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A Century
of War:
Dipankar de Sarkar
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'This conference could augur well for the coming century. It would unite into one mighty whole the efforts of all States sincerely striving to make the great idea of universal peace triumph over strife and discord. At the same time, it would consolidate harmony amon States through their mutual recognition of the principles of law and justice on which the security of States and the prosperity of peoples are based...' - Count Mikhail Nokolayevich Muravyov Russian Foreign Affairs Minister, 1898 Something happened at the Hague Appeal conference Friday that powerful, more moving than all the eloquence of seasoned speakers. A wisp of a girl from Palestine, no more than 17 years old, broke down before an audience while recounting how her family and friends had died in the Israel-Palestine conflict. She was born on the day in Sept. 1982 when Israeli-backed Labanese Philangist militia raided Palestinian refugee camps in Sabra and Shatila and massacred more than 1,000 innocents. "Iask the Nato and US to stop bombing the world," she said. "They are called peacemakers and I don't think that they are peacemakers. Because other people are dying." How will this century's last great appeal - to be issued Saturday by this conference - ensure that today's warmongers heed her call? Perhaps it can do so by helping people organise so that the poor across the world are no longer prepared to be divided and ruled over by the wealthy - whether within communities, in nations or internationally. This conference, whose attendance of upward of 7,000 peace campaigners has hugely exceeded organisers' expectations, has convened a year on from when India and Pakistan decided to follow the dismal lead of the Nuclear Club and conduct their own tests. But not only celebrations followed those tests. In the eastern Indian state of West Bengal - home, not coincidentally, to one of the largest land reform movements in the Third World - more than a quarter of a million people marched against the tests. That march, organised by the state's left-wing government and its affiliated workers unions, students and women's bodies, went largely unreported in the international media. But it goes to show that civil society can work best when it is organised politically. To do this it needs to be recognised that civil society means much more than nongovernmental organisations. A classic definition of the term is 'the space between the family and the state.' Another is the space between the family, business and the state. Either way, this vast space includes workers unions, peasants organisations, the media and political parties. Why should they be involved in the search for peace? The reasons do not need spelling out but, according to the environmentalist Vandana Shiva, it can be as simple as the price of onions. They shot up overnight by some 400% in India last year (for reasons to do with economic liberalisation) at a time when New Delhi was renegotiating the terms of its agreement with the World Trade Organisation. This was pointed out by opposition political parties - immediately, Hindu fundamentalists close to the ruling party began attacking churches. Physical violence breeds on economic violence. The economic roots of war and conflict stare us in the face, yet the ever-proliferating conflict resolution experts continue to tinker around the edges with monumental ineffectiveness - as if war and conflict can ever be abolished without first erasing the causes of economic impoverishment and social marginalisation. As if war is only about soldiers and hardware. Our delusions are mind-boggling. At the conference, Japan and Sweden have been praised at various forums. But these figures, gleaned from the 1996 yearbook of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, should be a sober reminder that there are no heroes in this sordid game. Of the 100 largest arms producing companies in 1994, six were Japanese and seven Swedish. Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was 16th in list, employing 53,050 workers in 1994. "All peoples of the world have the right to live in peace, free from fear and want," proclaims Japan's famous 'Peace Constitution' - an inspiring document. Yet its worth has been sullied - not by Japan's peace-loving people, but by its many giant corporations. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, is involved in the manufacture of aircraft, military vehicles, missiles and ships. Other companies on the SIPRI list are the Swedish Celsius, Bofors, Saab-Scania, Saab Defense, Kockums, Ericsson and Ericsson (subsidiary); and from Japan: Toshiba, Hitachi Zosen, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, and Nissan Motor. Participants to this conference, who represent more than 100 nationalities, know better than anyone else that war is not what we see on our television screens alone. The invisible players are multinational corporations, bankers and treasuries of wealthy countries. As Vandana Shiva says, "Global corporate rule is a root cause of war" The war against war needs to be fought on all fronts. This was so in 1914 - it is the case now. "There's an undeclared war occurring in my country," says Cheri Honkala, who belongs to the Philadelphia-based Kensington Welfare Rights Union, an organisation of poor and homeless people in the US - a country where the richest one percent owns 40 percent of the wealth. The world hasn't really changed that much since Count Mikhail Nokolayevich Muravyov's noble declaration of 1898. If it had, and if indeed the so-called end of the Cold War had signalled the start of era of prosperity for all rather than a few, there would have been no need for HAP 99. The Hague Appeal observes about the 20th century: 'It was the worst of centuries, and the best of centuries.' Too true - it was the 'worst' for most, and the 'best' for some.
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