Elizabeth May and Caroline Lucas; Two strong women leaders standing up for peace and reason.

Elizabeth May and Caroline Lucas; Two strong women leaders standing up for peace and reason.

Congratulations Elizabeth on an excellent speech and equally effective counter to the questions I heard asked of you after your speech.  It certainly makes me proud to be a Green Party member.  It was my belief that the Green Party had to be the voice of peace and ask the tough questions that need to be asked. 

EM – “There is no greater obligation or moral responsibility that falls on elected representatives in the course of any train of human events than the decision to send its fellow citizens into harm's way in a war zone; to risk their lives and the lives of others in pursuit of a cause in which it has been determined that only military action will suffice. In that sense, although the Green Party, not just in Canada but globally, subscribes as a fundamental principle to the pursuit of non-violence and peace, we acknowledge that there is such a thing as a just war.” 

In this regard I admire the honesty in stating the support for the ideals expressed in the R2P doctrine but rejecting the direction of mission in Libya.  It should also be noted that she does not distinguish soldiers from other persons who work in violent conflicts.  Diplomats, peace workers, human rights workers and others make the profound decision to place the cause of justice and peace ahead of their own safety.  Elizabeth has done this respectfully.  It is our role to question motives behind actions as much as the actions themselves and it most certainly is the job of every MP.  In particular the points that stand out in her speech are the isolation of China and Russia, giving them every reason to back away rather than making it harder for them to continue open support for Syria, Sudan and other places and the second point, that mass rapes cannot be used as sleight of hand arguments to justify an action.  It was a failed attempt by MP Bob Dechert to make the GPC appear indifferent to the plight of women.  Elizabeth countered by pointing out that the Canadian government rejected a U.N. request to have peacekeepers participate in the DRC where mass rapes have been used in a much larger, well organized act of terror on women in Africa.  Our global support of women’s rights and justice is just that; a global struggle. 

This is where Elizabeth shows her true strengths; presenting a larger picture to the issue at hand rather than the tactic of scoring points through tunnel vision.  Global violence must be presented in its true form and not through the misguided, or worse, corrupted national myths and hidden geo-political motives.  The R2P doctrine, if it is to be truly adhered to through its expressed ideals, needs to be continuously questioned to ensure that it is restricted to the purpose intended.   This is where the NDP have come up pathetically short after decades of expressing support for the peace movement and where the liberals have failed in presenting R2P which of course came from global thinkers within their own party. 

Elizabeth is not alone.   Caroline Lucas was one of only 13 dissenting voters opposed to the British mission in Libya.   An overwhelming majority of the British Commons voted in favour of the military action in Libya by 557 to 13 votes. I have pointed out before the excellent leadership of Ms. Lucas and the UK Greens on global conflict and she has done the same again with the mission in Libya.  Her concerns mirror those expressed by Elizabeth.       

http://www.carolinelucas.com/cl/media/statement-on-libya-22nd-march-2011.html

Ms. Lucas - “My concern, though, is that Resolution 1973 is dangerously open ended - and is unlikely to deliver the peace and freedom that the Libyan opposition are fighting for. Western nations are already interpreting it to justify an all-out assault on the Libyan armed forces. This disproportionate response risks undermining the fragile Arab support for intervention and could make a ceasefire less, not more, likely. We would all like to see the back of Gadaffi, but Western-imposed regime change is not the way to achieve it.”

The Green Party of Canada has taken a clear stance against the global arms trade and Caroline Lucas has shown that she possesses the same ability as Elizabeth to widen the awareness of the dynamics behind the conflict.  Here she draws a connection between the global arms trade in which Britain participates and the origins of where Gaddafi’s regime obtained the very weapons it now uses against the rebels and the same weapons we have expressed the absolute need to stop. 

http://www.carolinelucas.com/cl/media/stop-arms-sales-to-repressive-regimes-says-pavilion-mp.html

Ms. Lucas - “Over 1000 Libyan citizens have been killed since Gaddafi launched his violent crackdown on protesters. The report seems to confirm fears that the weapons used by Gaddafi's regime were bought from the UK." 

Ms. Lucas - "This damning report lays bare the moral failure at the heart of UK's foreign policy in North Africa and the Middle East….If we are truly committed to upholding human rights in the region, then we must urgently review our role in the international arms trade - and stop selling arms to repressive regimes.”

For anyone who has not read the speech or watched Elizabeth deliver it in the House, here are the links.

http://greenparty.ca/taxonomy/term/395

http://greenparty.ca/elizabeth-house/2011-06-14/speech-canadas-participation-libyan-conflict