Hatred: an obstacle for sustainable peace
Hatred is an emotion that acts as a peat fire: it may go underground, but will never be fully extinct. Some ethnic groups live in peace and mutual tolerance for generations, only to resort to extreme violence at a seemingly minor provocation.
Eruptions of violence such as ethnic cleansing, terrorist attacks, civil wars, racial incidents, mass murders, arson and religious twists occur repeatedly. Infamous Infamous examples are Cambodia, the Balkans, Rwanda and Darfur.
More often than not hatred seems to be the leading emotion and the motive in these conflicts. How does this come about? How does hatred as a mechanism work? Is it possible to effectively reduce hatred and intervene in the escalation of hatred?
Under the auspices of a broad
committee of recommendation Cogis organizes a conference on this subject.
The conference location: the Royal Theatre in The Hague