We are living through times where the architecture of global peace is not merely crumbling; it is being deliberately dismantled. The drums of global war beat louder than ever, drowning out the voices of reason. Across the globe, imperial power grinds forward, indifferent to human lives. In the face of such force, silence is complicity. We are compelled to speak, not because words alone will stop bombs, but because refusing to speak means surrendering our humanity.
Yet, things have only escalated. Our voices are barely audible beneath the barrage of projectiles. Nevertheless, I do not miss an opportunity to speak or write, hoping to reach the Macedonian public and the wider world: there is no more time to wait! But an old Macedonian saying goes: there is no point waking someone who pretends to be asleep. I confess a personal “sin”: I write because it helps me stay mentally and intellectually sane.
The problem is serious even among those aware of the Armageddon before us. A woman of Iranian origin on Substack wrote bitterly: “Are you really just going to keep talking? Where is the global collective action?.” It hit the mark. Today, we lack not analysis, but action. As Lenin asked: What is to be done? (I use his title fittingly, aware that historical circumstances differ). At the recent Tricontinental Institute’s assembly, Vijay Prashad said: “We must take a step forward!” We must conceptualize resistance against barbarism and what comes after. We seem to have lost the power to imagine a just society transcending frameworks of market economics and classical political science. We must define the ultimate goal. My peace colleagues would easily answer: positive peace! Found in Johan Galtung’s works, this encompasses human emancipation, social justice and dignity, de facto containing basic elements of the communist idea. Unfortunately, most peace activists fear ideology, standing on the safe shore of the liberal horizon.
This is my modest attempt to frame things radically, meaning “from the root.” Peace studies still speak of peace through peaceful means, invoking the UN Charter. It sounds moving and beautiful only if the UN were not complicit in silencing crimes. The UN is neither an abstraction nor autonomous; it is created by governments that are either perpetrators or vassals (or both). Few today are genuine democracies, just, and moral. The UN is what states made of it, primarily those self-appointed as guarantors of peace after WWII. They granted themselves rights above all others, like gods. Consequently, the military-industrial complex expanded like a giant octopus, metastasizing all spheres of human activity, alongside military blocs and bases. Humanitarian aid arrives only after blood is spilled. Many believe replacing kakistocrats or reforming the UN will guarantee peace. The new “Aryan race” has evolved into an “Epstein caste”, just as capitalism has been transformed into an overt form of neo-fascism and US hyperimperialism, perpetuating inequality defended by military power. Dissident voices diagnose problems but do not know what is to be done. Even though many were excited from the mass protests in the US and many other cities on 28 March, the cynical mind is correct: The performances seen, the celebrities heard—it all looked like a circus. They do know they don’t want a king (Trump), yet they do not challenge the system that allowed oligarchy to govern their lives. There is a growing consensus across the Global South that Western public opinion is functionally irrelevant to the fight against imperialism.
The official doctrine of the most powerful empire is “peace through strength.” Its executors do not mind the UN Charter, the Genocide Convention, or even the Geneva Conventions. Such force is not answered with suggestions, proposals for peaceful conflict resolution and performances on the street. Force is met with force. Resistance. Responses with poetry, appeals, and art are moving and beautiful at the same time, but insufficient. Currently, only people of Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Cuba, and fragmented anti-colonial movements really fight back against the Empire of Evil. They show what it means to stand when babies are tortured, and existence must be defended with bodies. The Vietnamese were in such a battle, but we seem to have forgotten them. “Peace through peaceful means” was the slogan then, too—but until they inflicted enormous losses on US citizens, they were not left in peace. They proved the power of resistance against the military Goliath. Honestly, if I were a Palestinian mother seeing my child/children killed, I would immediately take up arms. Better to die fighting than die a little every moment.
The answer to this madness is our own “madness”: peace through resistance! Recently, on 27 March, recalling Yugoslav history, it came to mind that the protests rose against the Pact with Nazi Germany. Slogans we still remember read: “Better the grave than a slave,” “Better war than the Pact!” That was the seed of the Partisan movement. My peace friends want a global anti-war movement (by often excluding “others”, like China for instance), but slogans and street protests soothe consciences without striking the Empire where it hurts. Some people more courageous than us defend dignity with blood and lives. That is the right to self-defense in international law! It is also in the UN Charter. Yet, those far from battlefields must develop methods of struggle against the war machinery, fleeing neither the mad Nero in Washington nor the silence.
From the academic sphere, I start with professors: they must “corrupt” youth like Socrates! Even in physics classes, they must speak about war. On militarization and numbness, everyone can teach. Dedicate one hour a week! Unions and farmers can strike; this war hits those who live by sweat everywhere in the world. Journalists must remember Robert Fisk and Julian Assange, showing solidarity with colleagues used as clay pigeons who lost their lives with unprecedented courage. Medical workers can follow Mads Gilbert’s example! Culture and civil society can screen anti-war films like Hair or Dr. Strangelove or any other anti-war film (including documentaries). But those ‘inside the belly of the beast’ can do the most: boycotts, sabotage, and conscientious objection. Many US military professionals do not support the war, greeting with the code “Epstein.” Now is the moment for objection. Before Joe Kent’s resignation, many others showed that character and conscience would not let them work at universities or the UN, obedient to the military superpower. Workers in military industries can exert pressure, as can local communities near military bases. I am not sure if global cohesion will emerge, but each of us must start by sweeping our own doorstep.
Resist authorities allied with the degenerate Epstein caste of child-killers! The time is NOW! We are on the brink and have no excuses left for dreaming with eyes wide shut about the universal organization and its documents that are spattered with the blood of innocents. Extending the agony of the current system works against us. Let’s help the new one to be born, even in pain—as it usually happens.
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This article was produced by Globetrotter. Biljana Vankovska is a professor of political science and international relations at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, an associate of the Transnational Foundation of Peace and Future Research (TFF) in Lund, Sweden, and the most influential public intellectual in Macedonia. She is a member of the No Cold War collective
This article was produced by Globetrotter. Biljana Vankovska is a professor of political science and international relations at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, an associate of the Transnational Foundation of Peace and Future Research (TFF) in Lund, Sweden, and the most influential public intellectual in Macedonia. She is a member of the No Cold War collective
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