Events
International conscientious objectors Day – 15th May 2026
At the Memorial Garden there was be a commemoration at 1pm for about 30-40 minutes
People were invited to offer readings
There will be a link with a similar commemoration in London at Tavistock Square
That poem is on our Readers Corner page.
These photographs are courtesy of Jill Bowie.
Message in Honour of International Conscientious Objectors Day.
Kevin P Clements
Chair, The Baxter Memorial Trust
Greetings from Aotearoa—New Zealand as we prepare to commemorate International Conscientious Objectors Day on the 15th May 2026. We will be gathering at the Archibald Baxter National Memorial to all New Zealand Conscientious Objectors in Dunedin New Zealand.
Baxter was one of many New Zealand World War 1 CO’s. who suffered for their beliefs. Baxter was better known than the others but CO’s such as Mark Briggs suffered as much. They were all shipped to the front lines and endured constant military harassment and Field Punishment Number 1. Lawrence Kirwin, Henry Patton, and the three sent to the notorious Dunkirk Military Prison (Garth Ballantyne, Sandy Baxter, Willim Litte) were all tortured beyond human endurance.They suffered mightily for their stand but despite sustained torture and humiliation they never put on “The Uniform”. We honour them for their stand as well as the 800 Second World War CO’s who were detained for the duration of the war. These CO’s like peacebuilders today understood that violence never produces stable peace.
Our ceremony will be a combination of poetry, prayer and silence. Poetry because the world is in desperate need of truth. Poets, artists, writers, and musicians have to embrace truth if their work is to have any integrity and impact. In a world of misinformation and lies we need artists who can speak truth to power while promoting non-violent alternatives to tooth-and-claw nationalism, violence, and war. Prayer so that we might rediscover the healing power of love and radical empathy leading to respect and dignity for all peoples. Silence so that we can mourn and grieve all those who are suffering and have lost their lives in unnecessary wars of choice in Iran, Ukraine, Sudan, and multiple other places.
The old and rickety world order has indeed collapsed but there is deep uncertainty about the contours and shape of a new one. In the interim the world is afflicted by autocrats, xenophobic populists, psychotic political leaders and an unhealthy expansion of defence/war expenditure everywhere.
Against this backdrop of violence and uncertainty the pacifist position is in danger of being further relegated as too idealistic, too soft, too passive in the face of force and naked aggression. Yet this is precisely the moment when people of conscience must unite to promote a more loving, hopeful and peaceful world. Individual acts of resistance to serving in the military must be supported, especially since Germany and a host of other countries are contemplating returns to compulsory military service.
The 15th of May, therefore, is an opportunity to remember and give thanks for COs from past wars; but more importantly it is a chance to remember and support all those around the world who continue to say no to violence, militarism and war. Conscientious Objectors everywhere continue to suffer, often in appalling conditions, for their stand.
It’s not easy saying no to conscription, for example, in Russia, Ukraine, South Korea, Colombia, Thailand, Turkey and Israel. Most COs in these countries are stigmatised, marginalised and often imprisoned. In countries like Sudan there is appalling violence and conflict but little or no chance of conscientious objection when all sides to the bloody civil war force the nation’s youth to join violent militias at gunpoint.
Some people wonder whether conscientious objection still has a place in modern warfare? The reason why conscientious objectors and pacifism remain relevant and critical is because their absolute vocational commitment to preserving life non-violently is a powerful restraint on untrammelled violence. If pacifists and pacifism did not exist there would be little or no ethical restraint on the masters of war and the military-industrial complexes that support them.
We are living in confusing and worrying times. Nobody thought that the 21st century would see a return to pathological nationalism, xenophobia, and violent coercive diplomacy. Pacifists, peacebuilders and peaceful institutions need to take time out to discern peaceful opportunity in the chaos. To do this in our frenetic world we need to rediscover the peaceful power of slowness and quiet relationship building. As John O’Donohue put it.
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes
Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.
If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.
John O’Donohue
11th Annual Baxter Memorial Lecture
Thursday Sept 24th 2026 - on Campus
Prof Robert Patman “Building peace in a turbulent world”
Parihaka anniversary at World Peace Bell, Christchurch Botanic Gardens
5th November 2025
It was a beautiful and peaceful day in Christchurch - not appropriate for Guy Fawkes Day, but very appropriate for one of the many events for peace and reconciliation that were taking place all over the country. It was the 144th anniversary of the invasion of Parihaka and it was held at the World Peace Bell in the famous Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
Many people stood in a large circle around the Peace Bell. The Service was run by Helen Mann, 50 Boys from the Christ College Choir sang waiata, and many onlookers including a good number of Quakers. A short and very moving play depicted the shocking invasion of the pacifist village of Parihaka on 5 November 1881, when 1600 government troops descended on the Taranaki settlement. The community, led by Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, had resisted the confiscation of land through their philosophy of non-violent resistance, but the troops destroyed the village, and arrested many of the thousands of villagers.
The Parihaka invasion was one of the darkest moments in New Zealand’s history, and it would be 136 years before the Crown officially apologised for the atrocities committed – in 2017 by Jacinda Ardern.
Archibald Baxter would have loved to have been at the ceremony. He was born 38 days after the invasion of Parihaka – on 13 December 1881.
