Global peace and safety
 

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

Will this in any way contribute to global peace or safety?

What things would contribute to global peace and safety?

Nope. There will always be those that challenge others right to exist in the way that they do (whether they do so humanely or not)

All humans stop living. Seriously. The human race and it's prejudices are what cause the majority of these problems. There are no quick fixes or simple solutions. As a Canadian, I'd say that the US needs to stop trying to tell others how to live. But that also applies to Canada. At the same time, economic pressures (a form of telling others how to live) are used to "discourage" human rights violations (and yet, the nation often applying it has done far more than it's fair share of violations against it's own native individuals).

I think the best that we can do, at times, is to do random acts of kindness locally as individuals on how we treat each other. It would less the global effect although it will not ever stop it.

June beat me to it.

The fact that one of Qaddafi's sons and a couple - three? - of his grandchildren were murdered just a day or so probably doesn't help.

Honestly? I truly believe that the West in general, and the US in particular, is about to pay a very heavy price for its arrogance (not to mention the cold blooded murder of innocents).

Words

From japanese macaques to Romeo and Juliet to the crusades to the hatfields and mccoys, violence begets violence. I am not sure if peace begets peace or if nonviolence begets nonviolence, but the cycle of revenge seems to be a human (primate?) one. Perhaps it is the cost of having long memories.

I think the only way to make this world safer and more peaceful is to always push toward recognizing each other's humanity and dignity and to - as individuals as well as governments and cultures - to embrace justice over revenge and love over hate and over fear. Love, hate and fear are words thrown around so much that they have almost become meaningless. The examples who come most to my mind are the words and actions of MLK and Gandhi, as well as many of the words and actions attributed to Jesus and the Buddha. To seek both justice and understanding without giving into the human instinct(?) for revenge.

Will Bin Laden's death change anything? I don't think so.

What things would contribute to global peace and safety?

For an awfully long time, the US has been a bully out in the world. We tell others how to live, and impose sanctions if they don't adhere to our standards of what's right or wrong. We've invaded sovereign nations, because we decided we didn't like what they were doing. Well....lots of folks have issues with what we (the US) does....but how would we feel if they invaded us?

There are no easy answers, but I think a good start is to stop telling others how to live, what to think, and how to govern themselves. If we believe that there are human rights violations going on, then let's go in and make it super simple to immigrate to the US...and open the door for those who would like to get out.

Instead of being the bully with all the power and money....I think we'd be safer being a refuge for those who want it. And it'd be a hell of a lot cheaper than what we're spending on war.

I know it's not that simple...but it'd be a place to start.

A critical mass of humans would need to want world peace and safety in order to sustain it....genuinely. My view from the sidelines watching the news it doesn't look like the right amount of people are ready for that to happen. When the right amount of people in the world finally decide to come together under the same umbrella to offer peace and love then the scale will tip and a chain reaction will take place. When governments stop putting profit before their people. When leaders believe the welfare of others as important as their own self preservation. When big corporations no longer are considered entities and have no power over the people. When skin color and gender no longer matter.

Pakistan didn't give up their airspace and allow us to go in there and get this guy without giving them something. I am wondering what it is we had to bargain with in order to make this happen. Understanding that...bad intentions create bad intentions which keeps the critical mass scale tipping towards evil. No peace will be had from the events that have taken place over the past few days.

Now I am off to chase the money trail and find out what we had to give up to get this guy!!!

Great thread Heart.

Hmmmm... nothing is "off topic," but there are other threads about bin laden's death, u.s. policy etc. I guess what I personally wanted was to read people's thoughts about ways to consider and promote global peace and safety. Maybe it's an odd moment to consider this....

I agree that it needs to start within one's own heart, family, community. Globally we consist of so many different cultures, faiths, tribes, governments, and histories -- fraught with violence, power struggles, poverty, and the subjugation of groups of people...

What is something, one thing, which you see now as contributing to global peace and safety? Either something you imagine, a change, direction you think is important, or something you can link to...?

Here's the one that first popped into my head: http://www.batshalom.org/about.php

Heart

Supposedly the death of Bin Laden will help us in our negotiations with the Taliban. i am not sure i understand why. i gather that the fewer foreigners influencing the Taliban, the better. Apparently the foreigners tend to be more radical than even the Taliban. We are negotiating with the Taliban in preparation for leaving Afghanistan. We need to be very effective and guarantee freedom and opportunity for women. We must negotiate with them, but we can't give away too much.

We can help Egypt make sure that their young people have a hope of employment if we don't want fundamentalism to gain ground there. Egypt is more important than Libya ever will be. We need to pay attention to it. We can start by forgiving their debt to us. Millions of new jobs need to be created there if there is a hope for a democratic future. If the efforts to create a democracy in Egypt fail, then it makes the efforts of all the other nations much less likely to succeed.

We need to get out of Iraq. Withdraw.

At home, we can punish the corporations and entities that cause serious economic and environmental damage, like BP and the financial executives that knowingly perpetuated schemes dangerous to the economy and to individual homeowners and investors.

We can tax corporations like GE. Good people need to have a sense that there is justice before they can invest in public life and work to make changes.

http://www.soros.org/ (open society foundations)

http://blogs.ushmm.org/COC2 (voices for genocide prevention)

http://www.amnesty.org/

Putting this into the context of having your own kids or grand kids killed because someone hates you brings it home. I remember when one of Qaddafi's daughters was killed a few years ago and thinking about this. When Saddam's sons were killed, I know that due to their adult history with violence against women was on my mind- but so was "they were someone's child." What did their mother feel?

My emotions are spinning over this today- but maybe later I can get it together to respond to Heart's questions. A discussion from these perspectives is really important. How many more generations will be hurt by terrorism and what gives it life? Then we can consider all those killed by Tim Mc Vey's (our home grown terrorist that took out a day care center along with his intended target) twisted mind and imbalance- which I really think is at the bottom of so much of these things. Might not have one thing to do with any of the political and economic variables we so often project causation upon.

It is difficult for me due to having a family and friends link to the Towers on 9/11. Yet, on the other side- I always feel just plain sadness with all that has happened both before and after 9/11 (speaking as a US American).

I imagine that in the UK, there are many that feel about the same way about Tony Blair as we do about George W. Bush. And your country has also been through these kinds of attacks and continued threat.

Something that has always bothered me is our (US) arrogance in thinking that we are any different than so many countries and peoples that have lived with this kind of violence almost every day for many, many years- just a way of life to wonder if your kid will come back from going and having a soda with friends. I don’t think I can even begin to understand this on the level other people do in the world.

I very much agree with this. Interesting comments from an article regarding Exxon's first quarter profits ...

'In China, the world’s second-largest consumer of oil and gas after the U.S., demand for oil-based fuels such as diesel rose 11 percent during the first three months of this year, almost seven times the U.S.’s 1.6 percent growth rate, according to the International Energy Agency. '
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...ice-surge.html

I don't know how to promote global peace through words. Words fail us at our best attempts too often when communicating with someone of a different culture or upbringing. I find visual communication a better tool for reaching understanding.

Sites like http://www.faces-foundation.org/proj...0-our-projects are helpful to me when trying to educate myself about other cultures.

Good topic to ponder. Thanks.

i tell you what i think is encouraging. The recession turned a lot of people on to frugal living. Perhaps not initially by choice, but now a lot of folks would not go back even if their income reached former levels.

A lof of people have found that not being driven by consumerist desires makes them happier and improves their relationships. i think that's actually a very big deal.

The less we are driven by the desire to work and spend, spend and work, the more likely we are to look around at what we do want, things that are less or perhaps not at all mediated by the market.

We may enjoy the outdoors and notice that some place we love is in danger. We may then spend some of our extra time and energy working to keep it safe.

Urban gardening, which is increasing like crazy and is no longer just a hobby of the well-to-do, is changing lives. People are much more aware of where food comes from and how it affects them. They are more in control of their lives as a result of something as simple as growing some of their own food. They work in groups, they meet neighbors, they reclaim neglected dangerous areas, and so on. Related -- i think the fact that Michael Pollen's books have been popular beyond the NPR crowd is meaningful.

The revolutions in the Middle East are amazing and encouraging in so many ways. i know Arabs who swore this would never happen, that Arabs don't form alliances, that they were never going to stand up to Daddy. Well they have and they did.

i think the fact that people can SEE how government failed to protect us from the predatory practices of the financial sector has also made people a question the benevolence of capitalism in ways we haven't seen since before Reagan. i wish there were more righteous anger about the causes of the economic crisis. But i believe that people are changed as a result of seeing the economic breakdown as not some mysterious correction in the system, but a result of unfettered greed on the part of previously trusted institutions. i think long term that people will question more and take less on faith. They will ask more of government, i hope.

There are many more people interested in the environment and in alternatives to oil. Government, regulated industries, and the auto industry have done everything they could for thirty years to keep us unaware of the real potential of alternatives, but they are beginning to be developed finally. Things like the small cheap solar panels that charge batteries in remote villages in Africa make such a difference. People save to buy them, and then make a little money from neighbors who charge their cell phones, etc. AND, this is huge -- school children are now able to study after dark because of this. More educated poor people -- that is a potentially powerful force for change.

As much as social media may isolate individuals and mediate what were once more intimate connections, it has also helped people communicate when they were in danger or when governments wanted them silenced. Again their role in the uprisings in the Middle East was important.

There are many encouraging signs. Ang San Suu Kyi was released. i mean Myanmar finally bowed to pressure.

i don't know. i see signs of awakening. i am hopeful. i am on the left, and there is a resurgence of activity there. For so long we were completely demoralized. But i think that there is a bit of a shift. People are willing to hear from us again.

Ohh this makes my heart hurt! June you and all of us can promote peace everyday. I don't think the goal is to control the collective destiny but to work with it and control our own individual destiny. I am a religious, PollyAnna kind of person about this I know. When I reach out and help someone who needs it that promotes peace. When I talk to my child about injustice and prejudice in the world, teach her how to identify it and how to fight it when it is right in front of her that promotes peace.

I really agree with and appreciate what Weatherboi said. It is a balance that is at a tipping point and when the balance of people in the world can agree on the common goal of peace it will tip that way. I believe that can and will happen and I believe that how I live my life, raise my child and behave in the communties I am a part of will help tip that balance. I also agree with and appreciate what Martina said about the changes in our country since the recession.

Sorry if this is too silly or facile. I feel this in my body as a tangible force.

[QUOTE=JustJo;331753]
There are no easy answers, but I think a good start is to stop telling others how to live, what to think, and how to govern themselves. If we believe that there are human rights violations going on, then let's go in and make it super simple to immigrate to the US...and open the door for those who would like to get out.

Instead of being the bully with all the power and money....I think we'd be safer being a refuge for those who want it. And it'd be a hell of a lot cheaper than what we're spending on war.

I know it's not that simple...but it'd be a place to start.

indubitably! i do not see how forcing beliefs/culture from this country can foster healthy relations there [insert country/culture].

If we consume local products, if we consume fewer products and foods that have been produced cheaply resulting in the exploitation of workers and damage to the environment, then we are at least not contributing to violence.

We do not want to be living on the exploitation of others' labor. That creates a class whose interests oppose ours. When our standard of living depends on cheap food and other items produced overseas, we are aligning ourselves with the powers exploiting others -- corporations and governments who do little to protect their workers (like China). We are not only complicit with the exploitation of the workers, we perpetuate a class system -- i can only live well if i exploit a bunch of you -- that inevitably leads to violence.

It's really hard when you're poor too, which is why the urban farms in places like Detroit really have amazing potential to create change.