RESPACE PEACE

Reimagining Equitable Global Spaces and Infrastructures for Sustainable Peace

The RESPACE initiative seeks to provide a collaborative and enabling space for change agents and movement actors to challenge the status quo in global peacebuilding and reimagine alternative pathways towards equitable global spaces and infrastructures for sustainable peace.

We are worried and angered by the violence, inequality, and injustices spiralling out of control globally. But we are also fiercely motivated by the courage and ingenuity of people and the movements rising-up to fight for a dignified future for everyone. And we recognise the need for our efforts to be interconnected and in support of others within our field and beyond who are tirelessly working to change the systems towards a more just, equitable, and peaceful world.

While the world is in turmoil, the realisation that we need radically new ways of global or translocal collaboration for peace and equity looms large in the imagination of people everywhere. We agree that this presents a unique opportunity to advance systems transformations, wedge-in new perspectives, and build networks among the willing to create the necessary change.

For us, RESPACE couldn’t be timelier nor more urgent given the historic levels of armed conflict and violence around the globe: “The system is in flux”, “systems are cracking”, “power and territory are reconfiguring in novel ways” all these are attempts to give expression to the rapidly and radically changing state of the international system. However, we need viable visions and practical pathways we can follow to build towards a peaceful and equitable future. Right now, positive imaginations of the future are desperately rare and trust that the major multilateral institutions can deliver on their promises is historically low.

RESPACE aims to contribute inspiring visions, instructive scenarios, and new collaborations for the future of peace. Building on a decolonial practice, these will radically reimagine the future role of local civic actors throughout the globe, leading the way in their contexts and collaborating in solidarity across them.