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Lest We Forget
Posted by D-Rock on 11/11/05 (Shite)
This article is reprinted – without permission – courtesy of A-Zone founder, building “manager” and good friend Paul Burrows …
This Remembrance Day, let us remember Canadians who fought and died during the two World Wars and the Korean War. Let us also remember those of other nations (Germans, Russians, Japanese, Koreans and many others) who fought and died as our allies, or our enemies.
Let us also remember that those who fought and died on both sides were primarily working people, whether volunteers or conscripts. They were not members of the privileged elites, whose class and corporate interests (rather than their country’s alleged national interests) sparked the wars in the first place.
Let us also remember those who fought against injustice without the support of the Canadian government. Let us honour the brave individuals (and entire brigades like Mackenzie-Papineau) who went to Spain in the 1930s to defend the republic and revolution from fascism. Let us not forget that these veterans of the Spanish War fought and died despite our government’s threat to imprison them upon their return.
Let us also remember those who refused to fight for unjust causes and were called “cowards.” Let us for once acknowledge their bravery — for standing alone with their principles, in the face of ridicule, persecution, imprisonment, harassment, threats, or violence from their own friends or family, from their own community, or from the institutions of the Canadian state.
Let us also remember the combatants and civilian victims of a whole host of other wars past and present — wars in which Canada may or may not have sent soldiers, but Canadian arms manufacturers made (and continue to make) huge profits through the sale of weapons.
Let us remember those who continue to fight and die resisting brutal dictatorships — regardless of whether Canadian politicians and our “free press” consider these dictators to be “enemies” or “allies.” Let us speak out against the exploitative and repressive measures of these dictators, even while our government helps to prop them up with money and military hardware. Let us honour the dissidents who struggle to change these societies by any means necessary. And let us honour, support and join those in our own societies who work in solidarity with oppressed people the world over.
And most of all, let us remember that one day a year is not enough. The meaning of Remembrance Day is greatly diminished, even trivial, if it is confined to wearing a plastic poppy every November. It is meaningless if it is patriotic, as if our empathy and allegiance should stop at a border that was itself constructed by conquest and war.
Remembrance Day is also meaningless if it remains disconnected from today’s struggles for peace and a better future, both at home and abroad. The struggle to end war is literally the same as the ongoing struggle to democratize our own country, to shift resources from military to social spending, and to wrest control of our communities and workplaces from corporations and private power. In Canada, we must first acknowledge — and pay reparations for — historical and ongoing crimes against First Nations peoples, and we must first acknowledge — and completely reverse — our unsavoury, immoral and profiteering role in foreign affairs, before we can proudly (or accurately) claim to be a force for peace, freedom, democracy or justice in the world.
This Remembrance Day, open your eyes and hearts to the ongoing, daily, systemic class war against the poor in this country. Open your heart to the fact that poverty is a form of violence (suffered daily by thousands of Canadians), and we live under an economic system that requires unemployment and poverty, in order to keep wages low and private profits high.
Remember also the ongoing genocide committed against the Lubicon Cree in Alberta and the Anishnaabe of Grassy Narrows (sadly, not aberrations), as well as the daily racism and injustice faced by First Nations peoples across the land. Remember, and stand in solidarity with those who resist exploitation, torture, injustice, as well as foreign aggression or intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, East Timor, Haiti, Palestine, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Sierra Leone, Zaire, Somalia, Burma, the former Soviet Union, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and on and on and on. Remember all these struggles, at home and abroad, and work to change the structures of power in your own community and country which give rise to war and injustice in the first place.
This Remembrance Day, mourn your dead, and commemorate your fallen heroes. But most of all, work for positive social change. Question the pronouncements and rhetoric of your so-called “leaders.” Become an activist for peace. Speak out against the racist attacks upon — and racial “profiling” of — people of colour in the wake of September 11. Join the fight against the wholesale and racist deportation of Palestinians and other Arabs that is occurring as we speak — merely the latest in a long line of shameful bigotry and collective punishment in Canadian history, going back to the so-called “reservation system” (which inspired Apartheid), through the expulsion of the Acadians, to the internment of the Japanese, and the closing of our borders to Jews fleeing Nazi terror.
This Remembrance Day let us for once affirm that “No One is Illegal!” This Remembrance Day, let us resist the criminalization of dissent, and the attack on civil liberties in the name of a very false security. This Remembrance Day, let us oppose the wars that are now being waged, rather than simply buying a poppy to show how mournful we are, while we fall in line behind the expanding American Empire.
Oppose Canada’s ongoing intervention in Afghanistan, and any Canadian participation in the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Fight to end these and every other unjust war! Anything else is hypocrisy. Anything else is not only immoral, but also sows the seeds of future terrorism. Anything else is lip service.
19 fragments of dialogue thus far ...
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Comment by chad friel on November 11th, 2005 at 1:19 pm:
I fully support intervention in Afghanistan and I believe we are doing the right thing by being there. If we didn’t, women would still be treated like animals and the fundamentalist/fascist taliban would still be enslaving women. I support intervention in countries where genocide is occuring. That is the role of the peace keeper.
Comment by fish on November 11th, 2005 at 1:43 pm:
“Become an activist for peace. Speak out against the racist attacks upon — and racial “profiling” of — people of colour in the wake of September 11.”…i mentioned in an other post that i have a muslim flatmate…well today people from the National Security Police arrived just to “get some information”. he said they asked him his political beliefs, to which he said he didn’t have any. but…why would they possibly need to know that???
Comment by flickruby on November 11th, 2005 at 2:26 pm:
In a way, I agree with you, Chad. In another, not at all.
Isn’t it funny though, how the Taliban had been in power since 1993 and had imposed horrific gender-based laws since then, and how every feminist and human rights group had been wringing their hands to the U.S. government for nearly ten years, then WHAMMO… the US gets bombed. Somehow the Afghanistan-based Taliban is seen as enemy #1. What’s the solution — “democratize” those barbaric Afghanis from terrorist rule!! Soon thereafter, documentaries that were made years ago about the living conditions of Afghani women and girls are being shown primetime on the major TV networks. The popular rhetoric becomes “How could they treat their women like that!”
The idea I’m trying to put forward here, is that the US-led invasion of Afghanistan had nothing to do with human rights and everything to do with gaining control over a critical piece of geography necessary to begin the so-called “War on Terror” and subsequent invasion of Iraq. Essentially, the oppression of these women was, in part, used to justify this. Interesting to note here as well that this is not the first time that Islamic gender issues have come into play in terms of western imperialism; the early 20th century saw the same arguments were used in Britain’s parliament in regards to their imperialistic invasion of Egypt. (read Leila Ahmed’s “Beneath the Veil” for all kinds of info on this).
And another thing, women’s situation have not been improved greatly in Afghanistan. Initially, in the provisional (read: puppet) government that was set up there a few years back had a focus on gender parity and women’s issues, all of which have been rolled back. Most women and girls still cannot attend school, leave their home unveiled and without male accompaniment, to say nothing of stoning, etc.
Political questions surrounding women’s bodies, human rights and lives are continually appropriated by governments to further their own programs. Why, we probably wouldn’t have gotten the vote in this country (canada) if the conservatives hadn’t wanted prohibition and most of the feminist groups in that era hadn’t been “temperance” unions.
Comment by tomass on November 11th, 2005 at 4:20 pm:
i think flickruby is totally on the ball here. the word peace-keeper is just that: a word.
the same goes with iraq: 25 years ago, saddam hussien was the white houses’ best friend. forward to 1991 and all of a sudden, the horrific atrocities that the hussein regime had been carrying out during the era of US partnership are categorized as monstrous and tyranical.
it seems the strategic locale of the middle-east is tied to both of these wars, and any to follow. its the same with Israel.
lets not forget who profits from these wars, and what the REAL causes are.
my heart goes out to all women and children trampled on by these in-human overlords.
i hope the Bush Administration GETS FUCKING CASTRATED. All presidents for that matter.
mmmmmmm……opium!
Comment by 4130Punk on November 12th, 2005 at 1:13 am:
We, as Canadians, are not peacekeeping in Afghanistan. Our army is merely supporting a government that is friendly to capital’s interest. The Northern Alliance were just as bad as the Taliban and when the Northern Alliance were overthrown, the Taliban was welcomed as the new rulers of Afghanistan. And now the Northern Alliance and Hamid Karzai (the USA) are in power again and nothing has changed. One set of philosopher-kings has simply been exhanged for another set. The Canadian Army is not in Afghanistan to help create new institutions to promote the prosperity of Afghanis, they are merely upholding the status quo, which is by no means peace.
Ditto to flickruby and tomass! *passes the peace pipe*
The only thing to remember on Remembrance Day is that too many loved ones have perished in order to maintain the privilege of these philosopher-kings who claim to have souls of gold and only wish for the greater good of their constituents/consumers.
Peace and solidarity
Comment by Kyle on November 12th, 2005 at 1:08 pm:
I’ve had issues with Remembrance Day for a while. And after becoming cynical in general and researching/writing essays on some of the wars, it became even harder to show ’support’.
I feel sorry for these people that they were tricked into believing they were fighting for their own beliefs.
I still don’t know, but I think the approach in the article is the way to go.
Comment by Danarcho on November 12th, 2005 at 1:23 pm:
Thanks for putting this back up…I was looking for it on the Propagandhi site to show someone and here it is.
Each rememberance day I’m shunned by all my nationalistic friends with my whole “rememberance day is a bogus holiday meant to justify war” shpeals…We should remember, but we need to learn our lesson.
Comment by ben on November 14th, 2005 at 12:59 am:
I was hitchhiking to whistler one day last season when a guy working up there picked me up. I got the impression that he was an intelligent and soft-spoken guy, and he told me about the STEP program for environmentally sustainable workplaces. The we got to talking about the war, and he told me his real job as a peacekeepr in the Canadian military.
He said that he does it because he wants to help people. I was kinda wondering about how the military could do that, but he said that most of what the Canadian military was doing in Afganistan (where he served) was to clean up the mess the US had made, and get basic infrastructure going again. As well as protecting food shipment from attacks by bandits.
Seriously, i don`t know if i would have the balls and committement to let myself get shot at to deliver food to people fucked over by the war.
I was pretty impressed by this guy.
I`m not saying that we should all enlist, but i am glad there are people like that in the world.
Comment by magda on November 14th, 2005 at 3:02 am:
ahh. maybe a dumb question, but do you guys (and girls) know any good sites or books where i can get more info on the current situation in Afghanistan? That would be really helpful.
Comment by fish on November 16th, 2005 at 5:37 am:
http://news.bbc.co.u...profiles/1162668.stm
theres a basic profile of the country. finding reliable info can be hard for afghanistan tho, try searching on amazon, find a book, then see if your local independent will get it for you.
Comment by fish on November 16th, 2005 at 5:42 am:
i get the feeling its not going too good however, theres just been an election there and…
“Final certified results of the landmark parliamentary polls came out on Saturday. As expected, they indicate those who will legislate from the new building will be a mixture of anti-Soviet resistance leaders, warlords, the remnants of previous pro-Moscow regimes, businessmen connected with the lucrative opium trade, religious conservatives and even members of the Taliban.”
pretty much back to how it was, largest supplier of opium(heroin), ruled by warring drug lords, and the excellent human(expecially womens) rights abuses you’d expect from a country in such a state.
Comment by Tim on November 17th, 2005 at 5:55 pm:
I just have a question, does anyone know any “hard news sources” for Canadian politics?
See the problem is im in a constant feud with my Consevative Civics teacher about the problems we have not only in the states but in Canada with the stuggle for proper democracy.I just want to have some more strong facts to throw back in his face when he comes after me.
Comment by Craig on November 19th, 2005 at 2:07 am:
I’m responding a bit late, but since I didn’t see this particular aspect addressed I don’t feel too bad.
The first comment (by Chad) refers to the fact that the women of Afghanistan have been liberated. That’s debatable, but for the sake argument I’ll assume it to be true. The problem is that you can’t talk about the war in Afghanistan without also talking about Iraq — it’s the same war — and in Iraq, a region with a population many times the size of Afghanistan, women have LOST their rights. Iraq, once a secular nation, has been converted into a theocracy hostile to womens’ rights, all for the political convenience of the occupying power.
To say that the war is a good thing because of some tiny percieved gain in Afghanistan is akin to finding a penny on the sidewalk when you owe $20,000 on your mastercard. It doesn’t amount to shit.
-Craig
Comment by fish on November 19th, 2005 at 12:11 pm:
well…find a penny pick it up and all the day you’ll have good luck.
Comment by IgnoranceISBliss on November 19th, 2005 at 12:56 pm:
http://media.putfile...ons-Demand-Answers74
Here is an intense music video that rips into the BUSH ADMIN,,,,, very good send to everyone!!!! FIGHT THE POWER
Comment by tom on November 19th, 2005 at 8:16 pm:
i dont think the intervention in afganistan has made anything better for the women there. i think that saying the “intervention” in afghanistan liberated the women there is like saying the women in afghanistan had and HAVE no power. the media really muddles it up, but there is a womens revolutionary force in afghanistan.
if anything, the best people to explain the crises in these places ARE PROBABLY THE WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ.
http://www.rawa.org
to assume that a changing of the gaurd changes anything for women anywhere is a wee bit short sighted.
Comment by falcore on November 23rd, 2005 at 12:35 am:
i remember reading or mabey it was a tv interview with chomsky i think he said that it was like 1000000 people at risk of starvation and i think that was a year or so ago and i think we are still bombing it seems that the war in iraq has totaly over shadowed what is going on in afghanstand. US news is just about how many US troops died or how many civilians died from “insergents” pure propaganda bullshit thats in all the local papers here in San Diego county
Comment by Marcella on December 6th, 2005 at 11:50 am:
This is a really late post, but for future readers, it is important to clarify.
Unfortunately, many have seemingly missed the point that it is NOT up to the government of the US or Canada to “liberate” anyone especially womyn. The thought of even suggesting that all these white supremacist powers from here need to go help the poor little womyn being oppressed (I know you all don’t mean it like that) is patriarchal and sexist.
As well, Asfghanistan has a fancy history with “womyn’s oppression” considering that pre-Russia era interventions, Afghanistan was reportedly one of the most progressive nations – more progressive than Canada by far. Back then, womyn were profs and students and had “power” and all those so-called capitalist niceties people in this culture use to define equality.
Then we have Russia, then the Taliban…
Bush’s pretense of entering Afghanistan in an effort to liberate womyn was a way of trying to wooo the female demographic whose support he had lost and because he new that Democrats (and Canadians apparently) would not suggest otherwise.
Self determination for all.
Comment by B.Oreo on February 14th, 2006 at 10:54 am:
“The first comment (by Chad) refers to the fact that the women of Afghanistan have been liberated. That’s debatable, but for the sake argument I’ll assume it to be true. The problem is that you can’t talk about the war in Afghanistan without also talking about Iraq — it’s the same war — and in Iraq, a region with a population many times the size of Afghanistan, women have LOST their rights. Iraq, once a secular nation, has been converted into a theocracy hostile to womens’ rights, all for the political convenience of the occupying power”
Where do you get your info? Have you been there or are you just pulling this stuff out of your ass?