TIM: There is certainly space within pacifism for a pro-choice position. I find ‘power’ a useful guide in working out where I stand on most issues. I examine those conflicts in which I support the uptake of arms through the prism of where power lies. Whatever has been achieved by ‘peaceful’ non-co-operation movements owes its success partly to the ‘violence’ on the fringes or the threat of violence contained within an angry mass of people. For dispossessed people, armed struggle is sometimes the only solution. Self-defence is a widely accepted principle in international law. ![]() A blanket rejection of the use of violence for legitimate self-defence risks turning pacifism into passive-ism. We live in a world where there is a growing threat from fascist and ultra-nationalist movements. Pacifism is an ideal to which one should aspire but as a strategy it is mostly inadequate in dismantling the very systems that you mention. I oppose military aggression but that does not make me a pacifist. I have spent a lifetime using nonviolent means to fight patriarchy and racism and support campaigns against the arms trade and environmental destruction, but that does not make me a pacifist. I share your analysis of the systems that have done violence to humanity. RAHILA: Does the moral code of ‘thou shalt not kill’ leave any room for the support of abortion and euthanasia? More practically, I’m concerned that when social change is sought through violence – even when the cause is just – it has often led either to long-running civil wars that kill many people or the installation of new governments which continue with the violence through which they came to power. This can combine into a deadly spiral, where each act of violence prompts a response.For me, to be a pacifist means a lifetime commitment to taking action that helps undo the systems that result in violence, including the arms trade, racism, patriarchy and environmental destruction, in order to reverse this cycle. ![]() All too often they are intensified by weapons imported from abroad and are extended through ideas that connect manhood with being willing to fight. Many of today’s armed conflicts have their roots in histories of colonialism and are intensified by competition for control of extractive industries like oil. ![]() Although it’s an old moral code, I think the guidance not to kill other people still stands. TIM: I am a pacifist, first and foremost, because I don’t think I could kill another person. She and Beatrix Campbell are collaborating on a book, Why Doesn’t Patriarchy Die? Her articles are published in the Guardian, New Humanist and openDemocracy among other magazines, journals and websites. His third book, Why I am a Pacifist is published this autumn.Īrguing NO is Rahila Gupta, a freelance journalist, writer, activist, longstanding member of Southall Black Sisters and a patron of Peace in Kurdistan. He is the author of Counterpower: Making Change Happen and You Can’t Evict an Idea. Making the case for YES is Tim Gee, a writer and activist based in the UK. A woman holds up painted hands at a New York protest against the acquittal of the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man, Michael Brown.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |