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Canada's Project Hero Highlights the Unsung
There has been a recent stir of controversy in Canadian media over a public letter signed by 15 Professors from the University of Regina opposing their university's participation in a scholarship program reserved exclusively for the offspring of soldiers that died in war. 46 other colleges and universities from all over Canada are currently participating in the program. The professors' stance make U of R the only university so far to express public criticism of the program, and the professors have accordingly come under hot fire from government representatives, Canadian veterans, and other individuals for opposing their university's support of the program. They have yet to back down.
The signatories believe that:
... support for "Project Hero" represents a dangerous cultural turn. It associates "heroism" with the act of military intervention. It erases the space for critical discussion of military policy and practices. In signing on to "Project Hero", the university is implicated in the disturbing construction of the war in Afghanistan by Western military- and state-elites as the "good war" of our epoch. We insist that our university not be connected with the increasing militarization of Canadian society and politics.
The professors also encourage public debate on their position and call for:
A public forum on the war in Afghanistan and Canadian imperialism more generally to be held this semester before exams begin.
Professor Garson Hunter, a former soldier, argues that the scholarship program (cofounded by former Chief of the Defence Staff Rick Hillier who encouraged increased military funding upon leaving his position in 2005) uses the memory of fallen soldiers to "aggrandize military endeavours in Afghanistan" and "If they really want to help then they should provide help for soldiers affected by post-traumatic stress disorder."
In an impassioned letter defending his position after being barraged with hostile emails (some including violent threats) Professor John F. Conway writes:
Project Hero is part of the ongoing propaganda offensive from the militaristic, pro-war cabal led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the former chief of defence, retired general Rick Hillier. From the beginning, this propaganda offensive sought to silence criticism of the war by equating it with a failure to support our troops. Efforts to turn this into a heroic battle will fail. Many Canadians are ashamed of Canada's role in this dirty, savage war which pits the random techno-barbarism of advanced warfare against a poorly armed insurgency. For this the blame lies with the government and our spineless Parliament, not our troops carrying out their orders.
Conway adds:
We did not win our democracy, thanks to the military. The military was among the dominant forces from which Canadians had to wrest democracy. All too often the price exacted was paid in Canadian blood on Canadian soil.
Democracy is in danger when war is glorified, when the military has a big say in determining government policy, when dissent is met by threats and attacks, when history is rewritten, the role of the military in civil society is elevated, and we are called upon to worship thankfully at its feet.
Even though Canada has a small military and is not nearly as immersed
in the
culture of war worship as the US, the current Conservative government
has
implemented significant funding increases to the Canadian Forces with
direct
attempts to promote it to the population through the education
system and the
media. During the Bush Administration Harper made obvious moves to
enhance
relations with the US, increased military support for the US's war on
Afghanistan being one of them. While it was the Liberal Party of Canada
that
took the Canadian Forces into Afghanistan in 2001 (they also made the
important
decision not to participate in the war on Iraq), Canada's
military role
(as opposed to its involvement in what is often characterized as
humanitarian
work) was most strengthened with initiatives brought forth by the
Conservatives
when Harper became Prime Minister in 2006. Since 2001 polls have
indicated that
a majority of Canadians have supported Canada's involvement in
Afghanistan
(there have been some fluctuations) while favouring "nation-building"
over
military operations. Canadians have also remained committed to
withdrawing
sooner rather than later. No doubt aware of Canadians' professed desire
to
leave Afghanistan, the Conservatives recently reitera
Canadians have shown decreased involvement in the political process (the 2008 elections resulted in the lowest voter turnout in Canadian history) but as shown by the professors at U of R, dissent is alive and kicking in Canada. Even from a Prairie province where the Conservatives have historically enjoyed widespread support, people are speaking out against the increasing militarization of Canadian society, something which many view as harmful to Canadian culture as a whole. For members of the Canadian academic community to take such a stance in a province dominated by pro-militarism and amidst a political atmosphere of general support for Canada's military operations in Afghanistan is no small matter. Indeed, these professors have proven that their concern for the youth they are employed to educate goes beyond their desire to advance their career goals or a need to remain silent to avoid criticism. They have been criticized for dishonoring their country with the position they have taken, but many Canadians would agree that they are in fact attempting to preserve the most honorable merits of Canadian culture. In the words of the social critic and feminist activist Barbara Ehrenreich:
No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.
To express solidarity please send letters of support for the Regina 15, and against Project Hero and Canadian imperialism, to University of Regina President Vianne Timmons, Vianne.Timmons@uregina.ca and Vice-President Academic, Gary Boire, Gary.Boire@uregina.ca. Please copy jeffery.webber@uregina.ca.
- Posted in
22 Comments so far
Show AllThis scholarship reflects of the tradition of military duty being praised and rewarded in public administration. Too often, people can get elected to public office simply because they served in the military! Or, at least, service in the military is a major plus on their campaign trail- despite the fact that they may know very little about the public and environmental policies that will create real change in their communities.
This is really not a tradition in Canada. Earlier in my career as an economist I removed the period I did my time in the navy from my CV. No one either in the private sector or the Canadian Public Service knew what the hell it meant to have served at sea nor why I would have wanted to do it. (I did it because I was young and it was a relatively secure adventure).
Just a few items re we don't have a tradition of being in the service than seeking a political career:
of the 4090 MPs we've had elected since Confederation only 17% - 704 - have had any affiliation with the military;
of the 902 Senators we've had 19.7% - 178 - have had some military connection;
the conflicts in which either MPs or Senators took part span time from the 1812-14 War with the US to Korea;
3 Canadian Senators took part in the War against the US in 1812-14 and 2 Canadian MPs served with the Union Army in the American Civil War
Source: Parliamentary website: http://bit.ly/cYv09j
Hillier is a war criminal and perjurer, so the fact that he co-founded this initiative is in of itself reason enough to oppose it.
As Americans, we need to know how large this Canadian scrotum is going to be, and which border states it is going to suspend into. “Duck!” Okay, let's exhume some history.
Remembered: Canada entered The Great War and World War Two a significant time period before the United States, a touchstone of Canadian military smugness. Forgotten: During BOTH those significant time periods, border states were infiltrated by Canadian draft dodgers, spreading their pacifist filth. (grin) In retribution, 100,000 Yanks and Yankettes went the other way during the Vietnam War, spreading medicine, social work, clinical psychology, art & music therapy, rehabilitation counselling and other pinko help to injured and disabled Canucks. They gathered at parties and sang: “It's so nice to meet an old friend and pass the time of day, and talk about the home town a million miles away. Is the ice still on the river, are the old folks still the same, and by the way -----?”
In reprisal, some outraged Royal Canadian Legionnaires abducted Yank males off the town or city streets, tied and gagged them, put them in automobile trunks, drove them south across the international border, and released them into the waiting hands of American Legionnaires. This is God's truth. Look it up in newspaper archives.
It is my hope that one small factor in the rebellion of 15 courageous Saskatchewan academics is memory of the Vietnam Visitation by southern neighbors, who resisted war by ways that ultimately meant great suffering 1) to US families at the hands of the FBI, 2) to resistors across This Land by CIA agents in Canada, with the cooperation of RCMP and CSIS. Generations later, Our Spirit Lives, while alphabet-spook whistle blowers have exposed, not just your calumny but often your complicity in atrocity.
Lastly, this opinion expresses no derogation towards children of Canadian military personnel who lost their lives while on foreign duty. But the Canadian Armed Forces has it well within its power to create a tuition program for the intended purpose, through insurance and other plans. Waving a bayonet with a flower on it in the face of university administrators is extortion.
Trylon
Give me a break about Canadian draft dodgers. I don't know much about WWI other than that subscription introduced very late in the war as casualties over came volunteers. In WWII MacKenize-KIng again introduced it late in the war & as a draftee you had to agree to be stationed overseas - (a draftee was know as a zombie by ordinary service people). In other words we've usually had an all volunteer service. So though we aren't particularly militaristic we're usually had sufficient volunteer numbers for most of our conflicts. Incidentally I think Hillier is a blow hard and don't agree with us being in the stupid Afghan mess nor with the bullshit of sanctifying our military either dead or alive by naming highways in honour of them or clapping as their coffins drive by.
pangloss
Gladly. This is your break. Use it to get to an academic library and study the history of 20th century military conscription in Canada. Two directions of flight were possible, north and south. For north, Canada hired bushman with skills to live off the land and engage in "hot" pursuit using canoes. How do I know? Well, one man who was paid to do this activity during WW2 was Best Man at my wedding in Thunder Bay.
The highest volume of Canadian conscription evasion has always been in Quebec. One of the funniest stories involves an American prisoner of war camp for captured Germans, located in Stark, New Hampshire. The POWs could volunteer to be what Yanks call lumberjacks. Their supervisors in the bushwork were Quebec draft dodgers. This is covered in a book about life in the Stark POW camp. Not funny to me is that, at night, some American females "serviced" the German POWs pro bono through the wire fence. The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.
You missed the point that my comment about Canadian DDs was a joke.
What's an academic library? Just curious is that an ordinary just folks type of place or something special to Northern Ontario & only available to best men at Thunder Bay weddings.
Sorry you raised my back a bit. I likely did miss your joke, and I hope if you are charitable will disregard my Southern Ontario snootiness.
"... the increasing militarization of Canadian society, something which many view as harmful to Canadian culture as a whole."
Canadian culture? What Canadian culture? It's all imported from the U.S., even including a lot of the beer branding and a militarized version of a game called hockey that was once a recreational pastime.
Forget about Canadian culture. It's already dead. Better worry about Canadian democratic goverance. The Americanized "lesser evil" replacement for that is also well under way.
Bullshit
RV - you get to comment upon Canadian culture after you've done what I did. What I did was to live in Canada more than 30 years: 27 in Ontario and 3 in Alberta.
Trylon
Canada avoided the Iraq war only to get mired in the Afghanistan debacle. Our reason for entering this "Graveyard of Empires" war was to kiss a little derriere regarding our largest trading partner. We now have a bunch of dead "heros" and destroyed ex-combatants to show for it. Presently we're hearing the same drivel from the families of the fallen, "Don't leave at the end of our stated commitment or our efforts will have been in vain", total bullshit. Our efforts have not been in vain. The free trade agreement is still in effect (NAFTA). Should that agreement dissolve, then and only then, will our efforts have been in vain.
From here in Regina, heartened to see this among other actions recently pushing forward on progressive issues. Good turn out for suppoert of First Nations University after government cutting funds. Another large turn out to support public funded SCN TV getting the axe from Provincial Gov.
The struggle is hard and long, but we are determined!
the bullet that killed Kennedy has yet to be countered...the forces that fired that bullet know no nation, but go where they will...
until that bullet, and those forces, are countered, no place is beyond their influence, or control...
good for these university folk...well done, calling this crap out...
First of all, Saskatchewan is the birthplace of the single-payer Canadian health system. It has a long and honourable progressive history. This is no anomaly.
BUT, the issue isn't so cut and dried. Though poorly named, this program is only doing what ought to be done for vets' families. The implicit deal that all soldiers make with their govts is that they and/or their families will be taken care of if they become casualties. Time and again govts fail to live up to this bargain. It is part and parcel of the normal screwing that the owner class routinely visits upon its lessers.
Vets are almost completely working class and there should be solidarity among them and progressives of all kinds. You can and should be antiwar without being anti-vet.
that is very well said. What part of "reserved exclusively for the offspring of soldiers that died in war" are people not getting?
If you start a g*DD*mned war, be prepared to pay for it, especially the children of those who paid the ultimate price for what (in America, lately) is a gov't handout to the fossil-fuels industry. Why should oil CEO's be the only beneficiaries of that level of public support?
These professors are not anti-vet. They are pointing out that the Canadian Government already takes care of veterans through the Children of Deceased Veterans Education Assistance legislation. Project Hero is a redundant scholarship that is part of the Harper government's pro-militarism propaganda machine which seeks to silence dissent with regards to aggressive Canadian foreign policy through measures of cultural manipulation and which equates dissent with turning against the men and women of the Canadian Forces. These professors are rejecting that paradigm and calling a spade a spade in their opposition to the public relations coup that has been carried out by the Harper Government and their allies in the top ranks of the Canadian Military.
For a deeper understanding of the Canadian Forces PR campaign, check out this short documentary - http://www.cbc.ca/video/popup.html?http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/news/features/selling-the-mission-070918.wmv
Bingo! Well said. Thanks for the links.
Why does any nation hand out scholarships? It turns education into a sweepstakes designed to fool people into thinking that they can "make it" too.
We don't need scholarships. We need universal single-payer education. People shouldn't have to compete for what is an unrecognized right.
Yep. Education should be free. Nobody should be restricted from attending a University or College due to Finances.
Get rid of "sports scholarships" and "Military scholarships" and "academic scholarships".
If you support the Regina 16 and the opposition to Project Hero, please sign this petition -
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/7/stand-against-project-hero-and-the-glorification-of-war
How many Canadians young enough to have college age children have died in wars? It's probably in the low hundreds from their foolish dogging of US lead in the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.
This scholarship seems more like a jingoistic self-congratulatory gesture than anything else. Probably more Canadians died giving honest service to their country in the fishing, mining and lumber industries than in wandering aimlessly around the mideast shooting people. Don't all orphans and all children deserve an education?
Joe
Good comment and you are on the right track, obviously. But, it's an awful lot worse than a jingoistic self-congratulatory gesture (althought it is that!).
It's part of a conscious, well-planned, well-funded PR campaign attached to a right-wing swerve that started in the 90s and totally latched onto the Bush/Cheney/Dumbsfeld militaristic approach. The right-wing Harper gov't wants to make radical changes to Canadian governance and the direction of the military (from peace-keeping to shit-kicking... in the footsteps of the US) and this kind of attempt to confuse the issue of the Afghan occupation and to glorify militarism is oozing out of all the pores of this right-wing bunch.
They want to change fundamentals in Canadian society--military direction and spending; radicalizing the criminal justice system; concentrating power in the PM's office (away from Parliament); etc., etc. Typical right-wing swerve, with glorification of the military and pious bible-thumping as effective propaganda vehicles.