Please provide answers to the following 2 questions:
– What is the “Peacekeeping Myth”?
– Do Canadians consider themselves as peacekeepers
Also, please write a reply to the example below. Write an engaging reply from one student to another.
Example:
A myth is a story whose aim is to display people’s views, believes or practices on a given phenomenon. On the other hand, the ”peacekeeping myth” is a notion or belief that Canada is a peace-loving country which is not true, according to John Swift. Though Canada has contradicted this notion of being a peacekeeping country, she assisted in restoring peace between Egypt and Israel on the Suez Canal crisis. This peacekeeping act earned the foreign affairs minister Mr. Pearson a Nobel Prize award. Also, Canada contributed 125000 troops to missions in more than thirty-five nations around the world, hence perceived as a peacekeeping nation.
According to John Swift, the belief that Canada is a peacekeeping notion is just a misconception, in that there has been a reduction in the number of Canadian peacekeeping representative in UN. That Canada has only 168 peacekeeping representatives in the UN compared to countries like Somalia, who has more than 2000 representative hence branding Canada as a peace-loving nation being just a myth. Also, in a peacekeeping mission, soldiers should not carry a weapon, but Canadian troops carry their guns during most of their peacekeeping missions. Furthermore, Canada intruded into the affairs of developing countries like Congo which compromises its peacekeeping notion.
To add on, in the interview, John Swift differed with the nation of Canada being a peacekeeping country in that the Canadians helped to capture and kill Congolese president Lumumba giving rise to a dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. This killing is against the notion of Canada being peacekeeping as the work of peacekeepers is to restore peace not assisting people into power or killing others; hence this notion is just mythical. Also, Smith further indicates that Canadians peacekeepers acted as spies for Americans in Vietnam, which accelerated the war between America and Vietnam instead of reconciling them, once again contradicting peacekeeping.
Wars cannot solve civil wars around the world, but Canadian peacekeepers opted to end fighting in Afghanistan through engaging in real war through bombing; thus, this sidelines them from being a peace-loving nation. Canadians have also participated in the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia worth $15 billion that posed increased violations of human rights. This sale of weapons contributed to war instead of peace and tranquility among citizens in Saudi Arabia, hence, going against the belief of Canada being a peace-loving nation (Hancey, 2019). Also, Canadian weapons were used in Yemen by Saudi Arabia, causing deaths of more than 5000 people, hence the country of Canada being peacekeepers just a misconception.
Despite the allegations, the majority of Canadians present themselves as Peacekeepers and a leader in the peacekeeping initiatives. Dorn (2005) indicates that most Canadians feel that peacekeeping is the core of Canada as a nation. Canadians see their soldiers sacrificing in war-torn countries saving children and women. Peacekeeping in Canada is an essential tool of pride that has led to the nation having a peacekeeping day. Peacekeeping day is an important occasion to the extent that soldiers and peacekeepers are awarded annually. Reports from opinion polls show that majority of Canadians support peacekeeping.