I recently participated in a debate with Walter Dorn and others on Canadian peacekeeping. It was illuminating. After Black Alliance for Peace Haiti coordinator Jemima Pierre detailed the horrors of the international body’s mission in Haiti, Dorn was asked if he agreed with the UN mission in that country. The Rideau Institute fellow answered with... Continue Reading →
Canada no peacekeeper and never has been
The Maple’s recent two-part series on “The Bloody History of Canadian ‘Peacekeeping’” is important to understanding Canadian foreign policy. Even though Canada hasn’t contributed significant troop numbers recently, UN missions remain important to understanding Canadian foreign policy. Two weeks ago, Ottawa supported a year-long extension of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH). “Canada... Continue Reading →
Biased coverage of foreign affairs should be criticized
In no area of coverage is Canadian media more biased than in international affairs. Send more weapons to fight Russia, Canada is helping Haiti and don’t allow China to buy our strategic minerals — in Argentina — are just some of the messages promoted in recent days. According to the leading newspapers, radio, TV and... Continue Reading →
Lest We Forget the Ottawa Initiative on Haiti
Nineteen years ago today the Canadian government hosted a meeting that significantly impacted two decades of Haitian politics. Jean Chretien’s Liberals organized an international gathering to discuss overthrowing Haiti’s elected government, re-creating the Haitian military and placing the country under UN trusteeship. Thirteen months after the “Ottawa Initiative on Haiti” meeting President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and most other elected... Continue Reading →
Haiti’s debt of independence
In the vast history of imperialist exploitation few episodes match the depravity of Haiti’s debt of independence. Military blackmail of a small country by a superpower, prioritizing “property rights” over human rights, racial capitalism, a sellout “light skinned” local bourgeoise and the way our past haunts the present are all part of the story. After... Continue Reading →
Haitians right to be angry at UN
The United Nations may be necessary to build a better world, but that doesn’t mean the international body should be above criticism. The case of Haiti reveals how the UN can be part of the problem rather than the solution. On Sunday tens of thousands demonstrated in Port-au-Prince against the foreign-backed dictatorship of Jovenel Moise.... Continue Reading →
Trudeau government’s blackface in Haiti
Justin Trudeau recently apologized for dressing up in blackface. He acknowledged that it was a racist act. But he has continued the much more significant racism of his government’s actions towards Haiti, the country that delivered the greatest ever blow to anti-blackness. In an example of racist double standards, the government recently put out a... Continue Reading →
US says Trudeau adopts “America First” foreign policy, media ignores it
Wouldn’t you think the corporate media would be interested in the US embassy’s reaction to the appointment of a new Canadian foreign minister? Especially if that reaction was to claim Ottawa had decided to adopt an “America First” foreign policy? Wouldn’t some big newspaper or TV station, dedicated to telling the truth about what our... Continue Reading →
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