While wars are becoming more and more destructive and the possibility of an all-destructive nuclear war also very much continues to exist, the urgency of achieving much greater cooperation for resolving serious environmental and other problems continues to increase. Hence from more than one perspectives, it is of the greatest importance to achieve a future without wars and nothing less than the saving of humanity and most other forms of life is involved here.
How can humanity achieve this most important of all aims, that of avoiding wars in future? Many people tend to think of this, when they think of this at all, in terms of agreements involving some of the world’s most powerful countries and leaders. Ultimately, of course, some such agreements will have to be reached, but to create the conditions for such possibilities to emerge first a lot has to change at the ground level. Unless ground conditions change in some very important respects, the conditions favorable for international agreements to avoid all wars will never emerge.
While one can think of several reforms, three reforms are most crucial and just cannot be ignored if conditions favorable for agreements to end wars are to be created.
First and foremost, the more powerful nations and their leaders as well as people have to stop thinking in terms of exploiting other countries and people for grabbing their resources in order to gain more benefits for themselves. This colonial tendency has never really gone away and continued in so many different ways. As long as some of the most powerful countries are thinking in terms of living much beyond the means of their own resources and limits by somehow gaining undue and unjust advantage over other nations and people, the tendency towards war and conflict will remain and the tendency of amassing the most dangerous weapons for defensive as well as offensive reasons will remain.
While this tendency of grabbing the just share of others is sometimes reflected in the actual grab of resources like precious or rare minerals or oil and gas, this need not always be so obvious and complex financial manipulations and debt-based exploitation may be used to achieve the same objective of longer-term exploitation of others to live beyond one’s own means at their cost.
Secondly, and related to the first, the threat of war, including all-destructive war, will always remain as long as there is the concept of any one country with a few subordinate allies trying to dominate the world. Either this concept should end, or else the world will end. It is as basic as that.
Thirdly, on the more positive side of the crucial changes needed, there must be continuing worldwide efforts for learning to live a life of peace ad non-violence at various levels—at the level of a person, at the level of a family, then at community level, in schools/colleges and at workplace level and so on all the way to higher levels.
This most important of all tasks has been neglected to such an extent that while wars are becoming more and more destructive, still violence in daily life causes more deaths, injuries and distress than what is caused by wars, and this statistical reality will probably continue with us till an all-destructive nuclear takes place.
Living with peace and non-violence does not come naturally to human beings. At the same time it is not at all true to say that human beings are condemned inevitably to live with a lot of violence. The reality is that whether human beings live peacefully or violently in daily life depends to a large extent on whether conscious, deliberate, continuing efforts are made to motivate, inspire, train and educate people to live with peace and non-violence, and this is the sort of education which should start at a very early age in family and play school and continues throughout life. This can be the most creative and interesting education, and its beneficial impacts on improving life can be seen very soon.
Here it should be added that genuine and durable peace is possible only if it is based on justice. Hence when we say that worldwide continuing efforts should be made for justice, then what we really mean is peace based on justice or peace within a framework of justice.
If worldwide, continuing such efforts for peace and non-violence at the ground level are continued for about a decade (encouraging results will start becoming evident much earlier), then the conditions even at the top will start changing in very significant ways and such leaders will start emerging who are truly committed to peace and they will also get more support of people. In addition all the time pressure will be exerted by people, and not just at the time of elections, for avoiding and ending wars. It is in such conditions that what appears impossible will become possible and the world will be able to achieve a future without wars.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, Earth without Borders and A Day in 2071.
