Syria, What is "Skilful"

Last night the British Parliament voted by 397 votes to 223 to bomb Daesh in Syria, one hour later RAF Tornados took off to bomb an oil refinery in Syria's Omar oil fields.

Those opposing the resolution argued passionately that civilians would inevitably be killed or injured in these raids and that we were entering a confused and multi-factional conflict with no clear long term aims or exit strategy.

Those arguing for airstrikes likewise argued fervently that the "evil" of Daesh must be confronted to protect both the peoples of Syria, Iraq and the citizens of this country.

Hilary Benn, the Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary, delivered a powerful speech in favour of taking action, “The question which confronts us in a very, very complex conflict is at its heart very simple. What should we do with others to confront this threat to our citizens, our nation, other nations and the people who suffer under the yoke, the cruel yoke, of Daesh? The carnage in Paris brought home to us the clear and present danger we face from them. It could have just as easily been London, or Glasgow, or Leeds or Birmingham and it could still be. And I believe that we have a moral and a practical duty to extend the action we are already taking in Iraq to Syria..................................

And we are here faced by fascists. Not just their calculated brutality, but their belief that they are superior to every single one of us in this chamber tonight, and all of the people that we represent. They hold us in contempt. They hold our values in contempt. They hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt. They hold our democracy, the means by which we will make our decision tonight, in contempt. And what we know about fascists is that they need to be defeated. And it is why, as we have heard tonight, socialists and trade unionists and others joined the International Brigade in the 1930s to fight against Franco. It’s why this entire House stood up against Hitler and Mussolini. It is why our party has always stood up against the denial of human rights and for justice. And my view, Mr Speaker, is that we must now confront this evil. It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria. And that is why I ask my colleagues to vote for the motion tonight.”

So, how do I as a Buddhist respond to this? I would like offer the story of Captain Jātaka from the Upāyakauśalya-sūtra..............

The Buddha, in a past life as a ship's captain named Jātaka, discovered a criminal on board who intended to kill the 500 passengers. If he told the passengers, they would panic and become killers themselves. With no other way out, he compassionately stabbed the criminal to death. Captain Jātaka saved the passengers not only from murder, but from becoming murderers themselves. Unlike him, they would have killed in rage and suffered hell. He saved the criminal from becoming a mass murderer and even worse suffering. He himself generated vast karmic merit by acting with compassion.

I am also grateful to Jack for his comment on our previous post on the Paris atrocities where he points out some of the complexity of the wider situation.

An End to the Purple Poppy

With Rememberance Day on Sunday the 8th and Armistice Day only a fortnight away you may have been considering also wearing a Purple Poppy this year to commemorate all of the animals killed in war. However Animal Aid, who produce the Purple Poppies, have decided NOT to continue producing them. Below is their explaination as to why they have reached this decision...................

When we launched our purple poppy initiative - to commemorate the animal victims of war - no other organisation seemed to be addressing the issue. Our aim was to make it clear that animals used in warfare are indeed victims, not heroes. They do not give their lives; their lives are taken from them.

But too often the narrative promoted by the media has been one of animals as the valiant servants of people in violent conflict. This is precisely the opposite message to that which we intended. An equivalent situation would be if animal victims of laboratory research were to be presented as brave heroes in the service of human beings - with Animal Aid's name attached to that idea. Having said that, many of our poppy sellers have worked extraordinarily hard and with great passion on this campaign.

Certainly, our message, via their work, has to a degree got through. But the dominant narrative (animal victims of war are heroes who died for us) is so deeply embedded that only a huge effort (costly in every way) can uproot it and lay down something that will benefit the animals. We considered the massive-effort option but decided that Animal Aid's finite resources are best used on other urgent, more productive campaigns. 

We are, therefore, replacing the purple poppy with a badge that will commemorate all animal victims of human exploitation. It can be worn all year round - at special events or day to day. Rest assured that we will continue to promote our victims-not-heroes message every year in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday (but without the purple poppy), and we will continue to produce our Animals: the hidden victims of war booklet and other resources.

Just Something in the Paper

I finally got round to reading our local paper, the Isle of Wight County Press, yesterday and there was one small item that caught my eye.

Every week the paper runs a feature entitled, "Looking Back". This reprises some of it's stories from alternatively 10 years, 25 years, 50 years, 75 years and 100 years ago. This being the centenary of the First World War I looked at the entry for January 2nd, 1915.

It simply read, "The number of Island men who died fighting in the First World War that week was 72.

That was Seventy two young men, in just one week, out of a total population of less than 90,000 Islanders.

Doing Without an Army

I'm not a huge fan of Facebook or indeed social media in general but I will concede that it's a way of keeping track of what old friends are up to. Having, over the years, reconnected with old classmates at school reunions I was interested in a posting by one friend on the subject of not having an army.

Graham, who is a Quaker, wrote, "Just discovered that on 1st December 1948 Costa Rica abolished its military! What a great thing! And when I researched it further I found there are 21 countries that have done the same thing. Lietchenstein abolished its army in 1869 because it was too expensive. If one can do, so can all! Imagine the good that could be done in the world with all the money we spend on armed forces!"

In fact fifteen countries have no armed forces:-

Andorra

Costa Rica
Grenada
Kiribati
Liechtenstein
Marshall Islands
Federated States of Micronesia
Nauru
Palau
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tuvalu
Vatican City

While six nations have no standing army, but do have limited military forces. They are:-

Haiti
Iceland
Mauritius
Monaco
Panama
Vanuatu

Lest We Forget

Wear a Purple Poppy

With Armistice Day only a fortnight away you may like to consider also wearing a Purple Poppy this year to commemorate all of the animals killed in war. The poppies can be obtained from the Animal Aid website with profits going to support the charity's work.

Purple Poppy in Remembrance of Animals Killed in War

Further to the previous post; in times of conflict, animals have been used as messengers, for
detection, scouting and rescue, as beasts of burden and on the frontline. They have been used for companionship in the trenches and continue to be subjected to warfare experiments in laboratories. And yet they are rarely mentioned in remembrance ceremonies.

To commemorate all those animals who have died as a result of human conflicts, purple poppies are sold here in the U.K. for armistice day.

Click here to read Animal Aids booklet,

Animals: the Hidden Victims of War

Putting Buddha Together Again

In the week when the British Museum hosts an exhibition of priceless artefacts which were saved from the Taliban by the brave actions of a small group of Afghans comes news of the Bamiyan Buddha statues.

German scientists say it may be possible to reconstruct one of the two giant 1,500-year-old Buddha statues dynamited by the Taliban in central Afghanistan 10 years ago. Researchers have studied several hundred fragments of the sandstone statues that once towered up to 180 feet (55m) high in Bamiyan province, and found that they were once brightly coloured in red, white and blue, said Erwin Emmerling of Munich's Technical University.

Research has shown that the smaller of the pair – some 125 feet high – could be reconstructed using the recovered parts, even though there are some "political and practical obstacles" to overcome. Read more HERE.

As one of our Sangha members commented, "I rather feel that Buddha wouldn't care one way or the other, but it would be nice for the rest of us don't you think....?"

Harry Patch, the Last Tommy, Dies

Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier to have served in the trenches of the first World War, has died at the age of 111.

Listen to him on the futility of war...........

Neither I nor anyone else can say it better..............