Seven Oaks Magazine.

Last year, Vancouver's anti-war rally marking one year of the war in Iraq was addressed by none other than Noam Chomsky. This year, Canada and the world are again set to mark the anniversary of the illegal U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

In Vancouver, the march will gather at 11:30a.m. at Seaforth Peace Flame Park on Saturday, March 19. Seven Oaks' own Charles Demers, who had the honour of introducing Dr. Chomsky last year, makes the case that this year it's still as important as ever to take to the streets to oppose war and empire.

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I think that if you were to ask any of my sundry colleagues or associates to describe me in any one word other than “handsome,” they’re almost guaranteed to call me “humble.” But even a shrinking violet such as myself was unable to resist the allure of the low-frequency celebrity bestowed upon me as a result of the wild privilege I enjoyed a year ago this weekend in getting the chance to introduce famed commielinguist Noam Chomsky to more than twenty-thousand Vancouver anti-war protestors oozing an effusive vibe not unlike that captured by Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now: “He’s a poet-warrior, man!” For months after the event, I was semi-regularly recognized by passers-by and fellow bus-riders, like the guy who exclaimed excitedly on the 99 B-Line: “I know you – Noam Chomsky Day, right?”

I knew that the fact of my emceeing the rally had been immortalized when I caught the stand-up act of local left-wing comic Kliff Nesterhoff (once known by the alias “Shecky Grey”) and he, without knowing me, or that I was in the audience, lambasted the “Squeegee Anarchist-type” who had inappropriately introduced the soft-spoken and dignified Professor Chomsky with an hysterical screech befitting 80s hair-rockers Whitesnake. I was thrilled to find out that participation in – or knowledge of – Vancouver’s enormous outpouring against the Bush administration’s criminal war and occupation was a common enough bond to be referenced observationally by one of the city’s funniest comedians. It confirmed what I had felt up on stage at the rally hearing, in unison, the chants expressing the rage that bound our city in solidarity to what was then consensus in the rational (i.e. non-North American) world.

These days, it’s a little harder to manufacture consent for the activities of the anti-war movement. Images of former Ba’athist Iyad Allawi doing his best impression of Thomas Paine, and media portraits of Iraqi patriots building a Washingtonian revolutionary democracy obscure the only existing historical analogy to the founding of the first democratic republic: the presence of a mad king named George clutching lustily to Empire. The neo-Con triumphalism has been as obnoxious as omnipresent, while – in the words of the website BetOnIraq.com – “A sea of purple Iraqi fingers has pointed toward liberty and prosperity.”

The discussion has turned contemptuous, patronizing; rightist pundits – some willing, even, to acknowledge our good, if misguided, intentions – implore those of us who oppose this so-called “War on Terror” to admit that the Bush Doctrine, whatever it is, has succeeded in extending democracy to the tyrannous crannies of the earth. Just look at all the footage that CNN is running of brown-skinned people dancing in the streets with various flags! It’s like the Ukraine writ with olive oil!

The camera loves the Shia Arabs of Iraq (except the ones who dig on Muqtada al-Sadr) and their new-found enthusiasm for the democratic process. Less optics-friendly are the Shia Arabs of Lebanon who – shunning the orgiastic display of democra-mania by their Sunni and Maronite and Druze compatriots – have seen fit to stand behind a continuing Syrian presence in their country. Pshaw! Never mind the nuances and complexities of the Lebanese experience in the twentieth century, or the understandable trepidation with which some of that country’s residents might approach the prospect of yet another deadly power vacuum brought into existence by foreign interests; George W. Bush – the guy who planted his flag in Iraq and called Ariel Sharon a man of peace – has found an occupation in the Middle East and partner, he cain’t abide that.

But that’s the great thing about Democracy; it means so many different things to so many people. To Afghan warlords, for instance, it means the hyper-acceleration of drug trafficking under a puppet government and the continued, now-muted oppression of women. In Haiti, it means producing Gilden Active Wear (in the Canadian company’s sweatshops) between U.S.-sponsored coups against democratically elected leaders. In Palestine, democracy means [We regret to inform you that the end of this sentence was detained at an Israeli checkpoint]

The question now is what democracy – real democracy; self-determination and safety from hostile foreign powers; safety from privatization of resources at the barrel of a gun – means to us in Vancouver and around the world, and if that conception of democracy still includes, as it did last year, the right to freedom from Empire.

This Saturday we’ll be gathering at 11:30 am at Peace Flame Park, marching again to voice our opposition to a war that is still going on. Around the world, intellectuals and activists have been outlining the fact that occupation and imperialism are war, and foremost among them has been Walden Bello of the Philippines, an activist involved in international initiatives such as the World Social Forum who will be addressing the Vancouver rally this Saturday. Also speaking will be Dahr Jamail, an “unembedded journalist” (from what I can tell, that means he’s not in bed with the U.S. military) who has covered the situation in Iraq extensively.

For all the details on the Vancouver events, and the more than 35 rallies planned across Canada and Quebec, check out the Canadian Peace Alliance website.

Charles Demers is an anti-war activist, writer, and founding editor of Seven Oaks.