peace mattersW O R K I N G F O R P E A C E W I T H O U T V I O L E N C E

working for peace since 1934number 72 Winter 2016

ISSN 1350-3006

the new

“Shoulder to shoulder with all who serve.”Royal British Legion

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We were pleased to welcome 1500 new supporters to our whitepoppy project last year. With help from many of you around the

country we distributed well in excess of 110,000 white poppies. A sub-stantial increase on last year. Last year many more white poppy wreathswere laid and more white poppies have gone to Canada and NewZealand where 25 April - Anzac Day - is their equivalent to Britain’sRemembrance Day. While in Belgium more white poppies can be seenamid the deluge of the British Legion (Shoulder to shoulder with allwho serve) red ones each year. Many thanks too for the generous do-nations which make our work possible.

Remembrance Day is now only one of several events in support ofthe armed forces that have imposed themselves on the national calen-dar. Martial values and the opaque but turbo- charged military ethos, asgovernment ministers like to call it, or mil-itarism as the PPU calls it, is seeping largelyunnoticed into every crevice of civil life. Atevents and displays around the country, at ceremonies, at ‘Meet the Army’events, in schools and in the graveyards in Flanders in one form or otherthe military is ever present to impress on us that their way is the onlyway. There is no alternative.

The overt militarisation has been visibly underway since 2000 whenthe Ministry of Defence published ‘Soldiering – The Military Covenant’.A document that attempts to give substance to 400 years of wishfulthinking. It speaks of the military person’s ‘ultimate sacrifice’ and thespecial bond and duty the nation therefore owes the soldier. It is silenton the considerable penalty that the citizens pay as a consequence ofthe soldier’s work! Soldiering and its development of a military covenantis special pleading on behalf of a dangerous institution which, togetherwith its many supporters, is demanding our sympathy and money.

Whatever sympathy one may have for individual military personswho have been injured or traumatised or for the families of those whohave been killed, it must surely be tempered by the fact that in the last25 years of Britain’s wars these men and women have willingly (and onemight say gratuitously) invaded sovereign countries, caused mayhem anduntold misery there; the consequence of their actions are all around usand have in no small measure contributed to the instability in much ofthe world. After all the majority of the military personnel are no more

www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16 3COMMENT

signs and symbolsJan Melichar

Laying wreaths of white poppiesin Aberystwyth under the watch-ful eye of the military. 2015

Job OpportunityPPU CoordinatorSalary £30,000 pa.This is a big and challengingpost requiring imaginationand a mix of skills. Frombeing the public voice of thePPU to managing the PPU’spublished output and proj-ects to ensuring the smoothrunning of the organisation,the post offers a opportunityto take the PPU forwardfrom a well-established baseto challenge the war-makingvalues embedded in society.See www.ppu.org.uk/jobpackClosing date 12 February

4 www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16PERSPECTIVE

likely to face the ‘ultimate sacri-fice’ that any of us. Though a bet-ter resourced NHS might offergreater security and save morelives than any IED proof vehicle.

The military covenant wasoriginally no more that agrandiose aspiration. As a conse-quence of the British military’s‘self inflicted’ casualties and fol-lowing noisy promoting by Gen-eral Dannatt and the BritishLegion a reluctant governmentwas forced to codify many of thecovenant’s expectations. In its newguise as the Armed ForcesCovenant it places all kinds oflegal obligations on local councilsand institutions. The state hasnever cared much for the shat-tered bodies returning from thewars it sent them to. As cuts inlocal services are taking place the

Armed Forces Covenant insiststhat local services should privilegemilitary personnel. What is yourlocal authority doing?[http://tinyurl.com/mfm3pun]

Armed Forces Day, launchednine years after ‘Soldiering’, wasGordon Brown’s more muscularversion of the Veterans Day helaunched 3 years previously. While‘Soldiering’ was a response toBritain’s increasing military pur-suits and Tony Blair’s ‘vision’ at thetime: ‘…today our Armed Forcesare called upon to take action inmany different parts of the world,not so much to defend our coun-try but to defend its long-term se-curity interests. …in truth, todayan army fights not just for terri-tory and military superiority butoften for hearts and minds, and itdepends not simply on discipline,

Bertold Brecht

White poppy extravagnza in Whitstable November 2015

Laying white poppies at the con-scientious stone. RemembranceDay 2015

www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16 5PPU NEWS

What we are readingA Kingdom United popular response tothe outbreak of the First World war inBritain and Ireland. Catriona Pennell.Oxford 2012Life in the United Kingdom a guide fornew residents. Home Office. 2013Remembering the First World War. BartZiino Ed. Routledge. 2014An Intimate War: An Oral History of theHelmand Conflict. Mike Martin. C Hurst& Co. 2014Kill Chain drones and the rise of high-tech assassins. Andrew Cockburn.Verso. 2015What are you reading? mail @ppu.org.uk

but also on belief ’, Armed ForcesDay was and is designed to embedthe military world more closely,more firmly, more seamlessly intocivil life and the state is anxiouswe are in tune with its drumbeat.While once governments prom-ised us a better future today theyonly promise to protect us from afearful world full of terrorists, rad-icals, ‘money sucking migrants’and Europe. More military ethosin schools along with renewal ofTrident, closer surveillance, morecadet forces, armed policemenand plenty of drones is thought todo the job.

Who do you think you arekidding mister politician…

While the two year funded term of the PPU’sObjecting to War Project has come to anend we continue to object! The publicisingand promotion of the values that motivatedmany to become conscientious objectors inWW1 will continue (www.menwho-saidno.org) side by side with a vigorous

In a previous issue we mentioned the failed attempt during the WarResisters International conference in Cape Town to paint a giant AK-47 rifle. This has now been accomplished. The image, over 100meters in size, by Ralph Ziman and his team shows a broken AK-47rifle wrapped in world currencies. It is situated on The Grand Paradein Cape Town.

challenge to narrow and narrowing un-derstanding of war and more crucially toa lack of understanding that war is notinevitable.The anniversary of WW1 has done littleto better public understanding as theword diagram here shows. This is basedon a YouGov survey for the British Coun-cil and shows… well you decide.

The PPU is making a submission to the governments’ EducationCommittee's 'purpose and quality of education' in England inquiryand will shortly publish a paper on Militarisation of Education(www.ppu.org.uk/militarism). If you are interested in participatingin this work please get in touch mail@ppu.org,uk

militarism

public understanding of WW1

6 www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16EDUCATION FOR PEACE

On a Thursday evening in Novem-ber I delivered a 20 minute pres-

entation to a diverse audience ofacademics, teachers, teacher traineesas well as undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University ofBirmingham. The title of the lec-ture/workshop was Whose War,Whose Memory? Teaching the FirstWorld War in International Perspec-tive. Other presentations were deliv-ered by Professor Eckhardt Fuchs,andhis two colleagues from the GeorgeEckert Institute in Germany, and DrCatriona Pennell, a Senior Lecturer inHistory at the University of Exeter.This event was organised by Voices ofWar and Peace: the Great War and itsLegacy and the Institute for GermanStudies at Birmingham University.The former is a First World War En-gagement Centre funded by the Arts& Humanities Research Council inpartnership with the Heritage LotteryFund. The University of BirminghamCentre is a joint initiative with a num-ber of universities across the UK. Dr Pennell’s presentation brought

us up to date on her and a colleague’slatest research into how the FirstWorld War is being taught by Historyand English teachers across the coun-try. It was interesting to note thatthere is an apparent tension betweenHistory and English teachers as tohow the War should be taught withHistory teachers perhaps questioning

whether English teachers should beinvolved in teaching cultural history.With both sets of teachers, there wasclearly a relationship between popularperception of the war and the defaulttopics that are taught - notably theWestern Front, trench warfare andthe origins of the war. It was also in-teresting that English and Historyteachers both recognise the potentialmoral dimension in teaching aboutthe First World War, and often useteaching about the war as an oppor-tunity to build pupils’ capacity for em-pathy. For History teaching, inparticular, this raised the question ofapproaching the war as an historicaland/or emotional event, particularly inthe light of the emphasis placed onbattlefield cemetery visits both by indi-vidual teachers, schools and the gov-ernment (in its centenary funding).Following an introduction into

the work of the George Eckert Insti-tute in Germany by Professor Fuchs,Dr Barbara Christophe and Dr Ker-stin Schwedes shared with us somefascinating insights into the differ-ence in approaches to the teachingof the history of World War Onethrough their analysis of school textbooks from a range of countries.There appeared to be a clear link be-tween a country’s current politicalsituation and how the War itself wasportrayed in that country; this wasparticularly highlighted by those tex-

whose war, whose memory?Peter Glasgow

www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16 7EDUCATION FOR PEACE

tual amendments that had ac-companied political change inRussia since the demise of theSoviet Union.Both of these presentations re-

assured me that the structure ofthe presentation was appropriate.As the Peace Education Officer mycontribution differed in that it wasclearly not an academic paper re-lated to a particular aspect ofteaching about World War One.After a brief introduction andbackground to the PPU the start-ing point was an image of themural, that sees Keir Hardy ad-dressing the huge War againstWar demonstration that tookplace in Trafalgar Square two daysbefore Great Britain became in-volved in the First World War on 4August 1914. The words on themural, It was NO then and it willalways be NO, served as a re-minder that there was a signifi-cant anti-war movement beforeand during WW1. Dr Pennell’s presentation rein-

forced a view that contemporaryEnglish and History teaching is,probably unconsciously, perpetu-ating a view of WW1 that con-tains a number of hiddenhistories. Continuing with a theme of

the hidden history of the anti-warmovement, a brief descriptionwas given of the experiences,treatment and stereotyping ofConscientious Objectors after theintroduction of conscription in

1916, as any initial enthusiasm forwar had all but disappeared. Alsoraised was the absolutely seminalrole of women in the No Con-scription Fellowship as well astheir role in the anti-war move-ment as a whole.The work of the George Eck-

ert Institute reminds us of theclear link between contemporarynationalist political thinking andhow WW1 is being taught acrossEurope. I was therefore reassuredthat I had gone on to make a linkbetween the military characterand almost hysterical promotionof Remembrance today in the UKwith a number of governmentaleducational initiatives, that to-gether surely confirms an en-croachment of militarism into theState education system.Without having to go into de-

tail, the audience’s attention wasdrawn to some of the initiativesthat make up a clear strategy bythe government to promote a‘military ethos’ in schools. It wasappropriate though to spend alittle time on the government in-troduced Battlefield Tours pro-gramme that involves twostudents and one teacher fromevery state funded secondaryschool in England visiting thebattlefields on the Western Front.I was able to raise the issue ofthe inappropriateness of eachcoach ferrying teachers andpupils to the killing grounds con-taining at least one serving British

soldier. Dr Pennell is currently un-dertaking research into thepupils’ perception of their trips tothe Battlefields and it will be in-teresting if this was to reveal anyconcerns being expressed bylearners themselves as to thepresence amongst them of uni-formed soldiers. Later, in the discussions that

followed, mention was made ofThe British Armed Forces LearningResource, a politically motivateddocument, produced by the Min-istry of Defence and the PrimeMinister’s Office, and distributedto schools in 2014.It presents asanitised version of war and glori-fies ’military values’ as well as anuncritical history of British militaryinterventions. The section on theFirst World War contains a num-ber of simplistic notions that in-cluded the idea that Britain didnot want war but it could not beavoided as well as a failure tomake any mention of the BritishEmpire, never mind Empire re-lated war aims.

The Peace Pledge Union intendsto keep coming back to the thewhole issue of the increasing mili-tarisation of British society and inparticular what is happening inschools but if the general re-sponse of the audience at Birm-ingham University is anything togo by people will find its messagenot only challenging but alsotimely and refreshing.

The British Armed Forces Learning Resource distributed to schoolspresents a sanitised version of war, glorifies ’military values’ and an

uncritical history of British military interventions.

8 www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16PPU NEWS

members at our events and con-ferences; I have the chance tothink about and plan the futureof the PPU; I meet and workwith other friendly peace groupsthrough the First World WarPeace Forum which the PPUstarted some years ago; I learnabout the lives of the conscien-tious objectors from that warthrough the work for our web-site; I am given access to booksabout the women who sup-ported the conscientious objec-tors and have the privilege ofdoing research into their stories.

Lucy Beck writes. 2015 has beena busy year for the PPU staff,and a little bit for PPU Councilmembers too! Peace work isn’tjust about visible demonstrationsor direct action, but involves de-tailed painstaking work behindthe scenes. I was thinking aboutwhat I had done as a PPU Coun-cil member this year, and realisedthat I was looking at it back tofront - I should really write aboutwhat I gain as a PPU Councilmember. I get to meet the staffregularly, to hear about the workthey are doing; I meet other PPU

At 80 the PPU is in good shape, with more staff and more work

planned than for many years - the end of war is still some way off-

and so our work continues.

We would welcome your support and one way you can do this is to

become a Council member and help oversee the PPU's work and

developments. PPU Council meets 3-4 times a year in London (usually

an afternoon meeting on days that suit its members). Council mem-

bers are responsible for staff, fundraising and financial matters as well

as setting direction for the PPU's future work. Council reports on its

work at AGMs. The present Council wishes to add to its number.

If you are interested in helping with this important and responsible

work please let us know your interest by writing to Jan Melichar at

jan@ppu.org.uk telling us something about the ways you might be

able to contribute to the Council’s work. We will then be able to send

you more detailed information.

calling all ppu members

news from the ppu And of course there are alwaysmeetings to attend, conferencesto go to, job applications andfundraising submissions to bedrafted, proof-reading, checkingproposed publications written bythe staff, packing poppies andother more routine work as re-quired, which keeps me active inmy ‘retirement’. Attending the AGM and con-

ference brought me up to datewith developments around mili-tarism in education and in thecountry, which has providedfresh stimulation for the PPU totake this issue forward in a moreactive way than we have donefor many years. And I was re-minded once again of the seri-ousness of the issues while in ashop last week - I heard some-one saying ‘that is scary’ andsaw a child with a toy handgrenade, which their motherwas happily buying for them.This may seem trivial while warsrage on, Parliament decides tosend bombs into Syria, the Tri-dent renewal debate growsnearer, and the UK’s arms salesto Saudi Arabia lead to ourweapons being used to kill peo-ple in Yemen. But that mother’spurchase of a toy hand grenadeis a symbol of the unthinking ac-ceptance of violence in this soci-ety. Our original Campaignagainst Militarism in the 1980sbegan with a soap handgrenade spotted in a shop. We

A year on PPU Council. Three council members share theirexperience of 2015.

I heard someone saying ‘that is scary’ and saw a child with a toyhand grenade, which their mother was happily buying for them

www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16 9PPU NEWS

This year's Remembrance cov-erage was reasonably typical: onemoment I might be runninground London from studio to stu-dio, taking part in three live radioprogrammes in a day ... and thennothing for a couple of days. Theones which are probably mostuseful for the PPU in terms of get-ting our message across - and theones I tend to enjoy most - arethe longer discussion pro-grammes, where I get to go headto head with some pro-militarytype for half an hour or so. Al-though journalists interviewingme are rarely particularly sympa-thetic to a pacifist worldview,their challenges are at least(mostly) fairly polite; but some ofthe "opponents" I end up in astudio with seem to think thatpacifism is inherently barmy, anddon't hold back from saying so. I think a reason that we get in-

creasing amounts of press interestaround Remembrance is preciselybecause the government and themilitary are more and more usingthe emotions around Remem-brance as a way to increase sup-port for (and recruitment to) theforces: a perspective which re-fuses to accept that the armedforces should have any role at allin the world is seen as especiallyobjectionable, even offensive, inthat context. An example of this is a Radio 5

programme I was on one Remem-brance weekend evening a few

Albert Beale writes. One of thevoluntary jobs I do for the PPU -alongside being a member of theCouncil which oversees the or-ganisation's work - is to take onmuch of the PPU's interactionwith the media.There isn't always time to initi-

ate contact with the press, radioand television - and even whenwe do, it doesn't always result inany coverage. But luckily, theyoften come to us! Although jour-nalists sometimes want "a mili-tant pacifist" to give a distinctline on all sorts of issues of warand peace, much of their interestin what the PPU has to say cen-tres on Remembrance and whitepoppies. In some years, we get asmuch press interest in the fewweeks surrounding Remem-brance as we do in the rest of theyear put together. Requests sometimes come

from journalists we haven't dealtwith before (but who've donetheir homework!), and at othertimes I or the PPU office will geta call from someone we alreadyknow, who's aware of the valueand interest - or at least the con-troversy value - of what we haveto say. There is sometimes inter-est from print and on-line publi-cations, and from television, butthe most frequent interest isfrom radio stations. Our radio coverage is most

commonly on local stations (theyhave a lot of airtime to fill!), butalso on national networks fromtime to time. The majority of newsor discussion programmes we'reinvited to take part in are on BBCchannels, but some speech-basedcommercial channels also showan interest, as do some commu-nity and student broadcasters.

have a long way to go and needall the help we can get! 2016 is a important year of

WW1 anniversaries, includingthe Battle of the Somme, and forthe peace movement, the intro-duction of conscription in 1916and the very first right of consci-entious objection to military serv-ice established in the UK afterthe campaigning of our prede-cessors 100 years ago. I hopeyou will help locally and nation-ally to take the PPU’s work for-ward in whatever way you can.

10 www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16PPU NEWS

years ago. I spent half an hour refus-ing to discuss the relative de-)meritsof specific military activity, and thedegree to which we should sympa-thise with the military's suffering;rather, I made it clear that from apacifist perspective we ruled out re-

sort to armed forcecompletely, and thatthe military beingcommemorated(precisely becausethey'd chosen totake up arms) werenot the main victimsof the horrors ofwar, but the maincause of those hor-rors. One of the BBCresearchers told meafterwards that I'dcome close tobreaking the recordfor the number of"string 'im up" hatecalls ever generatedby a speaker ontheir weekendevening discussions.

Bill Hetherington writes. Ever sincethe 1688 Bill of Rights, keeping astanding army in Britain has beenunlawful unless sanctioned by Par-liament. For centuries Parliamentpassed an annual Army Act to keepthe Army, but since mid-20th cen-tury this has been reduced to everyfive years (with intervening Statu-tory Instruments), and the Navy andAir Force have been incorporated

into the system.For Armed Forces Bills a House of

Commons Select Committee receivesevidence from interested organisa-tions as to particular aspects of theArmed Forces, and suggested im-provements. From 2001 the PPU hastaken part, alongside organisationssuch as Child Soldiers International(previously, Coalition to Stop the Useof Child Soldiers), Forces Watch andAt Ease. Such focus on the Britisharmed forces at present coincideswith renewed efforts by the PPU andothers to counter militarism in Britaingenerally. Evidence is published aspart of the Select Committee’s Re-port, a Parliamentary paper perma-nently available on record,establishing the PPU as a responsiblebody with evidence-based argument.In the PPU’s submission for the

2016 Bill, I focussed on two issues -conscientious objection and under-age recruitment.From WW1 the question has

arisen of people volunteering for thearmed forces, but after a time com-ing to realise that they are involved inactivity contrary to their conscientiousscruples and seeking a way out –with the difficulty that armed forcescontracts are not subject to simpleand immediate resigning. In WW1Max Plowman was court-martialledfor trying to resign his officer com-mission, but went on to become thefirst General Secretary of the PPU. InWW2 there were more such men, to-gether with others who originally ac-cepted call-up, but developed a

Remembrance Day PPU 2015.Tavistock Sq London.

Our submission for the 2016 Armed Forces Bill has focussed ontwo issues - conscientious objection and under-age recruitment.

www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16 11PPU NEWS

conscientious objection, and eventu-ally the system for conscientious ob-jectors was adapted to cover them.After abolition of conscription in1963 a version of that adaptation hasremained for regular members of thearmed forces, but there are problems.One is that, unlike conscientious

objection to conscription 1916-19and 1939-63, it is not written in lawbut a non-statutory concession. It islittle known, and not easily foundwithin differing administrative pro-cedures of the three armed forces.Another problem is that applica-

tions for discharge on consciencegrounds are very few, so that experi-ence in dealing with such casesnever develops within the armedforces or within the Advisory Com-mittee on Conscientious Objectors,a lay body chaired by a lawyer setup to hear appeals from applicantsafter rejection as conscientious ob-jectors at initial application withinthe navy, army or air force hierarchy.Also, it is little understood that inBritain so-called “political” groundsfor objection have been eligible forconsideration on the same terms asreligious, moral or humanitariangrounds. Recommendations for im-provement have been urged.Britain has a long, and, we

argue, dishonourable, history of re-cruiting boys, and now girls, as soonas they are able to leave school,originally at 14, then 15, and now16. It is not simply a matter of ac-cepting those especially keen at thatage, but a calculated policy of delib-

erately focussing on that age for re-cruitment, on the principle that ifthey are not “caught” (that is theactual word used) then, they mightgo on to further education, appren-ticeships or whatever and be lost tothe armed forces, whose relentless“need” is valued above the personaldevelopment and education ofyoung people.The Army, which recruits far

more people (adults and youngsters)than the other two forces together,exacerbates the problem by requir-ing under-18s to sign up to a longercontract than adults.

These policies have been repeat-edly condemned by the UN Com-mittee on the Rights of the Child,the Joint Parliamentary HumanRights Committee, the Duty of CareReport of the Commons SelectCommittee on Defence, and evenpast Select Committees on ArmedForces Bills.The PPU submission draws atten-

tion to all these reports and urgesan immediate end to the UK’spariah status as the only country inEurope still recruiting at age 16.

Remembrance Day PPU 2015.Tavistock Sq London.

12 www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16PERSPECTIVE

The Objecting to War Projectcame to the end of it’s second

year - unbelievably - two years ofresearch and outreach, coordinatingvolunteers, designing exhibitionsand talking to as many people aspossible about the courageous andprincipled Conscientious Objectorsof the First World War. Looking back on the project, it’seasy to tally up the talks and lec-tures (38), the education sessions(13), the public workshops (8)and the exhibitions (2), and seethat in terms of talking to thepublic, we’ve worked hard andhad a great deal of success.More people know moreabout the key questions ofConscientious Objection -the who, what, where,when and, crucially, why -than did when I wrote myfirst article for Peace Mat-ters back in September2013.

It’s harder to thinkabout what we’ve

learned on the project. Notjust in how to work with partner or-ganisations to produce great mate-rial on COs around London, but alsowhat we know about the Objectorsthemselves. One of the great tasksof Objecting to War is research -finding the men and understandingtheir experiences so we can tellthose stories to anyone who will lis-

ten. So what have we found, andwhat have we added to the COstory?A major aim of Objecting to War

was simply finding the COs them-selves. Though separated by only100 years from their decision to pitthemselves against war and mili-tarism, records are sketchy and in-complete at best and all too oftenmissing entirely. The project hasdelved into archives and library col-lections around London and be-yond, digging up the slightest hintsto reveal new caches of informa-tion, new names and new experi-ences. We’ve added hundreds ofnew names to the list of Britain’sConscientious Objectors, gatheringinformation from sources as variedas previously inaccessible archives inmajor collections, local libraries,newspaper archives and evenwikipedia. These new names comewith new stories and new informa-tion, but often new challenges andinconsistencies, leading ourArchivist, Bill and I to ferret out de-tails like full names, dates of Tribu-nal hearings and length of prisonsentences. This research work willnever be finished, but we can beproud of the amazing work we’vedone, and our volunteers havedone, finding these forgotten histo-ries. The sad corollary of these investi-

gations is to reveal an ever growing

where are we now?Ben Copsey

www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16 13PERSPECTIVE

suspicion, but open friendlinessby the people of towns and vil-lages around them. We’ve revealed more about

the process of becoming an ob-jector and the complex decisionsthat led to men refusing, or in-deed accepting, conscription.Even the CO organisations havenot escaped scrutiny, and re-views like our monthly look atthe No-Conscription Fellowshipnewspaper The Tribunal haverevealed that the NCF was asfactionalised and concerned withconsensus politics as any organi-sation!All of our research has led to

an inescapable conclusion - theCO story isn’t as straightforwardas we thought it was. Far frombeing unassailable paragons ofpacifist virtue, who arrived attheir conclusions swiftly and eas-ily, held their heads high throughall that the military and civil au-thorities could throw at them,their motivations and experi-ences were as complex as the sit-uation they found themselves in.While a lot of our research has

list of Conscientious Objectorswho died during the war.Whether finding men who diedabroad while serving in non-combatant roles in the army, orin far flung parts of the world,finding these men is alwaystragic, but our research ensuresthey will not be forgotten. Aside from the men them-

selves, the system of Conscien-tious Objection has been givenmore of the attention it de-serves. Pieced together from in-dividual biographies and officialsources, some of the byzantinepolitics, economics and daily op-eration of the Government’s

policies towards COs have beenrevealed. Of particular interesthas been the Home OfficeScheme - work camps set up forCOs in 1916 - which has longbeen treated as a uniform sys-tem of punishment. Slowly,we’ve pieced together a morecomplex story where men had,at times, a surprising degree offreedom, held concerts and puton plays and were, in cases,treated not with hostility and

revealed the same stories - theAbsolutist, the Alternativist, theMedical worker - they’ve beenstories of men who arrived atsimilar conclusions in differentways, and vice versa. There was-n’t a single ‘CO story’ and therewasn’t a single party line. Evenwithin close-knit communities ofCOs, or organisations, or amongmen that shared both experi-ences and motivations, therewere complex difficulties andwebs of loyalties and obligationsthat led men down differentpaths. Every story might seemthe same, but the more that wefind, the more we realise that

every one is different.The stories we’ve unearthed

and the results of our researchcan be found on our website Re-membering the Men Who SaidNo. It’s an endlessly expandingresource looking at COs in everyway we can manage, telling sto-ries, providing analysis and shar-ing the information we’ve foundon the project. It will grow for along while yet - research is neverover. Watch this space!

all of our research has led to an inescapable conclusion - the COstory isn’t as straightforward as we thought it was

www.menwhosaidno.org Some of the conscientious objectors and the women who supported them

of the excitement, despair, brutal-ity, and sheer horror of trenchwarfare”. Note that excitementcomes first: and they promise de-spair, brutality and horror, also –but not too much – because it issupposed to be fun. After all, theytell children and their parents, it is“part history” but also “part ad-venture game”. The producers promise that it

has a high level of “replayability”.Players are required to “make adecision” and then click on your choice and read the

self at all. I wanted to tell himthat we would keep together so Igrabbed his hand and we wentover [the top] together as we hadgone to Sunday school, hand inhand.100 years later, we, too, can play“Over the Top”. It is a first personshooter video game aimed atschool children. It is described asan “interactive adventure gamethat allows you to experience lifein the trenches during the FirstWorld War”. It promises playersthat they can “live through some

One day, while working in thearchive of the Imperial War

Museum in London, I opened afile and read about one man’s ex-perience of the Battle of theSomme, in September 1916. Theauthor was a young man, barelyout of his teens. He recalled thathe was steadying himself forgoing “over the top” when hespied an old school friend. “Ilooked at Herbert”, he recalled,addingI could see his lips move – Ishouted but I couldn’t hear my-

14 www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16PERSPECTIVE

Paul Rogers

Joanna Bourke

Joanna Bourke speaking at PPU’s Remembrance Day event at the CO stone in London

www.peacematters.org.uk winter 2015/16 15PERSPECTIVE

“liberty”. The last time such con-cepts were banded about withgusto was during the war againstHitler and National Socialism.Courage, honour, and glory fea-tured loudly. Millions of peoplesolemnly recited the poetry ofSiegfried Sassoon and RupertBrooke, but it was hard to avoidhearing in the tremor of theirvoices, a vicarious thrill accompa-nying imaginings of “the horror,the horror”. A deluge of history books, tel-

evision and radio programmes,newspapers, and museums show-cased grandfathers, grandmoth-ers, great uncles and aunts, andother “ordinary people” whowere physically or psychologicallywounded during that war. Wemight be forgiven for not becom-

Day. The blurring of entertain-ment and war (“militainment”)and the advent of warbots – ageneric term for drones, roboticweapons, unmanned vehicles,and suchlike – has led many of usto take for granted that war iswithout end and without borders.All of us have effectively beenturned into citizen-soldiers. Actualcombat is only the crude manifes-tation of omnipresent violence inour society. One of the first steps, then, is

to bring to public attention theways in which war and military vi-olence are embedded in our soci-ety. When I was writingWounding the World, I wasamazed by the number of timespeople assumed that a bookabout militarisation was a bookabout American, rather thanBritish society. Although no onedisputes that America has a seri-ous problem with militarized vio-lence, we also need to look closerto home. The eruptions of com-memorations of the centenary ofthe First World War (including thecomputer games mentioned)were shocking in their return to arhetoric more familiar to 1914 or1939 than today. The “new mili-tarism” of the post-9/11 world,involving the bellicosity of west-ern nations in conflicts in the Mid-dle East as well as the ubiquitousnature of the “war on terror”, hasgiven a new life to the problem-matic rhetoric of “freedom” and

outcome of your decision. A poordecision might mean trouble or,worse, disaster. But don’t worry,you can always start over and trya new adventure…. So pick upyour rifle, put on your helmet,and get ready for a truly uniqueexperience!Such fun: young people are

encouraged to seek drama with-out tragedy; the virtualization ofviolence.Of course, “war as pleasure”

is not new. It is deeply embeddedin everyday life. Contrary to theassumption that war is an eventthat peace activists must work tocounter and outlaw, it is more re-alistic to think of war as a pres-ence, deeply embedded in thegames children play, the mediawe watch, the books we read,and the surveillance techniquesthat infect our lives. Military practices, technolo-

gies, and symbols have invadedour everyday lives. We rarely evennotice it. And, when we do, wedon’t seem to care too much. Ourgarrisons are maintained through-out the globe yet the militarycampaigns we wage abroad seemas real to most of us as themetaphorical wars on drugs orobesity. It is not uncommon tohear people waxing lyrically aboutthe sanctity of life – including thatof the two-cell embryo – whilecheering on the troops andproudly pinning red poppies totheir clothing on Remembrance

Wounding the World: How MilitaryViolence and War Play Invade OurLives. Joanna Bourke. Virago, 2015

ing aware of the role of British servicemen and women as inflictors of lethal vi-olence. One of the main things that we as people who are passionately against

militarist excursions into our lives, and, even more, into the lives of our vic-tims, is to provide alternatives and ways of resisting. In other words, what canbe done? The first step requires persuading people that it doesn’t have to be this

way: we can decide not to remain helplessly enthralled to military ideologies,practices, and symbols. The military is not as powerful as it wants us to believe. In other words, one of the most debilitating myths for people seeking to

forge more peaceful worlds is the assertion that armed conflict is inevitable. Butmilitarism serves instrumental purposes; it involves the investment of trillionsof dollars, pounds, euros, rubles, or yuan. It is a social activity. As such, theycan be unmade as well as made. We have buried our heads in the sand and there is only one way out: to re-

turn to a politics that recognises that in wounding the world we wound our-selves and our loved ones. By passively accepting militarist encroachments, wealso close down encounters with strangers we might have learnt from, laughedwith, and loved.In fact, the strategies open to us are legion. In the three-volume The Poli-

tics of Nonviolence Action (1973), Gene Sharp catalogues nearly 200 differentways people can engage in nonviolent protesting. Each of us possesses pro-clivities, skills, and spheres of influence that enable us to make a difference inour own local contexts. Wherever we are situated – as teachers, homemakers,academics, labourers, shopkeepers, secretaries, publishers, journalists, civil ser-vants, entertainers, novelists, artists, lawyers, doctors, scientists, unemployed,and so on – we can make a difference globally. There is only one rule: a refusalto “outsource” political engagement.I began this talk by conjuring up a young man, who held his school friend’s

hand as they went over the top. One of them did not survive. I also startedwith a video game aimed at school children called “Over the Top” and prom-ising children a good time in the trenches. Both that young soldier’s innocenceand war gaming cynicism can be resisted.In contrast to Margaret Thatcher’s fa-mous phrase “There is no alternative”, we can make that act of faith in ourfuture and that of our children.

By passively accepting militarist encroachments, we also close downencounters with strangers we might have learnt from, laughed with,

and loved.