Masters of War
Annie Brown | 11.Feb.10
I listen to Bob Dylan at least once a day. When I play Dylan’s records I can’t help but brood over the realities of our time and how these factors make peace a difficult dream to achieve. In 2009, does Dylan’s voice still speak to a movement for peace? I hope so, but I cannot be sure. I believe in peace, and always will, but the possible inevitability of warfare haunts my thoughts. The following is a sampling of the inner-struggle that goes on in my mind and country everyday…
Peace:
Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just don't want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
I wish to invoke this quote from Bob Dylan’s song “Masters of War” as a challenge for politicians and world citizens to reassess their commitment to democracy. The interests of transnational corporations increasingly motivate foreign policy. As Dylan suggests, corporations build weapons and then start wars to sell said weapons. Similarly, nations are built to create capitalist governments that will purchase developed nation’s goods.
War:
Stop right there. You can’t just make statements like that. Millions of people have died for the freedom you possess and yet you complain. Why?
Peace:
You say I am free. What is freedom? My voice is silenced by greed. I scream peace in unison with millions of others and yet, no one listens. Citizens across the globe scream for peace, and war makers continue to profit.
Our sources of information are controlled by a small number of transnational communication corporations, and our governments listen more carefully to business lobbyists than constituents. Often, strategies of war are prepared by military industrialists and energy company CEOs.
My country has yet to meet its own standards of freedom, equality and economic prosperity. The leaders of our present world order can never claim to support true democracy as long as citizens are fighting wars for the benefit of corporations. I hope developing nations will step back, take a good look at the industrialized world, and see that capital centric policies interrupt democratic processes and promote violence.
War:
We went into Afghanistan to defend the nation’s security. Now that President Obama approved the troop surge, give it another 5 years and there will be two stable democracies in the Middle East. We lost Vietnam, because we didn’t commit to it. We can’t make the same mistake this time.
Peace:
The men who initiated war in Vietnam were more concerned with access to rubber and flaunting military strength than the safety of citizens. In both the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, men and women were tricked into supporting unethical decisions that would ultimately harm the nation.
Today, people hope the present world order can resolve this bloody mess made for the benefit of the elite. However, it might be too much to ask the current system to resolve this problem. Governments around the world show signs of a deep-rooted corruption that must be removed in order to achieve prosperity, happiness and peace.
War:
The free market system is not corrupt. Neither is American democracy. The way I see it, the countries being rebuilt into democracies are the corrupt ones.
Peace:
I believe there is enough evidence available to claim that the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars were constructed, at least partially, to benefit the already fat wallets of world leaders and their supporters. In books such as Confessions of an Economic HitMan by, John Perkins, we already know the disturbing details of America’s unethical involvement in Latin American and African governments. American involvement often equates to acts of violence driven by the desire to acquire power and cheap resources.
Even if these wars in the Middle East are about building democracy, it is not because the elite care about the rights of people in those nations. They want these countries to become rich, so they become new sources of consumers.
War:
You don’t understand the half of the kind of complicated situation you are talking about here. Without international intervention, the Middle East would be worse off than it is now. Militarization and industrialization has brought a lot of good to that part of the world.
Peace:
I am not an international politician or a general, and I certainly do not claim to understand global politics or military strategy. The situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are complicated, and difficult decisions must be made by our legislative bodies to decide the future of wealthy nation’s presence in poorer nations around the world.
However, as long as military industrialists have influence over elected officials, peace will remain impossible. So much has already been lost. Perhaps the best we can do is discover the truth behind these wars, apologize deeply and sincerely to the people it has harmed, and find a way to transition into an era of peace and reconstruction.
War:
What happens to the economy and national security when we take our soldiers out of Iraq and Afghanistan?
Peace:
The death must stop. We have killed 151,000 Iraqi civilians. Over four thousand Americans and allies have died in the seven-year Iraqi War. I may not be an expert, but I am smart enough to understand that War is no solution for terrorism. In fact, my common sense tells me that military violence in the Middle East only increases chances of terrorist acts.
The term terrorism has been used effectively as a tool of coercion. When people are afraid, they will more easily abandon their political freedoms and dissenting opinions. It is during times of fear that it is easiest for elites to hide behind desks, create wars and get rich while millions suffer.
Again, I am not an international politician or a general, but I am an American and a peace activist. I feel it is my duty as a citizen to speak out when things feel wrong. Bob Dylan had a hunch about Vietnam, and I have a hunch about these wars, especially about Iraq. Today, peace activists must be unafraid to speak and act on their beliefs.
War:
Draw me up a plan. Once you come up with an alternative that keeps America out of harms way, prosperous AND no one has to die for it, you let me know right away.
Peace:
I don’t have a solution. But I must speak. My heart suffers when I remain silent. There must be an alternative that avoids the death, sadness, hate, rape and environmental destruction caused by war.
A solution lies in viewing the world from a perspective alien to human history. It will take a lot of minds and a lot of effort and creativity to develop a strategy of global prosperity and peace that avoids violence. So, how does one create an effective peace movement in the modern world?
First, it will take a revolution in media. More Americans need to have access to accurate information about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The commercially driven news networks refuse to show images that would disturb viewers. I turn on my TV and see flashes of images of deserts and American soldiers, but no graphic images of war. Without accurate coverage of war, how can citizens know what war is? How can we ever come close to understanding the destructive force of military violence if we never have to see it, hear about it, or even discuss it?
War:
Why do you care? You’re a woman. You won’t ever be drafted.
Peace:
As we look beyond the walls of higher education to our futures, young people see a life filled with hardship and never-ending war. My little sister has grown up during a time of constant warfare. I worry that she will never experience peace, and sometimes, I wonder if she is sadder for it. She is too young to understand now, but my countries involvement in profit-driven wars has made the life of my family and community harder. War affects everyone negatively. One day, it is quite possible that she or I will have to become a part of the military machine as soldiers or government officials, in order to pay for our education.
This being said, many of us also see the possibility for change. Much like the anti-war activists of the 1960s, young people are rejecting the claim that pro-war is patriotic and demanding drastic shifts in how our governments function.
The student anti-war movements of 1960’s America began as a challenge to Cold War rhetoric, as seen in the Port Huron Statement written by members of Students for a Democratic Society in 1962:
The New Left saw the dangerous results of political elites controlling the government decisions in the name of “national security” reflected in their own lives and taking away their futures.
However, it was direct impact of the Vietnam War on the lives of students that created a mass movement for genuine democracy. Will it require a reinstatement of the draft to mobilize my generation in large numbers? I certainly hope not.
I would hate to see a draft, and I doubt I will. I say this with confidence, because during his presidency, President G.W. Bush created a team of specialists to predict what would occur if he reinstated the draft. The report concluded chaos and mass revolt would ensue.
I hope global citizens can bring war to an end without first having a direct threat to their well-being. No doubt, there are many indirect impacts of war. For example, carbon emissions, industrialization, environmental destruction and oil production are all products of modern warfare and play a large role in climate change.
War:
Don’t worry your pretty little head about war and military issues. Why don’t you let the men in Washington handle these things?
Peace:
I refuse to be silent when so many women and men’s lives are being wasted in the name of profit. It is of my opinion that in the current economic and political system, corporate interests influence military decisions. Corruption amongst elected officials is a disgusting pattern that governments have developed and it should be outlawed.
War should also be outlawed. There has to be a way to assist nations to build democracies without so much death. I don’t have an answer, and we cannot find an answer as long as corporations are getting in our way.
Do away with these Masters of War. Let the people be Masters of Peace!
War:
That is nothing but a bunch of preachy nonsense. War is a part of human nature. It will always exist.
Peace:
The words peace-activists speak are not nonsense. It’s how I feel and my feelings are not meaningless. In fact, my feelings are based on personal experience and fact. I will learn, I will speak, I will act and I will ponder/play Bob Dylan records until war is but a sad memory. I hope future generations continue to sing Masters of War if peace is not achieved in my lifetime.
Peace:
Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just don't want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
I wish to invoke this quote from Bob Dylan’s song “Masters of War” as a challenge for politicians and world citizens to reassess their commitment to democracy. The interests of transnational corporations increasingly motivate foreign policy. As Dylan suggests, corporations build weapons and then start wars to sell said weapons. Similarly, nations are built to create capitalist governments that will purchase developed nation’s goods.
War:
Stop right there. You can’t just make statements like that. Millions of people have died for the freedom you possess and yet you complain. Why?
Peace:
You say I am free. What is freedom? My voice is silenced by greed. I scream peace in unison with millions of others and yet, no one listens. Citizens across the globe scream for peace, and war makers continue to profit.
Our sources of information are controlled by a small number of transnational communication corporations, and our governments listen more carefully to business lobbyists than constituents. Often, strategies of war are prepared by military industrialists and energy company CEOs.
My country has yet to meet its own standards of freedom, equality and economic prosperity. The leaders of our present world order can never claim to support true democracy as long as citizens are fighting wars for the benefit of corporations. I hope developing nations will step back, take a good look at the industrialized world, and see that capital centric policies interrupt democratic processes and promote violence.
War:
We went into Afghanistan to defend the nation’s security. Now that President Obama approved the troop surge, give it another 5 years and there will be two stable democracies in the Middle East. We lost Vietnam, because we didn’t commit to it. We can’t make the same mistake this time.
Peace:
The men who initiated war in Vietnam were more concerned with access to rubber and flaunting military strength than the safety of citizens. In both the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, men and women were tricked into supporting unethical decisions that would ultimately harm the nation.
Today, people hope the present world order can resolve this bloody mess made for the benefit of the elite. However, it might be too much to ask the current system to resolve this problem. Governments around the world show signs of a deep-rooted corruption that must be removed in order to achieve prosperity, happiness and peace.
War:
The free market system is not corrupt. Neither is American democracy. The way I see it, the countries being rebuilt into democracies are the corrupt ones.
Peace:
I believe there is enough evidence available to claim that the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars were constructed, at least partially, to benefit the already fat wallets of world leaders and their supporters. In books such as Confessions of an Economic HitMan by, John Perkins, we already know the disturbing details of America’s unethical involvement in Latin American and African governments. American involvement often equates to acts of violence driven by the desire to acquire power and cheap resources.
Even if these wars in the Middle East are about building democracy, it is not because the elite care about the rights of people in those nations. They want these countries to become rich, so they become new sources of consumers.
War:
You don’t understand the half of the kind of complicated situation you are talking about here. Without international intervention, the Middle East would be worse off than it is now. Militarization and industrialization has brought a lot of good to that part of the world.
Peace:
I am not an international politician or a general, and I certainly do not claim to understand global politics or military strategy. The situations in Iraq and Afghanistan are complicated, and difficult decisions must be made by our legislative bodies to decide the future of wealthy nation’s presence in poorer nations around the world.
However, as long as military industrialists have influence over elected officials, peace will remain impossible. So much has already been lost. Perhaps the best we can do is discover the truth behind these wars, apologize deeply and sincerely to the people it has harmed, and find a way to transition into an era of peace and reconstruction.
War:
What happens to the economy and national security when we take our soldiers out of Iraq and Afghanistan?
Peace:
The death must stop. We have killed 151,000 Iraqi civilians. Over four thousand Americans and allies have died in the seven-year Iraqi War. I may not be an expert, but I am smart enough to understand that War is no solution for terrorism. In fact, my common sense tells me that military violence in the Middle East only increases chances of terrorist acts.
The term terrorism has been used effectively as a tool of coercion. When people are afraid, they will more easily abandon their political freedoms and dissenting opinions. It is during times of fear that it is easiest for elites to hide behind desks, create wars and get rich while millions suffer.
Again, I am not an international politician or a general, but I am an American and a peace activist. I feel it is my duty as a citizen to speak out when things feel wrong. Bob Dylan had a hunch about Vietnam, and I have a hunch about these wars, especially about Iraq. Today, peace activists must be unafraid to speak and act on their beliefs.
War:
Draw me up a plan. Once you come up with an alternative that keeps America out of harms way, prosperous AND no one has to die for it, you let me know right away.
Peace:
I don’t have a solution. But I must speak. My heart suffers when I remain silent. There must be an alternative that avoids the death, sadness, hate, rape and environmental destruction caused by war.
A solution lies in viewing the world from a perspective alien to human history. It will take a lot of minds and a lot of effort and creativity to develop a strategy of global prosperity and peace that avoids violence. So, how does one create an effective peace movement in the modern world?
First, it will take a revolution in media. More Americans need to have access to accurate information about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The commercially driven news networks refuse to show images that would disturb viewers. I turn on my TV and see flashes of images of deserts and American soldiers, but no graphic images of war. Without accurate coverage of war, how can citizens know what war is? How can we ever come close to understanding the destructive force of military violence if we never have to see it, hear about it, or even discuss it?
War:
Why do you care? You’re a woman. You won’t ever be drafted.
Peace:
As we look beyond the walls of higher education to our futures, young people see a life filled with hardship and never-ending war. My little sister has grown up during a time of constant warfare. I worry that she will never experience peace, and sometimes, I wonder if she is sadder for it. She is too young to understand now, but my countries involvement in profit-driven wars has made the life of my family and community harder. War affects everyone negatively. One day, it is quite possible that she or I will have to become a part of the military machine as soldiers or government officials, in order to pay for our education.
This being said, many of us also see the possibility for change. Much like the anti-war activists of the 1960s, young people are rejecting the claim that pro-war is patriotic and demanding drastic shifts in how our governments function.
The student anti-war movements of 1960’s America began as a challenge to Cold War rhetoric, as seen in the Port Huron Statement written by members of Students for a Democratic Society in 1962:
“We began to see the complicated and disturbing paradoxes in our surrounding America…the proclaimed peaceful intentions of the United States contradicted its economic and military investments in the Cold War status quo.”
The New Left saw the dangerous results of political elites controlling the government decisions in the name of “national security” reflected in their own lives and taking away their futures.
However, it was direct impact of the Vietnam War on the lives of students that created a mass movement for genuine democracy. Will it require a reinstatement of the draft to mobilize my generation in large numbers? I certainly hope not.
I would hate to see a draft, and I doubt I will. I say this with confidence, because during his presidency, President G.W. Bush created a team of specialists to predict what would occur if he reinstated the draft. The report concluded chaos and mass revolt would ensue.
I hope global citizens can bring war to an end without first having a direct threat to their well-being. No doubt, there are many indirect impacts of war. For example, carbon emissions, industrialization, environmental destruction and oil production are all products of modern warfare and play a large role in climate change.
War:
Don’t worry your pretty little head about war and military issues. Why don’t you let the men in Washington handle these things?
Peace:
I refuse to be silent when so many women and men’s lives are being wasted in the name of profit. It is of my opinion that in the current economic and political system, corporate interests influence military decisions. Corruption amongst elected officials is a disgusting pattern that governments have developed and it should be outlawed.
War should also be outlawed. There has to be a way to assist nations to build democracies without so much death. I don’t have an answer, and we cannot find an answer as long as corporations are getting in our way.
Do away with these Masters of War. Let the people be Masters of Peace!
War:
That is nothing but a bunch of preachy nonsense. War is a part of human nature. It will always exist.
Peace:
The words peace-activists speak are not nonsense. It’s how I feel and my feelings are not meaningless. In fact, my feelings are based on personal experience and fact. I will learn, I will speak, I will act and I will ponder/play Bob Dylan records until war is but a sad memory. I hope future generations continue to sing Masters of War if peace is not achieved in my lifetime.
Citations:
1. http://www.infoshout.com/
2. Students for a Democratic Society. “Port Huron Statement, June 15, 1962.” From Politics and Protest in the 1960s, 111.
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