Lest any of our readers think that I have an uncritical attitude toward the nation-state that I currently call home, here is a fantastic piece in the new Adbusters magazine about Canada’s transition, under the Harper government, from a peacekeeping nation to an ally in the U.S.-led “War on Terror.” An excerpt:
This certainly pleases Washington, which is delighted to have a well-regarded country like Canada as an active ally as it ramps up its confrontation with the Islamic world. And pleasing Washington appears to be the main reason – perhaps the only real reason – that Canada is fighting in Afghanistan, despite occasional suggestions by Ottawa that it’s concerned about promoting democracy or helping Afghan women.
The positioning of Canada as a team player in the US “war on terror” has been part of a larger campaign orchestrated by the Harper government and the Canadian military to wean Canadians off their longstanding attachment to peacekeeping, and get them excited instead about a more combat-oriented military.
This would involve a significant change in the Canadian psyche. Canadians have strongly identified with the notion of Canada as a leading peacekeeping nation, ever since former foreign affairs minister (and future prime minister) Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in averting war in the Middle East by helping establish the first real UN peacekeeping intervention in the 1956 Suez Crisis.
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