Observations on the Themes of International Youth Year '85 Part 3

PEACE is both an International and local issue which….

…. should also confront basic problems in society like inequality, unemployment, homelessness and racial discrimination .…requires society to be tolerant and flexible so people can be at peace with one another. (IYY 85 Brochure) PEACE .… the Pocket Oxford Dictionary refers to peace as being freedom from or cessation of war; civil order as secured by law; quiet, calm, harmonious relations. To be at peace is to be untroubled. For the present generation of young people issues relating to peace are of critical importance. International brinkmanship and possession of arsenals with unprecedented destructive power underscore age old questions of human relations concerning aggression and the management of competition and conflict. The daily news almost inevitably dreaws attention to conflict between individuals, between large groups of people and between nations. The slogan “Peace in our time” carries a note of urgency yet the daily experience of human conflict both real and simulated on TV screens points to the possibility that potential for conflict is deeply rooted in human nature.