Objective of the Global Peace March 1999

Last year the govt. of India carried out Nuclear tests near the Khetolai village in Jaisalmer District of Rajasthan. We are being told that it was essential for the security of our country. Some people think that by acquiring the ability to make bomb we are more secure and we have strongly conveyed that we are not going to bow down to anybody. For some people it was of strategic importance in tackling out enemy whereas for others it was a matter a pride. Increasingly common people are tending to believe that it has become necessary to possess weapons for ones security. Probably we have become so insensitive that we may not even object to the use of these weapons tomorrow. On the path of development that we have chosen along with an increase in material consumer items we have also witnessed an increase in number and variety of weapons. However if we take a close look our insecurity has increased with increasing presence of weapons and human being is a victim of violence as never before in the history. Hence it is merely our illusion that we can be more secure with weapons. Quite the opposite seems to be true. So, then, wherein lies the real security? If we think about it seriously a human being can feel secure in real terms only in relationships with other human beings which are based on complete and continued trust. When a human being has complete confidence in people with whom he/she lives and has human realtionships in which there is continual harmony he/she derives a basis which keeps him/her happy and also doesnt let him/her feel insecure. This is where our key for security lies which we have been searching in a variety of ways. If it becomes clear to us that no material items, what to mention of weapons, can provide us security, life becomes much easier for us.

Let us look at the contradictions. Till yesterday a people whom we used to consider our own and a land which was ours and for whose sake we would not even have hesitated to sacrifice our lives has not only become another nation, it is also our worst enemy. The boundaries of nations have kept changing in history. Just as religion and caste are human made artificial institutions which have always divided human beings and have pit one against the other, similarly is not nation also an artificial institution? What is the guarantee that the nation for whose security we have carried out the nuclear tests and these tests create a sense of national pride in us, is going to retain the same shape tomorrow? Even today how many people living within the physical boundaries of our nation share our emotions of national pride to the same intensity? On one hand there are a number of people who are forced to live within our national boundaries under the threat of gun and on the other there are tribals living in remote areas who have no idea that they have no chioce but to live within our administrative setup. It appears that in the name of patriotism we feel more attachment for the land rather than the people living on it. We would keep the physical land with us at any cost without bothering to see what happens to the people living over that piece of land. On a people for whom the concept of nation did not extend beyond their village or community we want to impose the concept on a modern nation state. Afterall who needs this concept of modern nation state? Isnt it the ruling class? If there is no nation state what would they rule? If people decide not to accept the concept of modern state who would they make their decree to follow? Hence it is the need of a small segment of population that they create an artificial feeling of nationalism among common people and try to inject a false sense of pride in them.

When majority of our population has to struggle hard to manage food two times a day, has difficulty in trying to cover themselves with proper clothes and can afford a ceiling over their heads with hardship, they have to compromise seriously with their self dignity to live like insects in the slums or have to live as a slave of some landlord, when honour is auctioned over streets and small children have to work like labourers, when people dont have safe water to drink and are forced to live near dirty drains, when farmers have to commit sucide because of inability to pay debts and bribes have to be paid to the government officials to even get the smallest thing done, we want to wish away all this reality and want people to feel more secure beacause of our action of carrying out the nuclear tests.

We should also consider that if we feel some kind of fear from people sitting across the border do we really feel secure with our own people - people who live in our neighbourhood, people who are our colleagues and even people inside our families? The fact is that we are ready to cheat our neighbours, we dont want to trust the people we work with, the fights within family sometime become violent and we wish that by acquiring an ability to harm a person at a distance, about whom we are totally ignorant, we could feel a bit secure. The nation for whom we claim we feel proud we are also ready to cheat its government whenever we get a chance.

We are living with so many illusions. Instead of establishing human relationships based on trust and love with people living around us we are doing every thing else. Through the Global Peace March we would like to initiate this debate whether the path of development we are pursuing in which the only way to feel secure is by gathering more weapons, are we going to continue on that or are we ready to pause a little to give a thought over the possibility of changing our ways. We would have to see things from a different perspective from what we are used to and replace our essentially material centered thinking by a human centered thinking. Probably the history is offering us a chance through these nuclear tests to give a serious thought to this matter. We can either embark on a path of happiness and prosperity by making a wise chioce or continue with the arms race worsening the relationships and incresing our insecurity.

The objective of this peace march is merely to get this debate started. The change is not going to take place soon. It is a long term process. Let us take time out from the mad race in which we are presently involved and give a thought to what we are doing. Does this path really take us to where we want to go?