WWI Christmas Truce Inspires Call for Ukraine Ceasefire
(23 December 2022) Invoking the legacy of the 1914 Christmas Truce during WWI, nearly 1,000 leaders of faith communities are calling for peace and negotiations to bring the war to an end, “People’s Dispatch” reports.
With 14 million people displaced and over 6,700 civilians confirmed deaths (although the true death toll is estimated to be greater), the war in Ukraine has resulted in enormous violence.
Faith leaders are invoking the legacy of the 1914 Christmas Truce during WWI in calling for peace and negotiations in Ukraine. Led from the ground up by soldiers on both the British and German sides, troops defied their officers and ceased hostilities during Christmas all along the Western Front.
Almost 1,000 faith leaders have signed onto a statement1 that reads in part,
“In the spirit of the truce that occurred in 1914 during the First World War, we urge our government to take a leadership role in bringing the war in Ukraine to an end through supporting calls for a ceasefire and negotiated settlement, before the conflict results in a nuclear war that could devastate the world’s ecosystems and annihilate all of God’s creation.”
The statement was put together by U.S. peace organizations CODEPINK, National Council of Elders, and Fellowship of Reconciliation-USA (FOR).
The recent escalations in Ukraine, especially on the part of the U.S., have raised worldwide concerns about the potential of a nuclear confrontation.
President Joe Biden’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR),2 released on Oct. 27, abandons Biden’s 2020 campaign promise of supporting a “no first use” of nuclear weapons policy. It calls for a rebuilding of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, citing threats from Russia and China, despite the fact that U.S. intelligence has admitted that there is no sign3 that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons. […] The U.S. has also sped up4 storage of upgraded nuclear warheads B61-12 in Europe.
Source: https://consortiumnews.com/2022/12/15/wwi-christmas-truce-inspires-call-for-ukraine-ceasefire, 15 December 2022
2 https://dod.defense.gov/News/Special-Reports/NPR
4 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/26/u-s-plans-upgraded-nukes-europe-00063675
on the field of battle at the season of peace and goodwill”. (Illustration Wikimedia Commons)