The obsolescence of war

By Nadia Mejjati / Waging Nonviolence

Proponents of war claim that violence is necessary for “defense.” But is that true? Humanity has learned to wipe itself out in minutes with only a fraction of its nuclear weapons capacity. Our cruel culture of violence shows thousands of children murdered in cold blood like a relentless horror movie playing on social media. We have invented killer drones to carry out massacres without personally witnessing the atrocities being committed. Faced with the threat of extinction of our species, we must do better. That starts with seeing war for what it is.

War is grotesque. It embodies the worst side of humanity: the cruelty of unbridled rage and unresolved trauma, led by greedy leaders far from the front lines who gamble with human lives. No matter who wins or loses, the result is pain and increasing trauma on both sides, fueling further injustice and oppression.

Benjamin Casteillo describes: “In the past, the dangers of hostility, scarcity and rejection were met with primal impulses of domination, accumulation and conformism, trapping much of humanity in self-perpetuating rivalries for power, resources and status. But in the current context of exponential technological development that has led to weapons of mass destruction, multiplied extraction capacities and increased opportunities for social manipulation, these primal impulses are becoming increasingly obsolete and unsustainable, leading to existential risks of catastrophic wars, the destruction of ecosystems and the aging of humanity, threatening life itself.”

War does not create harmony. Yet we glorify it in history classes, when we could teach the history and practice of nonviolence to our advantage. Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan have given us statistical evidence that nonviolence is far more successful in achieving campaign goals than violence. In other words, the belief that we must respond to violence with more violence to create peace has now been overtaken by documented facts.

War is weak – especially compared to the hard work of nonviolent struggle, diplomacy and peacebuilding. Transformational change requires courage and commitment. Nonviolence is not a wishy-washy choice we make because we have hippie parents. It is a response to the violence in our communities, our families and, most importantly, in ourselves. It is a committed desire to find other ways of living, ways of living that are conducive to life.

War is senseless unless you profit from selling weapons and destroying life. We are facing the ecological collapse of our planet as the military-industrial complex pollutes the environment at an egregious rate, sets the record for fossil fuel consumption, and destroys life and landscape. Wars take a terrible toll on living systems. But even the power-hungry and arms dealers who profit from the brutality of war will not be able to celebrate if there is nuclear war or if we blindly walk over the cliff of ecological collapse.

Evolutionary biologist Elisabet Sahtouris tells us: “Over the nearly four billion years of Earth’s evolution, species after species, from the oldest bacteria to us, have gone through a cycle of maturation, from individuation and fierce competition to mature cooperation and peaceful interdependence. The turning point in this cycle occurs when species reach the point where it is more energy efficient – and thus less costly and truly more economical – to feed and otherwise cooperate with their enemies than to kill them.”

An intelligent species like humanity (which has already flown to the moon and performed heart transplants) can resolve conflict in more intelligent ways than through the death and destruction that wars bring. Now it is time for humanity to grow up and end war.

Conflict is normal and can be approached in a restorative way. While encountering adversity is a part of life, there are constructive ways to deal with it.

Where Unarmed Civil Protection (UCP) is practiced, it is proving effective in supporting communities worldwide using non-violent methods. UCP not only protects people, but also facilitates communities to voice their needs and learn peacekeeping skills and strategies. Over time, relationships and trust are built between all those involved, with the goal of making peace the property of the local people.

Mediation and nonviolence techniques used by trained professionals replace police interventions in mental health crisis situations with much better results. Violence and war arise when we fail to understand “the other.” Nonviolence recognizes our common humanity, so poignantly demonstrated in our universal needs. Therefore, it seeks compassionate understanding, whether for individuals in trouble or for nations at large. This caring approach leads us to find solutions, heal, and restore peace for all, rather than postponing problems until a later date.

Restorative justice practices are valuable to both victims and offenders, reducing recidivism in a wide variety of contexts from prisons to schools. Crime decreases in communities where the focus is not just on punishment, but on creating opportunities to learn personal responsibility and moral behavior, changing harmful, antisocial behavior, while regaining dignity through reparations. Truth and reconciliation is a form of restorative justice that has taken place in areas such as South Africa and Rwanda where there was once great discord. By facing conflict and addressing it in an honest, sincere, and ongoing way, humanity can process problems and aim to move forward with post-traumatic growth.

The rich history of nonviolent struggle illustrates its valuable utility in pursuing important goals such as protecting civil rights and ending oppression. While war uses violence, fear, and separation, nonviolence is built on empathy, recognition of dignity, and uplifting creativity.

Our acceptance of violence has allowed us to wage war on the land, air and water as if nature were our enemy. Instead of fostering universal love by treating each other and our beloved home Earth with care and respect, we have caused unchecked harm. Science shows us that the Earth thrives as a unified whole that fosters biodiversity. Using biomimicry, our species would do well to embrace the unity that encompasses humanity’s incredible diversity and re-harmonize our existence through complex cooperation.

We humans seem to have lost faith in our ability to make wise choices, dream and act to realize our common future. We must firmly reject the world we abhor – the wars and ecocide – and actively support a new paradigm. The Internet, like mycelium, enables immense possibilities for shared creativity to affirm the will to live harmoniously. We share healing methods internationally and collaborate on a variety of new projects to restore our beloved Earth. Knowledge and wisdom from diverse groups worldwide are accessible, including indigenous Earth restoration practices, genuine citizen democracy, birth control methods (so that our population respects the Earth’s carrying capacity), life-serving technologies and non-violent techniques.

We are already seeing an evolution of consciousness in the work of pioneering organizations such as Nonviolent Peaceforce, The Choose Love Movement and The Tariq Khamisa Foundation, to name a few, who are teaching practical skills for nonviolent conflict resolution and promoting the cultivation of life-affirming relationships and compassionate communities. These guides show that We can overcome adversity with courage, strengthened by our love of life.

We have the solutions we need. If we accept war as obsolete, what kind of world can we create?

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