Editorial: Tooling up for war in a world crying out for peace, justice, humanity

It is a sad indictment of the state of the world today that so many governments in Europe and elsewhere are spending billions on acquiring additional and ever more lethal weaponry while at the same time foreign aid to people in desperate need is being cut and so many in power are remaining silent or paying lip service in response to the atrocities and suffering in Palestine, Sudan and elsewhere.

The belated hand-wringing over what has been unfolding in Gaza by some of those governments is as sickening as it appears insincere. What took them so long? What are they doing about it? Why are arms and components for bombs that kill people still being sold to those committing atrocities around the world? When will enough be enough? If we can see it, so can they. If we can feel that this is so very wrong, why can’t they?

Stockpiling bombs, guns, drones, chemical and nuclear weapons today only ends one way in the future, with mass destruction far beyond the killing fields. All it takes is for the wrong person or persons at the wrong time to get their hands on power and gain access to push the buttons that unleash hell. We have seen it happen. We can see it happening now.

If governments directed as much resource, time and commitment towards ending conflict and hostilities, peace negotiations and humanitarian assistance as is lavished on the war machine the world would be a very different place.

But the grassroots global movement for peace, for humanity is mobilising too and gathering strength. And that people power may, in the end, be our best hope for an alternative future, a better world.

We have a key role to play in that here, and all this serves as a reminder of how important it is to safeguard and defend real neutrality in Ireland and to set an example for peace-making and peace-keeping when both are so desperately needed in a world that all too easily forgets.