From your mind to your hands - let Peace flow.

In my past writings concerning the wars taking place around the world, the plan to solve such wars are very easy to understand. The major barrier to peace is the cold reality that people are not willing to allow peace to take hold. Libya wanted a change of government and they have it. Sadly the hope of peace has not taken root. In fact the people of Libya are far worse today than they were five years ago. Libya is a perfect example of how the world geos about bringing peace. Basically it is a point, shoot, kill and leave a power vacuum for the shell shocked citizens to deal with. This is the leadership of our world when it comes to peace. More effort was put into stabilizing world banks after the Ponzi schemes began to collapse in 2005. What is more shocking is that we know peace is a very profitable environment to work in. We know that peace increases wealth. Yet there is a small, powerful element which works to ensure chaos. Millions of people live in hostage like environments as they must endure explosions, gunfire, death and injuries. As families are raised in this environment the children understand no other way of life but the chaos of war. This is what children understand as acceptable and proper surroundings of life. The most damaging part of this life is not the bombs or bullets. The most damaging element is the ideology of hatred and acceptable actions to kill another to solve conflict. This is what we are teaching are children when war breaks out. Yet almost every soldier who returns from war tells you that such an experience/existence should be avoided at all cost. When (or if) you read past writings posted here, you will notice a strong message of inner peace. Each of us has a duty to find peace within ourselves. We have the capacity to bring peace to the entire world. The only barrier to that goal lies within each of our minds. As you may read in past writings, war needs to met with a global effort. That effort is a total weapons ban, especially in such cases as Palestine and Israel, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and many other areas.

Middle East Insanity

Palestine and Israel are at it again, well to be more accurate, Hamas and Israel are at it again. There are few conflicts that hold the worlds interest as this conflict. With each peace talk and cease fire agreement that fails there will always be one more thing left undone. In no small part is this one thing an easy solution yet it is simple. What I am eluding to is a complete and total arms embargo in this entire region. The Iron Dome which Israel boasts about is not a solution nor a deterrent. In reality it is an imaginary cage in which the people of Israel have engulfed themselves in. This conflict is ideological in nature and thus no weapon we make will ever end the struggle. To end this struggle all weapons must be taken away and none brought in or made within the region. Already the politicians are playing with lives by giving way to perceptions of strengths and co-operation. Reports are being made that Israel agreed to a cease fire to give the impression they are co-operating. While Hamas has not agreed because they need to have the perception of not giving in. This is a war of ideology that is costing real life. How do we get to the point where perception gives way too reality? The United Nations Security Council is one of the problems. The permanent five members have acted childishly for their own ends. This dictatorship lead by the permanent five needs to find the courage to end the systemic violence that is now taken root in the Middle East. An arms embargo, more security forces, and a concerted effort to stop the ideological hatred between the people of the Middle East needs to start. The next step is to have educational programs that target the deep hatred set in the minds of the people. Of course many people will say that such a plan will take too long. Well we have had this garbage situation since 1948, so how much longer shall we try the same thing expecting a different result?

Balance

Rarely do we see war as an act of civic engagement in a political argument. However, war is the utmost physical engagement a person can delve into when it comes to politics. Such engagement is the brutal reality of war. As politicians talk about civic engagement we must understand the balance of such goals. Each war we experience begins with people protesting, shouting and asking for change. This civic engagement then boils over from words to fists, to bullets, to barricades, to grenades, to tanks, to bombs and then airplanes and finally a city is destroyed. Egypt did not fall into complete ruin or as much ruin as did Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, ort others. Ukraine has also seemed to dodge the complete destruction of war. In each situation, the civic engagement went out of control and into a realm of chaos. Why? How do we balance such civic engagement from spiraling out of control?

Libyas' Future

With each conflict the world deals with, the plan to bring peace and stability often fails with the initial setup. There are a great many reasons why peace is a very difficult thing to bring about. First of all is the concerted effort needed to sustain trust in the people that peace is being held. For example we can look at Libya. I wrote a number of articles and posted them to this site. In these articles the path to peace was spelled out. I am only a small player within the global context but if I had seen what was going on why was no one else looking? Tribal warfare has been the largest source of violence and for the most part, what I wrote has taken place. The tribal wars have taken root and the central government is on very weak ground. Even with the election of Ahmed Maetig, peace is far off. Within President Maetig’s speeches, he rests on the need for the legitimate force. Legitimate force is a United Nations sovereignty factor which allows a government to use all means to control violent groups or situations. The issue within Libya is that the country was without any centrally credible force to call upon except the already existing tribal forces. This created a power vacuum and leads us to what we are dealing with today. There is an unease of trust within the government forces as well with the politicians. What is to be done? President Maetig has talked about the singular vision of Libya, this is a very needed step. His biggest challenge outside of the violence is to get the leaders to agree on the singualr vision of Libya. The world needs to support these talks and assist with providing a peaceful environment for such talks to grow. For me the hardest task is to ensure the communities where schools, markets and hospitals are kept safe for children to grow and learn. Without this certainty, children will experience the violence which will plant seeds of hate towards those that may or may not have destroyed the child’s world. All that child will know is that no one is to be trusted and government is the first to be untrusted. At the heart of all peace is visions and hope of the future. That is why the children are such an important part of the focus. With that focus, each leader should be mindful of all the children that have already built up a distrust and the ones that are on the cusp. These children are the future peace. The next challenge for peace will be to have people act with a community mind and not a selfish mind. This is the point where community peacebuilding efforts are most needed. Also the need for a Libyan singular vision will rest upon the community mindset. How much of the community vision can be seen in the singular Libyan vision? These two visions must have a great deal in common. For President Maetig and the world, this term in office will be an interesting time for Libya. I pray that peace will be the outcome.

Social transitions need strong leadership

After reading the article in the following link, I recalled a number of discussion I had on the need for strong leadership during transition from chaos to order. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/05/egypt-sisi-chooses-stability-over-freedoms-20145119717430958.html Each and everyone of us understand the difficulty that arises within a society that has endured a complete breakdown in peace. During such times, the leadership of society is often a military style of governance. The reasons for this is that military leadership is much quicker and effective than a democracy. Even after a period of chaos there is a strong need for such a governance style to exist. It is rare that an entire society transitions peacefully after a period chaos. More often than not society will slip back into chaos if a democratic system is brought in too quickly. As mentioned in the linked article, stability is paramount to freedom in the early stages of rebuilding peaceful societies. The main reason for this is that there are too many sides seeking their way forward. Such a reality promotes segregation in thoughts, that spills into verbal confrontations and then into physical violence. This cycle of human nature is very common and the ultimate reason for military style governance immediately following a violent conflict. Such reasoning is often debated yet there is a reality at play which many ignore. Every society that uses democracy has a set of laws for emergency situations. These laws bring about military style governance in times of disaster or social upheaval. Also organizations such as the United Nations which preach democracy actually does not engage in such a practice. Take for example the Security Council, five members hold the entire organization hostage. Freedom is a great state of being when peaceful society is able to cultivate such an environment. When society is unstable, peace is very difficult to maintain. For peace to take hold in an unstable environment the system of governance must be strong and quick to hold the peace. At present we are seeing the collapse of peace in Ukraine and each side speaks of what the people want. As the situation erodes, the irony of such leadership is that the people want peace but the leaders are ensuring chaos. Egypt has also experienced the same ironic reality. The words of peace are easy to speak but the actions take great courage and will power. This task of being peaceful takes such great courage that very few have been able to accomplish it. The governments that proclaim to be peaceful have been the exact opposite of peace. We know who those hypocrites are. As we work to solve chaotic situations, the need for strong leadership is a must. What is refreshing is to hear a leader talk about the need for a multi-governing style as society transitions from chaos to peace.

Peace is our dream

Even though many world leaders have focused on erosion of peace, Ukraine society is spiralling out of control. What we are seeing is typical of human nature as we constantly make mistakes in chaos. Finger pointing and admonishment of others actions has taken over. The peace that is eroding in Ukraine is now spreading to international relations. The person who wakes up and needs to gather food for the family is now struck with fear of life for the entire family. Food is pushed down the list of concerns. What was a normal routine just months ago is now a distant dream. Children are thrown into question mode as they try to understand why the people who are to provide and protect them are no longer able. As the hand of death slowly cradles the children, the adults are gripped with revenge. This situation is what we must understand as the reason violence should be avoided. Taking that knowledge of reality with in conflict zones also spreads to every other country around the world. Every city, community, family and individual faces these spirals of chaos. Each of us have been involved in circumstances when a breakdown of some order occurs. It is natural to point fingers and seek out a cause for blame. In such situations each of us is trying to rebuild order, peace and good relations. However that desire is lost more often due to the fact that we interpret other peoples intentions are to blame, correct, admonish or even punish us. This is a natural state of individuals protecting themselves. For peace to reign, that understanding of personal protection must be met with great courage. Such courage allows the freedom of expression. The courage to stand in the face of these verbal bullets is the price we must pay in order to ensure a wider peace. Each of us are soldiers of peace and the bullets fly each day. Some bullets hit hard and are fired with great repetition. In these situations, we soldiers can lose control, some of us actually die. Each day we face these battles and each day we must carry the courage to stand up speak with peace. This world we live in has everything. From the most horrendous nightmare to the wonderful beauty of peace, each of us can experience such realities. For someone to experience all of this takes great courage. To be okay in the face of the nightmare as well as in the presence of total beauty is rare. Each of us work to be just that person and along the way we will falter, yet we will succeed. The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility. Vaclav Havel.

Peacebuilding in the face of Amnesia.

Often the phrase, “truth is the first victim of war” is thrown at the general public. That phrase is an exact assessment of war – every war. When we work to rebuild societies, rebuild peace the largest barrier is the general understanding or what the truth is. At the base of every war there has to be someone that wanted the violent chaos more than peaceful order. That decision is an absolute cause of every war. At some point a single person must act with extreme violence (killing another person) which then quickly spirals into the chaos we know as war. This scenario is exactly what took place in World War One, Two, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Rwanda, Egypt, Ukraine, Yemen, etc…. Ukraine is now focused upon the edge of war as Russia places forces at the border. However we have forgotten that the situation would not have even gotten to this point if western countries did not support the illegal coup in the first place. Even though such a truth is forgotten, pointing this out will not bring peace any quicker. In fact, such highlights have proven to deepen the desire for greater violence to silence such realities. We are left with a situation where the past is not to be talked about, the present is to be ignored and the future left unmanaged. This is where we find ourselves in the efforts of peacebuilding – if we leave it up to the world leaders. At some point we have lost respect for each other. There are two sets of rules if not more in the world today. Some countries can act as they please, others are beaten into whatever role they are forced to take, some are ignored and few actually carry the intelligence and/or knowledge that peace is the ultimate goal. As violence continues in society, the youth are being raised in an environment where violence is normal. The peaceful methods which existed in communities before violence erupted, is quickly forgotten within the youth psyche. The longterm memory of peace is difficult to rebuild once a generation is lost. Due to this reality, peacebuilding needs to be a very important goal on a community level as well as international.