Latest news with #pacifism
Wall Street Journal
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
What Motivated Murray Kempton's Pacifism?
I'm grateful to Charles Lane for reviewing 'Going Around,' the collection of Murray Kempton's journalism that I edited (Bookshelf, June 3). I think it would please Kempton to be remembered so fondly in the Journal, 'whose editorials shine the shoes and press the trousers of American enterprise,' he once wrote, 'and whose news staff undresses American business down to the follies and frauds blotching its naked skin.' That was a compliment. He was a loyal reader. Yet I have to risk discourtesy to Mr. Lane, who praised my 'intellectual honesty,' by hazarding a word in defense of Kempton's youthful noninterventionism. As Mr. Lane points out, Kempton's pacifism in the 1930s and early '40s reflected a dreadful misapprehension—genuine myopia—of what it would take to stop Hitler. But the left-wing version of noninterventionism that he and his radical cohort espoused was rooted in what was essentially a humane drive to avoid the calamity of another world war and the permanent elision of the New Deal's welfare state into a national-security 'warfare state.'
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
When students say they will never fight for Britain, don't believe them
In 1933, there was a famous Oxford Union debate motion, which was later called the Oxford Pledge: 'That this House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country.' It passed: 275 people voted for the motion and 153 against it. Hitler's decision-making, Churchill later believed, was affected by the motion. This illustrates what an odious a signal of British decadence and nihilism it sent. Six years earlier, a motion at Cambridge had been proposed: 'That lasting peace can only be secured by the people of England adopting an uncompromising attitude of pacifism,' which passed by 213 votes to 138. Churchill's scathing words about the Oxford motion are eerily relevant: 'That abject, squalid, shameless avowal,' he called it. 'It is a very disquieting and disgusting symptom.' But it soon became apparent that it was youthful talk. When Britain went to war with Germany, almost all eligible Oxford students reported for duty, many losing their lives, a sacrifice still commemorated on VE Day. This year, more than most, one felt anxious on VE Day, in part due to the doubt over whether it is still the case that cometh the hour, cometh the Lefty student-turned-soldier. A major survey this year revealed that only 11 per cent of people in their late teens and 20s would fight for their country. Gen Z is anything but tough, valorous or patriotic. And yet. The aggressive, destructive passivism of the Oxbridge students of a century ago was just the same as it is today, albeit far more literate. History doesn't repeat itself exactly but it gives us perspective, reminding us to temper our disapproval of the young'uns with faith. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
When students say they will never fight for Britain, don't believe them
In 1933, there was a famous Oxford Union debate motion, which was later called the Oxford Pledge: 'That this House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country.' It passed: 275 people voted for the motion and 153 against it. Hitler's decision-making, Churchill later believed, was affected by the motion. This illustrates what an odious a signal of British decadence and nihilism it sent. Six years earlier, a motion at Cambridge had been proposed: 'That lasting peace can only be secured by the people of England adopting an uncompromising attitude of pacifism,' which passed by 213 votes to 138. Churchill's scathing words about the Oxford motion are eerily relevant: 'That abject, squalid, shameless avowal,' he called it. 'It is a very disquieting and disgusting symptom.' But it soon became apparent that it was youthful talk. When Britain went to war with Germany, almost all eligible Oxford students reported for duty, many losing their lives, a sacrifice still commemorated on VE Day. This year, more than most, one felt anxious on VE Day, in part due to the doubt over whether it is still the case that cometh the hour, cometh the Lefty student-turned-soldier. A major survey this year revealed that only 11 per cent of people in their late teens and 20s would fight for their country. Gen Z is anything but tough, valorous or patriotic. And yet. The aggressive, destructive passivism of the Oxbridge students of a century ago was just the same as it is today, albeit far more literate.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Survivor of the Siege of Leningrad: 'I am a pacifist'
Survivor of the Siege of Leningrad: 'I am a pacifist' Fanny Braun, 97, has been a lifelong pacifist since surviving the Leningrad blockade (Nikita BORISSOV) (Nikita BORISSOV/AFP/AFP) Surviving the hunger and devastation of the Nazi siege of Leningrad during World War II has made 97-year-old Russian Fanny Braun a lifelong pacifist. Braun was forced to eat scraps of leaves as a teenager, saw relatives die of hunger -- before losing her own mother from complications caused by starvation after the siege. Her father was killed in combat. Now decades later, like other Russian World War II survivors, she is forced to relive her trauma by watching the news of the conflict in Ukraine. Three years into its Ukraine campaign, the Kremlin is preparing to celebrate on Friday the 80th anniversary of the victory over the Nazis -- but in the shadow of war. ADVERTISEMENT Peace efforts by the United States to end fighting in Ukraine have so far not yielded results despite intensifying talks. Braun watches the news from Ukraine with tears in her eyes. "I am a pacifist. I am against all wars in general, especially pointless wars," she told AFP in her home outside Moscow. The conflict has reawakened traumas she spent her life battling. Braun stopped short of criticising the Kremlin, which launched the offensive in February 2022. "Why are Ukrainians killing Russians? Why are Russians killing Ukrainians? We should live in peace," she said. - 'Dirty leaves' for soup - The Siege of Leningrad -- the Soviet-era name of Saint Petersburg -- began in September 1941 and lasted 872 days. It was the longest siege in modern history until the encirclement of Sarajevo in the 1990s. ADVERTISEMENT Between 600,000 and 1.5 million people died in Leningrad -- most from hunger. Braun recalled queueing all night with her sister in the hope of getting bread. Even if they did, they would get a mere 125 grams (4.5 ounces) each. The family was forced to look for scraps of cabbage in the suburbs of the city. "After the cabbages had been taken from their beds, we would collect these horrible, dirty remnants of the leaves and whatever was left on the ground. And then we'd pickle it all and make some kind of soup," she recalled. She lived with her mother, her two aunts and cousins, while the men of the family were fighting at the front. The famine in the city started in November 1941. "Our neighbour was the first to die," she recalled. Then her baby cousin died. "She had no chance to survive, her mother had no more milk." ADVERTISEMENT But, as a 14-year-old, Braun did not see things "as tragically" as the adults and also remembered her teenage thrills. "One day, in November 1941, we ran under fire towards a culture club on the Moika River," she reminisced, saying they went to see an operetta known as "The Gipsy Princess" by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalman. "It was amazing." - Evacuation - Still, like a whole generation in Europe, the war cut short her youth. There was no food, electricity or water and the first winter of the siege was particularly bitter in a city known for its severe cold. And as she recalled how her family burned wood to keep warm, she remembered another grim moment. "When there was nothing to eat and nothing to buy, my aunt decided to poison us with carbon monoxide so that we would all die at once." ADVERTISEMENT She added: "It was harder to die slowly (of hunger). In the end she didn't go through with it." Almost a million people were evacuated from Leningrad between 1941 and 1943 through the giant Ladoga Lake, which came under regular German fire. For many, what was meant to be a "road of life" turned into a "road of death". Braun's family was finally evacuated in June 1942. But many evacuees later died as a consequence of the severe hunger they had suffered. One of those was Braun's mother. The Siege of Leningrad ended on January 27, 1944. While the city had suffered vast destruction, it was never captured -- turning it into a symbol of Soviet resistance. bur/jj/jhb
