Connect the Dots
Jim Saunders
I was downtown the other day when a military helicopter buzzed
overhead.
It reminded me of Operation Charging Bison, and it also chillingly
reminded me of my time documenting the U.S.-led drug war in the
jungles of Bolivia. I’m sure low-flying military helicopters
are a familiar site in Afghanistan as well.
Anywhere soldiers, politicians and dignitaries need to avoid hostile
civilian areas, green helicopters are buzzing overhead. It did
not surprise me to find out that the helicopter I saw carried
Gary Doer, Sam Katz, David Asper and the Grey Cup.
Luckily for everyone, a large tank was on hand at The Forks to
make sure that the delivery of the trophy and our Manitoba VIPs
went off without a hitch.
All the week’s Grey Cup festivities had a military flair
this year. Visiting football players were escorted from the airport
by the army, while huge tanks rolled down the street for the Grey
Cup/Santa Claus parade. A massive Hercules transport plane and
a pair of CF-18 fighters circled downtown as part of the celebration,
and the Snowbirds and more CF-18s flew past Canad Inns Stadium
right before the big game started.
Such public military displays, reminiscent of something one would
see in North Korea or Stalinist Russia, are part of Operation
Connection, a Canadian Forces initiative designed to increase
public support, aid recruiting and ultimately validate Canada’s
war adventures in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Our role as a warring nation is being normalized. Every day Canadians
are being reminded of why we should fear for our lives and why
we must go to war. The Masters of War want us to get so deep into
the chaos of war that we forget what it is like to live without
it. They want us to live in perpetual fear so that we don’t
mind tanks in our streets, surveillance at every corner and our
children growing up so they can enlist and be disembowelled by
a bomb in a distant land.
All war, all the time. Rah! Rah! Rah!
War truly is the health of the state and the cancer of the masses.
It is suitable that Winnipeg’s Grey Cup was married to our
war effort, because Winnipeg is a military town. We are the Canadian
headquarters for Norad and we are home to a whole slew of manufacturers
who produce products with military applications. Much of our economy
is dependent on the death and destruction of the economies of
others, and weapons manufacturers such as Standard Aero and Boeing
have factories here.
It is these corporations, their lobbyists, their political lackeys
and their profit-hungry shareholders that present the greatest
threat for Canadians. Considering that Gordon O’Connor,
our new minister of defence, is a former defence-industry lobbyist,
we can expect Canada’s reputation as a peacekeeping nation
to be shed for a more aggressive role. Bullets flying, bombs dropping
and body bags coming home are much better for business than monitoring
elections, building schools and bringing people peace.
I feel for our soldiers who are lied to and used as cannon fodder.
I do not blame them, and nor should we put the blame solely on
the corporations and politicians.
The blame rests with the public. We let ourselves be fooled because
it’s easier to deal with. Because of our pointed ignorance,
people die and suffer. At some point we are all going to have
to wake up and stop this war madness.
I look forward to that day.
Jim Sanders is a local documentary filmmaker and co-founder of
Dada World Data Productions. |
Uptown
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