No Lasting Peace Without True Justice

LAHORE: A large number of peace organizations such as American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International, Nonviolent Peaceforce, Pax Christi International, Peace Coup, Peaceworkers UK, Seeds of Peace, Spirit of the Sword, World Peace Council, Ulster Project International, Peacekeeping, the Peace Alliance and Peace Parade UK work for social justice, peace and reconciliation and human rights, and provide humanitarian relief but roots of terror and violence are growing deeper day by day.

These organizations develop and empower young leaders from regions of conflict to work toward peace through coexistence. Personnel units of the United Nations are deployed as a way to help countries torn by conflict-created conditions for sustainable peace.

But after having so many peace institutions, the sustainable peace could not reign due to partial justice system of the world's Supers towards the under-developed and developing nations, the rich towards the poor, the white towards the black, the biggest towards the smallest, the West towards the East, and Christians and Jews towards the Muslims.

In the present day circumstances, continents, countries, states, provinces, religions, colors, castes, and people are at the verge of conflicts. Some are promoters of 'clash of civilizations' and others are advocates of 'survival of the fittest'. Some are waging 'just war' in the name of 'unjust peace'. But I prefer the most unjust peace to the just war that was ever waged.

There have been about 350 wars of all kinds since the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, which once and for all defeated Napoleon's lust for power. If this number fairly well represents the frequency of war in history, there have been nearly 13,600 wars since 3,600 BC.

The toll of human misery measures around 30,000,000 direct battle deaths since Waterloo and 1,000,000,000 since 3,600 BC. Then there are the uncountable deaths, the broken bodies and lives from the ravages and effects of these wars.

Nor has war abated. Not with civilization. Not with education and literacy. Not with burgeoning international organisations and communications. Not with the swelling library of peace plans and antiwar literature. Not with the mushrooming antiwar movements and demonstrations. In the 25 years after World War II, for so many the war to create and insure peace for generations, some 97 internal and international wars occurred. Total deaths about equal those killed in World War II. On any single day during these 25 years slightly more than 10 internal or international wars were being fought somewhere.

Peace can be a state of harmony or the absence of hostility. Peace can also be a non-violent way of life. Peace is used to describe the cessation of violent conflict. Peace, however, is also seen as concord, or harmony and tranquillity. It is viewed as peace of mind or serenity, especially in the East. It is defined as a state of law or civil government, a state of justice or goodness, a balance or equilibrium of Powers. Peace can also describe a relationship between any people characterized by respect, justice, and goodwill. Peace can describe calmness, serenity, and silence. This latter understanding of peace can also pertain to an individual's sense of himself or herself, as to be "at peace" with one's own mind.

During the 1950s and 60s, when Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement carried out various non-violent activities aimed at ending segregation and racial persecution in America, they understood peace as more than just the absence of violence. They observed that while there was not open combat between blacks and whites, there was an unjust system in place in which the government deprived African Americans of equal rights. While some opponents criticized the activists for "disturbing the peace", Martin Luther King observed that "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."

World leaders have not been motivated to work together in cooperation to achieve world peace (hence a management or leadership problem). And the world's populace has not been motivated to motivate their political leaders (a civic problem). We can, and should, approach this from the top down, and from the bottom up.

We have a global problem that will require a global solution. This will take leadership at a global level that we all will follow. The United Nations is well placed to provide this leadership. However, the United Nations would have to be reformed to undertake this responsibility.

Justice, development and peace are inextricably linked. There can be no lasting peace without development and no sustainable development without true justice.