In July we wrote:
“The European war drags on. And this is not the mere passage of time – it is the death and destruction that each day brings, alongside the terrifying risk of spread and escalation, which could involve not only nuclear disaster but a fatal postponement of a unified global effort to check climate collapse. We call on the leadership of the major world powers to put their backs into promoting negotiations for a cease-fire and for peace. We call on our political leaders in Scotland to set an example and take a clear stance for a peaceful resolution, and we call on peace-loving people everywhere to do whatever they can to push the currently unfashionable peace agenda into public discussion.”
There is no sure way of knowing how many have died or been wounded in the interim. Both Ukraine and Russia keep these figures secret, ostensibly to avoid them being used in propaganda by the other side. However, the absence of casualty figures only serves to disguise the appalling costs added by each day of the conflict – a cover-up that is to the benefit of all the various parties who imagine they have an interest in the war's continuance, although the bloody stalemate is in fact in no-one's interest. The need for a cease-fire and negotiations is ever more urgent.
We will soon be in the run-up to Remembrance Day with its mandatory rash of red poppies – a degraded symbol that normalises war and suppresses rational questioning. This year more than ever we need to flaunt the white one to provoke the essential conversations about the dread realities of war and the possibilities for peace. Pick up yours from Words and Actions for Peace, 58 Ratcliffe Terrace Edinburgh EH9 1ST or direct from the Peace Pledge Union .
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