11/11 - The Poppy

A group of veterans from conflicts including the Falklands and Northern Ireland have complained of the increasing glitz and glamour of the annual poppy appeal and of it being hijacked to marshall public support behind current campaigns. In a letter in The Guardian, the veterans argue that the original aim of the appeal as a sombre commemoration of the war dead and the horrors of conflict was in danger of being lost amid the marketing spin and tub-thumping political aims.
"A day that should be about peace and remembrance is turned into a month-long drum-roll of support for current wars. This year's campaign has been launched with showbiz hype. The true horror and futility of war is forgotten and ignored," they write.
Ben Griffin, a London ambulance driver who served nine years in the Parachute Regiment, including in Afghanistan and Iraq, before refusing to return for a further term of service because of his concerns about US military tactics.
He said: "We are concerned that people are trying to take ownership of the poppy for political ends. It is almost as if they are trying to garner support for our boys and any criticism of the wars is a betrayal."
Ken Lukowiak, who served in the Falkland Islands and Northern Ireland between 1979 and 1984, said: "Part of me wants to be sensitive to the families who have lost loved ones and part of me wants to throw a bucket of blood into the living rooms of the nation every night to show people the true meaning of war."

There is only one thing that can be said for certain about wars: they are never fought in the interest of those who die in them. What respect, gratitude, reverence or esteem did these reluctant and unsuspecting heroes ever have when they lived?

Ex-military, after "serving their country", may have escaped death or physical mutilation but their experience has left them scarred for life. What made them part of an effective fighting machine has made them incapable of maintaining normal relationships within the family and friends or coping with the different stresses of working under capitalism.

Tony Wright, a former soldier who now runs About Turn CIC, a social enterprise that aims to improve the lives of ex-service personnel, said: "I once heard someone say that when you go into the army they take the civilian out of you and make you into a soldier, but when you come out they don't put the civilian back in. I think that sums it up perfectly."

A basic understanding of capitalism would indicate that the only freedom workers ever fight for in wars is the freedom for the capitalists to do exactly as they wish to make a profit.