By Jen Bradley

At my local grocery store, I was drawn to the cover story of the Popular Mechanics December 2002 edition. It read, "The Real Face of Jesus, forensic science reveals the true image of Jesus." I bought it because of my husband’s interest in physical anthropology, but was captured by the scientists’ earnest search for a truer representation.

I had not read a Popular Mechanics magazine since I was about 12 years old. I wondered how other readers of Popular Mechanics (PM) reacted to this scientifically reconstructed image of Jesus Christ.

It’s my habit to judge the tone of a magazine by input from readers. Imagine my surprise, turning to the letters, seeing the headline "First-Strike Weapons" and previous month’s magazine cover with the words "Tiny Nukes, America’s new weapons of precise destruction are the cornerstone of our First Strike Strategy" and an illustration of a mushroom cloud rising out of cupped hands.

The first writer accuses PM of an "obvious lack of concern for the safety and security of the citizens of the United States." This cover, he says, "only gives our enemies the evidence that they need to feel that we mean to do them harm. This justifies their making a first strike against us." Urging PM to "please use some common sense" he asserts that "our society would never permit such an act of unprovoked aggression."

The editor replies, "By now you’ve all seen the Bush administration principals on the Sunday morning talk shows discussing, that’s right, our new first-strike strategy. Remember, you read it here first."

I remember an incident from my childhood, in 1962, when I was 8 years old. My grandfather, Doc (Victor William) Fenn, was sitting at the kitchen table with a detailed map of metropolitan Toronto spread out before him. The map had widening, concentric circles centred on a hypothetical ground zero downtown. I was sitting in the living room and he called me over. His mood was intense and I sensed he really wanted me to pay attention. My grandfather worked for EMO (the Emergency Measures Organization) in Toronto. He’d been hired to plan contingency measures in case of a nuclear strike.

As I stood beside him he pointed to each circle explaining what would happen to people after the bomb exploded. In the centre, he said, "Jen, these people are instantly vapourized." In the next, "these people have third degree burns all over their bodies and are dead within a few hours." In the next, "these people have severe radiation sickness and will be dead in a few days. Their deaths will be welcome. They will vomit themselves to death." In the next circle, "these people, depending on the wind, will have radiation sickness that will kill them within two to three weeks." My mother told me later, that he’d been studying photos and medical accounts from the first-strikes against Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

My grandfather died in 1965 of cancer. I always thought he really died of a broken heart because his final public service caused him such despair.

How should Canadians respond to the Bush administration’s first-strike policy? Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Canadians need to realize that our obligation to speak out is for our own sakes, for the sake of the victims of US’s self-serving policies, and for the sake of Americans who are struggling to bring democracy back into their administrations.

We need to remember that the people of the United States are not responsible for their government’s first-strike rhetoric. There are many accountability issues weighing heavy in the hearts of our American neighbours.

If the people of Canada are to become more relevant to this US administration, we need to become part of a family of nations that is economically stronger than the United States, and militarily equal, including in nuclear weapons. In other words, we need to join the Euopean Union. From this position of strength, Canadian foreign policy can freely promote the international rule of law for the benefit of all.

We need to build a constituency of peoples within our lands who are committed to real representation; a constituency that requires its representatives to broker a lasting peace through rule of law, democratic principles, and fair trade agreements that allow local economies to meet the needs of their own people, such as in the EU.

Science’s never-ending quest for truth challenges us to adjust our image of the man from Galilee, letting go of traditions that obscure reality. Traditionally, we have boasted of a secure relationship with the US and the "longest unfortified border in the world." All that has changed. If Jesus tried to cross the border to the US today, he could, because of his looks, be arrested as a suspected terrorist. Can the peoples of Canada adjust to our new reality following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s advice - keeping ourselves alive by speaking out about the "things that matter?"

Please sign the petition to join the EU

Jen Bradley is a social justice activist. valjean@shaw.ca The web site for Campaign for Canada to Join the EU is at www.members.shaw.ca/valjean




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