Disarming Our Hearts and Our Nations.

TOWARDS A CULTURE OF PEACE

On 19 November 1998, for the first time in its history, Ambassadors to the United Nations spent an entire day discussing in the General Assembly the meaning and practice of non-violence. Representatives from over 20 nations agreed that if the world is to survive, non-violence must be adopted by the nations of the world. Invoking Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Assembly declared the years 2001-2010 to be "A Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World".

What does the world expect from the United Nations at the dawn of a new century? The world expects the Organization to help lead us on the road of non-violence to a new culture of peace. Four basic steps can start us on that journey.

First, if we want to build a culture of peace, we need to publicly recognize that we live in a culture of war and violence, and commit ourselves to practising the way of non-violence. Today, over 35 wars are being waged; over 1 million Iraqis have died during the last 10 years from economic sanctions; over 40,000 people die from starvation each day; over 25,000 nuclear weapons continue to be maintained; and violence, injustice, poverty, racism, sexism and environmental degradation spread like a plague among us, threatening our existence. The world is waiting for the United Nations to defend the simple truth: violence does not work, violence does not solve anything, violence is a never-ending downward spiral. It is immoral, illegal and impractical. And the only way out of this addiction to violence is the sobriety of non-violence. "It is no longer a choice between violence and non-violence", Dr. King said the night before he was killed. "It is non-violence or non-existence." I suggest with Dr. King that the o nly way toward a culture of peace is through active non-violence.

At the heart of non-violence is the vision of the all-inclusive community, the insight that all life is sacred, and that we are all equal human beings. Non-violence is active love and truth that seeks justice for everyone, resists systemic evil, persistently reconciles all sides, but adamantly renounces violence as a means toward peace. As we seek truth and justice for all humanity, we insist on the bottom line of non-violence--that there is no cause, however noble, for which we are willing to kill.

Second, the world expects the United Nations to help abolish all nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction. The end of the cold war brought an historic opportunity to dismantle our nuclear arsenals. Yet, there is still no real movement toward serious disarmament. How can we teach our children not to kill or retaliate while we continue to threaten the destruction of our enemies and the planet itself?

Third, the world expects the United Nations to abolish war itself. This was an original goal and needs to remain at the top of our agenda today. That means relentlessly pursuing diplomatic solutions, negotiations, dialogue and other non-violent alternatives to resolve international crises. It means supporting democratic movements. War and genocide can only be stopped through active non-violence. War is never justified. War never works. While it may appear to stop a crisis in the short term, it only guarantees future wars down the road. Dr. King put it this way: "Returning violence for violence only multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Fourth, the world expects the United Nations to immediately lift the economic sanctions on Iraq. The situation in Iraq is not just a humanitarian crisis but a spiritual and moral disaster!

"We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence", Gandhi once said. "But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of non-violence." If the world is to survive, if humanity is to thrive, if a culture of peace is ever to blossom, we will have to dismantle every weapon of mass destruction, abolish war itself, lift the economic sanctions on Iraq, feed every starving child and teach the world the ancient wisdom of non-violence, as not only an idealistic vision, but the only practical solution. If we embark on that long but beautiful road of non-violence, if we disarm our hearts and our nations, then a culture of peace will surely become a reality, and the United Nations will live up to the world's expectations.

Rev. John Dear is a peace activist and Executive Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation--the oldest interfaith peace organization in the world.