The Stanley Center for Peace and Security and Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS) forged a partnership in 2020 to explore the historic and systemic nature of racism in the peace and security field. Given the complementarity of our organizational visions and missions, our shared belief that global issues demand a variety of perspectives, and the fact that inclusive dialogue creates better solutions, we looked to further a common understanding of the need for disruption and to widen the conversation through the center’s 61st Strategy for Peace Conference that took place as a series of events in early 2022.
Conference convenings focused on inclusive dialogue to identify equitable action that can address the historic injustices in the policy fields of climate change, nuclear weapons, and mass violence and atrocity prevention. In our joint planning of the conference, we recognized that people of color, particularly Black and Indigenous people have experienced global challenges on unequal terms, and in ways exacerbated by the racism inherent in the institutions and multilateral processes built to address those global challenges. We also know we cannot achieve a shared and lasting peace without an examination of the history of racism in policies and policymaking–nor without significant change to the policies and policy making approaches that are rooted in that history.
In addition to jointly planning these conversations, we published a set of discussion papers co-authored by subject matter experts from within WCAPS membership. In the papers, authors consider the history of global systemic racism in each of the policy fields, offering specific examples of how racial injustice emerged and is manifest in policies and policymaking processes as well as the ways people of color have been and are subsequently impacted. While intended for a broader audience, we looked for the papers to help level-set the beginning and ground our inclusive dialogues in important historical context for conference participants.
The Stanley Center particularly acknowledges that we have contributed to the perpetuation of this systemic racism and that only with intention, continued learning, and action can we become an anti-racist part of the solution. This conference has been one step on our ongoing journey of discomfort and disruption.
Addressing Equality and Justice in a Global Just Transition for Climate ChangeWith the global energy transition underway, many efforts to limit and phase out fossil fuel-based infrastructure now include a just transition process, in which affected workers and communities take part in achieving a fair, just, and safe climate future—admittedly to varying degrees. On an international level, governments have signed up to and reiterated declarations emphasizing the importance of just transitions, including in COP26 with the Supporting the Conditions for a Just Transition Internationally declaration. We aimed to further examine the dimensions of this global just transition through the lens of equality and justice—taking into account how race, climate justice, and economic inequality factor into transnational, international, and global approaches to just transition.
Discussion paper by Emily Sample and Regina M. Paulose:
“Climate Change and Systemic Environmental Racism”
Racism and the Origins of the Atomic BombThis event aimed to deepen understandings of nuclear policy by offering space for candid conversation and reflection on the entangled histories of the atomic bomb and racism in the United States. Holding this event in the Pacific Northwest, including a potential visit to the Hanford Nuclear Site, allowed us to consider the many layers of its history: as a scientific achievement, a scar on Native land, an artifact of segregationist systems, the source for the plutonium in the atomic bombs dropped that punctuated the arc of anti-Asian racism through WWII. This event convened people with different expertise and lived experiences—nuclear experts, historians, sociologists, journalists, creatives, and students—which prompted conversations and creativity that each participant could bring back to their respective fields and communities.
Discussion paper by Sylvia Mishra and Wardah Amir:
“Racial Inequalities and Nuclear Policy”
Disrupting Injustice: Racism and the Systems of Mass Violence PreventionRecognizing the intersections of conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the field of mass violence and atrocity prevention, we continue to see global systems meant to prevent the worst forms of violence perpetuating a status quo built on prejudice and racism. This roundtable was a level-setting discussion to conceptually bring together several efforts aimed at unpacking racism inherent to the institutions and multilateral processes built to address and prevent mass violence and atrocities. Through it, we identified spaces of disruption in context of the history and ongoing nature of systemic racism in mass violence and atrocity prevention, particularly in systems and policymaking related to domestic and global prevention mechanisms.
Discussion paper by Pratima T. Narayan, Ronnate Asirwatham, and Abiola Afolayan:
“Systemic Racism in Mass Violence and Atrocity Prevention”
If you work in peace and security, foreign policy, or national security and are committed to integrating diversity within all levels of your organization, we encourage you to join Organizations in Solidarity.
To receive paper copies of the SPC 61 discussion papers or to learn more from our experience organizing convenings about disrupting the history of racism in peace and security, contact us via email below.
For more information about the 61st Strategy for Peace Conference, please contact Jennifer Smyser (jsmyser [at] stanleycenter.org) or Maher Akremi (Makremi [at] wcaps.org).
The 61st Strategy for Peace Conference is co-organized as a partnership with:
Upcoming opportunities and important takeaways from our collaborations are often published on our website to inform work by policymakers, nonprofits, journalists, representatives from the private sector, and other actors. Subscribe to receive these updates direct to your inbox.
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