For A Violence-Free World

The mindless resort to violence on issues that
could be addressed through meaningful
dialogue has made global peace a near impossibility. In fact, no continent is spared in this social malaise that has taken a very disturbing toll on human and material resources.
Middle East countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, and African countries like Kenya, Sudan, Mali and parts of Nigeria are striking victims of near frequent cases of terror attacks, ethno-religious violence, kidnapping and other vicious crimes that make little or no meaning to life and living.
The recent senseless killing of innocent civilians, among them defenceless tourists at a shopping mall in Kenya is only symptomatic of the larger unrest society knows. The same is true of the incessant terror attacks in parts of Northern Nigeria, where the Federal Government has been waging a war against the terror group Boko Haram and other such violent gangs.
Although the causes of these violent attacks against humanity and constant threat to global peace may be varied and unconnected, what runs through in all instances is humanity’s reluctance to appreciate the true import of dialogue, tolerance and peace. Were these guarded jealously and seen as basis for individual, inter-state and even international understanding and harmony, violence of any kind would have no place in the affairs of men.
It is in appreciation of this fact that the United Nations (UN) declared October 2nd every year as the World’s non-violence day. This year’s observance is most apt as it highlights the essence of peace as a pivot for development of the state and the individual.
Surely, no meaningful development can take place in an atmosphere of strife and violence. Not only does such situation threaten peace, development and human progress it often results in the loss of state and national assets acquired over a long period, not to mention human casualties that could have joined in productive endeavours of a given state, nation or continent.
The repeatedly over-flogged level of poverty being used as excuse for such violence can no longer sell. Nowhere in the world is every citizen wealthy, but many work hard for their living, and never ever consider their indigent status as reason for criminality or senseless violence.
Also, the same truly underscores the nullity of the claim that some persons resort to violence on account of poverty, because the amount of money, resources and planning used to acquire weapons and raise an army against innocent people is what only the very rich can afford. Worse still, all such negative responses have failed to change the situation in any country, meaning that violence is clearly not the answer.
Rather, it underscores the incitement of the down trodden by a comfortable few to enlarge their estates in the name of defending the poor. In all such exercises, the victims still remain the vulnerable poor and beneficiaries clearly inheritors of the sponsors, whose main ambition is political relevance and acquisition of power for more economic fortunes.
At the inter-state level, countries of the world also need to appreciate the importance of tolerance, peace and dialogue as basis for conflict resolution. The tendency among some despots to resort to violence as a means of cowing dissent into submission and silence must be discouraged as obtains in Syria where, a civil war has claimed hundreds of thousands of human lives.
So dastardly, even chemical weapons were employed resulting in the massacre of over 1,400 defenseless men, women and children, last August an act that led to threats of air strike on that country by the United State of America. That threat might have enhanced the process of dialogue but it could have restored peace.
Happily, dialogue became the magic wand that eventually averted the imminent danger which the likelihood of such US action would have spelt not only on that country and the Middle-East but indeed the global community.
That commendable achievement could not have been possible if the warring parties had not appreciated the value of dialogue as a necessary precursor to peace. The Syrian impasse and eventual global success in averting likely escalation of the mindless killings should serve as a worthy example of the propriety of dialogue and peace.
This is why nations of the world must not consider October 2nd every year as another opportunity to pay lip-service to the value of non-violence but indeed institute structures that encourage dialogue as a basis for achieving lasting peace required for global progress and the individual’s development.   That is how best to observe the world’s Non-Violence Day.