Like many, I find the damage done to residential blocks of flats and attacks on energy and water infrastructure wrong. The civilians in war zones rarely have the power to stop their rulers fighting neighbouring states or distant states, regardless of who ‘started it’. Of course civilians have always been hurt or killed in war, in collateral damage. I think that since WW2 the number of civilian casualties is a higher proportion of the total casualties.
Sadly, now it seems that it is accepted by some significant powers that direct attacks on civilians and their mass displacement is OK.
It isn’t.
I’m even sadder that the UN Security Council, thanks in a large part to the veto power of some states to quash resolutions of condemnation, gives the appearance that this behaviour is OK.
It isn’t.
Over the past few weeks, I have read three books about women in war. The Bookbinder of Jericho (Pip Williams) is set in WW1 Oxford and Women of Steel (Michelle Rowbotham) is factual and tells many stories of the women who volunteered or were conscripted to work in the forges and metalworks in the Sheffield area during WW2.
What struck me about both was how the feeling of being threatened by external forces bound local communities together and led to people stepping up and doing things they wouldn’t normally consider. For example, women who could sew took work dungarees up and in to fit the women who wore them. Their main fear was what the war was doing to those who were fighting on their behalf. There was a sense of ‘it is what it is’ and we just need to make the best of it.
The third book, City of Women (David Gilliam) is set in WW2 Berlin and was bleak and dark. In that book the women feared Nazi neighbours as much, if not more than the enemy. Civilians disappeared into prisons on the basis of accusations without trial. The same community spirit was not evident. It was each one for themselves.
I therefore applaud our politicians who regularly speak out for tolerance and remind us that we are a people who have welcomed so many others to live here over thousands of centuries. They abhor those who seek to spread division and hatred in our country.
I hope that each of us, in our own way, finds the confidence to quietly tell any friend and family member who veers towards supporting divisive views that we disagree with them because we are Christian and we follow the example of Jesus who welcomed the stranger and helped the marginalised.
We are many, the Pope is one, if we are all seen and heard talking about tolerance and living in diverse communities the world will be a better place.
-----------
As an aside, a result of the Sheffield Star newspaper collecting the stories of the women of steel was a collection and now there is a bronze statue of two women dressed as steel workers in Sheffield city centre. Personally I wonder how much their acceptance that they lost their jobs when the men returned from fighting underpinned the Women’s Lib movement in the 60s leading to Equality Acts in the mid 70s. I’m old enough to have joined the workforce knowing I could be sacked for getting engaged, married or pregnant!
For anyone watching or reading the news, we are in one of the most worrying times since the end of the Cold War. Awful and destructive conflict in Gaza and the West Bank, along with regular attacks across the Middle East in the likes of Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Then there is the ongoing nightmare of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with day after day of deadly drone attacks and grinding battles on a front across southern Ukraine.
And there are many conflicts elsewhere that rarely make the headlines in the likes of Myanmar, Sudan, Ethiopia and terrorist insurgencies across many countries, such as Christians regularly being killed in Nigeria by followers of the group Boko Haram, inevitably creating then revenge attacks.
At the same time, the threat of major conflict outside Ukraine has seen all NATO members, under significant American pressure, start raising their defence budgets markedly, most pledging that 5% of national GDP will go on defence expenditure. In the UK this sees billions planned for our Trident nuclear weapons programme, on developing other weapons of mass destruction such as drones, new warplanes and cyber warfare.
As a keen reader of history, I find this current period one of the most turbulent and scary, particularly as the ‘rules based order’ of diplomacy has been dumped by the likes of President Trump and President Putin.
On the other side of this, actively demonstrating opposition to such actions has become more difficult. The previous government brought in legislation making peaceful demonstration much more challenging – in an unnecessary kneejerk response to the likes of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil – and the current government have followed up in their recent ban of the group Palestine Action, prescribing them in the same manner as a terrorist group.
So, what should be our response as Christians to all of this pain and misery? An obvious response by many people is to try and ignore it in a feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness. It is immensely hard to watch the daily news and see all this thoughtless death and destruction.
But we need to ponder daily what Jesus would do, and I think he would want us always to stand up and be counted. But what to do?
I have some Catholic Christian friends who have got heavily involved in some non-violent direct action, some being arrested for supporting Palestine Action, or doing some more militant action as part of the campaign to tackle climate change. If your conscience allows that, and you can deal with any of the consequences that comes from that, then stand up for what you believe in.
Certainly, go on one of the regular demonstrations supporting the Palestinians, and do get involved in the climate change movement in many different ways, big and small. And join groups like Pax Christi, Sabeel International or the many local groups supporting Ukrainians living in the region.
Taking effective action reduces the feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness and you are actively standing up for peace and justice. But do be careful with yourself, take care with your mental health as these issues can really overwhelm you.
Just as important can be to write to your MP telling them that doing nothing is no option. Call them to stand up and be counted. Recent rebellions over welfare policy came about as MPs knew the high levels of public discontent, so it is a much more valuable tool than sometimes we think it is. And continue to get involved supporting foodbanks, assisting refugee and asylum seekers groups with practical aid and financial support.
Never be afraid to speak out either, it is again what Jesus would do. But do be aware not everyone is as clued in to these issues as other, and try and educate them with wisdom and kindness, even when that can feel very hard to do.
And above all, keep these people in your hearts, minds and prayers.
As Jesus says to the disciples:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:10 – 11).
As this lovely prayer from St Jane Frances de Chantal says:
“Every person is a child of God, who loves them infinitely: it is, therefore, impossible to want to love God, without loving human beings – the more one loves God, the more one loves people. The love of God, the love of people, is my whole life; it will be my whole life, I hope.”
That is the hope I hold on to in these challenging and hard times. Jesus insisted on saying blessed is the peacemaker, as we are true sons and daughters of God.
By loving our neighbour, challenging them where we need to, and standing up for those that ask for our help, we can make a difference, and do what our faith tells us to do.
Tim is a member of the Leeds Diocese pax Christi group and has recently stood down as chair of MAW (The Movement for the Abolition of War).
It was Bruce Kent who first got me involved in the war/climate breakdown issue. I had been a member of CND and Pax Christi since the 70s, and Bruce recruited me to the Movement for the Abolition of War committee. One of MAW’s campaigns is Climate Change and Military Emissions – we’ve made a DVD about it!
I assume everyone knows the basic mechanism of climate breakdown – if you need a refresher, view Climate Change 101 by the masterly Bill Nye, Science Guy, made in 2015. He explains it in just four minutes!
"The Earth's temperature it is estimated to have gotten 1.2 to 1.4o Fahrenheit warmer in just the last Century. Ten out of the last thirteen years were the warmest on record."
In November 2015, a group of MAW members went to Paris for COP21. This was where the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was hammered out. As we stood under the Eiffel Tower, we wanted to make sure our banner was seen by delegates and the public alike.
How does war contributes to climate change?
“The elephant in the kitchen when it comes to Climate Change is clearly the world’s military. The world spends something like 2 trillion US dollars a year on its military. At least half of that vast sum goes on military production with a massive CO2 output. The military are both a major cause of climate change and hence, of the conflicts which result from the movement of peoples as deserts spread.” Bruce Kent
The trouble is, much of this is not reported - US negotiators managed to exclude military greenhouse gas emissions at the 1997 Kyoto climate conference. In Paris 2015, it was agreed that countries no longer have automatic exemption but neither are they obliged to declare military emissions.
As Mark Carney remarked, “What gets measured gets managed” Disclosure is only the first step towards the real goal: reduction of these emissions.
How does climate change cause war?
The example of Syria illustrates this all too forcefully.
“Before the [Syrian Civil] war began, an extraordinary drought caused 75% of Syria's farms to fail and 85% of livestock to die between 2006 and 2011, according to the United Nations. That drought also triggered a wave of migrants searching for jobs in urban areas, spreading instability throughout the country… The war has killed around half a million people, and displaced around 11 million others. It has utterly destroyed the country’s infrastructure”
“Over the past 10 years, weather-related disasters have caused 220 million internal displacements – approximately 60,000 displacements per day. By 2040, the number of countries facing extreme climate-related hazards is expected to rise from three to 65, the majority of which are hosting displaced populations.”
Sometimes, we can't see the way to our destination and are beset by difficulties, but if we can just keep going, we'll get there!!
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How does climate change cause war?