A Universal Program of Action for Peace

The question of Peace and Nuclear War is upon us. This is the question of life and death. June 21st was an alarming day that demonstrated the narrow respite between war and peace. The decision to strike Iran by the U.S. President and then the abrupt cancelation, more than anything else alarmed all nations of the inevitability of a global war. We are living in an insane time in which 10 minutes can shake the world according to the whim of one person, the President of United Stated of America. This insanity has to end now and the only people who can bring about this change are the true peace activists and democratic minded working people around the world armed with a comprehensive Peace Program.

The aim of this short essay is to offer a program for peace for immediate debate and discussion, and create A Universal Program of Action for Peace.

The recent G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan which was supposed to “achieve global economic stability” did anything but that. According to The Guardian, the G20 Summit “magnified deep and potentially unbridgeable divides”. The meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un at the DMZ, just like the meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit a day before, basically was an attempt to “hit the reset button”. While these “diplomatic” side shows are profitable for the commercial media, in reality they hide the U.S. drive for war.

On the day of G20 Summit, the U.S. deployed F-22 stealth fighters to Qatar for the first time to buildup the U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf against Iran. However, this important fact was not an interesting subject for the media “pundits” to discuss and inform their viewers. President Trump right after his DMZ show addressed the American soldiers, sailors and marines at the Osan Air Base near Seoul, South Korea and gloated that

“We are totally revamping and improving and in some cases getting brand new nuclear weapons – never wanna have to use them – but we have the most and the best in the world [the emphasis is added]”.

Of course this bellicosity makes the threat of ‘obliteration’ of Iran seem more real. The aim of Mr. Trump in imposing lethal sanctions on working people of “adversary” nations like Iran and Venezuela is to crush their sovereignty and independence. Terrorizing defenseless working families in different countries to be fearful of the U.S. nuclear bombs and continuous military preparation to implement these threats is the actual U.S. foreign policy of the 21st century. It is vital to understand that this aggressive and violent foreign policy is the policy of the U.S. government today and not just the Trump Administration.

The concept that Foreign Policy is the extension of the Domestic Policy is clear more than ever and proven again to be true and accurate. The concentration camps of the migrant children, the increasing numbers of homeless people, the farmers and workers’ job insecurity, the out-of-control police brutality and constant attack on women, youth, minorities and journalists’ democratic rights and freedom of speech; in short the unprecedented huge gap between the wealthy minority and impoverished majority in the U.S.; undoubtedly would reflect its injustice and cruelty in dealing with the “foreign” people abroad also. Again, this is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. When it comes to dealing the major domestic issues or major conflict and war, both parties act as one. The Democrats have no objection to the absurd and impractical “deal of the century” against Palestinians, nor were they concerned when the Israeli troops fired on the Palestinians who were protesting the so-called “workshop” in Bahrain headed by well-known Zionists like Jared Kushner (Trump’s son-in-law) and David Friedman (Trump’s ambassador to Israel).

So the facts are perfectly clear. How is it possible that the Democratic Party candidates in their debates for a better future do not talk about the impending war or take a firm stand against it? The answer lies in the fact that Democratic and Republican Parties are the same in their nature. Both parties do not represent the working people, both parties have shown over and over that they are representatives of the 1%, Wall Street and big corporations. The real voices of working people can only be heard on the streets, in the town halls, but not during the Democratic candidates’ debates or during Mr. Trump’s rallies which fascistic ideas are propagated. The working people have no representative in either camp, those phony “Socialists” like a colorful cover of an unhealthy and cancerous product in the market are only to deceive people eyes and give a feeling that with some “reform” America will be great! However, at the end of the day, these “Socialist”, “Progressive” Democrats always disappoint their naive political fans which go on until the next election cycle.

Source: author

While the powerful military armies around the world are digging their heels in; some irresponsible intellectuals and overpaid “pundits” are distorting the actual concern of the warmongers about their agenda of military confrontations. The mission of these “political analysts” is to plant the seeds of false hope that somehow the imperialist war could be averted if the certain “bad actors” behave and respond appropriately to the clear messages from Washington. Simply these “pundits” who pop up unexpectedly on the different News network these days have one goal in common and that is to pacify peace activists. Regardless of the abundant informative articles by the honest investigative journalists and writers which are available on the resourceful sites, still the powerful U.S. deceptive media is trying to distort the facts and confuse American public opinion about the inevitability of a world war in imperceptible ways.

Of course as always, there are many outright pro-war “journalists” also like Bret Stephens of the New York Times who can’t contain their excitement in propagating the need of a new war. As an Opinion Columnist in his article “The Pirates of Tehran”, Mr. Stephens instigates that “we should sink [the Iranian] navy” as “the U.S. Navy destroyed half the Iranian fleet in a matter of hours” in 1988! In the same article to make his argument more creditable, he says that “Trump might be a liar, but the U.S. military isn’t”!

True peace activists should bypass these minefields with utmost political awareness and clarity. To defeat the warmongers, to avoid a WWIII scenario, peace activists must look to create a global peace movement. Today, the focus of the warmongers is on Iran. But for the U.S. the ultimate aim is China as the main obstacle and Russia as the secondary problem in achieving world supremacy. Iran and the war in Persian Gulf will be only the igniting fuse.

True peace activists also must be alert about the damaging effect from the characters whom as peace activists try to consciously or unconsciously portray that China or Russia are pro peace forces! They are not; their concern is not about the Chinese or Russian people or people of any other country who will be the victims of a nuclear war. From the U.S., Japan and European countries to China and Russia, having the hegemony or upper hand over the world market is the ambitious goal of all major capitalist powers. For the same reason, today the old alliances after WWII are shifting, breaking up or at best look temporary. In this uncertain situation, the trade war between US and China will exacerbate the slowdown of global growth. The breakdown of the trading system certainly will raise the threat of war and ultimately will form new alliances for a global military conflict.

If one agrees with the above statements, the vital question now becomes what has to be done to prevent a nuclear war? Hopefully, the following plan of actions for peace could start a productive discussion -at least- among the true peace activists around the world in these crucial times.

A Universal Program of Action for Peace (an initial draft):

  1. The inevitably of a war between major powers is highly probable.
  2. While major military powers headed by the U.S. are preparing for the final war (a nuclear war), working people around the world seek peace and are not in the mood for the WWIII.
  3. The lack of a strong anti-war movement necessitates an immediate and comprehensive Program for Peace.
  4. The Program for Peace based on working people’s aspirations and power must be absolutely independent from the influence of the 1% in all countries.
  5. Avoiding a global war requires a united global peace movement. There is no place for the “anti-war” groups which propagate chauvinism and nationalism.
  6. The experience of the movement against the Vietnam War points out that building a successful and long-lasting peace movement cannot be based on a single demand against war. It has to be based on the working people’s immediate social, economical and political multi-demands in the different countries.
  7. The working people of any country in unity with the working people around the world will organize their own peace movement on the national level based on their unique situation, either through struggle against imposed austerity or in opposition to inequality and injustice or by series of strikes against their own capitalist government.
  8. A global union for peace will be a united front of all working people from the imperialist aggressor countries to the countries that basically scarify their soldier in the interest of one side of the conflicting military powers. The working people do not benefit from a war between the super powers for the world market hegemony.
  9. The progressive and independent peace and justice activists from all walks of life are the main allies of the working people. A Program for Peace will be forceful when the working people hand in hand with the independent activists and organizations build a strong bound in the different communities and coordinate their anti-war actions in one voice.
  10. A united working people of the different countries for peace in order to eradicate endless wars and poverty should energetically advocate People to People Diplomacy. Peace activists must travel to the different countries and share their experiences in Peace Seminars and Peace Forums in venues available within that community. People to People Diplomacy must be a constant effort and the main focus of the peace movement.

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Massoud Nayeri is a graphic designer and an independent peace activist based in the United States. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.


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Articles by: Massoud Nayeri

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