April 23, 2025 / Fabiola Cardozo Ponte / NNOMY - It began at a very young age, born and raised in an environment of precariousness and economic hardship, where I felt the hostility of the world. Structural violence reduces your opportunities for advancement and makes your life an endless series of daily challenges. Living in a poor home where violence and its various manifestations were present made me understand that it was neither appropriate nor fair for me or any other human being. Over time, I grew up rejecting all expressions of violence, but at the same time, I strengthened my rebelliousness, my critical thinking, and my insatiable need to explore other ways of relating. From a young age, I was certain that education was my only option to overcome my situation of extreme poverty, and I took refuge in books. I had a special sensitivity to the injustices, slights, and marginalization of the victim era, and although my destiny seemed already determined by my social class and gender, I continued as a good rebel, determined to achieve what I so yearned for… At 16, I had a clear understanding of Gandhi's principles, his peaceful resistance, his Satyagraha, and his rejection of any unjust social imposition. The economic difficulties continued, and although I attended various public universities, it was in 2018 that I finally graduated from the Central University of Venezuela with a degree in Sociology, and in 2021 from the Latin American and Caribbean University with a degree in International Humanitarian Law.
My professional training has been guided by the problems that affect my own life, by understanding the structural causes of injustices based on social class and gender, and this is closely linked to my personal interest in rejecting any mechanism for the systematic exercise of violence. Although I would like to clarify that discretion or submission is not a trait of my personality, on the contrary, I know how to vigorously defend my point of view, I learned to set limits and stand up with conviction when faced with what seems unfair, I am certainly not the most peaceful person in romantic terms... 7 years ago I was presented with the opportunity to work on this interesting and challenging project that is NNOMY, and the most gratifying thing is knowing that in some way I am contributing to a cause that I have always believed in, rejecting war and all its violent mechanisms to make you participate in it.
During my time at NNOMY, I have collaborated with Code Pink, WILPF, The Military Law Task Force, Before Enlisting, War Resisters League, The Taskforce to End Compulsory Military Training In Schools, Peaceful Careers Alternatives and although many do not know me, I feel truly proud and satisfied to contribute and be a silent and almost invisible ally of this great cause.
As a Venezuelan, I know perfectly well how terrible it is to have the threat of war so close and constant. The possibility of invasion breathes down our necks, preventing us from thinking optimistically about future plans or building families with the guarantee of a peaceful environment. And while social media sometimes speaks to us and shows us war in a banal way, some of us know that war is definitely devastating, disturbing, and increases the difficulties experienced by the most vulnerable sectors of society a thousandfold. Sometimes I wish I could think of a future where the right to peace and justice is truly respected, where the priority of resolving conflicts nonviolently is exactly that, an absolute priority for humanity, where boys and girls don't have to live with the monster of war that lives under their beds because their country is in a political dispute, where young people don't serve as cannon fodder, where young people aren't used to keep the war machine moving, where young people don't have to see military recruitment as an option for professional and personal development and advancement, because it's the young people recruited from each country who will be used to harm young people in other latitudes... So I'm still here in Venezuela, always trying to think about how to contribute to the construction of peace, how to make my life a space where violence is rejected, where education, social justice, and gender equality are supported...
It still fills me with pride to be part of NNOMY, it fills me with pride to know that my work is part of my personal convictions and interests, even though few actually know what I mean. what I do…
Fabiola Cardozo Ponte - Peaceful Career Alternatives Communications Staff Person - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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