Bonobos, chimpanzees, potential for peace

“Ninety-nine percent of history has been free of war.” “War causes aggression, aggression does not cause war.”

These two statements are a centerpiece of Douglas Fry’s recent book, “The Human Potential for Peace,” issued this year by Oxford Press. Most people assume that human history has always been subject to war and this is certainly true of the 20th century. Now that we are in the 21st century the world continues to experience wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Congo region, Darfur and Sri Lanka.

“The Human Potential for Peace” looks at the long history of both humans and primates and questions whether there is an inherent drive toward violence and war. Some anthropologists and archaeologists believe that humans are naturally aggressive and war-like, but the author states that there is no evidence of war among primates such as the Bonobos nor is there evidence of war among our remote ancestors, nor for that matter is there any evidence of war in most of human history.

Obviously there has been aggression and conflict but studies, that the author cites, indicate that our ancestors, as well as many indigenous peoples up to the present, learned methods of defusing violent confrontation before they could result in war.

In terms of primates, Bonobos are as closely related to humans as chimpanzees. Interestingly, in many studies of aggressive behavior among primates, Bonobos are often ignored even though studies show that they avoid aggressive behavior, preferring to stay away from conflict.

Fry points out that when we examine more contemporary history “a cross cultural perspective substantiates not only the human potential for violence but also the human potential for handling conflict nonviolently.” The ways that have been used for conflict management include self-help, avoidance, toleration, negotiation, third-party peacemaking, arbitration or mediation. From the Andaman Islanders to Finnish Gypsies, Fijians and the Bihors of India as well as the Kalahari tribes of Africa, the tendency is to find means for conflict reso-lution. These societies have found that reconciliation and harmony are more important than determining who is right or who is wrong in a dispute. Sometimes, as among the Zapotec communities of Mexico, friendly peacemakers separate those who are about to fight.

Among native Hawaiian families, mediation procedures called “ho’oponopono” are still practiced up to the present day. Among the Canadian Inuit there is a cultural habit of avoiding aggressive behavior, especially when it can lead to an erosion of family and communal ties. These examples are among dozens around the world that Fry uses to illustrate his theme. Humans, he writes, are “group-living, social beings, connected to each other in webs of social relationships. … An over-emphasis on violence obscures how humans manage to live peacefully together most of the time.”

According to the archaeological record earliest man is 5 million to 6 million years old while “modern homo sapiens” are 50,000 years old. It was not until the beginnings of agriculture 10,000 years ago and the formation of city states that we begin to see a “frequency and intensification of war … exacerbated by population pressure or environmental change.”

From this period we have numerous examples of warfare although, when the long history of man’s occupation of the planet is taken into consideration, human societies have been free of warfare 99 percent of the time. The assumption that humans are predisposed to war is erroneous according to Fry and the belief that “warfare is intrinsic to human nature should be discarded as untenable and unsustainable in the archaeological record.”

Fry insists that “as an institution war is already obsolete…” because “it does little or nothing to protect people from the very real threats of global environmental degradation, human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation, and terrorism … and the waging of war even contributes to these problems.”

In the larger context nations will continue their warlike behavior until the underlying causes are addressed. When we realize that war seldom if ever brings peace, but rather provokes more violence and aggression, then we can also break from the false belief that aggression and war are inherent in human nature and we are more able to achieve some insight into the underlying justifications used in provoking war.

Some of the above issues will be addressed starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, July 15, at a peace conference at the University of Maine in Orono. Speakers include Terry Tempest Williams, a well-known environmental activist, naturalist and writer whose most recent book is “The Open Space of Democracy.” Following her talk, six panels will take place simultaneously on a variety of topics including poetry and writing, permaculture, artists on peace, and organic farming. Please check the peace studies Web site at: http://www.umaine.edu/peace/ and click on “events.”

Hugh Curran of Surry teaches in the Peace Studies Program at the University of Maine.