HThe Braeswood Declaration: A Call for the Abolition of War

by

Ed O’Rourke

Hopefully all environmental groups will join the peace movement. If humankind is to save itself from global warming and environmental degradation, many habits will have to change. Since the armed forces consume plenty of resources even when people are not getting killed, war is a habit that humankind will have to throw overboard.

Remember the old Pogo cartoon, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Some people like me feel the frustration of specific war protesting. In the 1960s, there was a movie, If This Is Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. If this is 1967, we must be protesting the Vietnam War. If this is 2007, we must be protesting the war in Iraq. It is time to abolish all war before war abolishes us. This is not just a feeling among hippies, Quakers and left wing college professors. Douglas MacArthur and other famous warriors have called for the abolition of war. See these excerpts from General MacArthur’s 1951 speech to the US Congress: