Conscience Canada has signed the DefendtheAtlantaForest solidarity statement & we encourage others to do likewise. (Sign here: https://defendtheatlantaforest.org/solidarity/ )

On Jan. 18, forest defender Manuel Esteban Paez Teran was killed (shot 13 times by police).

As the statement explains, “The struggle that is playing out in Atlanta is a contest for the future. As the catastrophic effects of climate change hammer our communities with hurricanes, heat waves, and forest fires, the stakes of this contest are clearer than ever. It will determine whether those who come after us inherit an inhabitable Earth or a police state nightmare. It is up to us to create a peaceful society that does not treat human life as expendable.”

Nonviolence International https://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/ has very useful information on what it’s like for those resisting occupation and war in Ukraine & Russia, and what we can do to help people there build peace and justice.

This includes a report from Dec. ’22 on attitudes towards the war in Russia. It struck me that, although the situation in Russia is, in many ways, more harsh than what we face here, a key recommendation from the report applies to our situation as well as theirs:

This Valentine’s Day, make love not war

Who was Saint Valentine? Stories vary but according to one account he was a third century Roman priest. Rome at this time was ruled by the bloodthirsty Emperor Claudius II. Single men were thought to make better soldiers & only they were subject to the draft. Worrying that men would marry to avoid military service Claudius outlawed marriage. Valentine disobeyed the law & performed marriages in secret. Not only did he unite lovers but he provided war resisters with an alternative to the draft. Valentine was eventually executed for his act of defiance.

Long time CC secretary (using his “retirement” to keep working for a better world 🙂 Murray Lumley shared this statement with his MP: https://nofighterjets.ca/2022/12/30/dropthef35dealstatement/ , saying, “I agree with the statement and urge you as my MP to speak to the Liberal caucus and cancel this procurement…” Murray offered many reasons; including this: “This purchase goes completely counter to Canada’s commitments to the Paris Agreement, to keep average Earth temperature increases to 1.5C. I have read that one F-35 burns $40,000 worth of fossil fuel per hour and on afterburner uses more fuel per hour than an aircraft carrier. I know that militaries get a free pass but they shouldn’t, given that militaries are among the worst fossil fuel burners in the world, more than many nations… If we keep going in a direction counter to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, my grandchildren and your children will have no future. There are some experts who claim that if we do not change our ways in the next few years, there will be no human civilization worth the name by the end of the 21st century.”

Christmas truce monument in Mesen, Belgium. photo credit: Historic War Tours

Thanks to World Beyond War for sharing this Veterans for Peace song with British singer Fenya, Christmas Truce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3yH2iCdpvE

. We can still sign to support the International Peace Bureau appeal for a truce in the Ukraine here: https://www.christmasappeal.ipb.org/ (Conscience Canada has signed on.)

For both Dr. Mary-Wynne Ashford and Dr. Linda Thyer, health encompasses much more than personal wellbeing. Mary-Wynne worked vigorously towards nuclear disarmament until her recent death; Linda wanted to honour her memory and found this article, http://www.peacemagazine.org/archive/v14n1p25.htm remarkable because it’s so relevant, even though it’s over 20 years old: . It’s also remarkable that both women speak of the need for a new ethic, Mary-Wynne in that article, and Linda when she spoke in September at an anti-pipeline rally, urging us to “also address the crisis of ethos and spirit that our society faces. If we are to allow the Earth to heal, we must also heal our society’s ways.”

photo courtest of Dr. Gordon Edwards

Remembrance Day will soon be here. It’s fascinating to learn that the author of the iconic poem, In Flanders Fields, John McCrae, was apparently urging us to resist the spirit of warfare. To learn more, check out our Remembrance Day Education Kit, available on our “Resources” page. Also: https://www.theregis.ca/politics-social/the-poppy-s-war-against-war/  & http://peacemagazine.org/archive/v29n4p27.htm .

“The Fund was established decades ago as part of our efforts to withold any support from war and militarism.” explains President Jan Slakov. “As we go through a period of transition, we want to make sure that people who have deposited money in the Fund know that it’s shutting down, so they can decide whether to ask us to return their deposits or allow the funds to be redirected to Conscience Canada’s operational costs.”

Conscience Canada intends to maintain its Peace Tax Return and letter-writing option, available on its website. Its board is exploring ways to help conscientious objectors to redirect resources from death and destruction towards life and health.

For more information, contact:

info@consciencecanada.ca
or contact Jan Slakov, president of CC at (604) 223-9328.
www.consciencecanada.ca

William Watson won this year’s War Abolisher of the Year award (selected by World Beyond War) for this wonderful film. Lots to learn, to rejoice in and to be inspired by! Here is the link to the film on vimeo: https://vimeo.com/490372154