Just Say No!
NOBEL LAUREATES, 23 Jun 2025
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service
18 Jun 2025 – I once asked my friend, the late Father Dan Berrigan, for some peace advise and he replied:
‘Know where you stand and stand there’.
I lived in west Belfast throughout the ethnic/political conflict, ‘the troubles,’ and every day I prayed to know where I stood while Injustice cruelty and killing surrounded our communities. I listened to hear clarity of thinking to the question ‘is violence state or paramilitary ever right? Is there such a thing as just violence or just or any war?
Today there is much anger when faced with such cruelty like Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan genocides by gov and retaliatory armed insurrections and we are challenged to know where we stand regarding violence; we need to do something for peace and justice.
After a long spiritual journey, I chose to become a pacifist and work for a nonkilling world and this is where I stand! I decided that war and violence are always wrong!
Today humanity is faced with a choice in solving our enormous problems – to solve them together through dialogue or continue down the road of militarism and war. I believe for most people our hearts are in the right place but our minds and methods are living in the past. When there is a problem appear the big guns threatening nuclear weapons and we regress into childhood and start behaving like mad people dropping bombs on others and politicians telling us to get ready for war and spend our money on weapons not food!
Why won’t our politicians grow up and stop this infantile, lethal behaviour? They will end up getting us all blown to bits!
Our thinking has to change and I, for one, do not see Iran, Russia, China, Israel, Palestine as my enemies and refuse to buy into the false narrative of war propaganda. I believe we can talk to each other without killing each other.
I know where I stand, I will not join the mad call to war by any government, and invite young men and women to join me in refusing to kill fellow humans, or to die, or get injured–their lives are sacred and precious.
Let us remember the golden rule of most religions: ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you.’
‘Know where you stand and stand there; be gentle and strong for the world’s children by saying no to war.’
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Mairead Corrigan Maguire, co-founder of Peace People, is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. She won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace in Northern Ireland. Her book, The Vision of Peace, (edited by John Dear with a foreword by Desmond Tutu and a preface by the Dalai Lama) is available from www.wipfandstock.com. She lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. See: www.peacepeople.com.
Tags: Anti-NATO, Anti-militarism, Anti-war, Dialogue, Diplomacy, Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize, Official Lies and Narratives, USA, Violence
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 23 Jun 2025.
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