Tampos-Cabazares, S.M.G. | December 01, 2015
ABSTRACT
The non-killing paradigm, which gained momentum in 2002, is
a proposed strategy for social change that envisions a society free
from killing or threats of being killed. It claims that while conflict is
inevitable, killing is not. This paper aimed to examine this discourse
further by discussing four arguments from the framework in light of
the rido and pangayaw revenge killings among indigenous groups in
Mindanao through ethnographic and archival data. Common points
of emphasis between the paradigm and a notion shared among the
concerned indigenous groups include the notion of an inherent
inhibition or lack of an innate tendency to kill and the need to
support traditional resolution mechanisms that promote nonviolent
fight responses. However, there is a crucial incongruence: while the
non-killing paradigm considers killing as a problem to be solved, an
examination of revenge killings in Mindanao requires attention to the
socio-political and economic conditions that motivate marginalized
groups to resort to revenge killing. The more important question
then is not how to stop killing but how to address the conditions that
made conducive such actions. The non-killing paradigm will not
provide a productive framework in Mindanao unless it recognizes
that these killings will remain as a self-help tool in marginalized and
indigenous communities until repressive conditions are addressed.