For the past year, my entire social media feed has been mainly centered around the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the latest developments in the West Bank, and the war in Lebanon. As the days went by, we have slowly become desensitized to the atrocities that have been unfolding before our eyes. Yet, under each post, you will find some European or American guy rambling on and on about how unjust and unfair this world is and astonished at the complete silence and inaction of the International Community. Welcome to the Middle East buddy, buckle up, it’s a lonely and brutal journey ahead.
People in the 21st century have taken for granted the concepts of International Law and Human Rights and believe that the United Nations or the International Community (a term that technically means nothing) have the power to stop wars and bring about justice in this world. Although peace is technically the raison d’être of the UN as coded in the first Article of its Charter “The purposes of the United Nations are to maintain international peace and security…”, the reality is much more complicated than that.
To understand how this world functions, we must first view things from their historical and political contexts.
The United Nations between theory and practice
The United Nations was established by the victors of the Second World War as an international organization aimed at implementing the vision of a new world order. This initiative was primarily led by the United States, focusing on its values and ideals to promote a liberal, interconnected, democratic world. To its credit, the United Nations has successfully eliminated direct wars between great powers. However, this achievement has been supported by the deterrent effect of nuclear warfare and the veto power held by the five permanent members of the Security Council: the United States, Russia, China, France, and Great Britain—the alliance that emerged victorious in the war. Nevertheless, proxy wars and so-called military interventions in “third world countries” became the staple of the past 80 years, serving as a stage for these Great Powers to vie for influence and resources. Then allies turned to enemies and the powers that laid the foundation for the post-war order found themselves at each other’s throats, taking advantage of their positions of power in the newfound system, to lay their terms on the rest of the world in this brutal game of domination.
Ironically, the UN’s values, such as Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, have been widely adopted and accepted by the global population, which has grown increasingly weary of the outright disregard shown by a few states. For years, the majority of the global population has observed a few privileged countries operate without regard for International Law and the will of the global majority, with Israel being a prime example. The rules were now seen to only apply to third-world countries, and states that did not align with US, Russian, Chinese, or European policies, while the bullies got a free pass. This complete disregard for the rules by the states that established them has provided dictators and war criminals with the justification needed to discredit international judicial institutions, such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. This situation has also gained support from the growing number of people who feel displeased with the system.
Peace for who?
The problem with peace is that it is a rather simple term that hides behind a much more complicated reality. Life on Earth is not easy, resources are scarce and survival is not guaranteed. Humanity has managed to develop a large toolkit to facilitate its journey through this life and is constantly upgrading it with every new obstacle it overcomes. Yet, with each solution, new unforeseen predicaments emerge. We have been indoctrinated to believe that peace equals the end of all problems and the resolution of all conflicts, “the end of history” as political scientist Francis Fukuyama prophesied.
This implies reaching a static place where change does not exist, a perfect world where evolution is not needed. What this theory overlooks is that perfection cannot exist in this world; it can only be achieved in the afterlife, where conflict and change do not exist. It is through conflict and triumph over hardships that humans learn, grow, and truly feel alive.
When peace as a philosophical construct is pushed as the solution to the world’s problems, it assumes that the world as it is, the status quo, needs to be maintained and that all attempts at changing it must be labeled as threats to world peace regardless of their validity. This is not to say that peace is a bad thing, but rather that there is a need for our human civilization to approach it differently. Everything is in constant change in this world, what once worked will soon fall apart and something new will emerge from its ashes but until then, the old will fight until its last breath to keep hold of its power for a chance to live another day. The calls for peace hide behind them the attempts of the decaying ruling elite to safeguard their places in the world at the expense of the oppressed and the poor.
The key to achieving realistic peace is to transform conflicts from violent armed frictions to civilized, legal, and diplomatic disputes where all parties can plead their case and work in a mutually trusted system to achieve the best outcome based on the agreed-upon rules.
Harnessing Power to Achieve Peace
The UN will never be able to “give” Palestinians their state, first because no one can simply give a state to any certain people if they weren’t fiercely fighting for their right to self-determination and self-rule. A state is not a gift that can be given to anyone; it is a continuous struggle built on foundational elements: land, people, government, and international recognition. It involves a complex relationship between the various institutions that serve the citizens and the responsibilities citizens have toward these institutions, in exchange for the services they provide. Second, the establishment of a Palestinian State would itself be one of the most world-changing events since the end of the Cold War, as it would signal the decline of America’s power and hegemony over the Middle East. In contrast, Russia is also using its veto privilege and bypassing International Law and UN consensus to secure its advantage in Ukraine.
Order is the enemy of Change. The establishment’s whole purpose is to create a system of rules that allow for their maintaining of the levers of power. It will choose war over peace to preserve its version of peace even when its administrators and bureaucrats say otherwise—they are not the ones calling the shots anyway. Remember that the UN is simply a forum where States come together to discuss and debate global issues, but it does not act as a World Government that has the capacity to enforce its decisions. It only takes one veto from any of the five permanent members of the Security Council to block any resolution that does not work in their favor, despite the entire world voting otherwise. In other words, this system was put in place to give an edge to the Nuclear powers and victors of a war that happened 80 years ago and make sure that they have the final say on every global matter— especially when it comes to international security.
We must also acknowledge that the United Nations is an advanced attempt by humanity to create a platform for sovereign States to meet, discuss, debate, and agree on how to resolve conflicts peacefully. It is neither the source of all problems nor its solution, it is simply a step in our evolution as a species which will undoubtedly fall short sometimes and succeed other times.
So please, before you start blabbing about how the World is silent in front of the genocide of the Palestinians, and the countless other global conflicts that barely anyone talks about, try to understand the reality of this world. Change does not start from the top, because for those at the top to remain there, a slowly changing, controllable world is required—one that shifts only in ways that uphold their interests. Change starts from the bottom, from the people who desire it and strive for it. Change happens when the oppressed utilize any means at their disposal to alter the narrative and shift the balance of power until the top recognizes that they have no other choice but to recognize their plight or face their inevitable downfall.
Leave a Reply