Thought for the Week: Lions and donkeys
David Boulton reflects on International Conscientious Objectors Day
Next Thursday, 15 May, is International Conscientious Objectors Day, which this year has special significance as the nationwide centennial commemorations of the first world war get underway. London’s Tavistock Square, home of the memorial to Conscientious Objectors (COs), will be filled with peace activists, including many descendants of the 16,600 men who defied the Military Service Act of 1916 – the lions who refused to be led by donkeys. Just round the corner, Friends House will be hosting a series of events celebrating the courage of the young men, some only teenagers, who defied the warfare state and fought for the right not to kill. As Priyamvada Gopal wrote in the Guardian recently: ‘They did so in the face of enormous social disapproval and institutional pressures… Fighting for peace earned you anything from vitriolic accusations of cowardice and treachery to job loss, state-abetted mob attacks, arrest, imprisonment, hard labour, courts-martial, show trials and even execution orders… Their sacrifices must not go unsung.’
