Resistance to War and Other Acts of Aggression or Repression
No society can possibly be built on a denial of individual freedom.
—Mahatma Ghandi
Humans have
resisted war and oppression just as determinedly as they have waged it. For every war or wide-spread act of repression there has been one or more active
resistance movements. Novels such as Catch-22 have been important steps toward exposing and resisting the whole mentality of war and societies that support such madness. There are many other well-known
novels of resistance to oppressive political, economic or military establishments. Likewise, the movie Catch-22 is not alone as an anti-war film. Some of the most
famous movies ever made are based on acts of war and resulting resistance efforts. Out of this ongoing tendency of human beings to resort to war, the International Peace Movement began with the first World Peace Conference held in London in 1843. People around the world have become increasingly aware of the extreme costs acts of aggression and reactions against them have in terms of life, resources, environmental damage and much more. As a result, a growing number of
international organizations are entirely devoted to moving humanity away from acts of war, repression and other forms of violent interaction and toward peaceful interactions based on cooperation, problem solving, and mutual respect through better understanding each other and ourselves.
Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
