The Ideology of Perpetual Warfare… The Founding Myths of Illusion
Ideological propaganda that justifies wars is often grounded in narratives that legitimize violence
By Kamel Dhib,
Columnist
MANAMA: Anyone who follows the ideological propaganda that justifies wars, aggression, systematic killing, and the forceful seizure of others’ lands will discover that most of it is grounded in narratives that both establish and legitimize violence and transgression.
Although these narratives may differ in their historical origins, they converge in outlook, implications, and outcomes. History tells us of relentless wars, campaigns, purges, fighting, and jihads, all based on such narratives and accounts, often built upon myths that construct illusions and contradict both reason and historical fact. Among the most important foundations upon which these ongoing conflicts are built are:
The slogan of “holy wars,” used to mobilize the masses and secure the loyalty of fighters unto death, while preventing any opportunity for lasting peace based on justice and coexistence. This requires the creation of an absolute enemy, without whom existence itself becomes synonymous with nothingness.
If such an external enemy does not exist, an internal enemy is “created”, even from within the same group, through the “invention” of narratives and myths that justify war. Thus, the ideology of perpetual warfare becomes an existential cause, where the other is seen as a “demon” and pure evil, making any political settlement with them tantamount to a betrayal of the sacred.
Second: The construction of a central myth or illusion. Wars feed on imagined fears and fabricated myths that are deeply embedded in the collective consciousness, portraying conflict as an inevitable fate from which there is no escape, and reducing any talk of peace to mere nonsense.
Third: The invocation of past conflicts and their projection onto the present, making the present appear as a repetition of the past. This obstructs any opportunity for peace, coexistence, and the stability necessary for prosperity.
Fourth: Reliance on the idea of the “end of the world,” where fighting is not seen as a means to achieve worldly objectives, but rather as a sacred duty, believed to pave the way for the end times or the “battles of salvation” that precede the fulfillment of prophecies. This reinforces the inevitability of war as a means of hastening salvation, turning “perpetual warfare” into a strategy of “spiritual survival before military survival.”
These narratives, relied upon by such powers and their followers around the world, frame conflict within an ideological reference point, transforming political conflict into religious conflict by employing and invoking religious texts or accounts to legitimize confrontations and present them as divine commands, as part of a cosmic epic between the forces of good and evil.
Within such a perspective, coexistence and peace become impossible.
