[COAT] Letters-to-Editor needed re:CANSEC weapons bazaar

[coat AT list.openconcept.ca]

CANSEC's Free Publicity in News across Canada, May 12,
2010.

An article about the CANSEC weapons trade show called
"DND lets staff take trade-show freebies" was published
on the front page of The Ottawa Citizen, May 12. It was also
published in numerous daily newspapers across Canada under the title
"Changes to DND hospitality rules at military trade show raising
eyebrows." It reads like a free promotion for Canada's largest
weapons trade show.  Read it here:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/food/lets+staff+take+trade+show+freebies/3015833/story.html?id=3015833
 
The article served out a very "faint critique" of Canada's top
war-industry exhibition.  The worst thing the article manages to say
about CANSEC is that some people find it questionable that DND is bending
the rules to allow armed forces personnel to receive free meals while
attending this arms bazaar.
 
Please send a letter to the papers listed below.
Tell them some of the real reasons why people like
you oppose CANSEC. 
Click the email addresses to send your letters to the editor.
You can send your email to each one of them. 
 
Ottawa Citizen   

mailto:letters AT thecitizen.canwest.com
Calgary Herald  

mailto:letters AT theherald.canwest.com
Leader-Post (Regina)  

mailto:letters AT leaderpost.canwest.com
The Province (Vancouver)  

mailto:provletters AT theprovince.com
Times Colonist (Victoria)    

mailto:letters AT tc.canwest.com
Vancouver Sun   

mailto:sunletters AT vancouversun.com
 
Sample letter 
http://coat.ncf.ca/CANSEC2010/sampleletter.htm
Click the link above for a short sample letter, written by Richard
Sanders (coordinator, COAT) which was sent to the above newspapers, May
13, 2010.
 
Read "Some tips on writing a letter" at the
end of this email
 
A Review of the Article
Nothing was said in this article about how the CANSEC arms
trade show helps fuel wars and repression around the world. Neither was
anything said about the fact that war industries exhibiting at CANSEC
have received literally billions of dollars in handouts from the federal
government to help them develop and export their military
technologies.
 
David Pugliese's article notes that DND "suspended some of the rules
governing the acceptance of hospitality from the private sector." He
then quotes "defence analyst" Steve Staples, president of the
Rideau Institute, saying "he was surprised the
defence leadership was overriding its own rules."
 
First of all, there isn't anything surprising about this little
controversy.  As reported in COAT's magazine last year, DND issued a
similar memo in March 2009 allowing military personnel to accept free
meals at CANSEC 2009. (See the section, "Free lunch anyone?" in
CANSEC: War is Business," Nov. 2009, p.13.)
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/64/64.htm 
 
Secondly, peace activists should find it disturbing that the article uses
the euphemism "defence" a dozen times, instead of the
neutral, un-spun term "military."  Meanwhile,
"war" only appears once in the article, buried inside
the name Paul Dewar!  
 
Of course the words "peace," "protest" and
"human rights" are never mentioned. Neither is there any
indication that readers should consider a more substantial or meaningful
critique of this military trade show, other than merely "raising
eyebrows" over whether free food should be they should be doled out
to the troops in attendance.
 
In short, the article completely missed the point about why CANSEC is
controversial.
 
The article makes no mention of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade,
or the 20-year City of Ottawa ban that COAT inspired back in 1989 which
stopped all arms shows from being held at Lansdowne Park until 2009. It
didn't mention that there was a real controversy last year over whether
Council should welcome the CANSEC arms show back onto municipal property.
Although the article is ostensibly focused on an possible reason for
objecting to CANSEC, there is no mention that COAT is planning a
"Rally for Peace" to protest the CANSEC arms trade show this
year, on June 2, between 5 and 7 pm.  This would be considered
inappropriate.  
 
The newspaper would not want to be giving free advertising to such
public, peace events.  The paper does however consider it
appropriate to promote the privately-run, no-public-allowed, CANSEC arms
trade show.  Last year, widespread grassroots opposition to CANSEC
was reflected in the fact that thousands signed petitions to oppose the
arms show and about 50 organisations sent delegations to present briefs
to a City Council committee.  The Anglican Bishop of Ottawa wrote a
letter to City Council opposing CANSEC, as did the Ottawa Presbytery of
the United Church of Canada which represents 80 congregations with 20,000
members.  None of these facts were mentioned in The Citizen
last year. And, when about four hundred people attended a peace event
with music and speakers from many groups representing public opposition
to CANSEC 2009, it too was completely and utterly ignored by The
Citizen.  
 
The Citizen article about CANSEC concludes with a very nice
quotation from the show's main organiser, Tim Page, President of the
so-called "Canadian Association of Defence and Security
Industries." His fine words reinforce the whole idea -- repeated
throughout the article -- that CANSEC is all about "defence."
Because Page is given the final word in the article, his self-serving
comments become, essentially, the author's own conclusion: 

"Historically, DND has been the most important customer group at
CANSEC.... We believe there is value for DND and CF personnel to see and
learn, first hand, about the industrial capabilities that are available
to them so that they may do their jobs safely and effectively."
 
What good patriotic Canadian could disagree with that?
 
CADSI, the organisation behind the CANSEC arms show, clearly wasn't
bothered by The Citizen article. In fact, they proudly posted a
link to it on their website.  The article effectively gave them
free, advance, front-page publicity for their event.  This, as we
have seen, is something that The Citizen has been loath to do for
anti-CANSEC, peace events. But in this article, The Citizen not
only announced that Canadian armed forces personnel and DND staffers are
invited to attend the CANSEC "defence" show on June 2-3, the
article also made it abundantly clear that those attending might also
reasonably expect to get a free meal deal! 
 
Imagine if peace activists organising a protest against Canada's war
industry got similar treatment in the media?  Imagine if the media
ran front page articles "raising eyebrows" because the public
was going to get  "free meals" when they attended a peace
rally?  Nice!  Would we put up with this "faint critique'
in order to get all that free publicity? The only trouble is that the
peace movement can't afford to hand out free meals to folks who join us
at antiwar protests, and we aren't likely to get big corporations or the
government to cover the bill for dishing out food at our events.
 
Very tellingly, a link to The Citizen article about CANSEC appears
on a webpage called "Building a buzz at a trade show with a
limited budget." 
http://showstopper.wordpress.com/2006/08/10/building-a-buzz-at-a-trade-show-with-a-limited-budget/
The heading on this webpage is "Trade Show Tips: Advice and Tips on
How to Survive Your Next Trade Show." That about says it all. 
Whether The Citizen author intended his piece on CANSEC to serve
as free publicity for the military trade show is unknown.  The fact
is, that's exactly how it (and he) was used. 
  
Some tips on writing a letter: 
 
(1) Keep it short and to the point:  100-150 words
 
(2) Include your full name, address and daytime phone number.
 
(3) Put the title of the article you are commenting on and its
date just above your letter to the editor.  So, in this case put the
following line above "Dear editor" 
Re: "Changes to DND hospitality rules at military trade show
raising eyebrows," May 11, 2010.
 
(4) CC your letter to the author of The Citizen article,
David Pugliese:
dpugliese AT shaw.ca 
 
(5) BCC your letter to Richard Sanders, at COAT:
overcoat AT rogers.com
 
Here are some Quicklinks to info about CANSEC and COAT's
opposition to it
http://coat.ncf.ca/CANSEC2010/Quicklinks.htm