REMARC against the war

Every war is not only an unacceptable crime against those who suffer it, but also a crime against the whole of humanity, present and future as it leads to the dramatic destruction of resources and energy that could instead alleviate the suffering of the many inhabitants of the planet and of the future generations.

This is the thought that the well-known economist Nicholas Georgescu Roegen expressed 50 years ago and that today REMARC intends to revive to condemn the military aggression in Ukraine.

As a first point of his manifesto for a less unsustainable world, the “minimal bioeconomic program”, Georgescu Roegen wrote:

“The  production of all instruments of war, not only of war itself, should be prohibited completely. It is utterly absurd (and also hypocritical) to continue growing tobacco if, avowedly, no one intends to smoke. The nations which are so developed as to be the main producers of armaments should be able to reach a consensus over this prohibition without any difficulty if, as they claim, they also possess the wisdom to lead mankind. Discontinuing the production of all instruments of war will not only do away at least with the mass killings by ingenious weapons but will also release some tremendous productive forces for international aid without lowering the standard of living in the corresponding countries.” (Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1975). Energy and economic myths. Southern Economic Journal, 347-381).

At REMARC we think that, especially after two years of a still ongoing catastrophic pandemic,  it is now urgent to work cooperatively to defend the planet from the environmental and climate change catastrophes. And it is irresponsible for political leaders and countries to invest resources and efforts in arms, wars and military actions.