by Joe Scarry
David Swanson struck a nerve with his post about empathy.
Apparently.
“We are all France.
Apparently.
Though we are never all Lebanon or Syria or Iraq for some reason.
(Read more.)
Clearly many people are troubled by the inconsistency: “We are all France. . . . Though we are never all Lebanon or Syria or Iraq for some reason.” People want to give expression to it . . . and so they retweet this message. But: can they do more?
World Beyond War is going to start by creating a statement about how to address the violence in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq — ways that don’t involve more war. We’re going to use your suggestions — especially your words about how you, yourself, are working for peace. Please add comments below. The more contributions we have, the greater impact this effort can have.
We will all be France — and Lebanon, and Syria, and Iraq — when we all work for a world beyond war.
NOTE to first-time commenters: our moderator will review and approve your comment within a day.
5 Responses
Campaign through social networks calling for peace and nonviolence
Today a message is beginning to circulate through the social networks calling for people to give responses based on peace and nonviolence following last night’s attacks in Paris and in front of the measures which the governments of France and other countries of European Union and NATO it seems are ready to adopt.
In the same way that a large part of the European population and that of the whole planet do not justify terrorist violence, neither do they justify the previous violence generated by the decisions of different governments. They see the numerous reasons that move thousands of people to become fanatics ready to kill themselves and others in the name of particular beliefs.
Millions of people are not ready to follow the spiral of violence and begin to
mobilize, calling for calm and the giving of peaceful and nonviolent responses.
This is the message that has arrived and which we reproduce:
We want to live in peace! No to violence no matter where it comes from. No to revenge. Yes to reconciliation.
We want free people! No to the occupation of territories. No to NATO.
We want to live in brotherhood! No to fanaticism. No to revenge by whichever faction.
We want dignified conditions for all human beings! No to the daily and permanent violence of this system.
For a world and a human being of peace and without violence!
Pass it on!
From here we add ourselves to this campaign which speaks of the only possibility which opens the future for the French people, for the people of Europe and for the people of all the planet, all “hijacked” by the voracity of a few that do not have limits in terms of promoting violence in all its forms in order to pursue their objectives.
For peace and nonviolence! Pass it on!
https://www.pressenza.com/2015/11/campaign-through-social-networks-calling-for-peace-and-nonviolence/
And we are all refugees fleeing war everywhere
france very lucky country
Violence always results in counter violence, extremism in extremism. It never works. Counter terrorism with policing, ceasing to do violence in the Middle East and pursing justice and development instead.
We already have a declaration of Human Rights. Let us ask everyone everywhere to pay attention to it, discussing in depth what it means for the actions we take or ask out representatives and governments to take. I believe that each person can only say “my” rights if they are already offering to all other people “their” rights. In the detail of each article in the declaration, e.g. education – how is education being helped by this decision, or that… similarly health, shelter etc.
I doubt if any military /punitive action would result if the Declaration of Human Rights was better attended to than it is now.
Internationally, we also need a much clearer look at the structures of monetary and financial policies that have brought disaster debt and poverty to so many regions of the world. Make all of our governments ask “What exactly is Money? Why is it produced as a credit-debt equation, by PRIVATE COMMERCIAL COMPANIES (called banks)? rather than by us, the citizens of the world, as a public utility for use that could answer real needs.