Switching on my laptop and logging onto the local press websites for fresh news whilst being 12,000 km away, has become a trivial routine thanks to technological progress. Yet there was a time when news did not travel this fast. For instance, French settlers on Isle de France got reports of the French revolution months after ?la prise de la Bastille?? While we either expect or accept changes made possible by technology and science, we have the paradoxical propensity to classify violence as an unavoidable fact of society.

How often have we not come across such reflections as: ?Violence has always existed? or ?Violence has the upper hand on non violence, were not many non-violent apostles killed for their cause??.

Those sceptics might be right in some respects but can we imagine what our world would have been without such non-violent promoters as Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Rabin?

Such an attitude towards violence does not help in addressing the issue effectively simply because ultimately, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can. It?s all in the state of mind!

Moreover, when this loser attitude conjugates with alcohol, the adverse result only but increases tenfold. Alcohol intake often lurks behind antisocial behaviour, simply because it is a depressant, which decreases our inhibitions. Hence, if we are uninhibited to the point of obeying our most basic instincts without any constraints, we are transformed into creatures even more dangerous than untamed animals.

Regrets often come but too late, when we recover our sobriety. The undone faces of criminals who have crossed the ultimate line with the help of foe made friend in misdeeds, speak volumes. Pictures of them only but too often besiege the media .The latest being this jilted fiancé who, fuelled by jealousy and? alcohol, is suspected to have slit the throat of his beloved. If found guilty, he would serve a prison sentence while alcohol will still be free to hit again and again.

No prohibition

The solution does not lie in prohibition but in education. People have to be made aware that, although they have always existed, alcohol and violence are neither vital nor unavoidable components of society. They should be made aware of the dangers of alcohol abuse as early as possible, from primary school, for instance. In this respect, it would be desirable if greater vigilance be exerted on the sale of alcohol to children.

We should also be responsible hosts who exert control on the service of alcoholic drinks, knowing that violent road traffic accidents are another scourge of alcohol abuse.

Why should we accept to fail in living peacefully because of sickly cocktails of alcohol and violence? It might well start with a winning mentality towards those enemies, which are not meant to live eternally.

Alain JEANNOT