You can chalk this one up in the “Bad Ideas That Keep Coming Back” department:

A B.C. peace activist is making another pitch for a controversial statue commemorating American war resisters who fled to Canada during the Vietnam war.

Isaac Romano first raised the idea in 2004, as part of plans for a reunion of war resisters and anti-war activists being held in Nelson and Castlegar this summer.

However, the idea was shelved in the face of strong resistance from U.S. veterans’ groups.

Most of the criticism was aimed at the large statue that Romano proposed to commemorate Vietnam war resisters who came north, and the Canadians who took them in.

Romano says it wouldn’t have to be placed in Nelson. “We’re taking proposals from organizations throughout Canada and the U.S., to determine the final home of the nine-foot-tall bronze sculpture The Welcoming.”

The sculpture features one man welcoming another man and woman across a border.

It has to be admitted that the photo of the statue that accompanies the CBC story is pretty heinous, so I’ve reproduced a better-looking version from the original website.

That website, by the way, advertises an event that invokes a melancholic nostalgia. It also mentions a somewhat ironic reason for being:

This event will mark the courageous legacy and honour the contribution made to Canadian life by the US war resisters who came to Canada during the Vietnam War. The Our Way Home Reunion will also honour the courage of those resisting current US militarism by seeking safe haven in Canada now, during the US war in Iraq. The Our Way Home Reunion will honour the thousands of Canadians who helped them resettle in this country, both then and now.

Yes, I’ve bolded the ironic part. I don’t see anything particularly courageous about emigrating to Canada to protest the Iraq war, nor have I heard of any mass movement in immigration because of it.

The Vietnam draft-dodger movement could be said to be courageous only because the U.S. had conscription during that period, and there’s a certain amount of courage involved in facing social ostracism and changing to a new life. But is it enough to justify setting up a permanent memorial in the form of a statue? Compared with the sacrifices that soldiers have made in actually fighting wars, I don’t think so.

Further, you only have to look at the guest list for this event to realize the true reason for this “reunion.” George McGovern. Buffy Sainte-Marie. Tom Hayden. Figures who all had their heyday during the 1960′s.

What this event is, then, is the last gasp of the Boomer Activists. A reminder of the time when the Boomers were young, when they believed they could change the world to their ends by protest and demonstrations, a time when they could, in the words of that commercial, “stick it to the Man.”

And now, of course, they look at the dignity and respect the public has given to our veterans — the “greatest generation” who sacrificed in war. And somehow, this memorial idea seems to show a desire for a piece of that action, a point that the anti-war movement has as much right to historical commemmoration as the wars of our soldiers, sailors and airmen.

Sorry, but I don’t buy that reasoning.

The draft dodgers only put lifestyle on the line, not their actual lives. Perhaps they did enrich Canada for the better, but if so let’s commemorate them for what they’ve done up here — the cheap courage needed for running away isn’t really worth a statue.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2006 at 10:45 and is filed under Odds & Ends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.