 December 2002/ January 2003
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
Canadian Citizen Weapons Inspectors Gear Up for Local Visits to Arms Manufacturers November 26 press release from Homes not Bombs at 416/651-5800 in Toronto. As weapons inspectors begin their work in Baghdad, a group of Canadian citizens is gearing up for their own inspections of Canadian military manufacturers.
"We support the disarmament of Iraq, no question," explains inspector Andrew Loucks, of Homes not Bombs. "But we also support regional disarmament, which is called for in United Nations Resolution #687. You can't achieve genuine disarmament and move toward peaceful alternatives by attacking one country's weapons programs and leaving others intact, free to expand. But then, who really believes the Bush administration is interested in disarmament and peaceful initiatives? With Canada's continuing military support of the US, and scores of companies outfitting the US military, it's hard to believe Canada wants these things either." To highlight this double standard, teams of citizen inspectors trained in and committed to nonviolence will visit and attempt to enter these weapons manufacturers to conduct inspections of their own. They will seek details on what is produced, the end use of the products, customers, research, and so on. "We have attempted in the past to shed light on the shady world of Canadian weapons production, but have often been met by police, arrests, and charges that are meant to silence us, because these weapons makers fly in the face of the myth of Canada as peaceful nation. We have a right to know what is being produced. If the people of Canada knew the horrible nature and use of some of these military 'products' coming off Canadian assembly lines, they would demand that this stop." Inspectors point out that while there is a loud, and justifiable, chorus about crimes of the Iraqi government, few are willing to discuss US war crimes, such as the systematic bombing of Iraq's civilian infrastructure in 1991 and the equipment used to commit them. "And while there are calls for the Iraqi government to provide unfettered access to weapons inspectors who in the 1990s spied for western powers, will Canadian companies be open with their citizens about exactly what they produce and where it goes? They haven't been in the past, so we'll have to wait and see."
The inspectors will rely on international
and Canadian laws which prohibit the actions carried out by customers
of these companies and forbid the production of such weapons,
as well as international covenants forbidding planning and preparation
for war. 
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