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The BBC has pulled an advert for a peace organisation in its Proms concert guide for being too political, despite planning to broadcast a major anti-war piece during its televised coverage.
The Pacifist group Peace Pledge Union and its associated peace education charity argue that its advert was “in no way polemical”.
However, the anti-war organisation has noted with irony that a highlight of this year’s Proms Concerts season will be a performance of the ‘War Requiem’, a major work by renowned 20th Century British composer Benjamin Britten on Saturday 17th August.
Britten was a pacifist and conscientious objector, and wrote the War Requiem as his “artistic response to the horrors of war, and as a reflection of his anti-war beliefs,” the PPU notes.
Britten was a prominent member of the Peace Pledge Union – the UK’s primary pacifist organisation – for decades.
Weeks ago the group booked an advert in the concert programme highlighting how Britten’s philosophy continued to resonate with many people to this day, but they have just heard the ad has been dropped.
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Albert Beale of the PPU said the decision raises a wider issue of the widespread acceptance, in principle, of the use of violence in warfare. That is viewed as “the norm” and isn’t of itself “political”.
There is an underlying assumption that fighting can be justified, in most news reporting from conflict zones, Beale claims. “But a complete rejection of such violence is outside the norm and hence is political. For a pacifist, accepting the morality of any use of killing at all is as much a political stance as our ‘never under any circumstances’ one.”
He added: “It’s hard to reconcile the BBC’s willingness to promote a profoundly political piece of musical culture – such as the War Requiem – whilst refusing to allow an organisation with which the composer was closely associated to refer to the reality of its timeless message.
“It’s ironic that for the media, peace seems these days to be more controversial than war. Can it really be that violence is non-political, but peace is political?”
The Peace Pledge Union (PPU) is one of the UK’s oldest pacifist organisations, founded in 1934. PPU members pledge not to support war and to work for the removal of the causes of war.
The PPU’s work includes promoting peacebuilding, challenging militarism, providing educational resources on peace and distributing the white poppy in memory of all victims of war. The Peace Pledge Union is not linked to any political party and PPU members include supporters of several parties and none.
A BBC spokesperson told Byline Times: “We consider each ad individually and apply the principles of the BBC guidelines on a case-by-case basis.”
Byline Times understands that the BBC Proms does not take ads from campaign groups. The organisation debated including the PPU ad but in the end it was decided to veto the organisation’s ad.
The Peace Pledge Union is the British section of War Resisters’ International, which works with peace campaigners and conscientious objectors globally to resist “war and militarism”.
The Pulled Ad
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