Bombings, beheadings? Stats show a peaceful world
Basque group ETA announces end to campaign of violence
| While the news is grim from the media, the reality is encouraging, and could be more so with more justice. We trim, blend, and append two 2010 articles on peace from (1) CNN, Oct 21, by Al Goodman, and (2) AP, Oct 22, by S. Borenstein. |
by Al Goodman and by Seth Borenstein
- Basque group ETA announces end to campaign of violence
The Basque separatist group ETA announced a "definitive cessation of its armed activity".
Listed as a terrorist organization by Spain, the United States, and the European Union, ETA is blamed for hundreds of deaths in its decades-long fight for an independent Basque state that it wants carved out of sections of northern Spain and southwestern France.
Thursday's announcement follows a recent push for the group to abandon violence permanently. That effort was led by international figures who include Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams of Northern Ireland and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
In a nationally televised address hours after the announcement was posted, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero termed ETA's announcement as being of "transcendental importance" and a "victory for democracy."
"Ours will be a democracy without terrorism, but not without memory," Zapatero said, referring to 829 people killed by ETA and their families.
The prime minister said that it would be up to Spain's next government -- which will be formed after parliamentary elections on November 20 -- to lead the peace process.
Zapatero, whose popular standing has soured amid Spain's deep economic crisis, is not running for a third term. Soon after he was first elected, in 2004, the police intensified their crackdown on ETA as the group's popularity among some segments of Basque society began to wane.
In its own statement Thursday, ETA called of "enormous significance" a one-day meeting held Monday in which Adams, Annan and other leaders met in San Sebastian, a principal Basque city, and called for peace.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso hailed ETA's move Friday as "a truly historic moment which ends years of terror and attacks on Spanish society."
There have been numerous statements from the Basque group calling for talks or a peace process of some sort, but all falling short of declaring a definitive end to violence.
The group outlined why now was the right time to make such a declaration: "dialogue and agreement" should predominate "over violence and repression."
Angeles Pedraza, the president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism, offered a similar stance in stating that her group will be satisfied only when ETA "turns in its guns and disbands." This sentiment was echoed by the leader of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party, Inigo Urkullu, who likewise called on the group to "disarm and disband."
To see the whole article, click here .
JJS: People are behaving peacefully not only in Spain but everywhere.
- Stats show a peaceful world
Historically, we've never had it this peaceful.
That's the thesis of three new books, including one by prominent Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. Statistics reveal dramatic reductions in war deaths, family violence, racism, rape, murder and all sorts of mayhem.
In his new book, "The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined," Pinker makes the case that the world is becoming more peaceful in several ways. His findings are based on peer-reviewed studies published by other academics using examinations of graveyards, surveys, and historical records:
• The number of people killed in battle -- calculated per 100,000 population -- has dropped by 1,000-fold over the centuries as civilizations evolved. Before there were organized countries, battles killed on average more than 500 out of every 100,000 people. In 19th century France, it was 70. In the 20th century with two world wars and a few genocides, it was 60. Now battlefield deaths are down to three-tenths of a person per 100,000.
• The rate of genocide deaths per world population was 1,400 times higher in 1942 than in 2008.
Pinker says one of the main reasons for the drop in violence is that we are smarter. IQ tests show that the average teenager is smarter with each generation. The tests are constantly adjusted to keep average at 100, and a teenager who now would score a 100 would have scored a 118 in 1950 and a 130 in 1910. So this year's average kid would have been a near-genius a century ago. And that increase in intelligence translates into a kinder, gentler world, Pinker says
Our everyday lives are also less violent:
• Murder in European countries has steadily fallen from near 100 per 100,000 people in the 14th and 15th centuries to about 1 per 100,000 people now.
• Rape in America is down 80% since 1973. Lynchings, which used to occur at a rate of 150 a year, have disappeared.
• Capital punishment is down, as is the spanking of children, and child abuse.
Joshua Goldstein at American University and author of "Winning the War on War" has also been telling the same story as Pinker, but from a foreign policy point of view.
The "Human Security Report 2009/2010," a project led by Andrew Mack of Simon Fraser University and funded by several governments, is a worldwide examination of war and violence. It cites jarringly low numbers. While the number of wars has increased by 25%, they've been minor ones.
To see the whole article, click here .
JJS: People behave peacefully also when they prosper and enjoy economic justice, and that is based on land for everyone. At the launch of the film "The Killing Fields", award-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave, whose son Carlo Nero co-produced the film, introduced it. To see the BBC TV report, click here .
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Editor Jeffery J. Smith runs the Forum on Geonomics.
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Also see: A US Department of Peace introduced
Time to get out of Afghanistan
How should US engage the world? |
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