The Peace Project

Artists and Peace

What role do artists play in the quest for peace? A large one, says a Pakistani comedy troupe that thinks they can help the peace process.

Mishi Khan is all for more cultural contacts between the two countries that are slowly dismantling stereotypes and making peace a real possibility. "Artists, singers and actors have no boundaries. Nothing is impossible if we set our heart on it," says the actor, who is looking forward to a taste of real India in Delhi's Chandni Chowk area, eating, shopping and talking.

Kazi, too, believes in the power of creative people to dissolve boundaries.

"Art, music and theatre fosters a better relationship and helps in demolishing prejudices," says Kazi, for whom her passage to India is a provocation to rediscover her roots in places like Aligarh, Rampur and Surat that still house members of her extended family.

Conflicts between states are usually conflicts of two groups of people. Often, they have different cultures and different languages. They understand little about the other's history or traditions.

Artists can bridge that divide by bringing society's conflicts down to the individual scale. A poet's words, revealing a small portion of herself, could perhaps connect with someone on the other side of the wall. A picture can tell an emotional story that resonates beyond cultural boundaries. Artists can take conflicts at the grand scale, along with all the stereotypes and prejudices that come with countreis at war, and reduce them to one-on-one interactions.

But this is also the great failing of artists. They interact with their audience, and perhaps break down cultural stereotypes, but they do little on the grand scale. One of the tenets of sociology is that groups act differently than individuals. So even if an artist reached every person on every side of the border, the groups of individuals could still hate one another. Maybe it's an artist's place to start the discussion, and the politician's role to finish it.

posted by Sammy @ 9:24 PM