War

A fascinating report titled the Human Security Report was published last week by Oxford University Press. It documents a dramatic decline in the number of wars, genocides and human rights abuse over the past decade. The Report argues that the single most compelling explanation for these changes is found in the unprecedented upsurge of international activism, spearheaded by the UN, which took place in the wake of the Cold War.

The following two graphs have been copied from the report:

The 1960s and 1970s also saw the rise of environmental activism and the birth of Greenpeace and WWF with people like Bob Hunter sailing off to war for whales.

As I see it a percentage of the population are natural ‘warriors’. Can environmental activism replace war for this percentage of the population?

Today is the 20-year anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow warrior in Auckland Harbour by French secret service agents. It was an act of terrorism against Greenpeace.

Greenpeace has various events organised to commemorate the occasion.

“It was an unbelievable act and it was of course one of the dumbest things the French government has ever done,” according to New Zealand’s former deputy prime minister Geoffrey Palmer.

Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira died in the blast.

The Rainbow Warrior was to participate in protests against French nuclear testing on Muraroa atoll.

Since the bombing, Greenpeace has gone on to commit some pretty terrible acts of terrorism itself including the campaign to pressure Zambia’s President Mwanawasa to refuse the 26,000 tonnes of corn aid in 2002 because the corn was GM modified – while his people starved.

This post has absolutely nothing to do with the environment – but everything to do with getting over the bombings of last Thursday. I am of British stock. My mother migrated to Australia from England after WWII, my father’s family way back in 1860. I remember being in London as a teenager in the 1970s when the IRA was setting off bombs.

Anyway, the London News Review ran the following note on the 7 July 2005:

What the f*** do you think you’re doing?

This is London. We’ve dealt with your sort before. You don’t try and pull this on us.

Do you have any idea how many times our city has been attacked? Whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not going to work.

All you’ve done is end some of our lives, and ruin some more. How is that going to help you? You don’t get rewarded for this kind of crap.

And if, as your MO indicates, you’re an al-Qaeda group, then you’re out of your tiny minds.

Because if this is a message to Tony Blair, we’ve got news for you. We don’t much like our government ourselves, or what they do in our name. But, listen very clearly. We’ll deal with that ourselves. We’re London, and we’ve got our own way of doing things, and it doesn’t involve tossing bombs around where innocent people are going about their lives.

And that’s because we’re better than you. Everyone is better than you. Our city works. We rather like it. And we’re going to go about our lives. We’re going to take care of the lives you ruined. And then we’re going to work. And we’re going down the pub.

So you can pack up your bombs, put them in your arseholes, and get the f*** out of our city.

Alexandra Downer writing in today’s Australian has reiterated that:

“Long-term hope for the world’s poor — in Africa, in Asia and elsewhere — will also depend on removing trade barriers and creating a more vibrant and open global economy. When coupled with good governance and sound domestic reform in developing countries, trade liberalisation is one of the key drivers for sustained global prosperity and ending poverty.

Reform of agriculture, which provides a living for so many of the poor in developing countries, is the key. The most telling statistic is that the amount of money the European Union and the US spend subsidising their farmers is four times more than the total amount of global aid provided to developing countries.

The World Bank estimates that real global trade reform under the Doha Round could increase the incomes of developing countries by $US350billion ($470 billion) — far more than can ever be provided through direct aid. Developed and developing countries alike must act together to remove trade barriers and secure a successful and ambitious conclusion to the Doha Round. The World Bank estimates that 140 million people around the world could be lifted out of poverty by 2015 if this occurs. That would be something to sing about.”

Tony Blair said publicly, in a speech towards the end of the summit, that the “plan of action” for Africa includes a “new deal on trade”.

But this new deal does not appear to have anything to do with reducing subsidies in Europe and the US, at least not according to the information at the G8 website:

“The G8 in return agreed a comprehensive plan to support Africa’s progress. This is set out in our separate statement today. We agreed:
1. to provide extra resources for Africa’s peacekeeping forces so that they can better deter, prevent and resolve conflicts in Africa;
2. to give enhanced support for greater democracy, effective governance and transparency, and to help fight corruption and return stolen assets;
3. to boost investment in health and education, and to take action to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB and other killer diseases; and
4. to stimulate growth, to improve the investment climate and to make trade work for Africa, including by helping to build Africa’s capacity to trade and working to mobilise the extra investment in infrastructure which is needed for business.

The G8 leaders agreed to back this plan with substantial extra resources for countries which have strong national development plans and are committed to good governance, democracy and transparency. We agreed that poor countries must decide and lead their own development strategies and economic policies.”

Freeing-up trade could have been a media focus over the last couple of days, instead terrorists diverted attention and the focus has been on death and destruction in London include pictures of a blown-up London bus.

Sydney Lawyer Irfan Yusuf has written an insightful piece about London, and Islam, and the bombings, published today by e-journal Online Opinion,

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=3651 .

Yusuf concludes, “The nation that cheered for its cricket team even when captained by one Nasser Hussein deserves to feel secure in the knowledge that its Muslim citizens openly and publicly condemn the perpetrators of these attacks. Muslim Englishmen and women must echo the condemnation of terrorist acts and ideologies already expressed by prominent English Muslim scholars such as Tim Winter and the late Martin Lings. The time to speak is now. Muslims must speak out now.”

I remember a quote from Sri Chinmoy, “It is only human ignorance that wants to control the world. Human love wants to bind the world. Human truth wants to lead the world”.

Online Opinion enables people to ‘speak out’ by publishing the spectrum of opinion on important public policy issues – including the environment.

It is hard to hate, when you are not ignorant.