Remembrance Day celebrates chauvinistic Anglo imperialism. The reaction to an Arabic peace poem reveals the depth of Canada’s colonized minds.
Last week genocide advocates whipped up a big backlash to a Remembrance Day event at Ottawa’s Sir Robert Borden school because it included the Arabic peace song Haza Salam. The song doesn’t mention Palestine, but it’s been taken up by opponents of Israel’s holocaust in Gaza. Despite some reports, the November 11 ceremony also included O Canada and British bugle call Last Post.
In response to including a language spoken by nearly half a billion people, uber Zionist Ottawa MPP Lisa MacLeod initiated a racist storm. On X she posted a statement noting that “today at Sir Robert Borden High School the Remembrance Service included a song in Arabic which did not follow the Royal Canadian Legion protocol and also distressed all of the Jewish Students.”
Ottawa’s Jewish Federation echoed MacLeod’s condemnation. They released a letter of support for those who “have spoken out for the integrity of Remembrance Day and the respect it deserves.”
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called for the school’s principle to be fired and an elected official stated openly that Arabic has no place in Remembrance Day ceremonies. Ontario MPP Goldie Ghamari declared, “Remembrance Day is about Canadians. It’s not racist to expect taxpayer funded institutions to observe Canadian traditions in Canada’s official languages. If I wanted to hear Arabic songs during official government ceremonies I’d move to an Arab-speaking country. Touch grass.”
Amidst the brouhaha, someone spray painted “Hamas High” on a Sir Robert Borden welcome sign.
The racist outburst partly stems from thirteen months of Zionist vilification of critics of Israel’s holocaust in Gaza. But linguistic chauvinism is part and parcel of the militarism and the martial patriotism Remembrance Day promotes.
During World War I, which spurred Remembrance Day, many non-English publications were censored and public meetings (except for church) held in Ukrainian, Russian, Finnish and other languages were outlawed. Berlin, Ontario, was renamed Kitchener because of anti-German sentiment. Germans, Japanese, Ukrainians and others were interned during World War I and World War II.
The “othering” of war is not language or “race” specific. It’s the xenophobia of “our side”. And today “our side” is killing babies in Gaza so a language viewed as antagonistic to Israeli violence is verboten during Remembrance Day. Songs in Ukrainian, on the other hand, are fine since Canada is fighting with that country. Since the Russian invasion many Remembrance Day commemorations have included Ukrainian.
Remembrance Day celebrates Anglo-American warfare and imperialism. It commemorates Canadians who have died at war but not the Afghans, or Libyans killed by Canadians in the 2000s, or the Iraqis and Serbians killed in the 1990s, or the Koreans killed in the 1950s, or the Russians, South Africans, Sudanese and others killed before that. By focusing exclusively on “our” side Remembrance Day reinforce a sense that Canada’s cause is righteous. But Canadian soldiers have only fought in one morally justifiable war: World War II.
If Remembrance Day were genuinely about remembering the horrors of war Gaza would have been front and centre. Last year I wrote about how Remembrance Day came a day late when many tens of thousands marched across the country calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. As I noted, a day that marks an armistice agreement and remembers the horrors of war ought to be an ideal moment to call for the end to a brutal military campaign in Gaza. Alas that wasn’t the case.
Unfortunately, most official Remembrance Day actions serve as celebrations of martial patriotism. And one of the world’s most widely spoken languages is not welcome.
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