Tippett & Pacifism
Sir Michael Tippett wrote in 1989:
Pacifism is a temper of the mind which, in a world militarised up to potential self-destruction, is itself politically powerless and inescapably at odds with society. Yet, despite its powerlessness and the tiny numbers of people it entails, this unbreakable commitment deeply disturbs the military mind. The social sanctions against pacificism seem disproportionately violent, varying only according to the degrees of tolerance or intolerance of the government or other organisation enforcing them.Extreme militarisation is a product of divisions across the globe into self-righteous groups and it might seem that catastrophe was the sole, inevitable outcome. But the very technology that produces the weapons operates for other purposes - for example, in information technology. Thus, we have had TV pictures of American students planting flowers in the barrels of guns; of people in the streets of Prague arguing unarmed with tanks; and now, as I write, of a single student in Beijing. standing alone against a column of tanks. with no power but his individual mind and agility. These pictures have become unexpected and tremendous icons of the pacifist temperament, frail yet strong.
In every generation there has always been a group of people dedicated to the work of clarification, education, moral persuasion. The promotion of peace is their simple objective. Some, such as Gandhi or Luther King, have come right to the forefront of our civilisation. All of them are helping to turn a mass of people across the world away from the military path...
[from Peace is the Way: A Guide to Pacifist Views and Actions, Compiled and Edited by Cyril Wright and Tony Augarde (Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 1990: ISBN 0-7188-2821-6)]
Sir Michael unveils a commemorative stone in London, to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Peace Pledge Union, of which he was President: 15 May 1994
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