No to war then, no to war now
A formerly young antiwar activist with terrible spelling has a new antiwar message 17 years later
Our true enemies are leaders that will spend resources on imperialism, unfettered capitalism and hate instead of fighting climate change
Just short of 17 years ago, Spectator photographer Barry Gray captured a young McMaster student at a Hamilton City Hall antiwar protest holding a sign that, at the time, the activist thought was excellent.
Hundreds of protesters showed up to that rally saying “NO” to an invasion of Iraq that they believed to be unjust.
These protesters were joined by thousands of individuals at rallies around the world, crying out to stop what they believed to be an unjust invasion.
The particular young man mentioned earlier was a nearly 20-year-old, firstyear student, with terrible facial hair, a mean scowl and awful spelling. He was holding an umbrella with a sign that said “protection from Iraqi weapons of mass distruction (sic).”
It turns out, he was right. An umbrella would have been adequate protection from Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, because the U.S. government lied. There were no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Standing under his umbrella — one he lost almost immediately after the event — that young man was hopeful and maybe a bit naive. He believed that holding an excellent, but poorly spelled protest sign, could have some kind of effect on government decision-making. Maybe someone, somewhere would see a photo of a clever sign taped to an umbrella and decide war was a bad idea.
He would go on to protest that same war in larger cities with no real effect.
Nearly 17 years later, U.S. and Canadian soldiers are still in Iraq. They’re not fighting the same enemy as they were at the outset of the invasion, but the outcome is the same. In that period tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of civilians have died.
Times have changed since 2003. In the early 2000s, the EU was in an expansion phase, adding 10 countries in 2004 alone. The Great Recession was five years away. In 2003, a Donald Trump presidency was “Back to the Future” reference and then a “Simpsons” joke.
Now, we have a new enemy. Climate change.
Perhaps you thought I was going to say Iran, but the enemy is actually climate change.
Hundreds of thousands of young people all over the world have walked out of schools and marched on the streets with thousands of clever signs protesting government inaction on the environment.
That young man, a now somewhat wiser and more cynical Spectator employee, has the same feeling of dread he had all those years ago, but this time, he’s worried that our leaders are planning to fight a new pointless war instead of saving our civilization.
Our southern neighbours, guided by the most untrustworthy, impulsive and unpredictable leadership imaginable, is posturing, telling its citizens and allies that another old rival is the enemy.
Here’s the thing: Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his government were no good, rotten tyrants. But former U.S. president George Bush, vice-president Dick Cheney and their administration were death hungry, oil thirsty, war mongers.
Now we have a fairly similar situation: the Iranian leadership is not particularly great, neither is the U.S. government.
Young people around the world know that Americans and Iranians are not enemies. The enemies are leaders that will spend resources on imperialism, unfettered capitalism and hate instead of focusing on the health and wellness of the population they exist to protect.
Currently, in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia is being ravaged by wildfires. Up north in the Arctic, the rate of sea ice decline is nearly 13 per cent per decade, according to NASA. Meanwhile, an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is warning that global warming could reach 1.5 C as early as 2030.
Young people around the world know their future is at stake, not from citizens of far-flung countries, but from their own government’s inaction.
Seventeen years after marching in downtown Hamilton, an antiwar protester is writing with a similar but different message: Fight climate change instead of each other. Maybe he’s still naive enough to believe that someone, somewhere might read his story and decide that war is a bad idea.