WAR

C20th saw the largest and bloodiest wars in history

Weapons today are considered as ‘very efficient’- they can kill more people.

Some argue that media portrays war as a glamorous affair full of glory, bravery, bravado and must be supported or you are unpatriotic.

At the beginning of the c20th – 9 out of 10 victims of war were soldiers

Today, due to technology, the arms trade and the nature of war itself, the situation is reversed.

9 out of 10 victims are civilians. The vast majority are women, children and the elderly.

WW 1 – million dead 21 million men wounded

WW 2 – million soldiers dead 39 million civilians dead

Since 1945 the world has only experienced 3 mins of world peace. There have been hundreds of wars all over the globe

Estimated 30 million people killed using conventional (non nuclear) arms. The average death toll from armed conflict is put between 33,000 and 41,000 a MONTH since 1945

In 1991 the gulf war cost $53 billion before the damage to the area was taken into account.

Total global military expenditure runs at approx. £1.7 million a minute - £100 million an hour.

The developed countries spend about 20 times more on their military programmes than on economic aid to poor countries where people face starvation

To keep military spending at its current level today, every working person will have to sacrifice about 4 years of their income to the arms trade. This is one of the major causes of world poverty.

In the last two years more people have died of hunger than in the last two world wars.

It is estimated that there are 15 million refugees in the world, most of them victims of war.

Six times as much public money in the world goes on research for weapons rather than research on health. USA, Britain, France and Russia are the biggest suppliers of arms, including to Iraq and Iran.

The cost of one Tornado bomber is £40 million – the same cost would feed 20 million Africans

Britain alone has enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 28 times over.

Wars are mainly fought for power and to gain control over resources and trade – especially oil-- in the late c20th and early c21st

THE COST OF WAR HUMAN FINANCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL

YOUR TASK In a group of 4 you will: produce a poster and present to the class in any way you want an aspect of war & Peace e.g. The link between poverty and the arms trade chose a current war and explain it Pacifism Anything else?

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW Some details about war and examples The link between religion, war and peace The cost of war, human, financial and environmental Why people fight – just war theory and holy war Alternatives to fighting What religions say about war and peace

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO NOW You will be in groups of 4 Some groups will look at war and peace in relationship to Christianity Some groups will look at war and peace in relationship to Islam.

You will present a PowerPoint presentation on : What your religion says about war and peace, including Just war and Holy war, alternatives to fighting Today, you will use books to research- tomorrow the computers in F9.