Although I am well aware of the various theories of Just War, especially St. Augustine's, I am a pacifist through and through.
One of the reasons, oh and there are so, so many, why I could not abide the Tories was their cavalier (and I use the word carefully) was their attitude to war and conflict in general.
In 1982, at the height of the Falklands conflict, the submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano.
Although justified in international law, I thought then (and do so now) that it was morally unjustifiable.
Moreover, Mrs Thatcher and the right-wing press headed by Rupert Murdoch's Sun, gloated sickeningly over the loss of life of some 1,000 Argentine sailors.
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Hold your Hour
Today is the anniversary of the birth of one of my favourite authors, Brendan Behan.
I first came across his work when at university, a friend gave me a copy of Borstal Boy, and a few weeks later I went to see a student production of The Hostage.
Both works are incredibly individual and I would urge anyone reading this to read both and if you get a chance to see the latter or indeed his other play The Quare Fellow.
The Hostage was written in Gaelic and Behan himself translated it into English. It shows the detention, in a teeming Dublin house of ill repute, of a craftless cockney British conscript seized by the IRA as a hostage pending the scheduled execution in Belfast of an unseen IRA volunteer.
The hostage falls in love with the maid who promises not to forget him. In the end, the hostage dies accidentally during a bungled Gardai raid, shot by the police.
The main themes of the play are innocence and power, the arbitrary nature of authority, and the human cost of war.
I first came across his work when at university, a friend gave me a copy of Borstal Boy, and a few weeks later I went to see a student production of The Hostage.
Both works are incredibly individual and I would urge anyone reading this to read both and if you get a chance to see the latter or indeed his other play The Quare Fellow.
The Hostage was written in Gaelic and Behan himself translated it into English. It shows the detention, in a teeming Dublin house of ill repute, of a craftless cockney British conscript seized by the IRA as a hostage pending the scheduled execution in Belfast of an unseen IRA volunteer.
The hostage falls in love with the maid who promises not to forget him. In the end, the hostage dies accidentally during a bungled Gardai raid, shot by the police.
The main themes of the play are innocence and power, the arbitrary nature of authority, and the human cost of war.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
And death shall have no dominion
Today my white poppy arrived, and I shall be wearing it to remember all victims of war, and to promote pacifism in general.
The quote is from the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas whose birthday it is today.
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one...
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
The quote is from the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas whose birthday it is today.
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one...
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.
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