[Irony] A Failure in Canadian Foreign Policy

Yet again the Harper Conservatives have made a grave failure in their dealings with foreign matters. Soon enough the rest of the hemisphere - and the world for that matter - will look upon Canada as a backwards, market fundamentalist, war-mongering, anti-democratic and environment-destroying state in a new century that is marked by the ideals of environmentalism, peace and mass democratic representation.

In recent months the Conservatives have barred foreign politicians and even Canadian citizens from entering the country, and attempted to expel Canadian nationals. They've tried to sign free trade agreements with murderous regimes against the will of the Canadian people, and continued to pursue a war of aggression in Afghanistan under the guise of "development". They've turned a blind eye to worldwide negotiations being made in preparation for the Copenhagen conference on climate change. But this time it's what they didn't do that is setting Canada apart on the world stage: The Harper Government didn't come out expressly in favour of democracy - as every other country in the hemisphere did - when it failed to call for the current authoritarian regime in Honduras to allow the democratically elected president to return.

The recent coup in Honduras is a throwback to the last century when pro-American oligarchs and unfathomably rich landowners and capitalists in Latin America deposed left leaning governments that showed any semblance of support for the masses. But we citizens of the world can not allow this type of violent authoritarian behaviour of times past. We have to say "no"; Our leaders in government should be making clear statements regarding the current wrongdoings in Honduras.

But instead, our minister of foreign affairs, Peter Kent, has actually come out as an apologist for the dictatorial Honduran regime. As reported in the New York Times, Kent argued that there is a "context" in which President Zelaya laid the groundwork for his own downfall! The suggestion is dangerous: It implies that militarists are justified in seizing power in a coup d'etat if their democratically elected leader has a constitutional tiff with Congress.

How interesting... as only a few months ago we were having a bit of a constitutional crisis here in Canada. Our (minority) elected leader, Stephen Harper, went against the will of the majority of parliamentarians. He went through back door channels and prorogued parliament - shutting down open debate, just to hold onto power! Following Kent's logic, the coalition of opposition parties would have been justified in hiring masked gunmen to storm 24 Sussex, kidnapping Harper and expelling him to the United States, forbidding him from entering Canada again! But such actions would not have been tolerated - not by the people of Canada, not by the citizens of the world - not even by those of us who are in opposition to Harper politically.

Canadians have had enough irony and hipocrasy in their foreign policy. It's time to get rid of the Harper government - through peaceful democratic means - so that we have a chance at saving Canada's international reputation before it's too late.

CLICK HERE TO EXPAND TO FULL POST!

[Appeal] Let Galloway In!

APPEAL:
As many of you will know, last week Canada’s Border Services Agency decided that it would bar British Member of Parliament George Galloway from entering Canada. CBSA claims that Galloway poses a threat to Canada’s national security!

Galloway is an outspoken critic of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of Israel’s foreign policy. He was scheduled to do a speaking tour in Canada at the end of this month (with a talk scheduled here at the Bronson Centre in Ottawa on April 2nd, at 7pm).

Conservative MP Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, explained that he will not use his authority to overturn CBSA’s decision. In other words, our government is preventing a British MP from delivering a few speeches in this country! Our government is yet again censoring free speech! Our government is shielding us from the truth by inciting fear and appealing to threats of national security. Yet again our government is quashing dissent!

WHAT CAN WE DO?
We need to fight back against this blatant disregard for free speech! Send an email to add your name, with your endorsement of Galloway’s right to speak to the Let Galloway Speak Committee, at Galloway.Canada@gmail.com

Send a quick email to your MP and copy Jason Kenney (KenneJ@parl.gc.ca) asking to guarantee Galloway’s civil liberties by allowing him into Canada.

MORE INFORMATION:
Check out George Galloway’s official website to see video of him speaking on the wars in Lebanon, Gaza, Afghanistan and Iraq: http://www.georgegalloway.com/

Check out the CBC news story about the ban on Galloway:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/03/20/galloway-ban-canada-kenney.html

Check out Section 34 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which defines the grounds upon which someone can be denied entry to Canada for reasons of security, (to see how preposterous the government’s claim is): http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/ShowFullDoc/cs/I-2.5///en

CLICK HERE TO EXPAND TO FULL POST!

[Comparison] The Good ol' Union Bust!

Yet again I am realizing how we have it all wrong here in Canada. The attitude towards unions has gotten so bad that a large number of employees who acquire union jobs do not realize that this is a position of privilege (and of responsibility) which has been won for them by their predecessors. Most Canadians just don't understand basic labor relations: They are almost always ready to side with authority and power (the employer) and have an antipathetic response towards worker exploitation. At a union meeting for my CUPE local of TAs at Carleton University some weeks ago, I watched as one member expressed his indifference at the thought that future TAs in his position (international students) would have a negative take home pay if we didn't stand up for a tuition indexation clause that the administration was trying to purge from our contract. He didn't care - the issue was about him, here and now. Short term, self interest is the ruling ideology of the day here in Canada. There is no such thing as solidarity in this cold-hearted country.

Thus it is no surprise (though it is disappointing) that our media is gleefully reporting two big union busting operations here in Ontario this week. After 12 weeks on the picket, the TA union at York University is being legislated back to work by the provincial parliament. Meanwhile, after 50 days on strike, the Amalgamated Transit Union in Ottawa is being threatened by the Federal Minister of Labour, Rona Ambrose, to get back to work. These types of union busts show a clear and tight nit relationship between government and capital. The city of Ottawa, the Ontario government, the federal government are very clear in demonstrating their distaste for (and blame upon) workers. Certainly, the executive management at OC transpo and York's administration can not possibly be at fault for causing a strike! That would simply be preposterous - it must be greedy workers wanting higher pay, as the media purports (and yet both unions have rejected offers of increased wages, clearly indicating that that is not what is at stake).

Now, if we have it wrong in Canada, who has it right? One look at the BBC's world news site today gives an indication: France. Today across the country, some one million public employees and sympathizers are engaging in massive nation-wide strike action, called by eight of the country's biggest unions. Much of the country is in a total standstill. Airports, buses, train systems, schools, post offices, banks, hospitals and courts are either shut down or slowed down. And the reason? Workers are angry with the federal government for their failure to deal with the economic crisis. They are tired of crappy working conditions, privatizations, and the Sarkozy's bailing out of big private banks while leaving the people out to dry. And the public reaction? Overwhelming support (69% of the populace supports the strike)! Here is a country where more than two thirds of the population can come together in solidarity to demand fair and reasonable worker-friendly action from the government.

Meanwhile back in Canada our friggin' Minister of Labour is rallying MPs to vote for her stupid union busting plan which will ultimately fail to resolve the heart of the problem. Yet another reason why I want to move to Europe... (don't even get me started on public transportation and environmental policy).

CLICK HERE TO EXPAND TO FULL POST!

[Recollection] Oh yeah, we're still at war...

Last week the war on terror ended... didn't it? Israel ended its horrific bombing campaign in Gaza; Iraqi troops are slowly taking over control of the US operations in their country; In his second day in office; Obama closed down the illegal torture prison at Guantanamo. Indeed, with the passing of presidential power from Bush to Obama, the war on terror is now officially over. We can all take a big sigh of relief as hope and change washes over the Middle East, bringing peace to us all.

Oh wait... are we still in Afghanistan?
As it turns out, we are! There are over 2500 Canadian troops in Afghanistan conducting operations at a cost to the Canadian taxpayers of $1.3 million per day (Just imagine what that money could be doing for our crumbling infrastructure and cash-strapped municipalities back at home). Canada forms one of the largest contingents of the 31,000 troops from 37 countries currently there. Over 107 Canadians have died there, and of course there is no telling how many innocent civilians have died at the hands of our soldiers, our bombs, our guns (nobody seems to keep count of "collateral damage" like innocent civilians).

But it's not like we're at war there.. we're just providing security for development projects, right?
The fact is we're still hunting down militants and trying to destroy the Taliban and al-Qaeda... very similar to the way Israel recently tried to hunt down and destroy Hamas in the Gaza strip. Recall that during the Israeli incursion of Gaza some thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians were killed in the barrage of missiles and bombs and bullets aimed at the militants hiding amongst them. If you think the situation is any different in Afghanistan, you're wrong. As it turns out, Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission issued a report in December 2008 that accuses the Canadian and American forces of exacerbating the war because of air strikes and nighttime raids on civilian homes that often result in violence, destruction and death. The report notes "Afghan families experienced their family members killed or injured, their houses or other property destroyed, or homes invaded at night without any perceived justification or legal authorization." The UN notes that 25% of civilian casualties in Afghanistan are caused by air strikes. Of course, the Canadian commander in Afghanistan, Brigadier General Denis Thompson, denies that air strikes or home invasions - which undoubtedly terrorize the civilian population - are a problem and he claims that Canadian soldiers always follow "proper escalation of force procedures"... (just like the IDF soldiers in Gaza followed proper procedures there, right?).

But... don't we have a responsibility to NATO?
Our responsibility to NATO is to bring informed, intelligent debate to the table and explore all possible diplomatic options before making rash decisions like joining in a protracted war against an insurgent army. Like a good friend, we should be trying to convince our fellow NATO members that an invasion by a coalition like the ISAF is wrong-headed and will only strengthen the Taliban's resolve. If we were really interested in "development", we wouldn't be spending 5 times as much on our military mission as on our 'development' mission; we would have 2500 aid workers there, not 2500 soldiers. Besides, every NATO member has the reserved right to NOT declare war if another member of the alliance is attacked... but let's be clear, Afghanistan never attacked the United States (al Qaeda did), so why are we punishing innocent Afghan civilians?

If we're going to accept the hope and change rhetoric, then we're going to have to bring hope and change to Afghanistan. Let's pull our troops out and quadruple our efforts towards non-militaristic aid - genuine development aid. If we must provide such development projects with security, let's do it the right way, let's get the United Nations involved - particularly neighboring Muslim countries - to bring in and supply Peacekeepers to protect international aid organizations. The last thing we should be sending to Afghanistan is a malicious military force that invades civilian homes at night looking for suspected militants.

Amidst the economic woes and starspangled Obamamania that has taken over our full attention here in North America, we must not forget the fact that we are still at war, even though the warmongers have all been voted out of office.

CLICK HERE TO EXPAND TO FULL POST!

[Paradigm Shift] The New "Everything"

A few years ago I was told a joke about the five Jews who changed the world: Moses, who said “the law is everything”; Jesus, who said “love is everything”; Marx, who said “money is everything”; Freud, who said “sex is everything”; and Einstein, who said “everything is relative!”

Indeed, those voices which have been most influential in history have tended to offer prescriptions for the success of the human race. Perhaps Moses’ ten commandments and Jesus’ advocacy of love were important priorities for the pre-modern societies in which they lived - plagued by murder, theft, slavery and violence. Marx, bearing witness to the horrors of capital exploitation on workers in the modern era, saw wealth distribution as the most important tool for human progress. And maybe Freud thought everyone was a little too uptight and felt that society could benefit from an awareness of the subconscious. Of course, there are many other wise figures in history (of various skin colors and sexes and religious backgrounds) who have changed the world and helped usher in a paradigm shift.

Recently, the “everything” joke came back to me as I pondered the key messages of Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer-prize winning book Guns, Germs and Steel and his recent book, Collapse, which both argue that environmental factors can explain most civilizational collapses and achievements. Judging from Diamond’s work, he would likely assert that our present era can be characterized by the assertion “the environment is everything.” (Incidentally, it turns out that Diamond also happens to be of Jewish heritage). After some reflection, it is became clear to me that the environment is indeed the new “everything”, as now, more than ever, we are realizing the vulnerability of human civilization in the face of ecological demise.

What we are witnessing today – as we walk down the typical grocery store isle and see the growing amount of “organic” foods; as we are affronted with millions of advertisements for “green” products on a daily basis; as we hear of peak oil and of the building of green economies – is the emergence of a new paradigm for the human civilization. After so many years of pollution, of ecological contamination, of soil degradation, species extinction, deforestation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the entire planet is facing a severe health condition – and the great masses have finally begun to notice the symptoms. The greatest challenge to humanity at present comes down to this: Either we clean up the environment and decrease our civilizational ecological footprint, or we face societal collapse on a global level.

An increasing number of environmentalists are asserting this idea in so many words. The list of environmentalists who have clearly expressed an undying commitment to the new “everything” is endless – from Rachel Carson to David Suzuki to Bill McKibben to Paul Hawken to Henry David Thoreau to Al Gore. They may differ in method, but the general goal is the same: We need to make the planet our number one priority.

Since the late 1970s, a powerful strain of thought has dominated the world’s political economy. The ideology of neoliberalism – with its espousal of free markets, free trade, and strong private property rights – was also the birthchild of various ‘wise people’ who thought that human progress would be best achieved by unfettered capitalism. Thus Milton Friedman, Friedrich von Hayek, and Ludvig von Mises all genuinely believed that economic growth was the key to human progress. But as we serge into the 21st Century, it is becoming more apparent that economic growth as we know it is only a short term remedy for “progress”, and in fact, it appears to be directly correlated with ecological destruction on the mid to long term. I believe it is only a matter of time before “economic growth” is surpassed by “ecological sustainability” as the foremost priority of most societies around the world.

While many of us believe that this paradigm shift is generally a good thing, there are some potential pitfalls of which we need to be wary. The foremost concern is that we fall into an impassable state of false environmentalism, which fails to get to the root of the problem – our mode of production (which in turn guides our mode of consumption). Genuine ecological rehabilitation will therefore require revolutionary changes to our very way of life and the very fabric of our societal organization. We will need to look beyond band-aid solutions to environmental problems, and begin to focus on new sustainable methods of living in concert with the planet and its myriad of other guests. A second but equally important concern is that we fail to find equitable solutions - wherein the richest countries and richest people in the world are able to buy their way into a comfortable lifestyle while the rest of the world suffers from the food and energy shortages that are certainly to result from ecological damage.

The new “everything” is here. Now it is time to get on board and make history while we are still here on this Earth. Let us prevent the next “everything” from being something extremely morose – like "escape" or "annihilation". Let us work on the new everything, critique it, understand it, learn it and teach it.

CLICK HERE TO EXPAND TO FULL POST!