Regina 16 say common folk won freedoms
By John F. Conway, The Calgary Herald, April 6, 2010
The 16 University of Regina academics who signed the letter protesting the university’s participation in the Project Hero Scholarship program were clear in stating their reasons, and have replied to dozens of angry e-mails containing gross distortions of their position, vicious personal attacks, and ominous comments bordering on threats of physical violence.
I did not hesitate to sign the letter of protest. There is nothing heroic about the Afghan war, an illegal imperialist war of invasion and occupation. Insisting it is the equivalent of Canada’s role in the Second World War and many UN peacekeeping missions is reprehensible. Our troops, on behalf of our government, are among the invaders and occupiers as members of the NATO coalition. Our young men and women are dying to protect a U.S.-puppet regime composed of gangsters, warlords and drug traffickers. It is not worth one drop of Canadian blood. The best way to support our troops, and their worried families, is to bring them home immediately.
Project Hero is not about scholarships for the children of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, since educational support is available from the federal government, under Children of Deceased Veterans Education Assistance Act C-28. The scholarship covers not only dependents of Canadian Forces and veterans who die or died as a result of military service, but also those who are or were pensioned at a 48 per cent disability level at the time of death. Effective Sept. 1, 2003, recipients were granted $4,000 a year for tuition expenses and a monthly living allowance of $300. Support in 2010 has increased to $5,000 a year for tuition and a $372.44 monthly living allowance.
Project Hero is part of the ongoing propaganda offensive from the militaristic, pro-war cabal led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the former chief of defence, retired general Rick Hillier.