Forge swords into ploughshares. Where is the peace movement?

This Bible proverb (Isaiah 2:4) has become a guiding principle for me as a non-believer.

Ukraine's ambassador to the Netherlands would like to see Ukrainian men sent back. Dutch Prime Minster Schoof seems to have ears for that, following the views that have long been held by the PVV – Geert Wilder´s one-man party- and politicians of the Farmers and Citizens Party (BBB).

In the 1950s there was a pacifist party in the Netherlands (PSP = Pacifist Socialist Party), which now seems a distant past. Still in my high school days, before I studied Law, there was the Ralph Waver affair. The case of Ralph Waver, an American deserter who sought protection in the Netherlands, contains elements that are topical again today.

In June 1970, Ralph Waver left a U.S. Navy ship in the port of Rotterdam because he became concerned about participating in the war in Vietnam. In Vietnam, the U.S. military and the South Vietnamese regime used methods of combat that undoubtedly qualify as war crimes. The napalm bombing and the severely burned and running girl are etched in world memory.

It turned out that the Netherlands was bound by the NATO Status of Forces Agreement that obliges NATO member states to “transfer” military personnel from another member state, if requested. Thanks to all media attention and political upheaval there was a happy ending for Waver after all: he was eventually granted a residence permit instead of refugee status.

Waver was on the right side of history, just like before the conscientious objectors against the Dutch colonial war in Indonesia.

The question I ask myself is how is it possible that in 2024, so many years after the end of World War II, and despite all the principles laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Yugoslavia Tribunal, the establishment of the International Criminal Court – with seat in The Hague, other Treaties such as the ECHR, it can still be a generally accepted idea that men should fight for their country?

This is clearly echoed in the voices rising in several EU countries, especially on the right, that Ukrainian men should go back to fight for their country, to expose themselves to a real risk of being killed or severely maimed. And to get into situations where they are involved in killing the opponents and civilians against their will, where they may be involved in war crimes.

Here there is no application of a principle of equality, no recognition of a right to life and non-interference in private and family life, NO men are supposed to fight. It is like the Middle Ages when serfs had to go to war for their noblemen, sometimes even bringing a horse or their own weapons! Now we are in the year 2024: is it acceptable to impose on a part of the population, a part of the male population, to make the ultimate sacrifice for the State whose nationality they happen to have by birth?

The war between Russia and Ukraine has traits of a “proxy war.” The warring party on “our” side is encouraged by the USA and other NATO member states, most European Union countries and a public opinion that is told nothing but the need for Ukraine's “final victory.”

How has it come to this? Why are there no diplomatic initiatives to bring an end to this horrific war, starting with a ceasefire? At the time of the war in Bosnia, there was intensive shuttle diplomacy between the capitals of the conflicting sides with many stops in Moscow. Why has that not happened now or been completely abandoned? How often did we see António Guterres or special envoys, in Moscow?

Before our eyes, on our television screens, we see a complete failure of the international community. And, on both sides, the drumbeat and clash of arms goes on and on.

It is almost ironic that at the United Nations headquarters there is a statue donated by the former Soviet Union that depicts the maxim ‘Forge swords into ploughshares´. It is a bronze sculpture by artist Evgeniy Vuchetich and was donated by the USSR to the United Nations on 4 December 1959. ( Let Us Beat Swords Into Ploughshares | United Nations Gifts )

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” is a statement attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, which even if there is no evidence for the literal use of these words by Gandhi, it sums up his thinking.

If world leaders are blind, the Security Council paralyzed, and international law powerless, let us have an eye for the human side. We should not allow any person to be forced to participate in a horrific war in which there are untold casualties on both sides, and suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity. Those who oppose it deserve understanding and support. Deserters or conscientious objectors, Russian and Ukrainian, are beacons of hope.

Without individual acts, without courage, the world will continue to be plagued by wars and the purposes of the United Nations will continue to fade further and further out of sight, the edifice of the United Nations threatens to crumble.

Unfortunately, little seems to be expected from the left for a peace movement. In the Netherlands the social-democrat and green-left parties, allied as GL-PvdA, are caught in the mantra of “More support for Ukraine” and “Russia must not win this war.” According to GL-PvdA, the Netherlands should even take the lead within the EU, increase defence spending, and there is not a word about the human cost of going to war or how our societies are changing because of the revived war thinking.

Where is the peace movement?

Recent elections in German states and in Austria have brought great electoral successes for populist parties. Not only because of ethical principles, but also electorally a reorientation of the social democratic and green parties is urgent.