CONFRONTING THE ROMANCE OF VIOLENCE: 

Canada and the USA Missile Defense Weapons Program

A contribution to the Conference of the

EUROPEAN NETWORK FOR PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

20-21 October 2005, European Parliament, Brussels

 by Theresa Wolfwood                   

Thank you all and, in particular, the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, for inviting me to contribute to a discussion about Europe – Canada seems very remote to many Europeans, but we are part of NATO, we have fought wars and had military bases in Europe. We are neighbours to several European countries – Greenland, USSR with France as our closest neighbour in the Gulf of St. Laurence. What happens in Europe always affects and concerns us.

Canada has been deeply involved with the USA military for over 60 years. In 1945 Canada joined the nuclear club when we provided the uranium for the bombs dropped on Japan. Canadian native people were used as coolies to transport the ore. They became the first hibakashas, so many of them died of cancer; many of their descendents now have cancer.

Canadian territory, resources, personnel and industry are all part of the USA empire. Canada is now the world's largest exporter of uranium for use in nuclear energy and weapons. The so-called depleted uranium used to harden the steel of armaments (used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Serbia) is non-fissionable but highly toxic and radioactive.

The Cruise missile was tested in Canada; BOWMARC nuclear missiles were stationed on our soil - thanks to our Prime Minister of Peace, Lester Pearson.  Near my home on Vancouver Island the USA tests its maritime weapons systems; this base is frequently visited by nuclear powered and armed vessels. Canadian taxes, over $10 million/year, maintain this base for our partner. The loss of marine freedom of movement, the danger of nuclear “visitors” and the pollution of the seabed are of little interest to our government.

So it can be no surprise that Canada is complicit in the USA’s plan to make war in space – in spite of treaties we have signed committing us to refrain from such madness. Canada's military is integrated with the USA in NORAD and NATO. Many of Canada's arms industries are USA owned and the USA is the main market for our arms production. Canadian territory has been used for many forms of research related to BMD.

It is obvious that Canada will go along with the latest escalation of militarism in the USA as will most European and some Asian countries and Australia. We are all part of “Full Spectrum Dominance.”

When the Canadian peace movement mobilized resistance to the USA-UK war in Iraq, the then Prime Minister announced Canada would not participate. This was seen as a victory for the peace movement; however, Canada continued to provide troops to Afghanistan - freeing USA troops for Iraq - and gave air and navy support to the USA in Iraq and we never stopped selling resources and war materials to the USA.

Nonetheless, the public resistance to the war on Iraq reached a critical threshold and the reigning Liberal party itself had public divisions over Iraq and it was seen politic to not openly participate in this war:

Although there seems to be some decrease in the European love affair with the USA; in Canada there is major growing criticism of USA policy and Canada' relationship to our neighbour.  Trade disagreements in which the USA will not honour its obligations and USA's new security regulations and their manifestations which are being forced on Canada also rankle our sensitivities.

So when the present minority government, dependent on a small social democrat party for power, said Canada would not participate in USA's missile defense, Canadians, including the peace movement, were supportive.

It is now apparent that Prime Minister Martin's NO was really a theatrical gesture supported by President Bush when he visited Ottawa: in fact NO means YES in MartinSpeak. We should have known. Canada is, as usual, up to its parka hood in USA military machinations.

Canada actually initiated a change in the NORAD agreement to allow us to participate in BMD. Our military and natural resources are at the disposal of the USA - no questions asked - our universities and government agencies all participate in a myriad of ways as do our profiteering arms companies to promoting militarism generally and BMD specifically.

Without an enemy in sight except 'terrorists' it is hard to justify our bloated military budget, so ‘good guy’  military peacekeeping is a publicly acceptable front for military growth. This is used as a propaganda front for our growing militarism and integration into the USA military empire and presented as helping the helpless somewhere else.

Since the big NO Canadians, including peace activists, think we have made a real policy position. This cooption which uses our images and language is very dangerous.  My concern today is how the peace movement which has widespread but passive public support can deepen its analysis and initiate the debate on USA militarism and Canadian complicity – and the complicity of many governments, media and educational institutions – in order to change public perception of our position and to critically expose the deep involvement of governments and institutions in global militarization..

The peace movement everywhere has to make economic and social links to our acceptance of military might and right. It is also important to connect social violence at the personal as well as public level with militarism. We must not be appeased with token measures. I would say the same to you in Europe.

The peace movement needs to develop a vision that connects the struggle for justice on a global and personal level to ant-militarism.

I would like to urge all peace activists and organizations to research and reveal the depth and extent of their nation’s involvement in militarism. Examine the economic ties of governments to war industries which are exempt from trade agreement regulations; they enjoy subsides; services and loans given to no civilian companies and hence have high profits, making them attractive for investors. They are also major donors to political parties.
We need to expose these corporations and to know and boycott products they make for civilian use. Boycotts are important tools – and companies hate them.

In Canada, our government invests our compulsory pension contributions into war industries. I urge you all to investigate where your pension funds are invested. We need to share more information and strategies in our common work of creating a peaceful world. There is much to do.

My friend, Canadian activist Kay Macpherson, often said, (and so titled her autobiography)

 WHEN IN DOUBT, DO BOTH.

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Theresa Wolfwood, Barnard- Boecker Centre Foundation, Victoria, BC, Canada  bbcf@bbcf.ca    www.bbcf.ca

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I am indebted to Richard Sanders, editor of PRESS FOR CONVERSION! for the background research on Canada & USA Ballistic Missile Defense. See: www.coat.ncf.ca

REFERENCES & READING LIST

Periodicals

Alternatives Journal, Canada www.alternativesjournal.ca

Canadian Dimension. Canada. www.canadiandimension.mb.ca

New Internationalist, UK/Canada. www.newint.org

Peace News. UK  www.peacenews.info

Press For Conversion! Canada. www.coat.ncf.ca

The Whole Circle. Canada. www.bbcf.ca

Books

ADDICTED TO WAR: Why the US Can’t Kick Militarism. AK Press. USA & UK www.akpress.org

EMPIRE NO MORE! Ken Coates. 2004. Spokesman Books, UK. www.spokesmanbooks.com

FREEING THE WORLD TO DEATH: Essays on the American Empire. William Blum. 2004. Common Courage Press, USA. and Anti- Empire Report. Monthly list serve. www.killinghope.org

MISSING SARAH: A Vancouver Woman remembers her vanished sister. Maggie de Vries. 2003. Penguin. Canada

PLANET EARTH: The Latest Weapon of War. 2000. Women’s Press. UK

ROSALIE BERTELL: Scientist, Eco-Feminist, Visionary. Mary-Louise Engels, 2005. Women’s Press, Toronto, CANADA

THE SHADOW KNOWS: POEMS 2000-2004. Adrian Mitchell. 2004. Bloodaxe Books. UK

THE SUBSISTENCE PERSPECTIVE: beyond the globalized economy. Maria Mies & Veronika Bennholdt-Thomsen. ZED BOOKS, London, UK & New York, USA. 

THE SUICIDE BOMBERS. Ed. Ken Coates. The Spokesman. # 87. 2005. www.spokesmanbooks.com

WOMEN AGAINST THE IRON FIST: Alternatives to Militarism 1900- 1989. Sybil Oldfield, Basil Blackwell Ltd. Oxford, UK.

Films/Videos                                                                                                   

STEALING A  NATION. 2004. John Pilger. www.pilger.carlton.com  If we learned in all the sentimentality of the reporting of the Tsunami tragedy of December 2004, that lives could have been saved if the USA military had passed on the warning from its gigantic base on Diego Garcia, we have John Pilger to thank.

TEACHING PEACE IN A TIME OF WAR  Directed by Teresa MacInnes.   Produced by Kent Martin & Peter d’Entremont.  Montreal, PQ: National Film Board of Canada, 2003. 54 min. In Canada phone: 1-800-267-7710.  International see: www.nfb.ca This film is the story of a remarkable Canadian woman, Hetty van Gurp, who founded a growing organization, Peaceful Schools International. The daughter of a man disturbed by his experiences in WW2, Hetty changed her life when her 14-year-old son, Dan, was killed at school by a bully. She gave up regular school teaching and decided to devote her life to teaching peace.

VILLAGE OF WIDOWS. Peter Blow, Lindum Films, Peterborough, ON Canada lindum@sprint.ca.    Few Canadians know that Canada provided most of the uranium for the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Few of us know the devastating effect that the uranium ore extraction had on the Dene people of Great Bear Lake.                                                     

Other Information

WORLD PEACE FORUM Vancouver, BC, CANADA. June 23-28, 2006.  To get involved or for further information, contact the World Peace Forum Society at: Tel.1- 604 687-3223 Fax: 1-  604 687-3277 www.peace.ca/worldpeaceforumvancouver.htm  E-Mail: admin@worldpeaceforum.ca

1000 WOMEN FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2005: www.1000peacewomen.org.

THE BARNARD-BOECKER CENTRE FOUNDATION website is the site of some of my quotes and ideas. www.bbcf.ca

Theresa Wolfwood, Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, Victoria, BC, CANADA  bbcf@bbcf.ca    www.bbcf.ca