Aleppo 7

By: Bikal Dhungel

While the civilians including women and children were being shot and the city of Aleppo being turned to ashes, in the world, business went as usual. The Do Jones index ran positive and barely any newspaper made it to the headline. Apart from few hundred people in German cities and Copenhagen went to streets and light the candles for people of Aleppo, nothing really happened. Candles are just gestures but in such situations, gestures are useless. Only immediate action can save lives. When the Americans and Canadians landed in Normandy, when the Russians marched into Berlin, when the NATO started shooting in Yugoslavia, only then the people of Europe were saved from atrocities. Actions are needed in Syria to stop violence. However, when the world is divided, no action can be taken. This division has political ego. This has profit motive. That is why, Syria was left as it is. The question goes, why is the world divided ? The world is divided because there is force, especially Russia which is seeking its share of the Pie to get building contracts in Syria. Wealth. Possession.

How did it all start ? Why possession caused all the evils we have ? This goes back to our existence. The hunting and gathering society did not possess anything apart from the sharp arrow needed to hunt down big animals. Whatever they hunted, they ate right away and kept for few days to consume and then they move away. It made no sense to keep anything as foods will get rotten and cannot be consumed. As it was difficult to carry any stuffs, hunting and gathering societies lived with as little as possible. They also had children once when one child is able to walk on its own otherwise it would be very difficult to carry multiple children. This was how the nature made them. However, things started to change since the creation of agricultural societies in Nile Valley civiliation, Indus valley civiliation and probably elsewhere as there is no evidence about where the agricultural societies originated. As people started to store grains and seeds to consume in the future, it was a real creation of societies and class and kings. With the will to accumulate more to their group and societies, humans begans to attack other groups of humans in order to capture their wealth. First it was for the crops, then it was for lands, then resources and other things. Since that time, rarely any year , people lived in peace. The 1000 years of European history is full of wars. Large fraction of history books consist of wars and terrors. It is the same now. Apart from few parts of the world, small or large scale or war is going on every where. The way how war is fought has changed but still, countries have rejected the 'Just War' theory of christianity and continue to disregard any idea of humanity.

There are enough examples of atrocities throughout the world in all time. Every time they said, this kind of act should never happen but it continues to happen. Wars have decreased overall due to the creation of institutions, trade links and the overall liberalisation of education. However, every single life lost due to war is too many.

I think, one of the way to decrease the number of war in the world is to connect the world even more through trade links, through international friendships and through the change in education system based on the principle of non-violence. In Scandinavian countries and few northern European countries, even if you have done a minimal level of crime like stealing chewing gum from the shop, this would register this crime in the police office which makes him very difficult to find jobs because employers look for criminal records. Secondly, children need an overall education that any act of violence is morally wrong. Unfortunately, some violent people does not know that being violent is not right and those who know it, know that they are doing a wrong thing. This education is very important. This will have an immense impact on crime and violence. How war has been avoided in Western Europe is exactly this princple, among others. Along with strong trade links, a common government, liberalized education system based on humanity and non-violence, they created a mass which rejects violence, of course with some exceptions. The implementation of this in wider level will create more peace in the society, hence the future leaders who are unlikely to go to war against the other.

As with every other genocide or violence, there will be a film about Aleppo in some years which will probably win some awards and will be a source of momentary entertainment for the world. The film might be called Aleppo 7. Let peace prevail.