War and displacement - Essay Example

World War II or the “good war” was also not morally a clean war. It resulted in the deaths of 50 million people, maiming millions more. The war was a cover for genocide, systematic destruction of cities and populations, crippling of a very strong economy, development and use of nuclear weapons and above all the trauma that every civilian and soldier had to go through in the post war life. One might think that all the past experience would have caused people to think rationally and avoid wars in the future but that has not been the case and war is prevalent even today, be it the Iran Iraq war or the earlier Russian Cold War.

While claiming for justice, often the war farers overlook the centric point of war- consequentalism. (Wittner, 2003). War has never been a good path to demand justice and in the long run has brought only death and destruction. The immediate impact of war is first on the people of the war faring countries. Then comes the society, the economy and the environment. War takes its toll only emotionally and mentally but also affects indirectly with destruction of property, economy and well being of a society.

Population Displacement Displaced population is referred to people driven away from their homes and countries. They are forcibly displaced from their roots leaving behind their property, trade and extended families. The five main causes to population displacement have been clustered as: 1. Displacement due to war and political turmoil, 2. Displacement due to natural disasters like floods, famine, earthquakes and so on 3. Displacement due to religious, ethnic or racial persecution 4. Displacement due to new infrastructures and new developments and, 5.

Displacement due to disintegration of state structures or borders. Whatever be the reason for population displacement, it has dire consequences. There is massive loss of life and property, destruction of assets and economy (Christensen, 2003).That in turn causes depreciation in the standard of living, unemployment and alienation of masses. Those people who get displaced also face cultural and identity crisis as the new place where they set up their home may not always welcome them. The population displacement causes increase in population in the host country that permits the refugees to come in, thereby increases hostility, unemployment and competition for both the refugees and the inhabitants.

Apart from these, there is tremendous mental, emotional and psychological trauma for the population that got uprooted. Men, women and children, the aged and the elderly, the sick and the handicapped all bear the brunt of such movement. The after effects of war have been portrayed in a unique manner through a documentary by a musician Michael Frantis – I know I am not alone. (Frantis, 2005) The documentary is filmed in war torn Baghdad where the musician meets people from all walks of life like taxi drivers, craftsmen, nurses, musicians, writers who all share the same grief and feeling of torment.

It shows Iraq today, with no water, no security and safety, entire city is run on generators as there is no electricity. The loss of lives has been tremendous but sadly that has not been highlighted in any of the news channels or political forums. The city has been shredded to bits, with people made refugees, economy in tatters and no hope of rebuilding the country. The film involves real people and shows how war has affected