Words & swords

Since this is our maiden issue , we begin with self-disclosure.

Our advocacy is building peaceful communities through dialogues. Dialogue requires respect, openness and acceptance. Respect for the uniqueness of every person. Openness to point of views and ideas different from our own. Acceptance of the peculiarities and opinions of others.

Our tools are words. Simple written words. Words that bring peace and understanding. Not words in the sense of “pen is mightier than the sword”. In that sense, words and swords are anagrams. They are like two sides of a coin. Both are tools of war, whether for domination or liberation. Both are meant to bring death and destruction to combatants and non-combatants alike. Those words or swords bring unspeakable misery to women, children and all others who are innocent.

There is a war out there. Yes, in the battlefields. In rebel-infested countrysides and cities. But there is also a bloodier war raging in every boardroom, every classroom, every sports arena, every contest, every home. In every election. In the heart of every person.

The words we use and hear everyday are replete with words from the vocabulary of war. Words that serve to heighten divisions. Words that encourage domination of the weak by the strong. Words that legitimize the rights of the masters and the fate of the slaves and servants. Words that betray prejudice and discrimination. Words that glorify the survivor, adulate the winner and make the champion a demi-god. Words that do not give a second look at the loser, the goat and the wimp.

There is an ongoing war of survival among children fanned by parents who have favorites. The war becomes bloodier even after the last will and testament was read in courts. Schools nurture violence. The drive to vanquish the enemy is total by the time the child becomes a professional or a professional player. For personal glory, but more for the glory of the corporation.

War is good business. To keep the business good, the culture of war must be subtly promoted through education and mass media. Through words that will ensure cash registers kept ringing.

It is in this sense that the mass media becomes unwitting promoters of war, or active advocates for building peace. We choose the latter.

We want to build peace , let us use words that bring peace. To point out a few example, we consider as encouraging violence descriptions of the “terrorist”, “bandit”, “pirate” or “bomber” as a Muslim. We censure description of the rape victim as “beautiful, sexy and seductive”. There is no place in our book for a description of the farmers and the urban poor dwellers as “unshod”, or “illiterate”. Words used to describe any person, such as “fat”, “short”, “cripple”, “dark-skinned-fair-skinned”, “spinster”, and many more are considered derogatory and belittles the true worth of a person.

“Blessed are the peacemakers , for they shall be called sons (and daughters) of God”, said Jesus of Nazareth. Figure out whose sons and daughters those who promote war and violence. For men and women of peace, the Holy Qur'an declares, “You are the best of peoples, evolved for Mankind, enjoining what is right forbidding what is wrong, and believing in Allah.”

Join us in our journey towards a peaceful Mindanao where Christians and Muslims could truly live as brothers and sisters. Begin with words of peace. Shun the swords or words of violence and war.

Let us dialogue continuously. Through this simple newspaper.

(This article appeared as editorial in the maiden issue of a local newsweekly "Bull's Eye" about four years ago.)