End of warfare?

0
Gwynne Dyer speaks on
his topic ‘The End of War?: Nonviolence in the 21st Century’ at BGSU. (Photo: Enoch
Wu/Sentinel-Tribune)

For 200 years, warfare has been "non-functional," according to a leading geopolitical analyst.

"It has been too destructive for any possible imagined gains," said analyst, journalist,
historian and author, Gwynne Dyer.
"What’s the point in fighting if everyone dies and everything is destroyed," he asked a crowd
at Bowling Green State University.
"The whole institution of warfare has actually made itself redundant by getting so big, so powerful,
so efficient."
Dyer spoke Thursday on "The End of War? Nonviolence in the 21st Century," during the third
annual Nakamoto Peace Lecture at BGSU.
And while wars continue, alternative resolutions like non-violent protests are gaining ground, Dyer said.

"I would say that non-violence, now, is a fairly reliable tool for removing obnoxious regimes."

Recent success with non-violent actions have been seen in Egypt and Tunisia where such techniques were
used with "great discipline" and produced "very rapid success."
"They brought a brutal, ruthless dictator to his knees," Dyer said of Egypt.
Citizens also tried to carry-out a non-violent protest plan in Libya, "but it rapidly got taken down
by the use of force on both sides," Dyer said.
"And then it degenerated into a civil war and he (Moammar Gadhafi) had all the weapons."
And in Syria, protestors avoided violence for eight months up until the point that thousands of military
deserters joined their ranks and wanted to fight back.
"And being soldiers, they don’t want to have violence without retaliation," Dyer said.
These retaliations, Dyer said, de-legitimized non-violent protest power in Syria and increased the
likelihood of a civil war there.
One of the most challenging aspects of non-violence, Dyer said, is that it does not exclude violence from
the government or party in power.
"But as long as you don’t use force yourself, there is a limit to how much force the state can use
without discrediting itself in the eyes of its population," Dyer said.
Non-violence requires "incredible discipline and a great deal of courage.
"It means that you have to stand there and accept being beaten up, or arrested, or perhaps tortured,
but you have to refrain from violence," he said.
"You have to abstain from violence in order to win," he said.
Wars, especially between smaller powers, remain, but Dyer said the trend toward alternative resolution is
encouraging.
"It’s getting better and I see no likelihood there will be a massive back-slide," he said.
"We are a long ways away from replacing war with non-violent actions involving international
disputes," he said. "You can’t expect everyone to live in sweetness and harmony."
But there have been steps forward.
Among these steps has been the world’s "great powers" avoiding war against each other for the
last 67 years.

No posts to display