It has been almost seven years since Omar Khadr was taken in to the Guantanamo Bay prison and in those years there has been protest after protest calling for Khadr’s release, but it is necessary to keep the fight alive now more than ever.
U.S. president Barack Obama has promised to close Guantanamo and it’s time that Canada repatriate Khadr.
The protests last week, organized by Carleton students, demonstrate how students can get involved in this debate and push for change.
The fact that Khadr was only 15 at the time of his arrest and is now in his 20s (university-student age) gives us more reason to care.
Not that we are excusing what Khadr did – if he did it. But everyone deserves the right to a fair trial. If we don’t protect this right then what good is democracy and how much better is it than all the other forms of government that the rest of the world is subjected to?
We, as students, have a unique opportunity to engage the world and incite global change on a level that would put the hippie generation to shame. While the previous generations’ drug-filled attempts at social change and a viable counter culture seems to have drifted into safe-haven suburbia, gas-guzzling SUVs and the usual “what is this world coming to” pessimism, we can make a difference.
Events like Canada for Khadr, which featured students rallying on the Hill with live band performances, is a prime example of what we can do to get our message heard.
We can’t let this issue rest because we drive the future and if we are asleep at the wheel when the car crashes, we’ll have nobody to blame but ourselves.