PHOTO: ALEX GERRARD/PAX CHRISTI
Watched by Valerie Flessati (left) of the First World War Peace Forum, at the 15 May Conscientious Objectors (CO) Day ceremony in Tavistock Square in central London, Cindy Sharkey (right) remembers her CO grandfather who refused to fight in the First World War.
A socialist member of the Independent Labour Party, Eleazor ‘Dil’ Thomas refused to participate in what he saw as a capitalist war, waged to preserve the empire. As well as remembering women war…
Every year on 15 May, pacifists and anti-war activists gather in London’s Tavistock Square in front of a massive slate memorial that was unveiled by composer and conscientious objector Michael Tippett in 1994. The stone commemorates ‘All those who have established and are maintaining the right to refuse to kill. Their foresight and courage give us hope.’
Those who first established that right were the conscientious objectors of the First World War. When war began in August 1914,…
On 15 May, descendants of more than 30 First World War conscientious objectors will take part in this year’s International Conscientious Objectors’ Day commemoration in Tavistock Square, London.
One of the speakers on 15 May, Mary Dobbing, took part last year in the women’s peace delegation which visited the Afghan Peace Volunteers in Kabul. She also campaigns for justice for Palestinians in the footsteps of her CO grandfather, a Quaker teacher in the Middle East at the time of the…
During the First World War, an estimated 20,000 British men of military age refused conscription, with over 6,000 serving prison sentences under conditions which included hard labour and a ‘rule of silence’ that forbade prisoners to talk to one another.
Soon after conscription was introduced in 1916, fifty conscientious objectors (COs) were secretly taken to France by the British military. But for the intercession of Bertrand Russell — a prominent opponent of the…
The First World War centenary (2014-2018) was accompanied by a tidal wave of events, exhibitions, TV series, books and commemorations. However, one key aspect of the War’s history received little attention: the history and stories of the people and organisations that opposed the conflict.
Moreover, this history – of police raids and clandestine printing presses, disobedient soldiers and feminist peace initiatives, Maori princesses and striking German munitions workers – appears to be…
At a time when many people in politics and the peace movement are focussing on the centenary of the start of the First World War, it may be thought inappropriate to bring out a book concerning the re-run 20 years later. Ann Kramer’s book, however, is a salutary reminder, not only of the irony of HG Wells’s 1914 book title (The War that Will End War) but also of the strength of the Second World War pacifist movement that largely had its roots in the struggle against the…
A £98,000 heritage lottery fund grant to the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) attracted some press attention in September. The grant will enable the PPU to carry out a two-year project to encourage communities and schools across Britain to research local conscientious objectors (COs) during the First World War. There was a debate in the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph and even Le Monde (France) on using publicly-subscribed money in this way – rather than in…
The ceremony was followed by a panel discussion ‘Conscientious Objection: from personal right to universal responsibility’ with the following speakers: Albert Beale (Peace Pledge Union), Derek Brett (International Fellowship Of Reconciliation), Hannah Brock (War Resisters International), Ozgur Heval Cinar (co-author of Conscientious Objection: Resisting Militarized Society), Joe Glenton (author of Soldier Box: Why I Won’t Return to the War on Terror, published on International Conscientious…
In May 2010, Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst in the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division, was arrested on suspicion of leaking nearly half a million government documents, including the infamous ‘Collateral Murder’ gunsight video and 260,000 State Department cables.
After nine months in solitary confinement, he awaits court-martial in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He is 24 and from Crescent, Oklahoma. Bradley Manning’s mother, Susan, is from Wales and Bradley attended secondary…
Bill Hetheringon: The London ceremony was held on ICO Day itself, at the CO commemorative stone in Tavistock Square near Euston. There was an Amnesty International update on the long-standing harsh treatment of COs in Eritrea and South Korea, and the laying of white flowers commemorating 80 named objectors from as many countries around world over the past century.
The event ended with singing by the Raised Voices choir.
Janet King: In Birmingham, around 20 people came to the…
Former navy medic and conscientious objector Michael Lyons – who spent seven months in prison for his opposition to the war in Afghanistan (see PN 2538) – addresses the launch of Veterans for Peace UK on 9 April. Other speakers included Iraq war vets Matthew Horne and Danny Martin, D-Day veteran Jim Radford, Catholic Worker Scott Albrecht (who served in the US air force during the cold war) and Vietnam war resister Gerry Condon. The new group aims to resist war through nonviolent…
Turkish conscientious objector Halil Savda was arrested on 24 February to serve a 100-day sentence for ‘alienating the people from the military’. This came six years after the actual ‘offence’: declaring his solidarity with Israeli conscientious objectors Itzik Shabbat and Amir Pastar, imprisoned for refusing to participate in Israel’s war in Lebanon.
Halil has previously served 17 months in prison for conscientious objection to military service.
Navy medic and conscientious objector Michael Lyons was released from Colchester military prison on 9 November. He had served a seven-month sentence for refusing to take part in rifle training in September 2010 because he disagreed with the war in Afghanistan, and was not prepared to shoot to kill. (PN 2537)
Supporters of Veterans for Peace, London Catholic Worker and Peace News raised over £1,000 to help Michael’s wife Lillian with the travel costs associated with visiting Michael in…
On 1 December, Peace Prisoners' Day, please put aside an hour to write four cards to people whoíve been imprisoned for their commitment to peace.
Please do: send your card in an envelope; include a return name and address on the envelope; be chatty and creative: send photos from your life, drawings; tell prisoners about your own anti-war work.
Don'ts. Please donít write anything that might get the prisoner into trouble; donít write: "You are so brave, I could never do what you…
