My A.I. bot tells me that writers are inspired to write stories by a variety of factors, including:
- Personal experiences - Imagination - Observations of the world around them - Desire to communicate a message or idea - Emotions and feelings - Dreams and aspirations - Influence of other writers or artists - Curiosity and exploration - and The Need for self -expression. It's a pretty comprehensive list! However, I want to write about my original motivation for my two novels 'Of All Faiths & None' and 'A Remembrance of Death'.
Towards the end of 2002 and into 2003 the USA and the UK were fermenting war against Iraq. There was no doubt that Saddam Hussein was a dictator, who was oppressing and brutalising sections of his people; however, that in itself is not a basis for going to war with any country. The United Nations were against a war, stating that a legal basis for a war had not been established. Despite this, and warnings from the UK's Attorney-General, the USA, the UK, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq in March 2003, on the premise that they were there: "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction [WMDs], to end Saddam Hussein's support of terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people". WMD had not been found in Iraq and the UN inspection team said, prior to the invasion, that there was no evidence of WMD. The Blair administration sought to justify itself with scaremongering press articles, such as the UK being hit by nuclear weapons in 45 minutes, and a 'dodgy' dossier that no sane person in government believed. On 15 February 2003, between 1 - 2 million British people took to the streets to protest against an invasion. It was the largest march in the UK's history and without a single arrest. I went to Hyde Park to add my voice to the opposition to war and it fell on deaf ears.
Despite the unprecedented opposition to the war by the British public, the Blair administration went ahead. No WMD were found and to the shame of the USA, the UK, Australia and Poland twenty years of unrest followed in Iraq, with millions of civilians dying. I wanted to write a book about the futility of war and a visit to Castle Drogo in Devon a few years later gave me the inspiration for my story. It's about the pointlessness of war and the horror and the devastation that ordinary people have to endure. Of All Faiths & None is not about the Iraq war but about WW1, which has many similarities to events that were happening at the time, especially in Afghanistan. When WW1 ended people hoped that it was 'the war to end all wars' because of how many people needlessly died. Again and again, people fail to learn that lesson from history that war must always be the final option. "We have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be," said Michelle Obama, and she is right. While we elect governments to run our country we do not abdicate our own moral compass, especially where a government is taking us down a path which is both legally and morally wrong.
Picture copyright London Marches against UN invasion of IRAQ
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