“Imagine: Thinking Peace” in Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia ...

The survivor Alice Mukarurinda and the genocidaire Emmanuel Ndayisaba.

Photo taken from "Rwanda yesterday (1994) and today", by Jack Picone, in "Imagine: Penser la paix".

© Jack Picone

Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow

8 min

“Rwanda is the most successful country.

»After a war, how do we imagine and achieve peace?

Gary Knight had the courage to revisit with other legendary war photographers and reporters from former conflict zones in Europe, Africa, America and Asia, to reflect on peace, together with experts and witnesses on site in Imagine: Think about peace.

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The result of this project with universal ambition is impressive.

On 400 pages, hard-hitting stories, moving testimonies, brilliant reports and analyzes to help us understand very complex situations.

All launched, fed and punctuated by 200 photos from the time of the war and today. 

Imagine

, edited by Hemeria, sheds light on the dark side of humanity and the desire for peace.

Above all, this project of the VII Foundation led by the Briton Gary Knight tries to find an answer to the question of the elements necessary to get there.

Because often, " 

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According to the World Bank, “ 

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Interview.  

RFI:

Gary Knight

During the preparation of this book, we really understood that “peace” often means the absence of war, which is a very limited definition.

When we question the meaning of peace, we should not consider only the end or the absence of war.

We must understand how we can achieve a more satisfying and rewarding peace for the citizens of the country where the war took place.

Our aim is to show how we can build a peace which will be a better peace for generations after the war. 

Gary Knight, photographer, founder of the VII Foundation, initiator of the "Imagine: Thinking Peace" project.

© Alizé de Maoult

With very prestigious signatures such as Jon Lee Anderson, Stephen Ferry, Martin Fletcher, Ron Haviv, Gilles Peress, Jack Picone, Don McCullin, Margarita Martinez ... you revisit former countries at war like Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda , Colombia, Cambodia, Lebanon, Northern Ireland.

Is there a different way of imagining and achieving peace, depending on the country, continent, culture or religion

Each country approaches peace differently.

Go back to the 1990s, when I covered the wars in Bosnia and Rwanda.

At the time, if you had asked me which of the two countries would have the greatest chance of achieving peace 25 years later, I would have said without hesitation: Bosnia, because of its proximity to Europe. .

In fact, Rwanda has done better, despite the fact that Rwanda is still ruled by the same man.

And the political situation there remains at least very complex.

But, if we look at countries that have succeeded in building peace, political systems - democratic or dictatorial - are ultimately less important than the desire to make peace, regardless of who rules the country.  

So, it's very interesting that there isn't a system or some sort of structure that could build or guarantee peace.

There are many different ways - more or less successful - to achieve peace.

And, surprisingly, of all the countries studied, I would say Rwanda is the most successful country. 

Philip Gourevitch, whose book

I think yes.

But asking people to forget is very difficult when you realize what these people, these families went through.

It is impossible to forget it.

But forgiveness on the part of the victims and an admission of guilt on the part of the culprits is really very important.

Truth and reconciliation are decisive criteria.

Like the presence of women in political life and in the peace process, the elements of truth and reconciliation are decisive for the success of the peace process in Rwanda.

And these things are lacking in many other countries, for example in Bosnia, where there is a dramatic absence of women in political life.

And where there is an incredible absence of confessions, truth and reconciliation, despite the existence of the International Criminal Tribunal. 

Photo from “Cambodia Today”, by Gary Knight, in “Imagine: Thinking Peace”.

Sin Chanpouraseth, Chay Vannak, Ney Leak and Douch Sovunth, opposition political activists in Battambang.

© Gary Knight

You stress that war and violence are rather easy to show, with soldiers, weapons, destruction.

On the other hand, peace is difficult to portray.

In the book, how do you show peace

Each photographer has chosen a different way of showing peace.

For me, what is really crucial is to listen to the people there, to ask them about their experiences of peace.

For example, to contact two people from the same community that I photographed during the war and experience it through their experience.

To ask them directly how they personally experienced the 25 years after the war.

Thus, they tell their point of view on education, justice, work, health, etc.

In Cambodia, for example, peace has not really succeeded.

The economy grew, but to the benefit of very few people.

The fighting has stopped, but basic things like jobs, access to health and education are still missing.  

Your book deals with conflicts and wars on all continents.

What is

greatest ambition for you

The idea for the book came to me when I returned from Iraq, when I had covered the invasion of Iraq by the US military.

At the time, I asked myself the question: how can we achieve lasting peace in this complex region?

The idea of ​​the book is to invest in thinking: what are the minimum conditions necessary to allow peace to flourish and so that it does not benefit only those in power, as is the case in general? 

With this book, we hope to reveal the conditions required, for example the presence of women in political life, during negotiations.

It is useful for those who wish to move forward, members of civil society, protagonists or people from elsewhere who wish to negotiate peace.

I hope that the things that we have discovered will help them to establish a more successful and lasting peace. 

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