A plea for peace
A small group from the interfaith community in New Plymouth submitted the following letter to Captain Simon Rooke of HMNZS Aotearoa on Monday:
Dear Captain Rooke,
When we heard HMNZS Aotearoa would be visiting Taranaki, we were eager to deliver greetings in a letter, expressing good wishes to you and your crew.
While we represent different faiths, we share a long-standing hope that our nation might renounce its reliance on arms and turn defensive equipment and personnel to services of peace. In each of our faith-traditions there are sayings and scriptures which echo the Hebrew prophet Isaiah [Chapter 2, vs 4] ‘‘they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.’’
While other nations have moved away from having permanent defence forces [Costa Rica, Panama] ours could lead all others by renouncing arms altogether. While renouncing arms will no doubt seem folly to many citizens here and around the world, Taranaki has a worldfamous tradition of non-violence.
And as we see in Costa Rica, the work of those who previously composed its army has now been turned to civil defence.
Be assured we do not wish to see you or your crew unemployed. Rather our hope is that the defence forces of Aotearoa/ New Zealand might continue to be employed in international peace-keeping, but replace all offensive weaponry with equipment dedicated to relief, welfare and civil defence purposes.
Others have gone before us to make this plea to both our defence forces and the government; including our friend and member of the Quaker faith, Mr Ian Upton who walked the length and breadth of Te Ika a Maui in 2017, encouraging others along his journey to make the same plea: that our nation renounce warfare forever.
Noreira, nga¯ mihi mahana ki a koe i nga wa¯ katoa (blessings to you at all times), Na¯ ,