By JOHN MORRIS, National Organiser
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| Tanks for what? . . . in an ideal world, these would be used as emergency services vehicles for floods and so on |
Non-violent methods of communication will always be our pursuit here at The Peace Party.
We recommend the reading of an article by Dr Stuart Parkinson, of Scientists for Global Responsibility, entitled, "Challenging the mindset of war".
Included here is a slightly adapted section on "Alternative Strategies" ("Non-violence" for us):
"There are many alternative strategies to tackling security problems which do not prioritise military action. The most obvious action Western governments could take would be to end military exports to countries with poor human rights records, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. Other international action includes:
- More concentrated effort to enforce arms embargoes in regions of conflict, as well as much stricter controls more generally of the international arms trade.
- Improving international financial controls to shut down funding routes for groups such as IS.
- Stricter border controls to prevent new combatants entering conflict zones, e.g. in Turkey.
- Continued negotiation to create more humanitarian corridors to help refugees fleeing from war zones;
providing adequate funding and resources for refugee camps, food aid and other support services.
- Rapid reaction mediation teams (composed of neutral parties) to help defuse political conflicts before fighting breaks out.
- Defusing international tensions by reducing military exercises, co-operating in arms control and disarmament programmes, and cutting military spending.
- More national and international processes for tackling underlying grievances, such as political exclusion, human rights abuses, inequality, poverty, and environmental damage.
Some of these options are being pursued at a limited scale but they need to be expanded and/or provided with more resources. It is particularly shocking that the UN’s World Food Programme was forced to halt its food voucher scheme for Syrian refugees in early December due to lack of funds. This meant aid for 1.7 million refugees was put in jeopardy as the harsh winter weather set in. Given the huge world military spending, nothing illustrates the distorted set of priorities better.
No one is under any illusions about the difficulty in solving the security problems in the Middle East, Ukraine, Africa or elsewhere, but it is clear there are many alternatives to military action and these remain poorly funded."
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