"Nuclear" Disarmament

international | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis Friday December 30, 2005 15:26 by Sean Crudden - impero sean at impero dot iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 042 93 71310

Disarmament or Peace?

Does disarmament in Ireland mean peace? Are there thugs and bullies darkening the dawn of peace in Ireland? Who is it that shoud be justly named a bully and a thug?

Pope Benedict XVI, in his message for the Celebration of World Day of Peace, January 1, 2006, titled In Truth, In Peace, has fully articulated his leadership in the issue by stating in relevant portion:

"What can be said, too, about those governments which count on nuclear arms as a means of ensuring the security of their countries? Along with countless persons of good will, one can state that this point of view is not only baneful but also completely fallacious. In a nuclear war there would be no victors, only victims. The truth of peace requires that all —whether those governments which openly or secretly possess nuclear arms, or those planning to acquire them— agree to change their course by clear and firm decisions, and strive for a progressive and concerted nuclear disarmament. The resources which would be saved could then be employed in projects of development capable of benefiting all their people, especially the poor."

The connection between truth and peace is not always obvious. Even on this side of the Atlantic we have been fed a diet of unsubstantiated assertion, anti-logic, sophistry, bombastic name-calling and an alarming level of tub-thumping, self-serving rhetoric during the past year and further back in the post-modern political era.

Of course it is difficult to decipher the truth even in sincere discussion between equals. But if the strength of anyone’s argument is to be decided by the number of tanks and battalions that person has at their command then the greatest fears of the pessimistic philosophers are near realisation.

Peace is a frame of mind - I think. And it is based on equality and love. The Christmas spirit (and I don’t mean the stuff that comes out of a bottle) gives us a feeling of what we all want. We pray for it at mass every Sunday - "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace."

Of course it is not possible to keep a lid on the hot-headed, destructive, twisted, angry machinations of the misguided grandiosity of some of our leading spokesmen. Perhaps that is the weakness of popular democracy - that it throws up noisy, cutting vessels who are apt to destroy the fabric of public life rather than lend it shape and lustre.

Of course it is already too late for an old man like me to worry about those things. However - although there has been a peace process in train in Ireland for a decade or more there are a lot of people who scarcely seem to have peace in their hearts. However before the curtain comes down for me I would like to see the young people of Ireland turn away from aggression and violence and look instead towards assertive, honourable, peaceful discussion. Perhaps the choice between the broad road towards destruction and the narrower twisty road towards peace and love may become more stark in the year ahead?