Thoughts on war.
The thesis of the play "Black Watch" is that there is something about the Iraq war that is worse somehow that other wars and is therefore destroying its soldiers. At one point the character Cammie gives the history of the Black Watch regiment from its founding 300 years ago through various wars Crimea, Napoleonic, Boer, Mau Mau to the present. We are meant to view the black watch's involvement in Iraq as a tragic misstep in a long and noble tradition.
But if there is something uniquely inhuman about the Iraq war how are we to digest the black watch's participation in those last two wars. It is a moment rushed over in the play and chances are that no one noticed it but me.
In both the boer war in South Africa and the mau mau rebellion in Kenya the British were fighting a war against an enemy that had resorted to Guerrilla warfare (sound familiar?) Desperate to end the flood of violence the British interned all (yes all) the Afrikaner civilians and Kikuyu civilians in these respective wars. In both cases huge numbers of civilians died in these concentration camps and, especially in Kenya, huge numbers were tortured.
We assume in our culture that there was a period where there were noble wars. Certainly the ongoing propaganda of World War Two would have us believe that it was a just and fair war. That there was right and wrong. We never hear about WWII vets having PTSD or raping German civilians (which did happen). Though perhaps that's not the point. The point is not that we behaved well in war, but that the country was united behind "our" boys.
Both the Boer war and Mau Mau were brutal supressions of a much weaker, local population that turned to Gurella warfare. You might even call it bullying. What is Iraq but a brutal suppression of a weaker local population that turns to Guerrilla warfare? And bullying is exactly what one character calls it as they watch American jets bomb a city.
My thesis is that war has never been good or noble or just. It has been necessary. Or not. World War II was necessary. The Boer war was not. Neither was Mau Mau. And Iraq is certainly not. We need to stop speaking of war as though it could ever be good.
But perhaps I am not being cynical enough. The romantic language that cloaks war is the reason why "our boys" join up in the first place. That parts of them will be destroyed (mind, body, metaphorically) has always been the case. Iraq is not another Vietnam. It is another war. Period.
But if there is something uniquely inhuman about the Iraq war how are we to digest the black watch's participation in those last two wars. It is a moment rushed over in the play and chances are that no one noticed it but me.
In both the boer war in South Africa and the mau mau rebellion in Kenya the British were fighting a war against an enemy that had resorted to Guerrilla warfare (sound familiar?) Desperate to end the flood of violence the British interned all (yes all) the Afrikaner civilians and Kikuyu civilians in these respective wars. In both cases huge numbers of civilians died in these concentration camps and, especially in Kenya, huge numbers were tortured.
We assume in our culture that there was a period where there were noble wars. Certainly the ongoing propaganda of World War Two would have us believe that it was a just and fair war. That there was right and wrong. We never hear about WWII vets having PTSD or raping German civilians (which did happen). Though perhaps that's not the point. The point is not that we behaved well in war, but that the country was united behind "our" boys.
Both the Boer war and Mau Mau were brutal supressions of a much weaker, local population that turned to Gurella warfare. You might even call it bullying. What is Iraq but a brutal suppression of a weaker local population that turns to Guerrilla warfare? And bullying is exactly what one character calls it as they watch American jets bomb a city.
My thesis is that war has never been good or noble or just. It has been necessary. Or not. World War II was necessary. The Boer war was not. Neither was Mau Mau. And Iraq is certainly not. We need to stop speaking of war as though it could ever be good.
But perhaps I am not being cynical enough. The romantic language that cloaks war is the reason why "our boys" join up in the first place. That parts of them will be destroyed (mind, body, metaphorically) has always been the case. Iraq is not another Vietnam. It is another war. Period.
Labels: theatre
posted by Lark(e) at 3:47 PM
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