Give Peace a Chance
By Steve Sharp
Born in the wake of WW2, baby boomers are the first generation of Britons since the act of union 300 years ago not conscripted to fight.
The history of conflict, of course, goes back way beyond then. The Crusades, or Holy Wars started in 1096.
Since the war finished there has been peace here, with the tragic exception of “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland which went on for three decades.
It was only in 1960 that conscription, or National Service as it became known, was finally ended much to the relief of young men discovering a new way of life.
Regular British soldiers, sailors, and airmen continue to serve around the world, with declassifieduk.org listing 83 military interventions since 1945. Iraq, Afghanistan, the Falklands, and Kosovo, to name but a few.
Whilst we have been largely unaffected directly on our soil, we are obviously touched by events brought into our living rooms in such graphic detail.
The war in Ukraine appears to have been temporarily blasted out of the headlines by events in Israel and Gaza, and yet both are unspeakably terrible, tragic, and a total waste of human life.
It is not our purpose here to discuss the rights and wrongs, or apportion blame, but it would be odd to ignore major things that affect “My Generation” today.
I have always been aware that my dad had thought his war was over with the liberation of Norway, and his diaries reveal that he docked in Leith from Oslo in late August 1945 and caught a train home.
But no, he soon found himself in Glasgow boarding another ship, and on 23rd October an entry reads “Arrived Gaza”.
He was neither Jew nor Muslim, but a Christian, and as far as I know, most of his comrades were likewise. They were sent there with the express purpose of trying to stop the protagonists killing each other, and as a result were hated by both sides. It was a bitter and intensifying conflict.
He was not political or partisan in any way and was simply there to do his duty, and when not being shot at by snipers, he and his section tried to relax.
His diary and photo album from Christmas Day 1945 record “a proper Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings,” and a game of cricket.
It is hard to imagine anyone enjoying a game of cricket there today.
On May 14th, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of The State of Israel which U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognised on the same day.
The Jewish people had been driven out centuries ago but when the ruling Ottomans were defeated by the allies in 1917 after 400 years, the British were handed the dubious honour of trusteeship by The League of Nations.
They were given a mandate to “prepare the Country to be a national home for the Jews without impairing the civil and religious rights of the indigenous people.”
A very difficult task indeed, some called it mission impossible, and one which has consequences still today.
Wars are almost always about land, religion, or ideology, but in this case, it is all three.
We are not called to fight but our thoughts and prayers are with all people affected by the carnage of war.
Our Jewish friends and our Muslim friends and family. Our Russian friend, living in London, pregnant, ashamed to admit her nationality, and in despair of people in Russia being fed propaganda. Our Ukrainian colleague at Chancery Lane, a refugee from her homeland, torn from her country and family and hoping against hope for peace.
In the immortal words of John Lennon,
All we are saying is give peace a chance.
Steve
