Given the tragic history of Okinawa, when the eight wise men of the world meet there it would be particularly appropriate if they turned their minds, in this International Year of the Culture of Peace, to the subject of ridding the world of war and genocide. Confronted with a world that cannot be changed, reasonable people adapt and accommodate. But the turning points of history and progress in human civilization have come from those who set out to change the world. An International Coalition to Stop Armed Conflict and Genocide.
War is as pervasive as the wish for peace is universal.
The causes of war are many and complex. Our call to end it is single-minded and simple. Cynics insist that war is an inherent part of human society. To end war would be to end history. But crime and poverty, too, have always been part of human history.