Mon, 03 Jul 2017 09:42:19 +0000
…Mr. President, be a peace maker
By Donald Chanda
| I |
n my immediate past letter, I stated that weapon makers are not peace makers. I backed up my statement with the history of destruction which weapons have done and the evil intensions with which weapons are made. To complete the equation, we need to look at the other side, as to who are peace makers?
I do recall in one of my letters asking you, Mr. President, to make friends with Pope Francis-have an open line with him, so that you can consult on the many issues that confront humanity and the USA in particular. I stated so because to make peace, there are several levels to go through, that is;
Peace at an individual level-personal spiritual comfort and security in and with inner-self.
Peace at family level where the husband, the wife and children live in security and comfort of their home with the satisfaction of the family needs and requirements that allow them a dignified life.
Peace at community level-where the residential neighborhood village, town or city, living and working together feel secure and are at liberty enjoying the freedom of being and belonging to that community. No deprivation and discrimination of some members of the community by others.
Peace at national level- where the nation-as a group of families and communities enjoy its inside life as a nation, comfortable with their own governance system and enjoying their freedoms and liberties-as well as enjoying recognition, respect of other nations in the neighborhood and beyond as and within the requirements of international law.
Peace at international level-where each state feels secure and at comfort with other states. For such, the feeling of security to exist there must be no conflict, no threats, no oppression of one of some states against others, no denouncements of some states by others, no deprivation of some states by others, no denouncements of some states by others, no deprivation of some states by others.
The result is that we need peace makers at all levels of humanity, from the individual, the family, the community, the nation and the international global levels. Invariably the peace makers are also to be found at all levels.
The individual has to be at peace himself/ herself for them to make peace at any other level.
The family, especially the heads of the family, the husband and wife have to be at peace for the family to be at peace.
The community requires the families which make up that community to be at peace for them to have a peaceful leadership in that community. The leadership, whether the village headman, Induna chief, Chairman of the town, sheriff or mayor requires peaceful, non-discriminatory, co-existence of groups that make-up the community.
The nation requires communities that live together in a way that makes them securely bound together, for the good of all and at peace with each other. The nation then enjoys recognition from other nations in accordance to international law and international practices-relations among states.
International and global peace is then, that feeling and conduct of relations among states that enhances their co-existence and promotes the virtues of humanity collectively-avoiding conflict and inequities among them-indeed avoiding all other political social, cultural, religious practices that may ignite conflict among them.
Mr. President, the peace makers are therefore individuals, family heads, community leaders, leaders of organizations, national leaders, cultural and religious leader, international leaders, who work for the good of the families, the communities, the nations and the groups and international governance systems they are privileged to lead. I have put up this detail, Mr. President, because I want you to see that you as a leader are carrying a lot of responsibilities for making peace. Make peace in and for yourself as an individual, make peace at the family level, make peace at an organizational level (your companies); make peace at community level (especially between races).
History is full of examples of people who have sacrificed their comfort for the peaceful existence of many other people. The League of Nations and the treaty of Versailles after the first World War was an act of creating and trying to maintain peace by the leaders of various nations at that time. The United Nations Organization is an institution for making and maintenance which followed its precursor the League of Nations. The destructive nature of war is well known. The world does not need to see another Hiroshima atomic bomb to realize the destructive character of war. Today, we can see the waves of refugees of war from the Middle East and Africa, going into Europe and America. They become unsettled and unproductive. Peace is made by committed individuals. Even great generals like Nepoleon at last sacrificed their glory to make peace for many. Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, even Nikita Krushneu and John.F.Kennedy are luminaries of peace making. Make peace at national level by avoiding all forms of discriminations and inequalities, make peace at international level by promoting dialogue for resolution of conflicts in and among nations because of the leadership you have as a leader of a leading economy in the world with great political influence.
Mr. President, I find the words of Nelson Mandela particularly useful foe peace makers at global level. In his inaugural presidential address of 10th May, 1994, he said;
“your majesties, your highnesses, distinguished comrades and friends; today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world confer glory and hope to new born liberty.
Out of the experience of an extra-ordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud. Our daily needs as ordinary South Afruicans must produce an actual South African reality that eill re-inforce humanitys belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the humsn soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all. All this, we owe both to ourselves and to the peoples of the world who are so well represented here today.
To my compatriots, I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the Mimosa trees of the bushveld.
Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of renewal. The national mood changes as the seasons change. We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns green and the flowers bloom.
That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict, and as we saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world, precisely because it has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology and practice of racism and racial oppression.
We the people of South Africa felt fulfilled that humanity has taken us back into its bosom, that we, who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to be host to the nations of the world on our won soil.
We thank all our distinguished international guests for having come to take possession with the people of our country of what is, after all, a common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity.
We trust that you will continue to stand by us as we tackle the challenges of building peace, prosperity, non-sexism, non-racialism and democracy.
We deeply appreciate the role that the masses of our people and their political mass, democratic, religious, women, youth business, traditional and other leaders have played to bring about this conclusion. Not least among them is my second deputy President, the Honorable F.W.De-Klerk. (Note that it was De Klerk who handed over power from the national party of the whites who made racial discrimination legal and official to the African National Congress-that time headed by Mandela-which although carries the name “African” is actually a democratic party for all South Africans). we would also like to pay tribute to our security forces, in all their ranks for the distinguished role they have played in securing our first democratic elections and the transition to democracy, from blood thirsty forces which still refuse to see the light.
The time for the healing of wounds has come.
The moment to bridge the chasms that divides us has come.
The time build is upon us.
We have, a last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering gender and other discrimination.
We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, jus and last peace.
We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their malienable right to human dignity-a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
As a taken of its commitment to the renewal of our country, the new interim Government of national unity will, as a matter of urgency, address the issue of amnesty for various categories of our people who are currently serving terms of imprisonment. We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free.
Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward. We are both humbled and elevated by the honor and privilege that you, the people of South Africa have bestowed on us, as the first president of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa, to lead our country out of the valley of darkness.
We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it too well that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation for nation building, for a birth of a new world.
Let there be justice for all.
Let there be peace for all.
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
Let each know that for each, the body, mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves.
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the dignity of being the skunk of the world. Let freedom reign. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement.
“God bless Africa”.
Mr. President, these were the words of a peacemaker at peace with himself as an individual, at peace with the community and at peace with the nation he was now leading and at peace with the world, in which he was ushering a new nation that had put away conflict, discrimination, inequality and deprivation. Late President Mandela then, also known in certain circles as a “living saint” was one peace maker whose words you may wish to pay attention to.
Donald Chanda -Lecturer,
University of Zambia (RTD),
P.O. Box 32379,
Lusaka
Tell: 0979-771803
Email: chakolongana@gmail.com
