Celebrate International Day for Conscientious Objection by calling on the government to rescind Operational Bulletin 202 Today, May 15, is the International Day for Conscientious Objection. Please join us in calling for the elimination of Immigration Minister Kenney’s Operational Bulletin 202. OB202 directs immigration officers to refer the cases of
Continue readingTag: war and peace
wmtc: marxism 2011 program notes: racism, economic recovery (not), canada’s vietnam
This is the last installment of my notes from the 2011 Marxism conference in Toronto. The series starts here. This post is less complete than the preceding Marxism 2011 posts. They are Allan’s notes from the sessions I chaired, and two sessions he attended without me. Apparently Allan is not
Continue readingwmtc: may 15 is the internaional day for conscientious objection: your help is needed
You haven’t heard from the War Resisters Support Campaign for a while, partly because I was unable to attend meetings during the last school term (necessary, but very frustrating for me), and partly because the Campaign has been regrouping. But the US Iraq War resisters are still here – still
Continue readingwmtc: conrad black vs war resisters: the most whopping double-standard of them all
The Government of Canada welcomes an ex-convict who renounced Canadian citizenship, a man who defrauded seniors of their pensions and life savings. Indeed, the path for his return was cleared while he was still in prison! But people who refused to kill innocent civilians, who courageously defied the US military
Continue readingwmtc: harper and kenney’s refugee healthcare changes are based on lies – and people will die
The inhumane, unjust, and, under international law, illegal shredding of Canada’s refugee system by the Harper GovernmentTM will take effect at the end of June. Of all this Government’s policies, the changes to Canada’s laws regarding refugees are perhaps the least recognized and least contested. The people whose lives will
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: what is the what by dave eggers
I’m in the middle of reading a pair of books that approach a similar subject in different ways. What Is the What is Dave Eggers’ fictional memoir of the Sudanese refugee who he sponsored and befriended. The full title is What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng,
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: #HarperHistory: Canadians Respond to Stephen Harper’s NDP ‘Hitler’ comment
In Parliament yesterday, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair asked PM Stephen Harper whether or nor Canadian special forces would stay in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 withdrawal deadline. Harper’s answer: “The leader of the NDP, in 1939, did not even want to … Continue reading →
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: For Iran, A Generic U.S. Drone
Apparently, Iranian engineers have successfully decoded America’s captured reconnaissance drone and now Tehran intends to build a copy. The Islamic Republic’s military captured the US RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaisance aircraft last December. Dick Chenney is not going to like this. According … Continue reading →
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: A moral argument against the war on drugs
Brazilian police patrol a favela in Rio De Janiero. EPA/Marcelo Sayao Former Brazilian President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has argued that the war on drugs has failed and cannabis should be decriminalised. He argued that the hardline approach has brought “disastrous” … Continue reading →
Continue readingwmtc: this sunday in toronto: firsthand account of israel’s capture of gaza-bound boat
This Sunday, folks in Toronto will have a great opportunity to hear a firsthand account of the arrest and abduction of the crew of the Tahrir, the Canadian boat that tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, part of last year’s Freedom Flotilla. Ehab Lotayef, a Montreal engineer, and
Continue readingwmtc: former u.s. sergeant speaks out against recent massacre in afghanistan
Please watch this video of my friend Chris Vassey, a former sergeant in the US military, speaking at a recent Afghans For Peace vigil in Toronto. Chris has sacrificied so much for peace, much more than most of us will ever have to bear. Now he lives in Canada, and
Continue readingwmtc: they’re all civilians. they’ve always been civilians.
A U.S. soldier is accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan people. Civilians, we are told. As if all the Afghans and all the Iraqis slaughtered by US bombs, raids, drones, guns, white phosphorous, and torture were something other than civilians. The US has been waging two simultaneous wars against civilian populations
Continue readingwmtc: a call to obama: end detentions at guantánamo
Ten years, and still the concentration camp at Guantánamo Bay remains open. Ten years, and still 150 human beings remain imprisoned without charges, without trial. There have been deaths from torture, and cover-ups. There have been medical experiments. Child prisoners have come of age. Prisoners have been quietly released. And
Continue readingwmtc: matthis chiroux: urination video "synonymous with our experiences within a military at war"
Matthis Chiroux, veteran and war resister, on the “urination video” and similar war porn: To some, mostly the weavers and backers of war policy, it seems again that ‘a few bad apples’ have acted on their own within the military, and will be brought to justice in accordance with domestic
Continue readingwmtc: things i heard at the library: an occasional series: # 2
Girl, whispering so quietly I could barely hear her: Excuse me. Um, do you work here? Um… um… do you know where I can find books about diaries of wimpy kids? Ten minutes later, a boy: Do you have Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Not five minutes after that, another
Continue readingwmtc: the iron lady was an enemy of the people and should not be celebrated as a hero
This week, the movie “The Iron Lady” opens, a big-budget biopic starring Meryl Streep as former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. No technical or directorial skills, nor the inevitable genius of Streep’s performance, could justify my seeing this movie. Its very existence as a myth-making celebration of a dangerous, war-mongering,
Continue readingwmtc: memo to progressives and liberals: ron paul is not your friend
Can it be? Are progressive people supporting right-wing libertarian Ron Paul for the US Presidency? In 2008 I wrote on supposedly liberal people supporting hillary clinton. I didn’t agree with that choice, but I understood it. This… this is just insane. So Ron Paul opposes foreign wars and the federal
Continue readingwmtc: malalai joya, noam chomsky, afghanistan, and peace
This video of Malalai Joya and Noam Chomsky speaking in Boston is from March of this year, but sadly, is every bit as relevant today. Chomsky’s analysis of the situation in south and central Asia is especially enlightening. It’s a long video, but maybe some evening you’ll want to watch
Continue readingwmtc: old warriors seeing with clear eyes: bill moyers interview with andrew bacevich
I found this in a massive pile of un-read links. It’s a conversation between progressive journalist Bill Moyers and Andrew Bacevich, author of The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War and The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism.
Continue readingwmtc: "you must fearlessly accept the challenge and aggressively spread the idea of war resistance."
Those who think that the danger of war is past are living in a fool’s paradise. We are faced today with militarism more powerful and more dangerous than that which brought on the World War. That is what the governments have accomplished! But among the peoples of the world the
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