Peace Through Health
16th World Congress
Beijing, China
September 16-19, 2004
Indifference to the Fate of the World Might Lead to Tragedy
Evgueni Chazov
Co-Founder, IPPNW
Today at our Congress we are discussing the problem which over the whole history of mankind was the matter of concern of leading political figures, prominent scientists, philosophers, and writers. How to build a world order which will provide well being and happiness for a human being of whom the great Persian and Tajic poet Hakim Abolgassem Firdowsi said that a whole world is beautified by a man giving a price to every subject. Why then has mankind not found such a prescription that could save our planet from wars and murders, that could provide a peaceful and prosperous life for all peoples? A wise answer to this question was given by Antoine St. Exupery, a well known French writer: “Though the human life cannot be priced, we always act like there exists something more valuable.”
The history of our planet is not only the history of civilization or the progress of science and technology, which now seem fantastic. But it is also the history of thousands of wars which took the lives of over four billion people according to historical statistics. The real tragedy is that the progress of science and technology promotes not only the well being of people, but also contributes to the development of more sophisticated and advanced means of killing many thousands of citizens of our planet.
I remember how 25 years ago the world was shocked by the objective and authoritative evidence on the consequences of nuclear war, which had been presented by our movement in the heat of Cold War and the nuclear arms race. Our findings awakened even the indifferent, those who do not kill themselves but who, with their silent consent, allow murders to take place on our planet. They were awakened having learned of the Damocles sword of destruction hanging over their heads: 50,000 warheads capable of complete destruction of about one million cities similar to Hiroshima. The awareness of the danger threatening our planet compelled millions of citizens to protest against the nuclear arms race and, finally, to achieve its cessation and the reduction of nuclear arsenals.
I recall how Michael Gorbachev wrote on a text of Dr. Lown's speech, which was presented at a conference in Moscow: “Without your movement the signing of the Treaty on nuclear arms reduction could not take place.” Then at the end of the 1980s, in the period of detante, the goal that mankind must enter the twenty first century without nuclear weapons, without confrontation and wars, seemed to us so realistic.
Why did it not happen? We should frankly admit that many of us—after the signing of the treaty on nuclear weapons; after the end of the Cold War; when the situation in the world became more quiet—thought that a new era had started in the life of mankind. We have calmed down; again lost interest to the deeds of politicians and military people, as well as in regard to the situations fraught with wars and the deaths of innocent people. We physicians, as well as the public at large, did not yet fully realize the threat of terrorism of any character: state, religious, nationalistic. Terrorism, equally with the nuclear weapons, is fraught with the threat of mass devastation. The explosion of an atomic power station by terrorists, radioactive contamination of territories by means of contaminated bombs—the development of which is quite realistic, taking into account that over the past decade nearly one third of nuclear materials was stolen in the licensed organizations—use of bacteriological and chemical weapons by terrorists may cause mass deaths in the population of any country. Regrettably, we have already witnessed such facts. Why does it still happen? Why does the threat of wars, arms races, and now terrorism continue to exist?
Strange as it may seem, we physicians have underestimated human psychology which has been formed in the course of 5,000 years of the history of mankind under conditions when certain circles, because of their financial interests, were striving for a redivision of the world. But also, maybe in the first place, human psychology was formed on the grounds of mistrust between nations and religious communities, great-power chauvinism and nationalism, on the complex of defeated, humiliated, and poor countries. Exactly this specific psychology of an ordinary citizen is exploited by some political, military, and public leaders in order to achieve and preserve power. It is timely to remember the words of Confucius addressed to politicians: “If you are involved in politics, why kill? Strive for goodness and the people will be good.”
We inhabitants of the Earth first of all need trust and good feelings. It is necessary to destroy fear and hatred that exist amidst some nations. But what do we mean by trust? How do we regard trust? How can a Russian citizen trust the West, for the sake of which Michael Gorbachev sacrificed the national interests of his country, if, despite all assertions, the NATO tanks are at a distance of only one thousand kilometers from Moscow. One could understand economical or humanitarian expansion to the East, but soldiers and generals come to this region instead of bankers, managers, or maybe professors. There are a lot of such examples on our planet, including the long-suffering Asian continent where contradictions and confrontation between various countries and religious communities are still prevailing.
Once again I want to repeat the words of Albert Einstein, which have been mentioned many times at our Congresses: “We shall require a substantially new criteria of thinking if humanity is to survive. These criteria should be truth, courage, and honesty.” Of course those words were addressed in the first turn to the state leaders and politicians, but they also refer to all people living on our planet who should understand that indifference to the fate of the world might lead to tragedy.
The first experience of establishing such an official international organization took place in 1945, just after the tragedy of the Second World War. The United Nations was founded with the aim to provide peace and to support security on our planet, as well as to promote cooperation between countries. The UN certainly played a significant role but regrettably it could not stop either the arms race, or military conflicts, or the division of the world into confronting blocks. The success of its work may be provided only by equal participation of all states without any exclusion: poor and rich, developed and developing in the solution of emerging problems.
It was rather strange to hear not so long ago the proposals, pronounced in the US Congress, to reduce the financial support to the United Nations up to 240 million US dollars, as the US vote in the UN Security Council has an equal power with the votes of other Member States which pay considerably less dues. The congressmen have only forgotten to calculate the percentage of this contribution in the terms of the gross national product of their country. This example illustrates an attempt to divide nations into rich and poor for resolving global issues of peace and safety.
To maintain peace and safeguard security, it is necessary to enhance the role of the United Nations, to provide it with greater plenary powers of a political, economical, and military character, in order to preserve in the world the spirit of accord; aspiration for cooperation; to destroy the inferiority complex and humiliation of the poor, underdeveloped countries; and to combat superpower chauvinism, which is a frequent cause of conflicts on our planet.
One of the most important factors which contribute to establishing an atmosphere of trust between nations and to a mutual respect for religious persuasions, is the role of the public at large and, first of all, its representatives who are trusted by ordinary people: doctors, teachers, clergymen, writers, scientists. We should promote consolidation of various public groups in the attempt to change the psychology of the significant part of mankind, the psychology formed on the basis of mistrust, intolerance, indifference, envy, religious fanaticism, and nationalism. Why we doctors? Because we have an experience of our struggle against nuclear arms race.
Today, as in the past, we must bring to the people our message of the dangers that threaten their lives and health. We mean not only the stockpiles of nuclear materials which we have inherited from the nuclear arms race in the form of three million kilograms of weapon-grade plutonium and uranium. Only a few kilograms of these materials are enough to produce a devastating weapon. This also applies to the chemical and bacteriological weapons.
What would be the reaction of the indifferent if we showed them what could be done for the preservation of life and health for the citizens of our planet if all the financial resources which are still spent for the arms race—a total of $794 billion in 2002—were assigned to the needs of public health and medical science? These resources could be used as an international support for the public health systems of the poor countries. This would be a great contribution to establishing an atmosphere of trust and cooperation between rich and poor countries, in the name of peace. Today, the total amount of expenditures for medical purposes per capita in the United States is about $5,000 per year; in Germany and France about $3,000; in Turkmenistan only $250; and in Tadzhikisttan only $43. Nearly similar sums are spent in many African countries. In the contemporary world, to safeguard its security, a special role belongs to tolerance, especially religious tolerance. But very often some representatives of the religious movements forget that all world religions condemn killing of innocent people.
A great Roman philosopher, addressing the warlike Romans, said: “Not to shed blood, to provide peace to the world, that is the superior value.” Of course everything that I am talking about is a long-known truth. Confucius said: “My doctrine solely means to have purity of heart and to love the near one.”
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