Is War Inevitable?

Before starting my opinion on this very provocative topic, I wanted to share a more general view. When I am asked to write a journal every day, it is in a way challenging. All throughout the day, from one moment to the other, our thoughts continually process and evolve. Most of the time, even if I started thinking about something new, I dont have answers to it. At this age, it is the questioins that seems to drive me towards learning. Similarly as I go to class or randomly observe something related to peace and conflict, it is the burst of new ideas and questions that doesn't necessarily have answers. Being accustomed to the "formal paper writing" of a beginning, a body and a conclusion, it feels strange to leave thoughts without an end, even a temporary end.

Then I remembered a Chinese activist's word. I attended Bridge Conference twice in last semester- it was one of a kind initiative where Tibetan and Chinese students are brought together to learn from experts. As is explicitly suggested from the title of the conference, the purpose was to bridge us. Bridge a new understanding. Bridge a new tie. As he opened the discussion, he said that the Tibet-China issue is something that has multiple dimensions. It can be explored on so many different levels from politics, economics, to environment and what not. So the idea of starting this discussion is not to reach conclusions. The idea of starting this discussion is to keep the interaction going. To keep the process as the emphasis. I liked that.

So coming back, I think it is same with Peace and Justice. It is very hard to come to a conclusion on many ideas , therefore many of the thoughts are incomplete. But as some people say about love, only unfulfilled love is romantic, an analogy can be drawn to studying as well. Only when there is a quest, an unknown path, there is the thrill to go down and explore. While the fact that peace and justice is a relatively new field might not make it very academic in terms of its theories (mentioned in the Cortright book), it also offers us an opportunity to be part of its development, to play an important role in how we shape it. It has not yet been too institutionalized that the flexibility and flow of creativity is exhausted. There is room for more to come. That to me, is exciting.

Now going to the today's class debate, Is War Inevitable? The first answer that came to my mind is NO. Being a pacifist ( but learning what's in a word about pacifism, I guess I am not an absolutist) I always see war as a construction of humanity. Borrowing the anthropologist Mead's word, I was nodding my head when reading about how war is a human invention. On one side, it seems that with what Lorenz said, fighting is a natural human instinct. But the biologist's research seems to be more about animals than about human beings. So I guess his theory of studying on animal cannot be completely transferred to an understanding of human beings, after all we are different from them, even though we are also very similar. Going through many of the central view points, I became even more convinced that war is inevitable, at least intellectually. Even if Mead says violence is innate and we need to release it in some forms, war is not the only option. Even if Alias says we (or more suitably the government) need wars as a necessity to maintain power and control, war is not the only way. At the end, I made two observations.

First, It seems that why are we deprived of choice to choose either yes or no. (yes it is a debate, makes us think) but still, the position "War is inevitable" seems to be on extremity. No, it IS on extremity. In buddhism, we are always encouraged to avoid extremities and tread on the middle path, so I thought um.. there seems to be so many other options that lies between saying yes, war is inevitable or saying no, war is avoidable. Before war comes, there is tension, there is usually power interest, ulterior motives and what not. Personally, I dont have to fall in one of the extremities. The answer to humanity always lies in the nuances- it is both its beauty and curse. This made me come to my second point.

War is not inevitable. It is made inevitable.
Not by people. But by government. Arundhati Roy, one of my favorite writers once said,

People rarely win wars.

This picture is an emotional blinder, I agree. But still, isnt it beautiful?

Government rarely lose them.

I love this expression. Because it gives a new distinct identity between people and government. While government is supposed to be a representative of people, the system and the power corrupts the people at the top ( most of the time). But we as people, we are different. Governments are the ones who make people go to wars because they have financial, political and what not interests which they package in names of patrotism and freedom. This is all bullshit. Seriously. I dont think individually no one would want to kill someone for nothing. I dont think any individual would desire war because what is there to gain from killing? Using the system we live in where it is impossible to point a finger at one person, a system that forces politicians to be indoctrinated with necessity of power notions, war is made inevitable. This is the sad reality.

War is a drug, great movie.

Of all the articles I read, the one that I FELT not think about was the one by Chris Hedges. It's honesty, its bluntness really got to me. Yes, we must understand the attraction of war, what makes soldiers go back to it, over and over again. It was intellectual not in a -this-is-an-intellectual-article-johan-galtung-way, It was personal. It was somehow simple. But it did make me think about the ironies of the world. But hold on, seems like I am again becoming romantic and thinking too much about thoughts rather than actions. STOP. I think this will suffice for today.

Oh yes, I remember,  thats why, education about peace AND education for peace is important. Because, the truth is most people dont really know about wars. Thats why, the government exploits their ignorance. We need awareness, a mind of our own, that can think beyond what people tell us.
Haha..Innocence of a teenager can be so infecting.