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Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
In every era of history, we always had a group of countries which were drawn together by mutual common interests and benefits. Such groups were referred to later by various names, among the common ones we find that of alliance or coalition. For the past six thousand years of recorded history, we have witnessed a world dominated by a patriarchy that tended to be vindictive, merciless and brutal.
Characteristics of the Culture of War
This was mostly due to the fact that the patriarchs that assumed power were all born and raised in a culture of war, which is characterized by distrust, suspicion, and belligerence. Because of this, there are hardly cases of international significance where problems were tried to be solved through genuine healthy dialogues. The philosophy of the patriarchy has been always the same. It runs something like this:
“You talk for as much as you like and I will listen, but when my turn comes to talk, you better listen very carefully because what I say will be final and the case is closed. Then just follow what I say because otherwise I will force you to do everything I want through a devastating war which will cause the destruction of the infrastructure of your nation along with the death of countless thousands of your innocent citizens.”
Hence, the nations that are deeply trenched in the culture of war, such as the permanent five members of the UN Security Council, are not equipped with the ability to ever bring about a permanent peace in our planet. The only thing they could do is to continue to try to control the world through fear and terror. Hence, the time is ripe where a coalition of peaceful nations needs to stand up tall to defend and promote the sacrosanct right of every nation to live at peace with itself and with others as well. This would require an international program of disarmament and arms control. The world is safer with fewer weapons than with more weapons.
An international committee that would work to increase periodically the number of members in the coalition of peaceful nations is being formed and anyone interested to join it as to become an integral part of a positive and constructive world community, is welcome to send a brief note of interest to: mercieca@knology.net or mgold@homeplanet.org for global coordination, and for regional coordination to:
(1) tpaupp@aol.com or mazuruk@knology.net for North and South America,
(2) leorebello@hathway.com or dr_suryanathprasad@yahoo.co.in for Asia,
(3) dean@sbs.edu or instytutmed@wp.pl for Europe,
(4) makouelegoma@yahoo.fr or aiepmtogo@hotmail.com for Africa, and
(5) senseadventures@yahoo.com.au or paul@kalgrove.com for the South Pacific.
Characteristics of the Culture of Peace
For a country to qualify to become a member of the Coalition of Peaceful Nations, it must demonstrate the will to achieve the following:
1. No foreign military bases established in its own territory. By their very nature, military bases exist in the hands of politicians to plan, plot and wage wars brutally and mercilessly with the same ultimate objectives: the destruction of the infrastructure of society and the massacre of innocent people in tens of thousands.
2. No foreign military forces allowed within its land and water boundaries. Politicians who view wars as a big business enterprise, have a way how to bribe heads of states and key figures of peaceful nations as to allow temporary airbases and harbors to shelter military planes and ships. The money offered should be refused as this would be blood money that carries a satanic curse.
3. Establishment of a loose federation between the countries of the Coalition of Peaceful Nations. This means that the citizens could travel to any of these countries without the requirement of a visa or even a passport, same way as we observe in the European Union. At the same time, they could develop trade cooperation and sharing of their natural and human resources.
4. Promotion of the culture of peace in all schools at all levels of education. This way, students from various countries could go there to study the characteristics of the culture of peace and how they could later serve to spread it in their respective nations. The ideal would be to have the culture of war everywhere be replaced by the culture of peace.
5. Creation of a healthy environment through the protection of fair economics and natural resources. In this area, the elimination of air and water pollution will become a necessity. This will boost the longevity of the natives, keep every citizen spiritually and physically healthy, and, above all, the spirit of happiness and joy would be given the opportunity to radiate deeply in every inhabitant.
6. Safeguard of human rights. This is evidenced by the freedom citizens of the coalition of peaceful nations may have to move around freely, to pursue any career they may wish, to have a free education, and to enjoy a free health care system. In the absence of such worries, citizens are bound to be more productive and beneficial to society where everyone will be a winner and no one a loser.
7. Changing the role of the military to purely humanitarian work. This means that the military will no longer serve to train people to shoot and kill other people and to destroy the infrastructure of their communities. On the contrary, the military will be trained to grow food for the hungry, build houses for the homeless, and provide their communities with good hospitals and schools.
8. Disarmament and arms control and the establishment of nuclear free zones. This means that military money would be used for the people’s good health and education. Ironically, the nations that tend to be militaristic have plenty of poor, hungry and homeless people, and that includes the USA where according to the United Nations, one out of five children dies of hunger related causes every year.
9. Development of the human resources merely for positive and constructive purposes. Instead of using the human intellect to develop more elaborate and devastating weapons of mass destruction, that same human intellect could be used to find a permanent cure to such maladies as cancer, multiple sclerosis, leukemia, diabetes, and heart disease in addition to others.
10. Refusal to allow any foreign nation to control the economic resources of its nation. The USA, for example, describes a nation as friendly that would allow the US big corporations exploit mercilessly a nation’s resources. If a head of state were to refuse that then the USA would refer to that nation as unfriendly. That’s why Cuba and Venezuela, for example, were classified by the USA as unfriendly.
As we know, every problem could be solved with the taking of the first step. We are now faced with the prospects of a nuclear holocaust. We may talk and talk among ourselves and just feel better. Or, we may take vital actions that would eventually enable the world to have the culture of war being replaced by the culture of peace. The official establishment of the Coalition of Peaceful Nations would be a gigantic step in the direction of eventual permanent peace.
1. Countries of Africa (53 Nations):
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Republic of), Congo (Democratic Republic of), Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
2. Countries of Asia (47 Nations):
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea (North), Korea (South), Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia (Asia), Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey (Asia), Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.
3. Countries of Europe (46 Nations):
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia (Europe), San Marino, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey (Europe), Ukraine, United Kingdom Vatican City.
4. Countries of North and South America (35 Nations):
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, North America: Canada, United States, Mexico, Caribbean: Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago.
5. Countries of the South Pacific (27 Nations):
American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Mocronesia, Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Island, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Palau, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
In every era of history, we always had a group of countries which were drawn together by mutual common interests and benefits. Such groups were referred to later by various names, among the common ones we find that of alliance or coalition. For the past six thousand years of recorded history, we have witnessed a world dominated by a patriarchy that tended to be vindictive, merciless and brutal.
Characteristics of the Culture of War
This was mostly due to the fact that the patriarchs that assumed power were all born and raised in a culture of war, which is characterized by distrust, suspicion, and belligerence. Because of this, there are hardly cases of international significance where problems were tried to be solved through genuine healthy dialogues. The philosophy of the patriarchy has been always the same. It runs something like this:
“You talk for as much as you like and I will listen, but when my turn comes to talk, you better listen very carefully because what I say will be final and the case is closed. Then just follow what I say because otherwise I will force you to do everything I want through a devastating war which will cause the destruction of the infrastructure of your nation along with the death of countless thousands of your innocent citizens.”
Hence, the nations that are deeply trenched in the culture of war, such as the permanent five members of the UN Security Council, are not equipped with the ability to ever bring about a permanent peace in our planet. The only thing they could do is to continue to try to control the world through fear and terror. Hence, the time is ripe where a coalition of peaceful nations needs to stand up tall to defend and promote the sacrosanct right of every nation to live at peace with itself and with others as well. This would require an international program of disarmament and arms control. The world is safer with fewer weapons than with more weapons.
An international committee that would work to increase periodically the number of members in the coalition of peaceful nations is being formed and anyone interested to join it as to become an integral part of a positive and constructive world community, is welcome to send a brief note of interest to: mercieca@knology.net or mgold@homeplanet.org for global coordination, and for regional coordination to:
(1) tpaupp@aol.com or mazuruk@knology.net for North and South America,
(2) leorebello@hathway.com or dr_suryanathprasad@yahoo.co.in for Asia,
(3) dean@sbs.edu or instytutmed@wp.pl for Europe,
(4) makouelegoma@yahoo.fr or aiepmtogo@hotmail.com for Africa, and
(5) senseadventures@yahoo.com.au or paul@kalgrove.com for the South Pacific.
Characteristics of the Culture of Peace
For a country to qualify to become a member of the Coalition of Peaceful Nations, it must demonstrate the will to achieve the following:
1. No foreign military bases established in its own territory. By their very nature, military bases exist in the hands of politicians to plan, plot and wage wars brutally and mercilessly with the same ultimate objectives: the destruction of the infrastructure of society and the massacre of innocent people in tens of thousands.
2. No foreign military forces allowed within its land and water boundaries. Politicians who view wars as a big business enterprise, have a way how to bribe heads of states and key figures of peaceful nations as to allow temporary airbases and harbors to shelter military planes and ships. The money offered should be refused as this would be blood money that carries a satanic curse.
3. Establishment of a loose federation between the countries of the Coalition of Peaceful Nations. This means that the citizens could travel to any of these countries without the requirement of a visa or even a passport, same way as we observe in the European Union. At the same time, they could develop trade cooperation and sharing of their natural and human resources.
4. Promotion of the culture of peace in all schools at all levels of education. This way, students from various countries could go there to study the characteristics of the culture of peace and how they could later serve to spread it in their respective nations. The ideal would be to have the culture of war everywhere be replaced by the culture of peace.
5. Creation of a healthy environment through the protection of fair economics and natural resources. In this area, the elimination of air and water pollution will become a necessity. This will boost the longevity of the natives, keep every citizen spiritually and physically healthy, and, above all, the spirit of happiness and joy would be given the opportunity to radiate deeply in every inhabitant.
6. Safeguard of human rights. This is evidenced by the freedom citizens of the coalition of peaceful nations may have to move around freely, to pursue any career they may wish, to have a free education, and to enjoy a free health care system. In the absence of such worries, citizens are bound to be more productive and beneficial to society where everyone will be a winner and no one a loser.
7. Changing the role of the military to purely humanitarian work. This means that the military will no longer serve to train people to shoot and kill other people and to destroy the infrastructure of their communities. On the contrary, the military will be trained to grow food for the hungry, build houses for the homeless, and provide their communities with good hospitals and schools.
8. Disarmament and arms control and the establishment of nuclear free zones. This means that military money would be used for the people’s good health and education. Ironically, the nations that tend to be militaristic have plenty of poor, hungry and homeless people, and that includes the USA where according to the United Nations, one out of five children dies of hunger related causes every year.
9. Development of the human resources merely for positive and constructive purposes. Instead of using the human intellect to develop more elaborate and devastating weapons of mass destruction, that same human intellect could be used to find a permanent cure to such maladies as cancer, multiple sclerosis, leukemia, diabetes, and heart disease in addition to others.
10. Refusal to allow any foreign nation to control the economic resources of its nation. The USA, for example, describes a nation as friendly that would allow the US big corporations exploit mercilessly a nation’s resources. If a head of state were to refuse that then the USA would refer to that nation as unfriendly. That’s why Cuba and Venezuela, for example, were classified by the USA as unfriendly.
As we know, every problem could be solved with the taking of the first step. We are now faced with the prospects of a nuclear holocaust. We may talk and talk among ourselves and just feel better. Or, we may take vital actions that would eventually enable the world to have the culture of war being replaced by the culture of peace. The official establishment of the Coalition of Peaceful Nations would be a gigantic step in the direction of eventual permanent peace.
1. Countries of Africa (53 Nations):
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Republic of), Congo (Democratic Republic of), Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
2. Countries of Asia (47 Nations):
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea (North), Korea (South), Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia (Asia), Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey (Asia), Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.
3. Countries of Europe (46 Nations):
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia (Europe), San Marino, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey (Europe), Ukraine, United Kingdom Vatican City.
4. Countries of North and South America (35 Nations):
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, North America: Canada, United States, Mexico, Caribbean: Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago.
5. Countries of the South Pacific (27 Nations):
American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Mocronesia, Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Island, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Palau, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna.