Forum

The fast-emerging global socio-political and scientific scenario is an eloquent reminder of the speed with which the forces released by science and technology and aided by human greed has dismantled almost at one stroke all humanity hitherto believed invincible. Nothing is sacrosanct now. The geopolitical compulsions and the mad frenzy of both developed and developing nations, to appropriate for themselves all what they can lay their hands on, reminds us of the haste and anxiety seen among the nocturnal thieves to plunder completely and decamp with the booty before anyone wakes up in the house. It appears that a kind of colonial instinct also guides modern man in all his activities. Only the label changes, the bottle and the decoction continue to be the same. The Major Challenges It appears that among the major challenges of the twenty-first century will be : i) Taming the monster of violence and keeping...

LONDON – The continental Europeans, Germany and France in particular, made a grave tactical mistake last week in making it clear to Washington that they felt the UN inspections were working and that the inspectors should be given a lot more time. They appear to have undermined one of two people who have some chance of bending President George Bush’s ear on the subject of going to war- Secretary of State Colin Powell. (The other is British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.) They should do some homework- and not depend on filtered reports from advisors- and read for themselves Powell’s autobiography. Colin Powell’s deepest roots are not in Harlem where he was born but in Jamaica from whence came his parents. He remains the quintessential outsider. His music is calypso and reggae, not Motown and soul; his favourite drink is Appleton’s rum, not beer or whiskey and comfort food for him is...

LONDON – On November 25th 1969 in the midst of the war in Vietnam, President Richard Nixon, besieged by protests that he was a war monger, threw out a sop to public opinion. The U.S., he announced, had decided to renounce the possession and use of lethal and incapacitating biological weapons. He declared that the government would destroy its stockpile of biological weapons. “These important decisions”, said Nixon, “have been taken as an initiative towards peace. Mankind already carries in its own hands too many of the seeds of its own destruction.” Privately Nixon was convinced that they had little military utility for the U.S. whilst at the same time he feared that, if the big powers continued to depend on biological weapons, one day a “rogue” state might one day get its hands on the knowledge of how to make them and use them against American cities. Sending the...

LONDON – On November 25th 1969 in the midst of the war in Vietnam, President Richard Nixon, besieged by protests that he was a war monger, threw out a sop to public opinion. The U.S., he announced, had decided to renounce the possession and use of lethal and incapacitating biological weapons. He declared that the government would destroy its stockpile of biological weapons. “These important decisions”, said Nixon, “have been taken as an initiative towards peace. Mankind already carries in its own hands too many of the seeds of its own destruction.” Privately Nixon was convinced that they had little military utility for the U.S. whilst at the same time he feared that, if the big powers continued to depend on biological weapons, one day a “rogue” state might one day get its hands on the knowledge of how to make them and use them against American cities. Sending the...

LONDON – Washington and its closest allies- at least those who try to put themselves in Washington’s shoes- now realize they are beleaguered by the Pandora’s Box of nuclear and missile proliferation and that they have no adequate policy to deal with them. Their moral authority is all but used up, just when they need it most, to deal with Iraq first and now North Korea. George Bush must be wishing he were Lula in Brazil- cancel the order for new military jets, tell the nation the money is going to relieve poverty and meanwhile use the credibility earned to keep the Brazilian economy on a responsible course, even though that will incur quite a bit of belt-tightening for everybody. Lula, a week into office, must be already set to win re-election. But what equivalent moral authority does George Bush have in order to win over the hearts and minds...

Published bySoka Gakkai SGI President Ikeda’s Essay Series LIFE IS WONDERFUL “We live in crazy times, we are crazy,” said a young Muslim mother in Sarajevo.(1) Ten million land mines were planted in the former Yugoslavia. Some of them were designed to resemble chocolate eggs or ice creams. Why? To tempt children to pick them up. One little girl was instantly killed by a bomb planted in a teddy bear. Who deployed such weapons? Who built them? Who profited by selling them? Why can’t we stop them? What can we do? Interview after Interview According to Scandinavian peace researcher Dr. Jan Øberg, cofounder and director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research (TFF), the important thing is not to leave the area of conflict, but to stick close to the ground and listen to the voices of ordinary citizens, and to then make those voices heard around the...

LETTER FROM BAGHDAD Dear Friends, From 3rd- 8th January 2003 a group of NGO representatives and former UN officials was able to meet with cabinet ministers in Baghdad including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, Foreign Minister Nagi Sabri and Oil Minister Amer Mohammed Rashid, as well as to talk with doctors, teachers and scientists. We had the opportunity to meet ordinary Iraqis and visit sites recently inspected for weapons of mass destruction. The aim was to contribute to efforts to prevent war and to gather information not available in the western press, particularly with regard to the human situation. Attached is a brief summary of a very intense series of visits, as well as suggestions responding to the frequent question asked by citizens of western countries “What can we do to help prevent war?” Please circulate these documents as widely as possible, asking NGOs and individuals to act quickly on...

LONDON – For the moment the great debate about going to war with Iraq is cast almost exclusively in the dark shades of realpolitik- will it achieve its objective and disarm Iraq once and for all? Will it lead to the introduction of a pro Western democratic regime? Will it open the way for a realignment of dictatorial Arab regimes that tolerate, even encourage, anti-American feeling? But the morality of war is given very short shrift. This week Pope John Paul 11 spoke out, saying war in Iraq “would be a defeat for humanity”. Many people, of many different cultures and persuasions often tack to a common standard when it comes to the making of war- at least in principle. Buddhist teaching asks, “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hateful”. Confucianism asks, “Do not to others what you would have them do to you.” Hindu teaching...

LONDON – For the moment the great debate about going to war with Iraq is cast almost exclusively in the dark shades of realpolitik- will it achieve its objective and disarm Iraq once and for all? Will it lead to the introduction of a pro Western democratic regime? Will it open the way for a realignment of dictatorial Arab regimes that tolerate, even encourage, anti-American feeling? But the morality of war is given very short shrift. This week Pope John Paul 11 spoke out, saying war in Iraq “would be a defeat for humanity”. Many people, of many different cultures and persuasions often tack to a common standard when it comes to the making of war- at least in principle. Buddhist teaching asks, “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hateful”. Confucianism asks, “Do not to others what you would have them do to you.” Hindu teaching...

LONDON – It always feels nice to open a New Year with good news. But that indeed is the message on the democracy front this week. It began in Kenya with the defeat last Sunday of the hand-picked candidate of the long time corrupt autocrat of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi. On Friday, January 3rd, the election winner, Mwai Kibaki takes over as president and there is some hope that this clever ex-finance minister will be skilled enough to start to put the country back on its feet and to release the wealth of talent and energy that it has in abundance. Despite the gloomy headlines that speak of war and dictatorship, Africa is in fact becoming more democratic. A decade and a half ago few African countries held open elections. Now most do. On January 1st the working class hero, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will be sworn in as...

LONDON – War in February now looks very likely. The die is almost cast. It will be a bitter, hard fought war, baring little comparison to the easy run of ten years ago. With his back to the wall Saddam Hussein will fight in the toughest, cruellest way imaginable, luring the American and British invaders into the Iraqi cities where they will be butchered one by one and they in turn will wreck vengeance, intended or not, on the innocent, the trapped city dwellers. “And there is this earth, this mud where the flesh rots, where eyes decompose. These arms, these legs that crunch in the jaws of the boars. The souls ulcerated and foul from killing, the bodies so starved for tenderness they haunt stables in search of pleasure. There is this gangrene that eats at the heart….” President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, two men who...

LONDON – War in February now looks very likely. The die is almost cast. It will be a bitter, hard fought war, baring little comparison to the easy run of ten years ago. With his back to the wall Saddam Hussein will fight in the toughest, cruellest way imaginable, luring the American and British invaders into the Iraqi cities where they will be butchered one by one and they in turn will wreck vengeance, intended or not, on the innocent, the trapped city dwellers. “And there is this earth, this mud where the flesh rots, where eyes decompose. These arms, these legs that crunch in the jaws of the boars. The souls ulcerated and foul from killing, the bodies so starved for tenderness they haunt stables in search of pleasure. There is this gangrene that eats at the heart….” President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, two men who...