When Kimberly Rivera, a U.S. soldier who fled to Canada to avoid a second deployment regarding the U.S.-Iraqi War, was arrested and detained at the U.S. border after losing her deportation case, it not only brought back memories of my own wartime experiences and resistance but of ancient Sparta and the making of young Spartan soldiers.
It was not by chance that Spartan soldiers were renowned for their fighting skills, military discipline, absolute allegiance to the State, and for cutting to pieces their opponents. Such qualities did not develop accidentally but actually started at an early age. In Sparta, children were property of the state, parents had little claim to them.
Spartan custom demanded that the father bring the child before a jury of elders who would then examine the infant. Healthy and strong children underwent rigorous preparation, training, and indoctrination for military life and war. Elders ordered unfit and disabled children to be exposed and destroyed.
The major emphasis for young Spartan warriors were absolute obedience, uniformed discipline, and aggressive behavior. Military students would be encouraged to quarrel and fight so as to distinguish between those considered brave and others considered cowards. They were taught only enough reading and writing to perform their basic civic duties.
From the moment I was born in 1960, there was never a year that America was at peace. Each year, for the last fifty-two years, there has been either an American-led military coup, major invasion and war, or a minor conflict. Some wars, like the Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union, have even lasted for decades, costing millions of lives.
I was always reminded of my families military heritage. Starting with the Mexican-American War and including the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War, I had internalized the just causes of each war and why to never question my country, along with its leaders and presidents.
Joining the military during the Reagan Era and Cold War was the most important civic duty I could perform. Killing communists and eradicating the threat of the "Evil Empire" were ways to show my patriotism. But I soon realized the U.S. invasion of Panama and Gulf War I, that killed tens of thousands of civilians, were not about communist threats.
When I resisted, declaring to be a Conscientious Objector and wanting to never harm or kill another human being, it was no wonder that Sparta America considered me a national threat to security, placing me under military surveillance. After all, I was their property, their multi-million dollar investment, trained and equipped to be a fierce warrior.
I was also Sparta America's ideological and economical properties. Since war-like narratives and mythologies dominated my upbringing and education, since I was taught that virtue and the ideal person was displayed in wartime and on battlefields, and since I needed money to further my schooling, militarism was an undeniable given.
As for Kimberly Rivera and other war resisters just like her, she too became property of the military State. She too served in Iraq in 2006 and became disillusioned with the mission and long-term military occupation. After she was on leave and ordered to serve another tour, she crossed the border into Canada while in 2007.
Although she applied for refugee status, it was denied. Canadian Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, claimed she was not fleeing persecution nor a genuine refugee. She hoped Canada would grant her permanent residency based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, especially since she has four children, ages 3, 8, 10 and 18 months.
Unlike other Iraq war resisters who have faced prison sentences after being deported from Canada, War Resisters Support Campaign, Veterans for Peace, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and thousands of others hope President Barack Obama will grant her amnesty and a possible pardon. That he will free her from being the property of Sparta America.
Because daily life and civic duties centered around militarism, ancient Sparta came to a tragic end. It continually mobilized for wars while deploying its youth to fight. Sparta's military machine and a slave (Helots) economy exhausted valuable resources. Individual and artistic expressions, philosophical reasoning and questioning, were suppressed.
Another tragedy is unfolding. But this time it is Sparta America imprisoning Kimberly Rivera and her court martial. It is another mother being separated from her four children and husband. It is also a tragedy of an unquestioning, apathetic populace allowing Commanders-In-Chiefs to send thousands of youths to their deaths.
It is a double tragedy, in the sense that the preemptive war against Iraq was based on forged documents, faulty military intelligence, and lies and demagoguery leadership. As for Afghanistan, local tribes and governing officials offered to aid Sparta America in locating Osama bin Laden and in bringing him to justice. Millions have been killed.
It is also a triple tragedy. Ancient Spartan captains assigned their young warriors to steal, which they had to do with utmost obedience, cunningly and boldly, and using their wits to deceive and acquire. Sparta America is military tyranny of the heart, mind, and body, ruled by military tyrants who assign young recruits to steal resources in foreign lands.
The lives of many, including women and children, have been and are being stolen, being literally killed and murdered by Sparta America. At least Kimberly Rivera realized it was wrong to believe in the U.S.-Iraqi and Afghani Wars, and that it was a mistake to think that the virtuous and ideal human had to either kill, or be killed, on a distant battlefield.
She refused to be property of the State. In Sparta America, then, one must always wonder and question who and what do they belong too.
Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)
(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)
Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2012/09/24/Sparta_America_and_Humans_as_Property/
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