IICPH Newsletter  /  Fall 2002

I believe that it is up to women to clearly delineate the current societal addiction, which has a knee-jerk use of violence and war as its means for resolving interpersonal and international tensions.

While children, men, women, the elderly and workers are exposed to severe health damage due to polluted air, water and land while our health care systems deteriorate under this extraordinary burden; and, while our young people can no longer afford to study, while consumerism (especially military consumerism) has exceeded the ability of planet Earth to recover, it is insane to engage in war.

The growing tension over trade based globalization, which has favoured the rich transnational corporations, has been widespread. There have been major protests in every city where the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, G 8, or World Economic Forum is held. Some of these have turned violent, for example, in Seattle and Quebec City, often because of police over-reaction. Most recently on 9 November, the protests were in Italy, amid considerable tension because at the last Italian meeting one of the peaceful demonstrators was killed by the police. These demonstrations are not made by a group of people who run from one place to another. Rather, the movement of these global decision making bodies from place to place has allowed local opposition to be expressed. The protest is local everywhere on the globe!

War terrorizes all thinking people. Further, it destroys bridges, transportation systems, drinking water provisions, housing, schools, hospitals - in a society already over-consuming natural resources and unable to replace these ‘structures of civilization’ without stealing from future generations.

As resources become more limited, there will be other wars - now over oil, later over water and farmland. If we continue to be greedy, this beautiful but finite planet Earth will be lost to all of us! Now is the time to help counteract this addiction by standing firmly for life, and helping organizations - like the IICPH, which supports and enables honest scientists and health professionals to point out a sane and peaceful path to global healing!Less visible than the protest movement, is a movement of positive energy, building up an alternative vision of the global village, designed to help people rather than corporations. It is not that business and work are bad. It is just that a global plan designed to be good for business has turned out to be very bad for people! I would like to give some basic information on the positive efforts to build a just society, so that when you hear of this phenomenon in the TV or newspapers (though it rarely gets reported) you will recognize it!

October 2002