By Joy Chinecherem
-We make war that we may live in peace- Aristotle
Today is International Peace Day and the theme this year is “Shaping Peace Together”. Today, nations at war lay down their weapons, no violence, and cease-fire for 24 hours to commemorate this day.
The International Day of Peace was in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to he Day as a period o non-violence and cease-fire. The United Nations invites all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities during the Day and to otherwise commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on issues related to peace.
To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association Japan, as “a reminder of the human cost of war”; the inscription on its side reads, “Long live absolute world peace”
Shaping Peace, Is War Pre-requisite?
Today, nations lay down weapons to observe this day, but is the 24 hours of cease-fire enough to shape world peace? But what if rather than being a disruptive force, war is seen as a father of peace.
According to the Oxford dictionary, peace is a situation or a period of time in which there is no war or violence in a country or an area.
So on one hand, there was a war before peace, peace is a negative concept because it signifies an absence, it can’t exist without war. Just like death is meaningless without life.
To pretend that peace is a more natural state for humanity than war is to exercise a great deal of denial regarding human nature. Just like the Chinese military strategist/philosopher said:
“In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace. The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence under no circumstances can it be neglected.” Sun Tzu c. 550 B.C.
Peace is a product of wars that have been successfully won or threats of war/violence. Whether it’s the military checkpoint ahead where soldiers are standing guard, there are 99.9% chances that miscreants and insurgents will avoid that route or abort their mission totally because of the threat ahead.
Countries the world over, have from time to time waged war on terrorism or anything posing as threats to them, these they do to protect the peace of their country. The Nigerian government has waged war on the Insurgents in the North-east from time to time, this they do for the whole country to live in harmony.
Humans are naturally animals of prey, in order to survive, men learned the art of violence to survive. To abhor war is to welcome social inequality, because then the stronger(the rich) prey on the weak (poor), an example being the Proletarian revolution which took place 1917-1923. The proletariat i.e the working class trying to overthrow the Bourgeoisie.
Nations have been at war since time immemorial, to mark their territory, to protect their people, or sometimes over fickle issues. The world’s two predominant religion Islam and Christianity acknowledges war as a way of settling a conflict.
In the bible, when the children of Israelites wanted to take back their promised land, they waged war against other nations.
Shaping world peace should lay in disentangling war and peace, like the sociologist Charles Tilly has argued that war and the nation-state are inextricably linked. For so many centuries, nations and major decisions have built on the platter of war, so instead of focusing on peace, one must create a society, a nation, and a political space in which domestic and foreign violence is checked. War no longer serves as a Protective force rather an Apocalyptic force. It may be that, if we want a durable peace, a peace built on something other than war, we need to consider how to construct societies based on something other than the nation-state and its monopoly of violence.
Albert Einstein argued that “Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” In 1963 John F Kennedy issued what might be regarded as a call to arms for opponents of war everywhere when he expounded his vision of “genuine peace….not merely peace in our time but peace for all time…. World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbour–it requires only that they live together in mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement. And history teaches us that enmities between nations, as between individuals, do not last forever….So let us persevere. Peace need not be impracticable, and war need not be inevitable”.
Everybody dreams of a world where the words of John F. Kennedy comes alive, But as Oscar Wilde wrote in “The Soul of Man under Socialism”: “a map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at…Progress is the realization of utopias.”
Are we ready to be that nearly perfect citizens? Ready to shape world peace?
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author and forum participants on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Anaedo Online or official policies of the Anaedo Online.