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 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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