A statement on violence is needed to counteract certain widely held myths about violence. These myths stand in the way of constructing peace at every level from the family and local community to the world.
The constructing of peace begins in our minds as a vision of something new for the future. It should be based on respect for human rights and freedoms and understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial, and religious groups. It should condemn the use of war for expansion, aggression and domination and the use of force and violence for purposes of repression. The vision should be linked to action, to real events, and to work for peace which is taking place around the world.
At the same time as we construct a new vision, we need to clear away old myths that stand in the way. Just as it is necessary to clear the land before starting to build a house, so, too, it is necessary to clear away certain myths before we can build a new vision in the mind and create the confidence that it can be realized.
We need to clear away the myth which claims that war and violence are intrinsic to human nature and therefore inevitable. This is why the Seville Statement on Violence was written and why it is needed today.
The myth is widespread. Studies in Finland and the United States in 1984 and 1986 found that 52% and 44% of students, respectively, believed that "war is intrinsic to human nature." These are virtually the same results that were obtained in 1969 when a major survey was conducted of 5,000 university students in 18 nations. In most of these nations between 40% and 60% of the students believed that "war is a result of the inherent nature of men."
Scientific evidence has indicated that young people who believe the myth that war is intrinsic to human nature are less likely to believe they can do anything for peace. They are also less likely to take part in action for peace. On the other hand, if young people reject the myth that war is intrinsic to human nature, they are more likely to believe they can help to bring about peace, and they are more likely to take action for peace.
As psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud wrote to physicist Albert Einstein, "these two factors - man's cultural disposition and a well-founded fear of the form that future wars will take -may serve to put an end to war....But by what ways or byways this will come about, we cannot guess." They foresaw the task that now rests upon our generation, but it is up to us to find the ways to bring it about.
By teaching and disseminating the Seville Statement on Violence, we can use the collective wisdom and action of scientists as a tool to sweep away the myth that war and violence are inevitable. We can prepare the ground for the constructing of peace.
