Imagine that we did not have wars, that we always lived in a peaceful world without any unsolved armed conflicts. What would that world look like?
Well first of all, quoting the French geographer Yves Lacoste « La géographie, ça sert, d’abord à faire la guerre » which could be translated by « geography, is first of all, useful to make war », I guess it means that we would have to rethink the concept of countries separated by political boarders because wars made the shape of our current territories.
Great projects have been done in the name of Peace, but what is peace if not compare to war? For example, without WWII would European Union exists? Would we be able to do an European project like our EVS in Greece? Maybe some other form of Europe would have been created instead…
But one thing is certain: the common language in our flat would not be English, at least not the English that we know, the one that have been changed and modified by Saxons, Romans and Vikings invasions.
And what about the rights of European women for example? Did you know that French women did earn the right to vote after their participation in the “Resistance” or that it is not before 1945 that United Nations declared equality between men and women…
Wars have shown the worst of what humanity is capable of but they also made us who we are or maybe be we made them because of what we are…
So its really up to us to grow into being more peaceful human beings and to reward people who stand up for fundamental rights and freedoms like Edward Snowden or the Greek Islanders who have been on the frontline of the refugee crisis, with the Nobel Peace Prize would be an excellent start…
written by Pauline Coiffard