Conscientious objectors

With the UK government talking about bringing in national service, it's timely to be able to explore the citizenship and social history of conscientious objection.

At the heart of this resource are 6 excellent case studies of conscientious objectors across history and around the world in very different conflict situations. Each case has enough background information to compare what motivated them to refuse to fight and how they were treated as a result. This can enable learners to see how universal conscientious objection has been, while at the same time people have come to the decision from varying standpoints and life experiences: pacifist. socialist, religious, political etc. I think the lesson plan could suggest ways of drawing out this complexity and developing debate around tough moral issues that COs have tackled: eg what if the enemy is a clear evil and existential threat such as Nazism? Is it acceptable for a CO to, for example, work as a stretcher bearer if that helps prolong the conflict? These case studies do offer a good opportunity for this, and for the difference between people opposed to all war and those opposed to a particular war. There is a useful link for free download of the Quaker pack on COs in WW1 that does explore such issues and teachers could usefully use its ideas to help them set activities using the 6 studies in this resource.