If we are to walk together alongside one another, it is important to be aware of the ways through which violence could rear its ugly head. Walking together is a movement towards peace and in peace, cordiality and friendship. This peace can only be interrupted by violence in all its forms. Here are the categorizations of violence, following Ariarajah’s book, Axis of Peace(2004):

• Structural violence, where social, political, cultural structures oppress, segregate, exclude or marginalize groups of people;
• Economic violence, where economic life is organized in a way that denies even the basic needs of people;
• Social violence, where forces like racism and sexism exclude peoples on the basis of colour, gender, caste, ethnicity and so on;
• Domestic violence, where women, children, disabled and the poor are abused or treated brutally within established relationships;
• Psychological violence, where persons or groups of persons in an institution, or in a society in general, are kept intimidated, deprived of dignity and live in fear;
• Moral violence, where the brutal force of the state or a dominant group denies people’s human rights or the right to peoplehood;
• Violence of warfare, undertaken for any number of reasons, and currently it could be felt in Yemen, Iraq, etc.

I hope that you and I are not helping in any way to perpetrate any of these. 

But, there is yet another question: What are we doing to prevent any of these forms of violence wherever we find them?