Violence will never bring an end to violence

Auteur : Humanist Party UK

Humanist Party UK – press release about London attacks

Today, before anything else, we denounce the mindless acts of terrorism that took place yesterday in London. 24 hours after experiencing the elation of being given the wonderful possibility of bringing the world to London in 2012 for the Olympics, London was plunged into the horror of violence and death on their way to work. This violence did not affect white, British, Christian, capitalists who represent a system or a government (if this was ever the target): this violence affected, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, black, white, male, female, young and old, alike without discrimination because this is the population of London.
We strongly denounce this violence and reject any justification of it. The responsible ones are the ones who committed this atrocity and the people who inspired and trained these people to commit these acts: these terrorists, who appear to claim some link to al-Qaeda.

An end to violence is possible
We, Humanists, know that there is a cure for violence and this cure comes with the understanding of what violence really is. Violence takes many forms, not just terrorism. Lack of social justice is the greatest form of violence that people in the world are experiencing at this time. Billions of people around the world are in the ideal condition to become terrorists because they live in conditions that generate feelings of hopelessness and non-meaning. For many of these people it is neither here nor there if they live or die. Their families are hungry, their children cannot go to school, and they cannot access health care or clean water. For many people, they are discriminated against; they cannot move around freely; they cannot provide a better future for their loved ones. In these conditions, charismatic leaders can appear, who, supposedly inspired by a fundamentalist or an extremely nationalistic ideology can convince people that it is legitimate to inflict violence on others, to kill others.
We know that these people are psychopathic and there will always be psychopaths in the world. But ordinary people do not follow the erratic ideologies of psychopaths when social justice is a reality. People who can care for their families, who have access to good quality health-care and education, who experience security in their old age, do not follow psychopaths. People who are free to believe and practice whichever religion they choose do not follow psychopaths. People who feel that the value of their life is more important than money do not follow psychopaths. Therefore, an end to violence comes with an end to social injustice.

G8 summit
Of course the timing of the bombing is not a coincidence. At the same time as we witness these terrorists acts the UK hosts the meeting of the G8 leaders plus a host of other leaders talking about the issues facing the world today. In this case we talk of climate change and poverty.
These leaders have the responsibility to end the violence. They have it within their power to bring an end to poverty – 1 trillion dollars spent last year on defence is enough. They have it within their power to bring social justice to everyone. But they will respond with more wars, with more exploitation and more violence.
Sadly, we know that these leaders have no intention of bringing social justice to the world. Therefore, their words of condemnation of the violence mean nothing. They stand their condemning others as if they had never been responsible for the deaths of anyone. They know what they have to do and they will not do it.
It is the task of humanists around the world to unite, spread and humanise this beautiful planet.