By: Ahmed
ELNAHAS – Montopoli, August 18th 2014.
A century ago, WWI was defined as “the war to terminate all wars”. Through the 50s and 60s the
supporters of nuclear deterrence theorised
an equilibrium, made from the atomic terror, that would always maintain
conflicts between nations less frequent. And 25 years ago, the fall of the
Berlin Wall celebrated “the end of story”,
the arrival of a dominant unique politico-economical
model (the Capitalistic
Democracy); meaning also the exhaustion of all structural causes
for conflicts.
They were all wrong, those definitions, theories and
celebrations.. The slaughters in Verdun and Sedan didn’t stop two decades later
Dansk, Dresden or Hiroshima.. The Cold war coexisted with many Regional
conflicts.. And 1989 was followed by September 11th 2001 dragging
the entire world into its shocking repercussions.
According to the 2013
report of the “Institute for Economics
and Peace” (IEP), out 0f 162 countries only 11 enjoy peace. In
an interview to “The Independent” , the English daily
newspaper; Ms. Camilla Schippa (director of the IEP) said: “the classifications measure also direct and
indirect involvement in wars or conflicts far from proper national borders. The
criterion which defines true peace then is the ‘Non Participation’ in whichever controversy between governments
and territories, by resort to arms, and that would cause at least 25 deaths in
a year”..jpg)
The World’s Peace Map: as per the IEP this was the world at the closure
of 2013. Classifying the countries from most peaceful in dark green to those
mostly in conflicts coloured in red. We
distinguish the most peaceful countries: Switzerland, Japan, Qatar, Mauritius,
Uruguay, Costa Rica, Vietnam, Panama, and Brazil.
However, if the IEP also consider the selling of
weapons to parties in conflict, or training either party, is an indirect
involvement in war; then there is no peaceful land to be found on our planet.
Maybe that explains your apparent dullness, or
indifference, before the grievances and pains which are infecting our world. Perhaps
because they are too many to follow or too much to bear? There was a time when
for every sinking ship, every bomb used in each war you’d succeed to see men,
one by one.. A time when you were able to imagine their dismay, their terror
and their desperation.. As if they were your dear
ones.. Yourself.
Today, not anymore. The butcheries of ISIS, the
massacres of the children in Gaza, or the women’s laceration by Boko Haram: you
don’t want to know or read.. You just carefully fold and put away the newspaper
or press the remote control in search for a funnier channel.. You just change
the subject when the discussion seem to get near the issue. Why? No, not only
pain.
·
It’s a “sense of guilt”, because, without
noticing, you have already abandoned the dreams to fight for a better world or
to change it.
·
It’s “resignation”, because you have
decided that your time is passing away and neither you or your generation have
managed to stop war.
·
It’s “remorse”, because you have
discovered becoming used to your own ‘peace’ and can’t
distinguish anymore how many wars are still roaring around.
There were days when you would have proven disgust
before the slaughters in the Middle East and elsewhere,
and experience nausea from the European Banks complicity in the victories of
the bloody narcos. Today, no. Even you have found yourself adequate
justifications. Using words like “Realism”,
“Impotence” and “Crisis”; which permit you to concentrate every your preoccupation
upon this tiny little world of yours.
Make your escapes to the desert, to the beach and
under the waves.. Expose your laziness to the sun for a better tan.. Do whatever
it would take to put away these thoughts and to enjoy your small tiny little
corner made of an imaginary small peace.. In vain.. Because the victims, the
dead, the mutilated, the tortured and the lacerated were all your equal, and
you can still hear their screaming cries just as you were much younger. And
finally you’ll discover that it wasn’t quit sufficient escaping into the
desert, or to the beach and under the waves to evade that thought.
Pass On The
Word.
References:
Ø Federico Rampini – La Repubblica.
Ø Ferruccio Sansa – Il Fatto
Quotidiano.
Ø
The Peace Mapi s courtesy of La Repubblica for the
IEP.
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