The Christmas Eve Truce ~ Joyeux Noël

War can be a difficult thing to manage.

The war was supposed to over, but by the beginning of December 1914 there existed a stalemate of sorts. Hastily built defensive trenches began at the edge of the English Channel and continued all the way to Switzerland. Barbed wire and parapets defended the trenches and between them stretched a no-mans-land that in some places was no more than ten-metres wide.

Life in the trenches was horrible; continuous sniping, machine gun fire and artillery shelling took a deadly toll, as did rain, snow and cold. It was monotonous.


By Christmas Eve both sides had received Christmas packages from home, including food, presents, and alcoholic beverages.

And somehow, men in the trenches decided to end the war, if only for a few hours or days. How it all happened varies, but all along a fifty kilometre line, soldiers came together in no-mans-land to talk, sing, exchange gifts and to play impromptu games of football. And to bury their dead, often with joint services. It seemed absurd, and it was. Yet it happened at the end of 1914 on the European theatre of war.



When the high commands on both sides found out, orders were given to stop the fraternising. At once. Immediately. In some areas the truce ended Christmas Day. In other areas the following day, and in others it extended to New Year's Day. Men were disciplined, but few if any, were were subject to courts martial. That would have meant trials and even more publicity for an event the political masters wanted to disappear. In fact, much of the story only came out because of letters from the front that were posted and missed the censor's pencil, as this one released by the family last year.

Dearest mother, I think I have seen today one of the most extraordinary sights that anyone has ever seen.

About 10 o'clock this morning I was peeping over the parapet when I saw a German, waving his arms, and presently two of them got out of their trench and came towards ours.

We were just going to fire on them when we saw they had no rifles, so one of our men went to meet them and in about two minutes the ground between the two lines of trenches was swarming with men and officers of both sides, shaking hands and wishing each other a happy Christmas.

He goes on to talk about the football match and the sound of the bagpipes that played all day.

A French movie made in 2005 remembers the Christmas Eve Truce. Joyeux Noël  (or see the English version of the movie's website ) is a wonderful film, featuring the truce as celebrated by three forces: the Scots, French and Germans. If you haven't seen it, view the trailer, and get the film. And yes, the pipes get a big part in the movie. As they did in 1914.

War is a hard thing to manage. The politicians and generals need our approval. Why do we give it so readily I wonder?

War is over if you want it.

Copyright 2015 by Jim Murray.

Remembering the 14 from École Polytechnique and the hundreds of missing and murdered...

On December 6, 1989, a 25 year-old man entered École Polytechnique in Montréal armed with a hunting knife and a .22 calibre rifle. He went from class to class in the engineering school, separating men from women and open firing on what he called "une gange de féministes." His rampage stretched three floors and several classrooms. He murdered 14 women simply because they were women.

A year later Parliament established the anniversary as the National Day of Remembrance and Action
on Violence Against Women.

In 26 years not much has changed in this country. Violence continues against women and girls across Canada. Inaction by governments and police agencies has become routine.

In fact, a report released by the RCMP earlier this year marked the first time that police in Canada have attempted, at the national level, to identify how many First Nations, Inuit or Métis women and girls have been murdered or have gone missing.

According to the report, 1,017 women and girls identified as Indigenous were murdered between 1980 and 2012. This is a rate 4.5 times higher than that of all other women in Canada. Additionally, the report stated that as of November 2013, at least 105 Indigenous women and girls remained missing under suspicious circumstances or for undetermined reasons. For years our national government has refused to act. It's time for that to change.

Global Climate March in Vancouver ~ November 29th

It was a bright, cold Sunday afternoon at the end of November, with temperatures hovering near the freezing mark for much of the day. A little warming might have been welcome, but that's not what brought thousands of us together in downtown Vancouver.

We assembled in the shadows of the Vancouver Art Gallery, within the reflection of high rise buildings and the bustle of a consumer society weekend.








We were greeted with drumming, more drumming, speeches and more drumming. The atmosphere was inviting and hopeful, and most assuredly: family-friendly.

Finally, in our thousands, we took to the street to walk through the downtown. There were chants and slogans, yells and cheers, and singing too. 

Many groups were represented at the march. The United Church was there, as were other faith groups. Unions were involved, including the BCTF and the BCGEU. Jeem's comrades with the Marxist-Leninist Party were proudly present too.

And so we marched. And marched. And chanted. Some of us might have been heading in the wrong direction, but...

It was all good fun. Apart from being cold of course.

                                                                                 

When we rounded the corner at Burrard we came upon an inspiring sight, that of an Esso station being occupied by students.

                                                                                                                                                                       The "occupation" was all in good cheer too of course, and it gave us pause to consider how much power citizens actually hold, and maybe   how much power we have been willing to hand   over to politicians and corporations. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                    While many of the day's marchers were probably supporters of the New Democratic Party, I didn't see a visible sign of the party's direct involvement in the day's events. Of course we don't expect the Liberals or Conservatives to be present, but wouldn't this event be a natural for an activist party moving ever more steadily towards a fully green platform?                                                                                                                    Who will speak for us? In Paris, in Ottawa or in Victoria?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             And why, after all these years, are we still having to march in the streets for something that should have settled forty years ago? To ask that question is to come back to the question of who speaks for us.                                                                                                                                                                                              Photos by Jeem.   Copyright 2015 by Jim Murray.

A brilliant sunrise in Vancouver

The recent cold weather in Vancouver has produced some amazingly beautiful sunrises.








Early morning cloud on November 22nd gave way, ever so slowly, to a wonderful vivid sky.









Temperatures have been below freezing most mornings and this day was no exception, but as the sun rose, the air warmed and all was right with the world.









All these photos were taken from Queen Elizabeth Park, looking east towards Mount Baker.

Photos were cropped but otherwise unedited.

Photos by Jeem. Copyright 2015 by Jim Murray.

Nirbhaya

Last Saturday night we went to the final Vancouver presentation of Nirbhaya at the York Theatre. The play, by the South African playwright and director, Yaël Farber, is extraordinary.

Nirbhaya weaves the story of the Delhi bus rape that shocked the world, with the personal stories of the five women on the stage, all survivors of sexual abuse and violence.

On the night of December 16, 2012, a young woman and her male friend were returning home after seeing the film, Life of Pi. They boarded an off-duty charter bus. There were only six men on the bus, including the driver. Soon after boarding, the male friend was beaten, gagged and knocked unconscious. The woman, was beaten with an iron rod, tortured and raped repeatedly by the six men.




According to the police, the young woman tried to fight off her assailants. After the rapes and beatings ended, the attackers threw both victims from the moving bus. Sixteen days later, Jyoti Singh Pandey died. She was 23 years old.





During the last days of her life, Jyoti was given the name Nirbhaya by the Indian media. Nirbhaya means fearless, and the five women who tell their stories in this play are also fearless. One of them, Pamela Mala Sinha, is a Canadian actress and writer, tells of how she was raped in Toronto twenty years ago by a stranger. Her story reminds us that this play is about women and not about India.

The men who raped and killed Jyoti Pandey were arrested, charged and convicted. As a result of her murder, and in the wake of mass demonstrations across the nation, the Indian government developed a policy of zero tolerance for violence against women. They promised to strengthen the justice system in cases involving crimes against women. However, all the men who raped and abused the women in the play remain at large.

Nirbhaya is not an easy play to watch. The stories are raw, harrowing and without happy endings. On this last night of the Vancouver run, the audience was often incredibly silent, save sniffs, sobs and tears.

Nirbhaya ends with each of the women standing up, saying her name and raising a hand in the air. They did not look like victims, instead strong, defiant and fearless.



The play forces us to look. We are called to bear witness. We cannot turn away. And silence is not an option.


Nirbhaya was presented in association with Amnesty International and its Action Network for Women's Human Rights.

Copyright 2015 by Jim Murray.