Eight Peaceful Co-Existences

In the early phases of putting together this issue, there was an idea of using ‘The List’ to feature all the genocides throughout history. But that would have been a laborious task. But also a controversial one as it is almost certain that your favourite genocide would, of course unintentionally, be left out. Abandoning this task, we took on a greater challenge. Let us look instead for those brief moments in the history of humanity where instead of violence and targeting killing, peaceful co-existence ruled the day.

1. IndusValley Civilisation – 3300 BC

The Indus Valley Civilisation existed between 3300 BC and 1300 BC along the Indus River in what is modern day Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. It is also known as the Harappan Civilisation, named after one of the earliest archaeological sites discovered by the British Raj in the nineteenth century. The IndusValley Civilisation existed parallel to the time of two other great riverine civilisations, Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and Ancient Egypt around the Nile River. While many mysteries still surround details of the Indus Valley Civilisation, solid archaeological evidence demonstrates that the civilisation was advanced, having buildings that were not just residences, settled agricultural land, networks of trade, a centralised governing structure, and even a written language and religious memorabilia. Most striking is the claims that the Indus Valley Civilisation was a peaceful people as no weapons or indications of an organised military have been found. An old hypothesis held that an Aryan invasion from Indo-European tribes lead to the downfall of the IndusValley Civilisation. But further examination of the skeletons demonstrates that their deaths came about naturally, not through violence, thus it is unlikely any foreign invaders appeared on their lands.What seems more likely is that climate change led to a decrease in the fertility of the Indus River basin land and that most of the people migrated eastward towards the Ganges River.Where the IndusValley Civilisation was once thought to be one of the ‘lost civilisations’ that disappeared suddenly, this idea has been disproven as much of their culture remains in successor peoples throughout the Indian Subcontinent. In fact, elements of the Vedic tradition can be traced back to the peoples of the Indus Valley Civilisation. So, perhaps there is indeed still potential that a thriving, peaceful, and integrated society could again take root in the Subcontinent.We do live in hope!

2. Pax Islamicus – Medina – 622

In the century prior to the Prophet Muhammad’s arrival in Medina, the city was a pretty rough place hosting numerous conflicts between largely its Jewish and pagan inhabitants. Brought in first as an arbitrator amongst the clans, upon emigrating to Medina, the Prophet drafted the Constitution of Medina that specified the duties and rights of all citizens of the city, regardless of their background. In the constitution he noted the important relationship amongst all ‘Peoples of the Book’ setting up a sort of federation, allying all the peoples of Medina under the Prophet’s rule. Importantly, the document set faith ties above blood ties and focussed on individual responsibility advancing the systems of justice in the region and putting an end to innumerable retribution-based disputes.The constitution unified institutions of justice, effectively establishing order where it had not yet existed.The Constitution of Medina stands as an important model for multi-faith and multi-ethnic systems of governance so that all the citizens of a municipality can live together peacefully and in tolerance of one another. The model has been used, with varying levels of success, throughout the history of numerous Islamic societies, notably in the Ottoman Empire. But Muslims, being Muslims, have always managed to find disputes, discord, and dissension. But, once again, we live in the hope that the constitution of Medina will become a standard bearer for the ummah! Some hope, some will say, given our history!

3. Al-Andalus – 711

At the far northwestern reach of the Umayyad Caliphate, the Muslim controlled region of the Iberian Peninsula was called Al-Andalus. For over 700 years, Al-Andalus was a focal point for some of the greatest architecture, art, and thought to have come out of what today we call the Islamic Golden Age. Throughout the existence of Al-Andalus, Muslims, Jews, and Christians all had to live amongst one another, further divided by numerous ethnic groups who called the region home.Trade and free movement of peoples throughout the Umayyad Caliphate saw a rich diversity of peoples living together in what was referred to as La Covivencia, where the peoples of Al-Andalus lived in relative peace and each tradition had their own legal system. Al-Andalus advanced though between the east and the west to heights rarely seen since producing such polymaths as Ibn-Rushd, Ibn Tufail, Ibn Bajjah, and Maimonides. La Covivencia fell apart due to internal strife and fighting during the latter days of Al-Andalus as it fragmented and began to fall apart. By 1492 and the wave of Reconquista, Iberia went to the Christian kings of Europe and the Al-Andalus model has been an unattainable dream since.

4.The Iroquois Confederacy – The Six Nations 1722

The Iroquois Confederacy existed in what is today the northeastern United States and southeastern Canda between the mid-fifteenth and mid- seventeenth centuries. In what is today the state of New York, five indigenous nations, the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca came together under the Great Law of Peace, an oral constitution said to have originated from the Deganawidah the Great Peacemaker, Hiawatha, and Jigonsaseh the Mother of Nations, founding the confederacy. The peace lasted for more than 200 years and even brought in a sixth nation, theTuscarora.The confederacy stands as a model of peaceful coexistence through binding a common territory, using a common language, and under a Parliament-like system called the League that was governed by a Grand Council. Not only did the Confederacy maintain peace amongst the nations that comprised it, but also played a major role brokering agreements with the first European colonists to begin arriving in the seventeenth century, particularly the French, Dutch, and English. Although they remained neutral in most European conflicts in the ‘new world’, they could not help but be dragged in to the larger conflicts, and Europeans were not above using other tribal communities with an axe to grind with the Iroquois as political pawns. Since most of their official agreements were made with the British Crown, after the American Revolutionary War, most of the Iroquois Confederacy territory was lost. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, was only signed by European participants in the war. No land claims or promises were given to the Iroquois. Their decline continued under the expansion of the United States. They virtually disappeared by theWar of 1812.

5.The Antarctic Treaty System – 1959

Between 1957 and 1958 a joint scientific research project, coined as the International Geophysical Year, saw twelve nations undertaking active research operations on the continent of Antarctica.This project also saw an end to a shutdown of scientific exchange between the Eastern andWestern Blocs that developed since the beginning of the Cold War. In Washington, D.C., these twelve nations signed the Antarctic Treaty on 1 December 1959. This treaty was the first in a system of treaties that established a freedom of scientific activity and banned any and all military operations on the southern continent. Antarctica was defined as any land or ice shelves south of 60°S latitude.The treaty was also the first arms control agreement of the Cold War. Today, over fifty-five research stations have been established on the continent and fifty-seven parties are signed onto the Antarctic Treaty System. Peace indeed is possible. We suppose it helps when a piece of land has no native population and for the most part is a pretty inhospitable place.

6.ASEAN – 1967

In the midst of the Cold War Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaya came together to form the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA) in 1961. It was a stand against rising communism after the fallout of the KoreanWar and with Vietnam descending quickly into a state of chaos. On 8 August 1967, Singapore and Indonesia joined the effort founding the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Beyond standing as a united force against communism, ASEAN also stood for a more collective approach to social and economic development in the region and added cultural preservation and increased education to its aims. After the Cold War, ASEAN stood to uplift the international position of Southeast Asia, and to curb China’s influence in Asia and the Pacific.Today, the union is composed of ten states and has two observers,Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea, but looks to bring in these observers as well as Bangladesh. But ASEAN is not without its own issues. Border disputes have always plagued the organisation and with China making sea claims, these issues continue to simmer. A strongly abided policy of not interfering in each other’s affairs keeps the peace but prevents intervention when things go south, an occurrence not totally infrequent in the region’s history. The crises in Myanmar and Bangladesh, and genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar have caused fractures. Moreover, with both China and India expanding their influence in the region, and with ever-present economic woes, ASEAN has to work harder and harder to keep the peace they have worked tirelessly for.

7.The European Union – 1993

As the dust settled on the Cold War, with Germany reunified, and with a great deal of tension released, there was a renewed drive for a more integrated Europe – a dream germinating since the end of the Second World War. By the end of 1992, the Maastricht Treaty got the ball rolling calling for a shared European citizenship, triggering a process that would unify the currency, and unifying foreign and security policies amongst member states. The formation of a customs union that unified the currencies under the Euro as well as a body and process, that blends both the federal and confederal frameworks, for legislation and a legal framework have drawn the union together, giving it the strength to stand out today.The EU has been relatively successful in maintaining a peace not common to the continent which has witnessed almost an endless cycle of war from the days of imperialism to the founding of contemporary nation- states through the end of the Cold War. But now standing at twenty-seven member states, that is without the United Kingdom thanks to Brexit, that peace has never been more tenuous. The rising tide of contemporary fascism and various separatist movements (from future Brexits to the breaking up of the present member states) mixed with the war between Russia and Ukraine, it is not hard to imagine a breaking point.The question remains: will the EU be able to weather the choppy, stormy waters ahead?

8. High Seas/Global Oceans Treaty – 2023

One of the more recent attempts at international cooperation is rapidly developing at this very moment. Again, the most successful peace attempts tend to stick at places without populations.This time, the high seas.As part of the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) a legally binding instrument for conservation and sustainability was established under the United Nations Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), also known as the High Seas Treaty or Global Ocean Treaty. The agreement was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 19 June 2023.The agreement sets up the fair and equitable sharing of marine genetic resources (MGRs) and their digital sequence information, establish marine protected areas, to carry out environmental impact studies on the world’s oceans, and build the agreement’s capacity for marine technology sharing. The agreement does not mention specific measures to combat climate change but lays the groundwork for ecosystem protection and carbon sediment storage potentials. Greenpeace has hailed this as the ‘biggest conservation victory ever’. Ninety-two countries were listed as signatories on the agreement and, so far, sixty states have ratified the agreement.

Beyond these eight examples, it was difficult to find further examples throughout history of peaceful co-existence. Indeed, the Ottoman Empire example can be expanded, but that did not come without its own loss of innocence and towards its end, it was not exempt from partaking in some of Europe’s games of daggers and shadows. Likewise, when one looks into the term ‘peaceful coexistence’ the former Soviet Union Premiere Nikita Khrushchev will top many google searches. Indeed, Khrushchev did a great deal of work to make peace amongst the Warsaw Pact nations, and even made strides in maintaining peace between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, this largely remains the ‘official’ story of history. Proxy wars and shadow conflicts continued, nonetheless. And when peace is maintained by the mere fact that buttons capable of destroying the world multiple times over existed within the high offices of Washington, D.C. and Moscow, it does not sound like a very ‘authentic’ or genuine peace.

So, exhausted of ideas, the list cannot continue and instead we must hope that new ways of being and existing can be imagined and created in the near future. Peaceful coexistence cannot only be a feature of the history books. It must also be a lived future. For it is a desired future we need direly as existential doom, beyond that which we place upon each other via violence and destruction, requires our attention. Now!