Masters of War
With “Masters of War”, Bob Dylan showed us that wars between peoples do not arise of their own accord, but are always initiated by war profiteers.
Back in 1963, a furious song by the young Bob Dylan – one he felt to be honest – against the puppet-masters of war made a deep impression on the author. It was immediately clear to him that wars do not arise between peoples, but are always staged and stoked by people with ruthless interests in power or profit.
Neither one civilian population nor the other can have, of its own accord, any interest in violent solutions to possible conflicts. The people in countries waging war are incited against one another.
Back then I was still at school and always saw the Bundeswehr’s recruitment posters hanging on the noticeboard. One day I hung a picture I had painted myself, with the words “Refuse military service”, next to them. As a result I had to report to the headmaster for a talk. I had to take my note down, but I did achieve that we were allowed to hold a discussion event at school with a Bundeswehr officer and a representative of the conscientious objectors’ association. That was democracy in action.
Anyone who spreads the content of Bob Dylan’s lyrics today is probably recognised at once by an algorithm and can expect to be “deleted” on antisocial media.
Once again it is the puppet-masters of war who instil fear in us, who stir up hatred against “hate speech”, and who want to make us believe that we have to buy more and better weapons in order to achieve a better world.
That has never once worked.
I have often sung Bob Dylan’s song, but I mostly left out the final verse of his lyrics, in which he wishes for the imminent death of the “Masters of War”.
I wish death on no one, but I do ardently wish that this way of stirring up fear, discord and conflict and then exploiting them selfishly will die out as soon as possible.
Here is my living-room recording from the time before the wars against terrorism or against viruses.
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