Peace Matters
“The
intolerable conditions pervading society bespeak a common failure of all, a
circumstance which tends to incite rather than relieve the entrenchment on
either side. Clearly a common remedial effort is urgently required. It is
primarily a matter of attitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness,
holding to outworn concepts and unworkable assumptions? Or, will its leaders,
regardless of ideology step forth, and with resolute will, consult together in
a united search for appropriate solutions?
The Promise of World Peace, pg. 68.
World Budget
Priorities 1983
US and European
Economy
$25,600 military expenditure per soldier $450
education
expenditures
per child
$75 per capita for military research $11
for health research
$150 per capita for military forces
$.06 per capita for
international peace keeping
These public budgets show a decided preference for military
power over social programs and peaceful approaches to conflict resolution.
World Military and
Other Expenditures of Governments in 1983
Military
$706 billion
Education
650
Health
540
Foreign Aid
36
UN Programs
4
International
Peace Keeping
0.3
Source: World
Military and Social Expenditures 1985, R.L. Sivard, World Priorities, USA
- Although these figures are over 30 years old, current world conditions only reflect even more disparity.
“We are living under the
domination of the cultural legacies of times long past. The principle of
national sovereignty is one of them; it derives from our ancestral concept of
sacred territory to be defended at all costs . . . The grotesque and paranoid
belief that our legitimate aspirations to security can be satisfied by ever
more deadly armaments is another such relic.”
Aurelio Peccei One Hundred
Pages for the Future, Pergamon Press, 1982.
The generation saga “The
Peacemaker” http://kentuckywoman.net is
a 300 year exploration of American history that bears out the above statement.
No comments:
Post a Comment