US military training has long been controversial. After years of protest over its training of brutal military leaders in the hemisphere, the US military’s School of the Americas in Georgia changed its name. Among the peace and anti-imperialist minded, it’s widely understood that military training is an important part of US global power projection. But... Continue Reading →
Crazed Israel defenders slander critics, ignore crime
If soldiers of some country — say Russia, Canada, or USA — are suspected of killing a journalist covering a story, reasonable people around the world rightly express outrage at the country responsible, even if it is their own. It appears, however, that some prominent Canadian defenders of Israel are not reasonable. Many ‘Israel no... Continue Reading →
NDP Ontario cozies-up to pro-Israel, anti-progressive racists
B’nai Brith is a racist, anti-left-wing organization that all progressives should shun. The fact that the Ontario NDP would smear an internationalist, social justice minded movement to gain favour with this anti-Palestinian group is unconscionable. Over the past eighteen months Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Al Haq, B'tselem, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinians have... Continue Reading →
NDP onboard with Cons, Liberals in warmongering over Ukraine
Canada’s “left wing” party is openly opposed to negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. In “Feds must do more to support Ukraine, say experts, Ukrainians, opposition MPs” NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson repeats the party’s call to send more weapons to fight Russia and suggests the NDP formally opposes negotiations. The Monday... Continue Reading →
Media ignore tragedies, exploitation in Canadian mines
Eight miners in Burkina Faso have been stuck underground for nearly a month. Unlike other mining disasters, it’s received little attention outside West Africa. Over the weekend K. Diallo tweeted, “for 20 days, 8 African miners have been stranded more than 500 meters deep in a zinc mine operated by a Canadian company in Burkina... Continue Reading →
Israel lobby tries again to disrupt Canadian Palestinian solidarity
The Israel lobby has launched another odious and hypocritical attack. They’re calling on the government to expel Palestinian-Canadian activist Khaled Barakat and criminalize the Canadian branch of the Samidoun Palestinian prisoner solidarity network. Last Saturday the front page of the right-wing National Post was largely covered with Barakat’s face. Columnist Terry Glavin reported that Barakat... Continue Reading →
Cotler’s new ‘antisemitism’ analyst caught ‘crying wolf’ before
Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism is designed to protect Israel from growing criticism of its violence, colonialism and apartheid. That was confirmed by the envoy hiring an individual found by a McGill University inquiry to have fabricated claims of antisemitism to smear Palestine solidarity activists. In his recent statement on... Continue Reading →
McGill admin amps up anti-Palestinian campaign
The McGill University administration and Israel lobby have waged a multiyear campaign against student democracy and Palestinian solidarity and recently threatened the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) financial arrangement after students voted overwhelmingly for the “Palestine Solidarity Policy”. A month ago, 71% of students voted for a resolution that commits SSMU to take a... Continue Reading →
Harper pushed conflict with Russia long before invasion
Stephen Harper recently joined the chorus ratcheting up tensions with Russia. Paradoxically, the former prime minister’s crass distortion of his relationship with that country offers a sort of roadmap for antiwar forces to restrict further escalation and force Ottawa towards diplomacy. At a public talk Harper portrayed his government as having sought good relations with... Continue Reading →
Media coverage determines ‘worth’ of victims
The notion of ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’ victims is important to understanding Canada’s propaganda system and foreign policy. A common form of bias is for media outlets to concentrate on the victims of enemy states while largely ignoring those victimized by friendly governments. Contrasting Russia’s two-month-old invasion of Ukraine with the war in Yemen or the... Continue Reading →
NDP fails those who want peaceful solutions to conflict
All those who would like to support a political party working for peaceful solutions to military conflicts are being driven away from the New Democratic Party. Instead of advocating for diplomacy, the NDP has long pressed for conflict with Russia. They’ve consistently supported measures that escalate tensions in Ukraine and have prodded the government to... Continue Reading →
Lesson from World War 1 — No to imperialists on both sides!
Canada is at war with Russia and leftists need to focus on restricting Canada’s further contribution to the horror in Ukraine. Last Tuesday prime minister Justin Trudeau announced that “Canada will be sending heavy artillery to Ukraine”. The recent federal budget earmarked half a billion dollars for arms to Ukraine (in addition to over $100... Continue Reading →
Liveability of planet requires an end to ecocidal capitalism
Every year since 1969 humanity’s resource consumption has exceeded earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources by an ever-greater volume. Damaging the planet’s life support systems will eventually spur the collapse of human civilization. Despite this, the CEO of CIBC Victor Dodig recently said Canada needs to be “obsessed with economic growth”. Published on the front... Continue Reading →
Liberal budget funds apologists for Israeli crimes
As more and more Canadians, including university students across the country, oppose Israel’s apartheid policies. the Liberals devoted millions of dollars in the recent federal budget to strengthen anti-Palestinian forces. They put up $5.6 million over five years for Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism. The position was created a... Continue Reading →
Québec Greens campaign against war production
Last weekend I joined Green Party of Québec leader Alex Tyrrell on the 5th stop of his tour of Quebec war factories. We traveled to Pratt & Whitney Canada’s (PWC) large facility in Longueuil in a bid to raise awareness of the Greens’ campaign to shutter the arms industry. PWC has provided engines for US,... Continue Reading →
You must be logged in to post a comment.