-IDEA
What is the meaning behind the creation of the resource website ?
- M. BAUER
The desire to communicate with others via the Internet brought about the creation of a new figure, a « website ». It consists of a virtual space whose objective is the transmission of information from a transmitter to a receptor, or « user ». An institution, an organization, a movement, a person, created his « website » to share information (text, images, sounds) with the « users ».
As the websites grow, the information becomes more diverse but at the same time overwhelming : Internet users might have the impression that they are drowning in information. The websites no longer constitute a « web », but rather, in fact, millions of free electrons deprived of relational coherence.
When one does a search for the word « peace » or « building peace », « conflict and peace », the search results are extremely numerous, complicated, and sometimes even irrelevant. This overabundance, accompanied by a vast dispersion, is a source of chaos. Whereas the Internet was meant to promote communication and the partition of knowledge with neither spatial nor temporal borders, in a democratic manner and at minimal cost, the « web » has fallen victim to its success : the Internet is proving itself to be inefficient.
To respond to this chaos, one of the Irenees’ techniques consists of establishing logical methods of producing and structuring information so that it can be presented on the Internet in a plain and pertinent manner. The secret consists in associating three fundamental techniques :
- Artisans of Peace enter into a process of capitalizing on the most interesting, most innovative, most efficient of what they do. Thus, they grab hold of that which they are.
- They share this « know-how » and « self-expression » in the form of « donation and counter-donation » via the Internet.
- They use the website « irenees.net » to put this know-how at the disposition of all Internet users in a simple, organized and pertinent manner.
It is in this way that is a prototype of a resource website.
In this sense, I want to radically change the current use of the Internet : so that it constitutes, as well, a prototype for Internet usage.
Irenees.net is not a website like the others : it does not make information available about a precise entity.
Irenees.net is not a portal : it does not put up a list of links.
Irenees.net is also not a « superwebsite » that proposes the contents of a group of other websites.
At the heart of the Internet. is something unprecedented : it is a website that proposes innovating approaches and useful resources on the Art of building Peace. By the same token, < irenees.net> constitutes a prototype website in the sense that it proposes a completely new use of the Internet.
I must mention here the important role that plays :
- The Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation for the Progress of Humankind, through moral, logistical, and financial support of this initiative ;
- the Director of this same Foundation, Mr. Pierre Calame, through his critical and constructive eye.
- the company Exemole, and, notably, its President, Mr. Vincent Calame, for the development of the website.
In effect, the Internet can prove to be an efficient tool for developing systems of collective intelligence and processes of civil movement : such is the capital gain that Irenees can provide.
- EIDO-IDEA
Is the website irenees.net able to be at the origin of innovative, theoretical contributions?
- M. BAUER
The question comes up regarding joint elaboration of collective intelligence to promote peace. The website irenees.net does not automatically give birth to Collective Intelligence on the art of peace. A « Collective Intelligence » would not know how to mechanically produce a resource website. The use of certain techniques does not necessarily drive the acceptance of their content. The users of the irenees.net website can take advantage of it simply by using it to reinforce their own theoretical convictions.
In effect, this phenomenon today constitutes one of the most important methods of using the Internet. Currently, each actor of peace present on the Internet possesses his own information system, efficient in terms of production and management of his information, but that does not necessarily allow him to communicate with other actors of peace, thus constraining him, for technical reasons, to make a political choice : that of working in his own corner. Whereas the fundamental dynamic of the Internet gives the possibility to adopt exactly the opposite approach : to move instead to the production and exchange of information, and, consequently, to the construction of a collective intelligence of peace. In effect, the Internet itself is a tool of communication and exchange : it is operational only because it is built on a unique technical foundation common to us all, allowing us to make it work.
Paradoxically, this shared technology that permits all and sundry to communicate is on its way to being sidetracked by a certain vicious circle of narcissism : each actor uses the Internet to diffuse his information and, with it, « his » manner of seeing the world. Rather than benefiting from the Internet’s capacity for exchange, he puts himself in a position of one who provides information or as one who consumes it. There is no true exchange, no confrontation or convergence, no one person’s know-how is meeting up with that of another. Information is simply added to a list. It is this basic dynamic that gave birth to today’s search engines, and not the reverse.
Now, to respond to the complexity and depth of today’s challenges to peace, a collective intelligence is essential : the Artisans of Peace cannot continue to elaborate deprived, fragmented, and inefficient intelligibilities. In this way, irenees.net opposes using the Internet as a means to privatize methods of elaboration and thought.
Numerous Artisans of Peace complain that they lack communication and interaction with other Artisans of Peace. Some actors of peace have already requested that Irenees realize a work that analyzes their system of information management and to assess the suitability of this system to fostering exchange. Irenees analyzes their theoretical conceptualizations and their technical systems in order to identify their capacity to exchange information.
Next, Irenees puts into place a system of open access information, internally compatible and consentient. It develops technical tools so that each Artisan of Peace can enhance and pool together his know-how in a structured manner, establishing a true dynamic of resource exchange with other Artisans of Peace.
In this manner favors communication and dialogue between different information management systems thus permitting true exchange. As such, irenees.net permits the building of bridges between Artisans of Peace. It makes virtual bridges available that allow Artisans of Peace to enter into an initiative of exchange, confrontation, and consentience of their knowledge.
The Artisan of Peace who has not yet developed his system of information management, or who continue to use the ancient system of « each one for himself » – which is incapable of exchanging with other systems, will henceforth adopt Irenees as their common system, knowing that it is not only a technical tool but also an intellectual initiative.
It is in this sense that participating in the resource website irenees.net is a theoretical option by which the Artisan of Peace commits himself to enter into an initiative of a joint collaboration of collective intelligence, an Art of Peace.
- EIDO-IDEA
Do you mean to say that the irenees.net website can equally be a source of practical contributions?
- M. BAUER
The question comes up regarding the convergence of actors, a convergence based on an ethic of co-responsibility, able to give rise to the creation of an Alliance of Artisans of Peace. Even if the method of irenees.net permits the elaboration of collective intelligence on the Art of Peace, irenees.net does not automatically give birth to the formation of alliances. An « Alliance » cannot fulfill the necessary role that does a resource website. The elaboration of a collective intelligence does not necessarily lead to a sharing of values or objectives, the users of the website can benefit from it as a means to reinforce their practiced positions.
In effect, rationality is not sufficient to give reason to humanity or to its relationships. Other elements come into play that can have the same importance, or become as powerful, notably symbolic elements : culture, economic interests, sentiment, willpower, faith, et cetera. A very simple example : even if they used the Internet intensively, even if they shared the same perception of the world, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google engage in a merciless battle regarding the commercial use of the Web. And if, to respond to the complexity and depth of the current challenges to peace, a collective intelligence were to assert itself, this would still not be sufficient : the process of an alliance is indispensable. The Artisans of Peace cannot continue to implement deprived, fragmented, and inefficient initiatives. In this way, Irenees opposes using the Internet to the dispersion of civil action, of its privatization even.
The Irenees initiative goes further than the elaboration of a collective intelligence : it wants to favor the emergence of an Alliance of Artisans of Peace. In order to do so, it must respond, at least, to two great challenges :
- First, to obtain the participation of serious and innovative actors of peace. In effect, the current challenges to peace need new and robust responses. In the domain of peace building and conflict management, it is better to implement shared, effective initiatives endowed with genuine capacities for action and innovation, than numerous disorganized projects, efficient when it’s a matter of treating the « collateral damage » of the absence of peace, but inefficient when it comes to building peace.
- Second, that these partners set themselves common ethical values and converging objectives. In this perspective, Irenees makes virtual bridges available that allow Artisans of Peace to enter into an initiative of exchange, confrontation, and convergence of their self- expression as well as their know-how.
- EIDO-IDEA
You seem to be making a transition from the technical domain – the Internet, to another one…
- M. BAUER
We are entering here into the ethical domain. It is in this sense that participating in the resource website irenees.net is an ethical option by which the Artisan of Peace commits himself to enter into an Alliance initiative. It is for this reason that the irenees.net website cannot claim to be organizing an Alliance of Artisans of Peace. On the other had, irenees.net is proving to be very efficient at creating favorable symbolic conditions for bringing to fruition such an Alliance.
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## All Irenees Dossiers/Files:
# Dossiers in English
- As Said by Artisans of Peace. [Read the dossier]
- Interviews were conducted in 2008, following the coronation of the Alliance of Artisans peace at the founding meeting held in Paris in November 2007.
Economic, social and cultural rights for all citizens. [Read the dossier]
- Interventions in conflicts: large-scale civilian and military based missions and Peace teams. [Read the dossier]
- A review of material relating to large-scale interventions in conflict
Just Wasting Our Time? An Open Letter to Peacebuilders [Read the dossier]
- New dossier in process. Business and conflict, business and peace. [Read the dossier]
- New dossier in process. Communal Harmony [Read the dossier]
- New dossier in process. Conflict Transformation in South Africa: a combination of violent and non-violent means [Read the dossier]
- New dossier in process. Gender and Conflict Transformation [Read the dossier]
- New dossier in process. Human Rights. [Read the dossier]
- New dossier in process. Online Course on Transforming Civil Conflicts. [Read the dossier]
- New dossier in process. Right to Work and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 [Read the dossier]
- A dossier analysing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Indian rural development
New dossier in process. Status of Children in India and Efforts to Protect Child Rights [Read the dossier]
- New dossier in process. Tribal Rights [Read the dossier]
- New dossier in process. Water. [Read the dossier]
- Nonviolent conflict interventions in the panorama of work on conflicts. [Read the dossier]
- A review of the work strategies of peace teams, civil peace services and other NGOs in conflict interventions
Nonviolent Peaceforce in action: an overview (as of 2007). [Read the dossier]
- Taking steps towards large scale civilian intervention
Peace in Guatemala: settling for what seems possible or aiming for what is desirable. [Read the dossier]
- Peace process in Guatemala : analysis from the view point of peacebuilding.
Peace workshop in Bangalore (India). Conflict managment and peacebuilding through nonviolence. [Read the dossier]
- The Irenees conference in India (Nov 3-5, 2006). In partnership with Pipal Tree / Fireflies ashram. Venue : Fireflies ashram, Bangalore, India.
Some propositions and analysis to face the new challenges of peace in the world [Read the dossier]
- This dossier proposes analytical studies concerning the state of peace throughout the world, presenting a collecting of the topical books. The project covered some of the most heated zone in the globe: Palestine and Middle East, the Balkans, Former Soviet Union and Central Asia, South America
# Dossiers in Spanish
- Del tratado para la paz en América Central «Esquípulas 2» a la construcción de la paz en Guatemala: compromisos y desafíos [Read the dossier]
- Los acuerdos de paz de Guatemala proponian reformas profundas a la sociedad en los campos economico, politico, social, cultural… reformas que son ahora, al alba del siglo 21, un desafio mas que una realidad
El conflicto colombiano [Read the dossier]
- El progreso de Irenees : orientaciones y evoluciones. (Irenees’path : orientations and development.) [Read the dossier]
- Guatemala entre la paz posible o la paz deseable. [Read the dossier]
- El proceso de paz en Guatemala : análisis desde la perspectiva del Peacebuilding.
Irenees al encuentro de Artesanos de Paz en América Latina, julio - agosto 2003 [Read the dossier]
- Este dosier presenta algunas iniciativas, desafios, encuentros con artesanos de paz de la region de los Andes y de América Central
La responsabilidad de militares en la construccion de paz : el ejemplo del Ecuador [Read the dossier]
- Medios de comunicación, Vida cotidiana y Programas de desarrollo para la construccion de paz en Colombia. [Read the dossier]
- Palabras de paz : entrevistas con los miembros de la Alianza de Artesanos de Paz. [Read the dossier]
- Las entrevistas han sido realizadas en el 2008, tras el coronamiento de la Alianza de Artesanos de paz en la Asamblea fundadora que tuvo lugar en Paris, durante el mes de noviembre del 2007.
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