Letters to the Editor
-
Pacifism
I am a pacifist - my parents were pacifists - and I went to jail instead of serving in the military in 1970. This fact is not important per se, but full disclosure is needed to understand my biases. A few observations:
1- The Allies never gave a damn about the Jews - either before or during the war. Before the war, both the U.S. and Britain refused to allow Jews to emigate/immigrate. Hundreds of thousands - especially German Jews - could have been saved had we been less racist. During the war, we had the capability to bomb the rail lines leading to the death camps in Poland by mid-1943. We did not undertake that effort and more than 2 million Jews were killed after we had that capability.
2- Hitler would not have been possible without the Treaty of Versailles. This was the ultimate case of the victors rewriting history to serve their interests. We still teach our children the fabricated BS that Germany started WWI. It clearly did not. Both Russia and France mobilized their armies, declared war and attacked Germany before Germany did anything.
3- The Palestinians could have gained much by following the examples of Gandhi and King. Once Israel started its program of ethnic cleansing in late 1967, "massive, non-violent non-cooperation" would have been much more effective in bringing world opinion to bear against Israeli settlements, and we might not have the nightmare that exists now.
BTW, there are very few pacifists in the world. Pacifism is opposition to all war for all reasons. The number of actual pacifists in the U.S. is almost certainly less than 0.1%. Finally, just as a note, pacifism doesn't mean opposition to all violence per se - force, including lethal force, is quite acceptable in self defense or defense of one's family. Killing on command is what is not acceptable.
DZ