Peacemaking and conflict analysis have been with us for quite sometime. From the looks of it, they would remain with us for many more years to come.

In fact, the 9/11 tragedy, the Afghan War, the Iraq War, the so-called ‘War on Terror’ and the never-ending crisis in the Middle East point to “newer” and complex faces/images of conflict analysis and peace making.

The continuing violence and conflict notwithstanding troops and sophisticated armaments simply tell us that there is the urgent need to re-draw the map and re-configure the conflict and peace analysis.

Prior to the 9/11 tragedies, Afghan and Iraq Wars, the conflict “mapping” with few exceptions, told us that 96 percent of the conflicts worldwide were intra-states and the places of engagements were in the fringes or remote areas from the big city centers.

All these have changed overnight with 9/11 and the bombings in Madrid and London.

A new element has appeared in the radar screen overnight.

Wars and conflicts are no longer being fought in remote or obscure places.

They are now present and even with more terrifying faces in our mega cities.

The complications come not only from the identity and nationality of the protagonists in the war but also from the emerging definition of terrorism and the understanding of “War against Terrorism”.

Governments worldwide are being compelled to ‘come up” with their own versions of “Anti Terrorism Acts” regardless of whether the conflicts are based on legitimate grievances.

It is disconcerting, to say the least, that people wake up one morning and heard from news that they are not safe anymore in the cities.

For years, wars and conflicts are “tolerable” as long as they happen in some remote places in Southern Philippines or somewhere in Africa, Central Asia, Latin America and South and Southeast Asia.

The thought that citizens in the cities can be “targets” in an on-going war is something new.

In fact, the most vulnerable are the mass transport systems, malls, and other crowded places.

This possibility gives rise to jitters, discomfort and fear.

In mega cities, a sense of “safety paranoia” is on the rise. They begin to see the “enemy” in the faces of immigrants in their midst, especially people identified with Islam and the Middle East.

“Terror” has come home to roost.

The bottom line is the fact that no place and no one feels safe any more.

Anyone and anywhere can be a target.

War and conflicts have come “to roost” right at the “doorsteps” of the halls of powers and mega cities.

The horror of Madrid bombing and the London bombing, simply, magnify the tragedy of 9/11 to the tenth power.

In this kind of conflict, the so called ‘holy warriors’ no longer speak of a “fight towards victory.”

The idea of ‘holy warriors’ transforms persons into deadly human bombs. People willingly embrace death for the cause they believe in.

The goal of what seems to be ‘senseless’ acts seems to inflict “mass civilian casualties” and a maximum media coverage.

So far, bombing involves the traditional explosives.

But it will be a real nightmare, if the so-called “human bombers” would have access to “weapons of mass destruction” – biological or nuclear weapons.

Policies kill

One of the hard realities experienced on the ground is the knowledge that policies kill.

Good policies enhance peace and bad policies fuel the existing war and conflict.

Another truism is the fact that policies, no matter how recent or old, will always come back to roost.

And globalization has not changed this; it has simply multiplied the roosting a thousand times and with newer science and technology, including the use of modern weaponry.

Rightly or wrongly, any policy and legislation that discriminate cause injustice, often against minorities and the vulnerable sectors.

The same thing can be said of the behavior and “bias” of the dominant powers in the world today. Such behavior gives rise to the feelings of being “victims.”

No quick fixes

Conflict builds over time so does peacebuilding.

Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes to conflict.

Similarly, there are no quick fixes to what people now refer as “terrorism.”

You may have all the so-called pre-emptive strikes; and you can bomb all identified “targets” until kingdom come, but when the clouds of debris clear, your so-called “terrorists” still lurk around and bidding their time for new opportunities to “get even.”

Peacebuilding takes place over time – a very long time! There is a Spanish saying that tells “la ciencia de la paz es la paciencia”.

I believe this saying is addressed equally to policy makers and to all peacemakers and peace advocates, as well.