Aviation Day – 103 years Barbarisation Of The Air

Aviation Day is a day to celebrate the development of aviation. Aviation Day falls on and commemorates the birthday of Orville Wright (* August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948). He and his brother Wilbur invented and built the world’s first successful airplane. They managed the first heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. The American brothers developed their flying machine into the first practical fixed-wing aircraft (From 1905 to 1907).

Before 1911, the Peace Movement hoped that this would be a big chance for peaceful communication. And  a moratorium of big powers for the application of aviation in military affairs was fixed. An Italian lieutenant and pilot, in the Italo-Turkish War was the first person to make an aerial bombardment. On the 1^st of November 1911, he flew his early model Etrich Taube monoplane against Ottoman military in Libya. This airplane was produced in Wiener Neustadt Austria. He took four grenades to a leather pouch, each the size of a grapefruit and weighing approximately four pounds. Flying at an altitude of 600 feet, he screwed in the detonators and tossed each missile over the side of the aircraft. Three hit the Tagiura (Jagiura) Oasis, and one more the military camp at Ain Zara. Altough Gavotti’s scheme injured no one, Alfred H. Fried and Bertha von Suttner the Austrian peace Nobel laureates, understood immediately that this was a turning point in human history.

1912; Suttner had written an essay „Die Barbarisierung der Luft“ (The Barbararisation Of The Air; La barbarisation de l’air) that was published in the Friedenswarte. She showed all the consequences of militarisation of the air combined with excessive armaments. Hiroshima and Nagasaki, murdering hundreds of thousands of civilians since 1945 etc. Suttner ended with a flaming appeal for keeping the sky free from warfare.

I think this is a good day to end barbarisation of the air and to

• use the potential of aviation for peace and worldwide reconciliation?
• Take a flight for peace in a solarplane
• be careful even Hitler had a peace concept (Pax Germania) and it is not always peace by peaceful means they try to sell in air shows.
• Travel to the 20 countries best ranked in the Global Peace Index 2014 – but read before carefully about what it measures and keep in mind flying is normally not very good for the environment
  

Global Peace Index 2014

Criticism and response

The Economist, in publishing the index, admitted that, „the index will run into some flak.“ Specifically, according to The Economist, the weighting of military expenditure „may seem to give heart to freeloaders: countries that enjoy peace precisely because others (often the USA) care for their defense.“ The true utility of the index may lie not in its specific rankings of countries now, but in how those rankings change over time, thus tracking when and how countries become more or less peaceful.^[14]

The Peace Index has been criticised for not including indicators specifically relating to violence against women and children. Riane Eisler, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, argued that, „to put it mildly, this blind spot makes the index very inaccurate.“^{[citation needed]} She mentions a number of specific cases, including Egypt, where she claims 90% of women are subject to genital mutilation and China, where, she says, „female infanticide is still a problem,“ according to a 2000 UNICEF study.^[15]

The ‚Peace Index‘ has widely been criticised for not reflecting the fact that the USA is the most aggressive invader on the planet, and not a ‚peaceful country‘ at all.^{[citation needed]} This is largely because of a misunderstanding of what the index measures, which is how physically dangerous it is to live in the country. As is noted ‚According to the Global Peace Index, Iraq is the second most dangerous country in the world (after Somalia).‘ by this comment in the context of this article explaining why the USA is not counted as the least peaceful country. ^[16]

The Index has been widely recognized. Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University said: „The GPI continues its pioneering work in drawing the world’s attention to the massive resources we are squandering in violence and conflict. The lives and money wasted in wars, incarcerations, weapons systems, weapons trade, and more, could be directed to ending poverty, promoting education, and protecting the environment. The GPI will not only draw attention to these crucial issues, but help us understand them and to invest productively in a more peaceful world.“^[17]

The Index has received endorsements as a political project from a number of major international figures, including the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, former President of Finland and 2008 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari, the Dalai Lama, archbishop Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Yunus, and former United States President Jimmy Carter.^[18] Steve Killelea, the Australian philanthropist who conceived the idea of the Index, argues that the Index „is a wake-up call for leaders around the globe.“^[19]

1	Iceland	1.189
2	Denmark	1.193
3	Austria	1.200
4	New Zealand	1.236
5	Switzerland	1.258
6	Finland	1.297
7	Canada	1.306
8	Japan	1.316
9	Belgium	1.354
10	Norway	1.371
11	Czech Republic	1.381
11	Sweden	1.381
13	Ireland	1.384
14	Slovenia	1.398
15	Australia	1.414
16	Bhutan	1.422
17	Germany	1.423
18	Portugal	1.425
19	Slovakia	1.467
20	Netherlands	1.475

Link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Peace_Index#Criticism_and_response