Converting weapons to peaceful civilian applications
This article is about converting military technology. For the American veterans' NPO, seeSwords to Plowshares. For the Bible verse where the term originates, seeIsaiah 2.
"Beatingswords into ploughshares" (orplowshares) is the conversion of militaryweapons or technologies for peaceful civilian applications. The phrase originates fromIsaiah 2:4:
Many peoples shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of theLORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. –
Theploughshare (Hebrew:אֵת’êṯ, also translatedcoulter) is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit humankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by thesword (Hebrew:חֶרֶבḥereḇ), a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use. The rest of the passage similarly equates spears withpruning hooks.
In addition to the original Biblical Messianic intent, the expression "beat swords into ploughshares" has been used by variouspacifist movements.
A past example from the period 1993 continuing to 2013 is the dismantling ofnuclear weapons and the use of their contents as fuel in civilian electricpower stations, theMegatons to Megawatts Program.Nuclear fission development, originally accelerated forWorld War II weapons needs, has been applied to many civilian purposes since its use at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, including electricity andradiopharmaceutical production.
Mosaic in the Beit Habad Gallery,Jerusalem, quoting Isaiah 2:4, with lion, spear and spade
Beyond the above usage in the Book of Isaiah, thisanalogy is used twice more in theOld Testament/Tanakh, in both directions. In Micah, it is recited word for word:
He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
An expression of this concept can be seen in abronze statue in theUnited Nations garden calledLet Us Beat Swords into Plowshares, a gift from theSoviet Union sculpted byEvgeniy Vuchetich, representing the figure of a man hammering a sword into the shape of a plowshare.
At last came Yen Yuan, who said "I should like to find an intelligent king and sage ruler whom I might assist. I would diffuse among the people instructions on the five great points, and lead them on by the rules of propriety and music, so that they should not care to fortify their cities by walls and moats, but would fuse their swords and spears into implements of agriculture.
— "Chapter V, Section III: His Immediate Disciples",Confucian Analects, The Great Learning, and The Doctrine of the Mean (1892)
Tokyo Tower, the second-tallest tower in Japan, is partially constructed from steel obtained by recycling US tanks damaged in battle during theKorean War.[2][3]
After World War II,military surplusAFVs were sometimes converted intobulldozers, agricultural, and logging tractors, as seen in the American television seriesAx Men.[4] Two are currently preserved at theSwords and Ploughshares Museum in Canada.[5][6] French farmers sometimes used modified versions of the obsoleteFT-17 tank, and similar vehicles, based on theT-34 tank, remain in widespread use in the former USSR.[7] A British agricultural engineer and collector of classic tractors, owns aSherman tank that was adapted to plow Lincolnshire's fields in response to the shortage ofcrawler tractors.[5]
Nitrogen mustard, developed from the chemical weapon mustard gas developed in World War I,[10] became the basis for the world's firstchemotherapy drug,mustine, developed through the 1940s.[11]
Swedish aid organization IM Swedish Development Partner launchedHumanium Metal, using metal from illegal handguns to create everyday objects. The first product announced was headphones by Yevo.[12]
TheGlobal Positioning System was originally developed to enable more accurate strikes with long-range weapons by the United States, but its purpose was later expanded to include civilian applications such aspersonal navigation assistants.
Twelve-term US Congressman and three-time presidential candidateRon Paul wrote a book entitledSwords into Plowshares: A Life in Wartime and a Future of Peace and Prosperity, in which he discusses growing up during World War II and living his life through war after war.[14]
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
For hisfirst andsecond inaugurations, U.S. PresidentRichard Nixon took the oath of office with his hand on two family Bibles, opened to Isaiah 2:2–4.[15][16][17]
Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences world-wide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien than war and the threat of war?
Melting down all metals, turning plows and shears to swords Shun words of the Bible, we need implements of war Chalklines and red puddles of those who have been slain Destiny, that crooked schemer, says the dead shall rise again
And everyone neath their vine and fig tree shall live in peace and unafraid, Everyone neath their vine and fig tree shall live in peace and unafraid. And into ploughshares beat their swords Nations shall learn war no more. And into ploughshares beat their swords Nations shall learn war no more.
O' beautiful, for spacious skies But now those skies are threatening They're beating plowshares into swords For this tired old man that we elected king
They will live again in freedom In the garden of the Lord. They will walk behind the ploughshare, They will put away the sword. The chain will be broken And all men will have their reward.
Don’t stop after beating the swords into plowshares, don’t stop! Go on beating and make musical instruments out of them. Whoever wants to make war again will have to turn them into plowshares first.
The marketing slogan used by the fictionalGlobotech Industries inSmall Soldiers, serving as the introduction to the movie, and foreshadowing the central plot of smart ballistic missile guidance microprocessors being mistakenly used in children's toys.
A "Swords into Ploughshares" badge was worn by Christian peace groups inEast Germany. Wearers of the badge who refused to take it off were barred from educational and work opportunities by the state.[23]
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