The UN declared 16 May as the International Day of Living Together in Peace, as a means of regularly mobilizing the efforts of the international community to promote peace, tolerance, inclusion, understanding and solidarity. Dr Laura Cashman reflects on its significance.

Why is International Day of Living Together in Peace important in today’s global context?

The first thing to ask ourselves is what do we mean when by peace? Do we mean the absence of war? Or do we mean something more expansive? In politics, we refer to a negative peace as the absence of armed conflict whereas a positive peace also encompasses gender equality, economic justice and opportunities for everyone to flourish and live without fear.

This feels like a distant dream today. Our global leaders appear to incapable – or in some cases unwilling – to resolve the ongoing devastating conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen, Myanmar and Democratic Republic of Congo. Climate crisis is pushing more migrants to make treacherous journeys to reach safer places to live. Even the home can be a dangerous place. On average, 140 women or girls are killed every day by someone in their own family.

Right now, it feels like everyone is angry about something – whether it’s immigration or taxes or rights for trans people. On every issue we seem to be forced to pick a side and then stick with the views of “our” tribe.

International days often feel like posturing or tokenism but they are a helpful reminder that solutions only come when we act.

Why is promoting peace, tolerance, and inclusivity such a challenge?

We must accept that peace will not be delivered by our political leaders any time soon. Patriarchal structures and legacies of colonialism have entrenched some very toxic sexist and racist attitudes in societies all over the world. Currently, too many politicians seem happy to exploit these attitudes to make short term political gains. It’s always easier to blame a scapegoat than to do the hard work to solve the deep and intractable problems we face.

Nationalism, populism and protectionism are riding high because the global economic situation has pushed many people to the brink. When people are barely surviving, they don’t have the bandwidth to engage with the kinds of challenging ideas often required to build truly inclusive societies. People are more easily persuaded by populists than they might be, if their own situation felt more secure.

Peace will only come if we can respect others as equals even when they look or sound different to us and listen to their perspectives with an open mind. Social media platforms also undermine this project. The algorithms push us further into echo chambers by serving content that they know we will like.  And worse, these platforms have been built to financially reward the content that generates the most outrage – and thus the most clicks. This pushes content creators to ever more extreme positions, driving this cycle of rage and fear.

The riots last summer showed just how easy it is for violence to erupt. That was caused by misinformation online blaming asylum seekers for the attacks and murders of the little girls in Southport. Globally, the UK tends to be held up as a country where integration has been successful and yet even here it’s clear that there is so much more work to do. We always need to guard against complacency.  Countries like Yugoslavia were ostensibly well integrated before the rise of nationalist leaders drove citizens to war and genocide. Right now, it feels like these UN days promoting diversity and inclusion have more urgency than usual.

What can be done?

Governments could do so much more. Big powerful countries could enforce international law better. All states could do more to abide by the rules and promote peace in their interactions with their neighbours. All countries could do more to promote gender equality. Studies show that societies that are more gender equal are more peaceful, and less likely to get involved in wars.

All countries could try to spend more on development aid rather than buying more weapons. It’s understandable that governments might feel that they must arm themselves more and protect their borders and populations, but the reality is that an arms race only helps arms manufacturers. Everyone else loses. Helping the most deprived feel safer and less susceptible to being radicalised is the only long-term route to peace.

From an individual perspective, we all need to try harder to get out of our comfort zone. We need to get to know people who are different to us, listen with respect, and try to educate ourselves about other points of view.  We can also all do more to demand action from our leaders and failing that, support charities at home and abroad who are trying to promote peace at the grassroots level and pick up the pieces in war zones.

Dr Laura Cashman is Course Director for Politics and International Relations at Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent. She teaches and researches global politics from a feminist perspective with a particular focus on racism and discrimination.