Posted by Cptn
You got a message you wanna send to the USA about climate change?
Youth leaders and environmental campaigners are set to descend on the US capital Washington today to lobby their congress on climate change. These guys are full of hope and reckon a strong show of support (as well as rational argument) will strengthen the resolve of Congress, especially with a new president on the horizon in the coming year.
The most effective messages, says organisers Avaaz, are personal, sincere and respectiful. Write your own message here.
‘If the Unisted States steps up, the UN summit in Bali in December could be a turning point for the planet,’ they say. That’s a might big ‘if’ and a mighty big step.
If you liked this story, you could buy us a coffee --------------------------------------------------------------------
November 5th, 2007
Posted by freeluncher @ Talking Liberties
Remembrance Sunday is once again fast approaching, and the British Legion are encouraging us all to support the Poppy Appeal by buying a Red Poppy and wearing it ‘with pride’. Now, I know I have written about this before, but I feel the need to do so again, if only to put some flesh on the bones of my misgivings over the UK’s annual Remembrance ceremonies, and my reasons for wearing a White Poppy.
This year Remembrance Sunday falls on the 11th of November, which happens to be the date on which the First World War ended, and which Armistice Day was originally meant to commemorate. But for one reason or another, Armistice Day’s solemn recollection of a horrific, senseless and futile war which took the lives of near a million British sons and daughters, has now evolved into a Remembrance Sunday ceremony in which the nation pays ‘homage devoted’ to the memory of ‘all those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today’. This, for me, raises some problems.
The first problem is the attempt, deliberate or otherwise, to represent all of Britain’s military adventures as being nobly motivated to secure ‘peace and freedom’. This, if I may be so bold, is pure poppy-cock. Britain has waged many wars throughout its long history, many of dubious intent, while very few have been motivated by the wish to secure peace and freedom, unless we count the peace and freedom of wealthy capitalists! It is factually dishonest to ascribe similar motives to diverse wars such as the First World War, the Second World War, or the Gulf Wars. In effect, the British Legion’s Remembrance Day call is tantamount to a whitewash of Britain’s bloody imperialist history.
A further problem is the supposed ‘peace and freedom we enjoy today’. Now, I for one cannot credit the Armed Forces with delivering the ‘freedoms’ I enjoy. The military did not win for me the right to vote, the right to habeas corpus, the right to paid leave from work, the right to be treated equally before the Law, the right to free medical treatment, or the right to join a trade union. They were won for me by civil rights activists and campaigners, often in the teeth of governmental and military repression. And as we speak these ‘freedoms’ are under attack by our so-called democratic government. Also, I am sure the British Legion is well aware that we do not live in a time of ‘peace’, but in a time of war. And while we civilians live with the ever-present fear of a terrorist attack in retaliation for our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, UK soldiers are coming home traumatized, injured or worse, to find the government and Ministry of Defence cares little for them, and they may have to rely on charity to meet their basic needs.
Yes, charity. Let’s remember this November that the British Legion is a charity, which is only in existence because those who send our men and women to war do not make adequate provision for them on their return. And that isn’t anything to be proud of.
If you liked this story, you could buy us a coffee --------------------------------------------------------------------
November 5th, 2007
