Addressing Collective Violence: Community-Level Interventions and Case Studies in South Africa and Beyond

1. Responding to the smoke that calls Exploring the causes of collective violence and how these can be addressed at a community level Monica Bandeira

2. Building on the report: The smoke that calls: Insurgent citizenship, collective violence and the struggle for a place in the new South Africa” written by the CSVR and the Society, Work and Development Institute (of the University of the Witwatersrand) • This report focused on exploring ways of intervening at a community-level to prevent collective violence • Each case study was analysed in terms of root, proximate, and immediate (accelerating and decelerating) causes of collective violence (adapted from the model developed by Schmid and Sirseloudi) • Common themes across the different case studies were extracted • These causes were then explored further to identify appropriate principles for community-level interventions

8. Principles of community-level interventions for the prevention of collective violence: • Understanding the notion of community • Understanding the complexities of communities • Defining the theoretical model of intervention • Recognising the unique context of each community: community mapping • Relationship and credibility building • Encouraging democratic participation and processes in communities • Long-term engagement required

9. Addressing the root causes at a community level- long-term prevention: • Community collective action can be used to support initiatives that advocate for policies that address the issues of poverty, unemployment, and inequality • Community collective action can be used to lobby for that community to be a recipient of economic development opportunities • Organisations can play an important role in identifying and facilitating connections between these and the independent community-led movements established • Case example 1: Creating “Safe communities of opportunity”, South Africa • Case example 2: the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India • Case example 3: Community healing and economic development in Bokfontein, South Africa

10. Addressing the proximate causes at a community level – medium-term prevention: • Independent community groups can become “watchdogs” of local governance structures and service delivery • Community collective action can also be used to encourage the reporting of cases of corruption by local government officials • Communities could make use of the media to highlight their needs and concerns • Independent community-led movements should attempt to engage with local governance structures and create platforms and opportunities for communication • Organisations can assist communities to connect with organisations with particular experience and skills in accessing information at the community level • Organisations can play an important role in outlining the different complaints mechanisms that exist within government structures • Case example 4: Holding the state to account: Citizens voice through report cards, Bangalore • Case example 5: Using its New Law to Powerful Effect, South Africa • Case example 6: Uncovering Corruption in the Thai School System, Thailand

11. Addressing the accelerators and increasing the decelerators of collective violence at a community level – immediate prevention: • Building relationships between the independent community movement and the police • Ensuring the presence of protest monitors from within the community • Framing all protest actions in non-violent, peaceful terms • Communities can also increase their ability to be sensitive to/aware of how subaltern crowds emerge and direct crowd behaviour in negative ways, to meet their own agenda • Organisations can establish contact between the independent community movements and peace-building organisations that could provide capacity building • Leaders should use their influence in the community to emphasise non-violent protest actions and condemn violent ones • Case example 7: Peaceful protest action as a reaction to a military coup d’état, Honduras • Case example 8: Using trained peace marshals, the United States of America

12. Concluding remarks