At first blush it seems that Somalia is presenting the peace movement with a new question: Now that the Cold War is over and the superpowers are not jealously protecting territories, should military force be used to respond to humanitarian crises? But that is the wrong question. When the question is phrased in this way, two elements distract us from the truth.
When the situation in Somalia is linked with the end of the Cold War, reality is distorted. The violence and chaos in Somalia is not happening because the Cold War is over. It's happening as a direct result of the Cold War, which provided the ideological base for the arms buildup and the militarization that are the problems in Somalia.
There was a drought, but the people in Somalia would not be facing starvation today if it were not for the arms race that poured weapons into a country that paid for them with cash crops for export instead of growing food for people. The "warlords" that are described as the problem were empowered by the weapons they acquired and the superpowers that supplied the weapons.
Phrasing the question in terms of the end of the Cold War can lull us into complacency, allowing us to think only of the cleanup needed now that the Cold War is over. The end of the Cold War removed the ideology for the arms race but did not end the arms race. Weapons sales grow at an alarming speed as the ongoing militarization of the planet sows the seeds of future wars.
A truer question would be: What is our responsibility when our nation has sold the weapons and propped up oppressive dictators and the situation is now out of control? What do we do with the violent militarized world that the Cold War built?
When questions about the use of military force are phrased in terms of humanitarian crises, this also distorts the truth. Humanitarian crises are brought on by plagues and famine and earthquakes. The international community knows how to respond to humanitarian crises -- military force is never the answer.
Somalia is a crisis of violent chaos threatening massive numbers of people with death. The situation was caused by the violence of militarization. It is not a humanitarian crisis. If we allow the situation in Somalia to be presented as a humanitarian crisis, we will deny the complicity and the responsibility of the United States in creating the chaos, and we will continue to deny that massive militarization is harmful to people. As a culture we are very adept at denial of both our complicity and our responsibility.
WHAT WILL WE SAY in this new time when the horror of war threatens people? Now that the United Nations is no longer paralyzed by the balance of terror that was the Cold War, what is its role in safeguarding people from the violence of war -- especially when they live in the midst of war?
Can the U.N. peacekeepers serve a police-type function during a military crisis to get needed relief supplies to people? Can peacekeepers drawn from the ranks of the military, with only military training, under the leadership of military command, truly serve as peacekeepers?
These important questions lead us to the crucial ones facing the peace movement today: How are we called to be peacemakers in this world? How do we live gospel nonviolence? Are we ready to move into areas where there is great risk of conflict and work to prevent it? Are we willing to take concrete steps and risks that will help resolve conflicts nonviolently? Are we willing to stand with those who are oppressed, those who suffer injustice, and do what we can to stop the injustice?
Will we change our lives in order to change the violent, militarized patterns that keep all of the world's people captive? Are our actions truly good news to those who are poorest and most vulnerable? Are we willing to risk everything to change the shameful poverty in our own nation?
Peacemaking is a serious, life-and-death matter. Will we take it that seriously? Are we willing to offer our energy and our faithfulness? Will we risk our bodies and our blood? Will we follow Jesus to the cross?
Anne McCarthy, O.S.B. was national coordinator of Pax Christi USA when this article appeared.
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