I was really hoping to avoid yet another column explaining the goals of the current peace movement. Unfortunately, Colby Phillips, published in the Oct. 24 Daily Lobo, has brought to my attention the fact that, in spite of the numerous people who have written about these goals, some people are still under the impression that peace activists have yet to offer any actual solutions. So, I am forced to delve into that subject once again.
There are essentially two solutions that have been offered, with some overlap.
Solution one: Some peace activists support using diplomacy and criminal justice procedures - due process and all that - to capture and prosecute the responsible terrorists.
The World Court has been used effectively against terrorists in the past. But our government didn't even try this solution - though you'd think it'd be a first step in any situation like this - before they decided to drop bombs on Afghanistan. The president has refused to negotiate with the Taliban at all.
I personally have two objections to this course of action. First, my knowledge of the criminal justice system - and particularly my experience as a drug policy activist and lobbyist - has taught me that this system might better be termed criminal injustice.
Too often, due process is thrown to the four winds and people are convicted on the basis of insufficient evidence. In an emotionally charged situation like the one we're in now, that's all the more likely to occur.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Second, this solution seems too short-sighted. It might succeed in putting a particular group of terrorists out of commission, but there are plenty more where those came from.
I admit, however, that this course of action at least has the advantage of focusing on those believed to be responsible, without killing anyone else along the way.
The second solution, which could be used in conjunction with the first, is centered on working towards global justice as a way to address the worldwide problem of terrorism in the long term. Too many people have suffered because of U.S. foreign and domestic policies.
Not that I'm suggesting that the people who happened to be in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and those four planes on Sept. 11 deserved to die. The point is simply to recognize that there are things we can do - things many of us have been speaking up for since long before Sept. 11 - that can help make the world a better place.
The best way to eliminate terrorism is to give it no cause to exist.
I lack the space to detail everything that global justice stands for. Briefly, it requires a fundamental paradigmatic shift. We need to recognize how much we've gained from the people who have influenced our lives, and how much we've missed from the people who never had the opportunity to influence us. Which is only to say, making the world a better place for everyone is in our own self-interest.
Of course, this isn't a quick fix. We aren't going to heal the ills we've brought on the world in a day. But then, war isn't a quick fix, either. President Bush has on many occasions reminded us to expect this war to drag on for a very long time.
But if we think we can root out terrorism by means of war, we are seriously underestimating the situation. There are terrorists all over the world, even in the United States and the number of terrorists isn't static.
Even if we devoted all our resources, drafted every last American and suspended all civil rights, we still couldn't possibly hunt down every terrorist in the world before more arose to take their place. And the more blood on our hands, the more people we will drive to terrorism.
Perhaps even global justice won't work. We can't know for certain, since it hasn't been tried. But we do know that war has never brought an end to violence. At least the path of global justice has the potential to make people's lives better, without killing anyone in the process.
So there you have it. You may not like the solutions the peace movement offers, but at least you can't say we haven't offered them.
by Sari Krosinsky
Daily Lobo Columnist
