Learning Stories
by
Mario deSantis
mariodesantis@hotmail.com
“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear,
free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to
oppose what I believe wrong, and free to choose those who shall govern my
country.” - -The Rt. Hon. John Diefenbaker, Canadian Bill of Rights,
1960
“The whole judicial system is at issue, it's
worth more than one person.”--Serge Kujawa, Saskatchewan Crown
Prosecutor, 1991
“The system is not more worth than one person's
rights.”--Mario deSantis, 2002
Ensign Stories © Mario deSantis and Ensign
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We are living at time when our humanity problems are becoming the
most urgent problems facing our societies. In the aftermath of the
September 11 atrocities, we have witnessed a resurgence of
patriotism as the American freedom has been challenged and as a call
for vengeance has been permeating all our minds. Many, many
countries have come together with the United States for combating
terrorism, yet a military retaliatory strike against Osam Bin Laden
has not been launched.
There is a fear that this fight against terrorism can evolve into
a clash between civilizations, and set western countries against
Muslim/Islamic countries; and this clash can have dramatic
consequences for our own survival as each side has access to means
of mass destruction: nuclear weapons, chemical and biological
agents.
We cannot colonize anybody anymore, and we cannot have the luxury
to turn our back to international affairs and look after our own
self national interest either. The game to use military force to
coerce our own wills to others, rightly or wrongly, has greatly been
diminished in light of the present type of warfare and terrorism
occurring around the world. The dual game that "I can do this harm
to you because I predict that you can only answer in this way"
doesn't work anymore. In today's global yet divided world, we cannot
live in a world of prediction anymore. The mentality of 'divide and
conquer' which sustained the Roman Empire as a slave state has gone
for ever. This dual game of exclusion, either I win or lose, is no
more.
The new game is one of inclusion, one in which we all get
together as individuals and societies to fight not for our national
or western freedom, but for the freedom of us all around the world;
rather than fighting for the freedom to have a swimming pool in the
backyard of our homes, we must fight for our freedom against
poverty, freedom against ignorance, freedom against illnesses,
freedom against injustices!
We have had people killing each other in the Middle East since
the state of Israel was established in 1948. What we call terrorists
can be the passionate martyrs of the other warring faction, and this
never ending warfare is caused because we are fighting violence with
violence, and we cannot do it anymore as we cannot predict the
outcome of this spiral of violence in the long run! We cannot have
the luxury to have a military victory against Osama Bin Laden only
to have more terrorism and more violence at a later time.
We need a victory for all the people as we need each other and as
a consequence we need justice before we take Osama Bin Laden dead or
alive. President Bush coalition against terrorism in Afghanistan has
become more cautious in launching an overall military attack as the
coalition is becoming more aware of the possibility of additional
terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe. We need a change
of social policies, economic policies and above all we need to
change the current way to support our capitalistic freedom by the
combined use of military interventions and food donations to poor
countries. |
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