The Peace Factory becomes a Peace Labyrinth

Dear colleagues and friends. Today is great day!

We are extremely happy to join the opening of the Peace Labyrinth.

To experience the missions and themes of the Dutch traveling exhibition The Peace Factory in this beautiful museum, is like a dream come true.

To be honest: we are very proud to see that we have succeeded in this cooperation project.

Together we find ourselves in a labyrinth.

Our perception of labyrinth is in the following story.

A man got lost in the wood.

For weeks he walked in circles and couldn’t find his way out.

And than one day he met a woman walking in the wood.

As fast as he could he ran to the woman.

“Do you know the way out of this Labyrinth?” he asked.

“No”, said the woman, I don’t know the way out.

The man was deeply disappointed and burst into tears.

He cried so loud that all the animals were quiet.

But the women said:

“Don’t be desperate.” “I don’t know to get out of this wood, but I know where not to go.”

And together they walked away to find their way out.

Jan Durk Tuinier en Geu Visser

Knowing where not to go and trying to find your way out, is the essence of the Labyrinth of peace.

If we try to find the ways where not to go, step by step, we finally will find the way out of the labyrinth.

When children resist bullying, refuse to practice prejudices, not follow the ways of discrimination, they will find out that peace is the way.

They stand up against bullying, unmask prejudices and work for understanding.

Our definition of peace is close connected to the Golden Rule, we find in many religions:

Don’t treat others in the way you don’t want to be treated. Or:

Wish for all people the good things you wish for yourself.

We see ourselves as instrument-makers, not as architects.

We don’t give children readymade houses.

We give them tools and instruments to make their own houses.

We challenge them to dialogue.

To share knowledge, exercise tools, improve skills and explore the desire for peace.

We don’t want to teach children WHAT to think. We teach them to think by themselves.

That is in a few words the methodology of our organization.

We developed a range of permanent and mobile interactive exhibitions, starting in 1990 in the Netherlands and Belgium and than in France, Spain, Italy, Northern Ireland, Russia and now in Israel in 2007.

It is not always easy to make an exhibition about peace.

It is much easier to develop an exhibition about war.

You can show large collections of uniforms, bombs, bullets, guns, tanks, air fighters and lets not forget the medals we can exhibit.

What can we show about peace in an exhibition?

We discovered that we should not ask children to look to peace but we should teach them to make peace in their daily life.

We have a Peace Factory traveling in Germany.

It was a great experience to make an exhibition about peace with your former enemy.

We learned that our neighbors don’t celebrate liberation day, like we do on the 5^th of May.

They have a mourning day in November, that’s the difference.

We had a similar experience when we visited the Hand in Hand primary school in Jerusalem.

The celebration of independence day of the state of Israel is connected with Nakba.

They found a way to combine joy and mourning.

We were deeply moved by this event and we are convinced that this approach is a promise to the future.

Inspired by king Salomon we say in our own words:

There is a time for tears and mourning.

There is a time for laughs and celebration.

There is a time for building walls and fences.

There is a time of breaking down walls and fences.

There is a time for hostility and enemies.

There is a time for friendship and understanding.

And now there is a time for the Peace Labyrinth!

More than three years ago our cooperation project started when mrs. Corinne Evens introduced us to Alan Freeman of the Jerusalem Foundation during a meeting in Athens.

After that the cooperation process started and we met our colleagues of the Bloomfield Science Museum, the Olivestone Trust and the Jerusalem Foundation in The Netherlands and in Israel.

We exchanged expertise and learned a lot in the field of peace education and museum methodology.

We congratulate you for this magnificent Peace Labyrinth and we are sure that it will teach understanding and peace.

October 21^st 2007

Jan Durk Tuinier en Geu Visser

Danny Fridberg en Rula Khoury