white poppies

Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 11:59:07 -0400
To: sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca
From: jslakov@TartanNET.ns.ca (Jan Slakov)
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Return-Path: <sust-mar-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>

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Dear Sust-Mar list,            Nov. 4

I am sure that some people on this list will bristle at the idea of wearing
white poppies for Remembrance Day.

But my anti-militarist convictions are deeply connected to my environmental
commitment and I know this is true for others too, so I want to tell you
about the white poppy tradition, which is kind of taking off here in Canada
this year. (I think it is safe to say thousands of people will be wearing
them, and virtually every one has been homemade. I've been instrumental in
getting this idea to take hold here in Canada and it has been exciting to
see how others  want to do their part to build a culture of peace, with this
symbol as one of the ways we can do that.)

First off, I should say that I wear a red poppy too, for I know and love
some people for whom the red poppy has deep meaning. But I also have real
problems with some of the conventional ways of celebrating Remembrance Day. 

On a superficial level, I am appalled by the waste! All those wreathes, so
many that the wreath-laying ceremonies go on for HOURS. All those cardboard
boxes! All of it eventually destined for the dump.

At a deeper level, I cannot stay quiet as our culture passes on messages to
our children that I feel are dangerous: eg. that we owe our freedoms to
soldiers killing and dying for us. (Sure there is SOME truth in this. But I
feel the best way for us to build democracy is to be involved as citizens
and to struggle against lies and falsehood wherever we come up against them.
One of the most significant places where we find lies and falsehood in our
culture is connected to recent military involvements. (One need only
remember the incubator baby story of the Gulf War, the military's deception
and cover-up in the Somalia affair, the way Gulf War vets (and other
military personnel) have been treated by their government, by us taxpayers
who fund DND.)

And in conventional Remebrance Day ceremonies, we leave some important stuff
out. We are asked, "Would you die for your country?" but no one asks us if
we'd KILL for our country. We are reminded of heroic sacrifices but no one
speaks of the terribly unheroic things that happen when you have lots of
people making money selling weapons all over the world and using them.
Canada actually subsidizes arms sales overseas. This is disgusting, don't
you think? If we are serious about "Never Again", surely we should at least
stop selling arms. 

This being said, here is a letter-to-the-editor I recently wrote for local
papers:
*********************************************
Dear Editor,               Nov. 1

White poppies for Remembrance Day? Why?

Back in 1933, the Women's Co-operative Guild in England chose to wear white
poppies to symbolize their commitment to work for peace and to end their
complicity with militarism.

The tradition is now here in Canada too. The WHITE POPPY CAMPAIGN got its
official launch at the Voice of Women (VOW) annual general meeting in
Toronto at the end of October. VOW member Terry Wolfwood explains that the
end of the cold war has not ended war or military expansion and spending.
She says," We have been in a constant state of war preparedness since the
end of WW II. Governments have learned nothing from the suffering of
millions from East Timor to Iraq to Yugoslavia. Canada participates in
killing, not only by our active military involvement in USA's wars, but by
supporting subsidized selling of arms and military equipment around the
world. With little public knowledge or discussion
Canada is now committed to a dangerous new expansion of war into space by
USA military."

Recent scandals in the Canadian military have prompted Sue Riordon, wife of
Terry Riordon who died in April of Gulf War Syndrome, to compare the
military to a cult. I want to do my part to encourage youth to think twice
before signing up for this "cult" and to transform Canada's military into
something useful.

A group called HOMES NOT BOMBS has chosen November 12 to attempt a
non-violent transformation of DND to a Housing Department. I wish them well!

Let's rethink security. As Marya Nyland, who has been making and
distributing white poppies this year, has said: "This is a great idea,
anyone can make a white poppy and wear it. Together we tell others that
"remembering is not enough", we must and we do work actively for peace."

Sincerely, Jan Slakov
Box 35, Weymouth, NS B0W 3T0
837-4980
<jslakov@tartannet.ns.ca>
********************************************************

If any of you want a white poppy, you can write to me, but that process
takes time. Better to make your own. I make them out of boxboard with safety
pins to hold them on; others use plastic or felt or? I like the fact that
this tradition encourages people to invest time and care into their poppies,
and it encourages diversity and using whatever resources happen to be at hand.

all the best, Jan

PS Back in 1997 I wrote and article for the Canadian Environmental Network
on how damaging militarism is to the environment. (TIME magazine even called
the US military "our #1 polluter".) Just one example: a bomber burns as much
fuel in one or two hours as the average car uses in a year. I will gladly
send a copy of the article to anyone who requests it.



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