“Peace needs a verb,” argues former Army Captain and West Point grad Paul Chappell, who left active duty two years ago to begin lecturing internationally on how to “wage” peace in his role for the Santa Barbara-based Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. “We need to study war to end war, like doctors study diseases and illnesses in order to cure them.”
To date, the Santa Barbara resident has penned three books — Peaceful Revolution, The End of War, and Will War Ever End?, with a fourth on the way — has been endorsed by Bishop Desmond Tutu, is the subject of a documentary, and teaches workshops on waging peace across the country, including a seven day intensive each summer in Santa Barbara. He recently answered a few of The Independent‘s questions.
The history of our species seems defined by conflict. How do we rise above that apparently inherent battle for resources to achieve a lasting peace?