Peace The Truth and the Fallacy

After a long, physically and emotionally draining, process of ramp-walking, style testing, constructive
judgement and image reconstruction, the ultimate moment of reckoning arrives. Its the Miss World Beauty Pageant Finals and a blinding spotlight has isolated a contestant on stage for a question that will determine her fate in the most glamourized event of the year, If you are crowned Miss World what is the one thing you wish to achieve? Without as much as a shudder, cringe or moment to ponder while rephrasing the posed question, the composed contestant on the stage gleams even more as she assuredly responds, World Peace. The concept of World Peace has always been appealing to humanity. Like moths drawn to a flame, we are inherently drawn to this idea of harmonious living and belonging. It has served to shape ideologies about ourselves, our environment, society and the world at large. Seen from a scholarly perspective, these ideologies fall under humanitarian studies whilst critical analysts might consider such matters unrealistically optimistic and driven by the unattainable pursuit of a utopia. World views on broad topics such as this are never clear cut, none-the-less, lines are usually drawn to categorise widely similar universal perspectives. Naturally optimists would view world peace as a realistic possibility that can be pursued if strategic plans and procedures of state management are executed, whilst pessimists on the other hand would not even think the plans necessary since they would view such a concept as a fantastic fallacy. That being the case, history has shown that peace has not always been a fitting resolution for global suffering. Evidence of this is clear from wars, terrorism, xenophobia, crime and many other problems facing human kind. In South Africa violence is dominating in our society with issues that are seen as small scale compared to international concerns. It has been reported that there are around 50 000 rapes each year; these represent only the estimated 1 in 35 which are reported, as well as 50 murders each day. Domestic violence is commonplace with such an impact that between November and December, the South African Government runs a 16 Days of Activism Campaign to make people aware of the negative impact of violence on women and children and to act against abuse. High levels of Xenophobia in South Africa in the past years have caused much social and economic concern as damaging riots and many violent deaths occurred and were awfully sensationalised by the media. Terrorism has been another growing peace concern that has dominated the news even more ever since the 9/11 Twin Tower attacks that brought attention to the tension present between countries of the world caused by political conflicts. All these are but a few instances whereby the peace ideal hasn't been successfully executed or negotiable at all. More than affirming the pessimists' views regarding the possibility of world peace being nil, these irreversible global damages permanently engraved in the world's history qualify as a commentary on society as a whole. While this much is true, on the other hand we have the plus side of peace practised and exhibited.

The annual Nobel Peace Prize acknowledging people influential in peace work is all thanks to Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. Nobel drew up a will according to which his wealth was to be devoted to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The world has not disappointed, in 2009, a record 205 nominations were received, but the record was broken again in 2010 with 237 nominations; in 2011, the record was broken once again with 241 nominations. Such record breaks restore faith in humanity and show development in the pursuits of world peace. To reason, according to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize has to be awarded to the person who "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. In relation to local efforts we can be proud of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that has helped to deal with the transgressions of apartheid for a post-apartheid, interracial and democratically 'new' South Africa.Dullah Omar, the former Minister of Justice, believed that ... a commission is a necessary exercise to enable South Africans to come to terms with their past on a morally accepted basis and to advance the cause of reconciliation." Views on whether the TRC has successfully achieved its set goals vary. Whilst there is a lot of question regarding the process of reconciliation, South Africa has come a long way to reach the stage of compromise it does now and the TRC's devotion is unmistakable. In this regard optimists triumph as these breakthroughs and the recognition to those who are making a difference in the world affirm optimistic beliefs. As with other widely held ideologies problems are bound to arise. World Peace is a beautiful concept in its intentions, so is its annual (21 September) International Day of Peace dedicated to the awareness of war and its absence. Yet simplifying peace to an absence of war is as abstract as referring to economics simply as the spending and receiving of money by the corporate world. The problem exists with the blurred distinction between the concepts of peace and utopia. While peace can be used to describe, among other things, an agreement or a treaty to end hostilities, freedom from quarrels and disagreement; harmonious relations, inner contentment, serenity: peace of mind and so on, utopia can best be described - using its direct translations from its Greek origin Eutopos - as a good place, modernly described as a paradise where one is happy and fulfilled. In recent times due to the depressing and uninspiring state of the world the term is often used pejoratively to convey something nave, or a non attainable state or a definite form of human fantasy, says Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, author of The Miracle Times. Apparent similarities exist between the two concepts, namely both concern the contentment of the human condition brought by the surrounding environment and external influences. Since the utopian ideal has always been an archetype of the mind a search for a non-existent paradise - it has been recreated over and over throughout history, from Homer to Plato, even the forth century Roman Catholics created one of the Afterlife, what we know as heaven. Some of these constructions of a utopia have not always been to the benefit of societies at large since humans are unique for having different perceptions of the world and naturally so, different beliefs on how to achieve an idealistically utopian place. Stalin, Lenin and Hitler are just a few names that come to mind of men who

genuinely believed their intentions were good and acceptable to attain their own ideas of this conjured fallacy. The fallacy holds true to a belief in a Natural Order of things, or Natural Laws as they are sometimes called. These 'Natural Laws' too brought the rise to exploitative eras and social structures in history such as Industrialization, Totalitarianism, Capitalism and what has evolved from it to the contemporary Neo-liberalism. Utopia still remains unattainable. with hubristic ambition and terrifying ignorance. Yes, this recorded history might as well be correlated to the Tragic Flaws in Sophocles' classic works, or the Dramatic Irony in Shakespearean dramas. It's a scary thought but we are moving forward. Peace Studies is offered in about 400 colleges and universities around the world including, the University of KwaZulu Natal and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU). According to Kroc Institue of International Peace Studies, a course in Peace Studies serves to 1) understand the causes of armed conflict; 2) develop ways to prevent and resolve war, genocide, terrorism, gross violations of human rights; and 3) build peaceful and just systems and societies. 'Peace' they say, is not only defined by the absence of war (negative peace), but also the presence of the conditions for a just and sustainable world, including access to food and clean drinking water, education for women and children, security from physical harm, and other inviolable human rights (positive peace). Dane Wollin, 23, an international student at the NMM University visiting from the United States plans to major in this subject and intends to be a mediator after his studies. On world peace Dane believes with the right means, anything is possible, while Kelly Reynolds, 20, studying BA (General) thinks that there will always be 'haves and have-nots' within a society especially in the future with overcrowding and environmental crises. The competition for resources is going to seriously increase therefore inciting exploitation of some country by others. Angela McFarland, 22, Majoring in Contemporary Culture sees the possibility of global peace as a slow process that is, definitely not in our lifetime. Defining herself as a sceptical socialist, Angela can see that we are currently undergoing globalisation constantly, she says, peace on a global scale is inevitable but I'm not sure how long it'll take. The world is not fair and humanity is not perfect in its astounding magnitude of flaws. We have accepted such responsibility and that is what has given room for the positive change people want to make in the world. People no longer are willing to conform to The Just-World Fallacy where they would like to see the world just and fair and so they pretend it is. We all have deep concerns for our futures and the generations that will follow and 'World Peace' doesn't sound like such a bad idea to carry on believing in and pursuing. So next time a dolled-up Miss World contestant smiles on stage and says all she could ever want is World Peace, youll do more than break out in convulsed laughter youll think about it, maybe even consider it. The worry then comes from the association or rather commonalities that peace shares with this utopia which has a a rich history filled