The 11th of November marks the end of hostilities during the First World War and an opportunity to recall all those who have served in Canada’s defence. Remembrance Day reminds us of war and military sacrifice, allows us to honor the fallen, but also reminds us of the horror of war and urges us to embrace peace.
I have observed this glorious day for four years in a row, wearing the red or white poppy as I stood solemnly for those who served and defended our right to live. So many families of Native Canadians, born Canadians and new Canadians have known war and have held its traumas within their bodies and minds.
Today I write again because a genocide has been going on for more than a month in Gaza, targeting infants, children, mothers, fathers, journalists, healthcare workers, hospitals, schools, bakeries, UN buildings and ambulances and breaching every single international law there is while countries like the US, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and the UK are still debating wether it is okey or not to ask for an immediate ceasefire.
Yesterday and today I wore the poppy but I have been advocating for anti-war movements since I was a child. I experienced the horrors of war when I was less than 5 years old. I remember those nights where we had to hide underground in shelters, away from my mother, to avoid the risk of rockets falling on us. I remember Qana’s massacre when I was 10 years old which left me with lifetime visuals of children lying dead in their parents arms and then I wrote my first speech that I shared with the UN assembly in my imagination. This shouldn’t be in a child’s imagination and I am sure we all agree to that. Today’s genocide is reviving these horrors within me and I wonder what world will my child inherit and in what society will she be living in the future?
We are not a religious family but we live by human values and we respect nature’s laws. My child is a born Canadian and I want to tell her the story of a country that stands for human rights, that is able to protect the children, all of them because they all matter. But today I stand in despair looking at the world’s leaders, choosing political agendas over human life, choosing to support the weapon industry over human rights, choosing dominion over the trade routes in the Middle East and Africa over international law.
The people have spoken in thousands if not millions around the world and yet money speaks louder than all of us united. One president or one prime minister, have way more power when it comes to deciding of the people’s fate that the totality of the population and this is terrifying. This could be the end of democracy or maybe democracy had died years ago and we were oblivious to the fact that we were supporting a ghost and living through the biggest illusion in the history of humankind.
As a Canadian, As a Lebanese, as a mother, as a human, I call for an immediate ceasefire and I ask you to do the same, today.
A story of thoughts 