Defending the right to protest

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Mahatma Gandhi

I'm happy to see that we're past the first two steps. In fact I was getting worried that there was no opposition to the peace, human rights and environmental movements. Everyday that I wasn't being attacked for promoting social justice issues I couldn't help but wonder where had all the right-wingers, the neo-cons, the warmongers, the racists, the sexists, the classists, and the other bigots gone?

Had you all moved to the States or Alberta? Had all you haters gone into hiding out of shame of your ideologies lack of acceptance in mainstream culture? Were you all hiding out in Harper's lair planning the next phase of militarization, environmental degradation and corporate rule in Canada?

Wherever you were it was lonely here, and I'm glad you're back. Doing what I do is too boring without an ill-informed and hateful opposition. We need you to challenge us and fight us in order to draw more attention to these issues and gain popular support. Thanks to our recent action we've gained a lot of support, but we did manage to bring some neo-con war sympathizers out of the woodwork.

I've read some of your comments online. Many of you don't think we had the right to say the names of Canadians who have died in Afghanistan. Please explain how it is disrespectful to say each and every name and put down a cross for each and every person. Would you consider it more respectful to simply state a numerical statistic or worse yet ignore the deaths of young Canadians? The whole purpose of this was to put names to the numbers, and show that we are against the senseless war that has taken the lives of so many young people on both sides, it was to honour these casualties as people, not statistics. Do you find it disrespectful that the Harper government has followed Bush's lead and ordered a media blackout of returning caskets, and soldiers' funerals, in order to sanitize the war, and hide the blood and death as to not turn public opinion against it?

Many of you argued that it is our right to choose military service and that it is hypocrisy to use freedom of speech to limit freedom of choice. Ultimately it is up to you to decide what you will die for. If you choose to die for the neo-con agenda that's your business and I won't stop you. However, because I care about you, I will use my freedom of speech to give you the information that the military likes to hide before you sign up. I will tell you about the cause and nature of the war you will fight in. I will tell you of the depleted uranium that will poison your body, and I will tell you what interests you will be serving. I would like to live in a peaceful world without any military, and I will start with schools.

Ridding the school of military recruiters is not going to have an effect on your freedom of choice. If you want to join the military, the barracks are just down the street from Fanshawe and they'll gladly answer all your questions there.

Another comment was that we must be mistaking our military recruiters with the overly-aggressive American ones. I guess the fact that the head of the Canadian Forces is implementing plans to increase the number of full-time military recruiters across the country from 300 to 80,000 and that the Canadian military is recruiting in most high schools went over people's heads. The Canadian Forces are also aggressively recruiting in the poorest neighborhoods across this country. In fact a recruiter bragged about recruiting at Jane and Finch (one of Toronto's poorest neighbourhoods) on CBC television saying that the kids who lived there had no other opportunities in life and that it was only a matter of time until they called him and enlisted.

For many people, the military isn't a choice; it's the only available option. Only the poor would understand that though. It is usually the poor that end up fighting the rich politicians' wars. Don't expect Harper to send a child of his into Afghanistan anytime soon. For every one of you people out there who ‘support the troops' think about why they are over there fighting a war in the first place. Think about who is profiting from the danger they put themselves in. Think about the greater political games being played here. For God's sake think before you fight the people that are trying to ensure that they get brought home safely and immediately, and that the warmongering politicians who sent them into this bloody mission for their own political agendas and economic interests are stripped from power and brought to justice.

But if you'd rather hate than think, that's your right, and I won't stop you from exercising it. It is after you fight us that we will win - so send me all your hate so that you have less of it in your hateful souls.

Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.