Peace for our time

Peace campaigners do not always help.

They can reinforce the idea that peace campaigners are just hippies, without shoes, who go to protests.

There are, however, plenty of specific peace projects that can be done, that do not involve rallies and flower power.

So, if the Australian government {or any government} is serious about world peace, what would they do?

For one, all effective global peace projects should be funded.

The Australian government could establish a fund that could give out two billion dollars a year to peace charities and groups. The ones working on things like early detection of atrocities, helping ex-combatants peacefully reintegrate, and village level dispute resolutions projects.

Boosting foreign aid to strengthen local economies and civil society. Foreign aid can also support gender equality, something that has shown to be good for peace.

Poverty reduction, or better yet eradication, is also good for peace.

Ensuring foreign aid is linked to democracy and a good human rights record. This helps crowd out those countries that give foreign aid without those pre-conditions, given their own poor records.

Expanding peace education.

Australia is a very multicultural society, so lessons from peace education could be taken around the world as people travel back to their home countries.

Peace education means promoting the rule of law and human rights. It can mean lessons on how not to dehumanize groups, something many of us do.