Ethics and working in defence.

Having Parkinson's I decided to retire early, there is precious little positive about having Parkinson's, so I decided to grab whatever little there is.

And for me, giving up work was a positive.

So as part of getting ready, I have been attending meetings about how to have a 'positive retirement'. That is a retirement that has meaning as well as financial security. A retirement that isn't simply about having fun, with your extra free time, but also about contributing to society.

These meetings were run by a local church.

One of the meetings dealt directly with pensions, what they were, the different types and how they were funded. 

It was not long until the topic of investments came up. Followed very shortly by the question of ethical investments. 

Being ethical all agreed at the meeting was a good thing. 

Well nearly all, I had a different view. Not with being ethical, but what industries could claim to be ethical.

Generally speaking ethical investments is presented as a list of non ethical investments in industries to be avoided; tobacco, fossil fuels and defense industries, being on any ethical bad boy list. 

Which I will be honest rather pisses me off. As I have said elsewhere, most of my working life was spent in the defence industry and it rankles that my career should be dismissed as unethical. 

Now don't get me wrong, if you are a pacifist using weapons in any circumstance will be seen as wrong, but I will be honest and say I believe that a significant proportion of people who see investing in defence companies as unethical, do so for reasons that are inconsistent and confused.

Which brings me to the dear old Church of England. As recently as 2013 it held significant investments in defence. It decided that as a representative of the God of love and peace this wasn't a good look and announced it would divest itself of these investments.

So in the way of the CofE, it set up a committee to come up with a conclusion and recommendations. One of the eye catching comments in the resulting wide ranging report, identified the lack of guarantee that non combat civilians wouldn't be caught up in the crossfire and this concern formed part of the justification as to why the Church shouldn't continue to invest in defence.

Which seems irrational to me..

Why? because the official position of the church isn't one of pacifism. But one that believes in the concept of a 'just war'.

So the churches position seems to be a nation has the right to defend itself in a just war, it's just not allowed access to the weaponry to successfully do this.

So either the nation has to fight with bare hands or it has to surrender. 

In the face of a well equipped enemy surrender is the only rational option as the other choice would be the murder of your own forces.

Literally.

And this is put forward as the 'ethical' option!

But I believe this muddle headed thinking isn't limited to the CofE. I believe it's held by large numbers of people, who want to feel good about their investments.

And never mind the price.

If we as a nation believe we have a right to self defense, then investing in defence industries makes sense and is ethical.

But here's the thing, I suspect that a large proportion of the country would agree. In fact research shows that a large majority do. 

So why is their this problem?

What is happening is that highly motivated and organised individuals and groups are pressuring and frightening investors into moving out of defence.

The investors are being intimidated into believing it will be bad for their companies image, bad for the bottom line and bad for the people they are investing on behalf of.

Investing in defence companies can be rational and ethical, unless you are a pacifist. If you are not a pacifist and campaign against defence investment, you are being irrational.

If you have armed forces they need to be trained and equipped to the highest level, otherwise sending them into battle is murder.

The current government seems to have difficulty understanding this, whilst risking war with Russia.

That is just plain stupid.