As we already know, the language is full of war terminology. We use it for noble purposes, for the meanings of the admirable human attitude: we face problems, fight disease, weather storms. And confrontation, struggle, and resistance emerge from that linguistic heritage that seems best suited to transfer to a broad human problem.

But it is enough to scratch a little at the metaphors to find their origin, their first meaning in the dictionary. It is also enough to look back to identify aggressive activity as the cornerstone of the constitution of civilizations. War had to be waged to get a piece of land out of danger, to increase the tribe – oh, poor women, wombs at the service of their captors – to dominate the sea passage and channel the taxes and tribute (ie the truth of the yearning of the Greeks over the Trojans) . To follow the history of humanity means to delve into the abusive and domineering ways of certain peoples who have always felt marked by divine forces to attack others, weaker ones.

We admire the Roman culture – of which the whole West is an heir – but along with language, law and tradition, we get an example of a conqueror that only Alexander the Great had before. When Christ was born, Judea was a colony dominated by foreign footwear, which the Zealots barely resisted, and therefore he was expected to be the political leader of liberation. “To return to the emperor what is emperor, and to God God’s” confused many, because the fighters understood the separation of war and peace, with the implicit acceptance of “necessary” war.

The 20th century still breaks us under the memory of two terrible world wars…

When they became aware of duties and rights, the powerful defended the “divine right of kings”, that is, a vertical organization that came from heaven and that put in the place of God men chosen for implicit superiority. Kings, sovereigns, monarchs, of total autocracy and who could decide to attack their neighbors for any reason. Religion had a lot to do with European struggles, and even with the uprising in the New World. The historical move that tells the story of Latin America also exemplifies the behavior of the conquerors when they first saw gold, land, and free labor, as well as the subsequent struggles to free themselves from that oppression.

The 20th century still breaks us with the memory of two terrible world wars, the echoes of which reverberate at the slightest hint of a new fire. And although today the right to peace comes together with the duty to take care of it with all kinds of efforts, the theory of deterrence – armies, weapons, nuclear bombs are the desperate possession of countries that should defend themselves – justifies that the budgets of States States place instruments of destruction on top of their need.

While several communities are in a hideous war, it is my duty to bring these memories to light and condemn the violent and destructive human nature. No amount of patriotic explanation convinces me that I understand why children die violently and the city is cornered. This is how we return to the darkest past and trample on the right to exist. (OR)