Hale said:
Wow, I'm on the other side of the world and I'm insulted. So you think we've all got our heads buried in the sand? Totally ridiculous. Totally. Most of us here have lost friends over there. My count is at 3 so far. And you lecture us on how we're not looking at the bigger picture? How we dint know whats going on? Have you been to Afghanistan? Because your telling a whole lot of Canadian soldiers who've been over there about a country that you've never been too. You think we can learn something from you? Any respect we had has quickly evaporated!
I'm very upset with the tone you've used and the assumptions you've got.
Hi Hale and others who have responded to my rant.
I thought that was clear, but I guess there is no harm in clarifying further, i.e. repeating it once more:
We do not think that soldiers are any more or any less stupid than civilians.
When I say "We", I mean privileged citizens of the Global North, or the Western Hemisphere, or the First World, call it what you will.
Us North Americans are very much so privileged in any way.
When I say "we are the terrorists", for instance, I mean Western military powers who wage wars on lesser privileged, colonialised peoples.
When I talk about heads buried in the sand, or transe-like conformism, this does not apply exclusively to soldiers, as some of you have written (please don't be so offended by a single man's words, it's not worth it...), but to the whole of privileged Western so-called civilisation.
Conveniently, no one has even tried to challenge this assertion - the point and crux of my intervention, really - that we, of the wealthiest Western nations, are profiting daily from the colonial and imperialistic policies that our governments have imposed on the rest of the world for centuries.
I am also implying that our military adventurism is closely tied to our social-economic systems, namely global capitalism, and our deep-rooted addiction to privilege.
Please, if you can, prove me that I'm wrong. To me this is indisputable fact.
It is obvious that some, if not most, of you and I don't agree on many, many things. I nonetheless have the same right as you to express it.
I find that most replies to my entry so far are disingenuous, at best, and in total bad faith in the worst cases.
I have not implied, for example, that Middle Ages or totalitarian regimes were better than capitalist rule. On the contrary, I strongly believe that humanity is on the path of emancipation from systemic inequity, and that authentic people's solidarity will prevail, I hope sooner than later.
I have not mentioned Adam Smith, and the sarcastic wiseass slants against socialism reveal a lack of understanding of both capitalism and socialism more than anything. I'm sorry, but these posters' remarks do not come across as particularly informed. Observers will decide for themselves.
On the other hand, I'm sorry if
I come across as pretentious, but no one has even came close to address the very important issues that I raised.
It's all childish reactions, and/or outrage founded on distortion or miscomprehension of my assertions.
As for the Gentleman who dismisses me for choosing to withold my real name, I would point out that very many users of this forum are also anonymous.
Why do you need my personal information, anyways?
Can't you just address my discourse and my beliefs without resorting to belittling me on secondary issues?
And, why would I give my real name on a forum where I find so much hostility toward myself, my beliefs and life choices? It would be suicidal.
I can tell you this, since you seem to be interested in my personal profile:
I am 33 years old, from an average working class background. I am from rural Quebec and have been living, studying and working in Montreal for the last 15 years. I'm somewhat educated - more than the average, I guess. I have traveled a bit, which has allowed me to both witness first hand the inequity of this world and appreciate my own privilege. I've tried very hard to understand the root causes of this inequity, and I've come to the conclusion that illegitimate authorities, plutocracies, exploitation, genocidal policies, racism and all forms of discrimination are to blame for the deep imbalance which characterizes our world.
I have been involved in many social justice projects for many years. A quick examination of the People's Global Action Hallmarks
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/pga/hallm.htm, manifesto
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/en/pgainfos/manifest.htm and organisational principles
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/cocha/principles.htm will indicate the general framework of my politics.
I consider myself an anarchist, because I reject the authority of the State and its institutions, of the Capitalist order and of the organized religions. That does not mean that I don't use a computer, to reply to a particularily crass comment, nor that I don't have my own contradictions to deal with.
It just means that I have chosen to reject most of the premisses on which Canadian "business as usual" is based on.
I have chosen a certain path for my own life, as all of you have, and I don't intend to change it any time soon. To imply that all anarchists are childish rebels that eventually go back to the conformity is a facile and misguided generalisation.
I genuinely write this in a spirit of dialogue. If you don't want to dialogue on the issues I and others in my group raise, please don't lend us bad intentions or demonise us. As someone has said before, we can agree to disagree, without having to be nasty to each other like schoolchildren.
I gather that the ones who have responded will not change their minds, other, more discreet users of this forum, might actually take the time to reflect upon the ideas we put forth. That's the whole point. We also take into consideration the genuinely frank and pertinent comments made by the more thoughtful participants.
Again my comrads and I would only like for soldiers to reconsider what the State, the Army, the education system and other classical institutions have always presented them to be the only true reality.
If we can convey to you why we think Canada should not be in Afghanistan, then maybe we can discuss openly strategies to help the Afghan people, and all other oppressed people in this world, by other means than military ones.
Of course, If you actually do like to go in other peoples' countries with guns, tanks, warplanes and a heavy-handed attitude, we have a long way to go...
Resistance is fertile,
yours truly,
Not In My Name
(id put a little Quebec flag here if there was one)
