Remembering "Scarce Heard Amidst the Guns Below"

On Remembrance Day many Canadians take the opportunity to remember and reflect upon the men and women who have given their lives for our freedom. In Remembrance Day services World Wars I and II are often referred to the wars to end all wars and for many Canadians this is true. Although we have had limited military involvement in places like Korea, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan (and even more limited involvement in Rwanda and Hatti) a great number of Canadians have never experienced the banal of war and for many others it remains a distant memory. The brave men and women who fought in these world wars really did win us freedom, not just from autocratic rule but also from having to experience war, hunger and fear.

In this respect it can be easy to lose sight of conflicts which continue to rage globally and take you lives, not just of our own citizens but of innocent people. By remembering, we passively look upon war as something that has past without taking an opportunity to consider how we might contribute to building peace in other parts of the world which have no been saved from the scourge of war.

The war in Congo-Kinshasa, one of the least discussed and publicized ongoing conflicts, over 5 million people have died since the beginning of hostilities since 1996. Countless others have been kidnapped, raped, left homeless or forcibly displaced. One man who I spoke to near the beginning of my research nearly broke down into tears when I asked whether he or anyone he knew had been a victim of the conflict and said that his sister had been a victim in the east, but he was too upset to talk about it. Another respondent told me of how his entire family was burned to death while they slept after a group of local citizens who were unhappy with his father, who was a local magistrate, because he was part Tutsi, burned his house done. Further still, I think of a young Tutsi woman whose entire family was killed in the Rwanda Genocide in 1994 and she fled to Congo. When the conflict started in Congo in 1996 and Tutsis again became targeted she returned to Rwanda where she was abducted by a Congolese man who brought her back to Congo and used her as a sex slave, impregnated her and then followed her to South Africa to try to kill both her and her child. To give you an idea of the severity of the situation, the girl is now 19 and her daughter just turned four.

Still another perspective on Remembrance Day came from a black South African man who pointed out that he wasn't sure why he would want to donate money for a poppy when the money would be going to Veterans who helped exploit the African people (referring of course to British poppies not Canadian ones).

So today, more than any other day, take an opportunity not only to remember those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom but also to reflect on ongoing violence and remember that there are ways which we can address violence even when its not at our front door. We can also make steps to bring peace to more troubled parts of our own communities and teach tolerance and respect to those aroud us.