Not another load of self celebrating 'gigs to save the world'

Well unfortunately it looks like this might be just what is set to happen in May if this story has any truth in it.

Apparently 'World Peace One', an organisation who claims it has a 10 year strategy for ending all wars, which includes staging a whole bunch of Live Aid/8/Earth style concerts. Their strategy is outlined on their webpage as follows...

"WP1 is the first installment of a Ten Year Global Peace Initiative, aimed at ending war and establishing lasting peace for the entire human race.The initiative includes:
(a) the launch of the world’s 10-Region WP1 Global Peace Ambassadorship Program;
(b) 10-Annual Peace Symposiums to create the WP1 Global Brain Trust for ending war, beginning with WP1 Symposium #1, the first quarter of 2008.
(c) the call for the creation of a Department of Peace in every government, major corporation, religion, as well as school and university in the world in efforts to secure the future;
(d) WP1- 10 is a series of around the clock/around the world Mega-Concert Broadcasts, beginning in 2008."

Right, so....where do I even start to discuss this?

The fundamental problem with all of this is that these people seem to see peace in itself as a concept that you can advance and promote (and sell as a commodity) to the world. Peace, in fact, is an absence of war and therefore advancing peace merely means tackling war. Wars happen for very different reasons, and the causes of war in each war-torn state will all have unique contributing factors. How this organisation think that arranging concerts and peace marketing internet shops (one of their funding ideas) will change years of tribal/religious/economic differences I do not know. Do they think that rival factions will simply pack up their weapons because there is a concert or people are wearing t shirts with 'PEACE' emblazoned across them?? The idea is absurd.

Also, a Department for Peace in every government? The logistics are unfathomable. Separate departments to deal with war and peace? As if the advancement of peace can be understood without tackling the issue of war. And in schools and universities? To teach people that peace is good and war is bad? Because surely everyone is pretty familiar with that concept.

“WP1 Inter-Faith Peace and Forgiveness Council” for People of Faith who affirm “The Path of Mutual Respect, Friendship, Kindness, Compassion and Forgiveness,” drawing from all Races, Ethnicities, Cultures and Traditions;"

That part possibly makes me laugh the most. Setting up a forgiveness council to rid the world of all its bitterness from past conflict and disadvantage. People from all faiths forgiving other who believe in the 'wrong god' or the wrong ideas about how the world is created because a 'council' has been created for its purpose. I just don't understand any of this drivvle.

What I do understand is that idiots including U2, Madonna, Led Zeppelin, Justin Timberlake, ZZ Top, Lionel Richie, Celine Dion, INXS, Velvet Revolver and Timbaland are all apparently taking part in these concerts for peace (none of which will of course occur anywhere near any place of conflict). Obviously they are doing it for the cause and not at all because of the increase in sales that such mega concerts bring or the fact that all but 2 of these acts (Justin and Timbaland) are floundering around in the bargain bin section of HMV?! The cost of these concerts, in terms of carbon emmisions, cost to the environment, disruption of the locality are obviously not discussed on the World Peace One website. What a surprise.

What I want to know is when will these self celebrating bastards stop with the 'LOOK AT ME, I'M ACHIEVING WORLD PEACE BY PICKING UP A GUITAR' attitude and maybe do something worthwhile, like lobbying your member states for UN Reform so they may achieve more effective peacekeeping and peacemaking or donating to organisations based in wartorn countries rather than adding more organisations, bureaucracy and further confusion, to the situation through forming yet more groups to deal with peace rather than war. You cannot have peace without the ending of war, and what this organisation seem to have missed entirely is that achieving peace is about understanding the root causes of conflict and tackling them ON HOME SOIL.

You don't need mega concerts to persuade people that peace is good. I think that is fairly self evident. And you are certainly not going to get warmongering regimes/malitias/factions halting their fighting because someone has picked up a guitar or created a council. The warring factions would, most likely, in 90% of wartorn countries not even have a clue that such things were going on. There is no defense on the page of why all the money that will be spent funding these mega concerts would not be better spent elsewhere, or exactly HOW all these ideas would actually, practically achieve world peace in places that do not have internet connections to access the 'peace mall' or a TV to watch your 'concert for peace' or the institutions to house your 'council of forgiveness'.

This smacks of middle class Americans once again having the audacity to think they are smart enough to solve the problems of those 'little countries' across the water that have wars because they don't know how great peace is, or because they aren't aware that Bono thinks it is a bad idea. And what scares me most is how poverty, peace, climate change have all become buzzwords which can be sold to people. Buy off your guilt with a ticket to a concert or a T shirt with a dove on it. And people do. Because they know that they shouldn't be ignoring these issues in the first place, but buying a t shirt or a concert ticket is easier than trying to understand the complex problems of wartorn states the world over.