Book Launch: Yellow Ribbons by A. L. McCready

The Militarization of National Identity in Canada.

by Scott Barber

A.L. McCready at the launch of her new book on Canada's ongoing militarization, Yellow Ribbons. Photo Allan Bezanson

K'JIPUKTUK, HALIFAX - This past week saw the Halifax launch of yet another timely and important book by Fernwood Publishing of Black Point, Nova Scotia: A.L. McCready's Yellow Ribbons, the Militarization of National Identity in Canada.

The slim, dense volume penned by Alyson McCready was launched on the heels of the 5th annual Washington, D.C. based “Halifax International Security Forum” (which is hosted by Canadian taxpayers for a yearly cost of almost $2.5 million at the Westin Nova Scotian hotel), and as Canada asserts resource sovereignty over much of the Arctic.

Yellow Ribbons examines changes in Canada's self-image with the re-branding of the military in the dozen years since the “War on Terror” was initiated by the George W. Bush government in the United States following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

McCready uses a number of case studies to illuminate changing Canadian cultural perceptions and the molding of Canadian Forces image by the government as it transforms the myth of the Canadian peacekeeper force into one of a fighting force against chaos and terror.

From the Yellow Ribbons and Red Fridays campaigns to radio programming such as Afghanada and movies such as Passchendaele, McCready examines the lines between popular movements and government psychological operations.

McCready argues that these changes in Canadians' relationship to their armed forces enable government and corporate actors to expand Canada's role in corporate globalization.

The event took place at 1313 on Hollis Street in downtown Halifax on the evening of December 3rd, 2013. It was co-hosted by the Radical Imagination Project.

In Halifax, Yellow Ribbons: The Militarization of National Identity in Canada can be found at “Bookmark”, 5686 Spring Garden Road and “Carrefour Atlantique Emporium”, 1869 Upper Water Street.

You can listen now or download for later, a brief talk and reading given by the author, see above. Click here to listen to the question and answer session which followed.

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