During the year many dates are dedicated to particular causes or events. Some of these are widely celebrated. Think of Anzac Day, Mothers’ Day. You may see others in a diary, but otherwise they pass without being noticed. Two November days are like this: the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (2 November) and the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict (6 November).
One of these days is dedicated to a small group of people and to one aspect of their lives – the license many governments give to kill or maim them, especially in times of war. The other is concerned to stop the devastation of the environment in war.
TRUTHS SILENCED
Nations involved in wars, governments that support them, and arms manufacturers that make money out of wars and the damage they cause want such damage to continue and try to silence or intimidate their critics. They want to control reporting of the war and the damage it causes.
For this reason, journalists who try to discover the truth that underlies the false information spread by interested parties about the cost to the environment caused by war and the human cost especially to children and women are often hunted, perhaps tried and imprisoned, but also often murdered. Their deaths and tortured are not investigated or prosecuted. They are martyrs to the truth that is the only soil in which democratic institutions grow. In their defence of democracy they often killed in societies that claim to be democratic.
In our world we need think only of the fate of journalists who try to report on the war in the Ukraine, Gaza and in Myanmar, and those who try to reveal the damage done by mining in Indonesia, the Philippines and Central America. Their deaths are often designed to serve the interests of Western companies and are ignored with the collusion of government officers.
EXPLOITATION
The violence designed to prevent reporting of violence and exploitation and the freedom given to those who want to suppress it open the way to the exploitation of the environment in war. Sometimes these wars are fought over control of minerals, oil and gas. At other times the weapons used in war cause lasting damage and pollution of the environment that affects lastingly the lives of the people who live in it. are a form of pollution in society. This may yield short term gains to people who profit from violence and environmental pollution but ultimately damage the roots of society.
A healthy society and world depend on a commitment to truth and on respect for the truth about human beings and the world of which we are part.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Finding Peace – questions and activities
In these notes we look at what peace means for Christians and why we need to strive for it.