As conflagration engulfs countries around the world — creating an endless stream of hopeless, homeless refugees; creating orphans and widows by the billions, and destroying capacities for development in nation states — one is forced to recognise that Man’s inhumanity to Man is an ever-evolving phenomenon, with expanding parameters of conflict location putting at peril the survival of mankind on Planet Earth.
A few days ago, on September 21, the world observed International Day of Peace. The United Nations General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres posits: “In times of insecurity, communities that look different become convenient scapegoats…We must resist cynical efforts to divide communities and portray neighbours as ‘the other’. Discrimination diminishes us all. It prevents people — and societies — from achieving their full potential.”
He added, “Together, let us stand up against bigotry, and for human rights. Together, let us build bridges. Together, let us transform fear into hope.”
The theme for 2017 is “Together for Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All.”
The United Nations, comprising 193 member states; the private sector, civil society, academic institutions and individual citizens have all bonded in a global partnership initiated during the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants, on 19th September 2016, with the goal of bringing people — especially the oppressed, disadvantaged and vulnerable — together as members of the human family.
This concept, identifying the world as one global human village, was propagated by Guyana’s Executive President, the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan, in its UN-adopted “New Global Human Order”. His fulminations espoused the formulation and implementation of a new world dispensation wherein access to the world’s bounties should be shared in equal measure so that all mankind could be provided enough resources to ensure poverty and want could eventually be eradicated from the world.
The Guyana Peace Council (GPC), established by the former administration, urged, in its message to commemorate the UN ‘International Day of Peace’, that all peace loving forces in Guyana and the world at large recommit themselves to the cause of peace and disarmament, in particular nuclear disarmament.
The Council iterated: “We are living in dangerous times, made even worse by the buildup of military hardware and weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. Such military buildup puts the whole of humanity at risk, and could potentially bring an end to human civilization.
“The true cost of military buildup is not simply the actual money spent on them, but the sacrificed alternative in terms of human development and the elimination of poverty, hunger and ignorance among a significant segment of the world’s population. The only beneficiaries of wars and conflicts are the military-industrial complex which rakes in billions in profits at the expense of human misery.”
The Guyana Peace Council also called on the Guyana Government to stand up and be counted on the side of peace in the context of the Caribbean being a zone of peace.
Peace is a natural prerequisite to human development that leads to economic growth of nations; and, if the leadership is grounded in democratic principles, eventual individual, societal and national prosperity.
Guyana is in a state of flux, and our nation can self-destruct through our human engagements, or lack of same. We no longer, in a large measure, trust each other as our foreparents once did; and unless, as a nation, we begin to live by, and honour the concepts enshrined in, our National Motto, we will forever exist on the precipice of national conflagration.
God gifted to us a Paradise wherein we can live free from fear of natural devastating occurrences, such as tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes et al, yet we are squandering our blessings with rancorous behaviour toward each other. It is time to commit ourselves to the greater good, and espouse unity and humanity, as opposed to all that divides us. That is the only recipe for our personal and national growth and upward mobility.
