By Daniel Hordon, Past Senior Editor
Remembrance Day should be about remembering those who lost their lives at war and as a result of war both domestically and internationally yet, in its current form it is fixated on remembering the lives of British Servicemen & women. The military need to take a step back so we can get on with remembering on Remembrance Day.
The recent decision by the Cambridge University Students Union (CUSU) not to promote Remembrance Day and to “reshape remembrance away from glorification of war” was a controversial one, mocked as the result of a vote by snowflake millennials. Yet this is not an uninformed, lone movement with President Macron of France also having decreased the role of the military in this year’s centenary commemorations. The argument arises over whether the parading of the military and the embedded nature of the armed services in remembrance events glorifies war and encourages nationalism.
Those students at Cambridge University and President Macron do have a point. Including the military in remembrance, results in the connotation of remembrance being strongly associated with the armed services. The change at CUSU is said to reflect the “international institution” which Cambridge University is and distances it from the Royal British Legion who “advocate a specific type of Remembrance connected to the British Armed Forces” and its allies only. By wearing a red poppy and donating to the Royal British Legion this fails to acknowledge the deaths of civilians in war and those of foreign forces. Those lost lives are worth no less than those of our British armed forces and the deaths of German and Japanese soldiers, for example, should be remembered equally to those of Brits. It is no fault of a German soldier that he faced conscription and was forced to fight for Hitler in the Second World War - he was doing the exact same as the conscribed British soldier.
Remembrance Day should be about remembering those who lost their lives at war and as a result of war both domestically and internationally. Forcing the agenda of the armed services into these events prevents remembrance day from being what it should be and instead results in a nationalist agenda glorifying the forces of our own country. This sort of national glorification is massively dangerous in a world where the extreme right are increasing in influence.
While it is important that we remember why we fought in WW1 and WW2 and to thank those who lost their lives and made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that we live in a stable and democratic society, parading the armed forces on remembrance day does little towards this. Instead remembrance is clouded by the imagery of military parades which in fact glorifies war and means we learn little from past wars when we should be able to move on.
Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, the author Simon Jenkins who believes it is time to move on from Remembrance said, “We’re not remembering peace, we’re remembering war”. This is the exact problem our current approach to remembrance poses - glorifying war does not help in bringing about the international peace that all nations strive to achieve.
Pacifists internationally often choose to wear a white poppy which is seen as a less institutionalised way to show remembrance. The white poppy aims to remember all victims of war and not just British forces. However, this difference between the white and red poppy is little known and many who believe they are remembering all victims of war are in fact just remembering British and allied servicemen & women.
In this centenary year it is the most appropriate time for us to reflect on how we remember victims of war. Remembrance Day’s real purpose has been lost and it is vitally important that we return its purpose back to remembering all and distance the forces from this event. ‘Armed Forces Day’ on the last Saturday in June is a neglected event yet should be reinvigorated so those who wish to celebrate the forces can do so and those who wish to remember all victims of war can do so on November 11th.
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