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START THE ROAD TO
WORLD PEACE
by Ed O’Rourke
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Vaclav Havel says that to achieve the seemingly impossible you must
first be unafraid to dream the seemingly impossible. World peace can be achieved in
incremental steps breaking the endless cycle of war and terrorism. At any one time, there
are about 30 wars taking place.
The first step is recognition of the limits of military power and,
second, a willingness to make serious efforts in pursuing non-war strategies to achieve
national and world security.
A look at the U.S. efforts in Iraq is enough to see the limits of
military power. Human rights organizations could list several dozen brutal dictatorships
that deserve regime change. The top ten are North Korea, Burma, China, Zimbabwe, Saudi
Arabia, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Cuba and Swaziland. The difficulty is that
there are not enough soldiers from the "good" countries to accomplish regime
change by military means, much less enough resources to rebuild societies under
occupation. If the old saying that the law is a blunt instrument is true, then, military
power is even blunter.
Furthermore, military power is useless in dealing with challenges to
man’s existence on earth. A disturbing Pentagon report shows the possibility of
abrupt global climate change touched off by melting the ice caps. The North Atlantic
Current would be shut down and by 2020, Great Britain’s climate could be similar to
Siberia’s. The report is not a prediction but a plausible scenario. The report
"An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National
Security" can be downloaded from the Global Business Network’s web site
http://www.gbn.com. The lesson is that all the bombs and bullets in the world are useless
to prevent the ghastly effects of this possible climate change – famines, diseases,
floods and droughts.
General Douglas MacArthur advocated the abolition of war. The following
are quotations from his address to the U.S. Congress on April 19, 1951:
"I know war as few other men now living know it, and nothing to me
is more revolting. I have long advocated its complete abolition, as its very
destructiveness on both friend and foe has rendered it useless as a means of settling
international disputes."….
"Military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in
turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. The utter
destructiveness of war now blocks out this alternative. We have had our last chance. If we
will not devise some greater and more equitable system, our Armageddon will be at our
door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence, an
improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in
science, art, literature, and all material and cultural developments of the past two
thousand years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."
In his memoirs, Albert Speer, Third Reich armaments minister, concluded
that mankind must abolish war or war would abolish mankind.
As a teenager, I heard of pacifism but never met a pacifist or read
anything written by one. This seemed like noble but naive idea. How could the Allies beat
the Axis powers or to contain the Soviet Union by abolishing the armed forces? In college
years, I read about the concept of graduated unilateral disarmament. The United States
could reduce military spending or the number of warheads by a significant but not critical
amount. The State Department would inform the Kremlin that if the Soviet Union were to
perform similar measures, then the U.S. would consider future reductions. Leading by
example would be faster than tedious negotiations.
From now on, we must deal with conflict by commerce, diplomacy,
science, technology, education, international law and human investment.
An old saying is that you cannot have peace as long as you have
injustice. Our Declaration of Independence was a response to British injustice symbolized
by George III. Colonists in the 18th century took certain truths to be
self-evident. People in the 21st century rebel against injustice too. The
Declaration of Independence has been a justification for independence movements ever
since. It can be moral to use violence to change the established order. The difficulty is
the one person’s freedom fighter is another person’s terrorist.
World peace can be achieved if there is serious attention to the root
cause of conflict and terrorism. A second Marshall Plan for the world’s poor will
achieve far more than airport security and anti-terrorism measures. Desperate people do
desperate things. The first Marshall Plan restored participating countries’ economic
output to prewar levels by 1951. The second Marshall Plan will take more time and
resources to raise the standard of living of the world’s poor. More than two billion
people live on less than $2 per day. A long term effort to build societies with access to
jobs, housing, food, health services and education with environmentally friendly
guidelines will be a major step to achieving world peace.
The rich countries will carry out the second Marshall Plan for a
variety of motives, just like the usual foreign aid. Humanitarian or religious feelings
combined with national interests have been the driving forces. Some U.S. efforts were made
to limit Soviet expansion. With all the efforts made since 1945, we have a good idea of
what works and what does not.
European based groups have been establishing a second Marshall Plan.
Refer to: www.globalmarhsallplan.org and www.club-of-budapest.com.
The first Marshall Plan cost $12.4 billion over four years. This would
be about $75 billion in today’s dollars. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown,
projects an additional $50 billion per year from the rich countries for the second
Marshall Plan that would provide universal primary education, ensure environmental
sustainability, provide access to safe drinking water and reduce extreme poverty. Since
Americans spend more each year on garbage bags than 90 of the world’s 210 countries
spend on everything, this is something that we can afford.
Since the International Monetary Fund has a record of burying the poor
in more international debt and the World Bank has been serving corporate interest rather
than the public good, I recommend starting entirely new institutions, probably a new
United Nations agency, to administer the second Marshall Plan.
Other measures will help. The United States could start a one-year
moratorium on weapons research. There would be no research and development expenditures
for computers, aircraft, tanks, bullets, radar, star wars or anything else. None.
Existing weapons could be upgraded. There would be no new weapons contracts issued during
the moratorium. The condition to extend the U.S. moratorium would be that a significant
number of other countries have to start a moratorium too. Since the United States spends
about as much for defense as the rest of the world combined and has the most advanced
weapons technology, there is little risk to such a moratorium. About $62 billion a year
for research and development could be at least temporarily to peace making activities.
The world’s armed forces could start disaster relief training for
their own and other countries. Learning the logistics of bringing food, medical service
and temporary shelter to flood, earthquake, tornado or hurricane victims is training for
logistics when there is actual combat. Rebuilding roads, communications systems and power
are what soldiers do. Learning the language and culture of different countries will be
beneficial to maintain or restore peace. Logistics experience gained on disaster relief
missions will serve well for the real thing.
By international agreement, there would be a sales or transaction tax
on international arms sales. The tax may start low at 2 % and slowly rise to 50% of the
arms value. The revenue would go to an international development fund.
Each country has a war department. It may be called something else. In
the United States, it is the Defense Department. It is time that every country establishes
a peace department. HR 1673 envisions proactive work in disarmament, Peace Academy
graduates trained in nonmilitary conflict resolution, development of policies addressing
domestic violence, promotion of racial and ethnic tolerance and other such task.
The sad fact is that war and preparation for war are activities with
powerful constituencies. Defense contractors have many well paid lobbyists that make
powerful arguments for new weapons systems, more sophisticated equipment along with the
more mundane supplies of food, clothing and transportation. Peace advocates are almost
always fighting after the fact. Oppose this war, reduce defense spending and advocate
humanitarian programs. Since the United States spends as much on defense as the next 20
countries, reasonable people can conclude that the spending levels can be reduced without
incurring significant risks. A peace department will enable strong constituencies
dedicated to reducing conflict.
Mankind must break the cycle that makes war inevitable.
It is possible. The American abolitionist movement in the 19th
century, the U.S. civil rights movement and the solidarity movements in the 1980s started
with few people but grew to bring about the social and political changes that they sought.
Make that happen now for the peace movement.
Other institutions have fallen by the wayside – monarchy, slavery,
selfdom, judicial torture, human sacrifice, Jim Crow laws, imperialist empires and Soviet
communism. Each of the institutions was an integral and normal part of society. In each
case, there came a time when the effort to maintain them surpassed benefits achieved.
After the fall of France, Winston Churchill announced that when Allied
victory came, the world would be able to walk in broad sunlit uplands. A song in the 1960s
by Tommy James and the Shondells gave a wider picture of world peace in "Crystal Blue
Persuasion". Others through plays, poetry, song, literature and movies will evoke
more profound powerful visions that are necessary to engage the human spirit to end the
vicious cycle of unending death and destruction.
Give peace a chance.
About the Author:
Ed O’Rourke is a certified public accountant in Houston specializing in
environmental costing.
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