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Southern Perspective
One from the Southern regions of internal/intra-state armed conflicts
in Africa, Asia and Latin America which necessarily situates such
conflicts in their respective political, economic, social, cultural,
religious and ideological contexts and also in a history of colonialism
and post-colonialism.
- considers NSAG engagement in the wider context of peace and
conflict.
- emanates from the need to address the root causes of the conflict
as part of political dialogue and to bring in civil society voices
- strongly committed to neglected political values which could
be the foundation of a real vision for peace
- takes on the perspectives of affected local communities crucial
for providing insights for strategies of engagement
The Southern perspective is a purposive counterfoil to the hegemonic
Northern, esp. Euro- and American-centric, perspective in the analysis
of and approaches to internal armed conflicts and NSAGs.
- seeks to secure relations of equality and co-responsibility
in the true spirit and relations of internationalism
- consciously avoids Northern hegemonic practices in NGOs, e.g.
the exploitation of overseas country problems for internal fundraising
purposes and the co-optation and satellization of Southern partners
for the sake of Northern prestige and growth
- consciously avoids such paradigms as dependence on funding
from big business and governments, government-NGO uncritical collaboration
and sell-out, an elitist “civil society” paradigm,
and lack of transparency
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