The CPNN bulletins for August 1 and September 1 illustrate how history is moving dialectically. Two opposing tendencies exist and interact simultaneously, the culture of war and the culture of peace. At the same time the culture of war advances towards self-destruction, the culture of peace is slowly growing. While the commercial media drowns us with news about the culture of war (Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, etc.), they have nothing to say about the growth of the culture of peace. Fortunately, however, we are able to show on CPNN that there is progress in the various domains of the culture of peace, most recently in terms of participatory budgeting and restorative justice.
The more that Israel carries out terrible attacks on Gaza, the more the calls for peace are mounting, even with Israel itself as we have seen this month. As described in the blog for July, progress comes out of conflict. Increasingly there are international calls for divestment similar to the campaign that finally led to the end of South African apartheid. And the more that NATO provokes Russia in the Ukraine, the more the demand that NATO should be abolished.
The confrontation in the Ukraine between the US and NATO on one side and Russia on the other side may or may not end up causing such massive destruction and suffering as we have seen, for example, in Syria (and hopefully, no use of nuclear weapons!), but it is certain to have serious consequences on the economies of both sides. The world economy is already weakened and vulnerable as a result of excessive speculation, government austerity and military spending, and in this context the curtailing of trade between Russia and the West may turn out to be an economic disaster for all concerned. It may, in fact, hasten the collapse of the American empire, as predicted by Johan Galtung and quoted in a CPNN discussion..
We may expect even more dramatic changes in the near future, if we keep in mind the principles of dialectics that were first developed by the German philosopher Hegel and subsequently elaborated by the major revolutionary figures:
– all aspects of historical events and changes are closely and indissolubly connected
– history moves in spirals, not in a straight line;
– history moves by leaps, catastrophes, and revolutions with breaks in continuity;
– quantitative changes eventually change into qualitative changes, that is to say that small imperceptible changes can accumulate over time to the point that they explode into dramatic changes.
Yes, we may expect dramatic changes, but once again, we return to our perennial question: Is the culture of peace advancing rapidly enough to be in a position to replace the culture of war when it next crashes?