Peace movement

A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or all wars), minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace. Means to achieve these ends usually include advocacy of pacifism, non-violent resistance, diplomacy, boycotts, moral purchasing and demonstrations.

Detailed history by region

These histories will begin with the countries that suffered during World War II, and which effectively began the postwar period in a submitted position, and wrote peace into their constitutions. They will then deal with the English-speaking world and the arguments more familiar to the English speaking reader, which intersect with current events most strongly, and are the current focus of the peace movement worldwide.

Related Topics:
World War II - English-speaking world - Current events

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Germany

Such Green parties and related political associations were formed in many democratic countries near the end of the 20th century. The peace movement has a very strong influence in some countries' green parties, such as in Germany. These can sometimes exercise decisive influence over policy, e.g. as during 2002 when the German Greens influenced German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, via their control of the German Foreign Ministry under Joschka Fischer (a Green and the single most popular politician in Germany at the time), to limit his involvement in the War on Terrorism and eventually to unite with French President Jacques Chirac whose opposition in the UN Security Council was decisive in limiting support for the U.S. plan to invade Iraq.

Related Topics:
Green parties - Germany - 2002 - German Greens - Gerhard Schröder - Joschka Fischer - War on Terrorism - Jacques Chirac - UN Security Council - U.S. plan to invade Iraq

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Israel

Main article: Israeli peace camp

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The mainstream peace movement in Israel is Peace Now, whose supporters tend to vote for the Israeli Labor party, Meretz and Shinui. Peace Now's 1982 "400,000 rally" led to the end of the 1982 Peace for Galilee war and the establishment of the Kahan Commission which impeached Ariel Sharon for indirect responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacre committed by Christian Phalangas. Peace Now also advocated a negotiated peace with Palestinians.

Related Topics:
Peace Now - Israeli Labor party - Meretz - Shinui - 1982 - 1982 Peace for Galilee - Kahan Commission - Ariel Sharon - Sabra and Shatila massacre - Palestinian

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Gush Shalom is a radical leftist movement, and its classification as a peace movement is highly disputed. Uri Avneri, the Gush Shalom leader and a former journalist, was among the first to meet and negotiate with PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Although Gush Shalom earned itself respect in Europe, it is regarded by most Israelis as a pro-Palestinian movement who supports violence and terrorism against Israelis. The movement itself hasn't been involved in direct terrorism but did publish several articles praising Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians.

Related Topics:
Gush Shalom - Uri Avneri - PLO - Yasser Arafat - Europe - Pro-Palestinian - Terrorism

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Other Israeli peace organizations:

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• Rabbis for Human Rights
• Physicians for Human Rights
• Jewish-Arab Ta'ayush
• Avraam Fund for Co-Existence

Canada

Canada has a diverse peace movement, with coalitions and networks in many cities, towns and regions.

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The Toronto Coalition to Stop the War is one of many, and has launched the online War Free Radio: the Anti-War Top 40.

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The ACTivist Magazine is dedicated to advancing the art of activism globally is published in Canada quarterly by ACT for Disarmament. The ACTivist started as a newsletter of the "Against Cruise Testing" (ACT) coalition in 1984. ACT went on to form "ACT for Disarmament", an organization which called for demilitarization around the world. As the movement grew, the newsletter expanded to become a newspaper for "Peace, Ecology & Human Rights". The newspaper continued until 1998 when it switched to its current magazine format.

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The Canadian Peace Congress (1949-1990) was a leading organizer in the peace movement for many years, particularly when it was under the leadership of James Gareth Endicott who was its president until 1971.

Related Topics:
Canadian Peace Congress - James Gareth Endicott - 1971

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United Kingdom

Post-WWII peace movement efforts in the United Kingdom were initially focused on the dissolution of the British Empire and the rejection of imperialism by the United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The anti-nuclear movement sought to "opt out" of the Cold War (see below under U.S.) and rejected such ideas as "Britain's Little Independent Nuclear Deterrent" in part on the grounds that it (BLIND) was in contradiction even with MAD (see below). It was usually associated with CND and in later years, with the Peace camp movement as Labour moved "more to the centre" under Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Related Topics:
British Empire - Imperialism - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - Anti-nuclear movement - Cold War - CND - Peace camp - Tony Blair

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By early 2003, the peace movement, mostly grouped together under the banner of the Stop the War Coalition, was powerful enough to cause several of Blair's cabinet to resign, and hundreds of Labour Party MPs to vote against their government. Blair's motion to support militarily the U.S. plan to invade Iraq carried only due to support from the UK Conservative Party. Protests against the invasion of Iraq were particularly vocal in Britain. Polls suggested that without UN Security Council approval, the UK public was very much opposed to involvement, and over two million people protested in Hyde Park (the previous largest demonstration in the UK having had around 600,000).

Related Topics:
2003 - Stop the War Coalition - U.S. plan to invade Iraq - UK Conservative Party - Protests against the invasion of Iraq - UN Security Council

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United States of America

Although there was substantial organized resistance to foreign wars in the U.S. since its beginnings, this was often simply an outgrowth of isolationism or religious pacifism, and not in general a coherent movement with single goals until after World War II, when these movements were dismissed by most in U.S. foreign policy circles as impractical as the country entered the Cold War period of history.

Related Topics:
Isolationism - Religious pacifism - World War II - U.S. foreign policy - Cold War

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With Cold War tensions rising, the Progressive Party became a home for the peace movement. Like the American Peace Mobilization before the war, they were accused of harboring communist sympathies. In the election campaign of 1948, the Progressive Party supported appeasement of the Soviet Union and a ban on nuclear weapons. They opposed the Berlin airlift and the Marshall Plan. They received over one million popular votes but no electoral votes.

Related Topics:
Progressive Party - American Peace Mobilization - Election campaign of 1948 - Nuclear weapon - Berlin airlift - Marshall Plan - Popular vote - Electoral vote

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There was a relatively small amount of domestic protest relevant to the Cold War in the 1950s, which saw a large buildup of both nuclear and conventional weapons in both the United States and its adversary, the Soviet Union. The lack of protest was in part due to McCarthyism and general disdain for those who did not view communist expansion as a threat. It was during this time that the Eisenhower administration developed the policy of Mutual Assured Destruction, in which both the U.S. and the USSR held enough nuclear weapons to obliterate each other should they become embroiled in nuclear war. Following this idea, the two superpowers' possession of nuclear weapons was viewed as a deterrent that would prevent any such war from taking place. MAD also became a central idea in the U.S.'s foreign policy of anti-communism.

Related Topics:
1950s - Soviet Union - McCarthyism - Eisenhower administration - Mutual Assured Destruction - Deterrent - Anti-communism

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One may reasonably date the open explicit and public resistance to this process to the departing comments of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower who warned that the United States was in some danger of being politically dominated by a military-industrial complex.

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The peace movement in the 1960s in the United States sought to bring an end to the Vietnam War. Some factions within this movement advocated a unilateral withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam. One reason given for the withdrawal is that it would contribute to a lessening of tensions in the region and thus less human bloodshed. Another, contrasting reason was that the Vietnamese should work out their problems independent of foreign influence.

Related Topics:
Vietnam War - Vietnam

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Opposition to the Vietnam War tended to unite groups opposed to U.S. anti-communism, imperialism and colonialism and, for those involved with the New Left, capitalism itself.

Related Topics:
Vietnam War - Imperialism - Colonialism - New Left - Capitalism

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Some critics of U.S. withdrawal predicted that it would not contribute to peace but rather vastly increased bloodshed. These critics advocated U.S. forces remain until all threats from the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army had been eliminated.

Related Topics:
Viet Cong - North Vietnamese Army

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Advocates of U.S. withdrawal were generally known as "doves", and they called their opponents "hawks." The imagery was intended to present the withdrawal advocates as peace-seeking and the withdrawal opponents as bad and predatory. The idea of a chickenhawk refers back to this time, to describe those who had avoided dangerous military service before they entered politics, but then advocated aggressive stances once in office.

Related Topics:
Chickenhawk - Military service

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High-profile opposition to the Vietnam war turned to street protests in an effort to turn U.S. political opinion against the war. The protests gained momentum from civil rights movement that had organized to oppose segregation laws, which had laid a foundation of theory and infrastructure on which the anti-war movement grew. Protests were fueled by a growing network of independently published newspapers, often called the "underground," and the timely advent of large venue rock 'n' roll shows such as Woodstock that attracted young people to mass gatherings.

Related Topics:
Civil rights movement - Segregation - Woodstock

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The fatal shooting of four anti-war protesters at Kent State University cemented the resolve of many protesters. The late 1960s in the US became a time of youth rebellion, mass gatherings and riots, many of which began in response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but which ignited in an atmosphere of open opposition to a war-time government.

Related Topics:
Fatal shooting - Kent State University - Assassination - Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Provocative actions by police and by protesters turned anti-war demonstrations in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention into a riot. Explosive news reports of American military abuses, such as the 1968 My Lai Massacre, brought new attention and support to the anti-war movement.

Related Topics:
1968 Democratic National Convention - My Lai Massacre

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Anti-war protests ended with the final withdrawal of troops after the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973. Momentum from the protest organizations became a main force for the growth of an environmental movement in the United States. Veterans of the Vietnam War returned home to join the movement, including John Kerry, who thirty years later, as a United States Senator, campaigned to become President of the United States. South Vietnam was left to defend itself alone when the fighting resumed. There was no peace movement to protest the renewed bloodshed, and it was conquered in 1975.

Related Topics:
Paris Peace Accords - 1973 - Environmental movement - John Kerry - 1975

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Other veterans returned from the war saying that nobody wants to be in a war where people are suffering and dying, but that they found peace in their own minds by knowing they served their country. Some cited the words of George Washington's 1790 State of the Union Address, who said, "To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."

Related Topics:
George Washington - 1790 - State of the Union Address

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Before, during, and after the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, anti-war activists protested globally. (see also global protests against war on Iraq) Activists continue to protest against the continued occupation of Iraq.

Related Topics:
2003 - U.S. invasion of Iraq - Global protests against war on Iraq - Iraq

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Egypt

See Cairo Anti-war Conference

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