Mindanao: Justice, Harmony and Peace of Mind

This chapter focuses on civil society peace workers on Mindanao. These insist that the signing and implementation of a political peace agreement is not sufficient to speak of peace. Nor is freedom from fear, although some respondents concede that ordinary people might consider this to be all the peace they want. Professional peace workers, however, work on three other visions of peace. First, peace-as-justice, similar to non-violent activism in Lebanon, but with more stress on the desired outcome: ‘self-governance and a larger share of the natural resources that Mindanao has for the Moros. Secondly, peace of mind, a mostly indigenous vision that stresses the priority of good relationships over (political or economic) gains. Finally, like their Lebanese colleagues, Mindanaoan peace workers stress that in the end all three groups should live together in civil peace. Moros tend to favour peace as justice, indigenous Lumad peace of mind, and descendants of Philippino settlers civil peace.