War is never an unavoidable strategy. War, or conflict, or strife, or combat – is negative, imperialistic and arrogatory. To reform an evil, it becomes worse than the evil as it runs against the current of human civilisation.
My previous speaker contends (= argues) that ‘war’ is a means to eradicate poverty, illiteracy, superstition, corruptions or disease. I agree that we have to remove these evils. But should war be the weapon? Or enlightenment, knowledge is a consciousness of the evils? We cannot do away with the evils of a poisonous plant by merely lopping off its branches, but by uprooting it. Similarly we have to root out these evils or curses of human life not by war, but by education, training and an awareness of things in life. War or repression, even for good or noble ends, is ineffective. Noble ends must be backed by noble methods, means much justify the end.
My friend advocates the cause of war to maintain territorial integrity. There is an English saying, preparations for war is the best way to avoid war. Two equally strong and powerful nations seldom fall out as each is aware of the other’s strength. Such a state breeds a sense of respect among neighbours. Even a big and powerful aggressor has to lick dust stoutly opposed by a self- conscious adamant nation, however small. My indication is towards the Vietnam war. The question of territorial integrity is today indeed a burning question. Naturally ‘aggression’ (= deliberate attack) can never serve, as it would let loose the power seekers. The two world wars have caused enough damage to claim the advocacy of ‘war’ as a mode of settlement.
I am, however, grateful to my opponent as he has mentioned evil that I consider the supreme – complacency. This flaw of one character is most evident in the wealthy, the educated; and their privilege in life breeds in them this complacency. Great philosophers, social reformers have sought to shake the bedrock of such a ruinous complacency by means of their explosive ideas. This kind of ‘war’ is necessary – a war that moulds our thinking. Marx’s labour theory of value was such a war, but his concept of a classless society fell hrough as unhistorical. It bred contempt and hatred.
I give a poser: Can we equate the rich and the poor mathematically, by subtracting the excess wealth of the rich and adding it to the poor? Such efforts have been made and are being made still. The result? An unrelieved tension; a tug of forces between labour and capital; murder, bloodshed, growth of mercenary killers and what not? There are more peaceful devices by which the unearned income of the affluent section can be utilized to better the lots of those who contribute to that income.
Poverty, disease and illiteracy are interconnected evils. The removal of the last is a positive step towards removing poverty and disease. It is a slow process, but productive. The WHO has done for us the yeoman’s service (= a beneficial work) by eradicating malaria and small pox. But, alas, we have let in the diseases again through the back-door! The back-door is our illiteracy, ignorance. It is not ignorance in the ordinary sense, but a kind of ignorance inspite of knowledge. We, in general, love to live in a mess, surrounded by garbage dumps. We are happy only if our little apartment is clean.
I wind up my talk by saying that this kind of ‘war’ is necessary. We do not need a war of brute force, of vicious lethal (= likely to damage) weapons. The Japanese celebrate the black day of the ‘Hiroshima’ as a warning to humanity. Such a war is hatched by ‘mad’ brains. The ‘war’ needed today is a metaphor implying war of ideas. The human race has to live on this plane of thinking. Today the world is one and indivisible in one sense. The science of electronics has thrown out barriers of distance and access to knowledge. Ideas today fly fast across countries and continents, germinate and become grafted (= combined) to form a universal platform; so, we ought to change the old and disastrous concept of war’ for a healthier and more peaceful one.
