How dare they?

Here we go again. War in Europe! How is it possible in the 21st century that a handful of men unleash a whole military machine with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, tanks, and rockets on another country, have hundreds of thousands of people killed or wounded, millions driven from their homes – and may even get away with it unpunished?

We, the overwhelming majority of people in the world, do not want war. Neither in our own country, nor anywhere else.

Sadly, nobody asked us.

It does not matter whether you live in a dictatorship or in a democracy: Once our leaders are in power, they can do essentially whatever they want. And we, the people, are never asked, whether we want that war. Nowhere. For even if you live in a democratic country, did you ever see on your ballot a question about going to war? Did any party ever have it in their program?

The Veto War campaign wants to change this.

We request that when the government of a country decides to send out military for armed action abroad, the people in said country shall have the right to a referendum that determines whether they agree with that decision. The barrier for requesting a referendum must be established reasonably low, and if it takes place, the military action is allowed only if a majority of voters approve it.

As simple as that.

Central goal of Veto War is an international treaty that requires all signers to make that procedure national law. As a first step we aim at collecting 1 billion signatures worldwide for a petition to the United Nations’ General Assembly to pass a Resolution that urges all member states of the United Nations to negotiate and establish such an international treaty.

For wars are too important to let a handful politicians decide: the lives of thousands, sometimes millions of people are at stake, not to talk about all the destruction, grief, and desolation.

While we are not naive enough to think that all war will disappear from the surface of our Earth with this, there is hope that this little change will make the world a bit more peaceful and lets humanity focus together on other urgent issues. If even a single war is avoided, it will have been worth the effort – and you, who signed the petition, will have written World history!