It's election time in Canada

A myriad of missing relationships

Last post I was musing about (among other things) how we seem to grow up alienated in our culture.

While still reflecting on this, I received a letter from a good friend, and I think he really hit the nail on the head with this point:

"I've been thinking that we demand so much of each other as humans, family, friends, lovers, etc. that we burn each other out and increase divorce, abuse, war, you name it. Why? Perhaps because we are trying to get out of one particular creature of one particular species all the myriad relationships we can only have when rooted in a diverse and natural setting with birds, hills, soil, rivers, trees, and other beings. In other words, we need the ironic state of being committed to a place — a 'natural' space — in order to really feel and appreciate diversity of being, and to not burn ourselves and our fellow humans out be demanding what they and we can't offer."

All Aboard!

My ukelele version of a song by Pete Seeger. Lyrics and chords at the bottom. Disapointingly, it was much less dark on my camera and computer before I uploaded it to youtube.

The song's relevant to me right now because... (briefly), two days from now, in a act of civil disobedience, some protesters will attempt to present those attending an arms bazaar in my hometown with a copy of the Nuremberg Principles.

(In detail)
Wednesday June 2nd, there will be an arms bazaar called CANSEC showing off the latest in security and military technology at Landsdowne Park in my home Ottawa, (Ontario). Canada is one of the leading exporters of weapons in the world (ranked 7th by the US Congressional Research Service in 2007).

Some of this technology goes to Middle Eastern and African nations that are dictatorial and repressive, that are engaged in civil wars and wars of aggression, and that have even been accused of war crimes. I'm sure some of it has been quite helpful in suppressing/killing demonstrators in the recent movement that have swept the region.

(Not that I think Western nations – the US is the biggest buyer – are making much better use of these devices. Killing people is ugly, and getting rich selling devices for killing people is grotesque). 

Landsdowne Park is publicly-owned by the City of Ottawa. Because of a protests and a public outcry against a previous arms fair in the '80s, arms trade shows were banned by the city in 1989. In 2009, (now former) Mayor Larry O'Brien reversed this decision, so that CANSEC could take place. O'Brien is the founder and still a board member of Calian Technologies, who derive much of their revenue from military and security sources. They are now a regular exhibitor at CANSEC.

Wednesday June 2nd at noon, a group of people will undertake a direct action against CANSEC, attempting to non-violently enter the grounds and distribute copies of the Nuremberg Principles to those attending, asking them to to sign a commitment to adhere to them.

These Principles came out of the Nuremberg Trials, where surviving members of the Nazi leadership and others who helped them (concentration camps doctors, industrialists who fuelled the war machine, etc.) were put on trial for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The trials/principles established in international law that individuals have a duty abstain from such crimes even if they were "only following orders" or they would have broken the laws of their country in order to abstain.

The argument is that
1) Some CANSEC exhibitors deal weapons to countries guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and are therefore complicit in these crimes.
2) Such crimes are more important than trespass, so it is worth "trespassing" (onto public-ally-owned land, ironically) in order to inform/remind those of their possible culpability, and in order to oppose their complicity.

I'll be there, singing a couple of songs. If you're in Ottawa, and this speaks to you, feel free to join us. There are other options other than civil disobedience too.
http://coat.ncf.ca/
http://www.nowar-paix.ca/snag/index.html


The words and chords go:

Chorus
Last train to Nuremberg! (2x)
Last train to Nuremberg! All on board!

Verse
Who held the rifle? Who gave the orders?
Who planned the campaign to lay waste the land?
Who made the bullet? Who paid the taxes?
Tell me, is that blood upon my hands?

Chords
Chorus: Dm Dmsus2 Dmsus4 Dm / Dm Am C Dm (Emsus4)
Verse: Dm – / Dm C Dm – / Dm – / Dm C Dm –
Dmsus2 = 2200. Dmsus4 = 2230. Emsus4 = 4410