WE NEED A WAY TO END ALL WARS

Sir,

From my little corner of the Earth where I usually sit to sometimes reflect on some of the goings-on in our world today, I have discovered why conflicts or wars erupt every day in all corners of the world, why they multiply at a frightening rate and why existing ones appear so intractable to solve.

My small discovery may not be earth-shattering but I have received what I consider an interesting reason why communities and nations easily take to war and in this small revelation contains what may prove to be a very useful contribution to how to solve the problem of perpetual conflict in our world today, if the UN is humble enough to give my idea a chance. And what have I found? It is so simple.

Wars are rarely ever fought for the reasons conveniently given by the ruling elite of any community or nation declaring them. When it comes to war, the saying that there are usually two reasons for doing anything on earth - the good reason given and the real reason - rings true.

I have found that in both ancient times and even now wars are fought for any of the following reasons: Control of some strategic minerals, fertile swathes of land, strategic straits of land, to win the affection of some fair woman, desire to win control and to dominate and enslave a peaceful and prosperous but weak people, opportunity to test new implements of war invented in the war factories of some powerful nations and, by no means the last, a desire to lord it over a people and expropriate their resources for the aggrandizement of the mighty and strong among the conquering force.

All those notions about honour, the desire to ward off some imaginary threat posed by some other people or a selfless desire to create a trade route for the benefit of world trade or such other notions of altruism are nothing but smokescreens to mask the real reasons. Wars are conceived, planned, instigated, financed and promoted by the old and privileged and fought by the young and the poor who have little or nothing to gain from the war they are practically compelled to fight.

When, for instance, a wife of a prince runs off with a prince of another realm, the cuckold prince would mobilise some impressionable young men in his domain, drum into them the imperative of patriotism and restoration of national pride and thereafter unleash them to go and kill and maim equally impressionable young men in the province of the rival randy prince, pleading that the other prince had brought dishonour upon the entire kingdom.

How can the running away of a woman who is obviously starved of attention with another potentate be cause for war?
Yet in many ancient times, endless and ruinous wars were often fought because a fair girl spurned one prince in favour of another. Personal spite and the need for vengeance quite often become a cause for national war, which brings untold suffering upon innocent people.

 Today, the USA is not in Afghanistan or the Middle East to fight radical Islam or to help install democracy in barbarous feudal or dictatorial nations but for control of vast oil and gas fields. Some of these wars are instigated by big oil, gas and arms corporations owned by powerful and very influential individuals who stand to make huge profits.

Even when small communities fight over a fish pond or rich farmlands, they often usually invoke the honour of the community. It is not usually the young men, some of whom sacrificed their lives or their limbs, who get the benefits. Some are given useless garlands and medals of honour which mean practically nothing. Women are mobilised to sing practically meaningless songs of honour to hold in deep respect the gallantry of some foolhardy young men who risked their lives for the pleasure and profit of the governing elite of their community or nation.

War is simply man’s cynical manipulation of fellow man for the benefits of the influential in society. It is never about justice or security of peace or the retrieval of any lost or injured honour. The dominant class in society cynically manipulate the poorer or weaker class to achieve their purpose. Self or class interests of the rich and powerful are the single most important motive responsible for all wars whether big or small, whether for offensive or defensive reasons. Since this is the case, what I have in mind is that the best way to end or reduce wars is to have an instrument that will ensure that the discomfort and sufferings of wars are evenly distributed among those involved in wars in any society.

It is so unfair that some decision-makers sit in the comfort of their luxurious homes and send young men and women, some of whom hardly understand the real issues at stake, to early graves in distant lands, making mothers and fathers childless and women young widows.
It is cruelty of the worst kind. The UN should seek to put an end to this type of cynical manipulation of the less privileged in society. Enough of this rot.

Colleen Matsebula

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