Urgency For Defences Of Peace

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32391, 2 September 1970, Page 2

Urgency For Defences Of Peace

A sense of urgency was required to construct the defences of peace, the conference was told. The public affairs committee of the Canterbury branch of the federation said that war, as persons knew it, was still fought by manpower and was not solving problems. “If we do not act now to establish alternative methods of resolving differences, we may find new mega-wars emerging, drawing on all the technical skill of which man is capable,” it said. In its report on “The

Minds of Men—The Defence of Peace,” the committee said that modern man had realised the value of co-operation for its own sake. He had learnt the importance of early training and had perfected a system for communication and dissemination of information. In spite of all the unsolved problems, he had the tools to defend peace, to pursue truth, and to share his knowledge, and the desire to curtail wars. “The anti-draft, anti-war movements are a consequence of years of human suffering,” said the committee. “Now,

i the young begin to feel reluctant to settle disputes on the battlefield. Now, the old look back on the waste of life in their youth. All see that war produces no victoronly mankind is the victim. The committee said that it must admit that much had been done. Co-operation was breaking down many barriers, mass media were spreading information, education was reaching larger numbers, life expectancy was rising, health was improving, and opportunities for communication and integration were expanding. “These may be producing their own problems, but surely we have here an,unparalleled challenge. We can build bastions against war; the foundations are already laid. ■ Attempts to reach peace by conference, by prevention, by relaxation of tensions are growing. In theory the individual’s rights are respected. All would seem prepared.”