OF PEACE

I am a son of World War II. I was born in 1943, in the middle of the Italian and then German occupation of my hometown. With all the menu offered by the fascists and Nazis, imprisoned father and lack of food that weakened the body to this day and fear of violence never forgotten. And the post-war period, when we lived with people without an arm, no eye, no legs, confused in coexistence, grenades and mines, houses destroyed and continued lack of food and living a regime imposed in the division of the world, socialism, in which the teacher in primary school asked, when Stalin died, arch-enemy of Tito, what they said in our houses, to write down and warn the political police to arrest those who praised the facínora.

War is not only the act of war, its consequences, especially in children, we only knew how to play killing Nazis, no football or other games, and the next generations. The war never ends, just as the pogroms do not end. Violence remains in the soul, even if the tattoo that the Nazis imposed on Jews in the concentration camps is hidden by the long sleeve of the shirt.

In Brazil, despite unique criminal violence and other types, we are immune to wars, neutral in conflicts, sometimes economically we even take advantage of them, but we live in a world today and probably in the coming years of regional armed conflicts. We talk about Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Hezbolah, Hamas, the Islamic group, terrorism, Somalia, Thailand and Cambodia, Pakistan and India, Sahel, Ukraine and more. In total 59 ongoing wars, 180 conflicts between antagonistic groups in various parts, and $2.44 trillion in spending in 2024 on wars. The world is rearming itself, China, Russia, USA, with new ships, Argentina, and the engine of development has become the war industry.

The Pope, leader of billions of Catholics, asks at mass to pray for peace. His appeal goes beyond the church he leads. Not only should we wish that we had peace, that the conflicts ended, but we had to work for peace. Also because a conflict is coming at our border, in Venezuela, which last time brought us 1.7 million refugees. For peace is fought both with diplomacy and with preparation for war. Are we really fighting for peace and are we prepared to defend ourselves?

If there is an armed conflict in Venezuela, we will test the two precepts. Bismarck said that when diplomacy ends, war begins.