LADY WILLINGDON INSTITUTE OF ADVANCE STUDY IN EDUCATION TRIPLICANE, CHENNAI.

ELECTIVE – PEACE IN EDUCATION Activity – 5 PEACE IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

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INTRODUCTION :

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” ― Albert Einstein

Peace is the path we take for bringing growth and prosperity to society. If we do not have peace and harmony, achieving political strength, economic stability and cultural growth will be impossible. Moreover, before we transmit the notion of peace to others, it is vital for us to possess peace within. It is not a certain individual’s responsibility to maintain peace but everyone’s duty.

Cover of Die Friedens-Warte, a German journal of the peace movement, issue 1913 IMPORTANCE OF PEACE : History has been proof of the thousands of war which have taken place in all periods at different levels between nations. Thus, we learned that peace played an important role in ending these wars or even preventing some of them. Earth needs peace in order to survive. This applies to every angle including wars, pollution, natural disasters and more. When peace and harmony are maintained, things will continue to run smoothly without any delay. Moreover, it can be a saviour for many who do not wish to engage in any disrupting activities. Peace is personal which helps us achieve security and tranquillity and avoid anxiety and chaos to make our lives better.

THE IDEAL OF PEACE : Ideas differ about what “peace” is (or should be), which results in a number of movements seeking different ideals of peace. Although “anti-war” movements often have short-term goals, peace movements advocate an ongoing lifestyle and a proactive government policy.

It is often unclear whether a movement, or a particular protest, is against war in general or against one’s government’s participation in a war. This lack of clarity (or long-term continuity) has been part of the strategy of those seeking to end a war, such as the Vietnam War.

The peace movement opposes the proliferation of dangerous technology and weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons and biological warfare. Many adherents object to the export of weapons (including hand-held machine guns and grenades) by leading economic nations to developing countries. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has voiced a concern that artificial intelligence, molecular engineering, genetics and proteomics have destructive

potential. The peace movement intersects with NeoLuddism and primitivism, and with mainstream critics such as Green parties, Greenpeace and the environmental movement.

These movements led to the formation of Green parties in a number of democratic countries in the late 20th century. The peace movement has influenced these parties in countries such as Germany.

HISTORY OF PEACE : • Peace Churches :

The Reformation gave rise to a number of Protestant sects beginning in the 16th century, including the peace churches. Foremost among these churches were the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Amish, Mennonites, and the Church of the Brethren. The Quakers were prominent advocates of pacifism, who had repudiated all forms of violence and adopted a pacifist interpretation of Christianity as early as 1660. Throughout the 18th-century wars in which Britain participated, the Quakers maintained a principled commitment not to serve in an army or militia or to pay the alternative £10 fine.

Penn’s Treaty (1847), by Edward Hicks • 19th Century : During the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1814), no formal peace movement was established in Britain until hostilities ended. Sixteen peace petitions to Parliament were signed by members of the public; anti-war and anti-Pitt demonstrations were held, and peace literature was widely disseminated.

By the 1850s, these movements were becoming well organized in the major countries of Europe and North America, reaching middle-class activists beyond the range of the earlier religious connections. Support decreased during the resurgence of militarism during the American Civil War and the Crimean War, the movement began to spread across Europe and infiltrate fledgling working-class socialist movements. In 1870, Randal Cremer formed the Workman’s Peace Association in London.

1880 caricature of Henry Richard, a prominent advocate of pacifism

• Mahatma Gandhi and nonviolent resistance : Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) was one of the 20th century's most influential spokesmen for peace and nonviolence, and Gandhism is his body of ideas and principles Gandhi promoted. One of its most important concepts is nonviolent resistance. According to M. M. Sankhdher, Gandhism is not a systematic position in metaphysics or

political philosophy but a political creed, an economic doctrine, a religious outlook, a moral precept, and a humanitarian worldview. An effort not to systematize wisdom but to transform society, it is based on faith in the goodness of human nature.

Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and advocate of nonviolent resistance

Gandhi’s views were criticized in Britain during the Battle of Britain. He told the British people in 1940, “I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for saving you or humanity”. • World War I :

The Deserter (1916), by Boardman Robinson

Although the onset of the First World War was generally greeted with enthusiastic patriotism across Europe, peace groups were active in condemning the war. Many socialist groups and movements were antimilitarist. They argued that by its nature, war was a type of governmental coercion of the working class for the benefit of capitalist elites. In 1915, the League of Nations Society was formed by British liberal leaders to promote a strong international organization which could enforce peaceful conflict resolution. Later that year, the League to Enforce Peace was established in the United States to promote similar goals. Hamilton Holt published “The Way to Disarm: A Practical Proposal”, an editorial in the Independent (his New York City weekly magazine) on September 28, 1914.

A World War I-era peace protester the peace churches, groups which protested against the war included the Woman's Peace Party (organized in 1915 and led by Jane Addams, the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace (ICWPP) (also organized in 1915 the American Union Against Militarism, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the American Friends Service Committee. • Inter War : A popular slogan was “merchants of death” alleging the promotion of war by armaments makers, based on a widely read nonfiction exposé Merchants of Death (1934), by H. C. Engelbrecht and F. C. Hanighen. The immense loss of life during the First World War for what became known as futile reasons caused a sea-change

in public attitudes to militarism. Organizations formed at this time included War Resisters’ International, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the No More War Movement, and the Peace Pledge Union (PPU). The League of Nations convened several disarmament conferences, such as the Geneva Conference. They achieved very little. However the Washington conference of 1921-1922 did successfully limit naval armaments of the major powers during the 1920s.

Refugees from the Spanish Civil War at the War Resisters' International children's refuge in the French Pyrenees

• World War II : At the beginning of World War II, pacifist and anti-war sentiment declined in nations affected by the war. Bertrand Russell said that the necessity of defeating Adolf Hitler and the Nazis was a unique circumstance in which

war was not the worst possible evil, and called his position “relative pacifism”. Albert Einstein wrote, “I loathe all armies and any kind of violence, yet I’m firmly convinced that at present these hateful weapons offer the only effective protection.”

An April 1940 peace strike at the University of California, Berkeley

• Anti Nuclear Movement :

A nuclear fireball during a United States nuclear weapons test Peace movements emerged in Japan, combining in 1954 to form the Japanese Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs. Japanese opposition to the Pacific nuclearweapons tests was widespread, and an “estimated 35 million signatures were collected on petitions calling for bans on nuclear weapons”.

1980 anti-nuclear protest march in Oxford

PEACE MOVEMENTS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES:

• GERMANY Germany developed a strong pacifist movement in the late 19th century; it was suppressed during the Nazi era. After 1945 in East Germany it was controlled by the communist government. During the Cold War (1947–1989), the West German peace movement concentrated on the abolition of nuclear technology (particularly nuclear weapons) from West Germany and Europe. Most activists criticized both the United States and the Soviet Union. According to conservative critics, the movement had been infiltrated by Stasi agents. After 1989, the ideal of peace was espoused by Green parties across Europe. Peace sometimes played a significant role in policy-making; in 2002, the German Greens convinced Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to oppose German involvement in Iraq. The Greens controlled the German Foreign Ministry under Joschka Fischer (a Green, and Germany's most popular politician at the time), who sought to limit German involvement in the war on terror. He joined French President Jacques Chirac, whose opposition was decisive in the UN Security Council resolution to limit support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

1981 protest in Bonn against the nuclear arms race between NATO and the Soviet Union • ISRAEL

Israeli–Palestinian and Arab–Israeli conflicts have existed since the dawn of Zionism, particularly since the 1948 formation of the state of Israel and the 1967 Six-Day War. The mainstream peace movement in Israel is Peace Now (Shalom Akhshav), which tends to support the Labour Party or Merete.

Sweden: Stockholm’s May 2015 Peace and Love Rally through the south side of the city drew hundreds of marchers and celebrants After the 2014 Gaza War, a group of Israeli women founded Women Wage Peace with the goal of reaching a “bilaterally acceptable” peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. Its activities have included a collective hunger strike outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s and a protest march from Northern Israel to Jerusalem. In May 2017, Women Wage Peace had over 20,000 members and supporters. • UNITED KINGDOM :

After World War II, peace efforts in the United Kingdom were initially focused on the dissolution of the British Empire and the rejection of imperialism by the United States and the Soviet Union. The anti-nuclear movement sought to opt out of the Cold War, rejecting “Britain’s Little Independent Nuclear Deterrent” (BLIND) on the grounds that it contradicted mutual assured destruction.

Protesters against the Iraq War in London From 1934 the Peace Pledge Union gained many adherents to its pledge “I renounce war and will never support or sanction another.” Its support diminished considerably with the outbreak of war in 1939, but it remained the focus of pacifism in the post-war years. Blair’s motion to support the U.S. plan to invade Iraq continued due to support from the Conservative Party. Protests against the Iraq War were particularly vocal in Britain. Polls suggested that without UN Security Council approval, the UK public was opposed to involvement.

• UNITED STATES :

Near the end of the Cold War, U.S. peace activists focused on slowing the nuclear arms race in the hope of reducing the possibility of nuclear war between the U.S. and the USSR. As the Reagan administration accelerated military spending and adopted a tough stance toward Russia, the Nuclear Freeze campaign and Beyond War movement sought to educate the public on the inherent risk and ruinous cost of Reagan’s policy.

Anti-war march in St. Paul, Minnesota, March 19, 2011 Outreach to individual citizens in the Soviet Union and mass meetings using satellite-link technology were major parts of peace-making activity during the 1980s. In 1981, the activist Thomas began the longest uninterrupted peace vigil in U.S. history.[91] He was later joined at Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. by anti-nuclear activists Concepción Picciotto and Ellen Thomas.

CONCLUSION :

“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.” ― Aristotle

Peace is the accurate way to maintain love in society. Peace is essential for protecting our society from being damaged. Peace can make our nation healthy, wealthy, and strong. Without peace, It is impossible to imagine a prosperous and developed nation. Peace can be achieved only by mutual understanding. And It is the responsibility of every person to maintain peace in society.