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A World in Turmoll
In the Middle East, hostillties remain
near the boilmg pomt in war-torn
Lebanon, where "Christian " !orces
have at least temporarily gained vic–
tory over Moslems after many
months of savage fighting. The
prospects for lasting peace in the
explosive Middle East? Nil.
Meanwhile, terrorism continues,
not only in the Middle East, but all
over the world. Even the daring and
successful Israelí raid on Uganda 's
Entebbe Airport , which rescued
over a hundred hostages, has done
little to quell the rising tide of terror–
ist attacks and skyjacki ngs.
In lreland, two branches of the
Christian religion continue to bomb
and kili each other in a bloody war
that knows no end. Since 1969,
over 1,600 people have lost their
lives. and at least ten times that
number have been maimed and
wounded . Leaders on both sides
despair and confide that they have
litt le hope the deep hatred and mis–
trust will soon abate . " lt's becoming
a way of lile, " lamented one official,
"and 1 shudder to think what it's
doing lo our kids."
A bomb in a Catholic bar, a ma–
chine-gun slaying in a Protestan!
neighborhood - these are lhe
everyday realities of man 's seeming
inability to get along in peace.
On the African continenl , críes of
" liberation," "equality," and " black
consciousness" are lhe watch–
words of the day. Especially in Rho–
desia and South Africa, b itter
animosities are being engendered
between the minority white ruling
class and the black majority. Esca–
lating and increasingly bold guer–
rilla attacks launched from
neighboring countries continue to
probe the defenses of Rhodesia ,
while in South Africa. riots and
st rikes continue to wreak havoc on
the economy and seriously disrupt
the society. Many authonties speak
of the " inevilabil ity " of white capilu–
lation. The alternative seems to be
an ugly and bloody race war .
No, American ci ties are not being
ravaged by the 1nsanity of war. and
our boys and fathers are not being
slaughtered in yet another foreign
war. But the tragedy is that the ba–
sic hostilities and enmities that
24
breed war are still rife lhroughout
the world.
3,270 Years of War
One study shows that in the last
3,500 years. there have been only
230 years of peace on earth . Thal
means there have been 3,270 years
of war . Or, to pul it another way,
man is at war - fighting wi th him–
sel f - some 94% of the time. In the
las! 30 years alone, there have
been 11 9 armed conflicts involving
69 nations.
Su rely, one of the greatest para–
doxes of lile is that man seems to
know why wars occur; yet he
seems powerless lo preven! lhem.
Wars come from greed, fears. ha–
treds, prejudices, and the vanity of
self -aggrandizing power. Bu t no
one, it seems, knows how to control
and rechannel these basic human
emotions and motivations.
Pope Paul , in his annual peace
messages . has cal led on worl d
opinion to apply pressure for global
peace.
" The present momenl of history,
marked as it is by fierce outbreaks
of inlernational con flict . by impla–
cable class warfare, outbursts of
revolutionary freedoms, the crush–
ing of human rights and fundamen–
tal ltberties, and by unforeseen
symptoms of worldwide economic
instabi li ty , seems lo be destroying
the tnumphan t ideal of peace as if it
were the statue of an idol, " ob–
serves Pope Paul.
" To save peace," the Pope adds,
" man must reject the conception
that war is rooted in his own nature.
To regard struggle among menas a
structural need of society is not
on ly an error of philosophy and vi–
sien but al so a potential and per–
manent crime against humanity."
Pope Paul believes " it is ideas,
lar more and befare particular mter–
ests. that gutde the world...."
Thus he believes that peace can be
achieved only if public opinion 1s
solidly behind it.
Teaching Peace
Suppose you were given the as–
signment lo teach a course on
"peace" at a local school. What
would you do and say? How does
one actually study and teach
" peace"?
The ft rst th1ng you would ftnd is
that " peace" is usually defmed m
terms of conflict and war! Dic tio–
nanes defme peace as " freedom
from war: the absence of hostil–
ities." So, peace is the state of the
world in those rare penods when
one group of people 1s not shootmg
at another group of people.
By contras! , war - insane and
brutal - is a posttive force with rea l
physical components. lt 's relatively
easy to teach war 's terrible skil ls.
But peace? Well , it's negative, ab–
strae!. lt 's certainly not very ex–
citing, and it's just platn dtfficult lo
teach .
In spite of these dtff iculhes, some
colleges and universities are addmg
peace education cou rses to their
currículum. They attempt lo study
why man seems driven to war and
how he mighl find peace. They
seek to draw insights from many
discipli nes: sociology, history, phi–
losophy, morality, economics, polit–
ical science, and even futuristics.
" You might say we ' re trying to
teach the fourth 'R,' " comments
one administrator. "There's read–
ing , writing , and 'rithmatic,' and
now 'relations' - how to gel along
with your fellow man. In short ,
we're trying to leach peace. "
But so lar, peace researchers
and educators have done li ttle to
sa lve one of mankind 's oldest
scourges, war, and achieve one of
mankind 's oldest dreams. peace.
lndeed, man 's "last hope for
peace," the United Nations, has de–
teriorated into a pathetic hollow
shell consisting largely of th ird
world rhetoric and denunciations.
The politics of envy , resentment·,
and ideological warfare now seem
lo domínate a faltering organ iza–
lían, fanning the llames of conflict
more than quenching them.
Does Man Want Peace?
Ask the man on the street if he
wan ts peace, and he'll answer
"Yes,' ' without hesitat ion. But what
he really means is th is : "Yes, 1want
peace - but only on my terms, only
1 the status qua is to my advantage,
and only as long as people don 't
trample on my rights.
" 1 certamly don 't want lo be
torced lo fight for something which
does not affect or interest me per-
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1976