Skip to main content

Conscientious objectors day 15th May 2015

Conscientious Objectors commemoration stone, Tavistock Sq, London (All Pic Hina Pandya Copyright res)

Friday was a really busy day for me, but not so busy that I didn't spare a thought for the conscientious objectors that declined to fight in the war.
In war sometimes people were conscripted, it wasn't a choice to go and fight, you were required to 'do what was right' for your country...
Of course the men who declined to fight were ridiculed and looked down upon, many saw their choice as pure cowardice, and the term 'white feather' was used to describe such men in WW1 and WW2.
Little white tags say the names of the objectors
Some might say their refusal to go to war, to kill another person has such humanity in it, so much hope.
So in the midst all of all the recent celebrations we've had of the fallen on Victory day and Liberation day it seemed fitting that I visited the 'conscientious objectors' memorial in Tavistock Square, which also happens to be right opposite the BMA where the bus was blown up on 7/7.

People had laid long stemmed white roses and white carnation flowers around and on this large stone seemingly just placed at the edge of a large patch of grass. Each has a little tag tied around it, naming the person that was a conscientious objector of the time.

It should be said that many of these men and women, though refused to fight in WW1 did fight in WW2 because they saw more of a cause to fight for.
It takes courage to stand up for what you believe, whether it means to go and fight in a war you believe in or to refuse to fight because you don't want to kill.
I think it's important to recognise this.
The inscription on the stone says: "TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE ESTABLISHED AND MAINTAINED THE RIGHT TO REFUSE TO KILL. Their foresight and courage give us hope."
for those all over the world and throughout all times of war and fighting
Around the edge it says: TO COMMEMORATE MEN AND WOMEN CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS TO MILITARY SERVICE ALL OVER THE WORLD AND EVERY AGE"



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Real (dead) Mammoth in the Flesh at the Natural History Museum

Today the Natural History Museum (NHM) exhibits the actual remains of a Mammoth, a baby Mammoth named Lyuba (pronounced Loo-ba, meaning Love). Perfectly preserved due to the bacteria surrounding her after she accidentally choked to death, she was found by herders in 2007. She's  been compared to the size of a 'large dog', and now hovers in a glass dark box in the middle of the NHM's new exhibition 'Mammoths, Ice Age Giants' . Emotive eyes As it's so well preserved scientists are still learning about it everyday; DNA samples have been removed and examined, what they know already is she died with some of her mothers milk still in her tummy. It doesn't get more personal than that, does it? I have to say as it's a rolling exhibit and Lyuba belongs to The Yamal-Nenents Regional Museum- Siberia, near where she was found; to see her in the 'flesh' as it were is truly a once in a lifetime thing. Personally I feel it is pretty impress...
Post a Comment
Read more

Anarchy in the UK

Post a Comment
Read more

The Great Fire! Fire! of London 1666-2016

You've heard the nursery rhyme, "London's burning, London's Burning.. fetch the engines, fetch the engines. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Pour on water, pour on water" Well, it was no nursery rhyme. It was a true story... Barge on Thames w Shard in background. Pic Credit Hina Pandya 2016©️ Walking down the river on the 1st of September, I came across this barge by Blackfriars bridge and near the Temple buildings, if that walk wasn't beautiful enough, this barge appeared and shows the beautiful skyline of London in 1666, when of course the great fire of London happened. It started across the river in Bakers Lane and destroyed much of London, to be rebuilt and of course took many lives, but it also took the lives of the plague infested rats that spread disease to people like wildfire, if you'll pardon the pun. Close up of the skyline of London in 1666. Pic Credit Hina Pandya2016©️ It also created The Monument - another landmark of London also...
Post a Comment
Read more