Stop the militarization of Canadian culture

April 10, 2007

Yesterday I sent out an op ed about the militarization of our political culture (see Vimy Ridge was a terrible waste of human potential, by Brad Bird, Victoria Times Colonist, April 09, 2007). I wrote it a while ago and of course the media orgy about Vimy Ridge has since reinforced my argument: the government with the shameful complicity and uncritical enthusiasm of the media is trying to remake Canadian political culture by emphasizing a war-fighting military as a defining institution of our nation.

It isn’t - and if we allow it to become a defining institution we will be well on our way to the deep integration into the US that Bay Street and Harper are pushing for.

This issue is not an easy one. The out-pouring of stories about the bravery of our troops at Vimy Ridge makes any criticism - even of the horrible waste of lives - seem thoughtless or disloyal. But the reality is that the loss of nearly 3600 Canadians (Canada’s population then was just 7 million) was a grotesque and unnecessary slaughter in a war that most historians agree was in general a pointless slaughter of millions.

I have included below an excellent article on the true meaning of Vimy Ridge - please read it as it is a necessary antidote to the barrage of propaganda we have all been subjected to over the past week.

WRITER A LETTER TO THE EDITOR declaring that you do not want Canadian society and political culture to be redefined as one which glorifies war and devalues peace - and peacekeeping.

FRAMING THE ISSUE:

Stephen Harper and General Rick Hillier - the principal architects of this cynical strategy - are trying to frame the issue as one of heroic sacrifice, regardless of the nature of the war being fought. Do not try to fight this framing - instead reframe the issue.

We - through an honest. responsible media - should be mourning the senseless deaths of so many wonderful young men (Canadian and German) at Vimy Ridge and men and women in Afghanistan. Both these conflicts represent the total failure of political leaders to resolve conflict rationally (that is, politically) and as a result of this failure the ordering of (mostly young) people to an early death, or injury or the life-altering experience of killing or maiming others, including innocent civilian men, women and children.

Craft your own letters based on your own sense of outrage at what is happening. But here are a few arguments you might find useful. [YOU MUST REWRITE THESE - BETTER THAT YOU USE JUST ONE OF THESE ARGUMENTS AND REWRITE IT THAN USE 2 OR 3 AND FAIL TO.]

• Ask the question why is the government and the media bending over backwards to make war seem glorious and young soldiers dying horrible and pointless deaths something to celebrate?

• While the myth-machine might have made Vimy Ridge a defining moment in Canada becoming a nation, surely we have moved beyond this violent stage of history. Why not become adults and claim our nationhood as being defined in the modern age by our creation of Medicare - celebrating life and community rather than our willingness to send soldiers to die and kill?

• The myth making about Vimy - which the best war historians described as a minor tactical victory won at enormous cost - is now being applied to the endless and equally pointless slaughter in Afghanistan - as witnessed by the sickening death of six more Canadians in a war we can neither justify nor “win.”

• There is a special irony for Christians on this Easter weekend coinciding with Vimy and deaths in Afghanistan - as the author of the article below states: “Christ exhorted us not to kill. No exceptions like "nation building" were appended to the rule.”

• Harper and Hillier are engaged in a deliberate strategy and massive effort to change the political culture from one which rejected war as a legitimate method of conflict resolution and placed peacekeeping as one of the highest callings a nation could have to one which attempts to glorify war. Canadians have not asked for this transformation and don’t support it.

• The Canadian media should be ashamed of itself for being totally complicit in this deceptive and sinister effort to artificially change what Canada is - ignoring our values, our history and our traditions.

• The CBC should be especially ashamed as it has corrupted the mandate of our public broadcaster by promoting a blatant propaganda effort whitewashing the war in Afghanistan and glorifying the slaughter of Canadians 90 years ago. It is not the job of the CBC to assist Stephen Harper and General Hillier in their agenda - it is the CBC’s job to tell the truth and provide balanced coverage.

• To quote my op ed piece [remember to rewrite any of this in your own words if you decide to use the argument]: “What happened to the CBC mandate to provide Canadians with genuine debate about critical national issues? Where are the stories about corrupt and brutal Afghan police? About internal refugee camps with no facilities or medical care? About foreign aid disappearing into the pockets of officials? About the fact that we can no longer fund other foreign aid projects because Afghanistan absorbs it all so we can support US foreign policy?”

• [You have lots of good information and analysis on Afghanistan - please use what has most moved you to oppose this lunacy.]

Click here to SEND YOUR LETTER NOW!