The brave witness of the “Ben Suc” massacre will be missed

 

Ghassan Shahrour

     On March 26, many media mourned the son of Manhattan, New York, Jonathan Schell, the widely known author,  journalist, moralist and anti-war activist who strongly condemned wars from Vietnam to Iraq. He also campaigned powerfully against the nuclear weapons and wrote about the disastrous catastrophic impacts of nuclear weapons on the globe especially in his best seller, “The Fate of the Earth”

          He began as staff writer at The New Yorker magazine, in 1967 until 1987. In 1967, he was at the age of 24 when he visited Vietnam during the war and wrote “The Village of Ben Suc”, in which he told the world about the extreme suffering of the innocent people during Vietnam War. Many people in different parts of the world remembered his horrific stories for many years

           Schell’s other books are “The Military Half” (1968), “The Time of Illusion” (1976), “The Abolition” (1984), “The Real War”, (1988), “Observing the Nixon Years” (1989), “The Unfinished Twentieth Century” (2001), “The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People” (2003) and “A Hole in the World: A Story of War, Protest and the New American Order” (2004).

            I never met Jonathan Schell, but it was easy to know and feel close to such visionary thoughtful person through his books to help prevent nuclear war and to protect our earth. His contributions and ideas have helped provide frameworks for disarmament and have given peace-loving people with both strength and courage

             Jon was fully aware of the significant challenges to make his vision come true, but he decided not to be limited by them and he did his best to challenge them

              Although Jon will be remembered as an extremely creative and thoughtful peace-loving campaigner, Let us remember him by keeping his commitments alive

             Let us share his contributions with our network members at all levels. Let us tell our youth organizations about him. And let us dedicate part of our publications and events to tell people about him as well as about other peace and disarmament advocates  

              I believe that it is the right time to take our hat off to the many pioneer campaigners around us and among us – like Jonathan Schell – who are doing marvelous work to help achieve a peaceful, sustainable and just world

                  Written by Dr.Ghassan Shahrour,  on March 30, 2014