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November 06, 2005
Zinn and Strada Present an Unwavering Message for Peace: “Silent Casualties: Civilian Victims of War”
Amid murmurs and flinches from the audience, the slide showing a hidden landmine, without warning switched to a picture of a bloody remnant of the leg that the landmine had blown away. Dr. Gino Strada’s presentation of “Silent Casualties: Civilian Victims of War” was direct, somber and uncensored as he gave one simple message: “There is no more justification for war, no ethical justification, no political justification, no historical justification.”
Strada, a war surgeon and author of Green Parrots: A War Surgeon’s Diary, along with renowned US historian Howard Zinn, spoke at the event sponsored by Fletcher’s Human Rights Project, November 4, 2005. Strada founded EMERGENCY in 1994, an organization that provides high-standard, free-of-charge medical and surgical assistance to victims of conflict. Strada’s motivation stemmed from his early experiences working as a war surgeon when he was not only taken aback by the slum-like conditions of the hospitals but also by fact that war-wounded sections of the hospitals resembled pediatric wards.
Strada told the audience that compared to World War II (WWII), when 15 percent of the casualties were civilian, 90 percent of casualties in contemporary conflicts are civilian. Strada mentioned high velocity bullets and landmines as the major causes of these casualties.
“Land mines do not care if a peace treaty is signed. They will continue to kill indiscriminately,” Strata said.
EMERGENCY has facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Angola and Sudan. The organization provides rehabilitation and vocational training for patients.
His message, much like his dealings with patients in conflict zones, is apolitical. The more political aspect of the message came from the main speaker of the evening, Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present.
Zinn, who was a bombardier in WWII and later an activist against the Vietnam War, took the audience through his personal journey that had long ago led him to Strada’s conclusion about war.
“It [abolition of war] has to be put on the agenda of the human race. However long it takes, it has to be put on the agenda,” Zinn said.
Zinn said that despite his views on war, he enlisted for WWII because after reading about fascism and Hitler he believed that this was a good war.
“There are bad guys out there and we are the good guys. Once you make this decision you don’t question anything,” Zinn said.
But Zinn recalled how as bombardier you don’t hear the people screaming below or see the blood, and you don’t stop to ask the question of whether the civilians killed by the bomb were good guys or bad guys.
“Years now I have been doing a lot of talking. No subject is more difficult than the ‘just war.’ I refuse to stay silent in the face of general acceptance of WWII, which was a good war. If you can question the best of the wars, then what can you say about the rest of the wars? Let’s not allow the glow of WWII to be passed over to the other wars,” Zinn said.
Zinn asserted that the interests of ordinary citizens and the leaders of the country may not coincide and emphasized that having the historical knowledge will allow citizens to question the decisions of leaders. According to Zinn, even when there may be a noble motive, because of what it does to human beings, war cannot be justified.
“War is a war against civilians. You go to war against a tyrant; you are going to kill the victims of the tyrant,” Zinn said.
In responding to a question about use of force in humanitarian intervention, Zinn said there are instances when small, limited, focused use of force will save lives, but he didn’t want to see these efforts turn into what he defines as war-indiscriminate use of massive force.
Zinn ended with posing to everyone the human challenge of resolving problems without war, stating that all great social movements come about as a result of massive numbers of people making small contributions, all converging at one point.
Article by Aisha Husain, MALD '07
Posted by jessica at November 6, 2005 09:53 AM
