Campaigns for a Disarmed World

Firearms don't have expiration dates; they can go decades without losing their destructive power, often outliving their owners. Firearms cause an estimated 35,000 deaths each year in Brazil, and the nation that has recently adopted a voluntary firearms hand-in program as state policy, hosted an International Seminar on Disarmament, October 21 and 22 in Brasilia. The seminar presented discussions on long-term international disarmament campaigns and focused on case studies from Latin America, Africa, and Europe.

Photo: "Tree of Life" sculpture from Mozambique, made from parts of guns turned in during a disarmament campaign.

Brazilian officials from the Ministry of Justice, the National Ministry of Public Security and the Disarmament Campaign of Brazil attended the event, which commemorated the adoption of the voluntary firearms hand-in program as a state policy in Brazil.

During the 2004-2005 Disarmament Campaign in Brazil, nearly 500,000 unregistered guns were voluntarily turned over and another 600,000 unregistered firearms were registered. The campaign didn't just implement the Disarmament Statute, it also saved lives. The result of this initiative was an 11 percent reduction in firearm homicides in the following year. The campaign also created awareness about the role of firearms in public security.

"We're not a peaceful country," said Ricardo Balestreri, the national secretary for Public Security. "Our violent crime rates place us among the five most violent countries in the world. Our citizens need to understand that, despite the headlines about confrontations between the police and narco-traffickers, organized violence is not the threat. Eighty-percent of firearm deaths result from personal conflicts," he said.

Photo:Balestreri speaks, to the left of Antonio Rangel Bandeira

The sociologist added that the presence of a firearm in a home is more likely to endanger its inhabitants than make them safer. "Legally purchased firearms end up being used against their owners during attacks, and once robbed, cause the law-abiding citizen to unwittingly contribute to arming criminals," he said.

Angola, government looks for partnership with civil society
Voluntary disarmament campaigns directed at civilians are associated with depositing trust in peace, without which it will not be lasting. Two African nations that lead important civilian disarmament campaigns sent representatives to the meeting. General Paulo de Almeida, Sub commander of the Angolan Police and Coordinator of the Angolan Technical commission for Disarmament came to Brazil to show the results of its two year old disarmament campaign in Angola, a campaign that has recently been renewed for two more years. 

Angola: government looks for a partnership with civil society

“We went through a long period of terrible tragedy that lasted for years and years, during which the population was armed to defend the nation. When the conflicts finally ended, 70% of the country had been ravaged: cities, bridges, and roads destroyed,” said Almeida. “Our greatest concern is with the war grade weapons in the hands of civilians. They must now be returned to law enforcement,” said Almeida.
Photo: General Almeida

Photo: General Almeida

Armed violence has affected every single family in Angola, said General Almeida, who cited gun collection statistics: “From 2008 to today, 77.585 firearms were collected in the country, over 320 thousand ammunition and 126 thousand explosives and finally, 49 hidden weapons’ cachets were deactivated,” said the general.

The general came to the seminar in search of solutions: “Our campaign is a state led campaign, but we have yet to engage civil society. It is an apparent contradiction, but the poor have responded much more readily than the middle or upper classes, who feel much safer,” said general Almeida.

General Almeida was also concerned with the lack of support for the campaign in his nation’s mass media, who he noted charge expensive prices for their services and disseminate what the general describes as a culture of violence. Angola is currently working with Brazil to computerize its police data base and to establish gun control and data analysis systems in the country. Angola currently has no figures on the numbers of weapons in civilian hands.

The decisive role of women: Mozambique’s example

“Our campaign really began when during discussions about the post-conflict phase a lady got up and asked the crucial question: ‘what are we to do with all these guns?’ We had to find an answer,” said Titos J. Macie, of the Christian Council of Mozambique. The entity represents 22 protestant denominations and two biblical associations. It is also responsible for the Transformação de Armas em Enxadas, TAE, or Transforming firearms into hoes program, founded the year after general elections were reinstated in the country in 1994.

Photo: Destroying guns with dynamite in Mozambique

In its 15 year history, the TAE collected over a million artifacts of war, including ammunition. Macie stressed a common point in all the campaigns, the fact that women are prime motivators.

Contrary to the Angolan experience, the TAE program is an initiative born out of civil society, and it looks for partnerships with governmental bodies. It is based on a strong incentive for the population to adopt a culture of peace. “The process is based on changing mindsets, on providing the incentive to being a new life,” said Macie.
Guns for sewing machines

Guns for sewing machines

According to Macie, the population only truly joins a disarmament campaign when it is believes that the conflict has ended. “There were many frustrated peace agreements that lead to even more disastrous periods of war. The need for disarmament campaigns always came up during the previous peace accords, but it was only when peace was established that the population began to abandon their weapons. They would drop them literally by the wayside, such was the sentiment that they wanted to leave violence behind,” said Macie.

Photo: guns exchanged for tin roofs in Mozambique

“We decided to offer something other than money as an incentive to give up weapons. Money is convenient but it can simply feed the gun market. We receive guns in exchange for hoes, for sewing machines, for tin roofs. We want to offer them a new life,” said Macie. Macie described the disarmament campaign as a process to disarm consciences and foster civic education. It is part of the process not to ask questions about the history of those weapons, but to concentrate on the future. “We offer people the opportunity to begin again. We sometimes walk in the bush for days lead by an ex-fighter to hidden caches of weapons used in the war, weapons that are in pristine conditions despite being buried in the ground,” said Macie.

Critique of firearms as an expression of masculinity

In his overview of the Brazilian voluntary disarmament campaigns, Antonio Rangel Bandeira stressed the questioning aspect of the of the Brazilian campaign that included provocative adds targeting the connection between guns and masculinity. He also pointed out the strong partnership with the media and the campaign that belonged to civil society organizations that opened gun collections posts in churches and NGOs all over Brazil.

“We questioned the male chauvinist culture that sees in guns an expression of virility. A sense of humor and the appeal to women in our TV commercials for the Brazilian campaign in 2004 were warmly received by the population. Our message is that if you have a gun at home you are more vulnerable and you may end up arming criminals against you. It is a serious message, but a sense of humor is contagious, and the results showed us we were right to be bold,” said Rangel Bandeira. Still according to Bandeira, the campaign was innovative, at the time public information campaigns tended to highlight fear, risk and tragedy involved with public health and safety issues such as European HIV/AIDs awareness campaigns of the period.

A campaign image by Washington Olivetto, based on a piece by Miguel Paiva.

Brazil: in 2011, how to reach the peripheries?

The key to the campaign’s success in Brazil, according to Bandeira, was that guns were disabled on delivery. “Not only was it a powerful incentive for people to understand that their guns were not going to be diverted and reused, but it played a role in making sure that the gun collection posts were safe,” said Rangel Bandeira. Guns handed in were disabled with blows from a sledgehammer, and were sent to the Brazilian army for destruction, since only the army can legally destroy firearms in Brazil.

Symbolic events, such as peace rallies, ecumenical ceremonies, and public demonstrations of firearms’ destruction were also given amble coverage in the media spot light. “Rede globo took our issues to prime time, and inserted them into the soap. The author of “Mulheres Apaixonadas” allowed us to write in lines of dialogue that showed the problems related to guns in the lives of Brazilians. This event is currently being studied in universities both in and outside Brazil,” said Rangel Bandeira.

There are however, new challenges to renewing the disarmament campaign in the future. “Women responded very well to the campaign, they were concerned about taking guns out of their homes. But we were not able to reach young males in quite the same way. Whenever they turned up volunteering guns, they said they were being pressured by their families to do so. Another challenge ahead of us is how to reach young people in the peripheries and in favelas,” said Bandeira.

Press coverage coaxed out by results in Argentina

“It would be irresponsible of us to ask young residents of a shantytown to give up their guns if we are unable to guarantee their security in exchange,” said Darío Kosovski, concerned with the issue of reaching the poorest Latin Americans. His own campaign in Argentina was widely hailed as a success: “There were so many guns arriving at our collections posts that we had to set a limit of 10 guns per person per day, so that the lines would keep moving,” said Kosovski. (right)

Guns were handed in anonymously and destroyed in the presence of the people giving them up. Those who chose to identify themselves had to sign a written permission and were given a certificate attesting their participation in the campaign.

Argentina, like Brazil, offered cash compensation for every gun handed in, and went further than its Portuguese speaking neighbor by also issuing compensation for ammunitions. In Argentina those handing in guns were given a pre-printed check for immediate deposit, with no need to show any identification.

“We were concerned with protecting the privacy of those who gave up their guns, we even asked people not to photograph the lines at the gun collection posts, and asked the press not to film the process. Our relationship with the press was not easy, they were at first quite cynical about the drive, but our campaign was so successful that in the end the results guaranteed the full coverage of the media,” said Kosovski.

Kosovski stressed that the Argentinian campaign took pains to broadcast the message carefully and pragmatically, allowing no room for ambiguity. Gun collection was made in official mobile units, and Kosovski believes the campaign’s success is due, in part, to the fact the process was quick and efficient. “Argentineans were used to slow moving public processes, and the fact our campaign allowed for delivering guns in a simple, efficient and quick fashion, from the delivery of guns to the their destruction and compensation was an added attraction,” said Kosovski.

 “Sacred life and disarmament”: crime rates down in Bogotá

The change in mindsets and raising awareness for peace was an important theme in the description of the disarmament campaign in Bogotá, Colombia, introduced by Juan Pablo Hernández, of the Vida Sagrada y Desarmamiento (Sacred life and disarmament) campaign. The program was created in partnership with Bogotá Town Hall, it collected 6.731 fireamrs, 99 thousand ammunition and 683 explosives in 17 campaigns, from 1996 to 2009.

The period of the campaigns coincided with a dramatic drop in the homicide rate in Bogotá: from over 60 homicides per 100 thousand residents down to 39 per 100 thousand residents in 2009. The campaign held disarmament awareness days, and took its message of peace to the streets, schools and prisons, it also developed informative material to disseminate peaceful practices in the population. Art was a strong element of the campaign; artists were invited to transform firearms and other weapons into works of art, celebrating peace.

Imagem: Material didático, campanha de Bogotá

Translated by Lis Horta Moriconi and Danielle Renwick

Read Further:

Imagens cedidas pelas campanhas de desarmamento de Bogotá, Brasil e Moçambique.

Outras fotos: Comunidade Segura.