"culture of non-violence"

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Monday urged the country’s media to reproduce the culture of non-violence, dialogue and permanent debate, in order to contribute towards maintaining and consolidating effective peace.Nyusi made this recommendation when he opened a national conference on the role of the media in combating violence and promoting peace, organized by the Higher Mass Media Council (CSCS), the watchdog body on press freedom and the right to information established under the Mozambican constitution.Nyusi stressed that to block the culture of violence it is never enough simply to use the police or other coercive means.“You have to respond with a culture of non-violence, a culture of dialogue and open and permanent debate”, he said. “This culture must be reproduced day after day in the mass media. We have to speak of peace not just when we are directly threatened. True peace is a culture of listening and constructive dialogue. Each newspaper and each radio or television station should be a classroom where we learn citizenship, where we learn that we belong to the same family”.

Nyusi noted that various forms of violence exist in societies, some more visible, others more hidden and silent. But all should be denounced – including the violence against albino citizens, against women, against widows, against the elderly, or against children. All of these should be a matter of permanent concern to the media. Nyusi urged the media not to stop here, but also to publicise specific cases of exemplary and positive behaviour, such as the countless people who set examples of bravery in the struggle against crime and violence. The media, he continued, should also speak of examples of solidarity and assistance for the more vulnerable strata of society, and divulge the merits of all those who are building a more peaceful, cooperating nation, based on moral values.Because effective unity will lead to a climate more favourable to peace, the President promised that, in his own speeches, he will continue to proclaim the need for a united and cohesive nation.“I shall continue to defend a nation immune to any attempt at division”, said Nyusi. “So that this message becomes part of the life of each Mozambican, it must be converted into specific episodes, into stories of people who have a name and a face”. 

For his part, CSCS Chairperson Tomas Vieira Mario declared that the most important theme on the national agenda is the end of violence in society, particularly politico-military violence, and the restoration of an effective and lasting peace.“We know how relevant the role of the media is”, he added, “since it is through the media that practically the entire narrative of violence and peace reaches the public, in the cities and the countryside, inside the country and abroad. It is through the reporting in the media that public opinion is built about the profile, objectives and strategies of the parties in conflict”. Vieira Mario asked whether it was possible, in a context of pluralism, to have a unanimous editorial line on the media with regard to conflict. “Perhaps not about the conflict in itself”, he continued, answering his own question, “but certainly about what would be consensually desirable for the good of all”.