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Letters to Stephen Funk Dear Stephen, After learning about your courageous act of resistance in refusing to take part in this fraudulent and unjust war in Iraq, I felt compelled to write to you to thank you, and let you know what a truly heroic and inspirational thing you have done. As an active member of the international Global Women's Strike, which dares to request that the military budget be used to " Invest in Caring Not Killing", I have taken part in anti-war rallies, before and during the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, and will continue to work towards a peaceful and caring world and against the killing priorities of current U.S. policy. I applaud your bravery and implore you to view your incarceration as a badge of courage. Wear it proudly, in the tradition of those brave and famous peacemakers who proceeded you: Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. To follow one's conscience and maintain one's integrity, as you have done in spite of the consequences to your freedom, is exemplarity and a model to us all. Stay strong; and take heart that support for this war is waning, as the deceptions that were put forward as justification for it are revealed to be mere smokescreens for imperial aims. The public and war weary soldiers are beginning to question the motives that have led us into this quagmire occupation of Iraq. Your act may help others to see the truth and find their courage also. Thank you for reminding us of our power to resist. Sincerely, Pamela J. Hall,Los Angeles, US |
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Dear Stephen, I clearly remember the day I learned about the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th. I was in a French class, in college and it was my teacher who announced to all the class that two planes had crashed in the WTC. My immediate reaction was to laugh, knowing for how long the United States had slaughtered innocent civilians, bombed pharmaceutical factories and warehouses, sold weapons to terrorist organizations and governments and I had waited for a moment like this since a couple of years already. It had to happen at one time, you cannot always be the winner! It’s only after I saw the attacks on TV that I realised how frightful it was and all of a sudden I realised that I could be called to join the army if it ever turned out to become the Third World War. The Canadian government forced everybody who could hold a weapon to join the army in the First and Second World War and, at that time, it would not have been surprising if they did the same for the war to come. I started thinking about what I would do if I had to face this and my answer was clear: I would flee in the woods where the police would not try to find me. What could have been the Third World War became a hidden war against ‘terror’ but with the same consequences: people leaving their homes, being forced to kill other human beings for a government that lies to them continuously. Unfortunately the ones who decide to listen to their heart instead of listening to their generals are being pushed aside, are being brought to court, are being sentenced six months in jail or even more… We live in sad times where the freedom of speech is being respected far less often and where George W. Bush says the USA are a land of freedom in every speech. Where can we see that freedom? Can we see it in the medias? Can we see it in our schools? Can we see it in our streets? There is still one place where we can see it and it’s on your lips. You speak loudly what you think, regardless of the consequences because you still believe in that liberty that was given to you in your constitution. You speak loudly to remind the whole world that you should not be forced to pull the trigger, that the woman, the child, the man in front of you is no longer a dummy, that he is not your enemy and that he lives just like you… Your fight against the American justice system is not only a fight for freedom; it’s also an international fight to stop all of the war machines in this world, a fight to let people decide if they should kill other human beings or not. Stephen I support you in all your future actions, may you find peace and liberty in the darkest places. I’m leaving you on a translation of a song from a French Canadian band that I like a lot:Sylvain |
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The Prancing Cowboys Title: The Holy Peace The world is up side-down The politicians are going wild Chaos is everywhere It’s all we hear on the news It’s so sad to notice There’s been no evolution Always ready to kill each other Like cavemen But here in Quebec There has been no war for centuries We don’t like being killed It’s not that complicated Maybe we have many flaw But we’re not madmen We don’t like tanks Neither do we like boot sounds Come on resist my friends To the stupidity of the military In our Asterix village In the north of America Through the years We’ve always been stuck In military conflicts That never concerned us Back in the days it’s our grand-fathers That went through the conscription And that crossed the sea To die uselessly But I’m telling you that today They won’t make me a murderer Just to be said patriotic I’d rather become a deserter I’ll never hold a machine-gun And I’ll never do ‘push-ups’ in the mud In the basements of a barrack Of the Canadian Armed Forces Come on resist my friends To the stupidity of the military In our Asterix village In the north of America I come from a calm country That never saw any missiles Here when we used to fight It was with muskets If they want to play G.I.Joe With living beings Well I’ll let the idiots do so And I raise my white flag I don’t care about the armada And the madness of the the politicians The holy war is for stupid What I want is to be peaceful Come on resist my friends To the stupidity of the military By signing ‘a dove’ Far from the sound of bombs And in the north of America In our Asterix village It’ll be written in French: ‘Just leave us alone’ |
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Les Cowboys Fringants Titre : La sainte paix Le monde est sens dessus-dessous Les chefs d’état s’énervent le poil La marde est pognée partout Ca parle rien qu’de ça aux nouvelles C’est donc triste de constater Que y’a pas eu d’évolution Qu’on soit prêts à s’entretuer Comme des hommes de cro-magnons Mais chez nous au Québec Y’a pas de guerre depuis des siècles On aime pas ça se faire tuer M’essemble que c’est pas compliqué On a peut-être bien des défauts Mais on n’est pas des « crack-potes » On n’aime pas les chars d’assault Pas plus que le bruit des bottes Allons résistons mes frères À la connerie des militaires Dans notre village d’Astérix Au nord de l’Amérique À travers les années On a toujours été pogner Dans des conflits militaires Qui ne nous concernaient guère À l’époque c’est nos grands-pères Qui ont subit la conscription Et qui ont traversé la mer Pour servir de chair à canon Mais moi j’te dis qu’aujourd’hui Ils ne feront pas de moi un tueur Pour le compte d’une patrie J’aime mieux devenir déserteur J’tiendrai jamais une mitraillette Pis je ferai jamais de « push-ups » dans bouette Dans le fond d’une caserne Des forces armées canadiennes Allons résistons mes frères À la connerie des militaires Dans notre village d’Astérix Au nord de l’Amérique J’viens d’un pays tranquille Qui n’a jamais vu de missiles Ici du temps qu’on se battait C’était à coup de mousquet S’ils veulent jouer au G.I.Joe Avec des bonhommes vivants Bin moi j’laisse faire les idiots Et puis je sors mon drapeau blanc Rien à foutre de l’armada Et de la folie des chefs d’états La guerre sainte s’pour les épais Moi c’que je veux c’est la sainte paix Allons résistons mes frères À la connerie des militaires En chantant « une colombe » Loin du sifflement des bombes Et au nord de l’Amérique Dans notre village d’Astérix Ça sera marqué en français : « Icitte sacrez nous donc la paix » |
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Dear Stephen, I read about your case in an email which came into the office where I work, the International Secretariat of Amnesty International. Part of my job is to sort thru the central incoming email box and forward messages to the various teams in the building, AI sections abroad, etc. I immediately sent off a letter to the USMC authorities protesting at your treatment. As a pacifist and a gay man, I fully identify with your position, although at 58 I am long past the age when I would be eligible for military service. I missed the draft here by a few years – it was abolished in UK before I reached 16. Had I been drafted I would have been a conscientious objector because I don’t believe war ever solves anything, just creates different problems. The Iraq War was totally unjustified – everyone knew there were no WMD – U.S. satellite and spy plane photos could have pinpointed where any were located, or followed them if they were moved to a different site. This is why Colin Powell’s photos of supposed WMD being loaded on to trucks before the War was so totally unconvincing – if they could photograph them been loaded up, why couldn’t they photograph where the trucks went to and where they were unloaded? Do they think we are all stupid or something? Anway, I greatly admire your courage, and think you should be awarded a medal. I only wish more U.S. and British soldiers had refused to fight in this illegal war. According to the Nuremburg judgments, you had a duty to refuse to obey military orders in this illegal operation. One day history will recognize this fact and you’ll be regarded universally as a hero. Your description of the training procedures is quite horrific. I can imagine how you as a sensitive gay man must have felt with some masochistic heterosexual idiot yelling: ‘Kill Kill Kill!’ Of course my theory is that guys like this who love killing are really repressed homosexuals, who get a perverse sexual thrill out of violence. Although I’m against violence and killing, it would serve these monsters right if some of the military trainees took a tip from Lenin and turned their guns on their own officers who are ordering them to kill other boys. Wars will only cease when guys like you refuse to fight. It is obscene that old men send young ones to fight each other to the death, and older generations teach young ones to kill instead of to love and respect each other. Homosexuality is still a crime in many societies, but killing others is still regarded as heroic, even serving God. What a load of old hypocritical crap! If you want to write to me, I’d be pleased to correspond with you. A little about myself – I was in a gay relationship for 21 years, but sadly he died of an AIDS related illness 12 years ago this month. I tested HIV negative two years after he died, but have since somehow become positive despite practising safer sex. I am doing well on combination therapy. I work for Amnesty International part time, and have been in the peace movement for over 40 years now. I once worked full-time for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and am still a member. I am a Socialist, and I have visited USA many times. I follow the musical heritage of your Southern States – 1950s type rock’n’roll, rockabilly, traditional Country Music, Blues, etc. Visited the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival twice in the 1990s. My favorite singer is Jerry Lee Lewis, last of the famous Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis) who is still going strong at 68 this month, and has just recorded a new CD. My friend, Keith Woods, edits a roots music magazine, Tales From The Woods, which had an editorial against the Iraq War. He also published last month your appeal, and details of your case. Would be glad to hear from you. I can understand you were confused when you joined up. Also, not to put too fine a point on it, that USMC uniform is bloody attractive to gay men. That is one of the contradictions I live with all the time – I find military uniforms and the thought of taking orders from someone in authority very sexually stimulating, yet intellectually I rebel against anything like that. Suffice to say that military uniforms and the like are best kept to S&M role play and fantasy situations. However, I am not an anarchist, and have a Web Site where I publish my often very controversial ideas. Let me know if you want the address of this site. I believe there should be an international security force under the UN instead of national armies. The security force would need to be armed, but not with indiscriminatory weapons. It would be more like an international police force, bringing apprehended dictators and war criminals before the International Criminal Court. I am accused of being an idealist, a thing I would readily admit to. I am basically a very deep thinker – I can point out possible solutions to world problems, but I can’t make people take my advice. In my view there’ll never be world peace whilst every nation clings on to national sovereignty. This is why I am in favor of a United States of Europe and some sort of world federation under the UN. As I say, all idealist stuff, but that’s what I believe in as an internationalist. Would be nice to hear from you. There are lots of people outside who fully support you. Love and peace, Tony Papard |
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Dear
Friend in Solidarity: It must have
come as a terrible shock to the ordinary people of Argentina in Latin
America when with the seemingly full consent of the President of
Argentina (as reported in the Latin American press), the United States
put together plans for vast military exercises code named Aguila-III in
the provinces of Mendoza and San Luis; this is part of a lunatic plan to
totally militarise Latin America itself.
It is not surprising to say here, that the people in Latin
America are absolutely furious about this including what is happening in
Colombia. Yours
in solidarity, |
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