Politics is the process through which people arrive at consensus, and make collective decisions. Ideally, politics proceeds without violence, corruption, or the enforced silencing of opposition views, since in the marketplace of ideas and shared value of humanity, the art and science of running a government or community ought to enable the tolerance (if not shared views) and peaceful coexistence of all within the collective state.
Justice is the concept of fairness, rationality, ethics, blind to the prejudice of emotional, visceral, violent response to reason. Punishment for breaches of "justice" must also be grounded in the same ethical construct, or they become exclusive to a ruling party, and not representational of, or fairly shared with, the "others" of humanity.
According to Aristotle, "the law is reason, free from passion."
And Peace, the absence of hostility; people, communities, societies existing harmoniously, with tolerance for the panoply of their voices and celebration of healing and healthy interpersonal and international relationships. Peace implies the acknowledgement of equality and fairness, justice, in individual, political, international relationships.
Peace can be a oft-repeated verbal response, but should be more than a greeting or a farewell; peace should be more than a seasonal expression of goodwill.
Peace is vibrant, not stagnant, and must be responsive to evolving needs and realities of growing, and learning, populations. Peace should be a cornerstone of reflections and relationships, the presence of balance, the absence of suppression, oppression, quiet without silence, collaboration without control, choice freely presented, and sustainably maintained.
Can peace exist without politics?
But, more, can politics sustainably exist without peace?
No comments:
Post a Comment