Peaceful Extremists

In many ways the Alternative Act of Remembrance in Tavistock Square on Sunday 13th November that was led by the Peace Pledge Union was similar to the usual acts in Whitehall and at war memorials and churches around the country. It was somber and it was reflective but it was quieter and smaller and, counterintuitively for a pacifist event, was more angry than other ceremonies that I have attended in recent years. One speaker reflected on having a recent vigil at the Cenotaph broken up by the police and suggested that the peace movement had become 'the extremists'. Unlike other users of this word that I have referred to in this blog, this author recognised 'extremist' as a relative term and appreciated that the judgement of such a person is in the eye of the beholder. Failure to recognise this is a dangerous way of looking at the world for it risks a situation where the promoters of violence become the televised norm and the pacifists are moved on to hold their small and dignified vigil out of sight in a leafy park. With as great a flow of refugees from war-torn areas as ever before and any challenge to the flow of arms in the other direction perceived as 'extreme', those calling for peace have got a lot to be angry about.