Canada's Afghanistan War: Don't extend it. End it!
The following is the video and the text of the speech given by Christina Petriuk, a member of Crazy for Peace 2010, at a rally held on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010, in Winnipeg. The purpose of the rally was to raise awareness of the danger of war with Iran and the risk that it could escalate into a world war fought with nuclear weapons. To contact Crazy for Peace, email crazyforpeace2010@hotmail.com, or visit their Facebook page.
“If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.”
Years and years ago I read that on a bumper sticker on some little car here in Winnipeg, and it hit me that day when I read it. The first thing I thought when I read it was, well, I’m not outraged, but don’t tell me I’m not paying attention. I DO pay attention. And then I asked myself, ok, if I really am paying attention, why am I not outraged?
I’m glad to see you here today because it’s clear by your presence that you are outraged, and by extension it means you have been paying attention. And that you are here today because you want other people who are not outraged, to start paying attention, really paying attention. It’s possible that you were ambivalent about showing up today – perhaps you thought about staying home or going somewhere else – perhaps there are people who you care about who don’t share your interest in being here, who even ridicule you for your intention to come here, and you feel you have to separate yourself from them by being here. That’s good – it doesn’t say you are separating yourself from a society you care about and want a place in, by choosing to be here – it rather shows your strength of character, your ability to make a completely independent decision and feel good about your decision and yourself. It shows that you have emerged as a leader for that society that you care about. It shows that more than ever you belong to that society and that you are committing to taking care of it. And you see that you are not the only one here today, and you have met good people here this week who you respect and whose respect you are glad to have. And you can go back to your friends and families having participated in these actions today and you can belong with them and they will surprise you when they say, “Actually, I respect you for standing up for what you believe in.” And you can be certain that your relationships with those people will have changed now, that they ask for your opinion or for you to explain things in the news to them, and one day maybe your brother or your niece or your neighbour will indeed come with you to these peace events. So I hope everyone here today feels glad that they came, and feels good about themselves. I know you know you’re doing the right thing by standing up and saying, “That’s right – I’m against war. Is that crazy? Is there something wrong with that?” Which brings me to my next bumper sticker.
“The middle of the road is for dotted yellow lines and roadkill.”
What is the dotted yellow line? The line on the road that divides two clearly different directions. What happens to any poor creature that stands in the middle of the road in the way of speeding traffic in both directions? Not long before it’s roadkill. Nothing and no one belongs in the middle of the road. Ever. What about us? Are we going to stand in the middle of the road, afraid to choose a lane, afraid to commit to an opinion and to a belief system? oblivious to the dangerous consequences of not choosing a direction? ambivalent until we notice that Canada sends troops to support another hopeless war effort in the Persian Gulf? and then we cry out when it’s too late, that we disapprove of where our tax dollars are going, that we didn’t vote for a war? Why wasn’t there a vote on going to war? we wouldn’t have voted for war. Choose a lane right now. There’s one lane that goes in the direction of “Nuke ‘em, nuke the f’ers” and there’s another lane that goes in the direction of “Over my dead body – right now I am voting against war.”
This week I HAVE heard lots of people saying they’re against war, but some of those same people are saying they haven’t heard anything about war in Iran being a possibility. I say, yes you have, it just hasn’t hit you yet. Have you heard in the news about human rights abuses against women in Iran at the hands of the fundamentalist Islamic government? Have you heard about schools being bombed where girls are pupils? Have you heard about terrorist acts? Have you heard about men’s haircuts being regulated to cut off western-style locks? (Full beard with no mustache the preferred style.) Have you heard about Iran’s nuclear power plants ready to start functioning? Have you heard of round after round of economic sanctions against Iran recently? Then you’ve heard the warning signals that the US and Israel consider Iran a deserving target of punishment, and you have heard the sabres rattling of those allies of power and commerce and economic control in the Middle East. You have heard the announcements that war on Iran is coming. You have had déja vù because you have seen the whole charade before, and its ultimate goal. You have seen it with Iraq and you have seen it with Aghanistan. And you have seen what it accomplished, and what it did not accomplish. And you are seeing it now again with Iran. You have heard lots about war on Iran in the near future.
Is Crazy for Peace for or against Iran? Neither. We’re against war, anywhere, for whatever reason. We know Iran has a crappy human rights record that it is building on right now, and that Iran’s leaders are indeed leading the way with human rights abuses. We also know Iran has a crappy relationship with the US. The country and the region that has a peaceful relationship with the US – a relationship in which a country or a region agrees not to thwart the US economically or politically – is a country or a region that has no fear of military attack from the US or US-supported allies. Think all of western Europe and Canada and Mexico, North America. The country or region that has not agreed to be an economic partner of the US will always be in a precarious state of armed peace with the US – a term you might recognize better is, it is “an unstable region.” Regions declared unstable by the US are under threat of being made “stable” by the US. Being made “stable” for the US begins with de-stabilization of the recalcitrant state. The formula is by now predictable. Step 1: Frighten the public – begin with media reports of human rights abuses and media reports of Islamic terrorism and media reports of suspected nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction being stockpiled Step 2: Follow up with economic sanctions. Step 3: Encourage an internal military coup against the elected government. Step 4: Wage military war “as a last resort.” Starting to sound familiar? Iraq… Afghanistan… North Korea… Cuba… Venezuela… 1970’s Chile… Nicaragua… Palestine… Recognize the signs, distill the underlying message from the version being channelled into your homes by the media. Identify the pattern. Realize you are slowly being manipulated into supporting this bull. And it is bull. I hate being made a sucker. Don’t you? Don’t be so easily suckered into believing at face value whatever message is passed to the media in a government news release, and are then printed in your local daily newspaper. Don’t be so easily suckered into believing Iran needs to be attacked. If you find yourself saying at animated family dinner conversations, “Explain it to me again – why are they attacking so-and-so?” give yourself some credit and realize that you’re asking the right question. And realize that the reason you can’t remember and don’t understand the logic behind a military attack is because the logic is tenuous, the reasons aren’t good ones, the reasons aren’t morally correct reasons, the reasons aren’t based in Right and Wrong. The reasons are based on complicated economic and power issues that you have heard nothing about, and you haven’t heard these true reasons because the truth would outrage you in its clarity.
Countries that are rich enough and powerful enough to piss off the US and that do piss off the US immediately become “unstable.” We’re seeing Iran in action pissing off the US. They are rich in petroleum, and they are regaining control of their own natural resource. They are building nuclear power plants, NOT for weapons (maybe true, maybe not true), but for energy. They have been ordered by Israel and the US to halt and to dismantle their nuclear energy plans. They have refused to do so. Their power is directly born out of this resistance to bow to US and Israeli pressure. They have become an unstable region for the US. Economic sanctions against Iran began last year and are in their fourth round. Iran continues to resist. Their instability and their power thus continues to grow. Their threat to Israel is great. Israel is supported by the US. Israel warns it will attack Iran’s nuclear energy plant. Iran counters that it will not retreat from the threat – it will defend itself with whatever means it has.
This is war.
And it started with us, recall, believing wholesale what we’re told about the threat of Iran, the threat of terrorism, and how the enemy has to be attacked in order to protect the rest of us. In order to return the region to US control. Yes, you want to be protected. But do you require a region to be under US control? Feeling safe and being controlled by the US do not necessarily have to go hand in hand. What does feeling safe have to do with Wal-Mart and McDonald’s and US hotel chains gaining control of the landscape of popular foreign tourist beach destinations?
Crazy for Peace 2010 was born to promote awareness of plans for a US or US-backed war on Iran that is brewing right now with respect to Iran. We protest, you protest, and do we have an impact on decision-making? Will the Canadian government listen to us when the question arises, “How many troops will Canada commit to a US war zone?” Certainly not. But political lifespans are short – eight years at most in the US, and Canadians are fickle voters – we have a minority federal government for the last while. Time flies and before they know it there’s another election around the corner. Pleasing the voters becomes paramount if a party or candidate is to secure its place once again. We all need a paycheque, right? So too does the elected official. Speak out with Crazy for Peace 2010. Speak out yourselves, to your friends and to your families. Our protests will be noticed. Politicians might not care about your feelings per se, but they do care about how your feelings influence your vote. If you say you’ll vote them out over a bad decision on the issue of going to war in Iran, they’ll think about that paycheque they want after the next election and they’ll move heaven and earth to avoid going to war. To get your vote to keep their paycheque. Votes, elections, paycheque, power. That’s where Crazy for Peace comes in, and that’s where you come in.
Read between the lines. If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention. Pay attention, choose a lane, make it clear you’ll vote according to which lane you’re in. Don’t be middle of the road. Middle of the road is for yellow dotted lines and roadkill.
