Peace Starts Within Ourselves

In her TED Talk The real harm of the global arms race, Samantha Nutt (2015) uses her experiences as a volunteer doctor with UNICEF in Somalia, as well a number of interesting statistics, to show that not only is there a correlation between the number of people in the world dying in wars and the number of small arm weapons the world produces but there is also a causation between these things (Nutt, 2015).

She points out that the majority of weapons come from wealthy Western countries in the Global North but the majority of the wars that are occurring, and the people dying from these weapons are in the Global South; countries in the Global North are profiting from wars happening elsewhere (Nutt, 2015).

Nutt thinks that if there are changes both in the attitudes of the suppliers of small arms, as well as in the attitudes of those in demand of the weapons, guns and wars can eventually be eliminated (Nutt, 2015).  She adds that we must uses our voices and our resources to help with this effort: we as human beings are not powerless to solve war, in fact “we are the only ones who can” (Nutt 2015).

Most people who call themselves pacifists would agree with this idea that obsession with weapons and violence leads to aggressive behaviour (Romkey, 2018). Even in North America people are addicted to violence even though intuitively one wouldn’t think we need to be because our society is generally civilized, and educated (Romkey, 2018).  So much of the entertainment industry in North America is focused on the thrill of violence: movies, TV shows, video games, sports, etcetera.  

Even our Remembrance Day ceremonies in Canada seem to be more about glorifying the wars of the past than grieving the harm they caused the world, and all the innocent people that were killed because of them (Romkey, 2018). 

This obsession with violence shouldn’t necessarily be blamed on our human nature but instead the state that has created it and wants it to be sustained.  Theresa Romkey (2018) points out that war is good for the capitalist system because it gives opportunity for production and growth, and is also good for keeping people loyal to their government in exchange for a sense of protection and safety (Romkey, 2018).  

Ursula Franklin illustrates this by explaining that governments can spend years conducting research for the development of new weapon technologies, using some sort of external enemy that seems reasonable to the people to justify what they’re spending on it, for the purpose of stimulating economic growth and encouraging patriotism (Romkey, 2018). Of course to avoid political criticism, they have to actually use the weapons systems they created (Romkey, 2018).  

The fact that the state modes violence as the norm is what creates a culture of violence, and as Mahatma Gandhi implies with his promotion of the doctrine of "satyagraha", causes violent, hostile thinking (Romkey, 2018).  

This kind of thinking, along with the other issues with capitalism such as unemployment and lack of adequate shelter for the poor, and issues with social control such as police brutality, creates a society of fear and divisiveness that causes people to want to have their own personal weapons, allowing for the vicious cycle of a violent culture to carry on (Romkey, 2018).

As Nutt (2015) suggests though, we can stop this vicious cycle, this divisive way of thinking by changing our own personal attitudes, by trying to resolve conflicts using peaceful tactics especially in places such as North America where we may not face as much of the kind of oppression that forces people to live a violent life elsewhere (Nutt, 2015).  This would be echoed by many pacifist groups and individuals such as the Quakers and Mennonites who focus on promoting justice and helping others and have often been conscientious objectors, refusing to fight in wars (Romkey, 2018).  

Leo Tolstoy agreed that if things were to change it would need to start with people striving for “inner self-perfection through loving one’s neighbour” (Romkey, 2018). Franklin adds that the only way to bring the world to peace, justice and equity is “a commitment to ethical means and non-violence in all human actions” (Romkey, 2018) just as Gandhi says that we can only truly live in peace if we are not only non-violent in action but also in thought and speech (Romkey, 2018). 

This type of change and resistance of cultural norms is not easy, according to Gandhi, who stated that self-sacrifice is a reality and we must be willing to be prepared even for death to live our lives in this counter-cultural way of peace (Romkey, 2018).

Because of the nature of pacifism, it doesn’t seem likely that there will ever be a political party based on the ideology (Romkey, 2018).  People do not have to be afraid of pacifist principles being opposed on them because that goes against what pacifism is about.  

A governing pacifist party would likely have little political impact because the people in power wouldn’t have any way of practically stopping those in opposition from continuing in their violent ways without going against their own policies (Romkey, 2018).  

But, if we want the world to be a more peaceful place, if we don’t want thousands of people dying in wars each year, if we don’t want kids growing up with access to weapons and violence being part of their daily lives, Nutt (2015) encourages us to individually use our voices, and our resources to help with this effort (Nutt, 2015).  

As Gandhi puts it so simply, but beautifully: “we must be the change we wish to see in the world.” (Gandhi, n.d., as cited in Barnaby, 1991, p. 70).