|
Open Letter
to the Prime Minister
of Canada Stephen Harper
with
copies to select members of the Canadian Parliament, the Ottawa Citizen, Iskra, and several other papers.
March 15, 2006
The Editor
Ottawa Citizen
1101 Baxter Road
Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3M4
Dear Editor:
An Open Letter to Canadian
Political and Military Leaders
Talk of military superiority for waging wars, supporting a ballistic
missile defence strategy, and exporting violence through heavy-handed
military measures shows us that our foreign policy has gone astray. Our
leaders and generals are marching to the beat of the drum, but going
the wrong way.
Violence invites violence as our giant philosophers and social
activists Lev Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have
shown humanity. Soldiers, tanks, bombs and missiles will not create
democracy and more security, but will raise a fortress society and more
fear. Let us remember that war does not solve the problems of poverty,
inequality, and injustice. As citizens we know that the military
industrial complex robs us of the resources we need for our basic
rights of universal health care, clean air and water, education, and
well-paid jobs for all.
Canada's tradition of peacekeeping is the courageous and smart way to
go; and that's why it is supported by the majority of Canadians.
Canada as a nation does not have a clear vision why we are in
Afghanistan and what our interest is in it and why our coalition troops
are there. We should threrefore get out of Afghanistan at the earliest
opportunity. The political and social goals of Canada as a state can be
reached much better without war. Ideally, too, the US superpower ought
to close down its 700 military bases on foreign soil and begin to see
the world as a friendly place where neighbours are respected.
Foreign policy is not a one party issue in a democratic country. It has
to be discussed fully by all parties. Moreover, foreign policy is an
issue of human survival. We need to change our outlived habits of
assuming that war is inevitable. We need to find a better alternative
to violence through such mechanisms as cooperation in discovering a
common ground for action, negotiations across boundaries, inventions in
bridgebuilding, education and respect for the culture and the needs of
other nationals. In brief, we urgently need the moral strength and
compassion to create a nonkilling society.
The idea of looking for an alternative strategy has come. We need to
redefine our role in the 21st century. As Victor Hugo once wrote:
'Nobody can stop an idea whose time has come!' The power and creativity
of nonviolence is needed now. Let's bring home our troops and reclaim
the supremacy of moral law, justice, truth and love.
Koozma J. Tarasoff
Ottawa, Ontario
|