The Hidden Wound

Conflicts between groups are generally handled from a territorial stance. The human mind processes people in easy-to-view categories because this makes sense to lot of us. People belong to particular lands and that's where they should mind their business. Simple. In this way of thought, we assume, the issues are rooted only and mainly in people who are supposed to be sure where they can stand with conviction and full well-deserved rights without wondering about their places of origin or future stations.

When I came across different stories of ongoing territorial conflicts as part of the science of conflict resolution, be it any region of the world, I began to see how a lot of the unresolved issues laid in what the land symbolized for people. Land as identity, an identity that gave people a sense of humanity and with humanity came the privilege of rights and imagining a normal safe future for yourself, and if you lived to see another day, for your immediate family.

A common problem that tends to exist in solving most intergroup conflicts though is approaching them mainly from the stance of clearly identifiable markers and completely missing how the trauma and angst lie in displaced or spoiled identities, of which land only tends to be a symbol. An alternate approach, therefore, is to begin with healing identities or consider the troubled waters of collectively shared identities first and then get to the shore — the land so to speak which can become better managed once the identities are intact.

Let me give an example. The Kurds have been in an intractable conflict for several years now. Their problem is a complete absence of territorial recognition of their identity which makes them appear as refugees, attackers, asylum seekers, or worse, covertly operating terrorists. Why? Because in the absence of safety and a set identity, this is what human beings find themselves in — either protecting or hiding to see another day. The life phase of usual progress and normalcy which most of us living on safe lands take for granted, isn't true for displaced people. At best, they start living in foreign countries, seek a good education, and eventually find relief in another country's citizenship while keeping the nostalgia of their original identity somewhere hidden, shared only with those who are similarly cultured or to make a westerner get interested when they can't think of any good story. As a marginalized group, the Kurds are shared mainly between Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. This is possibly why you must have heard of them as group having problems in the Turkey-Kurd conflict, Iraqi-Kurdish conflict, and so forth. Who looks like the problem then? No brainer. The Kurds.

However, a bird's eye view will show how all kinds of good and bad forces in these aforementioned territorially recognized countries end up using them in various ways — either as militia, other times against each other, as cheap labor, or to blame for destabilization in the region. In this cloud and smoke, the group that requires the most stability and peace is marked as the problem, and the conflict never ends. I call this 'the hidden wound' problem visible in many world conflicts.

Symbolically, such a conflict is like a few countries sitting on a rotten dead space of displaced lives, and the trauma of the impacted people sits like a disease underneath these countries, which then gets expressed in various types of regular conflicts. Why? Because conflicts mainly get tackled at a country level, while the actual space of distress gets ignored because they aren't even recognized as fully human with a piece of land under their feet.

Some commonly shared conditions in these regions of constant conflict are as observed by me ahead. In other words, some regions have been struck by conflict since the inception of the universe from what appears and so there have to be systematic reasons for this phenomenon.

1. Severely landlocked countries: Most of us, at some time, have thought of solving territorial conflicts by imagining the possibility of taking the war damaged piece of land and physically putting it somewhere in the ocean as an Australia-like existence, to bring peace. However, this is never possible. A better idea is to generate stability along some major borders, akin to how many countries have contact-less seashores, a space of relief, breath, and freedom.

   
   

2. Lack of identity often encourages misuse of identity and worse, a tendency to adopt negative identities. Think of this at an individual level and it'll make sense. If you cannot get a good identity on the immediate land of residence, you may want to become the best possible worst person because that is where human ability will go to grow, particularly in the absence of good regulation and psychological safety.

   
   

   As a consequence, displaced particularly young energetic or threatened identities become vulnerable and dangerous over time. The rules of humanness that are true for most people aren't true in destabilized regions, so such extremities become more probable. Eventually, the same individuals who were once vulnerable may become the collective unofficial protectors or in a dark light, criminals.

Possible solutions?

Identity rather than land may be made salient for them because with identity and culture, even shared land can feel like your own afterwards, more inclusive and culturally congruent.

Greater communication is enabled between the main governments at country level and displaced people who are clearly identified by their original identity or preferred new identity, not using any other given or after labels. Not to resolve necessarily.

At least to remind that everyone exists like everyone else. When we will see people, they'll see where they stand and will be able to walk better — free from the instincts of running, harming, or seeking protection constantly.