"Earlier in the heroic sagas there were at least two equally strong opponents facing each other. Today though, the murdering is mostly done by pressing a button and by machines. Death and murder have become more anonymous. In Iraq the enemy was first of all disarmed before one was allowed to play at war with him. 'It is as if you suggest a race to someone but beforehand break his legs and to boot laugh at him for being unable to walk,' says Arundhati Roy pointedly.

"If we want to end war then this is the start of a long journey where we begin to recognise and see through our own concepts of who is the enemy. As long as we look for the enemy externally and are not ready to recognise him within ourselves there will be no exit to this dead end street. As long as we are not willing to recognise the human being behind every enemy there will be no peace.

"However, at the same time we, too, have to be willing to inform ourselves about the present background of the globalisation of violence. As long as we are not willing to see through the system and to get out of it, self-change will be of no use, since we remain a part of the system.

"Evil will exist for as long as we are willing to project our views onto governments and as long as we partake in a system that does not correspond to our true humanity and to our deep longing for true human love.

"Recover your humanity and connect with the source of life and love. Stop accusing the systems which have to account for this insanity, but begin with the construction of new human systems which can create a true way out of the endless chain of violence."