by Roger Childs
A book with a message – ‘It’s a must read for all those interested in building a more peaceful world’ —Professor Keith Clements
Fourteen case studies of Heroism
Linda Hansen is a local writer and researcher and has written a number of children’s books, but Hidden Stories of Heroism for a Peaceful Planet is her magnum opus. Her case studies are based both in New Zealand and overseas. They range from the Moriori in the Chathams to the treatment of Kiwi conscientious objectors, through the unspeakable Boer War concentration camps, to grass roots resistance to the Warsaw Pact’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. This book will be appreciated by adults, but is also highly suitable for interested teenagers.
Some of the case studies are not “hidden” but regarding the New Zealand studies there are some fascinating and appalling examples where the authorities obviously didn’t want the stones turned over.
Kitchener used New Zealand to experiment with “boy soldiers”
This dreadful exploitation of the Dominion is one of the low points in the country’s history.
Field Marshal Horatio Kitchener visited New Zealand and the result was the 1909 Defence Act. Unbelievably the country’s fawning prime minister William Massey allowed the British to virtually impose compulsory military training (CMT) in New Zealand which required every boy from 12 to 21 to register. Failure to sign up led to fines, court cases and in some cases imprisonment. Nowhere else in the British Empire was conscription implemented prior to the Great War. Not surprisingly opposition movements quickly sprang up.
Having been regarded as the ‘social laboratory of the world’ in the 1890s and early 1900s under the reforming Liberals, New Zealand sank to new lows. Linda Hansen also chronicles the treatment of conscientious objectors in both world wars, which set dreadful examples of man’s inhumanity to man.
Leaders in the cause of peace
Linda Hansen also highlights leaders who set the standards in promoting a peaceful world. People like —
* Emily Hobhouse who exposed the inhumanity of the concentration camps where Boer women and children were incarcerated by the British during the South African War of Independence in egregious conditions.
* First woman Nobel Prize winner Bertha von Suttner who was a leader in the world peace movement before World War One.
* The courageous Polish patriot Irena Sendler who helped Jews escape from the
Warsaw Ghetto in World War Two.
* Tupua Tamasese Leolofii who was a leader of the Western Samoan Mau Movement which opposed the harsh governance of the colony by New Zealand in the 1920s.
* Elsie Locke who was a key leader the nuclear-free movement in New Zealand.
These are just a few examples of people with strong principles who fearlessly took on the authorities of the time and were often harshly treated.
Linda’s book is at the same time fascinating and very readable. As well as covering the historical details of what people and movements did in the interests of peace and humanity, she provides in each chapter a timeline of key events and developments, plus recommendations for further reading. There is also a list of 32 organizations which specialize in the peace movement in various ways.
Hidden Stories of Heroism costs $22 and can be bought from her website as can her other books. https://lphansen.com/shop/