Conscience Canada (CC) board member Jan Slakov wrote the following statement for the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) last fall, when VOW was celebrating its 50th anniversary. We decided to post it on the CC website because others may find it useful or inspiring to read. Interestingly, a good number of VOW members have also been or are members of CC, including Dale Dewar, who is quoted in this article and Muriel Duckworth, who also inspired it.<\/p>\n
Statement for the VOW 50th anniversary Conference and
\nGala – Building Peace: Resisting War<\/p>\n
The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace has hope for our beautiful and precious
\nearth, and confidence in the people who live on it. Even though “human beings
\nand the natural world are on a collision course” as the Union of Concerned
\nScientists pointed out in1993, we are part of a global grassroots movement that
\nrefuses to give up in the face of this terrible situation. What does peace have to
\ndo with this collision course between human beings and the natural world? Quite
\na bit. In fact, as a native Mi’kmaq elder pointed out during a Peace Day in
\nHalifax, Nova Scotia, peace, justice, and environmental health are not related
\nissues, they are the same issue. They cannot be achieved separately.<\/p>\n
Environmental concerns\u2014the global climate crisis, the spectre of serious water
\nshortages, the fragility of ocean ecosystems, soil depletion and decreasing food
\nproduction, the irreversible, heartbreaking loss of species – are happening as
\npredicted or even more quickly than predicted. Injustices caused by political
\npower, corporate greed, racism, sexism, and the lack of gender equality abound.
\nThe destructive power of violence and war, both to people and to the ecosystem
\nour lives depend on, is evident in so many ways: indiscriminate injury and death
\nto civilians and wildlife by bombs and land mines; rape as a weapon of war;
\npoisoning of air, soil and water with chemical weapons such as agent orange;
\nloss of life and injury, both physical and mental, of military personnel, who
\nsometimes turn the violence on family members or themselves; the utter
\ndependence of the military on oil, and the willingness of governments to go to war
\nto secure its supply; and the threat of complete annihilation by nuclear weapons.
\nIn particular, the suffering of children is so great: horrendous birth defects from
\ndepleted uranium weapons exposure; lost lives or limbs from land mines in the
\nground where they play or from the brightly colored cluster bombs that look like
\ntoys; loss of their homes and sometimes their families when they become
\nrefugees fleeing war zones. All of these issues are connected, so the most effective way to solve problems in any one area is to find approaches that work in other areas as well.<\/p>\n
In fact, the Union of Concerned Scientists, in their 1993 “Warning to Humanity”,
\nlisted five areas for action, each one “inextricably linked” to the others:<\/p>\n
1) We must bring environmentally damaging activities under control to
\nrestore and protect the integrity of the earth’s systems we depend on,
\nmaking special mention of the need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and develop
\nsmaller scale, renewable energy sources matched to Third World needs.<\/p>\n
2) We must manage resources crucial to human welfare more effectively.<\/p>\n
3) We must stabilize population. This will be possible only if all nations
\nrecognize that it requires improved social and economic conditions, and
\nthe adoption of effective, voluntary family planning.<\/p>\n
4) We must reduce and eventually eliminate poverty.<\/p>\n
5) We must ensure sexual equality, and guarantee women control over their
\nown reproductive decisions.<\/p>\n
The declaration went on to point out that “Success in this global endeavor will
\nrequire a great reduction in violence and war. Resources now devoted to the
\npreparation and conduct of war – amounting to over $1 trillion annually – will be
\nbadly needed in the new tasks and should be diverted to the new challenges.”
\nObviously, in the nearly 2 decades since this warning was issued, humanity has
\nnot made much progress on reaching these goals, despite the dedicated efforts of
\nmillions, even billions of individuals and groups around the world. For instance, by
\nnow, the US alone is already spending close to or more than $1 trillion on
\n“defence” each year; Canada’s military expenditures amount to $58 million every
\nday. The huge disparity between unimaginable riches and dire poverty still exists,
\nwith only 20% of the world’s people consuming over 80% of its resources.
\nWe know our earth is gravely ill, the “diagnosis” is frightening, and the prognosis
\nis not hopeful. We realize that denial is tempting, not just for patients who face a
\ndire illness, but for humanity as a whole, faced with our current situation. We also
\nknow that sometimes, especially when there is great love and strength of will,
\nsome patients can heal, despite all the odds. There is so much we love in life, in
\nthis earth we share with all kinds of other creatures; we must carry on “perversely,
\nwith no extraordinary power” seeking to “reconstitute the world”. *<\/p>\n
We ask our fellow citizens: if you were gravely ill, how would you want to act?
\nWould you not hope to have the courage to move beyond denial, so that what
\ntime you had to spend with those you loved most would be real, rather than a
\ncharade of “nice” appearances? Would you not want to change your way of life, to
\ndo what you could to bring about healing?<\/p>\n
Thus, we ask you, our fellow citizens: Please, let’s use the resources we have to
\nmake the changes that will give us and our planet a chance for a healthy future.
\nFor instance, let’s not squander our wealth on fighter jets that we supposedly
\nneed for defence from “threats” such as the recent Russian flight exercises, a
\nclaim columnist Jeffrey Simpson described as “side-splittingly funny”. With the
\nmoney we would need to spend on those F-35s, we could pay for a whole host of
\nuseful programs, including programs to fight poverty, invest in food security,
\nimprove health care & education and fight climate change.<\/p>\n
It is when we are in denial that we can end up making ridiculous decisions, such
\nas deciding to use gas-guzzling fighter jets** to “defend our air space” when what
\nwe really need is to defend our air from ever increasing concentrations of
\ngreenhouse gases. Of course, it is not just one decision about fighter jets that must be changed, but this current
\nexample is highly symbolic of the overall change in direction we need. As Dr. Dale
\nDewar, currently executive director of Physicians for Global Survival (PGS) and also a member of the board of
\nVOW has stated, “War’s utter waste of human resource – lives, intelligence, time
\nand money – devoted to childish “games” will eventually end – or the human race
\nends.”<\/p>\n
Once we move beyond denial, we can take the kinds of risks that may bring
\nhealing. How about opening our eyes to the reality of what war and militarism are
\ndoing to us and all life on earth? We must face the fact that there is no failproof
\npath to “security”; neither military force nor the power of nonviolence can protect
\nus from all harm. But investing in military force causes crushing harm to other
\npeople and our earth whereas learning to use the tools of nonviolence can help
\nus grow as human beings, and offers real hope for a livable future.
\nSystems thinker and author Joanna Macy once pointed out that we have “no
\nguarantee that this tremendous shift [in values and lifestyle, the “Great Turning”]
\nwill kick in before our life support systems unravel irretrievably.” But this
\nuncertainty could “draw forth our greatest courage and creativity. […] From our
\nown life experience, we know there’s never a guarantee -whether we’re falling in
\nlove, or going into labor to birth a baby, or devoting ourselves to a piece of land,
\nturning the soil and watching for rain. We don’t ask for proof that we’ll succeed
\nand that everything will turn out as we want. We just go ahead, because life wants
\nto live through us! […] Our time to come alive is right now, on this edge of
\npossibility.”<\/p>\n
The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace is proud of its 50 year history
\nadvocating for peace. We look forward to continuing to support the role of
\nwomen as peace builders and peace makers.<\/p>\n
*********************************************************
\n* These words come from a poem by Adrianne Rich, which was particularly
\ninspiring to one of VOW’s much-loved founders, Muriel Duckworth.<\/p>\n
**An article published in the Earth Island Journal in 1991 points out that militaries consume unbelievable
\namounts of fuel, for example “An F-16 jet on a training mission ignites more fuel
\nin a single hour than the average car owner consumes in two years.”<\/p>\n
This statement is something of a work in progress, originally written by by Jan Slakov (250) 537-5251 and revised by:<\/p>\n
Sandy Greenberg
\nRAZZMATAZZ FOR KIDS
\n902-455-8544
\nrazz@razzmatazz.ns.ca
\nwww.razzmatazz.ns.ca<\/p>\n
with contributions from others too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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