Conventional or non-conventional, justified of not, war causes disproportionate harm to the average citizen. Proportionality of interventions in war is no way of sanitizing war and must not be seen as suggesting violence applied in a certain form and level can be justified. Some conventions, e.g., The Geneva Conventions, seek to infuse civility in how war is prosecuted. But what can be proportionate and civil in killing another human being, damaging their property, etc.? If people can negotiate and agree on the need for proportionality when conducting war, they surely can use the same communication mechanisms to address differences without the need for war.

War is more avoidable than not, except that is not the preferred choice for the rich elite. That explains why those who must fight and die in war are intentionally excluded in all decision-making processes in times of conflict, alternatives to nonviolence do not fit the strongman narrative of the elite. To include the average citizen in discussions about war would be inconvenient for the interests of the wealthy elite who thrive on periodic instability and volatility of global systems.

There is the argument that war can be legitimate under specific conditions such as self-defence, protecting human rights, or as a last resort, but the many wars that have been fought or are being fought globally today have proven not to be the last resort, but first option because weaponizing fear works.

Wars, past and present, have proven to be unnecessary and cause serious violation of human rights where vulnerable children, women and the infirm are exposed to the worst forms of abuse. The wars that have been fought and those being fought today have nothing to do with the genuine interests of the average citizen but everything to do with the wealthy elite power interests.

The wealthy elite men declare war, but it is the average youth who must fight and die. We have sufficient evidence to reject the idea that war is ever a solution to human conflict; we argue that there is no objective evidence that whatever is achieved through war cannot be achieved without it. Even those who declare it do not believe in its credibility as a problem solver but only as an avenue to appropriate power and resources after fracturing and weakening the working classes.

Reality is such that war creates and maintains animosity between different communities of the working class who must fight each other to settle scores, not between themselves, but between the wealthy elites. In those wars, they use weapons more expensive than anything they will ever own. Everybody understands that the poor fight not because there is a problem between them but because there is a problem between the elites in their respective societies. At the end of the war the wealthy elite settle their differences, share power and natural resources while the average citizens remain divided, full of hate for each other yet being equally displaced, disenfranchised and marginalised from the main systems and powerless.

Citizens must refuse to be used as tools in violent wars just to settle scores between wealthy elites. Society must set an exceptionally high threshold for war to be even deemed necessary. Many wars are unnecessary and they happen only because standards are too low to stop leaders from declaring them. If the person declaring a war cannot send his son or daughter, that tells the unambiguous story – war is unnecessary.

Often the poor man’s child is called a hero in a body bag on his return from a war while the rich men’s sons and daughters are heroes and heroines who have completed studies in mathematics and philosophy in the best institutions on the land. If the wealthy elite were convinced of the heroic nature of war and that it is the only solution to difference, they would pick up guns and send their children to fight.

Strong advice for the average citizen: war is scarcely justifiable; set the bar high and never fight in any war declared by the wealthy elites unwilling to put their bodies and those of their offspring through it; if the elites will not fight, the average citizen probable has no reason to. Wars are declared by leaders who do not fight in them, leaving ordinary citizens to die for the interests of the elites.

War benefits the rich at the expense of the average citizen; it is a profound human failure that reflects a breakdown in logic, diplomacy and empathy. It causes catastrophic, long-term physical and psychological damage, including high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety, and if not addressed properly, it leaves predisposing conditions for further conflict and war. Beyond immediate casualties, it triggers massive displacement, homelessness, family separation, chronic disease, and severe economic collapse. Trauma, especially in children, can have inter-generational effects on health and development.