Will there be a just and lasting
peace?
The war in Iraq has entered its
second week. It is not known when it will end. Neither can anybody tell
what the political, economic and social cost of reconstruction will be.
Ultimately, answers will have to be found about its impact on the ordering
of relations among the world community of nations.
The world faced similar challenges as the Second World
War raged on. We, together with the majority of our people, knew then
that whatever the answers to these questions, our freedom had to be an
inalienable part of the new world order. Responding to the 1941 Atlantic
Charter, in 1943 our leadership adopted the historic document, Africans'
Claims, the predecessor to the Freedom Charter.
Among others, the Africans' Claims said: "The soldiers
of all races, Europeans, Americans, Asiatics and Africans have won their
claim and the claims of their peoples to the four freedoms by having taken
part in this war which can be converted into a war for human freedom if
the settlement at the Peace Table is based on human justice, fair play
and equality of opportunity for all races, colours and classes."
In part, our leaders were inspired by the paragraph
in the Atlantic Charter, published jointly by US President Roosevelt and
UK Prime Minister Churchill, which read: "Third, (we) respect the
right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they
will live; and (we) wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored
to those who have been forcibly deprived of them."
The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, was one
of the great leaders of the Alliance against Nazism. Necessarily, even
as the great armies faced one another in a titanic contest in various
parts of the world, he began providing answers to the important questions
of the day relating to the post-war world order. As many of us ponder
the answers to the many questions to which the world will have to respond
after the Iraq war, we might learn something from the rigorous precision
of the mind of Winston Churchill.
Speaking at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, USA,
on March 5, 1946, Churchill said: "When American military men approach
some serious situation they are wont to write at the head of their directive
the words 'over-all strategic concept.' There is wisdom in this, as it
leads to clarity of thought. What then is the over-all strategic concept
which we should inscribe today? It is nothing less than the safety and
welfare, the freedom and progress, of all the homes and families of all
the men and women in all the lands.
"To give security to these countless homes, they
must be shielded from the two giant marauders, war and tyranny.When the
designs of wicked men or the aggressive urge of mighty States dissolve
over large areas the frame of civilised society, humble folk are confronted
with difficulties with which they cannot cope. For them all is distorted,
all is broken, even ground to pulp.
"When I stand here this quiet afternoon, I shudder
to visualise what is actually happening to millions now and what is going
to happen in this period when famine stalks the earth. None can compute
what has been called 'the unestimated sum of human pain'. "
He then went on to say: "A world organisation has
already been erected for the prime purpose of preventing war, UNO, the
successor of the League of Nations, with the decisive addition of the
United States and all that that means, is already at work. We must make
sure that its work is fruitful, that it is a reality and not a sham, that
it is a force for action, and not merely a frothing of words, that it
is a true temple of peace in which the shields of many nations can some
day be hung up, and not merely a cockpit in a Tower of Babel.
"I have, however, a definite and practical proposal
to make for action. Courts and magistrates may be set up but they cannot
function without sheriffs and constables. The United Nations Organisation
must immediately begin to be equipped with an international armed force.
In such a matter we can only go step by step, but we must begin now."
In the same speech, he drew attention to the global
responsibilities of the United States in the following words: "The
United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is
a solemn moment for the American Democracy. For with primacy in power
is also joined an awe inspiring accountability to the future. If you look
around you, you must feel not only the sense of duty done but also you
must feel anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement. Opportunity
is here now, clear and shining for both our countries. To reject it or
ignore it or fritter it away will bring upon us all the long reproaches
of the after-time. It is necessary that constancy of mind, persistency
of purpose, and the grand simplicity of decision shall guide and rule
the conduct of the English-speaking peoples in peace as they did in war.
We must, and I believe we shall, prove ourselves equal to this severe
requirement."
Winston Churchill had spoken of the role of the United
States in 1943, when he received an honorary degree at Harvard University,
on September 6. On that occasion he said: "The price of greatness
is responsibility. If the people of the United States had continued in
a mediocre station, struggling with the wilderness, absorbed in their
own affairs, and a factor of no consequence in the movement of the world,
they might have remained forgotten and undisturbed beyond their protecting
oceans: but one cannot rise to be in many ways the leading community in
the civilised world without being involved in its problems, without being
convulsed by its agonies and inspired by its causes.
"If this has been proved in the past, as it has
been, it will become indisputable in the future. The people of the United
States cannot escape world responsibility. Although we live in a period
so tumultuous that little can be predicted, we may be quite sure that
this process will be intensified with every forward step the United States
make in wealth and in power. Not only are the responsibilities of this
great Republic growing, but the world over which they range is itself
contracting in relation to our powers of locomotion at a positively alarming
rate.
"We have learned to fly. What prodigious changes
are involved in that new accomplishment!..Where, then, are those broad
oceans, those vast staring deserts? They are shrinking beneath our very
eyes. Even elderly Parliamentarians like myself are forced to acquire
a high degree of mobility."
In the same speech, he spoke about the unity and role
of the English-speaking world, to which he again referred in his Fulton
speech. At Harvard, he said: "We (the English-speaking world) do
not war primarily with races as such. Tyranny is our foe, whatever trappings
or disguise it wears, whatever language it speaks, be it external or internal,
we must forever be on our guard, ever mobilised, ever vigilant, always
ready to spring at its throat. In all this, we march together. Not only
do we march and strive shoulder to shoulder at this moment under the fire
of the enemy on the fields of war or in the air, but also in those realms
of thought which are consecrated to the rights and the dignity of man...
"Now in my opinion it would be a most foolish and
improvident act on the part of our two Governments, or either of them,
to break up this smooth-running and immensely powerful machinery the moment
the war is over. For our own safety, as well as for the security of the
rest of the world, we are bound to keep it working and in running order
after the war - probably for a good many years.
"We must not let go of the securities we have found
necessary to preserve our lives and liberties until we are quite sure
we have something else to put in their place which will give us an equally
solid guarantee. The great Bismarck - for there were once great men in
Germany - is said to have observed towards the close of his life that
the most potent factor in human society at the end of the nineteenth century
was the fact that the British and American peoples spoke the same language.
That was a pregnant saying. Certainly it has enabled us to wage war together
with an intimacy and harmony never before achieved among allies...
"But I am here to tell you that, whatever form
your system of world security may take, however the nations are grouped
and ranged, whatever derogations are made from national sovereignty for
the sake of the larger synthesis, nothing will work soundly or for long
without the united effort of the British and American peoples. If we are
together nothing is impossible. If we are divided all will fail."
When he spoke at the University of Zurich, Switzerland,
on September 19, 1946, he conveyed his vision of Europe, saying: "We
must build a kind of United States of Europe.If Europe is to be saved
from infinite misery, and indeed from final doom, there must be this act
of faith in the European family, this act of oblivion against all crimes
and follies of the past.
"I am now going to say something that will astonish
you. The first step in the re-creation of the European family must be
a partnership between France and Germany. In this way only can France
recover the moral and cultural leadership of Europe. There can be no revival
of Europe without a spiritually great France and a spiritually great Germany.
The structure of the United States of Europe will be such as to make the
material strength of a single State less important. Small nations will
count as much as large ones and gain their honour by a contribution to
the common cause.
"I now sum up the propositions which are before
you. Our constant aim must be to build and fortify the United Nations
Organisation. Under and within that world concept we must re-create the
European family in a regional structure called, it may be, the United
States of Europe, and the first practical step will be to form a Council
of Europe.
"In this urgent work France and Germany must take
the lead together. Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations,
mighty America - and I trust, Soviet Russia, for then indeed all would
be well - must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe and must
champion its right to live. Therefore I say to you "Let Europe arise!"
In his speech at Fulton, Churchill had also said: "From
Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has
descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals
of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe.All are subject in
one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and,
in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.Whatever conclusions
may be drawn from these facts.this is certainly not the Liberated Europe
we fought to build up. Nor is it one that contains the essentials of permanent
peace."
History will judge the extent to which this grand Churchillian
vision of the world after the Second World War was realised. It will make
a determination about how well that vision served the objectives Churchill
stated at Fulton. Whatever its judgements and determinations, the one
matter history will not contest is the acute appreciation of the warrior-statesman,
of the centrality of power in the ordering of relations among the nations.
When the Cold War came to end, with the collapse of
the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies in Europe, many said that
we were entering a new world of peace, the permanent relaxation of global
tension, and the demise of power blocs. All humanity would benefit from
a peace dividend that would open the way to the eradication of the great
scourges of poverty and underdevelopment, and freedom from the unestimated
sum of human pain of which Churchill spoke at Fulton.
The war in Iraq emphasises the fact that this dream
remains as yet a mere dream. It tells us that all of us must try, as Churchill
did, to elaborate the overall strategic concept that he tried to formulate.
As we do this, there are many questions that we will have to answer.
What will be the fate of the United Nations and the
global governance of a world that, because of the technological advances
of which Churchill spoke, is no longer divided by broad oceans and vast
staring deserts!
What global responsibilities attend those who have a
preponderance of power! Who will determine those responsibilities, and
who will provide the checks and balances in the face of that preponderant
power!
How shall we understand the accountability of the powerful
to the nations, of which Churchill spoke, which is underpinned by the
urge to avoid the long reproaches of the after-time!
How will the new world be constructed such that, as
Churchill said of the new Europe he foresaw, small nations will count
as much as large ones and gain their honour by a contribution to the common
cause!
What will the common cause be! Who shall determine its
content! How!
Will it include the elimination of the unestimated sum
of human pain that is the lot of billions of people across the globe,
including our own! Will the Africans' Claims be part of the agenda of
the world after Iraq!
What meaning will be attached to the concepts of sovereign
rights and self government of peoples proclaimed in the Atlantic Charter!
Who will tell us all of the meaning!
Who will ask the questions! Who will provide the answers!
What will the forum be, that will not merely be a cockpit
in a Tower of Babel, a seat for the frothing of words!
Will there be a just and lasting peace in the world,
at last!
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