Support our “Surge for Peace”
   The letter (appended below) to Ottawa City Council comes from an Afghan woman MP who expresses her clear opposition to the use of Ottawa facilities for any military trade shows.

Malalai Joya is an elected Afghan Member of Parliament. However, in May 2007 she was barred from Parliament for three years because she had denounced the many foreign-backed warlords and drug barons who dominate her government. While the Afghan Parliament passed a law giving immunity to all Afghan’s who have committed war crimes over the previous 25 years, it also passed a law saying that Afghan MPs could not criticise each other.

So it is permissible to have MPs in Afghanistan’s parliament who are war criminals, but it is not permissible to have MPs in that Parliament who dare to risk death threats for merely criticising the presence of those war criminals. This is the democracy that Canada helped to install and is now protecting. Canada helped the US to replace Taliban warlords with other warlords from the “Northern Alliance” who killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Kabul alone during the 1990s.

On May 21, 2007, Malalai Joya – the young MP dubbed “the bravest woman in Afghanistan” by the BBC – was unjustly suspended from the Afghan National Assembly. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Afghanistan on that day and, two years later, has still yet to make any statement about Joya’s mistreatment.

“Canada’s participation in this war in Afghanistan has been justified with rhetoric about women’s rights, yet Harper and the Conservatives remained silent when Malalai Joya was ousted from her elected position and again did nothing meaningful when Karzai signed the anti-women provision which sanctioned rape in marriage,” said Parvin Ashrafi, a women’s rights activist with the Iranian Centre for Peace, Freedom and Social Justice and a member of Friends of Malalai Joya—Canada.

« Ce massacre permet au monde d’entrevoir les horreurs auxquelles notre peuple fait face »
14 mai 2009

En tant que représentante élue pour Farah, Afghanistan, j’ajoute ma voix à celles qui condamnent le bombardement de l’OTAN qui a fauché la vie de plus de 150 civils dans ma province, plus tôt ce mois-ci. Ce dernier massacre permet au monde d’entrevoir les horreurs auxquelles notre peuple fait face.

Cependant, tel que je l’ai expliqué lors d’une conférence de presse le 11 mai à Kaboul, les autorités militaires étasuniennes ne veulent pas que vous voyez cette réalité. Comme d’habitude, elles ont tenté de minimiser le nombre de victimes civiles, mais l’information que j’ai obtenue confirme que 164 civils ont été tués dans ces bombardements. À la conférence de presse, un homme du village de Geranai, accablé de douleur, est venu expliquer qu’il avait perdu 20 membres de sa famille dans le massacre.

“This massacre offers the world a glimpse at horrors faced by our people”

As an elected representative for Farah, Afghanistan, I add my voice to those condemning the NATO bombing that claimed over 150 civilian lives in my province earlier this month. This latest massacre offers the world a glimpse of the horrors faced by our people.

However, as I explained at a May 11 press conference in Kabul, the U.S. military authorities do not want you to see this reality. As usual, they have tried to downplay the number of civilian casualties, but I have information that as many as 164 civilians were killed in the bombings. One grief stricken man from the village of Geranai explained at the press conference that he had lost 20 members of his family in the massacre.

(CJPME) Une énigme: la position du Canada sur l’aide humanitaire à Gaza
(CJPME) Canadian position on humanitarian relief in Gaza an enigma

Montréal, le 18 février 2009 – Canadiens pour la justice et la paix au Moyen-Orient
     Après plus de 20 mois de sévères restrictions imposées par Israël sur l’aide internationale et des denrées valant plusieurs millions de dollars destinées à la population de la bande de Gaza, le Canada a finalement protesté – contre le Hamas…

M. Lawrence Cannon, Ministre des Affaires étrangères a en effet déclaré le 4 février que le Hamas avait détourné des denrées humanitaires en provenance des Nations Unies. C’était le premier de deux incidents qui se sont produits au cours de cette semaine pendant laquelle des militants du Hamas ont saisi par la force des cargaisons de l’ONU.  Tout détournement d’aide par le Hamas est illégal et immoral.  Cependant, la rapidité de la condamnation de ces actes par le Canada est en contraste surprenant avec son silence prolongé alors qu’Israël bloquait toute aide humanitaires et le libre passage de denrées de base à destination de la bande de Gaza.  Ce volteface demeure sans explication.

Montréal, le 18 février 2009 – Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
     After more than 20 months of strict Israeli restrictions on millions of dollars worth of aid and supplies to Gaza, Canada finally raised its voice in protest – against Hamas.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon’s Feb. 4th statement against Hamas’ seizure of UN relief supplies came after the first of two incidents during the week of February 2, when UN shipments in Gaza were seized at gunpoint by Hamas militants.  While any such seizure by Hamas is illegal and immoral, Canada’s swift and disapproving reaction stands in stark contrast to its silence to extended and devastating controls on aid and supplies to Gaza imposed by Israel.  The reason for Canada’s differing response remains unexplained.

Vidéo-reportage de la télévision de Radio-Canada (Téléjournal-Midi) (cette nouvelle débute à 2 min. 30 sec.)

Vendredi 13 février 2009 / Friday Feb. 13, 2009.
   La Coalition de Québec pour la paix a déposé au Consulat des États-Unis à Québec une lettre adressée au Président Obama. Signée par 17 associations et regroupements de Québec, la lettre encourage le Président des États-Unis a redonner espoir d’une paix entre Israël et la Palestine, espoir de mettre fin à l’occupation de la Palestine, mais aussi d’un respect des droits humains fondamentaux dont l’urgence humanitaire de levée le blocus de Gaza.  Le Consul assure que la lettre sera transmise à l’équipe du président pour être lue avant sa visite au Canada le 19 février prochain.

   The Quebec City Coalition for peace handed to the US Consulate in Quebec City a letter for President Obama. Signed by 17 associations and networks, the letter encourages the President of the United States to spread a new hope for peace between Israel and Palestine, hope to end the occupation of Palestine, but also for the respect of fundamental human rights, including the urgency of lifting the blockade of Gaza for humanitarian reasons.  The Consul states that the letter will be transmitted to the President’s team to be read before his visit to Canada the 19th of February.

Monsieur le Président des États-Unis / To the President of the United States of America

Nous profitons de votre visite au Canada pour vous souhaiter la bienvenue et pour vous féliciter de votre élection en tant que Président des États-Unis d’Amérique. Cette élection est porteuse d’espoir aux yeux de notre Coalition de Québec pour la paix qui partage votre attachement au dialogue, aux principes de démocratie, de justice et de respect des droits de la personne.  Vos promesses et vos actions en vue de mettre fin à l’occupation de l’Irak, aux arrestations abusives et à l’existence des prisons secrètes et de la prison de Guantanamo nous rassurent. Version française »»

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Canada and to congratulate you on your election as President of the United States of America. Our coalition, the Coalition de Québec pour la paix (Québec city coalition for peace), views your election as a sign of hope. We share your attachment to dialogue, the principals of democracy, justice and respect for human rights. We are reassured by your promises and your actions with a view to putting an end to the occupation of Iraq, abusive arrests, secret prisons and the Guantanamo detention facility. English version sent to the President »»

— La liste des organismes signataires suit / List of group signatories follows »»

What are the risks of an attack against Iran, considered completely crazy by most, according to Eric Margolis (journalist and author), Phyllis Bennis (Senior Analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies, and author) and Paul Heinbecker (former Canadian Chief Foreign Policy Advisor and former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations).

August 6, 2008

It is the 63rd anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The US Dept. of Energy estimates the 5 year death toll from the bomb at Hiroshima alone to be over 200,000, the vast majority of whom were civilians. In the piece below, John Pilger readily debunks the myth that the bombing of Hiroshima was either needed or intended to end the war in the Pacific.

This anniversary has a particular significance, coming as it does at a moment when Israel is intensifying its belligerent posturing towards Iran, culminating perhaps in Benny Morris’ recent threat / prediction in the New York Times of a nuclear attack.

Pilger reminds us that we have seen this all before: the intensive disinformation campaign (in this case, a positive will to forget the International Atomic Energy Agency and US intelligence agencies’ reports that Iran does not pose a nuclear threat), and the campaign of racist vilification.

Trita Parsi talks about the effect of threats on Iranian public opinion
   Trita Parsi was born in Iran and grew up in Sweden. He earned a Master’s Degree in International Relations at Uppsala University, a second Master’s Degree in Economics at Stockholm School of Economics and a PhD in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University SAIS. He has served as an adviser to Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH18) on Middle East issues and is a co-founder and current President of the National Iranian American Council (www.niacouncil.org).

Dr. Parsi is the author of Treacherous Alliance – The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States (Yale University Press, 2007).

Heating Up: The Battle for the Jewish Voice and the Jewish soul

Dear Mom, Dad, your Zionist friends, and Bob Dylan too,

I’ve got news for you all: The times they are a changin’! Remember last Passover ?  Remember when we sat around the Seder table and listened to you rant about Israel`s victimhood ?  About how ethnic cleansing really isn’t that bad ?  And about how if they try to kill the Jews this time, we will at least take them all with us ?  Remember the rolled eyes of my cousins and the looks we exchanged thinking you were all nuts ?

(Click title or picture to read the rest)

Pilger continues to be one of those rare journalists with words that resonate for international activists and humanists. In this article, he recalls the moral courage of Dennis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck, assistant secretary-generals of the UN, who actively denounced, loud and clear, the sanctions against Iraq as a crime against humanity.