Actualising Peace in a conflicts driven world

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ACTUALIZING PEACE IN CHALLENGING TIME AND COMBATING HATE; YOUTHS AS AGENTS OF PEACE.

By the United Nations Organization’s own reckoning, youths are persons between the ages of 18 and 24. Professor Ben Wortley (1940) once said that peace is ``essentially a state of order in the society in harmony with man`s reasonable nature``. Hate messages, more commonly known as hate speeches are speeches or verbal or written messages which attack or are directed to attack a person or a group of persons on the grounds of race, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, or gender.

One may easily conclude that youths are more in the times of violence than in the circumstances of peaceful co-existence. On the contrary, there are several factors raising the dust of trouble from within the youth. It is popularly said that there is no smoke without fire. The youths are angry with the injustice and no equal opportunities caused by corrupt government, and fake policies. Anger if not properly managed will lead to exclusion and atrocity. Militant groups are good at targeting and recruiting angry and disappointed youths. Yet resorting to violence or joining militant groups is one way of showing disapproval or rebellion and reacting to injustice unfortunately. These and many other factors are trigger for the acts of youths against peace.

Should we continue to talk of the youths as agents of violence? No! As much as the youths can be catalysts of violence, they can also be instruments and channels of peace. There are many ways to make youths agents of peace, and also combat hate massages, even in this challenging period.
First is the family. The family must train and teach the young ones right from their childhood to adolescence and to their youth, in the right ways, that when they are grown up they will not depart from it. If the foundation is destroyed what the righteous do? The foundation of every human society is the family; it is the first and the most important agent of socialization. The family must use all means and measures to inculcate in the children, the adolescents and the youths, the tenets of peace, the dividends of peace and the evils of violence and hate messages. By this, they will become peacemakers and not war-makers.

Education is another mechanism to make the youths agents of actualizing peace and combating hate messages. Education is the bedrock of civilization. It is the most pragmatic solution to ignorance and poverty. The youths must be educated and oriented on their roles in nation-building. The educated youths should use this same education through peace-awareness campaigns to educate their fellow youths on the evil of violence, conflict and war, and the dividends of embracing peace and unity in the society. Peace and conflict resolution studies should also be encouraged and incorporated in schools and high institutions, as the highest number of the youths are students.

Religious units should be preachers of peace. They must train and teach the youth what the Holy Books, Holy Quran, teach which peace, to shun violence is. Religion is for the good of man; to bring orderliness, and common beliefs, and not instrument of violence and war. The Christian youths, the Muslim youths and the young pagans must be taught to follow peace with all men, and not to fight themselves, knowing that we are fight, human beings, created by God before we have our beliefs.

Lastly, the youth must know that the freedom of speech and expression is never without limitation, as it must not be used to harm others or terrorize others of different gender, race, language, etc.  Strict law should be passed on hate messages and severe punishment should be given to any one that verbally or non-verbally threatens the life and existence of another man in any part of the nation.
In conclusion, the roles of the youths in peacemaking and combating hate messages cannot be overlooked. The youths should first have inner and personal peace and then pursue peace with other members of the society. The youths that are committed to promoting peace in their communities should be well rewarded and awarded by the government, NGOs and private organizations. Permit me to close with the immortal words of Albert Einstein that ``peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding``.

ADEBAYO ADEMOLA MICHAEL
ademolamickel@gmail.com
UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA, ABUJA,
NIGERIA.
Location: Unnamed Road, Abuja, Nigeria

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