conflict

U.S. War Deserters Welcome in Canada

- Adam Clare

American troops who don’t want to fight in an illegal war can now live in Canada without fear of being deported!

U.S. soldiers who fled to Canada to escape the war in Iraq won a symbolic victory in the House of Commons Tuesday when a majority of MPs voted that the deserters should be allowed to stay permanently in the country.
But the motion, put forward by the NDP, is non-binding on the minority Conservative government. Tory MPs voted against the motion but were outnumbered by the three opposition parties in a 137-110 vote.
“The Harper Conservatives must respect this and immediately implement this motion,” said Olivia Chow, the Toronto New Democrat who moved the motion. “Ordinary people want the Iraq war resisters to stay.”
The Toronto-based War Resisters Support Campaign estimates as many as 200 American soldiers escaped to Canada to avoid serving in Iraq.

Weapons Make for Neat Looking Furniture

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

peace chair
In Cambodia, some weapons are being turned into furniture. I like this idea of repurposing old machines of death into useful things for everyday use. It’s a great sign of human creativity. Although I do wonder how comfortable that chair is.
Don’t forget that there is always coffee machines made from old weapon casings.

After more than 30 years of civil war, ending in 1998, the Cambodian gouvernment destroyed 125,000 weapons across the country. In this time (name withheld by request), a small arms specialist with the European Union, and British artist (a different name withheld) saw an opportunity, and decided to create The Peace Art Project Cambodia (PAPC) in November 2003. The Peace Art Project Cambodia was a sculpture project turning weapons into art as expressions of peace.

Milblog Project

- Adam Clare

Voice-Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops, known as Valour IT, tries to help wounded American soldiers psychologically recover from battle by blogging. Regardless (or irregardless if you’re Dubya Bush), of what you think of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Terror, humans who are injured still need support to heal their wounds. You can read about the success the program has had at the MediaShift blog at PBS.

“It started last year when Army Captain Chuck Ziegenfuss injured both his hands and wanted to get back to blogging. His blog readers pitched in for Dragon Naturally Speaking software, and he and another blogger, FbL, put together Valour-IT and have raised more than $330,000 with two online Veteran’s Day fundraisers fueled by milbloggers.”

UN Pledges Help for AU

- Adam Clare

The United Nations has announced that it is pledging $77 million for the African Union to continue it’s peace work in the troubled Darfur region.

“The aid has been offered because of Sudan’s refusal to allow a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, Annabi told reporters.

“That (willingness) is not there today (for a United Nations peacekeeping force), so in the meantime we are looking at ways in which we can move forward by reinforcing (the African Union Mission in Sudan) to enable it to go on with its tasks effectively,” Annabi said.

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York said the Sudanese government initially agreed to allow the United Nations to provide the AU troops with a support package worth about $22 million. Annabi was able to secure the government’s agreement to allow the rest of the $77 million aid package to go through in the last few days.”

Thanks, Shealyn

Peaceful Nepal

- Adam Clare

Nepal had some turmoil earlier this year that brought the country to a basic standstill. Then the fighting sides realized that peace is better than war and decided to end the violence. It’s a LOT more complicated than that, but the good news is that peace in Nepal just needs signatures.

The people of Nepal are getting what they wanted.

“The six-point agreement, which was reached at midnight on Tuesday November 7, 2006, included provisions that will lead to the signing of a comprehensive peace accord on November 16, which will mark the end to the armed conflict between the Maoist insurgents and the Government of Nepal.”

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