Human right to peace

The Human Right to Peace by Douglas Roche, Ottawa, Novalis, 2003.

One busy day, I was racing around trying to get too much done, and I exclaimed to my three kids in the car, "We can get both things done and kill two birds with one stone!"

My daughter Annie quietly suggested, "You mean feed two birds with one crumb, Mom, don't you?" I stopped short, realizing how steeped my language is in the culture of war. I had used "weapon" language without even knowing it. I was embarrassed and yet felt a grace: if a child can become conscious of using a new language of peace, then there is hope. This emergence, despite our saturation in a culture of war, of a new vision of our interconnected world, is the heart of Douglas Roche's life-changing book The Human Right to Peace.

I found the book one I took a long time to read, so I could ponder each section and apply it to my life.

The first half of the book is a dismal and seemingly hopeless portrait of how we are immersed in a culture of war. Think about business language: strategies, bullets, high-caliber, power point; about win-lose sports language like "decimate," "attack," "destroy the other team," not to mention the movies and video games that simulate the most gruesome annihilations over and over.

Douglas Roche speaks about the lies of propaganda, one-sided media coverage, the alienation of others (those terrorists, the axis of evil, us vs. them language), all part of the "collective psychic numbing" of our times.

The biggest lie of all, he asserts, is that nuclear weapons are going to protect us. Roche argues that "nuclear weapons are not about security; they are about power ... the most vivid expression of a culture of war," where racism and economic strength are interwoven in the determination of the powerful to maintain their power. Nuclear weapons are an assault on our life, our planet, and on the Creator of the universe. The apathy that seems to afflict our people, he thinks, could be as a result of the mess seeming too big to handle for the average person, disconnected and disempowered. When the world food programme for children equals 1/70th of the annual world military expense, we see what a crisis we are in.

Yet just when I felt I could read no more, Roche inspired hope with the life examples of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Oscar Romero and others. Each spiritual leader lived the maxim, "no justice, no peace," nonviolently insisting on the truth, speaking truth to power without harming others or stripping their dignity.

Roche looks at the fundamental teaching in all faiths as the golden role, do to others what you would have done to you. Imagine if we focused on this commonality, rather than what divides us; imagine if religions and religious leaders promulgated a global culture of peace and tolerance. Roche suggests we do not have to feel overwhelmed; that U.N. structures, NGO documents, UNESCO declarations, peoples' ideas for education exist already, that the internet is a rich source of counter-culture information, connectedness and hope.

He asserts that peace is a human right, indeed, it is "the only way to achieve our human potential. Without peace, all other human rights are illusory."

Of what use is a vote or medical care in a war--torn society? Roche calls on spiritual leaders to foster reconciliation, and lead the faithful away from extremes and self-righteousness. A culture of war is like a house of cards; the house can fall and give rise, like the phoenix, to a new culture of peace. Roche sees three fundamental ways to build a culture of peace: understand, participate, communicate.

Reading this book certainly fosters the first. Finally, he gives 50 practical ways we can foster peace, from welcoming a stranger to listening well. I'll bet our children can think of 50 more, going out and waging peace.

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