Dealing with hatemongers

Many factors have been involved in triggering wars down the ages. History therefore gives the impression of being a huge battleground in which terrible tragedies occurred. The number of wars between states in 1819-1949 has been estimated at 289. Even at times of no world wars, the number of people who lost their lives in local conflicts is known to exceed 100 million.

The 20^th century was the scene of world wars fought to the bitter end between countries that had learned nothing from previous wars. As if the ghastly devastation of World War I were not enough, the great powers then started World War II, in which 53 million people lost their lives. Civilians represented 60% of these. Forty million had to abandon their homes and migrate. The total cost of the war has been estimated at $8 trillion, by 1996 values.

In the wake of that tragedy, states thought of solutions to prevent the same insanity happening again. The United Nations was an initiative on the part of states that grasped the illogicality of that way of doing things. In terms of preventing world wars, it was a positive move. New world wars were prevented, but states were still unable to prevent conflicts. The Swedish research institute SIPRI says that 103 armed conflicts occurred between 1989 and 1997. Six of these were between countries. The devastation wreaked in the 2000s has been even greater.

Despite their terrible experience, countries never tried any other means of resolving disputes. Past years have seen political speeches, official meetings, followed by harsh words and wars starting with invasions.  

Later generations that never knew the ugly face of world wars once again sought to resolve disputes through conflict and war. Democracy was great and offered a conception of freedom capable of preventing the logic of war. Yet for countries and people that were unfamiliar with democracy, very little changed. More was needed to tell them of that freedom and the concept of compromise. The world needed a system of ideas to eliminate the way of thinking that legitimized war, in other words, ‘hatred.’

Everyone focused on the ideological and political reasons behind wars. They never considered that wars are in fact a consequence of feelings of hatred. In the past, states fought other states they hated. Now, peoples that hated one another were involved. The hatred that developed was so great that is exceeded even national sentiments. People came to have no qualms about killing their brothers, friends or neighbors.

This weakness, hatred in other words, became the prime card in the hand of those mafia-like secret forces within states that wished to keep the running of the world in their own hands. They deliberately stoked up a climate of turmoil for that purpose and shaped the course of orange revolutions accordingly. Their aim was to produce a fertile climate for revolutions and uprisings by inciting hatred between people. Once the seeds of hatred had been sown within society it was always easy to muddy the waters in it. Divisions within society have always been used to that end. Shiites and Sunnis were made hostile to one another, fanatics possessed of the most blatant hatred were incited, and peoples were never content with their existing regimes. These secret forces sprinkled hatred around like petrol and then wreaked devastation on whole countries by setting fire to it. They produced communities that were easily led by propaganda and employed lovelessness as the most common tool for that propaganda. When secret state apparatuses decided to bring a country down, they first made its people loveless and full of hate. The rest followed like night follows day.

Middle Eastern countries that are now experiencing the wars of the 21^st century need to be on their guard in that context. These countries have generally believed that they can put an end to disagreements and tensions by force. History shows many examples of this. Yet this historic error is the cause of the current upheaval in the Middle East. Force and violence have sown the seeds of hatred in these communities and given rise to unhappy societies.

If countries in this restless area known as the Middle East wish to put an end to the conflicts around them, then they must renounce the mentality of war. But they could not forget it; wars stem, not from political or ideological despites, but from the hatred that people, races, societies and communities feel for one another. If bonds of love are established, then no political problems need remain insoluble, and no ideological difference would be grounds for war. If love were imposed on communities, then revolutions, coups, street fighting and uprising would all be meaningless. The way that love has today been forgotten comes as quite normal to everyone. When the word ‘love’ is mentioned they imagine the speaker is referring to a utopian dream and desires the impossible. A single word on the social media can immediately cause people to hate. No motivation is needed to bring that about. Yet it is the most awful hard work to get anyone to say one world of love. It is easy to encourage this disposition to hatred in human nature, while inculcating love takes hard work. If countries wish to escape disagreements, grow, regenerate and live in peace, then they must first put in that work.

In order for love to appear, it is first essential to weaken the influence of the peddlers of hate. When it comes to the Middle East, the fanatic mindset has a huge capacity to disseminate hatred. The antidote to that lies in establishing the predominance inside a country of the moderate conception foreseen by the Qur’an. People with a fanatical mindset will of course not welcome this. But a strategy of modernization pursued with a powerful will and determination can gradually change their way of thinking and show them they are on the wrong path.

When that happens, the ghastly objectives of the secret state apparatuses that have been laying plans for the past 100 years will fail. Because there will be no more population they can easily provoke. In order to bring that about, states must first believe that love is the solution to their problems.