Is Peace Possible?

10-8-11
       I am definitely having some struggles with the readings for this week as well as the videos that we watched. Maybe it is just the mood that I am in but I am having a hard time believing that we will actually get to the point where we are governed by persons who are able to truly hold the space for a peaceful society to truly flourish. I am not saying that on an individual level we don't want what would be best for all involved, it just seems to get corrupted somewhere along the line and ideals are forgotten. This is hard for me to admit since I want to hold the belief of enlightened society and basic goodness, sometimes we have to dig pretty deep to find it and that is my challenge at this point.

       I can appreciate what Richard Falk is saying in his writing On Humane Governance, I'm just not sure how realistic he is being. I felt that there were many ideal brought up such as when he say's "The more fundamental struggle at the very center of the normative project, is to challenge war itself, the social and political process of mass, intentional killing in the name of the state, for the sake of wealth and power, in defense if ideology and a way of life, allegedly on behalf of security in self defense, but also to satisfy expansionist ambitions" (252). Falk believes that war is outmoded and no longer necessary which I agree with, I am just not able to believe yet that our government leaders feel the same way. Justifying war in a way that people accept seems to be something politicians are very good at.

       I also felt somewhat discouraged by the movies that we watched in class. The International Criminal Court seems like a wonderful idea and a very valuable asset to keeping governments in line. The big challenge that I have is understanding how it can actually be implemented. If a government is not willing to cooperate how can justice come about? Has the ICC actually been able to follow through with the prosecutions findings of accountability? It was also difficult to take the UN's video seriously with so much romanticism added to it. So I think that I will be done for now since I am struggling to find a positive spin on all of this at the moment, maybe that will change once the sun comes out.