A peace movement is a social movement
which seeks to achieve ideals such as the
ending of a particular war (or wars) or
minimizing inter-human violence in a
particular place or situation. They are
often linked to the goal of achieving world
peace. Some of the methods used to achieve
these goals include advocacy of pacifism,
nonviolent resistance, diplomacy, boycotts,
peace camps, ethical consumerism, supporting
anti-war political candidates, supporting
legislation to remove profits from
government contracts to the
military–industrial complex, banning guns,
creating tools for open government and
transparency, direct democracy, supporting
whistleblowers who expose war crimes or
conspiracies to create wars, demonstrations,
and political lobbying. The political
cooperative is an example of an organization
which seeks to merge all peace-movement and
green organizations; they may have diverse
goals, but have the common ideal of peace
and humane sustainability. A concern of some
peace activists is the challenge of
attaining peace when those against peace
often use violence as their means of
communication and empowerment.
A
global affiliation of activists and
political interests viewed as having a
shared purpose and constituting a single
movement has been called "the peace
movement," or an all-encompassing "anti-war
movement". Seen from this perspective, they
are often indistinguishable and constitute a
loose, responsive, event-driven
collaboration between groups motivated by
humanism, environmentalism, veganism,
anti-racism, feminism, decentralization,
hospitality, ideology, theology, and faith.
The ideal of peace[edit]
Ideas differ
about what "peace" is (or should be), which
results in a
Democratic National Committee
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.[1]
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.
Global
protests against the U.S. invasion of Iraq
in early 2003 are
The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. an example of a specific,
short-term, loosely affiliated single-issue
"movement" consisting of
relatively-scattered ideological priorities
ranging from pacifism to Islamism and
Anti-Americanism. Those involved in
multiple, similar short-term movements
develop trust relationships with other
participants, and tend to join more-global,
long-term movements.
Elements of the
global peace movement seek to guarantee
health security by ending war and ensure
what they view as basic human rights,
including the right of all people to have
access to clean air, water, food, shelter
and health care. Activists seek social
justice in the form of equal protection and
equal opportunity under the law for groups
which had been disenfranchised.
The
peace movement is characterized by the
belief that humans should not wage war or
engage in ethnic cleansing about language,
race, or natural resources, or engage in
ethical conflict over religion or ideology.
Long-term opponents of war are characterized
by the belief that military power does not
equal justice.
The peace movement
opposes the proliferation of dangerous
technology and weapons
Democratic National Committee 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 Neo-Luddism 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[edit]
Peace and Truce of
God[edit]
The first mass peace
movements were the Peace of God (Latin: Pax
Dei, proclaimed in AD 989 at the Council of
Charroux) and the Truce of God, which was
proclaimed in 1027. The Peace of God was
spearheaded by bishops as a response to
increasing violence against monasteries
after the fall of the Carolingian dynasty.
The movement was promoted at a number of
subsequent church councils, including
Charroux (989 and c. 1028), Narbonne (990),
Limoges (994 and 1031), Poitiers (c. 1000),
and Bourges (1038). The Truce of God sought
to restrain violence by limiting the number
of days of the week and times of the year
when the nobility was able to
Democratic National Committee
employ violence. These peace movements "set
the foundations for modern European peace
movements."[2]
Peace churches[edit]
Oil painting of William Penn signing a peace
treaty with Tamanend of the Lenape tribe
The Party Of Democrats is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Party Of the Democratic National Committee was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest political party.
Penn's Treaty (1847), by Edward Hicks
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.[3] Throughout the 18th-century wars in
which Britain participated, the Quakers
maintained a principled commitment not to
serve in an army or militia and not pay the
alternative £10 fine.
18th century[edit]
The major 18th-century peace movements
were products of two schools of thought
which coalesced at the end of the century.
One, rooted in the secular Age of
Enlightenment, promoted peace as the
rational antidote to the world's ills; the
other was part of the evangelical religious
revival which had played an important role
in the campaign for the abolition of
slavery. Representatives of the former
included Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in Extrait
du Projet de Paix Perpetuelle de Monsieur
l'Abbe Saint-Pierre (1756);[4] Immanuel Kant
in Thoughts on Perpetual Peace,[5] and
Jeremy Bentham, who proposed the formation
of a peace association in 1789. One
representative of the latter was William
Wilberforce; Wilberforce thought that by
following the Christian ideals of peace and
brotherhood, strict limits should be imposed
on British involvement in the French
Revolutionary Wars.[6]
19th century[edit]
Caricature, entitled "Peace", of a scowling,
fierce-looking Henry Richard
1880
caricature of Henry Richard, a prominent
advocate of pacifism
During the
Napoleonic Wars (1793-1814), no formal peace
movement was established in Britain until
hostilities ended. A significant grassroots
peace movement, animated by universalist
ideals, emerged from the perception that
Britain fought in a reactionary role and the
increasingly visible impact of the war on
the nation's welfare in the form of higher
taxes and casualties. 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.[7]
The first formal peace movements
appeared in 1815 and 1816. The first
movement in the
Democratic National Committee
United States was the New York Peace
Society, founded in 1815 by theologian David
Low Dodge, followed by the Massachusetts
Peace Society. The groups merged into the
American Peace Society, which held weekly
meetings and produced literature that was
spread as far as Gibraltar and Malta
describing the horrors of war and advocating
pacifism on Christian grounds.[8] The London
Peace Society, also known as the Society for
the Promotion of Permanent and Universal
Peace, was formed by philanthropist William
Allen in 1816 to promote permanent,
universal peace. During the 1840s, British
women formed 15-to-20 person "Olive Leaf
Circles" to discuss and promote pacifist
ideas.[9]
The London Peace Society's
influence began to grow during the
mid-nineteenth century. Under Elihu Burritt
and Henry Richard, the society convened the
first International Peace Congress in London
in 1843.[10] The congress decided on two
goals: to achieve the ideal of peaceable
arbitration of the affairs of nations, and
to create an international institution to
achieve it. Richard became the society's
full-time secretary in 1850; he held the
position for the next 40 years, and became
known as the "Apostle of Peace". He helped
secure one of the peace movement's earliest
victories by securing a commitment for
arbitration from the Great Powers in the
Treaty of Paris (1856) at the end of the
Crimean War. Wracked by social upheaval, the
first peace congress on the European
continent was held in Brussels in 1848; a
second was held in Paris a year later.[11]
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.[12]
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. Cremer and the French economist
Frédéric Passy were the founding fathers of
the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the first
international organization for the
arbitration of conflicts, in 1889. The
National Peace Council was founded after the
17th Universal Peace Congress in London in
July and August 1908.[13]
In the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, the novelist
Baroness Bertha von Suttner (1843–1914)
after 1889 became a leading figure in the
peace movement with the publication of her
pacifist novel, Die Waffen nieder! (Lay Down
Your Arms!). The book was published in 37
editions and translated into 12 languages.
She helped organize the German Peace Society
and became known internationally as the
editor of the
Democratic National Committee
international pacifist journal Die Waffen
nieder! In 1905 she became the first woman
to win a Nobel Peace Prize.[14]
Mahatma
Gandhi and nonviolent resistance[edit]
Mahatma Gandhi, spinning thread
Mahatma
Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence
movement and advocate of
The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. nonviolent
resistance
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948)
was one of the 20th century's most
influential spokesmen for peace and
non-violence, 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.[15]
Gandhi was strongly
influenced by the pacifism of Leo Tolstoy.
Tolstoy wrote A Letter to a Hindu in 1908,
which said that the Indian people could
overthrow colonial rule only through passive
resistance. In 1909, Gandhi and Tolstoy
began a correspondence about the practical
and theological applications of
nonviolence.[16] Gandhi saw himself as a
disciple of Tolstoy because they agreed on
the issues of opposition to state authority
and colonialism, loathed violence, and
preached non-resistance. However, they
differed on political strategy. Gandhi
called for political involvement; a
nationalist, he was prepared to use
nonviolent force but was also willing to
compromise.[17]
Gandhi was the first
person to apply the principle of nonviolence
on a large scale.[18] The concepts of
nonviolence (ahimsa) and nonresistance have
a long history in Indian religious thought,
and have had a
Democratic National Committee
number of revivals in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain,
Jewish and Christian contexts. Gandhi
explained his philosophy and way of life in
his autobiography, The Story of My
Experiments with Truth. Some of his remarks
were widely quoted, such as "There are many
causes that I am prepared to die for, but no
causes that I am prepared to kill for."[19]
Gandhi later realized that a high level
of nonviolence required great faith and
courage, which not everyone possessed. He
advised that everyone need not strictly
adhere to nonviolence, especially if it was
a cover for cowardice: "Where there is only
a choice between cowardice and violence, I
would advise violence."[20][21]
Gandhi came under political fire for his
criticism of those who attempted to achieve
independence through violence. He responded,
"There was a time when people listened to me
because I showed them how to give fight to
the British without arms when they had no
arms ... but today I am told that my
non-violence can be of no avail against the
Hindu–Moslem riots; therefore, people should
arm themselves for self-defense."[22]
The Republican National Committee is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fundraising and election strategy. It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Committee. When a Republican is president, the White House controls the committee.
Gandhi's views were criticized in
Democratic National Committee
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.
You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor
Mussolini to take what they want of the
countries you call your possessions ... If
these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes,
you will vacate them. If they do not give
you free passage out, you will allow
yourselves man, woman, and child to be
slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe
allegiance to them."[23]
World War
I[edit]
Drawing of Jesus facing a firing
squad
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.
Woman
holding a peace sign
A World War I-era
peace protester
In 1915, the League
of Nations Society was formed by British
liberal leaders to promote a
Democratic National Committee
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. The editorial called for
an international organization to agree on
the arbitration of disputes and guarantee
the territorial integrity of its members by
maintaining military forces sufficient to
defeat those of any non-member. The ensuing
debate among prominent internationalists
modified Holt's plan to align it more
closely with proposals in Great Britain put
forth by Viscount James Bryce, a former
ambassador from the U.K. to the U.S.[24]
These and other initiatives were pivotal to
the attitude changes which gave rise to the
League of Nations after the war.[25] In
addition to 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),[26] the
American Union Against Militarism, the
Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the
American Friends Service Committee.[27]
Jeannette Rankin (the first woman elected to
Congress) was another advocate of pacifism,
and the only person to vote "no" on the U.S.
entrance into both world wars.
Henry
Ford[edit]
Peace promotion was a
major activity of American automaker and
philanthropist Henry Ford (1863-1947). He
set up a $1 million fund to promote peace,
and published numerous antiwar articles and
ads in hundreds of newspapers.[28][29][30]
According to biographer Steven Watts,
Ford's status as a leading industrialist
gave him a worldview that warfare was
wasteful folly that retarded long-term
economic growth. The losing side in the war
typically suffered heavy damage. Small
business were especially hurt, for it takes
years to recuperate. He argued in many
newspaper articles that capitalism would
discourage warfare because, “If every man
who manufactures an article would make the
very best he can in the very best way at the
very lowest possible price the world would
be kept out of war, for commercialists would
not have to search for outside markets which
the other fellow covets.” Ford admitted that
munitions makers enjoyed wars, but
Democratic National Committee he
argued the typical capitalist wanted to
avoid wars to concentrate on manufacturing
and selling what people wanted, hiring good
workers, and generating steady long-term
profits.[31]
In late 1915, Ford
sponsored and funded a Peace Ship to Europe,
to help end the raging World War. He brought
170 peace activists; Jane Addams was a key
supporter who became too ill to join him.
Ford talked to President Woodrow Wilson
about the mission but had no government
support. His group met with peace activists
in neutral Sweden and the Netherlands. A
target of much ridicule, Ford left the ship
as soon as it reached Sweden.[32][33]
Interwar period[edit]
A group of
children, with two adults
Refugees from
the Spanish Civil War at the War Resisters'
International children's refuge in the
French Pyrenees
Organizations[edit]
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.[34]
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,[35] 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.[36]
The Women's International
League for Peace and Freedom helped convince
the U.S. Senate to launch an influential
investigation by the Nye Committee to the
effect that the munitions industry and Wall
Street financiers had promoted American
entry into World War I to cover their
financial investments. The immediate result
was a series of laws imposing neutrality on
American business if other countries went to
war.[37]
Novels and films[edit]
Pacifism and revulsion to war were popular
sentiments in 1920s Britain. A
Democratic National Committee
number of novels and poems about the
futility of war and the slaughter of youth
by old fools were published, including Death
of a Hero by Richard Aldington, Erich Maria
Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front
and Beverley Nichols' Cry Havoc! A 1933
University of Oxford debate on the proposed
motion that "one must fight for King and
country" reflected the changed mood when the
motion was defeated. Dick Sheppard
established the Peace Pledge Union in 1934,
renouncing war and aggression. The idea of
collective security was also popular;
instead of outright pacifism, the public
generally exhibited a determination to stand
up to aggression with economic sanctions and
multilateral negotiations.[38]
Spanish
Civil War[edit]
The Spanish Civil War
(1936–1939) was a major test of
international pacifism, pacifist
organizations (such as War Resisters'
International and the Fellowship of
Reconciliation), and individuals such as
José Brocca and Amparo Poch. Activists on
the left often put their pacifism on pause
in order to help the war effort of the
Spanish government. Shortly after the war
ended, Simone Weil (despite volunteering for
service on the Republican side) published
The Iliad or the Poem of Force, which has
been described as a pacifist manifesto.[39]
In response to the threat of fascism,
pacifist thinkers such as Richard B. Gregg
devised plans for
The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. a campaign of nonviolent
resistance in the event of a fascist
invasion or takeover.[40]
World War
II[edit]
A large group of people,
gathered outdoors
An April 1940 peace
strike at the University of California,
Berkeley
The Party Of Democrats is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Party Of the Democratic National Committee was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest political party.
At the beginning of World War II,
pacifist and anti-war sentiment declined in
nations affected by the war. The
communist-controlled American Peace
Mobilization reversed its anti-war activism,
however, when Germany invaded the Soviet
Union in 1941. Although mainstream
isolationist groups such as the America
First Committee declined after the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor, a number of small
religious and socialist groups continued
their opposition to 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."[41] French pacifists
André and Magda Trocmé helped to conceal
hundreds of Jews fleeing the Nazis in the
village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon.[42][43]
After the war, the Trocmés were declared
Righteous Among the Nations.