A Pacifist is a person who holds the belief that all conflicts should be and can be settled in a peaceful manner.
A pacifist, like myself, believes that all conflict can be solved through discourse and discussion. I know that a lot of people at least partially share this belief because they would first opt to talk about an issue before fighting about. That’s not me. I avoid conflict like my life depends on it, and in my opinion, I believe that my life does depend on it. However, recently I started to doubt my pacifist ways and I began to think to myself; “Does my pacifism stem from my fear and disdain for conflict? Does my pacifism do more harm than good?
Non-violence is the weapon of the strong. -Mahatma Gandhi
An article by the BBC titled Pacifism, States that there are several different types of pacifism that one can identify as. These include;
• Absolute pacifism- where a person believes that is never right to take part in war or conflict even if it is to defend one’s self. Absolute pacifists’ views it as unethical to use violence to save an innocent person.
• Conditional pacifism- where a person believes that the only time to fight is when the alternative is absolutely worse than remaining silent. Conditional pacifists’ have their moral code set by utilitarian principles. (This is where I believe I fall in)
• Selective pacifism- is where a person believes that war and conflict are only part of human nature and will only oppose war and conflict when the rules of engagement seem to heavily support one point of view. In war, this would manifest as a person who would oppose wars involving weapons of mass destruction
• Active pacifism- where a person heavily promotes peace by “fighting” peacefully. This is the equivalent of a person protest a particular tree been cut down by chaining their body to the tree.
Wise men are not pacifists; they are merely less likely to jump up and retaliate against their antagonizers - Chris Jami
I was scrolling through social media before I sleep, as I’m sure most of us do, and I stumbled across a saddening article about racism in “Pretoria Boys High”. The article describes a 12-second video clip that has been making its rounds on social media about a Grade 12 learner and his friend “allegedly” using racist and offensive language while laughing about it. So me being the curious person that I am I managed to track down this video and watch it. Now obviously the video made me angry, but then my pacifist mind kicked in and I thought that, maybe, just maybe, we should give this kid the benefit of the doubt. Then the video got worse as the cameraman panned from left to right and I ended up seeing a black student as the cameraman says “These Fucking Blacks Boet”. The video cuts of before we hear the black student’s response, but in my opinion, he looks only slightly irritated by the comment. This could mean one of two things; the student has experienced this before and has learnt how to suppress his reaction or the student is like me and despises conflict, so he just takes it as a joke.
I have, for some unfortunate reason, found myself in a similar situation on so many different occasions. I grew up in an area where the racial make-up consists of 30% Black African, 60% Caucasian, 8% Indian/ Asian and 2% Coloured. This meant that I knew quite a lot of Caucasian people and this also meant that I had an increased chance of being exposed to racism. Suffice to say not all Caucasians were racist towards me; in fact, it was a very small minority in my case. I have been in many situations where I have been told “you not like those black people”; this was all done under the guise of a joke, of course. It isn’t serious unless you make an issue out of it, I told myself. At the time I thought I was doing the right thing by avoiding conflict, but now I realize that by me not doing or saying anything I have somewhat legitimised that way of thinking in people.
The concept of pacifism is largely what our world is built on. That’s why organizations such as the United Nations and notions such as diplomacy exist. We live in a society that calls for peace and equality. However, there are times when the pacifist approach cannot be the approach we take. We can all agree that the Holocaust was an absolute evil that shouldn’t have happened. If you don’t believe that police brutality and racism are an evil akin to the holocaust, at the very least in terms of principle, then there is something severely wrong with you.
What recent events have made me realize is that; it is very difficult to passively wait while hideous atrocities are happening to you. It is nigh impossible to passively emote while people are dying.
Now is not the time for passivity but the time for activity.
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