Peace As a Matter of Top Priority

Today, marking the 65th Victory anniversary, we keep reflecting upon the lessons of the War and our life…

It can never be proved, but it is a safe assumption that the first time five thousand male human beings were ever gathered together in one place, they belonged to an army. (It may have been around 7000 BC). It is an equally safe bet that the first truly large slaughter of people in human history happened very soon afterward.

Since then killing has taken place on an unprecedented scale. In the history of the world there have been innumerable wars and battles. If we try to count only those which appear to have done most to shape the world as we know it today, there will be over thirty.

We are living now through a troubled and chaotic time. Ours is a war-weary, unstable world, full of discord, social unrest, instability, bloodshed, terror, strife, that of “wranglings and dissensions” (H. W. Longfellow). And there are still trigger-happy forces.

When the Berlin wall came down in 1989, pundits and policy-makers spoke of the dawn of a new era in which conflict would be the exception rather than the rule. But today the world is still at war. There are now a considerable number of major conflicts underway worldwide (Chechnya, Iraq, the Middle East, and so on...)

The end of the Cold War has made it less likely that there will be a nuclear war between the superpowers, but it has done little to stem the spread of local and regional wars. There are conflicts over territory, resources, ethnic and national identity, religious issues; there are acts of terror. The situation is grave, just a dire plight. People need peace, stability, hope and a future. Why hasn’t the international community come up with some ways to prevent war and violence? One of the answers is that behind the surfaces of conflicts lie basic economic and social grievances, religious discrepancies, ethnic and national peculiarities. Another factor in the spread of national and territorial conflicts is the ready availability of inexpensive but deadly weaponry – from rifles and machine guns to light trucks and rocket launchers. Last but not least, the world’s major powers have invested far too much in preparing for war and far too little in preventing conflict.

As we have embarked in a new century, in the third millennium, we should put more of our resources into efforts to prevent war, conflicts and violence. Violence is essence of war. Unless we do something, the violence of today’s local wars could be just the beginning of a new, more violent era in international affairs that will have devastating human and economic costs for people in every corner of the globe. Tragic consequences of wars and terrorist acts include not only physical - death, destruction, degradation of development, but also moral ones – psychological wounds, grief and mourning, pessimism and “the lost generation complex”, escalation of permissiveness, aggression and violence. Neither should we neglect hypothetical losses which are incalculable – people, human beings, “could-have-been” creators.

Nevertheless the world started the new century with wars and terrorist acts.

With every new war or terrorist act people are reminded of their vulnerability despite nationality, race, religion, money or place of living. It is a vicious circle – for example the war in Iraq (which started actually after the 11th of September) was followed by a lot of terrorist acts as a revenge in many countries of the world. And now who can distinguish between ‘the good and bad guys’? Who are killers and who are victims? Is there any guarantee that innocent people won’t be harmed in acts of vengeance? Blood produces blood, and “There is no discharge in the war” (R. Kipling). That is why even in ancient times Cicero wrote: “I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war.” “In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.” (N. Chamberlain). Those who don’t realize yet the horrors of war, terrorism and violence should remember the words of F. D. Roosevelt: “When peace has been broken anywhere, the peace of all countries is in danger.”

Fortunately, there exist forces in the world which promote peace, tolerance and non-violence and are ready to say “NO” to the politics of terrorism. Take for example International peace conferences, which started to be held in 1815. Now there is a special body – the United Nations Organisation – whose function is to maintain international peace, security and promote non-violence. The 2001 Nobel Prize for peace was awarded to Kofi Annan and the UNO.

Now all the progressive forces are trying to foster non-violence on all levels – family, person-to-person, towards children, towards women, towards environment, towards different ethnic groups, nations, states, etc.

The notion of non-violence has been analysed by many politicians and peace-makers, such as M. Ghandi, M. L. King, It is not just meek obedience, but peaceful settlement of conflicts. It means building bridges instead of walls. It also implies inter-cultural dialogue and profound socio-cultural competence.

It is high time that people washed the war-paint from their faces and “as brothers lived henceforward” (H. W. Longfellow). If people do not provide security in their own countries and in the whole world, mankind may cease to exist. Unless human species stop hunting each other in senseless and pointless acts of war or terrorism, our civilization will inevitably end in smoke, “not with a bang but a whimper” (T. S. Eliot). Thus the future is prepared today. Life, hopes, happiness of the future generations depend on today’s readiness to stop useless violence. If we stop violating security and life on a mass scale, we “will multiply and prosper,” otherwise we “will fade away and perish” (H. W. Longfellow).

We are coming to realize this more and more vividly now, when the world has seen too many tragic examples of wars. Let there be only anniversaries of happy days!