Paul Nichols lives in Loudon.
It’s difficult to find much encouraging news from across the planet these days. Worldwide disasters brought on by climate change, COVID variations hanging on and threatening to worsen by seasonal change, senseless U.S. gun-related attacks at schools, churches, supermarkets and other places formerly deemed secure, and the right-wing assault on our democratic values. Plus, right here in New Hampshire, the deeply harmful influences of the Free Staters fester.
Two other headline grabbers involve the harsh violence inflicted on thousands of Iranian and Russian citizens who are protesting against vile impositions of their countries’ hard-line authoritarian regimes. Historic and virtuous protests in both countries have promoted worthy causes, but in some ways are a double-edged sword in that many of the dissenters have been maimed or killed by the dictatorial powers ruling both countries.
Massive protests have been ongoing in Iran since mid-September when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was murdered by Iran’s “morality police” because she wasn’t wearing her hijab in conformance with her country’s strict laws. She was detained and beaten to death while in custody. Since that day, courageous women and girls have publicly cut their hair and set fire to their headscarves during huge protest marches with rally chants in defiance of the rigid rules that have long been in place. Male students, soccer stars and striking workers have joined the protests, as have citizens of other countries.
Vladimir Putin’s attempts to draft 300,000 young men into diminishing Russian military forces in his criminal war with Ukraine have met significant resistance in recent weeks. Potential draftees have been frantically fleeing across borders into Finland and other neighboring countries to avoid conscription into a devastating, unpopular war. News reports state that two Russians even sailed hundreds of miles across the Bering Strait seeking refuge in Alaska to avoid Putin’s draft.
Despite the resistance, tens of thousands of Russian men have been drafted and hauled into mobilization training camps. Germany is offering refugee protection to draft resisters and military deserters seeking asylum. I’m hoping that widespread desertions will occur despite harsh treatment if resisters are apprehended.
At age 77, this brings me back to October 1965 when Concord Draft Board #7 notified me that my draft classification went from 2-S student deferment to 1-A (Available). The U.S. war in Vietnam was hungry, and more youngsters were needed to feed the meat grinder. Though I had no desire to join the military, I immediately enlisted in the Marine Corps rather than be inducted into the Army. Within a year I was in Vietnam’s Quang Tri Province, later to be seriously wounded.
Throughout the decade huge anti-war protests took place across America as well as in many other countries objecting to that Southeast Asian war. Thousands of U.S. draft resisters and deserters escaped to Canada, Sweden and other countries. I gave no thought to these alternatives due to honorable World War II service by my immediate family members, the time frame of the Vietnam war’s earliest years, and my patriotic naivety.
Peaceful expressions of opposition have been a vital hallmark of democratic ideals. Since the American revolution hundreds of protests, rallies, and demonstrations – call them what you will – have taken place across our country. Most have been peaceful. In recent years they have been for anti-war, humanitarian, and environmental causes, and for other important concerns. Current demonstrations supporting women’s reproductive rights come to mind.
Our system of governance, though not ideal, is far better than that of Russia and Iran. Democracy has been under serious threat, increasingly during the Trump presidency and with the aggressive atmosphere in the years since. The need for heightened voter turnout in local and national elections next month cannot be overstated.