Armed Conflict?

Could an internal armed conflict ever happen here?

It’s a terribly pessimistic and rather dark question to ask. And I’ve recently noticed that those who want others to believe that they have a sound and stable mind tend to avoid asking and pondering these sorts of questions out loud. To clarify when I say “here” I am referring to anywhere in the world where the situation seams unlikely that an armed conflict might arise. If you have read and or studied the many genocides/internal conflicts/civil wars that have happened in the last 30 years alone one can see how quickly a polarized political landscape, or a group of radical opportunists born with remarkable oratory skills can seize the moment and turn a country into a full-blown battlefield chalk full of foreign weapons and crimes against humanity. And as these dictators, chancellors, “freedom fighters”, or even sometimes-elected officials send out there death squads and tanks to roll over their opponents the international community usually mobilizes to send economic sanctions and sometimes foreign aid, for the most part intervention is off the table. All the while the countries next door or across the pond try and keep themselves occupied with other things to clear there conscience, it usually takes a full blown genocide or oil riches to get anyone from the international community involved. This leads me into my first point that when one examines the many internal conflicts that have happened in the last 30 years it is clear how disinterested the international community is in intervening. That latter point is much truer if there is zero to little economic benefit in intervening.

Furthermore one can see the countless examples of modern internal conflicts, in the first world and third world, citizens from the same country have shed each other’s blood many times. Firstly in Northern Ireland the Irish Republic Army, tired of English rule shot at and killed many of their countrymen as well as British forces. In Spain Basque separatists more specifically the ETA  have killed 820 people, most of them police officers.  In Rwanda Hutu extremists savagely and mercilessly chopped Tutsi’s apart with machetes in the streets. During the bloody Bosnian war Bosnia Serbian extremists convinced United Nations peacekeepers to release Bosnian Muslims into their custody. Shortly after the Serbians drove out of the sight of the United Nations peacekeepers the Bosnian Muslims where then separated into two groups.  One group was adult men and in the other was women and children, the latter group survived. The men however where then promptly murdered and buried in mass graves. The death toll is said to have been around 7 500 bodies. And interestingly enough the people the IRA, the ETA, the Hutu’s, the Bosnian Serbian’s where killing also happened to be there neighbours and people who they had previously co-existed with. All those police gunned down by the IRA and ETA and all those murdered and raped by the Hutu and Serbian extremists could have never imagined how horrible of a situation they would have ended up in. And I can only imagine the majority of those who where committing mass atrocities could have ever imagined themselves behind the trigger or blood soaked machete. And I suppose that’s my point, political situations and entire countries can get so polarized so quickly that before we know it everyone’s pointing gun’s at each other. Or in some cases one sides pointing guns and the other’s getting senselessly massacred. And as they get massacred the west promptly organizes it journalists to be sent over so we can plaster pictures of atrocities on our magazines and websites. When brushing over the most famous internal conflicts of the last 5 decades it is clear how many internal conflicts have erupted across our world.

In Canada, my dear sweet Canada there has thankfully never been anything close to what happened in Rwanda or Serbia. However there are still a few events in my nation’s modern history that are relevant to my topic. During the October crisis people in Quebec rioted in the streets and the FLQ, a group of French extremist separatists who were responsible for over 90 bombings, took diplomats hostage; the situation had gotten so extreme that the military had to come in to try and curb the situation. A few decades later again in my dear sweet Canada a Mohawk community becomes appalled that their sacred burial ground was about to be turned into an extension of a golf course. The Mohawk exhausting their legal options decide to blockade the local land off as well as the highways and bridges that lead into community. Many of them also decide to carry guns with them. This act soon got the attention of the entire nation along with the police force of Quebec. There’s a shoot out.  A Quebec police officer infamously died in all the havoc, the Quebec police along with the nation found themselves in utter shock a second time as a brave, handsome, young police officer with a bright future was murdered so tragically. In a horrible twist of fate it was revealed much later that what caused his death where bullets fired from the guns of the police officers and not those “Damn Indians” everyone was very keen on blaming.  Watching clips of the Oka crisis you can see the hate, the pure unadulterated hate that the residents of Oka and the Mohawks had for each other. There’s this infamous clip where at one point the Mohawks are driving through town and the local residence are so frustrated that they decide pick up rocks in a fit of rage and chuck them at the Mohawks cars.

What those people had for each other (residents of Oka and the Mohawks) is something very real; most of them have probably never met outside pleasantries and nods of the head. A few months before the whole thing went down they probably shopped at the same grocery store, drove on the same roads, maybe used the same library, ate the same food, watched the same sports, but because of this conflict that escalated so quickly and without warning they’re sworn enemies blocking each other’s roads and throwing stones at each others cars.

What do you all these famous scenarios have in common? Besides groups vying for power and arms being raised against fellow countrymen. All these many infamous incidents share a common theme, of a repressed group seeking power, and of their extremists rising up to kill and committing atrocities.  The main and final thing all these events have in common is that 5 years or even 5 months before some of these events started to no one could have predicted how terrible the outcome or situation could have happened, they would have never guessed that there streets would be lined with bodies and bombs about to go off, with green helmets and automatic machine guns. True in Rwanda and Serbia ethnic tensions where always present but not many, save a few sole individuals could have ever expected the body count that finally came out of those dark chapters of our human history to have occurred.

In conclusion, yes, it is very likely that a armed conflict could happen in any country where there are two separate cultures. In Canada there are too many (great) cultures to count: French from Quebec, French Ontarians, the Maritimes, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, etc... Maybe not in a decade or a decade, hell, maybe in 5 years the political scene could become polarized, no one can tell the future. So that’s why it’s our duty as citizens of Canada and citizens of the world to guarantee that no armed conflicts erupt that will surely take many innocent lives with it. There’s one way we can all do our part to prevent genocide and armed conflict, it sounds horribly cheesy and cliché, but it’s cliché for a reason, because it works so well. Love your fellow man, or at least try to, never ever take the actions of one man and hold a grudge against his race or culture or religion for it. You can do it for yourself to simply feel good; to simply know that you love so much is a great feeling. If you don’t believe in that, than do it for those who haven’t been born yet, those who will inherit the world and our problems and the problems of the future with it. If we love our fellow men as much as we tend to love ourselves; our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and future citizens won’t have to deal with the fallout of our racist remarks our bigotry and our hate. So please, love your fellow man, even if those guys that come from the far east of your country do speak a little funny.

It is important to note that the IRA and ETA and even the FLQ all ceased major operations/mass killings when they were represented in their respective government. However one has to ask, couldn’t they have gained power through democracy/protest instead of mass killings? Do you think waiting for bureaucracy and government to change is worth less than the lives of the innocent and those who disagreed with you? I think not. And I sincerely hope you do to.