Comics for Conflict Transformation

Page from SFCG's Access to Justice comic, focused on marriage and divorce issues

SFCG has been using comics as an innovative media tool for several years, combining entertainment and education to engage youth in conflict-transformation activities. These programs aim to reduce youth’s tendency to join negative identity-based groups that depict the “other” as enemies or obstacles.

In Indonesia, SFCG has been publishing innovative and popular comics since 2002, thanks to widespread support from local stakeholders for reconciliation and conflict transformation programming focusing on youth. Partners in government, civil society, and in the donor community agree that visual media, comics in particular, are a tool capable of reaching youth nation-wide.

Humor exists in all cultures, and comics can be produced and distributed relatively cheaply to great effect. Comics can be used to tackle sensitive issues, particularly characters in conflict with each other, making them a powerful tool for changing attitudes and perceptions. Comics also can be published in many forms – as booklets, posters or flyers, and in newspapers and magazines – combining local and professional knowledge with artistic creativity. Ultimately, comics can lead to shifts in behaviour, at which point conflict transformation can be achieved.

SFCG’s conflict transformation comics initiatives include: GEBORA (“Geng Bola Gembira”; the Happy Football Gang), Perjalanan Mencari Sahabat (A Journey to Find Friends), and Mencari Keadilan (Looking for Justice). The first two are curriculum-based, participatory youth-oriented comic book programs aim to give youth the knowledge and awareness to actively contribute to peace and reconciliation in their communities. By leading the design and development of a comic book series, young people define their roles for the future as responsible citizens capable of transforming conflict without violence, and help to build a lasting peace. The final comic series addressed complex legal issues in a novel way, and served to reinforce key messages presented in a corresponding Access to Justice serial radio drama.

All of these comics initiatives included complementary outreach activities, which have contributed to the development of generations of citizens (particularly youth) who are aware of the challenges and conflicts in their newly formed democracy, and who engage positively to affect positive change. These programs have had the ancillary benefit of improving literacy in Indonesia, by creating a tangible output to be distributed and read by hundreds of thousands of citizens.

GEBORA
The first Search for Common Ground Comic Book Series, GEBORA (“Geng Bola Gembira”; The Happy Football Gang), consisted of 12 episodes, printed and distributed mainly in Kalimantan, Madura, and Jakarta as a direct response to the Madurese-Dayak conflict and challenges related to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kalimantan. Produced and distributed in 2004, the main theme of the comic book series was inter-ethnic relations and tolerance, recognizing stereotypes and their impact, and practical ways to deal with conflicts non-violently.

GEBORA is a fun action story set in Pagar Bukit, a fictional village in Kalimantan. Five teenagers – Nurli (Chinese), Dara (Dayak), Ical (Dayak-Malay), Beben (Javanese – Sundanese), and Matra’i (Madurese) – meet through a village soccer competition, where they discover that despite their differences they make a good team. Gradually they form their own gang, have exciting adventures, and discover that there is strength in diversity.  

Like all of Search for Common Ground’s “intended-outcomes” media initiatives, the comic book program rested on a curriculum that defined the learning goals and social change objectives the program aimed to achieve. In GEBORA, that meant that to become members of the football club and to be successful at the game, the youth had to learn to cooperate and work together as a team. Mutual respect and good sportsmanship followed. They must each overcome stereotypes, prejudices, and mistrust, while learning to respect and rely on each other. As members of the football club, the characters in the series encounter a series of realistic problems and obstacles that they overcome by working together and supporting each other.

Perjalanan Mencari Sahabat
After the success of GEBORA, Search for Common Ground created a similar comic for Poso, to promote religious tolerance among Christians and Muslims, and to provide aid to uprooted people across Central Sulawesi. At the height of the conflict there were an estimated 140,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of violence.

The comic series, Perjalanan Mencari Sahabat (A Journey to Find Friends), was developed in 2005 as a peace education tool, and adapted to the local context to address seven main issues relevant to the conflict dynamics in Poso: pluralism, child rights, gender, conflict transformation, social justice, non-violence, and ecology.

In the 6-episode series, young adventurers from different ethnic groups, cultures and religious backgrounds learn to overcome their differences and work together to problem solve and get through the challenges they face as a group. It was widely distributed and used by junior high and elementary schools, local government officials, and community and religious leaders to promote pluralism and mitigate conflict. Outreach activities such as traditional dance and games, concerts and other competitions (reading, spelling), and peace promotion all enhanced the conflict transformation program, and strong partnerships ensured local buy-in and success.

Mencari Keadilan
In 2007, Search for Common Ground designed a comic strip to complement a broader progam to increase public awareness of the judicial system, and improve access to justice and legal assistance for the poor, women, and other marginalized groups.

Working with the Indonesian Supreme Court and the British Council as part of the broader Good Governance in the Judiciary initiative, Search for Common Ground utilized radio, television, and comics to change attitudes and behavior. The focus of the European Union funded media awareness campaign was a 30-episode radio drama series called Mencari Keadilan (Looking for Justice). The campaign also included a “know your rights” radio contest, TV and radio public service announcements, comic strips, and comprehensive advertising and marketing.

Throughout 2007 and 2008, the radio drama was broadcast three times on commercial radio stations in six major urban centers across Indonesia (Jakarta, Makassar, Padang, Surabaya, Denpasar and Jayapura). 30 comics strip panels were published in major newspapers in each of the six cities, to highlight key messages, and to promote the radio drama and interactive talk shows and quizzes. The radio program and corresponding comics covered a wide range of legal issues, including domestic violence issues, land law, labor law, family law, inheritance law and human rights issues.

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