MAKING WAR A THING OF THE PAST

by Wilhelmina S. Orozco 

Peace is very elusive nowadays  in this world. Wherever anyone goes or flies, I am sure they will encounter war. In the south, we have the AFP versus the Abu Sayyaf. In Southeast Asia, the Taliban versus the Pakistani government and the world; the Middle East – within Syria, the rebels the Syrian National Coalition versus the dictator President Bashar al-Assad.

                                    (Picasso's Guernica,reaction to the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War )

A  report states that”  The authorities are accused of arresting democracy and human rights activists, censoring websites, detaining bloggers, and imposing travel bans. Arbitrary detention, torture, and disappearances are widespread.^[78] Although Syria's constitution guarantees gender equality, critics say that personal statutes laws and the penal code discriminate against women and girls. Moreover, it also grants leniency for so-called 'Honour killing'.^[78] As of 9 November 2011 during the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations reported that of the over 3500 total deaths, over 250 deaths were children as young as 2 years old, and that boys as young as 11 years old have been gang raped by security services officers.^”

^{Would we say that evil is engulfing the world, that we cannot view any goodness op\verpowering the devil in the near future? To take a religious approach seems} 

too conservative and that we should make a sociological and historical assessment of what is going on before labeling people and events. But when we are faced with deaths everyday, surely there is someone there who wants to play God, and who thinks he can terminate the life of anyone, destroy the surroundings without permission from anyone. That kind of situation makes a mockery of the history of the United Nations in trying to create a peaceful world through the unity of all nations.

Yet, we can only sigh and wish that things would change overnight. But when we hear superpower countries siding with the Syrian president and not guaranteeing a democratic rule in Syria, our view of democracy becomes hazy and hopes are dashed easily. Why because those superpowers are economically entrenched and have the necessary and a wealth of  defenses to strengthen not only their own but even dictatorial regimes.

We remember very well after the 1986 election and Marcos, the dictator declared himself the winner, the USSR readily sent congratulatory statements without regard for the feelings of the people who suffered 14 years of dictatorial rule and who wanted him out of the picture.

So when we are faced with international politics, we in the Philippines seem to be just a dot in the atmosphere as “big brothers” are lording it over us. We are merely pawns and not queens nor even horses that could challenge the king’s position as in chess. And yet, our country could be the broadest exporter of labor power as even in Russia, our compatriots can be found working.

I think that the presence of the Filipino people in many parts of the world could help a lot in bringing about peace, if only our people were not so self-effacing. If only they could be proud of our country, of where they come from, of our own historical background whence we belong to the first country in Asia to say goodbye to a colonial power; then maybe, they could assert the need to preserve life. Is that not what our religions tell us? Life is valuable, should not be extinguished and everyone should have space in this world and survive for so long as they can and want.

In fact, the role of the Syrian rebels in wanting to overthrow Assad who has held power since 1971 is akin to our own struggle against the dictatorship in 1986. Marcos held power from 1971 and was booted out in 1986. In this era, Assad is holding onto power and has managed to get the nods of Russia and China which then brings me to this point. Latest reports say:

“Russians had recently delivered the advanced S-300 surface to air missile systems, weapons that could help his forces fend off western efforts to establish a no-fly zone over the Middle Eastern nation engulfed in a civil war that has claimed as many as 90,000 lives. Russia and Iran have been supplying arms to Assad, including Kalashnikov rifles and anti-ship cruise missiles. But a shipment of S-300s would raise the stakes in the area, and Israel has threatened to take military action if those shipments are made.” (Fox-news report)

Why are these two communist countries so eager to support a dictatorship? Why do they insist on making the world a nervous wreck, teetering between life and death: “are we going to live till tomorrow or not? How long will that war be? When will it end? Will it spread to our grounds?”

Those questions are legitimate especially when asked by children, those vulnerable beings who are victims of adults playing with guns and arms like toys.

I think that any war in any country should be the legitimate concern of everyone. Just because a country is several thousand miles awayis no reason for us to turn a blind eye to its consequences. Everyone should be afraid, should experience terror, should raise hell should any individual or country for that matter starts to use guns or even drones to annihilate a person or a people. Shouldn’t we?

I was asked once, what we should do with drug pushers in a jeepney. I said they deserve to die only because it is very difficult to arrest them without sacrificing the lives of our police officers, and because they have destroyed the lives of their victims already. But come to think of it, I think that their  presence should make us think of more humane ways of netting them and making them truly reformed individuals in humane societies. A province in our country has even elected a drug-connected leader, one would say. But that is a very great exception. Maybe fears of how far the powers of that leader could go have been sown to make the people there vote for her.

But going back to Syria, I think that we should really pray for the civil war to end there soon. I pray that the presidents would soften their hearts and let not only reason but sympathy and empathy towards children and women be activated so that war would be a thing of the past in this millennium and beyond.