A language for peace

Nadia Terranova argues that the word peace is a revolutionary concept rooted in active labor rather than passivity. Writing for L'Osservatore Romano, Terranova explains that the etymology of peace, derived from roots such as pax, pag, and pak, signifies the act of fastening or joining things together.

Terranova describes making peace as a dynamic and deliberate process of mending that requires ingenuity, industriousness, and the strength to put ideas into practice. She notes that the word is often misunderstood as being inert or naive, yet she links the concept to the necessity of disobedience, which involves identifying and rejecting existing paths to find new ways of acting.