Iconoclast Media

By: A Concerned Individual

I am sad to report that H.B. Beal Secondary School has a very open pro-military stance in regards to student recruitment.  Beal advertises military programming by making video clips of student recruiters and broadcasting them on the TVs throughout the school, hanging posters of military soldiers in the hallways, and hanging yellow ribbons around the trees in the front of the school without consulting its students.

After speaking with members of the administrative team I was informed that the military offers scholarship programs for the “less fortunate students, who want post-secondary education but can not afford it.”  This is highly offensive, morally destructive, and should not have any place in an institution which offers education.  Students who do not have the funding for post-secondary education should not be put in a situation in which they are persuaded to enroll in the army to achieve their aspirations.

Beal’s motto: “Our Mission is meeting the needs of a diverse student population to encourage individual potential and the achievement of excellence. Our Goals: (i) to provide an appropriate and relevant programme that meets the needs of Beal students in order to improve their academic achievement. (ii) to maintain a safe an positive learning environment.”

How are the needs of students met when the school and or government is unable to suggest forms of opportunity in post-secondary education or employment other than joining the military? No other post-secondary opportunities are advertised in the school with expensive large posters and television clips.

How is the school encouraging individual potential and achievement of excellence by allowing child predators (recruiters) into their school environment making promises and using forms of manipulation/romanticization and their authority to recruit students?

“Our Goals: (i) to provide an appropriate and relevant programme that meets the needs of Beal students in order to improve their academic achievement.

How does providing a resource to war, murder, hatred, manipulation, abuse, and dishonesty a relevant programme to improve students academic achievement?

“(ii) to maintain a safe and positive learning environment”

Does advertising with posters of soldiers dressed in camouflage and armour holding guns provide a feeling of a safe and positive learning environment? Does is allowing recruiters into the school create a safe environment?

Young adults who are recruited may eventually face combat and/or eventually get a free education. These campaigns lure young people with the promise to “see the world” and to have post-secondary education paid for. As a student, I am deeply disturbed at the link between Secondary School Administration and the military, who seem to work as a team to find fresh stock to fight wars like the one we are currently fighting in Afghanistan. Not only do ordinary citizens not know what is actually happening there but certainly young adults at Beal are NOT being educated about these matters. Recruiting teens in high schools is irresponsible: if not simply because they could be killed fighting but because like other generations (such as those who fought in Vietnam) they don’t know what they will be fighting for.

Protesting the SPP (Montebello)

Because there are only a few ways to attempt to influence government such as writing letters, becoming a politician or a lobbyist, everyday people band together to make politicians who ignore them, know their grief. In Canada not many people bother to protest (compared to Millions in countries like Mexico). Protests and those involved are seen as irritating and irrational, and are often portrayed by the media as violent.
Politicians and others are protected by the police who are often violent. Quebec police admitted to placing cops in protest-wear to incite a riot at Montobello, QC in August of 2007 (google/youtbe it). Officials were expecting thousands of protestors and prepared the small town with hundreds of armed and armored cops, barricades, cages and designated protest areas. Why? Stephen Harper was meeting with President Bush and the Mexican Prime Minister Felipe Calderón to plan the already-in-progress anti-national unification of these 3 countries (this is called the Security and Prosperity Partnership, but that’s another story: a scary one).
Protestors do provoke police and politicians by yelling and staring them down, occasionally vandalizing. Cops however ruthlessly beat protestors, man or woman, old or young, whether they are defending themselves or not. Crowds are pushed back and controlled with tear gas, sound machines and other high-tech equipment that violate human rights.
Protestor Dudley George was shot by police because they claim that they thought he was carrying a gun (it was a stick) during a legal protest. They also shot his dog. The ways that First Nations peoples are treated in protests and in other situations is disgusting.
Why do we “need” so much force put upon our peoples? The Canadian government must not be doing its job if the people are unhappy and feel left out of their own politics.
The next time you hear about or see a protest happening try to find out about it, participate or honk your horn to show solidarity and support. It’s cathartic, creative and really a lot of fun too. More than that it’s important to show politicians, corporations and each other that we care and we are willing to do something to ensure that our people, animals, land and resources not be exploited by our leaders.

A note about HEROES:

This is a culture that constantly labels police and the military as Heroes. I find the fact that we treat those legally licensed to kill above all other citizens this way to be disturbing: ARE HEROES SUPPOSED TO BE VIOLENT?
My Heroes are: teachers, nurses, farmers, wait staff, writers, spiritual leaders, construction workers, activists and protestors to name a few. These people put out an effort to ensure that we are well as a community and as individuals.
Note that they are not licensed to carry firearms or kill.

The Canadian (NATO) mission in Afghanistan is often hard for people to understand without doing significant research into the history of the country and region. It is a complex area of the world where many different elements have to be considered in understanding what is happening today. This article is designed to illuminate various facts that disprove the idea that Canada, which is a part of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and the U.S. are ‘doing good’ or ‘motivated to do good’ in Afghanistan. Hopefully this article will provide some intellectual self-defence not only by presenting arguments that challenge orthodox conceptions about the war but also to give relevant facts that are commonly hidden, on the subject of Canada’s military and governmental role in Afghanistan. Also, Canada’s involvement in oppression and meddling in Haiti, Israel, the Philippines, Iranian waters, Iraq etc. are not mentioned but are no less important.

1. The Afghan mission that Canada is involved in is lead by the United States. Remember there are two wars: one in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan. These wars have been meshed together as the “War on Terror” and by the lie that Saddam Hussein was supporting bin Laden in Afghanistan and Pakistan and therefore enabled the September 11 attacks. These two wars are orchestrated and designed by the U.S.; Canada is mainly supporting their efforts.

2. The U.S. is one of the most responsible actors on the planet for the rise of the Taliban. The U.S. sought and enabled their rise by giving guns, supplies, and training - this was done mostly with the Pakistani ISI (similar to the CIA or CISI) and Saudi Arabia. The Taliban agreed with the construction of the ‘Afghan pipeline’ coming from the Caspian Sea through Afghanistan to profit the U.S. owned petroleum company UNOCAL. *It is true that there is no oil in Afghanistan but the oil factor comes into play with the plan to create a pipeline through Afghanistan- a plan made long before the 2001 invasion. UNOCAL by the way is the same company that the current Prime Minister, Karazi was a former lobbyist for. The Taliban currently are the ‘new’ enemies of the U.S. and their allies (including Canada) for they are no longer playing along with the U.S. and their geopolitical and corporate objectives.

3. Often it is said that one of the objectives of the Canadian mission is to improve the rights of women in Afghanistan. RAWA (The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) is the most respected and hard-working women’s group in Afghanistan fighting for the safety and autonomy of women in that country. They of course have received not one cent from Canada or the U.S. This is probably due to the fact that RAWA is itself against Canadian aggression in Afghanistan as well as the aggression the Taliban and Northern Alliance inflict on their own population. In Justin Produr’s interview with a member of RAWA, Miriam responded to the question Is the NATO’ occupation helping or harming Afghanistan?, by stating, “it was clear that the U.S. (and Canadian) government still continues its wrong policy of supporting the fundamentalists (current government) in Afghanistan. We saw that the US relies on the fundamentalists of the Northern Alliance to fight another fundamentalist band – the Taliban. It doesn’t matter if they fight the Taliban or “terrorism”, they are supporting the Northern Alliance, and for Afghans both are the same – both are terrorists and fundamentalists, supported by foreign governments”. They both are repressive to women. 70% of the current parliament in Afghanistan is made up of the old warlords and drug lords of the Afghan War (late 1980s), who continue to be involved in violence and corruption. This government is known as the ‘Northern Alliance’ and is being backed by the Canadian Government, U.S. and NATO.

4. After 9/11 the U.S declared that international aid be halted from an already starving Afghanistan and that immediate bombing should commence. This indeed happened, killing thousands and creating thousands of refugees - an odd way to show you want to help. With the on-going war aid is nearly impossible to get to people in need.

5. Al-Qaeda (with bin Laden as the leader) grew out of the Mujahideen who were supported by the US financially and militarily in fighting the Russians in the 80s. Zbigniew Brezinski the National Security Advisor to Jimmy Carter wrote to Carter stating, “We now have the opportunity of giving the USSR its own Vietnam War”, (meaning a real mess that Brezinski calls the “Afghan trap”) apparently at any cost to the people of Afghanistan.

6. Osama bin Laden, like so many people claimed ‘enemy’ by the United States, was considered once a valuable asset and friend. Ironically CIA agents were meeting with him two months before 9/11 in a hospital in Dubai and again knowingly on September 10, 2001 in Pakistan. This is at a time when he was claimed a “wanted man” by the U.S. government.

7. Canadian participation in this war started by the U.S. and “The War On Terror” in general is an example of how current government corporate puppets such as Harper and the former, Martin, are further integrating our country with the U.S., and basically everything that goes with it including our military, resources, business, laws etc. This is all being hammered out in back door meetings at the highest levels of government and therefore to U.S. corporations. Check out the (SPP) ‘The North American Security and Prosperity Partnership’.

8. Canada is the sixth largest supplier of military goods in the world. In the article ‘Why are we    in Afghanistan?’ Jason Kunin writes, “Between 1997 and 2002, Canada’s Military exports rose from $23 million to $678 million. Since then, according to a recent CBC investigation, Canada’s military exports have tripled.”  He also points out “the Canada Pension Plan has invested over $2.55 billion in military and related industries both in Canada and abroad. This makes every Canadian, knowingly or unknowingly, a war profiteer.” The war is currently costing 50 million a day and the Harper government plans to give 490 billion in the next 20 years.

9. Media censorship is systemic in Afghanistan both on side of the Afghan government and the U.S./ NATO forces. The practice of ‘embedded journalism’, which confines journalists to view and report on war from the side of NATO/U.S. military and not the Afghans is common in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Waheed Warasta writes about Afghanistan’s new media law in “Freedom of Expression in Afghanistan: Restrictive laws, self-censorship keep criticism to a minimum”. He states that “no one has the right to write or say anything that is considered against “national interests”. According to Waheed Warasta, the Press Guidelines in the new media law states that, “no media could run information about suicide attacks of the Taliban on the news headline, nor could they criticize the US-lead coalition, and no one could air and publish news that would decrease people’s morale and spirit.”

Please look for Part 2 of “Reasons To Question The Nobility Of The Canadian Military In Afghanistan” in the following Iconoclast issues.

While there are those who would like to dismiss war resisters as “cowards,” the reality is that it takes exceptional courage to resist unjust, illegal, and/or immoral orders. For many resisters, it was their first-hand experiences as occupation troops that compelled them to take a stand. For others, “doing the right thing” and acting out of conscience began to outweigh their military training in obedience. Tens of thousands of service members have resisted illegal war and occupation in a number of different ways—by going AWOL, seeking conscientious objector status and/or a discharge, asserting the right to speak out against injustice from within the military, and for a relative few, publicly refusing to fight.

Matt Lowell went AWOL from the US Army at Fort Lewis, Washington. He is currently living in London, where he works in computer technology support while resisting Iraq deployment. “I can still look myself in the mirror. I didn’t have to shoot (an Iraqi) who’s doing exactly what I joined the military to do, to defend their country.”
Matt fled to Ontario three years ago, and could face seven years in prison for charges of desertion.

“What made me change my mind was a letter that a friend sent home from a friend who joined the military at the same time I did. He went to Iraq first.”
“In one of the letters he sent home, he was telling his mom he had to shoot a little kid because the kid picked up a gun,” Lowell recalled. “Then (after) everything on the news and finding out that Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, no involvement with Al Qaeda at the time and absolutely no weapons of mass destruction, then I started to question what the military actually stood for.”

Now Lowell says he feels disillusioned. “In my mind the military is supposed to protect its people and protect its country. And what’s going on in Iraq is basically enforcing their will on another nation.”
“The decision that I got on the initial hearing – the illegality or legality of the war – was not going to be allowed into the evidence because it had no basis on our claim,” Lowell said. “I was in the process of getting kicked out when the stop loss turned into a charge of desertion.”
“What (that) means is due to a shortage of personnel, anybody who was in the process of getting out of the military, their contracts have now been extended.”

War resisters want nothing more than to work hard, and live in peace. They only ask that you give them a chance, the same chance that was given to the Vietnam generation. If you agree that it is wrong to persecute someone for having the courage to stand up and say no to fighting in an illegal war, then please support our cause, sign our petitions, contact the prime minister, and join our rallying cry: LET THEM STAY!

londonresisters@yahoo.ca

What can one say about a country where a public family event can feature an exhibit in which children can don camouflage and learn to throw grenades at the ‘enemy’. . . You have to weep for this country.
The Afghan mission started in early 2002, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government, although some Canadian soldiers on exchange with the American military were in Afghanistan months earlier.  To date, 98 Canadians, including one diplomat, have lost their lives serving in the conflict.
The economic ramifications are rarely included in debate over the war.

The Rideau Institute said in a study entitled The Cost of the War and the End of Peacekeeping, that the total cost to date of Canada’s mission has been $17.2 billion. The institute said Canadians can expect another $11.1 billion to be spent between now and our 2011 pullout.
The report goes on to say that the Canada has reduced its United Nations peacekeeping contributions by more than 80 per cent since the Afghan mission began, because “the cost of the war in Afghanistan has essentially resulted in the abandonment of Canada’s 50-year commitment to UN peacekeeping.”
Then the Iraq war hit Wall Street, and has contributed to an economic earthquake that threatens us all. The cost of the Iraq war is nearing $1TrillionUS. The drag placed on the domestic economy is staggering.  We are waging war that our grandchildren will be paying for.
The money to pull out of this situation is definitely there. Budget deficits can be eliminated by halting gratuitous wars and cutting extravagent military budgets.

One can only imagine the amount of good that could come from a budget like these. In schools, child care, housing, health care, tuition fees, and a host of other causes in need of funding. This expensive war is not in my interests, but instead serves the needs of Washington.