Schoolyard lessons apply in war zone

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/05/2022 (914 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AS I watch the war in Ukraine, I am experiencing disturbing flashbacks to my early teaching career in junior and senior high schools.

The familiar images of playground and street fights between adolescent boys replay over again in my mind, eerily reflected in what I see happening in the war. Increasingly today, I am jolted by the feeble justifications for the conflict and its brutality, the obvious imbalance of strength between the combatants, the impassionate role of onlookers and bystanders, and the urgent need for immediate adult intervention.

Like most street fights, there is a huge odds discrepancy between Russia as the antagonist and Ukraine as the target and victim of the violence. Ukraine, outweighed and outnumbered, would never have initiated the fight. In echoes from the Second World War, we can safely say Ukraine did not invade Russia, just as Poland did not invade Germany.

The initial justification for the war was given as the supposed “de-Nazification” of Ukraine, ironically a country with a Jewish president. Next came the rationale that Ukraine’s ostensibly imminent entry into NATO would threaten Russian security; highly unlikely, as NATO was established for defence, not offence.

It’s like the bully in a street fight claiming the victim needs to be beaten up because he was about to steal his girlfriend, or to ensure the victim or his friends don’t hurt the perpetrator. As in the street fight, none of the reasons given stand up to the scrutiny of logic or probable reality, and neither do the threats and insults that led up to the conflict.

Further, even when the victim is down, the pummelling continues, as seen in the images of Mariupol, Bucha and other communities, as if to remove the possibility that anyone will ever resist or fight back again. It seems that as the target gets weaker, the violence escalates to emphasize the utter dominance of the victor and total humiliation of the victim.

This even extends to the level of planting mines and booby-trapping the dead so the threat remains when the perpetrator has departed. When absolute domination is the end, no means are off the table.

Ultimately more irrational is that Russia should act offended and wronged if Ukraine resists and defends itself using weapons supplied by others, or if Putin is called a war criminal. And like the playground bully, Putin insults and threatens those imposing sanctions or otherwise disputing Russia’s rights to its unwarranted aggressions, even to the point of implying the use of nuclear weapons.

And like the bully, Putin has no regard for his own people, arresting those who question him, punishing those who don’t meet his demands and compromising the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Russian citizens.

Then there is the matter of unwritten rules of non-intervention in street fights, which also applies here: “Let the two combatants (in spite of their being totally unmatched) finish it between the two of them,” or “We can’t be drawn into this because it will only make matters worse.”

Onlookers and witnesses must not use such terms as war criminal, genocide or regime change, for fear of escalation and offence, supposedly pre-empting the legal processes for justice.

Ineffective rules are actually written into the laws of war, as if there is any possibility that they will carry any weight with the Russian army’s regime of cruelty — laws against the targeting of civilians, medics, hospitals and schools; laws against the maltreatment of prisoners; laws against the use of chemical weapons and land mines, to go along with laws outlawing rape, torture and looting. They have not served the people of Ukraine particularly well.

It is obvious UN and NATO members’ early diplomatic attempts and sanctions have failed to end Russia’s aggression or its escalation of destruction. It is equally clear that humanitarian aid is not a sufficient response to the inhumanity and brutality the world is witnessing.

It is hard to watch the brutal destruction of lives continuing unabated because those who could intervene more directly and forcefully are reluctant to do so for their own economic or political reasons.

In school I learned that responsible adults needed to step in without hesitation to end adolescent male aggression and violence, for the sake of both parties and schools. I think there is ample evidence to show that is what is needed now in Ukraine.

If the UN cannot put a stop to this war, NATO must — for the sake of both Ukrainians and Russians, and the world.

John R. Wiens is dean emeritus at the faculty of education, University of Manitoba. A lifelong educator, he has served as a teacher, counsellor, work education co-ordinator, principal, school superintendent and university professor.