ASP Principle 7—Peace and International Solidarity

This is the final installment of a series of perspectives on the American Solidarity Party Principles:

Peace is the fruit of justice and requires solidarity among peoples and nations. Aid and trade policies must advance justice, sustainability, and human flourishing. Diplomatic and nonviolent means of resolution must be exhausted before violent means can be considered. Military action must strictly adhere to just-war principles.

Given the name of our party, one may rightly assume that solidarity is one of our defining principles. Perhaps less obvious is what we mean by the word. Solidarity may conjure up a vague feeling of empathy for others, but it is so much more than that. It is, as Pope John Paul II said, “a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say, to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.” Solidarity is the embodiment of the Judeo-Christian commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. It is central to the Christian life and to the civic duties of Americans.

Peace is another concept that is often misunderstood. Peace is not mere tranquility, the absence of violence, or being left to oneself. Above all, peace is not passive. Peace is the active guarding against injustice and the seeking of reconciliation when injustice has occurred. Achieving peace requires work, and it is work that is likely to make us uncomfortable. It requires developing the bond of kinship among those who may not naturally consider themselves brothers and sisters. For this reason, solidarity is necessary for true peace, and the two ideas are closely related. Our statement of the principle as “Peace and International Solidarity” is a recognition that our bond of kinship with our fellow man extends beyond the borders of our nation and includes all humanity.

True peace requires justice. When the rights of all people are respected, and all people have access to the means necessary to meet their basic needs, conflict is much less likely. Justice must be practiced at every level of society, from local to global. We cannot have peace locally if we do not recognize the dignity and shared humanity of the homeless, the prisoner, the immigrant, the elderly, the handicapped, and the unborn. We cannot have peace globally if we do not similarly recognize the dignity and shared humanity of our brothers and sisters around the world.

Often, the goal of American foreign policy is characterized as “the protection of American interests abroad.” This mindset is so common that it may not immediately strike us as a potential program of societal greed. If we consider only our own interests in international affairs, we are likely to seek cheap goods and services at the expense of workers’ dignity and the establishment of foreign governments that are aligned with the desires of the American people rather than the needs of their own. The enactment of foreign policy of this character by powerful nations has been largely responsible for much of the devastation and turmoil of the modern era.  

Rather, the goal of foreign policy ought to be the protection of the international common good. This includes multilateral efforts to prevent powerful nations from taking advantage of others. It includes trade agreements that honor labor rights and favor local producers rather than multinational corporations. It includes participation in international efforts to resolve conflict, end human trafficking, and protect the environment. When the common good is protected, the world is safer, trade is better, and immigration is a choice rather than a necessity.

We have personal responsibility in this regard. We must recognize the far-reaching impact of our individual decisions. Our consumption of goods and generation of waste have the potential to, and often do, cause suffering on the other side of the world. The poor of the world regularly suffer the consequence of our unsustainable practices. We can only realize true benefits to the global economy if we are collectively mindful of the dignity of every human being in the supply chain and the importance of the environment as our common home.

It is important to recognize that we live in a fallen world, in which conflict is an unfortunate reality. When conflict infringes on basic human rights, especially through violence, it may be necessary to use force to restore a just peace. This unfortunate necessity gives rise to the tenets of just war. A full enumeration and explanation of just war principles is beyond the scope of this discussion, but the whole of just war doctrine may be fairly summarized by stating that we should seek to avoid war to the greatest extent possible and, when war is necessary, to conduct it in a way that honors the dignity of the opponent and maintains an understanding of solidarity with them.

Just war doctrine is intended to serve as a restriction against war rather than a justification for it. It is meant to encourage leaders to reflect on whether war is truly necessary as the only means to address a conflict and whether it is reasonable, given the situation, to expect lethal force to be able to restore a just peace. Furthermore, not only the decision to wage war, but also actions during the war and the process of exiting the war all call for careful consideration of their human cost.

Those who oppose war are often criticized as taking the easy way out, which is a fair criticism if levied against those who offer no alternative action and seem to suggest that we can simply ignore the conflict and get along with each other. This is not true of the American Solidarity Party. We acknowledge the value of diplomacy, economic sanctions, and multilateral peacekeeping efforts in preventing war. More fundamentally, we recognize that peace requires hard work. It involves personal conversion and societal reconciliation. It involves bringing all parties to the table and giving them a voice. It involves conflict transformation and resolution. It requires compromise and sacrifice. Above all, it demands solidarity.

Practicing solidarity, or putting ourselves in someone else's shoes and identifying with them, is like flexing a muscle--if we do it in small ways, we are more capable of doing it in big ways. The more we train ourselves to see our neighbors (especially those who are different from us) as our brothers and sisters, the more we are able to see those around the world as our brothers and sisters. It is only when we see our enemy as our brother that we can properly exercise restraint in deciding to go to war and in conducting the fighting. It is only when we see the laborer as our sister that we can be properly motivated to ensure that our policies and our spending decisions support a just wage. It is only when we see the immigrant family as members of our own family that we can enact policy that protects human dignity while protecting our borders. It is only when we see others as “us” rather than “them” that we can achieve peace. Mother Teresa once said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” The principle of “Peace and International Solidarity” reminds us that we belong to each other and that our personal decisions and our foreign policy should reflect that belonging.