These are the men and women the establishment fear more than any other.
Military veterans who live to tell the other side of the war coin are speaking out in droves, and the state fears that if they are given a big enough platform, they will be able to sway public opinion and susceptibility to state-run war propaganda away from the cold party line, and over towards the humanist position. Unless the state can keep military whistleblowers quiet, then politicians will not be able to sell the next war, or pull the patriotism card.
Formalising its gagging order policies with regards to veterans is important, because it’s the state’s way of not only neutralising dissenting veterans, but also dehumanising them by stripping away their right to free speech and expression.
Below details the stories of many such individuals including American combat veterans who served in Afghanistan, Jules Tindungan and Chris Vassey, who because of their views on war, have been forced on the run applying for asylum… in Canada.
The state moving to silence veterans is nothing new, and takes many forms on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain, one recent, and highly extreme example of the state forcibly gagging military veterans in order to avoid embarrassment over the UK government using its own soldiers as unknowing guinea pigs for nuclear testing in the South Pacific. In 2010 the Daily Mail reported:
“More than 1,000 former servicemen and their families are fighting to win £20million compensation from the Ministry of Defence after being made ‘guinea pigs’ for postwar nuclear tests in the South Pacific and Australia.
They took legal action after suffering medical problems, including cancer, skin defects, infertility and genetic disorders passed on to their children, which they blame on exposure to radiation. On average, three survivors are dying each week.”
One British soldier who has spoken out on behalf of other veterans and in the public interest is former British SAS special operations veteran, Ben Griffin, who gave a rousing opening statement earlier this year on the horrors and hypocrisy of 21st century wars at the Oxford Debate Union.
Vice Magazine does an excellent report on this ‘war on whistleblowing’ trend…
Published with permission
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