What Peace Really Is...
- 29 Posts
- Age 21
"Yurtta barış, dünyada barış"/"P...
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xh9VfGjKMQ
Hello the people of VoY!
So I wanted to start this post with a #tb to World Peace Day by
sharing the video I have prepared this September. The video you
see on the link is prepared by the lovely efforts of participant
from all over the world to share a beautiful message on my
request. I think it turned out quite cool so I wanted to share it
with you. Let me know what you think :)
Now, back to topic:
This summer, I had the chance to think about the world we live
in. And one of things I thought about the most was peace. I
thought about what peace is. I thought about the people or the
societies who claimed to live in peace and I questioned the
reality of the state they are in. Then I realized how the concept
of peace is misunderstood by them.
Peace is often seen only as the absence of conflict and violence.
A state of stability and order where everything is in its "place"
and everyone plays their "role". But is this really peace if this
stability is achieved by oppression of certain people who do not
fit in this picture or is this really peace if you need to make
others change or give up on who they are? Is this really peace if
some people are forced to live a life they don't want or held
back from living the life they want?
This questions of mine lead me to other questions. Can peace be
achieved in a world which some people lack their fundamental
rights and others live in privilege? Can peace be achieved where
people force their world view on each other? Can peace be
achieved where people are filled and surrounded by a culture of
violence and discrimination? Can peace be achieved in a world
where people are not free, free to be who they are, free to love,
free to speak, free to learn?
I say no. No it can't.
So I understood this summer that peace is not a passive state but
an active one. It's not stability but
sustainability. And to achieve peace we have to create world
where everyone is born not just with equal rights but also with
equal opportunities.
I began this post with a #tb to International Day of Peace;
because this year's International Day of Peace was special for
me, because I saw that other people, realize the same problems, I
did about peace. One of the campaigns that inspired me most was
IFMSA's peace day campaign which was focused on sustainability
(it was a social media campaign on SDGs). It was very empowering
to witness that there were others among young people, who thought
just like me.
And this made me realize, we as the youth of this world, have the
great power to see what's not right with it and lead the change.
By realizing what keeps us from achieving peace we can advocate
for the opposite. We can promote equality by demanding: quality
education for all, free accessible healthcare, gender equality,
healthy work conditions, free
speech, action towards discrimination...
We are the future of this planet, we are the hope. If we work for
peace, peace will happen.
Lastly I say:
Where people live without oppression and privilege,
Where people have their rights,
Where people are free,
There is peace.