Write the five statements below onto flip chart sheets or large paper and stick these up around the meeting space. Leave a marker pen with each sheet.
Statements
- ‘War cannot be ended because animals make war and because people are like animals.’
- ‘War cannot be ended because it is part of human nature.’
- ‘Violence cannot be ended because people and animals who are violent are able to live better and have more children than others.’
- ‘We have to be violent because of our brain. War is caused by ‘instinct’.’
- ‘All conflicts are a bad thing.’
Ask the Pioneers to divide themselves into smaller groups (ideally 5 if you have enough participants) and each group to go to one of the large sheets. They should discuss the statement and add any comments they have to the flip chart.
After three or four minutes – on a given signal – the group should move around to the next statement and discuss that. Repeat until each group has discussed all the statements.
Discussion
Bring the whole group back together and share the comments which have been written on the flip chart sheets.
You may wish to refer to the UNESCO Seville Statement and feed into the discussion information and ideas from it about constructing a world for peace. The first four statements are taken from this. The fifth statement ‘All conflicts are a bad thing’ is intended to open up discussion about the circumstances in which conflict (without leading to violence and war) can be used positively to help us develop and evolve.