6 March 16, 2011 + Over the Edge A Collection of Poetry The Jackboots are Marching UNKNOWN CONTRIBUTOR The jackboots are still marching out from TV screens. They’re still stomping victims in video game scenes. The jackboots still crunch and crush through action-film glamourized dangers. Secret interrogators now slug, club, burn and maim in drug gangs’ suburban basement torture chambers. Up from the soil through well mown blades rise the ghost-like flames from nightmare and hell. Homeowners pay rapt attention to suspense killer thrillers. Pity turns to cruelty as closet sadists watch the innocent dying scream and yell. “Be strong, sit down, watch and take reality neat. Don’t be a wimp who flinches, looks away.” In a way storm troopers and the NKVD are still just down the street. The jackboots are marching, yet. Get Real! PAUL STRICKLAND CONTRIBUTOR Feeling abused? Get over it. We're moving on. Get back to work! Studying English is a sophisticated way of being lazy. History is bunk. You're too smart for your own good. Writing isn’t real work. Keep your nose to the grindstone of practical work that matters. Be obedient. Don’t be negative. You're lucky we keep you on in this job. The Baby Boomers thankfully are starting to die off. They never really grew up, and they’re a drain on the nation’s resources. And you!? You don’t want to get your hands dirty! You're not among the fittest. This world is for winners. Too bad about the losers. It’s high time we chlorinated the gene pool. Thoughts and Tears for Guatemala A reflection on our feelings of disconnect from the pain of others HEATHER RITCHIE CONTRIBUTOR | recently attended the 2010 Guatemala Field School presentation hosted by UNBC’s Geography Department trip to Guatemala on February 24. The atmosphere in the Canfor Theatre was warm and enriching. Spread across the tables were displays of woven blankets as well as CCDA coffee for sale, books, picture albums from the trip and information on current human rights actions. The local Prince George chapter of Amnesty International also prepared a board for further information on human rights protection and advocacy. Beyond the material element, the theatre was filled with both UNBC students and community members alike, producing a real sense of community and support for academic leadership beyond our countries borders. This was supposed to be just another evening event from which | would leave with new information and new perspectives but otherwise fundamentally unchanged. This was not the case. From the start to the finish everyone in the Canfor Theatre was carried away to a new reality, one in which we were taken out of our glass globe of democratic and Western indifference and injected directly into the reality that is Guatemala. That name may not encourage any feelings in your heart, but it should. Guatemala is placed in the heart of Central America, where human rights are not merely concepts, but violations that occur on a daily basis without justice. Each delegation member had the overwhelming task of presenting research and lived experiences of the reality of the situation in Guatemala. They completed this task admirably. While listening in the audience, Dr. Catherine Nolin and her students spoke of unspeakable violence and cruelty. They presented testimonies from Guatemalan people who were violently evicted and beaten; they showed pictures of homes that they had visited where the walls were greatly cracked from mining practices nearby. They even had the honour of speaking with a group of Guatemalan women from one of the evicted villages that shared with them their testimonies of rape and resulting child loss. The group also brought light to Canadian resource extraction companies’ own involvement with human rights violations as well as the Canadian government's indifference to these claims. The purpose of this article is not to reiterate what was discussed at the presentation but instead to relay a larger lesson that was learned. | have read and | have heard of human rights violations such as these that upset Guatemala presentation me; | know that they are wrong but | was never left so incensed with anger that | had to act. | know about violence against women and Indigenous peoples; | know about human rights abuses and prisoners of conscious and | know that they are wrong, yet | do nothing, but this presentation was different. | was overcome with anger and | did want to act. It was not specifically about these new human rights violations, but about all human rights violations that | have ever heard or been aware of. The fact is that | never truly felt their words until now. | left that night asking myself, why it took this long. Why is it that only now | truly feel words such as violence, eviction and rape? Why is there a connection missing between the reality of a word and what actually reaches our hearts? Often when we think of development we attach positive connotations of progress that is mutually beneficial for all. To the average person mining has a positive impact on the economy but when you hear of the negative impacts on people, you begin to question and think critically about practices abroad and their connection to you. So why should you care? What does any of this mean to you? Canadian resource extraction companies are directly related to the above mentioned human rights violations and as supporters of their resources and as shareholders through pension plans. We are also Sleep?! There'll be plenty of time for rest when you’re dead. Be Clean PAUL STRICKLAND CONTRIBUTOR In the dark spiritual vacuum, Aland of distraction and the mirage of love: Marie Winn’s plug-in drug of TV, The addiction to portable electronics the Mennonites fear. When you can’t work long, low-wage hours and forget: The drug of alcohol, The drug of shopping, The drugs marijuana, cocaine and crystal meth, The drug of infotainment news and sound-bite politics, The drug of loud, driving, repetitive music and The drug of unthinking religion. Anti-depressants pushed for every doubt or blue spell. Never know yourself. Never contemplate. That’s being self-absorbed. Be a flexible hard worker And then a tireless volunteer. responsible as Canadian citizens to use our voice and let our governments and our companies know that these violations cannot be accepted. Beyond Guatemala, human rights violations are no less significant or in urgent need of our attention, whether they can be connected back to Canada or not. Our words are strong, but we have to use them first. It is not enough to know that something is wrong; you must feel that it is wrong in your heart, otherwise it is just another sound or just another blotch of ink on paper. We must fight this disconnection we have with international issues. My name is Heather and | am going to write to my MP as well as other governments and tell them that | actively do not support these actions. On October 27, 2010 there was a vote in parliament on Bill C-300. This bill was an act that would hold corporate companies accountable for their activities in mining, oil or gas in developing countries. | emailed my local MP Dick Harris, asking him to vote in favour of this bill, and if he could not do that, then to not vote at all. His response was not encouraging but it showed me how important it is that we stand up against social injustice because no one else is going to do it for us. If this has sparked anything in = your heart, | encourage you to have a look at the Guatemala display on the first floor of Building 8 or go to www. amnesty.ca for more information where they have several urgent actions relating to Guatemala including a call for justice for Catalina Muct Maas, Alberto Coc Cal and Sebastian Xuc Coc and their communities. These three activists were university students and campaigners for land rights. They were active in HEATHER RICHIE promoting the rights of the Quebrada Seca community in Eastern Guatemala and had participated in negotiations on a land dispute in the area. The three had disappeared on February 12 and their bodies were found three days later. You can call for the justice of Catalina, Alberto and Sebastian, as well as others who are victimized for their strength and courage at amnesty.ca. These words are real, the events presented by the UNBC 2010 Field School are accurate, and these violations are being acted out right now.