Conscientiously Objecting to Remembrance Day.
Let me preface this, as I feel required to do, by saying that I don’t hate our veterans or any other of that bullshit that is lobbed around on days like this.
No, I have ancestors who died in both wars. One on D-Day. I’ve met many veterans, worked with them. I’ve studied and written on war and veterans issues.
But today cannot be cut-and-dried. Today cannot be a day to simply say honour veterans, living and dead and be done with it. It has to do that and so much more.
There seems to be a profound irony in the very name of today. Remembrance Day seeks to remember nothing more than a narrative put forward. I’m not speaking of the narrative that we must respect and honour our veterans - I’m not disputing that. I agree with it. Rather, I find immensely objectionable the narrative that this was a war of good vs. evil. A war of a united Canada. A war of popular opposition to tyrannical Hitler/Kaiser/Communism/etc.
That narrative does disservice to our veterans.
What we need to see are not wartime myths, but instead we need to confront the harsh realities of these myths.
What do we ignore today? We have no minute of silence for those tens of thousands Japanese-Canadians who were interred throughout this country - just like our P.O.Ws were interred in Japan. We don’t wear a poppy to commemorate the self-mutilation and jail-time suffered by draft dodgers, conscientious objectors and military deserters. We don’t try to identify and respect those who were obliterated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the hands of the unbelievable power of the nuclear bombs. We don’t talk about the very nature of these wars as being imperialistic, paranoid and often completely unjustified.
We should, as we do, talk about the incomprehensible sacrifice these soldiers made when they boarded those boats and planes. We shouldn’t, however, muzzle discussion and debate out of fear that we may offend their sensibilities. They braved harsh conditions, gunfire, napalm and untold else. We need not insult or degrade them, but we should respect why they fought and celebrate a free and fair society by questioning why they were sent.
No solider makes the choice to invade another country. No soldier holds those cards. Soldiers are soldiers because they have faith that their commanders are making the right choice. Thoroughly analyzing that choice, every year, is the only way to keep the commanders accountable.
And when you see Stephen Harper standing in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, remember that - under this and previous governments - veterans have been consistently marginalized, neglected and forgotten. Forgive me if I find his participation in the whole thing utterly farcical.
