The main hurdles to sustainable world peace are namely: the failure in practice to accept the value and moral equality of all human beings, lack of a sense of global collective wellbeing, the application of double standards in similar cases, and the manufacture and distribution of weapons. This is a large thesis, not easy to defend above the deafening din of exploding bombs and canons in so many parts of the world (Gaza, Ukraine, Crimea, Libya, Iraq, Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, etc.) at the present moment or very recently. But this claim is provable and I shall attempt from time to time on this blog to bring evidence and/or to elaborate arguments to render it credible.
It is 100 years this year since the First (European) World War of 1914-1918, which was speedily followed by the Second World War (1939-1945) during which the most sophisticated weapons of mass destruction were developed and used on human beings by human beings. The chronology of European wars and conflicts, going back several centuries before Christ (BC), clearly demonstrates that the most technologically advanced peoples of the world are also the most belligerent who have mastered nothing better than war and warfare. The Second World War seems to have ended with genuine general feelings of “never again in human history!” for the purpose of which the United Nations Organization (UNO), among other things, was created. But, unlike in other parts of the world and in other cultures, there were no solemn ritual ceremonies or a “truth and reconciliation” process as witnessed, say, in South Africa recently, to help impress on the human psyche the general aversion towards war. Everything was left at the purely rational level, thereby permitting the “victors” of the war to think that they had the “rational” duty to pursue and punish the war criminals amongst the vanquished in war to ensure by pure military superiority that there would be no more wars. It is not possible to stop wars through war. Every war creates innumerable reasons and opportunities for further wars.
In theory the value and dignity of all human beings is today professed all over the world. But in practice it is evident that some human beings are considered more equal than others and that many human beings around the world are considered and treated as completely dispensable. The Jews were the spectacular innocent victims of Adolf Hitler, the evil genius of the Second World War. Anyone informed about the Second World War who does not fully empathize with the Jews can hardly be fully human. Because of this, many people, the world over, are strong supporters of the state of Israel, created after the war for the settlement of the Jews. It has sometimes been claimed that some of Israel’s neighbours do not admit her right to exist. The right to exist belongs inalienably not only to all human beings but to all living things. However, the right to exist does not include a right to eradicate or annihilate any other living thing. The problem of existing by occupying space legitimately belonging to another is one that can be discussed, deliberated and resolved in a manner appropriate for human beings.
The right of Israel to exist and to defend itself, if and when unjustifiably attacked, is neither more nor less than the right of Palestinians to exist and to defend themselves, if and when unjustifiably attacked. And there must be a sense of proportion in reactions to even unjustifiable attacks. If someone throws a rotten tomato at your glass house, it is not rational, let alone proportionate, to burn down his/her grass hut “in self-defense”. The Israeli/Palestinian problem is one that can be resolved and should long have been resolved, using mere commonsense and the moral imperative of equality of all human beings. In my view, the solution to this problem could be as simple as creating, under the supervision of the UNO, a loose confederation of two autonomous states, with plastic internal boundaries, one economy, two administrative/legal systems, etc. With sufficient efforts and good will this is quite achievable and could be quite easily achieved, but for the ready availability of arms and weapons to both sides of the conflict.
Both Israel and Palestine are “blessed” with some of the greatest fanatical extremists in human history. Their war crimes and human rights violations should not be glossed over or lightened by giving them different names. But the rest of the world would tragically be failing both in rationality and moral courage to stand by and watch these children of Abraham, the chosen people of God – according to their own sacred myths – to attempt each surviving by completely annihilating the other from existing.
Gobata, Yaounde, 03/08/2014
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