I am a pacifist

A peacemaker is not someone who stands by and watches, but someone who gets to work.

Starting from scratch may seem easy. What is harder is repairing what war, conflict, poverty and discrimination have broken. Because these fractures leave more than rubble behind: they sever connections, create inequalities and fuel mistrust that passes from one generation to the next.

Alexander Langer understood this: living together does not begin with a declaration of good intentions. It is a practice to be learned, a responsibility to be taken on, work that requires us to navigate differences without erasing them and to confront conflicts without allowing them to become destructive. His thinking, rooted in ecological pacifism and intercultural education, invites us to understand the complexity of the world while also taking action to change it.

Words and practice,

thought and action,

neither without the other.

Roots hold stories, memories and a sense of belonging. The rhizome suggests connections that grow in different directions, without a single centre. These images help us imagine a way of living together in which we do not have to abandon our roots to build new relationships. A way of living together that recognises differences and questions the inequalities that prevent everyone from participating.

With Aldo Capitini, nonviolence becomes a practice of transformation and an opening towards participation. It does not mean accepting injustice or remaining motionless in the face of suffering. It means seeking forms of action capable of resisting domination without reproducing its logic, taking responsibility for changing the conditions that fuel exclusion and violence.

And then there are the women of the Arazzo della Pace, who, through threads, hands and different stories, make the work of building something together visible. Each thread retains its own trace; it is the intertwining that gives shape to the fabric. Not a decorative gesture, but a collective practice that requires time, care and perseverance.

During the month dedicated to peace, as the Marcia PerugiAssisi and many other initiatives bring attention back to war and the possibility of a different future, these experiences remind us that calling for peace is not enough. We must create the conditions for it, challenge inequalities, acknowledge responsibilities and act in the places where we live.

Because repairing does not simply mean returning to what existed before. It means recognising the fractures, addressing their causes and trying to build new connections. We cannot promise that every attempt will succeed, but we can choose not to accept what divides us as inevitable.

The world needs peacemakers: people willing to take a stand, navigate conflicts and get to work.

Being a pacifist does not mean standing by and watching. It means choosing, every day, where we stand and what kind of world we want to help build.