Peace is within our arm’s reach
The scenes at Kabul airport ripped through the heart of the international community this week. Shock, anger and devastation were felt by many. The photograph of 640 people crammed into the US Air Force carrier, and the pictures of those left behind, also hit me hard.
As I waded through murky emotional waters, my thoughts moved from the people in war-torn Afghanistan to asylum seekers and refugees in Australia. And onto the military, law enforcement, diplomats and aid workers, journalists, who risked their own lives for a greater sense of unity.
Nearly 40 years of foreign war, and two decades of continued Australian military presence in Afghanistan, and what has it amounted to?
Is peace on Earth even possible?
It’s a really big question. But a heck of a worthy ideal. Alarmingly, global peacefulness is declining and according to the Global Peace Index it has deteriorated for the ninth consecutive year. From a structural perspective there are two kinds of peace — negative and positive. Negative peace only refers to the absence of war or violence. But we know that feeling peaceful is about so much more than living free from violence. Positive peace is attitudinal, and concerns the establishment of institutions that favour peaceful experiences and relations.
Ranked 163rd in the world, Afghanistan is firmly positioned at the very bottom of the Global Peace Index. This is not a case of the nice guy finishing last. The country is teeming with extreme levels of criminality and corruption, easy access to weapons, high rates of violence and low levels of safety and security. Of course, even more so now, women and girls are highly vulnerable.
People are internally displaced. And over 2.5 million registered Afghan refugees worldwide make up the second-largest, and one of the most protracted, global refugee populations. Given the dire situation, the UK has extended its intake to 20,000 places for Afghan refugees. Australia has set aside a mere 3000 places, and it’s likely it will take years to fill the quota. Furthermore, the 2013 law that sends asylum seekers arriving by boat to Pacific nations, also places people in ongoing precarious waters.
We have to make peace our imperative. It has to guide our national agenda, our economic, social and health policy at every level. And we have to remove all the barriers (both personal and structural) in the way of that vision. In the words of 17th century Dutch philosopher and rationalist, Baruch Spinoza: “Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.”
Only when we end the war within ourselves, will the world truly be free. So, it’s also up to each of us to hold the line. First, within our own minds, and then within our relationships. We must individually make peace a practice, and choose it daily. Let’s also not take our sovereign liberties and rights for granted. Emotions are heightened, and fear and uncertainty abound. Right now, we need to wrap our arms really wide around our veterans and all those who served in Afghanistan.
Too many men and women and their families live with the enduring battles of war. Suicide rates among those currently serving and ex-services personnel remain unacceptably high — one person dies by suicide every two weeks. A royal commission into defence and veteran suicide commenced this year. Hopefully, we’ll see greater investment in veteran mental health initiatives that produce positive outcomes. And we also need to embrace and support our Aussie-Afghan communities, too.
With arms wide open, may peace prevail.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Open Arms Veterans and Families Counselling: 1800 011 046
This article was first published in The West Australian in Renée Gardiner’s weekly column in Agenda, 21 August 2021.