Thank you for publishing Milan Rai's excellent article “Deadly Obedience”(PN 2531 March). Obedience is particularly insidious because it is usually presented as a virtue. May I add one extra idea? Namely conscription. It is the most dangerous form of institutional obedience, as it seeks to impose a moral obligation on people to kill their fellow human beings. If its re-introduction were ever suggested for Great Britain, peace activists should oppose it from the start, by every possible means.
Topics: War and peace