On the Agent Orange debate.

I was reading a post on Facebook regarding Agent Orange. It is traumatic, because some people are arguing from a place of loss, be they dead husbands, fathers, brothers, children etc. Others were making points from a position of new found desire to assist. These are veterans and sufferers both physically and emotionally.

Reading this, I was becoming aware of something. This something is: If the US and Australia were active in using chemical warfare, why has neither country been brought to the International Stage. And therefore,be charged under the Geneva Multilateral Disarmament Accord, which whilst the US was not signatory to in 1968, but is now. The disappointing thing in this not having happened, is that the effects are still being felt, and in some cases, sold under the guise of herbicides.

This then brings about the point: Did Monsanto, and other companies, by accepting the government contract to produce, and continue producing the chemical; render themselves signatory to the production of a Chemical Weapon, and therefore, make themselves party to international convention?

The disturbing, and distressing thing about this, is that from the research I have seen, and read, is that nothing has happened regarding this. Imperial Germany, at the end of WWI, was forced to dismantle it's chemical weapons infrastructure, and pay reparations. Whilst this did not stop them from producing an impressive, practical and numerically destructive arsenal several years later, it did point to one thing. This was the fact that a civilian population, will always bear the brunt and pressures of an oppressive and destructive weapons system.

Western nations historically, have been the most trickiest of nations to deal with, when coming to these matters. While we all appreciate our freedoms, which would not allow me to write this article criticizing the system, what we don't see is how we do this.

Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Israel and other countries, had stockpiles of chemical weapons, that in the case of the US, was only stopped in 1990. Even the former Soviet Union, ceased production in 1987. Tie this into the fact, that by using civilian companies, governments can offset some of the blame for "accidental side effects due to production methods" to the company. Much of this is often found out "later", usually after the use of the weapon, and then all accountability is settled with scant monetary payouts to those directly affected, and then nullified for those who may suffer future side effects.

What makes the accountability of our democratic institutions hard, is that the levels of bureaucracy are often hard to break into, let alone find in most cases. If you do make your way into the red tape, then you are often faced with the one thing that most people will never fight past, and that is Patriotism. Sentences often used are "How can you question your government, what type of Patriot are you?", or "If you don't agree with us, you are a Communist/Fascist/Sympathiser/Terrorist", and finally, "If you are not for us, you are against and are Un-American/Australian/British". Presuming you make it even this far, then there are the Secrecy Acts, the classifications above top secret, or in some cases, outright destruction of documents. Worse case, in countries outside of Western Democracies, is imprisonment or death.

How can we beat a system, that is already programmed to defeat questioning and investigation, before it is even started? Honestly, it is a tough fight. The only way, is for people to become educated first and foremost. An uneducated person is not a simpleton, or backwards. It is a person who refuses to learn, and improve themselves. Then the next thing we need to do, and this is often the hardest, is to become a universal person. One of the bravest things I think I have ever done, was give up the ties to being a proud and patriotic Australian. This is not to say I don't appreciate my heritage. I am British and Australian by birth. But my family tree includes pretty much the entire western European region, Scandinavia and even Aboriginal Australian. I appreciate what these heritages have given me, but honestly, I think of myself as a human, or earthling first. Nationalistic pride, reduces our compassion and respect for others. I will not touch on religion, as this causes way too many fights. The thing I will say, is that it goes hand in hand with nationalism. I guess this for me, is made easier, by the fact, that I have always felt like a gypsy. I have a hard time settling down in one spot, and honestly, would love to spend the rest of my life travelling.

Finally, we have to understand, is that political ideology in one country, is not necessarily effective in another. And as long as that all countries, follow the UNCHR guidelines in it's treatment of it's citizens both foreign and domestic, it's prisoner population, and the minorities that live within its borders, then how it conducts it's affairs should not mean that it's system is wrong. Unless one is willing to give up political control, to a centralized governing body, then what we need to do, is co-operate internationally more effectively. Finger pointing, bullying and blaming are something we used to do as children, and now scold our children for. What makes it right that our leaders do the same thing?

In reference to the Agent Orange disaster, the request is clear. We need to act as a single unity, not divided into Veterans, Veterans Children, Vietnamese, and Family of Veterans. Unifying as a single entity, will allow us to be more compassionate, more open-minded, and more indignant in our stand to right a wrong, and hopefully, get a more international spotlight placed on this disgraceful act.