war on peace

bargeboo: now for something a little different.

recently a group of private citizens in nelson, bc, canada decided to honor the "draft dodgers" by a celebratory ceremony, and to conduct discussions, talks and speeches. they also planned to erect a monument in their honor. they are directing it especially to American men who decided not go to war during the vietnam, korea, afghanistan and iraq war. they have been coming to Canada instead, often having to flee with nothing but their shirts on their backs. citizens of nelson were particularly affected since they helped these men, by giving them shelter, work boots, clothes and food where they had nowhere else to turn.

in 2006 vancouver will host the world peace forum , which is coming back to its founding city after 20 years. nelson residents also planned to organize activities at the conference in conjunction with this monument but all of that has come to a halt.

once the news got out, specially after it was picked up by cnn and fox news, many american groups and citizens voiced their adamant opposition by heated emails, letters and phone calls to american media and the us president, w. bush. They even went as far as applying bullying tactics such as issuing threats to withdraw american businesses from the area or to take their turism dollars else where. eventually the city council of nelson organized a meeting with these citizens, which ended in the cancellation of these plans.

some believe that bush once elected in november will bring back the draft and this monument by canadians will not help popular vote on the matter. he has refused to comment on the subject, however it seems he didn't have to really since his "children" have already taken care of the business by kicking canadians in the balls. just like a good little boy who learns how to beat up other kids by watching his dad.

how sad it is that specially in our times we have not yet learned the lessons of war, lessons of intolerance and ignorance. value of life seems to be at an all time low. freedom to choose, to live our lives in peace is trampled on every single day, all in the name of fighting for justice and defeating evil; ironically the same grand excuse of defending our "freedom" that was used by bush in leading his mad army into the war. its an even bigger irony that an act glorifying peace and reluctance to kill would spark so much hostility and conflict.

bullies come in all shapes and sizes. some hurt by words, some hurt by fists and some as we are painfully witnessing, wage wars.