There are still more than 30 wars in the world. But this reality is even greater if we take into account low-intensity conflicts, political violence, street clashes, or the repression of those who protest. This is the image that emerges from the “Atlas of World Wars and Conflicts”, a real atlas to understand how much we are still behind on the road to peace and how the search for a truce was in vain even during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, according to Fides News Agency.
The annual volume was presented at a virtual meeting where Raffaele Crocco, president of the 46 ° Parallel Cultural Association and creator of the Atlas project, illustrated “the only Italian volume, updated to 2021, which illustrates the state of health of the planet: an Atlas to understand the dynamics and the reasons for the conflicts currently taking place in the world”.
The volume of 256 pages seeks to answer the questions that often disturb the conscience: what causes a war? When is a state truly at peace, and when is it just not at war? What is the perspective of victims in conflict situations, and what is civil society doing to try to achieve peace? Thanks to the support of the National Association of Civilian War Victims, the Atlas will also be available in English. In English – thanks to the contribution of the Peretti Foundation – the site atlanteguerre.it will be available and it will provide a daily update of the state of conflicts on the planet. Now in its tenth edition, thanks in particular to fundraising and many private partners (including the NGO Intersos), the Atlas of Wars “has satisfied the curiosity of readers for more than ten years”, explains Mr. Crocco. Thanks to its updates, photostories from award-winning reporters, illustrative maps, and famous conflict cards, the Atlas of Wars is chosen by enthusiasts, schools, and associations as a means of understanding the present and as a textbook on the culture of pacifism in Italy and in the world”.
“The message, fundamental to understand and to make understood, is – concludes the director of the Atlas – that building peace does not mean ‘to be good’, but only to be more intelligent”. The Atlas also promotes a photographic competition called “Wars”, which selects the best photographic documentation on wars and conflicts every two years. The choice is not to show blood but the pain that accompanies an evil unfortunately not yet defeated.
