Towards a Peaceful World

We were made to believe that the terrorist attacks on America on 11th September 2001 were a turning point in efforts towards world peace. President George W. Bush began his 'War on Terror'¯, a war which has continued since and has led to the invasion of first Afghanistan and then last year Iraq. No one condones violence perpetrated on innocent people and terrorism must be defeated. But could we really say that we have delivered peace? America's 'War on Terror'¯ is wide ranging and it is also polarising. George W. Bush has said, 'You are either for us or you are against us'. This necessity to pick sides has increased the polarisation between the Western world and Fundamentalism, as the continued terror attacks across the globe show us.

As a result of the 'War on Terror'¯ the UN's peacekeeping role has been undermined.

The UN could not support this decision. It is a body that represents 191 countries, not just America. It is the UN's perceived subordination to the United States that has damaged it so much in the eyes of the world. It is vital that the role of the UN be maintained in the interests of world security and stability.

We must accept that peace cannot be won by violence - the continued instability and increased terrorist activity in post-war Iraq and Afghanistan surely shows us that. It would be better that governments use their resources not to make war, but to build peace. President Bush would be better advised to spend his $380 billion defence budget for 2004 not on armaments but on alleviating poverty.

In 1999 23% of the developing world's population - 1.2 billion people - had less than $1 per day; 2.8 billion people were living on less than $2 per day. At the same time in America the average wage was nearly $20 per hour. Whilst there is such sharp disparity in wealth conflict is inevitable.

Through huge defence budgets, such as America's for the next year, the developed world sends out the wrong message to poorer nations. Spending more and more money on armaments is not the answer; waging war does not bring peace.

If the developed world to spend even a proportion of their defence budgets on solving even some of the problems of the third world, peace would be a lot closer. The battle has still to be won. Equally we have to win the heart and minds of all people to achieve lasting peace.