Draft dodging, then and now
Dear Editor,
A little over 50 years ago, I was in the place, time and frame of mind to take part in a social movement, sort of an experiment in social change. The United States had become embroiled in a foreign conflict and had enacted legislation to draft more young men into the armed forces to fight in Vietnam. To my brother and me and to many other young people, this was obviously an immoral, undeclared war, in the guise of a “police action.” The United States was forcing us to put ourselves in harm’s way, to fight against people defending their own land, in their own backyard. All the ingredients were there, for disaster. And the disaster compounded upon itself, young men who weren’t in college or married with children, or significantly disabled, were called to take part, perchance to die, far far away from home.
Before we emigrated, we considered the possibilities of remaining and opposing the draft in court. We met a person who was involved in that struggle, and the penalty was five years in prison, and a $10,000 fine. Two nations did not have extradition treaties with the US for draft evasion, Sweden and Canada. We chose Canada, for several reasons you can probably guess. I do not regret that decision in the slightest.
Fast forward to the present day, and young men in Russia are being drafted to fight in the similarly undeclared, immoral and unwinnable war of aggression in Ukraine. I’ve been following a few young video-loggers in Russia for a couple of years, out of curiosity about life in the Federation. Several of those have left, two of them women, who would not be drafted, but just don’t like living in a nation impoverished by madmen making war. For the men, if they receive their call to service, analogous to being drafted in the US, they must enlist, or be sanctioned in several ways, they cannot renew their driver’s license, rent or buy property, enroll in university. They continue to report, from their new (often undisclosed) locations in neighbouring neutral states, or far away (one went to Costa Rica).
I feel a sense of deja-vu and hope they receive as warm a welcome as I felt upon arriving in Canada. For eight years, until Pres. Jimmy Carter called amnesty on the charge of draft evasion, I could not return to the US. By that time, I was married with a child and a household in Pontiac, where I’ve lived ever since. For my part, that social experiment was quite successful. I can only hope that the Russian correspondents whose videos I follow, can find a new home where they can thrive without war.
Robert Wills
Thorne and Shawville, Que.
