DIETER DUHM: FUTURE WITHOUT WAR A book review by Monika Berghoff Is there a foreseeable future on Earth free of war? Will the day come soon when rivers flow in their natural beds again; when animals will be freed from their cages forever; and all the children of this world will have enough to eat and a sense of belonging? In the face of the violence which is daily inflicted on this planet upon human beings, animals and nature these questions seem absurd, naïve almost beyond human reason. Nevertheless, they are the crucial questions of our time and from the answers we find to them our future and the further evolution of life on Earth depends. Under the direction of Dieter Duhm, born 1942 in Berlin, sociologist, psychoanalyst, former Marxist and one of the leading heads of the '68-Student Movement in Germany a group of European researchers is working in this field. For 28 years these questions are the main focus of their research. They have developed a planetary idea, whose realization could create a fundamental shift in the direction of peace on Earth. In his book “Future Without War” Dieter Duhm outlines this global peace strategy. It is based on the idea of modern natural science that the building component of mater is not the atom, instead it is energy, frequency, information. Earth with its atmosphere and magnetic field, with its waters and landscapes, its creatures, biotopes and human societies is an integral, oscillating and living body that can be healed, just as a human body can be healed if the appropriate medicine, i.e. the appropriate information is administered. The healing information is wanted most at the points where new wars are created daily: in the cohabitation of human beings. In this area far reaching change is necessary. Words and appeals alone are not enough. The peace information needed will emerge from social structures whose ethical basic values of compassion, trust, mutual support and solidarity are no longer being destroyed, but rather, they are being generated and maintained. Places are needed where the conditions for peaceful co-habitation are researched and put into practice. Dieter Duhm calls them “Healing Biotopes”. These act rather like acupuncture points to foster a new future in the body of Earth. The book explains why worldwide only a few such centres will be sufficient to tip over the “information field” of violence. It is not the first time this possibility is seen. David Bohm, a quantum physicist, had too mentioned it, so did spiritual masters, such as Sri Aurobindo (India), Satprem (his deciple) or Dhyani Iwahoo (Leader of the Tsalagi, USA), or Teilhard de Chardin. Together these few centres will create the microscopically small change which may and will have a large effect on the “Whole”. Dieter Duhm: “Decisive for the success of such peace projects is not how big and strong they are in comparison to the existing apparatuses but how comprehensive and complex they are, how many elements of life they are able to combine and to unite in a positive way. In the field buildings of evolution it is not the law of the strongest, but the success of the more comprehensive that counts. No new developments would otherwise have been able to assert themselves had they not all begun small and inconspicuous.” The development of the first such centre began in 1995 in Portugal. Today approximately 150 people are engaged there in the development of a life form which is to be free of fear, lies and violence. Further initiatives in this direction have started in Israel/Palestine and Colombia. Some statements about the book: Dieter Duhm has been working a lifetime on digging so deep into our present culture as to find the roots of war and domination: in the suppression of the feminine. This book gives all of us hope that it will be possible to have a future without war – and it shows us how to create it. Hildur Jackson (Global Ecovillage Network (GEN, Denmark) “This book ist a powerful formula for achieving peace by peaceful methods. For us who live under occupation in Palestine, working towards the realization of such a perspective provides an answer not only to how to end the occupation but also to how to prevent future conflicts once the occupation ends.” Sami Awad (Director of the Holy Land Trust, Trainer for Non-Violence, Bethlehem, Palestine) “The vision presented here is not only described in a vivid way, it is also well-founded in scientific terms. As someone who was actively involved in the kibbutz and peace movement since the foundation of the state of Israel, I can only say: may this Utopia blossom in the heart of many people.” Reuven Moskovitz (Author, Historian, Israel) “This is an outstanding book that every peacemaker must read!” Arun Ghandi (Institute of Nonviolence, USA, grandson of Mahatma Ghandi) (German Original: Zukunft ohne Krieg) ISBN 978-3-927266-24-7 Translated from the German by Sten Linnander and Frieda Radford Paperback, 120 p. 12,80 €, 16,80 US-$, £ 8,80 Zusatztext