Doug Saunders (In Most Places Around The Globe, Violence Has Stopped Making Sense – Oct. 1) seems to be prematurely celebrating the end of violence. He is correct to state that there has been a decline in the number of wars between states in recent history and that dramatic shifts in our ways of life have led to improvement of the human condition for many.
However, violence has not declined on the sensational scale that he suggests – and in many cases it is much more intense and deadly today. Wars are more asymmetrical, private military units use massive force against resistance groups, and there are rising deaths from terrorism, broadly defined. The result is that casualties of war have become primarily civilians, euphemistically labelled “collateral damage.”
And despite the decline in such wars, military spending has exponentially increased under the umbrella of national security. This seems to me nothing to celebrate. The confusion comes in how one chooses to define violent conflict, but what is certain is that intrastate war (the UN currently has 16 peacekeeping operations across the world), human rights abuses, poverty, unemployment, and gender violence continue. We must hold our celebrations.
Kevin Kester, Hannam University, Daejeon, South Korea
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Fly this
At first blush, the National Flag of Canada Act sounds like a patriotic idea (Flag And Queen In Moderation – Oct. 3). Who could be against a law that protects the right to fly the Canadian flag?
I saluted the flag many times during my 26 years of service in the Canadian Forces. I now practise condominium law and I can predict, with certainty, that Bill C-288 will cause a flap.
The problem is not with the bill’s laudable intention, but with its execution. It does not limit its scope to property owned by the person who intends to fly the flag. Feuding neighbours might erect flagpoles on their neighbour’s property, claiming their right to do so. Or they might erect dozens of flags in their front yard in sheer spite.
Bill C-288 as currently drafted will conflict with the Condominium Act. It is very common for condominium boards to require unit owners to remove satellite dishes and antennae that have been attached to the exterior of condos.
Owners are never happy about having to take stuff down. What about attaching a Canadian flag to a satellite dish or a TV antenna? This would turn the flag into a bargaining chip, threatening those opposing flying the flag with a two-year jail term.
Raymond H. Mikkola, lieutenant-colonel (retired), Mississauga, Ont.
