White Poppies for Peace

_White Poppies for Peace_   

by Koozma J. Tarasoff. November 11, 2014 — 27 photos — Comments — Link: http://goo.gl/IOyaGt 

An estimated 50,000 gathered at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on November 11th for the Remembrance Day ceremony. Most all wore red poppies. At home I watched on TV the official speeches, jet fighter flyovers and cannon salutes, and hundreds of people placing their red poppies around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

After the main ceremony I took a bus downtown to the memorial site. I was invited by the Ottawa White Poppy Collective who have been conducting a peace memorial there since 2008, and knew I wanted to do a photo-story of their 7th annual event.

I did not wear a red poppy because I do not believe that celebrating the dead will stop the murderous institution called ‘wars’.  In my view, we ought to mourn the dead, not celebrate wars.

2014_Poppy-wreath.jpg

About 20 people wearing white poppies gathered at the back of the Memorial to lay a white wreath. It was a peaceful event compared to previous years. See 27 photos.

In the past the Ottawa White Poppy Collective was verbally harassed in person and in media, and threatened with a lawsuit. In 2010, at the height of the aggressions, a man stole their wreath in front of police who grinned, and 97% polled by Sun News oppose the White Poppy campaign. Last year (2013) their campaign was widely debated in the media. See news below. Opposition to the ‘whites’ in Canada is milder than ‘poppy fascism’ in the UK.

At the Memorial, one of the Raging Grannies gave me a homemade white poppy along with a printed statement on the origin of white poppies:

The white poppy campaign started in Britain in 1933 by women in the Women’s Cooperative Guild who had lost family members in the First World War, as a “definite pledge to peace that war must not happen again.” This campaign has continued over the years by the British Peace Pledge Union and peace activists all over the world.

Heather Menzies of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace wore both red and white poppies and spoke for the group:

The red to honour Nathan Cirillo who was killed standing guard at Canada’s War Memorial,  and the white to keep asking why war should ever be necessary.

Elizabeth Whitmore, another speaker, said that it is often forgotten that most wars kill more civilians than soldiers. This year’s official ceremony virtually had no mention of civilian deaths and casualties.

Dennis Gruending, who was present at this ceremony, wrote in his blog:

‘Estimates are that 17 million people died in the First World War, about 10 million military personnel and about 7 million civilians. In the Second World War, the estimated toll ranges from 60 to 85 million. Civilian deaths are calculated to have been between 38 and 55 million (including those who died from war-related disease and famine). Those deaths outnumbered those of the 22 to 25 million military who died.

Surely sane people must agree that war is a racket. War is a disease. War is a slavery of our times. War is a crime against humanity.

Moreover, war is ‘a shameful history’, as David Robbeson wrote forcefully in The Globe and Mail, which negatively affects families and the community. And that is why David has always refused to wear a poppy.  As a member of a family whose grandfather fought for the USA in the Second World War and returned as ‘a violent and dark human being’, David started wondering what specifically he had done in the war. His answer is frankly revealing:

The sum of my grandfather’s service was to help literally pave the way for the  U.S. military industrial complex. The man was no hero. He was abusive, alcoholic face of my very first trauma.

In a profound sense, it is we in this soldier’s family who paid the most for his military service: collateral damage that is seldom tabulated. The damage they inflict is their real legacy, the rest is nothing but jingoism. Poppies are part of that blind-eyed, plastic flowers that have never saved a single life or prevented one gunshot.

War lives in our collective cell-memory. It hardly requires commemoration. The children abused by men who have gone to war are surely the most unsung victims of all. For us, there are no parades, no speeches or flowers. Remembrance comes in flashbacks and nightmares, and — if we’re lucky, as I am — therapy for PTSD.

If red poppies do not persuade society to abolish wars, what must be done? We need appropriate structures or designs that can be applied today. Here are just three designs:

  1. Center for Global Nonkilling. Its mission is to promote change through the measurable goal of a killing-free world by means open to infinite human creativity in reverence for life.
  2. Department of Peace. This is an initiative to create cabinet-level Departments of Peace in every country to begin the comprehensive work of creating a culture of peace in society.
  3. World Beyond War. This is a global movement to end all wars and establish a just and sustainable peace. The intent is not just to prevent wars, but to abolish this institution.

The time has come for members of the human race to work together to find a  peaceful alternative to war, and give hope to our children and grandchildren. Let’s remember Victor Hugo’s quote: ‘All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come’?

White-Red Poppy News (Chronological)

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Peace References

Comments ( Email to KJTarasoff@gmail.com )

Bill Bhaneja, Ottawa, Ontario.

Kudos on a very comprehensive report with good references and photos.

Thank you, Koozma.

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Dale Dewar MD, Wynyard, Sask.

Did I tell you that Bill [husband] and I did the Sunderland P Gardner lecture for Canadian Yearly Meeting [Society of Friends]? I think the first time a couple was asked — it was a challenge as we have very different ways of working. Titled it "War as Disease" subtitled "Making the Diagnosis: Changing the Prognosis". We were surprised at the number of Quakers who had not thought of war that way. Keep up the good work.

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Allan Markin, Penticton, British Columbia

Thanks very much for posting the Nesteroff piece about the Doukhobors and World War 1…very interesting and enlightening. Reminded me about how much of the Doukhobor story I still don’t know.

Regarding the White Poppies for Peace, there’s no question in my mind that we need to increase the emphasis on peace rather that glorify war. There’s enough people doing the latter, including PM Harper, who is determined to put Canada on the world stage as a warring nation. As Willie Brandt once said: ‘The safeguarding of peace forms the basic condition for everything else to which we aspire; without peace everything becomes an illusion.’ The problem is world leaders and many citizens still believe that peace can be achieved through violence. This formula has never worked. At best, it results in temporary cessations of violence.

 

The other problem is that mass media has made war a spectator sport. I’m with the 19th Century English novelist George Eliot. Writing well before the onset of mass media, she wrote that ‘war would cease for want of a public.’

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Larry Ewashen, Creston, British Columbia

Such commemorations as Remembrance Day, tanks at hockey games, parades and military bands, all seek to legitimize military adventures and military might. If the crocodile tears were to become sincere they would seek an end to this grotesque practice rather than being a state of readiness to repeat the futility of further killing, mostly visited on the innocent women and children. Where is the memorial tribute for them?

There are solutions, the mystery is why they are not put into effect?  Perhaps the UN could suggest it. If the present coalition is serious about achieving peace, all they have to do is withdraw all military installations and armaments to within their own borders. Only when they are invaded, can they defend themselves. In the meantime the belligerents would have to deal with themselves in their own countries without interference, and may soon follow this wonderful example.

Sad to say, such a simple solution will never see the light of day, just as the innocent victims of collateral damage.

The world has been in constant rumblings of unease ever since the war to end all wars, followed by the west’s atomic attack in another war to end all wars. Unfortunately, we have not seen a day without a war since then or before, so it seems there must be some logic to the continuation of hostilities. Could it be a profit motif?

Since the formation of the US after their conflict with England, when peace threatened to break out, the US obliged by intelligence  inspired regime change exercises or some other military intervention seeking to establish democracy in the following countries; (some more than once): Angola, Albania, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Bolivia, Cuba, Chili, China, Columbia, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Iran, Indonesia, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Liberia, Laos, Macedonia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Oman, Puerto Rica, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Samoa,, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Virgin Islands, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zaire

While the continuing gruesome executions by ISUS are reminiscent of the Christian crusades where Christian soldiers proudly waded up to their knees in Mohammedan blood, I wonder how many heads and limbs are being severed by the bombings and terror attacks, including leadership by the UN and NATO, not to mention the daily drone strikes which continue to slaughter innocents in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Yes, these terrorists want to commit atrocities on the invading western hordes who are killing their people and stealing their oil, but it is difficult to reasonably condemn them since they consider themselves as being terrorized by the west. And the US is not alone. Prime Minister Cameron seemed positively jubilant when his parliament voted to join the air strikes, and commented that this would not be a short war. Our prime minister was no slouch either, and eager to offer Canada’s military might in this offensive enterprise, shamelessly playing deputy to Sheriff Obama.

The rumblings of war are louder than ever, and the prognosis is an increase in tit for tat terrorism rather than de-escalation. What a triumph for the military industrial complex!  And what a stimulus for floundering economies. War smells but it sells, and there is a line up for the coalition of the killing. What will it take to employ the simple solution? Simply withdraw all bases and military accouterments and manpower to within your own borders!

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Veronica Markova, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

This is an excellent idea, Koozma!

How can we turn Canada back to a peaceful country and not a war-mongering monster?

A white poppy may be the first step.

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Tammy Hoffman, Ottawa, Ontario

Great report from Koozma.

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Mony Dojeiji, Ottawa, Ontario

Great coverage of this day. Thanks for sharing that, Koozma. I found out about white poppies just this year, and posted it on my FB page...perhaps not surprisingly, it's similar to yours.

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Clea Derwent, Ottawa, Ontario

I am glad the white poppy movement isn't dead.  However it really riles the Veterans who get stuff about being insulted into the media.  What I recommend is wearing both red and white, as I did this year.  Please pass this around, post it around (I'm too ancient to know how to use social media), and let's get more people wearing the white poppy for peace.

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