Veterans in Occupy Toronto speak out about rights and freedoms.
Remembrance Day
Reframing Remembrance Day
As we honour today the men and women who have fought and died in uniform, it is important that our remembrance of them not be taken as an endorsement of war or a celebration of all things military. For many people, soldiers in uniform do not inspire feelings of pride but memories of horror, destruction, and death. Some of us are survivors of war or refugees. Others of us who were born here are Canadians because our parents or grandparents or great-grandparents fled the violence of wars in faraway lands.
G20: Lest we forget
One of the hallmarks of a democratic state is its commitment to free, and public, political expression.
Indeed, no society can call itself truly democratic if it does not guarantee to its citizens the inalienable rights to gather, communicate their opinions, and demonstrate their support for or against any political position they wish.
If these assertions are true -- and they can hardly be questioned -- Canada's behaviour during the G20 Summit held this summer in Toronto casts serious doubt on the current state of democracy in this country.
Consider these facts:
• June 26 to 28, 2010 saw the largest mass arrests in Canada's history.
In remembrance of the Charter of Rights and Freedom
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
- John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963), in a speech at the White House, 1962
I write this on the eve of Remembrance Day, 2010, as PM Harper flies to South Korea for a repeat performance of the G20, as three days of testimonies unfold in Toronto and Montreal to question RCMP conduct, and the government continues to refuse a public inquiry into the G20.
Canadian vets Occupy on Remembrance Day
I have seen the best and worst of humanity. I've seen countries that no longer exist. I have seen war, ethnic cleansing, and real revolution. I have seen the death and destruction that it brings. I have seen children left behind to live and deal with the costs of our transgressions. I see where this path before us leads. I want see change before any of that happens here. My daughter deserves better.
- Don Bryce, veteran, First Special Service Forces, eight years in combat
Reflecting on the tomb of the unknown soldier
Remembrance days are for remembering, full stop. It's incongruous and disturbing when other things intrude, like the vandalizing of a memorial at Malvern Collegiate this week. Remembrance Day itself arose after World War I, which was a controversial war. Antiwar poets wrote their poems from the trenches. But the Day is about the dead, not the war. They were innocent, even if those who sent them to die weren't. Nov. 11 is theirs.
A peace of occupy: Remembrance Day at Occupy Nanaimo
Nov 11 2011 - 10:00am
Nov 11 2011 - 10:00pm
Location
Diana Krall plaza
Nanaimo, BC
Canada
49° 9' 57.1824" N, 123° 56' 24.234" W
See map: Google Maps
Schedule:
10:15 - Gather at Occupy Nanaimo wearing black and bearing poppies (no signs please).
10:45 AM - 11:45AM - Quietly and respectfully attend the Remembrance Day ceremony.
11:45AM - Silent March back to the Plaza.
1:00PM - 5:00PM - Occupy Nanaimo Peace Forum - Speakers and Events TBA
5:00PM - Candlelight Vigil with a moment of silence for the victims of war. (Peace & Anti-War related signs welcome).
Everyone is encouraged to attend any part of this event that they are able!
U.S. war veterans join Occupy movement
11-11-11 is not a variant of Herman Cain's much-touted 9-9-9 tax plan, but rather the date of this year's Veterans Day. This is especially relevant, as the U.S. has now entered its second decade of war in Afghanistan, the longest war in the nation's history. U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are appearing more and more on the frontlines -- the frontlines of the Occupy Wall Street protests, that is.
