On the Nature of War

Today, I dwell on international conflict.

War or massacre; invited or imposed. Of the immeasurable futility and inexcusable senselessness of spending prohibitive amounts of capital to directly or indirectly enable mass killing. As states around the world look to reassure their citizens of their safety by increasing military budgets in lieu of shifting hegemons, while neglecting treatment of systemic cancers. That ever-present, seemingly inescapable reality which keeps peace at bay in the name of “national interests”.

The most universally acknowledged, secure, and fortified border remains a fictitious construction. Nature cares not where lines on a map are drawn. Social ills exported or facilitated elsewhere will find their way in. Those with power would be wise to use these moments to widen their ambition for truly transformative projects that restructure our collective political economy, rather than continue and bolster cycles of conflict and oppression.

The above composition is from a protest album composed in the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War, whose architects escaped accountability. Enjoying their lives to this day amongst the same elite that continue to dictate policy. A common historical thread.

Today, I dwell in doubt.

“National boundaries are not evident when we view the Earth from space. Fanatical ethnic or religious or national chauvinisms are a little difficult to maintain when we see our planet as a fragile blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars. […]

A new consciousness is developing which sees the Earth as a single organism. And recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed. We are ONE planet.”

– Carl Sagan in “Who Speaks for Earth?”, Episode 13 of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

Here’s to a future where we default to compassion for all our fellow humans.