As promised today we shall be thinking about Remembrance Day. I wish to honour those who gave their lives in conflict throughout history for what they believed to be a just cause. That being said I also want to remember that in many wars, particularly WW1 these brave souls were ‘Lions Led By Donkeys’ and the practice of war really has no place in human society. Perhaps we should be working towards the world Isaiah promises, when instruments of death will be transformed into those of life.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore. (Isaiah 2:5)
On this Remembrance when we hear that the ‘Lame Duck President’ of the United States is planning the make a maasive arms sale to the UAE. ‘The administration notified Congress it has approved the sale of more than $23bn in advanced weapons systems, including F-35 fighter jets and armed drones, to the United Arab Emirates, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. While continuing U.S. dominance of the arms trade may be good news for major weapons makers like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon, it is a troubling development with respect its strategic and humanitarian impacts. Most concerning is the U.S. arms trade with Saudi Arabia, which saw its share of global weapons imports more than double in 2015 to 2019, the period coinciding with its brutal intervention in Yemen, a war that has resulted in over 100,000 deaths and put millions at risk of famine.‘
Perhaps Edwin Starr sums up the sentiment most concisely. “War” written by Whtfield and Strong for the Motown label in 1969. Whitfield first produced the song – an obvious anit-Vietnam War statement – with The Temptations as the original vocalists. After Motown began receiving repeated requests to release “War” as a single, Whitfield re-recorded the song with Edwin Starr as the vocalist, with the label deciding to withhold the Temptations’ version from single release so as not to alienate their more conservative fans. Starr’s version of “War” was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard chart in 1970, and is not only the most successful and well-known record of his career, but it is also one of the most popular protest songs ever recorded.
Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) sums up the true cost of war, speaking from the operating theatre of the MASH 4077 during the Korean War in the 1950’s. Describing war as the world’s favourite pastime, he asks us to spare a thought for the innocent bystander who always pays the price for any conflict
However it is in true British art of understatement that one of most powerful statements about the pointlessness of war is made. At the end of the final episode of Blackadder, the protangonists are facing the prospect of going over the top and almost certain death. The pathos of their conversation speaks volumes.
