For me, Remembrance Day isn’t just about remembering soldiers’ sacrifices, but also about furthering peace and preventing armed conflict.
I met some veterans at Gilmore Gardens Monday and their wartime stories were striking. I asked about their thoughts on world affairs and the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency. No one seemed optimistic.
Take 92-year-old veteran Stan Primiani:
“People are mad. They’re fed up by not getting the things that were so easy to get. Look at England, where they said enough (Brexit) of these Brussels people telling me I should eat a certain banana or…”
He’s right. There’s a real anger in the West and many people feel they're losing control of their country.
Middle-class wages are stagnant, well-paying jobs are being lost, wealth is accumulating in the hands of a few, money laundering is rampant, global conflicts are simmering, and the environment is worsening.
These complaints are coming from all over, even here in Richmond, where there is anger boiling over the global marketing of our real estate and farmland (an almost Bizarro scenario, whereby wealthy investor-class immigrants are the target of anger).
Meanwhile, many argue trade deals have provided negative returns for local workers and austerity measures have impacted education and health. People are feeling abused.
And so, in the U.S., along comes Trump — characterized by Primiani as “honest” and relatable to men — who has come crashing down on free trade and the current incarnation of globalization, however justified.
Six years ago, American philosopher Noam Chomsky warned of an “honest and charismatic” figure arising in the current social and economic climate:
“If somebody comes along who is charismatic and honest, this country is in real trouble because of the frustration, disillusionment, the justified anger and the absence of any coherent response. What are people supposed to think if someone says, ‘I have got an answer, we have an enemy?’ There [Germany] it was the Jews. Here, it will be the illegal immigrants and the blacks. We will be told that white males are a persecuted minority. We will be told we have to defend ourselves and the honor of the nation. Military force will be exalted,” said Chomsky.
I’m to guess a “coherent response” means well-paying jobs, taking money out of politics (the “elites”), affordable housing and healthcare, environmental protections and so forth. Clearly, Hillary Clinton was not so coherent.
America has chosen its scapegoats. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has chosen to take Canada on a “post-national” trajectory.
But I wonder if, in the absence of a real and meaningful coherent response, we will create our own scapegoats.
Lest we forget.
Graeme Wood is a reporter for the Richmond News
