TakingITGlobal - Panorama - The War Culture:...

Published on: Jun 20, 2005

Topic:

Type: Opinions

https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=5748

There is a Persian proverb that sounds more like a tongue twister than sound advice. We were compelled to memorize it by our high school teacher for obvious reasons: “He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; shun him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child; teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep; wake him. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise; follow him."

All four “types” can be found in all spheres of human endeavour and relationships. They do not wear badges or introduce themselves accordingly. Chances are good that the last thing a person, people or nation will want you to discover is the deep-down truth that they know not.

The brazen right to life is the most basic and inviolable right, being that life comes from God and no one has the right to take it.

WAR as a means of securing one’s rights against the sacredness of human life is basically wrong. Many people and nations have variegated reasons for using war to claim their rights. Patent, their powers, oppose, oppress and defend their nationhood etc.

The history of humanity has never chronicled any happy effect of war and power struggle. It has always been a panorama of death, desolation and ruin. If we can reflect on what our memory has and the images that appear therewith, then we will come to grips with the insanity, foolery and darkness that loom with war.

Conduct a random sampling: the First World War of 1914-1918: the Adolph Hitler war of 1939-1945: the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970. What about the contemporary wars? The Iraqi-Kuwaiti and Chechnya's 21 - month brutal war, in which an estimated 60 000 to 90 000 Russian citizens were killed. The Northern Ireland war: 30 years of conflict between Catholic nationalists and the Protestant unionists, a conflict where thousands of human lives were lost and the swords of Damocles still hangs.

Consider Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, an ethnic war that lasted more than 3 years, consuming thousands of lives- youths and the elderly alike; more than 500 000 Serbs, Muslims and Croats were displaced. Think of the Croatia and Kosovo hit-ups, in which the Yugoslav’s Strongman, Slobodan Milosevic played a prominent role. The eternal feud between Israel and Palestine (Arab World) that eliminates lives daily; the America-Iraq war of no end.

Give a thought to the crisis in Liberia that consumed lives; the genocide in Rwanda that wiped out millions and left the living ever envious of the dead! The 15 - year civil war in Sudan in which at least 1.9 million Sudanese have perished: the entire country subjected to live in perpetual misery with fresh wounds that are constantly added to past injuries? Sierra Leone is not left out in this history of bloodshed. Civil unrest has turned Sierra Leone into a bloody hell hole. The mutilation and slaughter of human beings, even of fetuses out from the womb while they were still alive, shocks human sensitivity to life. The analysis list seems infinite.
Whatever may be the claims of those who engage in these wars, the pristine wisdom remains that evil means and ways can never be used to achieve a just change or course. It becomes our collective responsibility to preserve life by keeping peace on earth, through justice and the respect for the rights of others.

Respect for human rights is natural: it is the secret and true symbol of peace. It is in the claim of individual or collective rights that this human friction occurs: it is also in this claim that alot of insanity and insensitivity arises. Human beings are slaughtered recklessly, and the living forced out of their homelands to dwell as refugees in deserts and other squalid conditions; as they patrol and wander helplessly. What an unjust world! Life can never be downgraded to the level of a 'thing' in any case.

Equally villainous is the often public and systematic killing culture of most dictators. A culture through which tyrants eliminate those who maintain views different from theirs. The notorious “V.I.P. Treatment” by Idi Amin of Uganda and the like comes readily to mind. Also condemnable are the various forms of abandonment that often culminate in death. In addition, they kill, using propaganda as their instrument of termination, mauling people’s character and their good name in order to expurgate them; an invasion without just course.

The culture of war: The impacts have not been sat well with humanity and history has confirmed it. Let us be warned, we must stop this death culture now!

« return.



by Henry Ekwuruke
Published on: Jun 20, 2005
Topic:
Type: Opinions
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=5748


There is a Persian proverb that sounds more like a tongue twister than sound advice. We were compelled to memorize it by our high school teacher for obvious reasons: “He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; shun him. He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a child; teach him. He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep; wake him. He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise; follow him." All four “types” can be found in all spheres of human endeavour and relationships. They do not wear badges or introduce themselves accordingly. Chances are good that the last thing a person, people or nation will want you to discover is the deep-down truth that they know not. The brazen right to life is the most basic and inviolable right, being that life comes from God and no one has the right to take it. WAR as a means of securing one’s rights against the sacredness of human life is basically wrong. Many people and nations have variegated reasons for using war to claim their rights. Patent, their powers, oppose, oppress and defend their nationhood etc. The history of humanity has never chronicled any happy effect of war and power struggle. It has always been a panorama of death, desolation and ruin. If we can reflect on what our memory has and the images that appear therewith, then we will come to grips with the insanity, foolery and darkness that loom with war. Conduct a random sampling: the First World War of 1914-1918: the Adolph Hitler war of 1939-1945: the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970. What about the contemporary wars? The Iraqi-Kuwaiti and Chechnya's 21 - month brutal war, in which an estimated 60 000 to 90 000 Russian citizens were killed. The Northern Ireland war: 30 years of conflict between Catholic nationalists and the Protestant unionists, a conflict where thousands of human lives were lost and the swords of Damocles still hangs. Consider Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina, an ethnic war that lasted more than 3 years, consuming thousands of lives- youths and the elderly alike; more than 500 000 Serbs, Muslims and Croats were displaced. Think of the Croatia and Kosovo hit-ups, in which the Yugoslav’s Strongman, Slobodan Milosevic played a prominent role. The eternal feud between Israel and Palestine (Arab World) that eliminates lives daily; the America-Iraq war of no end. Give a thought to the crisis in Liberia that consumed lives; the genocide in Rwanda that wiped out millions and left the living ever envious of the dead! The 15 - year civil war in Sudan in which at least 1.9 million Sudanese have perished: the entire country subjected to live in perpetual misery with fresh wounds that are constantly added to past injuries? Sierra Leone is not left out in this history of bloodshed. Civil unrest has turned Sierra Leone into a bloody hell hole. The mutilation and slaughter of human beings, even of fetuses out from the womb while they were still alive, shocks human sensitivity to life. The analysis list seems infinite. Whatever may be the claims of those who engage in these wars, the pristine wisdom remains that evil means and ways can never be used to achieve a just change or course. It becomes our collective responsibility to preserve life by keeping peace on earth, through justice and the respect for the rights of others. Respect for human rights is natural: it is the secret and true symbol of peace. It is in the claim of individual or collective rights that this human friction occurs: it is also in this claim that alot of insanity and insensitivity arises. Human beings are slaughtered recklessly, and the living forced out of their homelands to dwell as refugees in deserts and other squalid conditions; as they patrol and wander helplessly. What an unjust world! Life can never be downgraded to the level of a 'thing' in any case. Equally villainous is the often public and systematic killing culture of most dictators. A culture through which tyrants eliminate those who maintain views different from theirs. The notorious “V.I.P. Treatment” by Idi Amin of Uganda and the like comes readily to mind. Also condemnable are the various forms of abandonment that often culminate in death. In addition, they kill, using propaganda as their instrument of termination, mauling people’s character and their good name in order to expurgate them; an invasion without just course. The culture of war: The impacts have not been sat well with humanity and history has confirmed it. Let us be warned, we must stop this death culture now! « return.