I worked at UCL in Bloomsbury for 23 years and, although I
walked around the campus area to shop, to go to different lecture rooms and
Departments, and for pleasure, I had never visited the garden in Tavistock
Square, just a few hundred metres away from my office. Three days ago, I travelled into London from my home in Berkhamsted for a
meeting and afterwards walked back to Euston Station past Tavistock Square On the spur of the moment, I
decided to pop in and look around this lovely green space. In addition to the lawns
and shrubs, there are interesting trees, including a cherry tree dedicated
to those who were killed by the atomic bomb at Hiroshima and among the monuments in the garden is
an impressive statue of Gandhi. I was drawn to a large stone (see below,
image from Wiki) that had been covered by white carnations, laid out singly in
a rather striking way all over its surface. This stone bore a plaque bearing
the inscriptions:
To commemorate men & women conscientious
objectors to military service all over the world & in every age.
To all those who have established
and are maintaining the right to refuse to kill. Their foresight and courage
give us hope.
This stone was dedicated on 15 May
1994 International Conscientious Objectors’ Day
How interesting, then, that I decided to discover the Tavistock
Square garden on the twenty-fourth anniversary of the day that the monument was unveiled. That
explains the presence of the carnations and I’m only sorry that I couldn’t take
a picture of it at the time (unfortunately, I don’t own a mobile telephone and wasn’t carrying a
camera, or my iPad).
The monument set me thinking about what I would do if
threatened by the need to fight and kill opponents. Firstly, I don’t think that
I could take the life of another human being and, while I have killed mammals
when I was younger, I’m not sure that I could now. That’s not to say that I
respect all life forms, as I’m an enthusiastic killer of wasps and flies when
they invade “my” space and I am an omnivore, so cannot object to killing of
mammals by others. Secondly, I find it difficult to accept that war is
inevitable and that killing opponents results in anything but pain. Of course,
there are victors and vanquished (at great cost on both sides), but settlements
are negotiable without resort to force.
A web search reveals the names of many famous objectors,
especially during the First and Second World Wars, but large
numbers of other citizens, who are less famous, followed their conscience and
beliefs and refused to fight. Among famous conscientious objectors was Kathleen
Lonsdale (see above) and her story has a personal ring for me as she worked for
many years at UCL. She was a distinguished scientist who was raised as a
Baptist (as I was), but became a Quaker as she believed in pacifism. Gill Hudson
writes [1] that:
..Kathleen saw her life as
scientist, Quaker, and mother as inextricably linked. She gave the Eddington
lecture in 1964 and described how the practice of science, of religion, and of
child rearing should be founded on common themes of scepticism and of knowledge
gained at first hand.
She was a firm believer in
Gandhian non-violent resistance and in civil disobedience. During the Second
World War she refused to register for civil defence and when she refused to pay
the fine for this was committed to Holloway prison for one month. Although she
would have been exempt from civil service duties, it seemed important to her
that she should make the point as a conscientious objector.
Not everyone has the courage of Kathleen Lonsdale and the
Peace Pledge Union [2] provides support for conscientious objectors in the
contemporary world.
In thinking about my views on conscientious objection, I
find myself in a quandary. In my last blog post [3], I recalled the tragedy of
the Harrowell brothers, just two of many millions who died prematurely while
fighting for their country. I don’t know if they were enthusiastic volunteers
in the Great War, or whether they were reluctant conscripts, but many would
argue that their deaths, and those of many others, resulted, eventually, in the maintenance of civilised
society. Certainly, many combatants show extraordinary bravery and sacrifice
and I cannot belittle their contribution in allowing me to enjoy my way of
life. However, I still think that I would be a conscientious objector, although
who knows? I just hope that the situation does not arise where I have to make
the choice.
It surprises me that this series of thoughts all came about
after a serendipitous detour into one of London’s squares, while strolling back
to Euston Station to catch the train home. Should it?
[1] Gill Hudson (2010) Lonsdale [née Yardley], Dame Kathleen (1903-1971). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/31376
No comments:
Post a Comment