UKH

If some demographics will insist on using violence to express themselves, then I reserve the right to use culture to express myself in return. And so here are a couple of anti-war "pieces" that I vibe with

Orgasmatron by Sepultura

Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut

That's all I can stomach, but please do add your own...

Kelly’s Heroes is one of my all time favourite movies and I’d say it has quite a lot of anti-war messaging.

Prisoner of the Mountains, a Russian film by Sergei Bodrov is one of the most moving anti-war films I have seen. Of course there's also the Belarusian film Come and See. It is essential viewing, but once is enough.

Are you aware Orgasmatron is a cover of a Mötorhead original? Both great versions.

"War Pigs" by Black Sabbath. I love every second of that song. A musical and lyrical treat.

The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - Eric Bogle

Shipbuilding by Robert Wyatt, or Elvis Costello. Elvis wrote it but Robert's version is wonderful. It's worth looking up on Wikipedia.

War by Edwin Starr

“Bill the galactic hero” by Harry Harrison

”the Forever War” by joe haldeman 

Eve of Destruction by Barry Maguire

Masters of War by Bob Dylan

(and many more from the Vietnam years)

The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek

Not Me by the Subhumans is probably my favourite anti-war song, though Should I ever be soldier by Joe Hill is great too. 

Willie McBride; don't know who wrote it, but it's been covered by loads of folk singers / bands.

Mrs McGrath, by many.

Much more complex than simple anti-war protest songs, but for a profound reflection on humanity's insatiable appetite for self-destruction, one of PJ Harvey's masterpiece albums: Let England Shake.

And for a literary equivalent from the 1930s, the difficult but utterly brilliant In Parenthesis, by David Jones.

The Penguin book of 1st World War Poetry

Catch 22

The Tin Drum

The Good Soldier Švejk

Jonny Got His Gun

Most of Bank's Cuture Novels

The Forever War

That's interesting - Eve of destruction is one of my nominations for 'worst single ever', up with/down with 'Where do you go to, my lovely'...

I'd go for "All quiet on the Western Front" - the original version where many who actually fought were extras.

Do you mean Arthur McBride? The Paul Brady version is amazing

youtube.com/watch?v=cBGkhPx529g&

No, I got the title wrong!

youtube.com/watch?v=XDyip7SIJkQ&

Wow, I think Eve of Destruction is pretty powerful as sung by Barry McGuire and within the context it was written, (sadly still relevant). I agree about Where do you go, that's as bad as Streets of London or American Pie, Many a good house party ruined by someone with a guitar and one of those songs.

Book wise:

Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut

No Picnic on Mount Kenya by Felice Benuzzi (the power of this is magnified for those who have read the likes of The Great Escape as it underlines how similar many of the soldiers actually were)

Forever war by Joe Halderman

Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer (again, underscoring the similarity between people who would have been soldiers, Harrer was mainly able to avoid the war by being on an expedition at its outbreak).

I was disappointed by the way that Harrer skipped over and minimised his involvement with the Nazi party during the events described in Seven Years in Tibet. It's a great book but hard to claim it was anti-war when it's author was, at various times, a member of the SA and the SS. He addressed it later and called his involvement with the Nazis a youthful mistake: unfortunately, that "youthful mistake", made by millions, caused the most destructive war there has ever been.

I didn't know about his involvement with the nazis, Seven Years in Tibet gave a strong impression that he felt significant distaste towards the war. It sounds like his involvement with the SS was fairly tangential, however he was a member of the SA for much longer and they enabled Hitler's consolidation of power which is difficult to forgive.

War Pigs, Black Sabbath. I’m getting goose bumps singing it in my head !  That intro with the siren, that bass, those symbols, Ozzys vocals… Generals gathered in their masses….!!!!

Just seen Nathan beat me to it. It’s worth a double post though. 

It’s one of the most marmite songs out there.  His performance of it resonates with me.

Awful, isn’t it.  But McTell’s “first and last man” is haunting and whilst not explicitly about war, paints a vision of where we’re headed.  Reminds me of Willie Nelson’s “Time of the preacher”

The combination of soft melody's and news clips that shaped my childhood i find quite humbling.

https://youtu.be/1uqNLnEzDLA?si=kc2dbkq_CLxY4Os6

Eric Bogle wrote it

Ian Campbell' s song"The Sun is Burning"

Rhymes masses with masses though. 

N n n n n n n n - nineteen!

Austrian colleagues who met him say he was very right wing and rather nasty.

Hero of War by rise against

I can highly recommend George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia - it contains quite a lot of anti-war messaging if you read between the lines. 
 

Also, for anyone who cares to understand a bit more about the historical context of what’s happening in the world at the moment, beyond an inexplicable “insistence” on violence, I can only recommend Ilan Pappé’s The ethnic cleansing of Palestine. It’s quite dense but very very thorough.