The Heartbreaking Testimonies From These Kids Prove There’s No Glory In War

In this video by In the Now, children worlds apart – from the UK, the US, Palestine, Ukraine and Syria– are asked what war means to them. Some of the responses are heart-wrenching, others are blissfully ignorant, but when taken as a whole they demonstrate two important things.

First, kids are generally more rational and compassionate than grown-ups. I often wonder whether we’d stand a much better chance of attaining global peace if we replaced the muppets at the United Nations with a security council made up of seven year-olds, and one adorable interviewee in this video demonstrates why it might not be such a far-fetched idea after all.

“They just want to kill each other and I don’t know why,” an English boy tells the camera, with a puzzled look on his face. “It’s the hardest question in the world.” It certainly is. But don’t worry young man, even world leaders who take us to war can’t justify it, either. At least, not without inventing elaborate and sinister lies to drum up public support for their illegal actions.

This video also illustrates how those of us privileged enough to live in peace can hardly imagine the true cost of war. Sure, we know it’s brutal. We know civilians die, we know soldiers come back in body bags, we know there’s blood and noise and terror. But only a few brave soldiers and the innocent children in this short film- those who are suffering the full horror of what war really means on a day-to day basis- can give us a clear idea of the devastation it causes. Homelessness, fear, lack of sleep, grief, not being able to go to school…the impact of war will undoubtedly haunt them for the rest of their lives.

So let’s remember the look in these kids’ eyes next time we judge a person for not buying a damn poppy (here’s why I stopped when the ‘War On Terror’ began). Let’s remember the weary faces of these poor kids next time we attack Jeremy Corbyn– the only truly pacifist politican we have in Britain- for ‘not bowing low enough to show respect’ at last Sunday’s Remembrance service. Let’s remember their powerful words next time we fall for the right wing media’s outrageous and entirely irrational propaganda that having a Prime Minister who is willing to press the ‘nuke’ button is paramount to our national security. The children whose lives are in ruins as a direct result of warmongering imperialism by the West would surely disagree.

There is no glory in war: The only way to honour our veterans is to stop making new ones.

Please share the video (and the all-too-true images below) if you are proud to call yourself a pacifist.

CAMWAR

warpeace


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