Buddhists Network for Peace (B4P) and its negotiation with violence in the Deep South

Abstract

This article aims to understand Buddhist Network for Peace (B4P)’s public communication work as a negotiation tool for a minority group living in a violent conflict situation researcher lends the conceptual ideas from Peace process and citizen media to apprehend B4P’s public communication activities. Summary from this study shows that unlike other Buddhist civic groups in the region, B4P uses nonradical approach to connect and collaborate with other civic groups in the region for working toward violence negotiation. Being a representative group of an unarmed civilian and violence-targeted Buddhist victims, B4P legitimately communicates with public through releasing the organization’s statements documents. Despite this common practice of public communication, B4P has still faced difficulties in strengthening its organization and public communication capacity.