In the context of the madness of the political leaders of the “first world”, in which they are proving incapable of stopping the massacre of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza (as well as in other parts of the world), it is not enough for the ordinary people that the government rightly says NO to the participation of Israel and its war industry in the FIDAE (International Aerospace Exhibition 2024, ambit of sales of technology and military weapons). This is because Chile, a country of peace, respects international agreements, their rules (such as the Geneva Accords), and their resolutions (the UN Security Council’s request for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, which was possible because the United States abstained); It cannot maintain this arms fair on its territory, thus supporting a political direction that is contrary to the values of life, which today, more than ever, requires concrete, complex but necessary positions and actions in the face of the advance of monstrosity, as can be seen in the inhuman situation suffered by the Palestinian civilian population.
The culture of war
The values and activities that characterize the military vision of the world, based on blind and unquestioning obedience to power and its imposition using arms and terror, are in profound contradiction to democratic thought. Human history has witnessed more than 2,500 wars in which millions of people have died. Wars waged to “redistribute goods” through armed violence, to the benefit of some and the detriment of others.
The military-industrial complex, a cancer that eats away at humanist values and the civic spirit, seeks legitimacy, and states violate international agreements and treaties and the rights of nations and peoples, massacring civilian populations, justifying themselves as “collateral damage” to impose their will or that of interest groups.
Acts of extreme cruelty carried out in the context of armed conflicts fall under the definition of “barbarism” because of their lack of civility and the concept of state terrorism, as supposedly more “civilized” countries have used science, technology and technological development to mercilessly and irrationally attack enemy countries and their civilian populations, developing a range of weapons of mass destruction.
The arms trade remains one of the most lucrative export businesses for many countries, especially the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Everything is in crisis except the arms trade, which continues to grow year after year.
The global military-industrial complex
According to the World Bank, by 2021 there will be some 27,671,000 people employed in the global military-industrial complex. SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), renowned for its reliability, provides data on the arms industry, including warheads, military spending, and arms trade. The nine nuclear weapons states – the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea – continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals. The number of warheads in Israel is an estimate, as Israel has never allowed international inspections and has neither claimed nor denied possession of nuclear warheads. Other organizations estimate that it may have as many as 400 nuclear warheads.
As of 2022, there are about 9,440 nuclear warheads in military stockpiles, of which 3,732 are deployed and about 2,000 are on high operational alert, mainly in Russia and the United States. For its part, the US has nuclear weapons in several European countries, while Israel has about 90 nuclear weapons, with estimates as high as 400. Russia and the US have kept their strategic nuclear arsenals stable, but China is expanding its arsenal. However, SIPRI data are approximate. Deployed warheads refer to those on missiles or operational bases, while stockpiled warheads require preparation for deployment. Since 2010, there has been a treaty on further steps for the reduction and limitation of strategic nuclear weapons, which does not limit the total stockpiles of non-strategic nuclear warheads (strategic nuclear weapons are aimed at civilian targets, tactical nuclear weapons at military targets).
In 2020, sales of military arms and services reach $531 billion, an increase of 1.3% over the previous year. Global military spending exceeds $2 trillion annually, up 2.6% year-on-year, while global GDP falls by 4.4%. The United States leads the world in military spending and is home to 41 of the top 100 arms companies. The US military has a network of around 1,000 bases and facilities around the world, with a presence in countries such as Germany, Italy, Japan, and South Korea, and spanning every continent.
In addition, the US has naval fleets that cover most of the world’s oceans. The military-industrial complex, underpinned by scientific-technological advances, covertly includes areas such as biochemical research, computer science, satellite technology, and artificial intelligence, in which the US is by far the inhuman leader.
Violence and conflict resolution
The use of violence as a means of conflict resolution is a visible, widespread, entrenched, and deplorable reality, present in our daily lives, in our human and interpersonal relations, and all possible and imaginable spaces, often justified as an intrinsic part of a supposed “human nature”. But always, simultaneously, in almost every epoch and many geographical locations, we have seen the emergence of an ethical, supportive, and compassionate attitude that is revolutionary and humanizing, or “another human nature”.
The creation of a non-violent world consciousness will be the necessary step towards a world free of violence, not only in its physical manifestations such as wars but also free of economic, racial, religious, sexual, psychological, and moral violence.
The cessation of wars and armed conflicts throughout the world, and the total elimination of nuclear weapons; the proportional and progressive disarmament of conventional weapons; the withdrawal of invading troops from occupied territories; the renunciation by governments of the use of war as a means of resolving conflicts, through constitutional reforms that explicitly prohibit the use of war; and the redefinition of the role of the current armed forces, are necessary to overcome the current monstrous humanitarian crisis and open ourselves to a civilizational advance that will overcome this human prehistory.
For a nonviolent Chile
In the current situation, Chilean citizens are crying out for a little reason and empathy for the human pain and suffering caused by insensitive capitalist ambitions.
It is necessary to carry out all the political, diplomatic, and international justice actions that allow for a ceasefire; this is the priority today, both for the executive and for all the spheres of power in our country; in addition to the necessary dialogue, cooperation and coordination of non-violent actions of high impact among all those people and civil organizations interested in a better world for all human beings. And finally, to deactivate FIDAE once and for all.
Collaborators: Ricardo Lisboa Henríquez; M. Angélica Alvear Montecinos; Sandra Arriola Oporto; Guillermo Garcés Parada and César Anguita Sanhueza. Public Opinion Commission