Letters - 11 March 2022
From Pacifism to Come-to-Good
Pacifism
The Russian invasion of Ukraine distresses us beyond words, as we have made many working visits there, most recently in 2019, and have dear friends in several of the cities under attack.
In past situations we have sometimes heard a Friend say: ‘I can’t remain a pacifist over this!’ That is surely misguided. Pacifism is not opting out; as with medicine, the bigger the emergency, the more our principles and practice are needed. To abandon them under pressure recalls the seedling which ‘withered away because it had no root’ (Matthew 13:6).
But we need to give up wishful thinking if it forms any part of our pacifism, and be realists. We recommend a particularly clear and hard-headed article on the situation at https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/02/28/world-war-iii-already-there-00012340.
Diana & John Lampen
lampen@hopeproject.co.uk
Military expenditure
Our politicians acknowledge that, for all the rehearsed reasons, the west is impotent when it comes to stopping Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine.
There is one action the west could take that would affect the ability of all counties to wage unprovoked war on a peaceful neighbour. The global economic system should be reformed to accurately measure all military expenditure as a negative contribution to wealth creation that adversely affects the value of international currencies, global living standards, the natural world and, above all, life itself.
Geoff Naylor
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