Lest we forget

”Lest we forget.” Rudyard Kipling wrote these words in 1897. Today, 126 years later, I feel like we've forgotten.

I do not remember the First World War, when "lest we forget" first began to be associated with what was then known as Armistice Day. I do not remember the Second World War, when my grandfather left his family in Canada and fought in Italy and Holland. I don't remember Vietnam or Korea.

My memories of war are the Persian Gulf, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, Israel, Palestine. Conflicts that I've seen on TV, the news, movies, and social media, while I am safe here in Canada.

My experience of war is distant. But the lessons of "lest we forget" are close.

I saw my grandfather stand at Remembrance Day services every Nov. 11 with medals pinned to his chest. I wore a poppy, read In Flanders Fields, learned about the Holocaust and listened to The Last Post.

The lesson was always never again. These terrible things must never happen again. We must learn, so that we remember, so that we do not repeat.

I learned the lessons of lest we forget, and then I have watched conflict after conflict, genocide after genocide happen again and again. We have forgotten.

I’m not certain Kipling’s is an appropriate quote to criticise genocide enterprises part of Old World Colonialism ☹

Kipling wrote ’Recessional’ on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Although Kipling is often viewed as a flag-waver for imperialism, his views were more complex than such a view suggests, and this political poem goes against the celebratory mood of the Jubilee, reminding readers that the British Empire is trivial and transient in the face of the permanence of God.

The “pomp” that once accompanied Britain’s military strength has faded, as did that of the cities “Nineveh and Tyre.” This is a reference to two cities, the first in ancient Mesopotamia and the other in ancient Lebanon, which were defeated after lowering their defenses.

Antony Loewenstein - Gaza Massacre and Silence by Government

Interview with investigative journalist, author and film-maker Antony Loewenstein on Israel's far-right turn and decades of dehumanising Palestinians.

The interview was recorded live on 18 March, 2024 with CNN.

In historical context ...

Eli Lake Calls for 'Regime Change' in Gaza, 'Strategic Communications War' Against Hamas | Tikun Olam - 13 June 2010 |

The NY Times features excerpted conversations with political bloggers on various topics via an agreement with BloggingheadsTV.  Very infrequently, they will host a discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  My friend, Helena Cobban has been a guest I know.

Today, the Times features a rather shocking "debate" (more like mutual admiration society) between Heather Hurlburt of the National Security Network and Eli Lake of the Washington Times titled (I kid you not), A Smarter War on Hamas. Pardon me, but isn't the lesson Israel and the U.S. have learned over the past four years is that there is no such thing as a "smart war" or any type of war that will topple Hamas?  Neither overt war nor collective siege have done it. So here you have a self-professed Irish-American and Jewish neocon (not a Palestinian or even Arab to be seen among the bunch-Edward Said where are you when we need you?) debating the best way to foment regime change against Hamas.

This dialogue is a perfect reflection of the impoverishment of debate about these issues in the American media and within the Beltway think-tank world where these people operate  And their views are amply reflected within the administration, which explains why Obama is still spinning his wheels in terms of making any impact related to Gaza or U.S. policy there. Hurlburt and Lake are engaged in a dialogue of the deaf. Lake especially is a prisoner of his own deeply help prejudices and distorted notions of what U.S. policy should be.