Debate in Vancouver: Stay or Go?
On Wednesday, April 16, CASC co-founder Lauryn Oates will be debating Stopwar.ca
co-chair Derrick O’Keefe on the topic, “THE CANADIAN MILITARY SHOULD LEAVE
AFGHANISTAN AT ONCE”. This debate is part of the Langara Dialogues series, held at the Vancouver Public Library's central branch.
To all our members in and near Vancouver, please come and show your support for the principles of the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee.
Arguing the AFFIRMATIVE:
Derrick O’Keefe, stopwar.ca, rabble.ca
Arguing the NEGATIVE:
Lauryn Oates, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan
WHERE: Alice Mackay Room, Lower Level, Vancouver
Public Library, Downtown (Homer & Robson)
WHEN: Wednesday, April 16, 2008
7:30 – 9:00 pm. Doors open at 7:15 pm.
Free admission; seating limited to the first 300.
The debate will be followed by questions from Langara College panelists and a
question and answer with the audience.
Lauryn was superb!
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Greetings all:
Lauryn was superb, despite the repeated
idiocies and unsubstantiated allegations of her antagonist. My favourite moment
was the sustained and heartfelt applause she received after describing her work and
substantial fundraising efforts with Women 4 Women in Afghanistan.
As expected, there was no "good" answer
to what would happen if the troops actually left. The claim that the Afghan
people should govern themselves fails to recognize the obvious fact that they
live in a violent, misogynist and tribalist culture that is only changing
because of international outrage and action.
I will acknowledge one point to the
"other" side. Yes, the taliban did a better job of eradicating the
narcotics trade than what is happening under the NATO mission. But remember,
taking control of people's livelihoods is always easier when you run an
authoritarian dictatorship. Most Canadians understand that we sometimes
have to endure a little bit of the bad in order to accomplish the greater good
- which is the intention of the UN-endorsed mission. The economic revival of
Afghanistan will only happen after the government is stabilized, and that's
still a fair ways off.
I truly hope that when the 2011 deadline arrives,
Canadian troops will be able to come home, while teams of development officers will be in place to help build new energy generation plants, schools and other necessary
infrastructure projects.
As a longtime peacenik, former secretary to my
local chapter of Ends the Arms Race and an 11th generation descendent of Quaker
pioneers, I believe the debate demonstrated that CASC is doing an excellent job
of staying focused on the human rights issues. I am not a great supporter of
war for the sake of war, and, I felt a true sense of pride and honour when my
point of view was compared to the 'premature anti-fascists' of WWII.
Thanks for the opportunity to meet so many intelligent,
like-minded people.
I'll see you at dinner next Wednesday.
Dan Hilborn
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