Veterans for Peace in the United States, 2009. Wikicommons/ Carolmooredc. Some rights reserved.2015 has been a year of extraordinary
activism for the UK anti-war movement. A wide array of groups has been busy
forging creative campaigns to educate new generations against war in general,
to disrupt the trade in lethal weapons and to oppose military intervention in
particular places. Very little of this political work gets reported, unless it
can be used to attack Jeremy Corbyn.
But one set of protests was so spectacular,
so radical and so eloquent that the corporate media was obliged to sit up and
take notice. In July and again in December, members of Veterans for Peace
UK staged demonstrations that challenged the deep-seated belief that military
service was an honourable profession that had turned them all into heroes.
On Friday 10
July, three former soldiers, all members of VfPUK, walked from Trafalgar Square
to Downing Street where they lined up, faced the police barricades and
declared:
‘We are members
of Veterans For Peace UK, an ex-services organisation of men and women who have
served this country in every conflict since the Second World War. We exist in
the hope of convincing you that war is not the solution to the problems of the
21st century. We have come here today to hand back things, given to us as
soldiers, that we no longer require or want.’
The men took
turns to make brief statements before dropping their ‘things’ on the ground.
They did this three times: first with their Oaths of Allegiance, then their
army hats and finally their medals. It was this last gesture that was so
powerful.
John Boulton
said:
‘These are the
medals given to me for the sick dichotomy of keeping the peace and waging war.
They are trinkets, pseudo payments. But really all they represent is the self
interest of those in there, who hold power.’
Kieran Devlin
said:
‘These are my
medals, these were given to me were given to me as a reward for invading other
peoples’ countries and murdering their civilians. I’m now handing them back’.
Ben Griffin,
founder of VfPUK and a former paratrooper and member of the SAS, said:
'I was given
these medals for service on operations with the British Army. This particular
medal here, was given to me for my part in the occupation of Iraq. Whilst I was
over there, I attacked civilians in their homes and took away their men, off to
be tortured in prison. I no longer want these despicable things.’
After the vote in the House of Commons to sanction RAF air strikes in
Syria, three more members, Daniel Lenham, Kirk Sollitt and Phil Mace with Ben
Griffin, this time representing Dave Smith, returned to Downing Street on
December 9. As a group they explained:
‘We are here
today in protest at the decision to bomb in Syria and to return medals
given to us for our participation in previous attacks on the Middle East.’
We are Veterans
For Peace, our members have served in every war that Britain has fought
since WW2. We bring you the simple message that war is not the answer to the
problems of the 21st Century.”
Each one made a similarly powerful declaration of their commitment to
turn their experience of military service into a vehicle for campaigning
against war. These can be read on the organisation’s website and
the group’s Facebook page has
a video of the demonstration as well. Phil Mace explained in a particularly
heartfelt way what it meant for him to reject the use of violence as a means to
solve political problems:
‘I don’t understand what these medals are for or what they are supposed to
mean. I joined the army as a teenager hoping to better myself and I believe I
did that whilst on operations in Afghanistan. One day whilst out on patrol I
was asked to blow a hole in a building, not knowing what was on the other side.
I thought to myself What if? What if it is a baby? What if it’s with its
mother? What if it’s there with the whole family? I would much rather live my
life not having to deal with the consequences of What If. That is why I throw
these medals back. What if every soldier past and present did this?’
It must be said
that these actions represent a fraction of VfPUK’s work against militarism and
war – something that will be clear from scrolling through their Facebook page.
Two more examples of their contribution to peace education stand out in
particular. One is Ben Griffin’s incredible lecture on ‘The Making of a British
Soldier’ delivered to the Kingston Peace Council in October 2015. This can be
watched in full here.
The other
example is the series of talks from women
members of the organization, given in November as the group gathered from all
over the country to make their statement at the Cenotaph. The inclusion of
female veterans’ voices, American as well as British, provides an essential dimension
to the collective project to explain and dismantle militarism.
And finally –
there’s the anti-war Christmas single which features a video of VfPUK members walking to
the cenotaph behind their banner which declares, ‘NEVER AGAIN’. Produced by Tom Morello’s (erstwhile
leader of Rage Against the Machine) Firebrand Records, and written by
co-founder, folk singer, and longtime anti-war activist Ryan Harvey, ‘ Christmas Truce’ is performed by the Belgian-born,
London-based singer Fenya who is an active member of London’s Food Not Bombs.
Ben
Griffin explains the premise of the song:
‘The Christmas
Truce lives in the hearts of millions of people. However we need to move on
from the idea of a truce being something that is only carried out at Christmas.
Throughout history soldiers have formed truces with their supposed enemies; in
fact soldiers often find that they have a lot more in common with the enemy
than with their own governments.’
‘I wrote this song to tell a simple story that reflects a much larger reality,’ Harvey says. ‘Soldiers have spoken out, protested, and revolted in almost every war in history. We encourage and need this resistance, because historically, it is one of the single strongest factors in bringing wars to an end. At a time when a civil and proxy-war is ripping Syria apart and the world seems to be lingering on the brink of yet another global catastrophic conflict, this ever-relevant song references history to describe the present.’
