South Sudanese: War is Exhaustive and Expensive; Let’s End it Immediately
By Kur Wël Kur, Adelaide, Australia
April 29, 2017 (SSB) —- With almost absolute certainty, I believe we, the South Sudanese people ( government proposers and opposers) don’t need philosophers of wars like a fifteen century war philosophers such as Niccolo Machiavelli , or Michael Walzer, a war philosopher who still breathes air in the same atmosphere like us, to explain to us how exhaustive and expensive war is.
Because by ourselves, we have seen the consequences of war. Our citizens in thousands have died in wars and of wars-related causes; our citizens in millions are displaced; our agricultural lands are left for weeds. What sieves out of war is brutality. If arthropods such as crabs can adopt coexistence and adapt to their environments without engaging in time-wasting wars, then why don’t we, the humans, the South Sudanese learn to stop the vicious cycle of war in our hard-earned country?
At Australian National University sometimes back in my university years, I followed (in behavioural biology) one of the Professors, a German who was studying fiddler crabs’ homing. It was there I learned a behaviour I didn’t know crustaceans like crabs possess. It’s this behaviour that I want to share with you in this article. I apologise for the readers who hate the “gut” of science, biology in particular; I promise it will be relevant.
Causes of wars among fiddler crabs
Fiddler crabs males have two front claws: big and small claw. The bright yellow (or sometimes orange) claw is used for waving at female crabs during mating season; it’s also used in territorial fights. Females choose males either because of males’ big claws or because of the sizes of their burrows.
Big males are lousy diggers, so they go around looking for trouble especially when females left them because of their small burrows. When one male fiddler crab engages in territorial and sexual disputes with an intruder who tries to grab a burrow, neighbours join and help their fellow neighbour in the fight.
The beneficial tactic of fiddler crabs to avoid territorial disputes.
Majority of them avoid ritual fights because it’s expensive; a time to spend in foraging or burrowing, in mating, or in looking out for predators is spilled into an avoidable sexual and territorial disputes. They discovered this to be wasteful.
These reasons for which fiddler crabs avoid ritual wars among themselves are simple, basic, and obvious for super animals like humans to know intrinsically; but why do we, the humans or in particular South Sudanese engaged in barbaric wars? One would find answers to this question in Michael Walzer’s theory of Just War.
However, there is nothing justifiable about wars especially those wars among citizens of the same country, of the same race and virtually of the same religion. So, we must listen more to people like Rigoberta Menchu who vocalised the following words:
“…instead of giving a rifle to somebody, build a school; instead of giving a rifle, build a community with adequate services. Instead of giving a rifle, develop an educational system that is not about conflict and violence, but one that promotes respect for values, for life, and respect for one’s elders. This requires a huge investment. Yet if we can invest in a different vision of peaceful coexistence, I think we can change the world, because every problem has a nonviolent answer.”
You and some other readers would be asking yourselves why I am still talking about war while the government troops and the oppositional troops haven’t been involved in a major confrontational war for a while now, just some random attacks or hits and runs like that of Wau. And you with these readers would be sensible in questioning the usefulness of this article, but my aim in this article is to draw your attention to the soul-withering consequences of war, the economic meltdowns.
A country that produces nothing is always on the lookout for handout, some kind of aide. And when a government struggles to pay the army, then the sovereign existence of a country with such government is in the mercies of its neighbours or enemies.
It’s amazing how well fed citizens with enough money to spend and save can take in any government propaganda without questioning it. However, when their lifesaving is diluted by inflation, ordinary as well as extraordinary citizens rebel in droves. It’s an economic war; economic war turns brothers against brothers, sisters against sisters, sons against fathers, and daughters against mothers. And these are the types of wars I’m warning you about in this article.
Kur Wël Kur has a Bachelor Degree in Genetics and Zoology from Australian National University (ANU). He was the former General Secretary of Greater Bor Community in Adelaide, Australia. He can be reached via his email contact: kurwelkur@ yahoo.com
The opinion expressed here is solely the view of the writer. The veracity of any claim made are the responsibility of the author, not PaanLuel Wël: South Sudanese Bloggers (SSB) website. If you want to submit an opinion article or news analysis, please email it to paanluel2011@gmail.com. SSB do reserve the right to edit material before publication. Please include your full name, email address and the country you are writing from.
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