Are the 21st century knowledge-based philosophers and practitioners incapable to rationalise human priorities for peace and harmony to safeguard the besieged mankind from the scourge of WW3? Was Immanuel Kant more proactive and intelligent more than 200 years earlier to think of the best of mankind in “Perpetual Peace” plan? The prevalent global realities speak of a contemporary world devoid of rational thinking and priorities for peacemaking and peace-building. With countless resources of knowledge and intellect, the world has become a dangerous place – a touch button age capability to undo the entire mankind as if it was burden on the shoulders of the traditional warmongers affluent throughout the industrialised nations.
Political and secretive war manufacturing industries are flourishing but peace is not the priority of any assembly line major establishments. It is not that the essential priorities are wrong so are the mindsets and intellectual pursuits of the international warlords managing the global governance. They hold peace conferences but follow the war agenda. Too many academic discussions consume time and energies leaving educators exhaustive for not being able to see any light beyond and above the immediate box of moral and intellectual paradoxes.
At times, we are too occupied with dead artifacts and convenient scenarios to discuss peace and the concerns of the global community rather than overriding the sponsored comforts of higher standard of living to pursue change and reformation of the obsolete thoughts and priorities. A reality check frightens the whole of mankind of the unthinkable consequences what if too many Fukushima disasters become unmanageable. Politicians, scientists and hired experts will debate while the larger parts of the living humanity will be victimised by their failure to perceive the reality.
Man is the nucleus of the concept of humanity and together the narrative exposes the human consciousness and reality to be part of the splendid universe in which we exist and aspire to establish a peaceful and coherent relationship of co-existence. Despite over centuries of factual knowledge and abundance of empirical observations and critical assessment, we the human species have been incapacitated to think and prioritise our efforts for a lasting and peaceful relationship with the surrounding environment. One of the important factors in this ordeal is the missing understanding of origin of man and life in relation to the existence of the universe. God created man – the intelligent one and with reason, the universe and all that is visible or unknown and its functional systems and man is held accountable. Albert Einstein on Human Being offered this candid observation:
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”
Political temptations and compulsion can enforce evil’s supremacy but it can never acquire victory as a permanent factor. George W. Bush and Tony Blair have been indicted by an International Legal Tribunal but continue to enjoy normal life as if they are not responsible for almost three million civilian genocide in Iraq. Alfred Nobel – the Norwegian Nobel Foundation – had valuable intents and priorities but he did not know that his name will be used by corrupt and wicked politicians to show and tell about peace and war. Kant was true to his belief in Perpetual Peace and so were the people who applauded his visionary thoughts at time when the Europeans desperately needed an end to barbarian wars and to imagine of peace as a way of New Thinking.
How it is in the 21st century people of knowledge and wisdom cannot come up something workable to restore that human perception and priority for peace. No human being in a rational state of mind can or will have passion for war. Wars kill people and do not pave ways for peace and co-existence. In an opinionated world controlled by the few news media outlets and few political warlords, we are losing the true understanding of the consequences of a technologically advanced warfare. From WW1 to WW2, nothing has changed or stopped. These are continuous wars against mankind and celebrations by the few sadistic minded warlords.
UNO, the chief institutionalised hope, has proven to be irrelevant and incapable to extend any sense of security, no effective global system of governance, no surety of protection of human rights and dignity, and no conflict prevention mechanism to discourage and stop the aggressors from committing more crimes against humanity. Ironically, the world organisations are led by self-centred and highly incompetent people to maintain the status-quo and do nothing as was the case of the League of Nation.
There are daily bloodbaths of precious human lives in Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere but no strategic revulsion is taking tangible form and shape to stop these atrocities. What the UN Security Council and the General Assembly do is to hold discussions after discussions and the sensational dramas of political stage actors delivering speech after speech to shatter the expectations and betray the trust of the global mankind.
Most recently, the European Union (EU) was awarded the Nobel Peace prize but nobody understands what it stands for? In conventional wisdom, the Nobel Peace Prizes were meant for people – person, not for abstract and legal, political economic entities like the EU. Rationality will question what has gone wrong with the Nobel Peace Committee that considered awarding the prize to President Obama and now to the EU. None has anything to do with peacemaking.
Somehow the equation of the Nobel Peace Prize and these figures do not relate to one another. The global warlords continue to institutionalise the war manufacturing business and to dehumanise its impacts as if all was well and fine. More so, in its last days, America is overwhelmed with reverse psychology of conflict-making. It plans to destroy the innocent people in distant lands and instigates reactionary wars to justify its cruelty against mankind.
(to be continued)