How to end wars

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones, Albert Einstein

1. The first victim of war is the truth. Mass media coverage mangles the facts (news media and social media are biased) and distracts you from the real issues, the broader historical socio-economic context, and the underlying causes. They are the gatekeepers of the information and the news that reaches us all. Besides, the way that a given story is packaged and presented to us is also critical to shaping public opinion because on many issues, people do not have (or maybe care about having) other reliable sources of information.

   So do not trust mass media to deliver news fully, accurately, and fairly, get informed by researching, double-checking and looking very carefully at the sources of our information, and create your own opinion.

   

2. Learn and be inspired by the lives of famous pacifists, anti-war activists and those who have campaigned for nuclear disarmament and against the development, production, and use of autonomous weapons systems (killer robots), e.g. Mahatma Gandhi led India to independence through the employment of non-violent civil disobedience; Muhammad Ali refused to fight in Vietnam and lost everything in opposing the war; Samantha Smith wrote a letter to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov asking him if there was going to be a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union; Nelson Mandela fought the government through non-violence to abolish the apartheid system in South Africa.

3. Use social media to promote peace, encourage dialogue among people from different ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds and spread the belief that abolishing war is both desirable and possible. “Social media can … affect perception on ethnicity, change attitudes, and promote tolerance and mutual understanding. Thus it can bridge the divide between ethnic groups that wouldn’t otherwise communicate with one another,” Tadzie Madzima-Bosha.

4. Say No to war! Be proactive; put pressure on politicians and policy makers to end wars. Get involved, become a member, volunteer or join an NGO, participate in anti-war protests, write lettersto governments, companies, and newspapers voicing your opposition.

   Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means, Ronald Reagan.

5. Read our free ebooks Why are there so many wars in the world today? and Non violence for a gentle introduction to this subject.

6. Listen to inspiring peace songs. Zombie, The Cramberries, a protest song written in memory of the two young victims who were killed in the 1993 Warrington bombings carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA): “When the violence causes silence, We must be mistaken.” Miss Sarajevo, U2, a song about a beauty pageant held in the midst of besieged Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Is there a time for keeping your distance, A time to turn your eyes away, Is there a time for keeping your head down, For getting on with your day,” and Bloody Sunday, U2, “And the battle’s just begun. There’s many lost, but tell me who has won? The trenches dug within our hearts. And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart.”

   Now that the war is through with me. I’m waking up, I cannot see. That there is not much left of me. Nothing is real but pain now, Metallica, One.

   

• Teaching Tolerance, Classroom resources “provides free resources to educators—teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners—who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants,” The Global Oneness Project.
• The Doomsday clock. is a design that that aims to warn the public about how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies of our own making.
• Peace Worldwide Organization is a non-religious, non-partisan, and charitable organization. “Our Mission is to promote freedom and peace for all humanity.”