Why True Peace Requires Absolute Freedom 

The Great Deception: Why True Peace Requires Absolute Freedom

In the modern world, we are often told to prioritize “peace and stability” above all else. However, Kwame Ture, the revolutionary leader formerly known as Stokely Carmichael left us with a profound truth that cuts through this rhetoric: “You can’t separate peace from freedom, because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”

​This wasn’t just a clever turn of phrase; it was a diagnostic tool for identifying the difference between genuine harmony and forced submission.

​The Illusion of Calm

​History is filled with instances where “peace” was sold as a virtue to the very people being oppressed. We are taught to equate the absence of conflict with the presence of peace. But as Ture understood, what we often mistake for peace is actually exhaustion. When a community stops fighting back because they are tired, or remains silent because they are terrified, that isn’t peace, it is a temporary truce maintained by power.

Leaders and systems often celebrate “order” when what they really mean is silence. True peace is not the absence of noise; it is the presence of justice.

​A Global Pattern of Control

​From the era of direct colonial rule across the African continent to the struggle for civil rights in the West, the demand for “peace” has been used as a weapon.

• ​Colonizers demanded calm while they systematically extracted resources and labor.

• ​Dictators demanded national unity as a cover for crushing dissent and individual liberty.

• ​Global Empires preached stability while enforcing deep-seated inequality.

​In every case, the message was the same: “Stay quiet and accept your lot.” But Ture’s logic reveals the lie. Freedom is the soil in which peace grows. If the soil is poisoned by injustice, no amount of enforced “calm” will ever produce a lasting peace.

Why Freedom Must Come First

When freedom is absent, peace is simply a pause between inevitable struggles. A person who is denied their dignity, their rights, or their land cannot be at peace because their very existence is under threat. True peace is inherently “noisy” because it requires the disruption of systems that benefit from the status quo.

​It is only after freedom is secured that reconciliation and healing can truly begin. Anything less is just a coat of paint over a crumbling foundation.

The Mirror for Today

​Kwame Ture’s words serve as a mirror for our current global climate. When we hear calls for “peace” in response to social movements or political unrest today, we must ask the difficult questions:

• ​Peace for whom? 2. Does this peace require someone to stay silent under oppression?

• ​Is this a call for justice, or a call for convenience?

​Until freedom is a universal reality, “peace” remains a goal to be fought for, rather than a gift to be accepted.