Media and Communications in peacebuilding

Osama Bin Laden is described as “refined” and “gentle” in a video released by the man believed to be    the new head of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

“The sheikh would remember with goodness and gratitude and be moved by the memory of the 19 brothers who attacked the idol of our age, America,” Zawahiri said. “He would remember these brothers with extreme fidelity.” – Full story here Via www.bbc.co.uk

Entrepreneurs of conflict are those like Bin Laden that use resourceful, creative, and innovative ways to benefit themselves as they instigate and create conflict.  One common theme in their “toolkit” has been the use of media to manipulate and maneuver; inciting the masses to do unmentionable acts against their neighbors.

Here’s a list of some present day entrepreneurs of conflict:

Charles Ble Goude

Yusuf Mohamed Siad

Laurent Nkunda

Manuel Noriega

Igor Nikolaevich Smirnov

While entrepreneurs of conflict have been quite active, the peacebuilding community has yet to develop a strategy for entrepreneurship of peace that can be as powerful and potent.  The United States Institute of Peace has just published a blog by Sadaf Lakhani on this topic.

She says:

“One of the key actors in post-conflict economies are endogenous entrepreneurs, or local actors who- either through necessity or opportunity -undertake new financial ventures, often creating and applying innovations in the process. Capital flight during conflict results in an economy that has been lacking in investments over a long period of time.  Not surprisingly, most private economic agents are unwilling to invest in politically uncertain times that are often accompanied by continued physical insecurities in parts of the state, macro-economic instability, pervasive corruption and weak governance and regulatory environments. The degradation of human capital during conflict, due to the lack of investment in education and inability to deliver education services, poor health resulting from a lack of health services, inadequate nutrition and physical and mental trauma sustained from violent conflict, presents further challenges to economic growth.   Read the Blog here it will be worth your while.