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DRW: ENN Exclusive: Interview with anti-war activist Sarah Benson |
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Written by Akuba Mansa on
Friday, 03 October 2008
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 ENN Exclusive: Interview with anti-war activist Sarah Benson
Akuba Mansa - Earth News Network
February 23, 2157
Almost as soon as rumors of a war with the Romulans began, a strong anti-war movement rose to challenge the idea. When Prime Minister Samuels officially declared war, the movement blossomed into a major force throughout human culture, with protests taking root in cities across Earth and on far-flung human colonies. From the beginning, Sarah Benson has been at the head of the charge against war, and her name and face are now recognized across the Coalition of Planets.
Born and raised in London, European Alliance, Sarah Benson later moved to Australia, where she studied economics and political science at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. At the age of twenty-three, she entered politics, and at thirty one, she gained a prestigious posting as an aide to the Australian government's liaison to the planetary government, a position she held for nearly four years.
When the talk of war started to circulate, she began to speak out against the growing conflict, and in early January, she quit her job with the Australian government and focused all of her energy on the multi-faceted protest movement.
Sarah Benson sat down with ENN's Akuba Mansa to discuss her views.
Akuba Mansa: Ms. Benson, thank you for joining us.
Sarah Benson: It's an honor to be here.
Mansa: You have objected to the term "anti-war activist." Could you explain why that it is?
Benson: I don't feel that it's accurate. I'm not "anti-war;" I'm not a pacifist. I know that war is sometimes necessary. I'm opposed to this war because I'm not convinced that it's necessary.
Mansa: Why aren't you convinced?
Benson: What has there been to convince me - or anyone else, for that matter? Starfleet says that Romulan weapons signatures were found on the wreckage of Salem One. Fine. They nearly destroyed Columbia. Fine. But Columbia had destroyed one of their ships first. That was a mistake on their part, granted. But do these things really justify the thousands, millions of deaths on both sides that are likely to a result from this war?
Mansa: The Romulans are also believed to be behind the string of ship disappearances in recent months.
Benson: Believed is not the same as known. Humanity has gone to war on unproven theories before and the results were never pretty.
Mansa: So you feel that none of these things justify war?
Benson: In all honesty, and with all due respect to the families of those killed, no, I don't. Not on their own, not when I step back and look at the big picture. If this was a war like those of centuries past, fought between nations on Earth, then perhaps. But it isn't - this is an interstellar war. This is something humanity has never experienced; we can't use the rationalizations of the past in a conflict of today. This is a war fought across the depths of space, with ships that can bend the laws of physics and weapons that can flatten entire cities in minutes.
What do we really know about the Romulans? If you asked an average person what they knew about the Romulans, how much would they be able to tell you? Not much, I'd wager. The Coalition leaders haven't even been able to give us a definite location for their homeworld! What do they look like? Why did the attack Salem One? Are they humanoid? Do they even think in a way we can comprehend?
I'm forced to conclude that the governments of the Coalition either know far more about the Romulans than they've told us, or that they rushed into a potentially devastating war without getting all the facts. Either option is disturbing.
Mansa: How do you think the Coalition should have gone about things?
Benson: I don't want to act like I'm an expert on interstellar affairs and say exactly how things should have been done. I don't know exactly how things should have been done. I'm not privy to all the councils of the military and civil leaders. I don't know the behind-the-scenes information. So I can't say for sure what action would have been best. But I do know enough to know that we don't know enough to be going forward with this as we are. I would have put more effort into learning who the Romulans are, and I would not have kept the public so much in the dark. War must have a good justification, and the people must know and understand it. The CoP governments have been far too vague on what they know and don't know. It gives the impression that they are embarrassed by the lack of information, and covering up their shortcomings by saying nothing at all.
Mansa: Starfleet and other Coalition defense agencies would say that the complete transparency you're advocating would hurt any intelligence advantages they may hold over the Romulans.
Benson: Of course there are secrets they'll have to keep for the sake of saving lives. But not saying whether or not we know where the Romulans call home? Saying nothing says more than words could ever say.
Mansa: You're also opposed to the use of nuclear weapons. Would you care to explain your opinions on that topic?
Benson: Nuclear weapons hail from a dark period in our species’ history, a chapter I don't want to see us repeat. It's appropriate that most of the warheads now being loaded onto our ships were built in World War Three, since it feels to me like we are regressing to a brash, immature attitude of the past.
Atomic weapons are brutal, devastating. I shouldn't need to remind people of the horrors they have caused in the past. I don't think anyone would condone their use here on Earth, yet we're ready to wield them as we wish in space. Whoever the Romulans are, they're sentient beings, and I think we should honor them with the same rights we confer upon humans, Vulcans, or Andorians.
Mansa: Assuming that this war was unavoidable, what weapons would you use to fight it?
Benson: I am no expert in weapons technology or military strategy, nor do I pretend to be. I can't give you a definitive answer. But I do know that, if negotiations failed, I would not resort to the use of something as indiscriminate as nuclear weapons. I am sure that, with all our modern technology we would have something in our arsenal more refined than nukes.
Mansa: You've received some harsh criticism because of your views. People have called you a defeatist and questioned your confidence in your world. How would you respond to that?
Benson: It's preposterous. I love Earth; I love humanity. I question the actions of our elected leaders in this conflict because I know we can do better. And before you tell me that teddy bears and hugs aren't going to stop the Romulans - I know that. But for as far as we've advanced as a species and a society, it's shameful that we've felt the need to revert back to such potential for brutality.
How do we measure Earth's strength? Is it in our arms, or is it in our hearts, our minds? I believe in the strength of the latter.
Mansa: Do you have any words for the leaders of the Coalition of Planets?
Benson: Never give up on diplomacy. Always seek peace. If you have information about the Romulans, please, let the public know. If you don't, do everything you can to learn. Seek to discover why they attacked us, and then use that knowledge to put an end to this conflict.
This Dispatches from the Romulan War was contributed by Ensign Edwards.
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