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Le Canada et l’ONU > Newton Bowles Reports Ce document est disponible seulement en anglais.
Prevention: Foresee, Forfend In politics, population, pollution and public health, prevention is better than cure. Politics is power, getting and keeping it, even by war. How then prevent war? Joining the U.N. commits nations (governments) to renounce war, but so far that seems like renouncing sex. But sex is a lot more fun, even (especially?) when unproductive. War and power? Why? We can duck the question by saying: Well, there are all kinds of wars, different times, places, cultures, technologies, etc., etc. Face to face combat, impersonal push-button war. So, there is no war-- there are wars. But it all comes down to killing, no? By rearranging history we can make a plausible explanation for twentieth century war as circumstantial-- economic deprivation, etc. If war is about power, then the dispersal of power as intended in democracy will defuse pressures for war. So feed everyone, devolve power, let all take part. O.K.? That's a long walk and we're still trying to build the road. Meantime-- In the theatre of the world, the year 2000 is the International Year for the Culture of Peace; the year 2001 the year for Dialogue among Civilizations. Peace Culture comes from UNESCO, Dialogue from Iran, both blessed by the current U.N. General Assembly. The UNESCO plan aims at transforming values and behaviour; teaching (empowering) people to get along (mediate, etc.); unseating the authoritarians and bringing in democracy; giving women equal power; and eliminating poverty. While this involves many actors, "education is the principal means to build a culture of peace." Bravo, say I. The idea is not new. It is a good idea. There was a lot of peace education after World War I. I think education about the politics of power is as important as mediation in the playground. Let's get real. Designating 2001 as the Year for Dialogue among Civilizations, proposed by Iran, was accepted by the General Assembly. I haven't seen a plan of action but no doubt there will be conferences among academics, high priests and politicians. Looking around the world, it seems to me that there is as much need for dialogue within civilizations as among them. What is dialogue? What is a civilization? There is plenty of talk. Anyhow, it is a benevolent idea, however encumbered it may be with obvious ulteriors. Better than war. So we're back to meantime. Flanking the Security Council is the Secretary-General and his little band of trouble-shooters, mediators and monitors, around 20 remarkable men and women representing the Secretary-General in situations of actual or impending conflict. Most are concerned with specific countries-- Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Cyprus, East Timor, Macedonia, Georgia, Guatemala, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Tajikistan, the Western Sahara (Morocco). Three have regional responsibilities-- Africa, the Great Lakes Region in Africa (Congo, etc.) and the Middle East. Two have global commissions: Displaced Persons, and Children and War. Our own Mohammed Sahnoun has just been dispatched (early February) to Ethiopia/Eritria to lend a hand in averting a major war over barren symbols. (In vain, alas. Insanity prevails.) This work demands the highest in commitment, skill and stamina. Many
confront intractable problems of long standing, but here and there things
are getting better, as seems to be happening in Burundi and East Timor.
More power to them all. |
