After 11 days of heartbreaking images of destruction and death in Gaza, there was some respite as a ceasefire was announced. But is this peace?

The Caledonian chieftain Calgacus, speaking of the Roman invasion of Scotland in 84 AD said, “To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace.”

Most western definitions of peace have been the cessation of war, derived from the Roman word ‘pax’, which meant a call for truce. As capitalism and colonialism offered new opportunities for economic prosperity and international markets, it was believed that war could be avoided by a balance of power. However, as modern history has shown us, maintaining balance of power itself becomes a cause for war.

Nuclear deterrence, the rise of democracy and economic interdependence are cited as reasons for why there have been no wars in Europe since World War II, a period called ‘The Long Peace’. However, European armies have continued to wage wars, or support wars, in other countries.

The British economist John Maynard Keynes proposed that peace would be achieved in a society of economic equals. However, he warned, “For at least another hundred years, we must pretend to ourselves and to everyone that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still. For only they can lead us out of the tunnel of economic necessity into daylight.”

World prosperity, and therefore peace, was to be achieved by macroeconomics, and through international bodies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. All western economies had adopted Keynes’ guidelines by the 1950s, and we are all witness to where that has led, and how far we are from an equitable and peaceful world.

E. F. Schumacher rejected soul-destroying and mindlessly monotonous big business and large-scale consumption, which he saw as “a crime against humanity.” His concept of Small is Beautiful, while widely read, is now seen as a great idea whose ship has sailed.

Western philosophies continue to focus on peace as the cessation of hostilities, while Eastern philosophies see peace as a positive state of being. Buddhism envisions peace as an inner state of mental tranquility, which spreads outward. The Sanskrit term shanti is chanted to infuse the mind, spirit and body with a feeling of peace. The Chinese concept for peace, ho p’ing, and the Japanese, heiwa, reflect a tranquil mind, leading to social harmony and ordered statecraft.

All religions promote peace. Some like Judaism and Islam, accept defensive wars or wars to resist oppression, although both offer peace with their greetings, shalom aleichem and salaam alaikum. While Judaism rarely mentions the afterlife, for Muslims the promise of true peace is in the hereafter.

Zoroastrians see humans in a continuous struggle between good and evil. The Gandhian strategy of satyagraha, non-violent political resistance, was adopted by Martin Luther King Jr and the sixties anti-war movement, and continues to be an effective form of protest today.

There is no waiting for the right economic or political conditions for peace to prevail, and it cannot be achieved by meditation, by removing oneself from a troubled world. The real achievement of peace would be the ability to keep one’s eye on peace in the center of the storm, in the midst of disaster and difficulties.

Social media has proved its worth, as millions of humane and peace-loving people across the world have made their voices heard for #MeToo, Black Lives Matter and the oppression of Palestinians, and one hopes the momentum will carry on for Kashmiris, the rights of indigenous people and the many other injustices that suffer the conspiracy of silence. It is an example of one of the Quranic phrases for peace: tasaalamatil khail — horses moving together, synchronising their feet and galloping in tandem.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, veteran of two World Wars and president during a tumultuous period of American history, conceded: “I think that people want peace so much that, one of these days, governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.”

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist. She may be reached at durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, June 13th, 2021