I have been asked to answer the question, “Is the goal of ending war and violence naïve?”

First of all, let me say – damn, that’s a hard question. Second of all, I truly don’t understand where that question comes from. Maybe I am living under a rock (a very peaceful one at that) but unless there is some magical trend detector out there that is detecting a snowballing number of people who believe that peace is not possible anymore –  than yes, I can understand the question. Though, as far as my brain (albeit magical detector ignorant) can tell, is that just the contrary is taking place in the world. More on that later. But if this is a serious question for consideration – than I am seriously concerned.

 
“Peace” -— and I apologize in advance for over romanticizing unoriginal 1970’s clinches — “is possible”. And sorry, but I must say it, if, yes…”we give it a chance.” (I can’t believe I just wrote that)

Those who argue otherwise have simply fallen into the proverbial trap. They have been enticed and ensnared by the wrath of addiction. Anyone who says “yes”- is simply hooked on, as Chris Hedges puts it, “the most powerful narcotic invented by humankind”.

They have taken the blue pill. They are prisoners in Plato’s cave. They have been drugged and brainwashed into believing and accepting the world that Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Agent Smith aspire to have – one that believes that violence is as natural as evolution. Oh wait, they don’t believe in evolution. Sorry…bad example.

 
Be warned — to those who believe peace is impossible — I am calling for an intervention.  Yes, an intervention. We need to get them, everyone who believes ending war and violence is impossible, in a room together, lock the doors, and get them off this mind-altering substance we know as war and violence. “Wars, like violence in general…is a drug”, Howard Zinn says,“ It gives a quick high, the thrill of victory, but that wears off and then comes despair.” The minute we except that violence and war is natural, than that is the minute that we will never ever come out from that despair.

You see, that’s what organizers and activists really are. They are interventionists for peace. They are Betty Ford Clinic employees for non-violence. They are the Neo and Morpheus of the real world. If people are actually asking the question and seriously considering that ending war and violence is naïve — than I am sorry to say, we are just not doing our job, but we may have become addicted ourselves.

 
So no, it is not naïve. War is a drug, and to borrow from an equally bad 1980’s cliché, we all need to “just say no”.  (Shit. Sorry, once again, I can’t believe I just wrote that).

Once we get those who believe peace is an impossible pipe dream locked in a room together, we need to get them to stop smoking the war pipe. We as organizers and activist must do what traditionally we have been pretty damn bad at doing — we must help to open their eyes to the hidden tide that is blanketing the world today.

Often so fixated on the issues, the problems and therefore the cruel and desolate world in which we live, we repeatedly get absorbed by the evils and neglect the positive, powerful, and continuous force that is sweeping across the globe.

 
It is not hard to see because it is nearly invisible or diminutive, but rather because television won’t show it, newspapers won’t write about it, and politicians won’t talk about it. Something is in the air. People are non-violently resisting all over the world, from the Amazon to the Nile, from the Rockies to the Himalayas. In Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, and Chile, vibrant democracies are voting out the past and lighting the preceding dark shadows of imperialism, exploitation, and violence.  In Africa, the movement is in the midst of working against global apartheid by fighting AIDS, debt, and conflict. In Asia, indigenous people are fighting against corporate control dams and water, nuclear proliferation and religious intolerance. The World Social Forums continuously draw tens of thousands of people, and even here in the United States, the first ever US Social Forum was the brightest of stars in the darkest of skies.

Popularizing and echoing the resistance and movements that are happening all over the world must become an integral part of our strategy since ignoring and hiding these gigantic movements is an essential part of their strategy. They need violence and war so they veil the protests, shroud the Social Forums and bury the voices speaking truth to power — leaving violence and war as the only possible solution.

 
Not only must we organize, mobilize and resist, but also we ought to reverse this downward spiral being fueled by addiction to war and violence, and spin the wheels the other way and start fueling them with the addiction of hope.

 
If we do what we have to do, ending violence and war is certainly not naïve — it is inevitable. As Arundhati Roy puts it (much better than I ever could), “Another world is not only possible, she's on her way. Maybe many of us won't be here to greet her, but on a quiet day, if I listen very carefully, I can hear her breathing.”

Saif is the Movements Coordinator at the Institute for Policy Studies. Saif is also on the Steering Committee of United for Peace and Justice, on the Coordinating Committee for the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, and on the Advisory Board of OneWorld.net. Saif came to IPS from Global Justice where he was a National Coordinator for the Student Campaign for Child Survival. He helped start the University Coalitions for Global Health and he also represented SCCS in the Global Action for Children coalition and to the FAIR network.