Anti-imperialist voters have no one to support in NDP race

 There’s little space for internationalism in official ‘left’ politics. From the Greens to NDP, imperialism and militarism dominate Canadian politics.

A few weeks after backing Mark Carney’s radical militarist budget, Elizabeth May recently criticized Palestinian civil society’s call for non-violent solidarity. According to a Global Green News report, “May reiterated her long-standing opposition to the BDS movement, portraying it as ‘polarizing,’ ‘divisive,’ and incompatible with her view of Israel’s right to exist.”

Over the past two years Israel has displaced basically everyone in Gaza, destroyed almost every building and killed nearly ten percent of the population. It has also bombed Lebanon and Syria about a thousand times each and occupies swaths of both nations. Israel has also bombed Iran and Yemen many times as well as Qatar, Tunisia and Iraq. Who cares about the ‘right to exist’ — whatever that means — of an apartheid state that’s probably instigated more violence in relation to its size than any state in the history of humanity.

During the last serious Green Party leadership race May promoted arch Zionist, liberal imperialist, Annamie Paul in a just barely successful bid to subvert internationalist candidate Dimitri Lascaris. In a sign of her genocidal character, Paul participated in a lobby junket to Israel last month where they met the deputy foreign minister. (In a sign of the anti-Palestinian character of Canada’s media, the moderator of last April’s federal election debate, Steve Paikin, also participated in the genocide solidarity trip.)

In a similar dynamic, the NDP recently excluded an internationalist from its leadership race. The three-person unelected committee excluded my candidacy largely on the grounds that I’ve been a leading critic of Canadian foreign policy. (In their rationale for exclusion they don’t cite any domestic policy position.)

Conversely, the NDP brass happily promote Heather McPherson who sits on a NATO parliamentary body, has applauded a Nazi, engaged with a CIA talk shop and repeatedly praised arch Zionist Irwin Cotler. McPherson recently introduced the NDP’s leading anti-Palestinian into the party’s gamed leadership race. She sent thousands an email from recently retired MP Randall Garrison who was vice chair of the Canada Israel Interparliamentary Group until May. Also on the NATO parliamentary association, ‘Genocide Garrison’ promoted Canada leading a NATO battle group to Latvia and criticized the Liberals for not putting more money into a NORAD radar system.

A few days after celebrating Garrison, McPherson sent out an endorsement from Jack ‘destroyer of Libya’ Harris. As NDP military critic, Harris promoted the NDP voting for two Parliamentary resolutions in support of a NATO war that devastated Libya. Harris also repeatedly criticized the Stephen Harper Conservatives for not devoting more resources to warfare and two years ago Harris told the Toronto Star the NDP should restrict members from debating the horrors of Zionism.

While McPherson consolidates the militarist, genocidal NDP establishment behind her campaign, Rob Ashton basically ignores Canadian militarism and Ottawa’s US empire aligned foreign policy. On the only international issue I’ve seen him asked — there were no questions about international affairs or Carney’s massive increase in military spending at the official leadership debate — Ashton simply told Jacobin that his position on Gaza was that of the party foreign critic. He noted, “Heather McPherson has been speaking clearly about the situation in Gaza and Palestine, and I couldn’t honestly say anything better than what she’s been saying. She’s done a good job expressing the party’s position — and mine. I fully support her position on Gaza and Palestine.”

Honestly, two years into a live streamed holocaust that answer is stunning. As president of the Canadian section of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which has a proud history of mobilizations against imperialism, Ashton doesn’t appear to have pushed any effort to follow dockers elsewhere in refusing to handle arms on route to Israel.

Under pressure from my campaign, Avi Lewis has started to challenge Carney’s radical militarism. He has also criticized Canada’s arms sales to Israel and trade accord as well as the main genocide lobby group. He describes himself as “anti-Zionist” but doesn’t call for Canadian law to be upheld towards Israel regarding the war crimes act, foreign enlistment act and registered charities.

On China, Haiti and the NATO proxy war Lewis is largely silent. More surprising, over 100 days since the US bombed the first boat off the Venezuelan coast Lewis has been silent on Trump’s bid to overthrow that country’s government. With Canada directly supporting Trump’s violence and criminal blockade, Lewis and the other NDP leadership candidates don’t seem to have even mentioned Venezuela.

Internationalism deserves to be part of parliamentary left politics. Yet the current crop of leadership candidates seems completely uninterested. What’s an internationalist minded voter to do?

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