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THE WISE RESPONSE TO VIOLENCE
A Declaration of The Club of Budapest
The 11th of September attack on New York's World Trade Center
and Washington's Pentagon is a tragic symptom of the malaise that besets
the contemporary world. This malaise cannot be vanquished by retaliation
on the principle of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. The roots of
today's malaise lie deeper than the fanaticism of terrorists and the
claims of fundamentalists. Killing one group of terrorists will not
solve the problem: as long as the malaise persists, others will step
into their place.
The malaise of today's world is fed by perceived injustice that
reflects-if not always correctly -a structural fault in the world's
economic and social system. Globalization is integrating production,
trade, finance, and communication, but it is producing a social and
ecological backlash in the form of regional and national unemployment,
widening income gaps, and environmental degradation. The benefits of
economic growth, for long the main indicator of progress, are becoming
more and more concentrated. Hundreds of millions live at a higher
material standard of living, but thousands of millions are pressed into
abject poverty, living in shantytowns and urban ghettos in the shadows
of ostentatious affluence. This fuels resentment and revolt and issues
ultimately in violence.
Today's information technologies could create contact and communication
among all the people of the world, helping build solidarity borne of
respect and understanding. But these networks are dominated by a small
group of business and media magnates whose interests dominate all other
purposes. Internet, television, and the electronic and print media are
more interested in catering to the demands of those who have the means
to enter the information marketplace than in giving a voice to all the
people.
In conditions such as these lasting peace cannot be attained in the
world-at the most there can be an uncertain interlude between acts of
terrorism and larger-scale hostilities. As long as people are
frustrated, harbor hate and the desire for revenge, they cannot relate
to each other in a spirit of peace and cooperation. Whether the cause
is the wounded ego of a person or the wounded self-respect of a people,
and whether it is the wish for personal revenge or a holy war for the
defense of a faith, the result is violence, death, and catastrophe.
Attaining peace in one's soul is a precondition of attaining peace in
the world.
The Club of Budapest maintains that the wise response to violence and
terrorism is not to attack the symptoms but to eradicate the cause. This
means creating peace in the mind of the world's people through a
concentrated effort to redress the imbalance that is at the root of
their malaise. Bringing about fairness and justice and promoting
solidarity and the will to cooperate is the wisest, and in fact the
only, feasible path to peace on Earth.
Drafted on behalf of the Club of Budapest
by Ervin Laszlo
12 September 2001
Signatories:
H.E. D. Aitmatov, Writer (Kazakhstan)
Prof. Thomas Berry, Theologian, scientist (USA)
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Writer (UK and Sri Lanka)
H.H. The XIVth Dalai Lama, statesman, Spiritual leader of Tibet
Dr. Riane Eisler, Writer, Macrohistorian (USA)
Peter Gabriel, Musician (UK)
Dr. Jane Goodall, Scientist (UK and Tanzania)
Rivka Golani, Musician (UK and Isreal)
Prof. Otto Herbert Hajek, Sculptor (Germany)
Miklos Jancso, Film Director (Hungary)
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Sufi spiritual leader (France and Iran)
Prof. Hans Kung, Theologian, Spiritual leader (Germany)
Prof. Shu-hsien Liu, Philosopher (China)
Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Scientist, astronaut (USA)
Lady Fiona Montague, Humanist (UK)
Dr. Robert Muller, Educator, activist (France, and Costa Rica)
Sir Joseph Rotblat, Scientist (UK)
Dr. Peter Russel, Philosopher, futurist (UK)
Masami Saionji, Spiritual leader (Japan)
Sir Sigmund Sternberg, Interfaith spiritual leader (UK)
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Spiritual leader (SA)
Liv Ullman, Actress, movie director (Norway)
Sir Peter Ustinov, Actor, writer, director (UK and Switzerland)
H.E. Richard von Weizsacker, Statesman (Germany)
Betty Williams, Peaceworker, (Ireland)
Muhammad Yunus, Economist (Bangladesh)
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