It did not take a war, economic sanctions or diplomatic isolation to bring a reprehensible regime to its knees. It took a man to spend a lifetime in prison. "The struggle is my life", said Nelson Mandela as he fought quietly. Famous words that are not to be taken lightly, as that is what makes people prevail against all adversity. As Aung Sung Su Kyi goes back to her prison home with her elegance and dignity intact, she follows in the footsteps of Gandhi, Mandela and King. Her penance is the only thing that will break the monsters back and set the Burmese free. The world is too preoccupied to see her plight. While China and India prop up the military junta in utter shame, as America and Britain propped up Botha's South Africa, it is her humanity that will rise up to steal the thunder. And then everyone will rush to garland and celebrate her with pomp and song. But for now we wait, hoping she will conquer death and desolation. It is what it is.
Why does war come to those who have nothing? Why does war rain down on only the poor, disenfranchised and the miserable? Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Darfur, Iraq, Congo no matter where you turn, all you see are images of people who have nothing, now having to contend with bullets, mortars and drones. Running with their only possessions, their life and their children. The searing image of naked napalm burned children running down a tar road in agony, sent chills through the compassionate, bringing the Vietnam war to an end. Images of children in bandages are a common occurrence now, but it does not seem to do anything to a world desensitized to numbness.
While we sit in our arm-chairs professing about bringing wars to an end it becomes clear that like racism, regionalism and colonialism, war is an integral aspect of humanity. Ever since the World Wars ended and the United Nations was created to stop wars, there has never been a single moment in earth's history, when wars were not waged in some shape or form on its surface. It is clear that as an institution the United Nations is a miserable failure. It is a political and bureaucratic organization like any that feeds on itself. Decisions are made by a select group of nations who violate every principle there is of peace and democracy. It is time to abolish the United Nations or restructure it so it works. It has become a fat pig which gets very little done in the face of crisis after crisis facing the globe.
War is the most depraved economic engine that prospers one nation while decimating another. There will always be war maiming and killing people as long as it provides jobs and industry. There is no such thing as a "just war" there is only a "cost war". Some Taliban fighters bear arms as it provides a livelihood. A man gets into his car in an American suburb to go build a fighter jet or a nuclear bomb, as it provides him a means to buy another car. How are they any different? It is what it is.
Why does war come to those who have nothing? Why does war rain down on only the poor, disenfranchised and the miserable? Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Darfur, Iraq, Congo no matter where you turn, all you see are images of people who have nothing, now having to contend with bullets, mortars and drones. Running with their only possessions, their life and their children. The searing image of naked napalm burned children running down a tar road in agony, sent chills through the compassionate, bringing the Vietnam war to an end. Images of children in bandages are a common occurrence now, but it does not seem to do anything to a world desensitized to numbness.
While we sit in our arm-chairs professing about bringing wars to an end it becomes clear that like racism, regionalism and colonialism, war is an integral aspect of humanity. Ever since the World Wars ended and the United Nations was created to stop wars, there has never been a single moment in earth's history, when wars were not waged in some shape or form on its surface. It is clear that as an institution the United Nations is a miserable failure. It is a political and bureaucratic organization like any that feeds on itself. Decisions are made by a select group of nations who violate every principle there is of peace and democracy. It is time to abolish the United Nations or restructure it so it works. It has become a fat pig which gets very little done in the face of crisis after crisis facing the globe.
War is the most depraved economic engine that prospers one nation while decimating another. There will always be war maiming and killing people as long as it provides jobs and industry. There is no such thing as a "just war" there is only a "cost war". Some Taliban fighters bear arms as it provides a livelihood. A man gets into his car in an American suburb to go build a fighter jet or a nuclear bomb, as it provides him a means to buy another car. How are they any different? It is what it is.
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