Solidarity without consensus: building peace through health in Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis

Le résumé fourni par la source

Providing a critical reappraisal of the role of community-level health workers in peacebuilding, this article analyses partnerships forged between health workers from state and parastate systems since the 2021 Myanmar coup. Drawing on ethnographic research in 2023, it examines how these actors have taken ownership of ‘health as a bridge to peace’, (re)defining the political shape of and path to peace. It highlights the value of an ethnographic and interpretive approach. This reveals how a context of crisis, health workers’ experiences of suffering, and practices of care developed to address it, have fostered collaboration, trust, and solidarity between former ‘enemies’. Health workers’ experiences and practices in turn generated increased support for socio-political reforms that could pave the way to equitable development, social justice, and positive peace within a context of deep-seated structural violence. While challenges remained to building peace ‘from below’, ‘solidarity without consensus’ was vital for health to contribute gradually to peace formation. International actors should recognise and support the politically and temporally sensitive approaches of health workers attempting to foster lasting positive peace.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.