Peace is best pursued and achieved within a framework of justice, as injustice is itself a basic cause of violence
WARS, conflicts and crisis situations have been increasing in our deeply troubled world, and most thoughtful, sincere analysis of this trend has been recommending the urgent need for more and better peace diplomacy.
At the same time as interventions based on peace diplomacy are needed more and more, tragically the prospects of peace diplomacy have been diminishing. Diplomacy which is truly and sincerely centered on durable peace objectives is less and less visible these days, particularly among some of the most powerful and important players on the international scene. It is not that diplomats with a better and sincere realisation of the real needs of the world, based on greater wisdom and foresight, have ceased to exist; it is just that the current broader paradigm of international relations does not have space for them in the frontlines and so they have been pushed into back seats.
Retired senior diplomats with a sincere desire for peace also find the conditions less conducive for making any significant interventions with longer commitment to promote peace broadly in durable ways or to resolve any particular crisis situation. The United Nations is being increasingly marginalised in its most essential role of ensuring peace.
This bleak and dismal situation can be brightened with hope only if the prospects of peace diplomacy can increase and improve very significantly in the near future. While several short-term measures can be considered; by far the best, the most credible and sustainable way of improving peace prospects is to strengthen the support for peace at the ground level in the form of a strong broad-based people’s peace movement with continuity of work at the grass roots.
Such a broad-based people’s peace movement with continuity must be very sincerely committed to pursuing peace objectives without any biased power politics. Members and supporters of this movement are supposed to work at the community level to reduce all forms of violence which are the cause of immense distress among people. By reducing this violence and the distress related to this, the peace movement gets the support of millions of people which in turn is harnessed in persuasive ways to increase the support-base for world peace and disarmament, and for ending various wars and conflicts in ways that can lead to more durable peace.
In such a changed situation, when credible peace initiatives emerge to stop ongoing wars or prevent likely wars and conflicts, these peace initiatives will be supported by mobilisation of millions of people including core groups of more influential sections like retired senior diplomats and political leaders known for their commitment to peace, currently active media persons and academics, artists and writers, public interest lawyers and legal luminaries, social activists known for their rich contributions. Women and youth movements known for their commitment to peace will have a particularly important role.
In the past, for example at the time of the Iraq invasions, large numbers of people came on the streets in several countries including leading Western countries to express their opposition to invasion. However, this opposition, although impressive in its own way and certainly welcome, was more of a symbolic gesture, a one-time or even just one-day event in many cases, and could not be expected to be effective enough to make real change.
What we are suggesting here is a ground-based peace movement with thousands of continuing daily actions even in normal times so that it has an active base of millions of people. When such a peace movement with millions of people active with continuity already exists, then much bigger continuity in people’s non-violent activities for support of peace diplomacy and initiatives can be ensured.
Hence, instead of just one-day mobilisation of millions of people to stop ongoing wars or prevent expected new wars, what can be hopefully achieved is that while significant peace initiatives and diplomatic efforts are being launched, millions of people continue to take various kinds of daily actions with a lot of beautiful creativity in support of peace initiatives. They should continue this till significant success can be achieved.
With their millions of grass roots actions, also supported by the United Nations, such efforts can also create the conditions and pressures for the launch of new peace initiatives at national and international levels.
Such a peace movement must have a clear vision of the kind of peaceful world it wants. In particular it should be clear that the peace movement does not want the dominance of the world by any single country or a group or alliance of countries, or the dominance of A in place of B. The peace movement must be open to considering various governance and other changes which can ensure longer-term peace and disarmament. However, its most enduring and also immediate concern should be to ensure non-violence in daily life of people, the speedy and durable end to all wars and conflicts as well as reduction and phasing out of most dangerous weapons.
The peace movement must broaden its appeal by expressing deep commitment to protecting the basic life-nurturing conditions of the planet, thereby also creating very close linkages with the movement for protection of environment.
Peace is best pursued and achieved within a framework of justice, as injustice is itself a basic cause of violence.
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Bharat Dogra writes extensively on environment, development and welfare issues. The views expressed here are the writer’s own, and Clarion India does not necessarily subscribe to them. He can be reached at: bharatdogra1956@gmail.com
