Anna Kiernan (ed.) – Voices For Peace (2001)
Essays – 250 pages – my copy (paperback; 2001) bought for £1.99 from Plymouth’s Oxfam Bookshop in November 2010
- 3 nods out of 5 -
Voices For Peace is a collection of essays on the repellent nature war and the struggle and need for harmony. Quickly assembled in the wake of 9-11, and the subsequent bombing of Afghanistan, it warns of the horror of what might befall us. Unluckily, it is this horror that was to unfold in the subsequent Iraq war and Afghanistan occupation.
Notable contributors include Monty Python’s Terry Jones, the novelist Ben Okri and the singer Annie Lennox; but are varied far and wide, including journalists, scientists, business-people and poets – all joined together in their admirable need for peace. The profits of the book, therefore, according with the words, with all profits proceeding to War Child.
Although many of the essays are gleamed from newspaper articles, there remain gems and highlights. There is Dominique Lapierre’s ‘Redressing the Balance’, who asks us to remain the seeds of the 9-11 discontent, and Suheir Hammad’s excellent prose on the aftermath of the Twin Towers attack, in which she notes:
There is death here, and there are promise of more
There is life here.
Anyone reading this is breathing, maybe hurting, but breathing for sure.
And if there is any light to come, it will shine from the eyes of those who look for peace and justice after the rubble and rhetoric are cleared and the phoenix has risen.
Affirm life.
Affirm life.
We got carry each other now.
You are either with life, or against it.
Affirm life.
The road of peace is a harder one to walk than that of war. War brings with it instantaneous glory, despite the lasting recrimination. And here we are, a decade later: war torn and lost. It is time again to affirm life.
Voices For Peace is no longer available on bookshelves; but perhaps the local charity shop will hold a copy, ready for saving. Within its pages are 5 nodder sentiments, with a 3 nodder overall quality.
Essays – 250 pages – my copy (paperback; 2001) bought for £1.99 from Plymouth’s Oxfam Bookshop in November 2010
- 3 nods out of 5 -
Voices For Peace is a collection of essays on the repellent nature war and the struggle and need for harmony. Quickly assembled in the wake of 9-11, and the subsequent bombing of Afghanistan, it warns of the horror of what might befall us. Unluckily, it is this horror that was to unfold in the subsequent Iraq war and Afghanistan occupation.
Notable contributors include Monty Python’s Terry Jones, the novelist Ben Okri and the singer Annie Lennox; but are varied far and wide, including journalists, scientists, business-people and poets – all joined together in their admirable need for peace. The profits of the book, therefore, according with the words, with all profits proceeding to War Child.
Although many of the essays are gleamed from newspaper articles, there remain gems and highlights. There is Dominique Lapierre’s ‘Redressing the Balance’, who asks us to remain the seeds of the 9-11 discontent, and Suheir Hammad’s excellent prose on the aftermath of the Twin Towers attack, in which she notes:
There is death here, and there are promise of more
There is life here.
Anyone reading this is breathing, maybe hurting, but breathing for sure.
And if there is any light to come, it will shine from the eyes of those who look for peace and justice after the rubble and rhetoric are cleared and the phoenix has risen.
Affirm life.
Affirm life.
We got carry each other now.
You are either with life, or against it.
Affirm life.
The road of peace is a harder one to walk than that of war. War brings with it instantaneous glory, despite the lasting recrimination. And here we are, a decade later: war torn and lost. It is time again to affirm life.
Voices For Peace is no longer available on bookshelves; but perhaps the local charity shop will hold a copy, ready for saving. Within its pages are 5 nodder sentiments, with a 3 nodder overall quality.
