The spatialities of nonviolent peace activism in the midst of war: from Colombia to Ukraine

Keywords: peace, activism, space, Colombia, Ukraine, political geography
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Peace is too often portrayed as an end point, as simply negative peace, the absence of war. Geographers have been arguing instead that positive peace is an ongoing process that varies across time, place, and scale. Peace also means different things to different groups even in the same time and place. Peace is multifaceted, precarious, and built and rebuilt every day by every one of us. There can be spaces and moments of peace made even in the midst of armed conflict. In Colombia this might be achieving food security by having an international accompanier with you so you can work your crops up the mountain with less chance of attack. In Ukraine it might be having support from a network of volunteers on WhatsApp that orients you as a single woman as you flee the bombing and occupation so that you are less likely to face sexual assault while you are staying in strange places. Peace has also been built in Ukraine by modifying street signs to confuse invading troops – or by pointing all street arrow signs to Geneva to send a message about the consequences of their actions, tied to other efforts to encourage individual defections or sabotage. Peace activists are enabled and motivated, and constrained and challenged, by their geographic settings and by multiscalar spatialities (including the role of technology). Peaces, and peace activisms, are shaped in and through the spaces and times in which they are made, as they too shape those spaces.