America Must Abolish the GOP. You Can Help.
A Comprehensive Guide to Dissolve the Republican Party
By Matthew R. Bishop — February 14th, 2021
Fellow Americans,
On January 6th, 2021, an armed mob invaded and sacked the United States Capitol, seeking to execute members of the United States Congress in order to overturn the results of an election and install Donald Trump as an unelected dictator against the explicit consent of the governed.
This was an attempted coup against the United States itself, with targets on both sides of the partisan divide. Pro-Trump terrorists set bombs in both the Democratic and Republican chambers as they searched for leading politicians of both parties to assassinate. Donald Trump, watching live from a television in the White House, cheered the terrorists on and hoped for their victory against the United States.
In the aftermath of the failed coup, America had a brief opportunity for our nation to come together, to condemn political violence, and to distance our nation from this anti-American insurgency. This was America’s final opportunity to pull itself back from the brink of violent extremism. Now, we have crossed beyond that point. Instead of doing this, nearly the entire Republican Party decided instead to defend the anti-American insurgency and to cover up for the man primarily responsible for the most notorious terrorist attack against the United States since 9/11: Donald Trump.
In doing so, these Republicans have betrayed their oaths of office, but more importantly they have betrayed the nation they swore to defend and protect. More worryingly, their continued enthusiasm and support for the insurrectionist movement and for the conspiracies behind it indicates future plans to escalate violence and leverage the threat of terrorism for future political gains.
Republicans today should be considered hostile enemies of the United States of America. They have conspired in sedition, insurrection, and terrorism against America. The core of the Republican Party is rotten beyond redemption. It is now a domestic enemy of the United States, and as such it cannot continue to coexist with our nation.
The Republican Party must be dissolved. It must cease to exist entirely. It cannot be redeemed, saved, justified, reformed, or excused. Republican Senators and Representatives should be viewed as criminals, pariahs and public enemies — and treated as such by all Americans nationwide.
That a major political party has conspired in an act of terrorism against the United States is unforgiveable. That the bosses of that party would then continue to provide legal cover for the chief terrorist himself after a deadly attack against their own colleagues in Congress is sociopathic and perverted. This is a party that has overwhelmingly embraced insurrection, sedition, terrorism, and armed insurgency tactics against the United States. This is a party which attempted — time and time again — to tear down our republic and replace it with an unelected dictatorship, never once with the consent of the governed.
The GOP represents an immediate threat to American national security. The entire party must end, and its leaders must face punishing criminal prosecution at all levels of government wherever applicable. The Republican Party will not just go the way of the Whigs. They will go the way of the Nazis. They will be a source of shame, humiliation, outrage and disgust for generations of future Americans and for all people who yearn for democracy around the world. One day, no one will admit that they were ever a Republican. But Americans have a lot of hard work to do before history reaches that point. The burden of that hard work is ours alone to bear. History will not write itself.
The Republican Party will not dissolve willingly. It has already devolved into a vicious anti-democracy cult which rules through oppression, conspiracies, propaganda, gerrymandering, voter suppression, violence and terrorism. Its grip on power in some parts of the country is as firm as any other dictatorship around the world — and it does operate as a dictatorship, continuing to accept direct orders from Donald Trump himself even as I write today. It will never reform itself, self-regulate or self-correct. Instead, we must dissolve and abolish it by force from the outside.
I should not need to say this, but we must accomplish all of this without resorting to any form of violence — to do otherwise places our Union in further jeopardy.
In doing so, all of free civil society — that is, all elements of American society which believe in the concept of democracy, from the fiery democratic socialist to the stoic Lincoln conservative — must cooperate and work together in order to defend our country from this threat. Americans across the ideological spectrum must put aside their different views and unite behind their shared belief in democracy itself as a vital matter of American self-preservation.
We must undertake this momentous shift in our nation’s history in order to make violence wrong again, to repel the politics of aspiring dictators, to douse the flames of dangerous conspiracy theories, and to keep politics safe for every American. Our country needs us, and we must respond.
It is not an easy or simple thing to abolish a powerful political party from the outside. Unfortunately, that is what we must do in order to guarantee the safety, security, and survival not only of the American state, but of the American people themselves. The GOP has allied itself with anti-American insurrectionists and has embraced violent extremism. The party continues to promote a myriad of conspiracy theories and the MAGA brand itself even after the failed coup and the trial in the Senate.
Even now, aspiring young politicians around the United States are pledging their fealty to Donald Trump and MAGA, seeking to capitalize on the violence and extremism it has unleashed. Senator Graham himself endorsed Trump’s own immediate family members as “the future of the GOP” only hours before this article was published — one day after he voted to acquit Donald Trump for mounting a deadly coup against the United States.
Republicans will continue to leverage this movement in order to gain more power in the future and to commit more violence against our nation until America no longer exists — unless we stop them now.
Here is what we can do:
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I: Corporate Sanctions
II: Consumer and Employee Boycotts
III: Legal Sanctions and Boycotts
IV: Government Sanctions, International Sanctions, and Law Enforcement
V: Political Organizing and Advice for Ideological Conservatives
VI: Full Recommendations for Journalists, Media Executives, Writers and Bloggers
VII: Final Recommendations for All Americans
I: CORPORATE SANCTIONS
Business leaders must sanction all seditionists and sympathetic pro-Trump Republicans at both the state and federal level. The full list of 147 Congressional Republicans who continued to defend Donald Trump even after the terrorist attack against the US Capitol must be ostracized from commercial society and completely sanctioned as enemies of the United States. Any business which sympathizes with, finances, or seeks to protect any seditionist politician should be boycotted by the larger business economy as a whole.
No vendor, contractor, company or organization should accept any work or relationship with any company, organization, etc. which continues to sponsor pro-Trump or other seditionist politicians.
Banks should sanction all pro-Trump seditionist Congresspeople as domestic enemies of the United States, and where possible should freeze all of their assets, close their accounts, and refuse to do business with them or their affiliates, in compliance with all state and federal laws.
Any remaining bank or business which continues to cooperate with or provide shelter for any pro-Trump seditionist politician at the state or federal level should become the subject of a federal criminal investigation. Federal prosecutors should investigate these banks and businesses as financial sponsors of terrorism and enemies of the United States.
Advertisers and marketing firms should boycott right-wing propaganda or “news” outlets that have laid the groundwork for armed insurrection against the United States of America by peddling false conspiracy theories about the 2020 elections. This includes Fox News and other right-wing propaganda outlets. All news and media networks guilty of this behavior must be fully ostracized from commercial society. No advertiser should work with them in any capacity.
No company, group, committee, individual, or other entity, formal or otherwise, should continue to finance the current or future campaigns or budgets of any of the 147 US Republican insurrectionists who continued to support Donald Trump after repeated coup attempts to overthrow the results of the US election. Any such organization, lobbyist, person, or other entity which continues to provide funding to any seditionist Congressperson must be the subject of a federal criminal investigation on suspicion of felony offenses, namely financing, aiding and abetting sedition, terrorism, and/or insurrection against the United States.
II: CONSUMER AND EMPLOYEE BOYCOTTS
Customers should avoid pro-Trump or other seditionist businesses at all costs, even in markets where no competitors exist. Consumers should do their research to determine which companies, groups or businesses sponsor or contribute towards seditionist politicians at both the state and federal level. Avoid all of these companies and help organize nationwide boycotts against them, but be sure to check for updates. New major companies are joining the anti-GOP boycott and sanctions regime every day.
Customers should, at the same time, make sure to express gratitude towards companies which firmly and unconditionally oppose seditionist politicians — especially if those companies actively participate in the above recommendations to help abolish the GOP, while continuing donations or support for liberal, centrist or anti-Republican conservative campaigns.
Consumer watchdogs should organize consumer networks and work to distribute lists of all such companies to as broad a network as possible. OpenSecrets.org can help you get an early start on this. Differentiate clearly between companies which pause all donations to both parties and those which suspend GOP donations only — while both of these are good, the latter is far superior to the former.
Employees should organize and carry out mass resignation campaigns to strip seditionist businesses — that is, any business that is in any way affiliated or associated with pro-Trump politicians — of all labor, profit and productivity. These campaigns should be designed to torpedo the entire company and force it into bankruptcy. If you belong to any union, be sure to convince your union to support you in this. Employees should take it upon themselves to publicize these mass resignation campaigns in local, state, and national news media outlets, as well as share their stories on social media. They should draft clear statements outlining their dissent against the company based on core American values.
III: LEGAL SANCTIONS AND BOYCOTTS
No lawyer or legal representative should agree to represent any company, politician or individual associated with terrorism, conspiracy, sedition, or insurrection against the United States, in any lawsuit or legal process whatsoever. This includes all pro-Trump politicians at the state and federal level as well as all pro-Trump donors, PACs, and affiliated organizations, commercial or otherwise.
Courts and judges should immediately seek to disbar any lawyer who presents false arguments or pretenses in the court of law as part of an effort to advance or validate seditionist or insurrectionist propaganda, including false election conspiracies, or any other false conspiracy which poses a clear and present danger to democracy, including fringe conspiracies like QAnon and “Jewish Space Lasers”. All such lawyers should be disbarred, and should additionally face maximum legal punishment, up to and including criminal prosecution against the disbarred lawyer.
IV: GOVERNMENT SANCTIONS, INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS, AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
All elected officials and government officials who have promoted or defended any of Donald Trump’s attempted coups or insurrections since November of 2020 must be the subject of a federal criminal investigation on charges up to and including sedition, treason, terrorism, insurrection, and criminal conspiracy against the United States of America. This includes Donald Trump himself, all 147 seditious US Congresspeople, all seditionist legislators in all 50 US States, and all of their allies, contributors, and campaign financiers at the state and federal level.
Terrorism — legally, the use of violence against civilian targets to achieve political goals — can be correctly applied to all individuals who committed acts of violence inside the US Capitol on January 6th. Financiers of the January 6th Capitol Insurrection should be prosecuted as sponsors of terrorism against the United States. Any organization, individual, private company, or political group defending, organizing, financing, or promoting any of the individuals who stormed the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021, in any formal or informal political manner, should be charged with aiding, abetting, or financing terrorism or conspiracy against the United States.
Federal law enforcement should focus resources on high-profile arrests and prosecutions against powerful members of state legislatures and even the United States Congress where applicable, in addition to high-profile cases against company CEOs, media executives, and political organizers. Financial sponsors of violent movements, groups and campaigns should be pursued zealously. While it is important to hold all low-level actors criminally accountable, it is substantially more important to enforce consequences against the instigators of this coup who think that they are above the law. They are not, and it’s your job to prove it to the world.
International allies should consider targeted sanctions against pro-Trump politicians, especially the 147 seditionist Senators and Representatives in the United States Congress itself. Allies cannot shy away from our shared responsibility to defend democracy around the globe. When democracy is threatened in the United States itself, it is more important than ever before for key international allies to speak out and condemn anti-democratic forces — not only in statements, but in action, with punishing international sanctions programs and the freezing or seizure of international assets owned by seditionist US politicians.
V: POLITICAL ORGANIZING AND ADVICE FOR IDEOLOGICAL CONSERVATIVES
Every political citizen must take direct and immediate efforts to determine which of their local, state, and federal elected officials supported Donald Trump’s false elections claims and his efforts to overturn the election since November of 2020. Furthermore, each citizen should take care to identify current and new candidates running on pro-Trump or “America First” platforms. Every single one of these individuals, at every level of government, must be comprehensively expelled from American politics and ostracized from American society at large. Vote in every single election that you can.
Qualified Citizens should furthermore identify challengers who inhabit moderate, non-violent political spaces and who are campaigning on anti-seditionist, anti-Trump sentiments, whether on the left or right, and offer to help those challengers any way that they can, until every last seat is flipped. Citizens can do this either by volunteering for left-leaning platforms, or by volunteering for new center-right candidates/coalitions running in opposition to the Republican Party. Tell all of your friends and family how important it is to win these contests.
Qualified citizens should consider running for office where they are eligible to oust seditionists from politics and in the absence of any clear candidate already in a superior position to do so. If there are no challengers, challenge them yourself. Do not be afraid to take up the responsibilities that our nation’s leaders have betrayed. You will almost certainly do a better job than they did.
If you want to run, find out when the seats you’re eligible for are up for re-election. Begin fundraising, testing the waters, researching, networking, and assembling your coalition today. Do not wait.
Every experienced campaign worker or political staffer should immediately identify the most promising opportunities to flip seats against seditionists and insurgents and reclaim these seats for the United States. A handful of Republicans will campaign as anti-seditionists, but for the most part, we will need to challenge every single Republican candidate in every single election. This is a national security crisis. Do not surrender a single political race anywhere in the United States.
Ideological Conservatives have a unique and exciting role to play: You get to help shape the next generation of American conservative politics, and be an original part of what comes after the Republican Party. Conservative citizens should partner with new movements opposed to authoritarianism, fascism, and other anti-American elements which have become normalized within the Republican Party. Luckily, dissenting senior Republicans themselves have already been organizing such groups for months, wisely anticipating this exact scenario well before January 6th. Among these groups, The Lincoln Project is the most well-known, and I encourage you to join them. They are a group of Lincoln-style Republicans loyal to America and passionately opposed to Trumpism. Additionally, more than 120 dissenting senior Republicans are in talks to form an entirely new third political party. If you’re interested in collaborating, reach out to them. Do not let Trumpists isolate you. 39% of Republicans endorse political violence, and 45% support the failed coup of January 6th. That’s almost half of all Republicans. While these are terrifying stats, you can also choose to look at it the other way around: More than half of Republicans oppose terrorism, oppose political violence, and oppose the attempted Capitol Coup of January 6th. That’s great news for you. This data suggests that at least half of Republicans will be looking for a more moderate, nonviolent conservative outlet after the Republican Party ends. Don’t be afraid to take charge and help get that outlet off the ground at the local, state, or even national level. You are not alone, and you never will be. You probably have tens of millions of allies all around the country. Be ready and willing to endorse anti-Trump conservatives as soon as they go public in any election, and recommend them to conservative friends, family, and colleagues. Volunteer for them if you have any time to do so, and consider running for office yourself.
VI: FULL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR JOURNALISTS, WRITERS, AND MEDIA EXECUTIVES
All news and media professionals must recognize Trumpism for what it is: An existential threat to democracy which endangers the self-preservation of the United States of America itself. In their quest to seek the politically neutral center, too many journalists have betrayed their primary obligation to truth and objectivity. This betrayal has substantially contributed to the spread of dangerous rumors, misinformation, and propaganda. It has also enabled seditionists — including Donald Trump — to incite and normalize political violence and terrorism. Journalists must decide whether their goal is to raise profits and play to the middle, or the report the truth as it stands and defend their country. Too often, centrist journalists have justified extremism, violence and conspiracies at the cost of objective truth. Journalists cannot allow themselves to become a platform for seditionists, terrorists and insurrectionists. They should remember their function as gatekeepers, and censor these individuals rather than connecting them to an eager, hateful audience looking for any excuse to commit violence.
Right-wing media executives, journalists, and staff members should resign in mass protest. Those who remain, and these companies themselves, along with their sponsors and executives, should be investigated on a barrage of felony charges for the role they played in the long months leading up to the insurrection of January 6th. Prosecutors should seek maximum penalties.
Writers and journalists should use careful, exact language to describe the authoritarian threat in precise legal and operational terms which clarifies the situation for readers instead of making it even more complicated. Treason, sedition, conspiracy, and terrorism are all separate charges with separate definitions, different sentences, and different procedures. Some of these even vary state by state. The difference can be life or death: Treason carries a death sentence, whereas sedition carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. Treason requires verifiable collaboration with a hostile foreign power, like Russia. Sedition does not. Terrorism, on the other hand — the use or threat of violence against civilians to achieve political goals — is not even a domestic charge. There is no domestic terrorism law in the United States. Therefore we use the textbook definition (above) rather than any legal code, while the debate continues in Congress about whether or not the United States should adopt new domestic counter-terrorism law(s) or anti-insurrection laws to use in prosecuting groups and individuals behind the Capitol Coup of January 6th. Also worth mentioning: Insurrection and terrorism are not the same thing and are often not interchangeable. This is a confusing time for most Americans, with a lot of new words many readers aren’t used to seeing. Journalists should do everything in their power to clarify these terms and to dispel any confusion or misinformation surrounding the events of the past few months.
All writers and journalists must call this what it is: A coup. It is vital to call this a coup. More accurately, it was a failed “autocoup”. Most Americans don’t even know what a coup is, let alone an autocoup. It is sometimes acceptable to use “insurrection” instead, but be aware that this severely deflates the gravity of the attempted overthrow, and downplays the specific intent behind the crime to a dangerous degree — that intent being to maintain power by violent force against the will and consent of the governed. Coup. Not riot, not insurrection. As often as possible, use “coup” instead of “insurrection”, but avoid using the more academic “autocoup” unless speaking to an educated audience familiar with different types of coups. Do not ever call this a “riot” or “protest” and immediately call out anyone who attempts to do so. Journalists should explain to their audiences what a coup is, and why it is such a dark omen for the future of the United States. Few Americans truly comprehend the gravity of the events of January 6th. It’s important for you to help them understand, and a major part of that is in defining and explaining the language.
All news and media professionals should be cautious of using the phrase “civil war”. Although what happened on January 6th involved some individuals who attempted to trigger a second civil war by blowing up both Republican and Democratic targets, it’s important for Americans to remain calm. If everyone thinks a civil war is imminent, this actually increases the chances of a civil war starting. Be careful not to scare your audience into committing acts of violence or becoming radicalized themselves. Our mission is to prevent and avoid further armed conflict at all costs. Talk of a looming civil war might actually sabotage our efforts to do that. Language works both ways — use coup to capture the gravity of this crisis so that readers understand how gravely serious this situation is. But avoid using civil war in public, because this might make things worse. We’re not to that point yet, and hopefully we never will be.
Journalists, media executives, writers and bloggers should author proactive, solutions-oriented essays, making sure not to cast events as if the situation is already entirely hopeless. Remember that democracy is built on a foundation of optimism and aspirational goals, whereas fascism is built on pessimism, cynicism, fear, and apathy. The former works to the advantage of democracy, whereas the latter works to the advantage of fascism and dictatorship. Inspire citizens with precise recommendations on how they can help heal their nation or even their own local community, and focus on as broad of an audience as possible while doing so. Remember that citizens can make direct, constructive contributions to democracy and non-violence if you clarify for them what they can do and how they can help. Many readers are extremely distraught, even terrified, and may feel as if the situation is hopeless. You can aid democracy by redirecting this sense of hopelessness into a positive, proactive, constructive defense of democracy, political non-violence, and core American values. Never present the situation as if it is already lost. Focus on creative, empowering solutions that specific citizens can participate in.
VII: FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS TO ALL AMERICANS
All Americans must speak plainly and frankly about the events which have occurred. Do not let anyone downplay these events in public or in private. Do not let anyone say that January 6th was anything less than an attempted coup to overthrow the United States government, execute members of Congress, and install Donald Trump as a dictator against the consent of the governed. Many of your fellow citizens will be more comfortable making jokes about these events, downplaying the grave severity of them, or even pretending like they didn’t happen. Do not let any of them get away with this, in any conversation, ever. Do not ever joke about this or let other people make jokes about this — comedy is part of the normalization process. Reject it. Never normalize any of what just happened — not any of it. It is absolutely vital that every American comprehends and internalizes just how seriously in danger our country now is — and that it will remain in grave danger for as long as this extremist, insurrectionist party remains in our government. The entire party must go. You, the citizen, must assume this responsibility for yourself in all of the conservations you have with those around you.
All Americans, in all of these and all other professions, must consciously and resolutely commit themselves to the values and the promise of democracy. Fascism feeds on fear. It relies on apathy, cynicism, hopelessness, division and despair in order to demoralize and defeat pro-democracy resistance. That is why Donald Trump fans the flames of hatred and violence in this country. Every fire he sets weakens pro-democracy institutions, American national identity, and the checks and balances set up in our government. The fascist needs these dominoes to fall in order to prevail. To stop him, all Americans must reject these impulses and proactively commit themselves to democracy. Do not ever give in to fear.
No American should resign themselves to hate, or allow themselves to act as a consequence of hatred. Terrorism feeds on hatred. If you want to defeat terrorism, refuse to let yourself hate anyone. This will have real-world political implications. Be someone who other citizens will look up to. If you center yourself around non-violence and non-hatred, these values will immunize both yourself and the people in your immediate circles against authoritarianism and terrorism. These values will also provide you with clearer political judgement as a citizen.
All Americans should be conscious of the news and the media they consume. If terrorism feeds on hatred and fascism feeds on fear, then conspiracies feed on misinformation, ignorance, and in many cases deliberate for-profit propaganda. If two of your friends are arguing on Facebook, and one of them cites The New York Times while the other cites YouTube, it’s generally safe to assume the individual citing The New York Times will have better, more credible information, and perhaps more helpful, constructive political opinions. You don’t need to be snobby or elitist about it — but you should, at least, recognize the seriousness of this difference. America has hundreds of thousands of full-time scholars, journalists, and scientists working on some of the most complex and difficult questions known to humankind. Try your best to take advantage of those resources. Make deliberate efforts to subscribe to credible information sources, while filtering out propaganda. This will make you a better citizen and improve your personal defenses against conspiracies and propaganda — and you can also become a better resource for the people around you.
All Americans should be kind, civil, loving and tolerant of those they disagree with. The only line we are drawing here is a line between seditionists and Americans. Liberals, especially, should realize there is a key difference between seditionists (Donald Trump, for example) and ideological conservatives (Mitt Romney or John McCain). Trumpism is a violent, fascistic, terrorist ideology, whereas principled conservativism is not. Trumpism represents a lethal, existential threat to the United States. It must be completely eviscerated and buried in the footnotes of history. But keep in mind that fully half of Republicans might be searching for a more moderate center-right coalition in the near future. Be careful not to dehumanize or vilify your fellow Americans unless you have good reasons to do so. Widespread or unnecessary dehumanization can lead to additional conflict — which is exactly what we are trying to prevent from happening. Be careful about the words you select, how you speak, and how you react to tense situations or confrontations, whether in-person or online.
In online conversations, pretend like you’re speaking directly to that person in a private, face-to-face conversation. This will calm your temper and lend you sharper clarity in your discussions. If someone deserves to be corrected, condemned or even insulted for due cause or specific reasons, then you can say that to their face — so of course you can also say it online. If you wouldn’t say it to their face, however, consider whether it’s something you should even be saying at all. As often as possible, appeal to ethics, virtue, reason, and morality. These are the pillars of the new political culture we must build. Don’t respond at all to offensive memes, laughing emojis, clapping hands, pointless insults, or other hallmarks of online trolls. If someone is threatening physical harm, report their account immediately and then block them.
All Americans can also:
1) Contact their elected officials to ask them to support felony charges against seditious Congresspeople;
2) Submit essays and op-eds to local newspapers demanding criminal accountability for all seditious politicians;
3) Organize and lead grassroots boycotts against any companies which continue to affiliate themselves with any right-wing media or seditionist / pro-Trump politicians;
4) Once you have a healthy and credible news feed, share verified information on social media pages to act as a news source for your personal social network, while deliberately pushing back against dangerous misinformation and propaganda;
5) Engage in personal constructive conversations with friends and family, especially those who you are concerned about but who might not be open to having tough conversations with anyone else;
6) And subscribe or make donations to pro-democracy institutions as often as possible, whether that means your favorite credible newspaper or a major legal defense fund like the ACLU. Providing consistent financial support to voting rights groups, established newspapers, legal defense funds, anti-gerrymandering groups, academic journals, and other key elements of a free civil society will help them continue their vital work of defending democracy.
7) Call out lies and misinformation, every single time, in every conversation, in every setting, public and private. Don’t let conspiracies spread.
All Americans must be conscious citizens. This means treating other people with respect, speaking in kindness, and acting out of compassion instead of fear. Remember the three things to avoid: Fear, which produces fascism; Hatred, which produces terrorism; and misinformation, which produces conspiracies.
All Americans can and should participate in as many of the above recommendations that apply to you, in all of the categories outlined, as often and consistently as possible. But in the regular, daily events of most citizens, most of these scenarios will not apply. Sometimes, on a daily basis, the most important thing you can do is just be a good person, or at least aspire to be the best version of yourself. Set a good example — an example you aspire towards yourself, but which can inspire the people around you to be better versions of themselves as well. Within your immediate social circles, even doing this much can make a world of difference. The lawyers, business leaders, and journalists will have their parts to play. Sometimes your part to play is just to be a good human being, to care about the future of your country, and to care for the people around you. Whatever you do, never stop believing that democracy can work — that is the only sure way to guarantee that it fails.
Matthew R. Bishop is an author, journalist, and political science instructor who specializes in early-stage armed conflict prevention.