This Year Wear a White Poppy…
to commemorate all victims of war
to mourn the environmental devastation it causes
to reject war as a tool for social change
to call for dialog and peaceful conflict resolution
to show your commitment to building a better future
…because remembering is important, but it isn’t enough
Wearing both red and white poppies is a way of saying “Remember the fallen, including civilians, and work for peace”. We have had many meaningful conversations with strangers that started with “What’s the white poppy for?”. In 1934 the first campaign to distribute white poppies for peace was launched. 75 years later, the world has seen over 300 wars, and the killing of more than 200 million people. Let’s work to make peace their memorial.
Download a paper version of a white poppy to cut-out and wear by clicking here.
As a Conscientious Objectors to Military Taxation (COMT), Conscience Canada’s Board members are convinced that we could “buy” much more peace and justice with nonviolent security approaches, rather than by investing in military “security”. For example, according to Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), “The ICBL (1997 Nobel Peace laureate) has raised and spent around 34 million since it was founded in 1992. While that is a great deal of money, it is equivalent to what the US military spends on fuel in Afghanistan in 2 ½ hours.
Put another way, if we diverted the amount of money spent on fuel by the US military in Afghanistan for one full day, we could fund 9 global movements of the size, complexity and global reach of the Campaign to Ban Landmines, for a decade and a half.”
In order to bring about the re-ordering of priorities I seek, we will need to change the way we think about war. Remembrance Day offers us an opportunity to remember more about war that just “our” soldiers. For more information, we recommend these sites: