Achieving peace through international interdependence

Varun
Indus International School
India

How can you describe peace? Peace, I think, is more than just peace between nations, it is also peace between people. The whole global community should be able live without fear, interact freely and be able to do what they want to do.

Conflicts start for various reasons and these reasons are not so different from conflicts long ago. Conflicts that are non-violent are not a bad thing. Difference of opinion is one way that many great changes and inventions have come about. Conflicts are only bad if they are violent. Violent conflicts should be dealt with. The conflict between India and Pakistan is a war over land. The many great conquerors of olden times, like Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Xerxes and Mohammed of Ghur, also waged war to conquer new lands. It is an egoistic thing to have a lot of land. The conquerors feel good that they have a lot of land. Fights over land can also be about resources. The resources could be gold, iron or oil. Oil is a very important resource today. We use it all the time, and without it, life would be very different. Some of the great wars were about religion. The crusades were all about the Christians trying to crush the Muslims. They started fighting because of their difference in religion. Christianity didn't want Islam being spread in Europe and they wanted to crush Salahudin in Africa. Also, the war that is going on between the USA and Iraq and Afghanistan is a war against terrorism. These terrorists are a small group of people, who, in one day, changed the lives of everyone on the planet by blowing up the World Trade Centre in New York. The terrorists have run and taken shelter in Iraq and Afghanistan and these countries have become involved in the conflict. These are some of the ways that global conflicts begin.

One cause of war today is terrorism. That is, a war is being waged to eradicate the people who bomb places all over the world, which causes a lot of innocent deaths. There is also a war against smugglers. Heroin smugglers and other smugglers fight to transport their illegal goods across many countries to their destination. Hundreds of people die every month due to the fighting of smugglers and countless others are affected by their goods. There is also the India/Pakistan war over the Jammu Kashmir area. The two countries have been fighting for many years over this area and the whole area is devastated with shells and landmines. Many people die everyday. India and Pakistan never stop fighting. As soon as it looks like India has won, Pakistan attacks again and wins the territory.

What can we do to stop this? These wars are costly in terms of money but, most importantly, they are also costly in terms of human life. Many people have died from war, whether they were soldiers defending their country or innocent people killed by the conqueror. The soldiers have families too and they are devastated at their loss. Also, many kids are orphaned and left to fend for themselves on the streets. All of the loss of life can cause the loved ones of the deceased to harbour bad feelings, which can then cause other conflicts. The effects of war may be bad but those affected by it must eventually throw away the past and go on with life, because otherwise the constant misery of it may have bad effects on them mentally and physically. After a war the place will need help from other countries to rebuild the devastated buildings and to help repair shattered lives. It would take many years for the way of life to be restored to what it used to be.

How can the community reduce conflict? Online and live protests make a big difference to the government in determining whether or not they will wage war. If it is a democratic country the people have the power to decide whether to fight or not. Online protests can also make a difference depending on how many protestors participate. If the government doesn't listen to the protests, the protesters must keep on trying. You may be able to sway the government through sheer determination alone. Also you can use boycotts, protests and marches to change the mind of the government.

Individuals like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi made a big difference to governments. Gandhi was able to force the British out of India without using any violence. If we follow Gandhi's example we can stop unnecessary war from breaking out and causing misery and pain. If any individual puts in the time and effort, they can stop a war. He or she can organise protests, make leaflets about the disadvantages of war and explain why there should be global peace. If people all over the world were to do this, I believe, that we could make global peace a reality.

If there is a global problem all of the countries of the world will be forced to work together to prevent it. Global warming, for example, is a worldwide problem and if all of the countries of the world don't work together, then the whole world will be devastated. Achieving global peace would be a long project and it would take many years for the plan to be implemented. During this time all wars would have to stop. While the project is underway we can develop international friendships, which would stop the need for future war. Also, another way to stop war would to increase the interdependence between countries, by for example, creating an entrepreneurial web. New companies would get employees from all over the world to help in their company. The employees don't even have to move physically to the new company, they can just work over the internet. After a few years the world's companies will be so interlinked that a country wouldn't be able to attack another one unless they wanted to disrupt their own economy.

The following two ideas are those of Thomas L. Friedman from his book The World is Flat. Did you know that all countries with McDonald's have never fought with each other? This is because the middle classes of all those countries have middle classes that think alike and so they don't have any reason to fight with one another. Like this, if we globalise the world and let, for example, Chinese companies go into the USA, the way of thinking will be changed and there will eventually be no need to fight with one another. In this way we can bring about global peace: all we have to do is our own little part.

Another way of looking at the world is by connecting the world through commerce. The computer that you use would have parts from all over the world and many countries would have contributed to the software and hardware in it. The many companies and people involved are all from different backgrounds but they have to work together. In a nutshell, the countries in which the supply chains of global products are based have a vested interest of interdependence. They all depend on one another, so peace is gained through commerce.

Thank you for reading my views on global peace.

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