Online Feature: Speaker talks about world peace, human character

The reason world peace is not considered as an option is that humans focus on the bad aspects of human character, a visiting professor of conflict studies said Monday.

"We forget that there is compassion, courage, and sacrifice," Hizkias Aseffa said. "By focusing on fear and our own security instead of navigating toward security, we create our own insecurity."

Invited by the JMU department of philosophy and religion, Aseffa is a professor of conflict studies at Eastern Mennonite University. He has worked for peace in Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Columbia, Sri Lanka and Israel, and he is a consultant and trainer for mediation at the United Nations and European Union.

Aseffa talked about the three types of conflict resolution: political mediation, peace building and training — which is concerned with giving people the tools they need to resolve conflict effectively.

Aseffa said that he believed peace was possible and that above all — he believed in hope. Aseffa also answered students’ questions on issues ranging from peace and justice to the current conflict in Iraq.

When asked what the point of peace without justice is, he said, "Peace without justice is deception," and added that once violence in an area was over, the peace process was just beginning because the circumstances that originally led to violence needs to be alleviated.

Aseffa also criticized the United States’ role in Iraq, saying that the U.S. needs to recognize it has made errors in Iraq before the international community will help, and said that true leadership will recognize mistakes because courage lies in admitting and fixing those errors.

"The most striking point made was America’s refusal to admit mistakes in Iraq was showing weakness instead of the strength we believe we have," freshman Lisa DeGrazia said.

Bill Hawk of the department of philosophy and religion said that Aseffa was invited because, "in a world like we have today where a man of peace and conflict resolution can be easily drowned out, few people have the experience of Dr. Aseffa."