‘We had to prompt them that the campaign for Sustainable Peace and International Cooperation is in the midst of trade wars, jihadism and a risen fascism, even as we continue to pray that the lessons of World War II are learned in a timely fashion by Generations X, Y, Z and Alpha who are also bearing the brunt of catastrophic climate change.’
WHAT are the challenges and opportunities for transnational cooperation among civil society actors in building a peaceful Asia-Pacific? This was explored at this year’s International NGO Conference on History and Peace in Seoul, with Jong-Kook Lee (Department of Political Science and International Relations, Dongguk University) referring to the diminishing role of NGOs in Japan, while Juback Sin (Research Professor, Institute of Korean Studies, Yonsei University) harkened back to the impact of government-approved textbooks on public awareness of intra-regional conflicts. Jang-Hie Lee (Emeritus Professor of Law, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies) and Bada Yoo (Department of Korean History, Korea University) offered differing interpretations of international law.
We (the Hunters-ROTC Historical Society of the Philippines) congratulated the History NGO Forum for Peace in East Asia for bringing together the representatives of the Asiatic Research Institute of Korea University, Asia Citizens’ Network for Peace, Asian Social Science Research Institute, Korean History Justly Know, Korea Institute for History and Culture Education, and other partner organizations in jointly tackling “80 Years of Liberation and Atomic Bombings, 60 Years of Korea–Japan Relations: Historical Reflections and Civil Society Collaboration for Peace.”
We had to prompt them that the campaign for Sustainable Peace and International Cooperation is in the midst of trade wars, jihadism and a risen fascism, even as we continue to pray that the lessons of World War II are learned in a timely fashion by Generations X, Y, Z and Alpha who are also bearing the brunt of catastrophic climate change. We also broadcast expectations that the Intergenerational Dialogue ought to include discourses on deNazification (as completion of the 1942 Declaration of the United Nations), decarbonization, and denuclearization (keeping in mind that the whole of Southeast Asia is a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality as well as a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone).
We enjoyed the field trip to the Chinese Immigrant History Museum, Daebul Hotel Exhibition Hall and Incheon Open Port Museum where we learned about the Cultural Heritage of Korea’s Opening Era (Open Port “Nuri-gil” Trail curated by Kuejin Song of Asiatic Research Institute of Korea University), and the experience reminded us of Vladimir Tikhonov: “The cluster of ideas summarily known as Social Darwinism actually predated their counterpart in the natural sciences…the easy applicability of competition-centered evolutionism to a wide spectrum of social and political agendas…(which) partly explains the perplexing long-term popularity of the ‘struggle for survival’ gospel among so many thinkers and groups in East Asia.” [Social Darwinism and Nationalism in Korea — The Beginnings (1880s-1910s) Survival as an Ideology of Korean Modernity]
This Darwinist situation involves not only the nation-states: “Koch brothers in the United States or Silvio Berlusconi in Italy or again Vincent Bolloré in France—these are vast financial empires that fund politics, control media, and influence culture. The discourse of individualism may be widespread in the popular classes now, but it is fueled—financially and politically—by super-wealthy elites who have a real stake in lower taxes and less government redistribution.” [Bernard E. Harcourt. Cooperation: A Political, Economic, and Social Theory. NY: Columbia University Press, 2023, p. 4]
At the conclusion of the recent International NGO Conference on History and Peace in Seoul, we witnessed Hyewon Roh (student, The University of Richmond, USA), Lakan Uhay Dorado Alegre (Member, Leyte-Samar Heritage Society, Inc.) and Ainur Rahmah (student, Albukhary International University, Malaysia) exchange notes on “Leadership Beyond Borders: What Kind of Leader Does the World Need Today?” Ms. Roh privileged this definition of leadership: “The process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives.” [Yukl (2006)] With this preference, we had to cite this factoid: Malala Yousafzai (the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient and champion of girls’ rights) has 03M InstaGram followers and Greta Thunberg (activist who had held the first “School Strike for Climate” outside the Swedish parliament) has 15M IG followers, but Kylie Jenner has 393M IG followers. Democracy for you, leadership for you. Mr. Alegre expertly narrated “Ruperto Kangleon of Leyte: The Leadership that Paved the Way for the Philippine Liberation Campaign during World War II” and Ms. Ainur Rahmah gave her take on “Leadership Without Borders: When Activism, Culture, and Sustainability Meet.”
Alegre: “We need a leader like Kangleon. We need someone who is willing to sacrifice everything for love of country, and who can ignite our fighting spirit in the battles to come. We need someone who will continue our shared struggle against Hitlerism and who will continue the United Nations mission of deNazification and denuclearization.”
In the wake of this Special Online Youth Panel (Global Thursday Forum), we dined at a sports bar devoted to the South Korean professional baseball team LG Twins. The tasty experience made us recall Michelle T. King’s Culinary Nationalism in Asia: “Invoking the geographical space of ‘Asia’ and the conceptual space of ‘Asian’ culinary nationalism requires some interrogation, as neither term should be taken as self-evident…At the same time, East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia do share a variety of culinary characteristics and historical trajectories that draw them closer together…Korean, Indian, Thai, and Vietnamese cuisines, in particular, have successfully conquered global tastes, becoming ever more integral parts of cosmopolitan eating habits around the world.”
Meanwhile, in Rizal’s homeland, Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado denounced the trafficking syndicates.
[https://malaya.com.ph/news/national-news/4-pinoy-victims-of-scam-syndicates-back-from-cambodia/]
And Benjamin Gonzales of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development’s scientific advisory panel recommended the collection of a penalty from Chinese vessel bow number 1683 “for the environmental damage within the territorial waters” of the Philippines. [https://malaya.com.ph/news/national-news/chinese-ship-damages-corals-near-pag-asa/]
