By October, Canada had committed four frigates, a destroyer and a supply ship to help U.S. naval forces already operating in the Middle East.(1) This was not enough for the Canadian press, however, who reacted by stating “finally, the Liberals wake up to the new reality,” when the PM incited a wave of fear in telling delegates of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting that “the scope of the threat that terror poses to our societies and our way of life has no precedent or parallel in history.”(2) As expected, funding poured into the Canadian middle power defence apparatus. The military’s “robust” “3-D” (defence, dipolmacy, development) policy was sharpened as funding poured in, with finance minister Paul Martin saying the country was more than able to commit whatever financial resources were required.

This was still not enough for the press. A headline in the Vancouver Sun read, “We’re at war. Deal with it: Canada is still dragging its feet in the struggle against terrorism in all its forms.”(3) But Canada is certainly more of an “aggressive international partner” than a foot dragger. Paul Chapin said as much in 2004 in an address to The Royal Canadian Military Institute in his role as Director General of the International Security Bureau at Foreign Affairs Canada. Between mentioning Canada’s role in Afghanistan, Haiti and Sudan, Chapin said

In Iraq, one can see the same 3-D effect, though perhaps on a more modest scale (and perhaps it should be 4-D, given the involvement in police operations in that country). We have a political representative in Baghdad. We are not engaged in the coalition, but we do quite a lot – in some respects, we are doing just about everything else. We have a substantial CIDA program for the country, and are also contemplating the potential involvement in a NATO training program. NATO, one should recall, has sent a training reconnaissance mission out to Iraq, pursuant to the Istanbul Summit declaration and the request from the UN and from Iraq for increased NATO involvement.(4)

It should be with little surprise that, on March 2003, US Ambassador Paul Cellucci said “… ironically, Canadian naval vessels, aircraft and personnel… will supply more support to this war in Iraq indirectly… than most of those 46 countries that are fully supporting our efforts there.” The NATO and Canadian training missions have continued unabated since the war began, and the press are starting to warm up to this fact, albeit eight years after the war began. Thus we find Canadian pilots testing their latest toy, the massive Boeing C-17, by flying support missions for Operation Enduring Freedom without Parliamentary support. It perhaps came as a bit more of a surprise to Canadians that, upon notice of his resignation, General Rick Hillier’s training in Iraq was passively addressed but largely ignored amidst the ceaseless fawning of a general who turned Canada into “one of the big boys.” If he is a “hard act to follow,” as the Toronto Star suggests, there is also no shortage of options, with three senior officers all having served in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Richard Sander’s article, “Canada’s Secret War in Iraq,” goes some way into detailing Canada’s further actions in Iraq, unfortunately without citation, but the evidence is clear. In all of this, what is most revealing about Canada’s “quiet diplomacy” in Iraq is the sheer lack of attention it receives in the Canadian press. Afghanistan is “our mission” and it is what the press report on. Mention is rarely made of Canada’s “3-D approach” in Iraq. After expressing “concern” of Russia and the EU’s development of an independent policy (naturally, the pursuit of an independent policy is always a “concern”), Chapin closed his 2004 remarks to the Military Institute by noting the creation of two new cabinet committees: “one on the Canada-US relationship that the Prime Minister himself chairs and one on Global Affairs chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Within the Privy Council, there are Secretariats for both of these committees, which are headed by senior level people and have 10-14 staff each” (74). All are heavily integrated to the DND, CIDA, FAC and CSIS.

With a commitment to US global interests as strong as this, one would be hard pressed to expect anything less than Canada “indirectly” exceeding most of the 46 countries that are fully supporting US war efforts there. Canada is, and has always been, immensely successful in telling its population one thing with a smile as it bats another population with whatever capabilities it has at its disposal. It also clear which of these two actions the press, and consequently the people, spend their time and energy denouncing.

Yesterday, I posted an article titled “Afghanistan and Canada: Talking to the deaf,” detailing how Canada’s anti-war movement is largely ignored.

(1) “PM plays down chance of wider war” Sudbury Star. Sudbury, Ont.: Oct 16, 2001. pg. A.5

(2) “Finding steel on the road to Kabul.” Hugh Winsor. The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.: Oct 10, 2001. pg. A.19

(3) David Warren. The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, B.C.: Nov 24, 2001. p. A.21

(4) “The New World of Robust International Peacekeeping Operations: What Roles for NATO and Canada?” Toronto: Royal Canadian Military Institute, 2005. p. 77.

Courtesy The Real News

Courtesy The Real News

CANADIAN AUDIT OF KANEHSATAKE OPERATIONS IN 2004 “WHITE WASHES” INDIAN AFFAIRS CORRUPTION

MNN. May 2, 2008. Ottawa has just issued a 108-page report on a forensic audit on the Kanehsatake policing incident that began with a vicious attack on the Mohawks on the morning of January 12, 2004. There was nothing impromptu about this event. Indian Affairs, Emergency Preparedness, the Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board and the Prime Minister’s Office planned this set up that cost $34 million of Canadian taxpayer’s money. Kanehsatake’s membership is about 2,000 with only 1,300 living there. What was going on? They said there was “organized crime”, but they did not have enough evidence to lay any criminal charges. Even so, they sent 67 heavily armed mercenaries to invade this otherwise ordinary community.

Minister of Indian Affairs Chuck Strahl says he is mulling over whether further investigative steps should be taken. He says there is a “need for greater accountability, transparency and oversight for Aboriginal People and all Canadians”. You said it, buddy! But why do “Aboriginal” people need to be investigated? This was government corruption, plain and simple. With no justification at all, funds were diverted to conduct an armed attack on Mohawks with the help of the RCMP and the Quebec police! Don’t blame this gratuitous violence and graft on us! We’re the victims. We have nothing to account for. We had no control over any of the misplaced funds.

Kanehsatake is 60 kilometres northwest of Montreal. The Quebec police got $25 million in extra expenses. There are questions about unjustified overtime payments, strange “adjustments”, multiple payments for the same expenses and many other dubious claims. A whole whack of “Cabinet confidence documents” could not be included in the report. This cannot be called “transparency and accountability” by any stretch of the imagination!

Navigant Consulting, who compiled the report, was hired by Canada, the culprit. It was signed by Steve Whitla, 150 Metcalfe, Ottawa Ontario K2P 1P1 613-230-4546. We see this as a blatant attempt to “white wash” an attempted coup. The report does not mention the way these Canadian government agencies illegally ignored the community’s properly constituted Police Commission.

The report did acknowledge that 5 tasers and 6 vehicles went missing. It failed to address the illegal arsenal that was deployed. The government goons came in with vans, police cars, concussion grenades, “flash bangs”, tear gas, MP5s which are fully automatic with a silencer, AR15s, body bags, 308 Sniper Rifles, M14s, 20 calibre handguns, Beretta Pistols, 12-gauge shot guns, 37 mm. armor piercing anti-tank weapons, tasers, tear gas, pepper spray, ASP Batons, full riot gear such as shields, helmets, bullet-proof vests and over 77,000 rounds of ammunition. They had enough firepower to start a small arms war! This equipment is not appropriate for policing in a free and democratic society. Navigant didn’t ask where all the war toys went. They seem anxious to lay blame on the victims who were unarmed. [We could have thrown snowballs at them but would probably have been charged with attempted murder!]

There were inaccuracies on the timing of payments. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers “Detailed Trial Balance”, a $900,000 payment for the mercenaries and their arsenal and vehicles was made in July 2003. Navigant’s audit claimed it was made in November 2003 after James Gabriel wrote a letter on October 31, 2003 to Eric Maldoff, of Heenan Blaikie, the chief federal land claims negotiator. [It was both “trick and treat, eh! Eric!] What’s the deal here?

This scenario smells! The report did nothing to clarify how the government agents got James Gabriel to carry out the dirty work, stating, “Public Safety believes that they were dealing with a council that is quite amenable to our objectives”. In other words, they knew he was their stooge and they could use him to ride rough shod over the properly constituted Police Commission and any semblance of democratic due process.

The book, “Who’s Sorry Now? The Good, the bad and the unapologetic Mohawks of Kanehsatake” outlines this attack in great detail. [LINK]

Niocan Inc. has wanted to open up a mine for the niobium that lies under Kanehsatake for a long time. This is a rare mineral needed by the military for weaponry and space exploration. The Mohawks have resisted this dangerously toxic venture since the 1970s.

Eric Maldoff, the Heenan Blaikie ambulance chaser, controlled “Grand Chief” James Gabriel. Former Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, now of Heenan Blaikie, sent Eric Maldoff there to “keep Kanehsatake off the front pages”. Subsequent Prime Minister, Paul Martin, pushed the button to send in the goons to attack the Mohawks on that early morning of January 12, 2004. The report never gave any reason for this armed invasion. How is that?

Eric Maldoff has experience in Heenan Blaikie, the Privy Council Office and chief federal negotiator for Canada on the Kanehsatake “file”. Because of these connections, he was able to orchestrate this fiasco. Who benefited? Well, Eric and his bosses. This expensive and vicious attack didn’t do anything for the Mohawks or the Canadian people? It’s hard to tell the difference between this and being mugged on the street, isn’t it? At least the drug addict who mugs you does it to your face without pretending they’re doing you a favor!

A lot of planning went into this. The “Mohawk Coalition” was a corporation set up temporarily after the Mohawk Crisis of 1990 to get programs and an election going in the community. After it fell dormant, it was stolen by Clarence Simon, James Gabriel and Leona Bonspiel. The audit denies that millions in government funds were put through this stolen corporation but does admit that vehicles were registered to it. The Mohawk Coalition was also used to divert Mohawk community funds which were then placed in the third party management of PricewaterhouseCoopers [PWC].

Without the knowledge or consent of the community, PWC became the “payment center” for everything, based on James Gabriel’s approval. PWC obstructed justice by not opening up their books for the auditors to examine. They claim they are owed money. They will only answer questions if they’re paid.

According to the Supreme Court of Canada, the Canadian government has a fiduciary responsibility towards the Indigenous peoples. We can only wonder why the auditor didn’t get a court to subpoena PWC’s records. Is the problem that they weren’t paid, or are they worried about something? Maybe PWC owes the Mohawks some money! They will have to answer questions for free if a full and proper public inquiry is conducted. Are there enough honest people left in the Canadian government to see this happen?

When James Gabriel started hiring the goons in 2003, a public relations firm, Communications Strategies of Montreal, was hired to control the spin in the media, who never hesitate to demonize the Mohawks. In 1996 the Privy Council Office hired Richard Walsh, a known felon, to dig up dirt and set us up. According to Ontario Provincial Police documents, Walsh was wanted all over Ontario for credit card fraud. His criminal record seems to have gotten him the job.

Treasury Board Acts were violated to divert $58 million into the stolen corporation. Community programs were cut. The funds for the coup came through the Solicitor Generals office, Public Safety, Indian Affairs and Eric Maldoff of Heenan Blaikie for the Privy Council Office. Maldoff was paid millions for his plotting. Meanwhile in Kanehsatake health and education benefits were cut. Since all the conniving was being done in secret, this was another sign that something big was going wrong for us.

Good policing is neutral. Everybody is equal before the law. This is why Kanehsatake had an independent Police Commission.

The Canadian government agencies set James Gabriel up like a third world dictator. They secretly got him to sign a Tripartite Policing Agreement on behalf of the MCK. He had no authority to usurp the legal mandate of the community’s Police Commission. He did not even have a quorum or consensus of the council.

James Gabriel’s police continued to receive millions for their illicit operations. There was no policing in Kanehsatake and still isn’t. They acted as his personal body guards, at a cost of over $6 million in two years. He walked around the Laval Hilton like a rock star with this entourage carrying weapons openly.

Eric Maldoff of Heenan Blaikie and his associates, Chantal Bernier of Emergency Preparedness and Walter Walling of Indian Affairs, among others, should be charged with meddling in the 2005 election. The election of 2005, that supposedly put things right, was rigged by adding hundreds of non-residents and non-natives to the voting list so they out-numbered the voters living in the community. $500,000 was spent to bring in the council that Indian Affairs wanted and needed to support their schemes.

Eric Maldoff was chief federal land claims negotiator. At the same time his law firm, Heenan Blaikie, handled 28 frivolous cases for James Gabriel, building files on his “enemies”. It was not revealed how much money was spent on the judges and lawyers who helped James Gabriel victimize the Mohawks. His side was funded and not the other side.

Guy Dufort of Heenan Blaikie has now replaced Eric Maldoff as chief federal negotiator. Talk about conflict of interest! Guy Dufort is also the lawyer for the Sulpicians who are the adversaries of the Mohawks in this claim to our land. It was recently announced that he is running for the federal election in Westmount this summer as a Conservative Party candidate. Is this another reason for this audit whitewash? Is the government trying to maintain “cabinet secrecy” should he get elected?

There never was any evidence of “organized crime” in Kanehsatake, as confirmed by SQ Director General, Norman Proulx. “The raid was illegal” and staged by Ottawa. The SQ and RCMP said there was no evidence to justify this operation. The plans were made in secret between MCK and the federal cabinet.

There were no complaints or allegations of misconduct against Tracy Cross, the duly appointed police chief. The principles of fundamental justice set out by the Supreme Court of Canada, state that an accused has a right to know the case against him and to give full answer and reply. Gabriel and his handlers ignored all this. They just sent in their mercenaries without warning to kick out Cross and the legitimate police force. There were no formal charges, no due process, nothing! Just raw third world thuggery!

We need to know which bureaucrats and which politicians were involved. Who were their partners in crime? Who made the plans? Who made the decisions? Who gave the order to attack the Mohawks? What happened to democratic due process?

Laws were being broken and lives could have been lost. We are not exaggerating. Not mentioned by the auditors was the “take out on sight” list carried in by the attacking force. Who compiled it? On what authority? This needs a legal audit. Why were the Kanehsatake people subjected to false charges and the expense of their legal defense? [Link].

MCK and Canadian government interference in policing is a breach of the Tripartite Agreement. A politician can’t tell a cop what to do. Cops are supposed to be lawful. James Gabriel swore in and deputized officers. He did not have authority to do this as Grand Chief. Many of the 67 mercenaries he swore in were not qualified as police officers, or even to handle firearms. Why were these guys given $4,000 “Accuracy International Sniper Rifles” designed to kill with precise accuracy? What has this got to do with democratic due process?

The Navigant report stated that decisions on policing were made among Indian Affairs, Eric Maldoff as chief federal negotiator and the Privy Council Office and possibly the Prime Minister’s Office. Strangely, Maldof was “authorized to negotiate a policing agreement”. He is reported to have taken the view that “strong policing was critical for good governance and the negotiation process” [to go the right way]. Maldoff and Indian Affairs “were strong supporters of’ James Gabriel. “They believed that he was a good negotiation partner”.

This presents a serious test for the integrity of Canada’s legal institutions. Here we have serious evidence of violations leading straight to the Prime Minister’s Office. We have evidence that armed force was used to override the community’s legitimate institutions. There needs to be a legal investigation conducted by a neutral third party that has no vested interest in the outcome. The corruption seems to go to the core of Canada’s ostensibly democratic institutions.

The roots to this corruption run very deep. The role of genealogist Joan Holmes needs to be investigated. Eric Maldoff brought her in to compile a fake history of the Mohawks of Kanehsatake in support of Canada’s claim to our land. Her research needs to be scrutinized by qualified historians. Her involvement in the 2005 election also needs to be investigated. We saw a surge in membership that made the vote go in a direction that appears to have been designated. No one ever saw the new “Indians”. They faxed in their votes. The voters’ list was kept secret. The Mohawks still don’t know who these hundreds of people were or how they managed to capture the election for whoever set them up. To maintain the integrity of the process, the list of voters’ names and addresses must be made public!

The Access to Information documents reveal that this scam surrounding Kanehsatake involved a lot of people [see list below]. Their actions need to be investigated and criminal charges need to be laid where appropriate. A public inquiry with subpoena powers is needed. The law breaking we have been experiencing has to stop.

The motivation for keeping James Gabriel in power at such exorbitant costs seems to have been to cover up a morass of federal government corruption. These are connected to three major issues: the push to open the dangerously polluting niobium mine; the attempt to grab 250 sq. mi. of Mohawk land that is subject to a land claims settlement; and the $58 million that was surreptitiously diverted through the dormant Mohawk Coalition corporation. We have seen government documents that prove the existence of these violations. The public has a right to know.

A public inquiry with a wide scope and terms of reference is demanded to go after all of them especially “cabinet secrecy”. Those found guilty of crimes against the people must be punished, even if they are former prime ministers. Nobody should be above the law.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

HERE’S SOME OF CANADA’S GANGSTA HITTERS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE:

-PriceWaterhouseCoopers, [the Nazi “Farben” of Kanehsatake]

-Gilles “Turd-Party-Bean-Counter” Gagnon of PWC, 514-205-5000

-Jacques “Former-Inspector-Clouseau” Chagnon, Quebec Public Security

-Chantal “Who-had-a-dirty-hand-in-everything” Bernier, Chantal.bernier@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca

-Eric “Who-Drives-the-Blunder-Bus” Maldoff, Heenan Blaikie, emaldoff@heenan.ca 514-846-2249

-Ryan W. “Sour Man” Mansour, Policy Advisor, Quebec Caucus Liaison, Office of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of PSEPC, 613-991-2924

-Stephen “Castratto” Bonspille onahsakenrat@yahoo.ca

-Margaret “Trying-to-Suck-Indian-Blood” Bloodworth, a big player, ADM PSEPC Margaret.bloodworth@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca. She is almost at the top of PCO as “National Security Advisor” to the Prime Minister and Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet, 613-957-5466 Fax 613-953-5089 [328 Langevin, Ottawa]

-Walter “Whose-Billy-Club-has-been-taken-away” Walling, wallingw@ainc-inac.gc.ca; also known as Walter “Wall-Street” Walling for being the first “bag man” sent into Kanehsatake

-Christian “Anti-Christ” Rouleau, rouleau.c@ainc-inac.gc.ca

-Andre “Turn” Cote, cote.a@ainc-inac.gc.ca

-Stuart “Swan Song” Swanson, swanson.s@ainc-inac.gc.ca

-David “Economic-Hit-Man” Hallman, DG Economic Development, Indian Affairs, david.hallman@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca 819-953-0517

-Paul “The White Man” Leblanc, leblanc.p@ainc-inac.gc.ca

-Jean “Lapse-of-Selected-Memory” Chartrand, jean.chartrand@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca 613-990-8470

-Yvan “Who-Maintains-Toilet-Supplies” Dery, for the Privy Council Office ydery@pco-bcp.gc.ca

-Stephen “Here’s-My-Card” Reynolds, stevereynolds@rogers.com

-Annik “The Squeak” Pelletier, of Justice Canada apelleti@justice.gc.ca

-Denise “Who-was-in-there-like-a-dirty-shirt” Charron, denise.charron@SPEPC-SPPCC.gc.ca 613-991-1694

-Sylvia “Ambulance-Chaser” McKenzie, legal counsel, Justice Canada Sylvia.mackenzie@sppcc-psepc.gc.ca 613-998-3952

-Gilles “Pig-Shop-Keeper” Rochon, DG Aboriginal Policing Directorate gilles.rochon@psepc.gc.ca 613-990-2666

-Zuwena “Squeal” Robidas, mouthpiece, zuwena.robidas@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca 613-993-2596

-Helene “Parrot” Philippe, Indian Affairs mouthpiece, philippe.h@ainc-inac.gc.ca

-Emanuel “Little-Lamb” Chabot, Public Affairs & Emergency Preparedness, emmanuel.chabot@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca 613-990-4353

-“Slippery” Jim Beaver jim.beaver@psepc-sppcc.gc.ca

-Peter “Flat-Foot” Fisher, Police Services PSEPC, fax 613-991-0961

-Louise “Who-doesn’t-know-the-half-of-it” Savage,
louise.savage@pspec-sppcc.gc.ca

-Louis-Alexandre “Who-Sits-On-a-Very-High-Chair” Guay, Justice Canada, lguay@justice.gc.ca

-Ghyslain “Gestapo” Picard, AFN, Quebec. reception@afn.ca

Pierre “Jellyfish” Nepton, Indian Affairs, Quebec Region

***Send your comments to: GG Michaelle Jean info@gg.ca; PM Stephen Harper harper.s@parl.gc.ca; Ontario Premier Dalton.mcguinty@premier.gov.on.ca; Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl strahc@parl.gc.ca;

Go here for 108 page audit report: Government of Canada releases forensic audit report http://news.gc.ca/web/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=395719

CANADA’S “INDIAN AFFAIRS” FINANCED WAR MACHINE

AMAZING OR DISGUSTING? $58 Million to Foot Kanehsatake War.

“Hahnel is a professor of economics at American University. With Z Magazine founder Michael Albert, he co-authored a compelling, radical economic vision called participatory economics, or Parecon for short.”

MayDay for Our Millennium

Dear lovers of the earth,

Goot yontif! (Yiddish for “Good festival!”)

For the sake of uniting the May Day of spring and earth that we danced around a Maypole in my public elementary school each year, with my zeyde’s May Day of freedom, equality, and democratic socialism; and
with love for the place that is our planet, enfolded in the Place beyond all places — Shalom, Arthur

May Day for Our Millennium:
Joy and Struggle

by Arthur Waskow

(Sung to the tune of the Internationale)

Arise, ye prisoners of pollution; Arise, ye poisoned of the earth.

All Life demands a revolution, Our planet seeks new birth.
No more the smoke & fumes shall choke us, Arise! and clear the poisoned pall;

Each species whispers condemnation — “You thought us
nought; But we are All!”
We seek the joyful struggle;We celebrate our Place.The love of all Creation Shall unite the human race!

(In the early days of radio aboard ships and planes, “Mayday!!” = “M’aidez = “Help me!” — A version of “SOS.” Listen to the earth crying it out today. )

-Copyright © 1998, 1999 by Arthur WaskowCheck out our
website www.shalomctr.org — especially the Green Menorah section

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, author/ editor of Down-to-Earth Judaism, Torah of the Earth, and Trees, Earth, & Torah: A Tu B’Shvat Anthology; co-author, The Tent of Abraham; director, The Shalom Center. which
voices a new prophetic agenda in Jewish, multireligious, and American life. To receive the weekly on-line Shalom Report, click on –http://www.shalomctr.org/subscribe

Thousands of dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, took the day off work today in what their union called a protest of the war in Iraq, effectively shutting down operations at the busy complexes.

The show of force by the union came two months before the contract expires between the dockworkers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents port operators and large shippers, many of them foreign-owned.

“We are supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war in Iraq,” said union President Bob McEllrath.

At the Port of Los Angeles this morning, however, there were no anti-war activities–no protesters, no signs or banners with anti-war sentiments and no indication of any large-scale opposition of dockworkers to U.S. policy in Iraq.

McEllrath, whose comments came in a press release handed out by union officials near the Port of Los Angeles, said the 25,000 rank-and-file members decided in early January to stand down on May 1. The union members’ day off came despite an arbitrator’s orders that they report to work today. That order came after the Pacific Maritime Assn. complained about the planned action, which it said violates contract obligations. The union has contracts with 29 of the 32 West Coast ports.

“Is this a voluntary war protest or a strike aimed at leveraging labor negotiations–we’re not sure,” said Steve Getzug, spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Assn. “We’re concerned. We thought these kinds of old tricks were a thing of the past.”The dockworkers’ action also affected ports in Oakland, Seattle and San Diego, and was expected to last from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Still, both union and port officials said they did not expect the loss of a single shift to affect the overall operations. At the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach today, 15 ships were due to dock. Port officials said all were coming into berth as expected and will wait there until work gets underway again about 6 p.m.

The union’s action demonstrated the discipline of its membership. It also serves as a reminder of the 2002 dispute between the maritime association and the dockworkers that paralyzed West Coast ports for 10 days.

Dockworkers do virtually all the work involved in loading and unloading freight between ships and the port, handling containers brimming with toys, clothing, computers and automobiles.

As a result, big rig operators were being turned away at terminal gates with signs such as “No Trucks Allowed.”

Among them was Santo Calderon, 48, who was turned away at the TraPac terminal in San Pedro.

He was greeted by a security guard who simply said, “We’re closed.”

Before climbing back into his truck cab and leaving, Calderon shook his head and said, “I’m going to call my dispatcher and see if there is some other place open. If not, I’ll go back to the yard and rest the whole day. There is nothing else to do.”

Asked to explain why he was turning trucks away, a TraPac security guard, with a wave of his hand, simply said, “What you see behind me is all I can say about what’s going on.”

He was referring to the rare sight of 400-foot cranes standing still, harbor roads devoid of truck traffic, empty parking lots and an eerie quiet on the waterfront.

Two years ago today, activity at the ports was crippled when thousands of truckers stayed away from work in protest of U.S. immigration policy. The port truck drivers — predominantly Latinos — acted individually in participating in the “Day Without Immigrants,” which also shuttered thousands of Latino-owned businesses throughout the region and country.

At the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s busiest, as few as 10% of the truckers showed up to haul freight that day. Longshore workers, however, continued loading and unloading ships.

Times staff writer Ron-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.

Louis.sahagun@latimes.com

The obvious question being asked in the media — and echoed by many within the progressive community — is: Why hasn’t the peace movement been able to translate this sympathetic public opinion into public policy?

It is helpful at times like these to reflect back on the history of the Canadian peace movement, to assess our strengths and weaknesses and the lessons learned by generations of activists. I invited several long-time peace activists to share their thoughts and experiences.

The Sixties
The Sixties began with the Ban the Bomb movement and closed with the struggle against the Vietnam War. The early peace movement depended upon leadership from the Canadian churches, from women’s groups like the Voice of Women and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, as well as from communists and socialists active in unions and the Canadian Peace Congress. These three groups provided the continuity that sustained the movement. The biggest obstacle was the Cold War; their greatest achievement, keeping Canada out of the nuclear arms race.

This era coincided with the rise of the New Left on campuses around the world. Students and faculty stood in solidarity with national liberation struggles and in opposition to American imperialism. Teach-ins were held across the country. I remember a film festival in my Scarborough high school, in 1968, where my teachers exposed us to films from Vietnam, as well as from the U.S. Information Service, a wonderful lesson about propaganda and politics.

The Seventies
If the Sixties was the Age of Aquarius, the Seventies was a time of disillusionment, drugs and disco. The war in Vietnam dragged on, and Trudeau’s promise of a Just Society was slow in coming. After the 1972 Christmas bombing of Hanoi, Hans Blumenfeld organized an ad published in the Globe & Mail entitled, “This War Must Stop,” signed by a very large number of prominent academics and others. Frank Cunningham notes that, “such ads are not uncommon now, but this was one of the first of its kind, and had an impact on a Parliamentary debate taking place at the time in which Parliament ended up passing a motion critical of the war.”

Doug Roche, former Canadian disarmament ambassador, recalls that, in comparison to the Sixties, “the 1970s were relatively quiet. The atmosphere of détente had generated a certain amount of complacency.” In 1976, however, as nuclear arms continued to proliferate, Project Ploughshare was founded to represent the Canadian churches on issues of disarmament and development; and Operation Dismantle was founded in 1977 to push for a world referendum on disarmament and to make a nuclear-weapons-free zone. Canadian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War was formed in 1979, the first of many professional groups that bolstered the ranks of the peace movement in the eighties.

The Eighties
It has been said that the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 was the best thing that happened to the peace movement. His aggressive attacks on liberation movements in Central America and his rapid escalation of the nuclear arms race motivated millions into the streets.

During Reagan’s first visit to Ottawa, I helped my fellow Carleton students organize such a welcome that the secret service had to re-route his cavalcade, and Trudeau admonished us to be more hospitable when he got to Parliament Hill. My professors, Leo Panitch and Reg Whitaker, had to bail me out of jail after I was charged with Section 175 of the Criminal Code: causing a public disturbance by shouting. After helping to organize the “Refuse the Cruise” march, the Ottawa Disarmament Coalition and the Peace Petition Caravan Campaign — Canada’s first nation-wide peace effort — I was pleased to play a role in the formation of the Canadian Peace Alliance in 1985.

With Reagan’s help, we learned to organize a broad movement. Nonetheless, we failed at our major task, which was to stop the testing of cruise missiles over the Canadian north. As the possibility of nuclear war seemed to recede, this broad movement began to dwindle.

The Nineties
The 1990s began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Gulf War. The peace movement rallied quite quickly when President George H.W. Bush prepared for an attack on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait. Our mobilization stopped when the war ended quickly in March, 1991.

For much of the decade the movement was dormant, but there was a flowering of activity when NATO started bombing Yugoslavia in 1999. The progressive community was divided over the issue, with Yugoslav-Canadians (mainly Serbs) deeply angered at the NATO attack, while others supported “humanitarian intervention.” It was clear that the collapse of Soviet Bloc and end of the Cold War had not brought neither an “end to history” nor any “peace dividend.”

The Twenty-First Century
The new millennium brought new hope following the Battle of Seattle in 1999 and the rise of the global justice movement. The first World Social Forum helped debunk the myths of neoliberalism and show that “another world is possible” — but then came the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and the subsequent War on Terror. This undercut both the peace movement and the movement against corporate globalization.

We protested the bombing of Afghanistan in 2001, and our protests escalated as George W. Bush prepared to attack. Several friends from the Vietnam era thought it ironic that the country with the most weapons of mass destruction was attacking a country that proved to have none, so we organized an International Weapons Inspection Team to search for these weapons in the U.S. Our website, “Rooting Out Evil,” attracted 28,000 honorary weapons inspectors from around the world, who contributed $26,000 on-line to send our team of parliamentarians and senators from Italy, Denmark, the U.K. and Canada down to Washington. We got major attention on CNN and the BBC — but were virtually ignored by the Canadian media.

The mobilization of half a million Canadians in eighty cities and towns — particularly the 250,000 in Montreal — forced the government to alter course and averted our participation in the Iraq war. That was a major victory for the Canadian peace movement. The subsequent decision not to participate in the U.S.’s missile-defense system was another major victory.

Why Then Can’t We Bring Our Troops Home?
“The popular sentiment in Canada is to get out of Afghanistan, but we have not found a way to give that sentiment an ongoing organized, effective expression of the sort that would compel our political leaders to withdraw,” says longtime Vancouver activist Mordecai Briemberg.

The major factor accounting for the Conservative and Liberal parties’ support for Canadian involvement in Afghanistan is their sense of fealty to (and economic dependence upon) the United States. Ever since the former American ambassador pressured Canada to increase defense spending, our own military-industrial complex is applying additional pressure on our government. The Department of National Defence has sharpened its capacity to do propaganda, with over 500 public-relations people selling us on the merits of the war.

With our corporate media echoing their message, and so much exposure to American media trumpeting the War on Terror, the Canadian public is divided.

Islamophobia is our Achilles Heel, according to Sid Lacombe, coordinator of the Canadian Peace Alliance. Economic inequality and insecurity means that people are busy just coping, working longer for less, and are often reluctant to risk what little security they have. Neoliberal ideology continues to erode our social consciousness and capacity for collective action, and, while the ideology of New Right is crumbling, there is no clear alterative on offer.

The movement itself is going through a transition, as many from the sixties generation retire or pass away. There is not the same degree of leadership coming up from Canadian campuses as during the New Left era. Military funding of “strategic studies” programs has placed a huge pressure on academics to go with the flow. Steve Staples of the Rideau Foundation notes that there is a lack of “messengers” who can convey the peace movement’s point of view effectively to the media.

Many of our allies in the other social movements are also struggling, split, or confused, including the faith community, the women’s movement and organized labour. Among our political allies, most of the remaining Communist Party members are aging, and the International Socialists do not have a strong base in the trade unions, although they do deserve credit for playing a leading role in many of the antiwar actions in central Canada. Although the New Democrats may be criticized for not being vocal enough, the polls show that Canadians know they are consistently opposed to the war. Given how often they are attacked in the media for their position, it would be easy to feel alone and exposed if public opinion were not on their side.

As Mordecai Briemberg notes, the movement peaked in 2003, and has been slow to grow since then. The sentiment against war is dwindling — our capacity lower and our impact less. “We had larger numbers turning out in 2003 than during the protests against the war in Vietnam. That movement grew slowly, over many years — whereas we started high, and have been going downhill. Noam Chomsky said the movement can only grow, but we’ve not grown.”

Lessons Learned
When the peace movement was recognized as “the new superpower,” the war machine enhanced its capacities for public relations and media control. We must frustrate the search for new enemies and resist the demonization of any group. We must take active steps to welcome people of Middle Eastern descent into our movement.

Solidarity is critical, and it hurts when our allies in the labour movement are weak and divided. Similarly, we need a courageous faith community to teach strong social values and reinforce the message that, “thou shalt not kill.” And it is encouraging to hear the anti-poverty movement joining the call for Housing Not War, and to hear that Students for a Democratic Society are once again organizing on campuses.

Written by David Langille, this article appears in the May/June 2008 issue of Canadian Dimension magazine.

Twenty years ago you would have had to be in Toronto to catch a show. Now, the festival takes place in several Canadian cities during the month of May (under the name of Mayweek in some places). Each is organized by a small group of union, community and artist activists who are passionate about drawing attention to the cause of social justice through music, visual art, spoken word, poetry, theatre and other cultural acts.

“The idea of having a festival of cultural events to celebrate working people was inspired more than twenty years ago by a similar festival in Glasgow, Scotland, called Mayfest,” explains Toronto Mayworks coordinator Florencia Berinstein. “Catherine Macleod, a union activist and writer, went to check it out. She came back excited and suggested to the Toronto Labour Council’s media-and-arts subcommittee that it do the same here. A few years later, Mayworks set up as an organization in its own right, and we’ve been expanding since.”

Toronto Mayworks is the largest festival, with an annual budget of $115,000, a board of directors, two permanent, part-time employees and a small but strong contingent workforce of five. Mayworks festivals in Winnipeg and Edmonton are able to raise enough money to pay someone a few months a year to coordinate their events. The festivals in Moncton, Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton, Saskatoon, Calgary, Vancouver and Vancouver Island are organized strictly on volunteer labour, often in partnership with other community cultural organizations.

Each year Mayworks produces an impressive, if eclectic, lineup of concerts, theatre shows, film screenings, art exhibits and occasional educational workshops on topics ranging from “how to write protest songs” to “exploring art as community, not commodity.”

The point of it all is to make social change by touching people’s hearts as well their minds, and have fun doing it. Mayworks also gives visibility and concrete financial support to artists, many of whom work for little pay under difficult circumstances.

“I really appreciate how Mayworks recognizes artists as real workers,” says Chris White, a musician who joined the Ottawa committee a few years ago. “I recall how one of the visual artists in the festival a few years ago spoke so movingly about her health being damaged by the toxins in the materials she was using. You wouldn’t likely have heard that kind of thing anywhere else.”

This year, Mayworks in Toronto, Edmonton and Winnipeg are collaborating on a three-city tour of young, award-winning poets who were commissioned to write on the theme of work.

This project is supported by a Canada Council for the Arts grant, and was conceived and arranged through the national Mayworks coordinating committee, comprised of local festival organizers who communicate by teleconference calls convened by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

“This kind of collaboration between the different local groups is really important to us,” says Glen Michalchuk, chair of the Winnipeg Mayworks festival. “We’re hoping to find more ways to share resources and artists next year.”

Raising money is a never-ending chore for Mayworks organizers. Only groups legally incorporated can apply for dwindling government funds. Most of the revenue comes from union donations in cash or services, like printing, graphic design and postage. Arts and culture are not a priority for most unions, although an increasing number are trying to get their message out in creative ways.

Toronto Mayworks’ year-round operation generates revenue by helping unions and other organizations with arts-and-culture projects, and Berinstein reports that she is contacted for help more frequently and by more unions.

At the last CLC conference of union educators, a special evening cabaret was organized to demonstrate and explore ways of using music, theatre, poetry, dance and visual art to get the labour movement’s messages out to new and diverse audiences. Still, neither Berinstein nor White think that arts and culture are recognized by many unions to be part of their mainstream work.

“I think often it is because of the work and passion of one or two people in a union that a lot of this creative stuff happens. It would be nice to be able to depend on it still happening after those people leave,” says Berinstein.

Chris White points out that a big challenge for Mayworks is how busy union activists are. White, who also serves as artistic director for the Ottawa Folk Festival, knows what it takes to organize a well-attended festival. “It amazes me what Mayworks has achieved, but it would really help if we had more people who could focus more completely on the project. Imagine what could be done if the work was seen as important enough to dedicate full-time staff.”

At the same time, working in the margins has advantages. Almost all the Mayworks committees have organized themselves as independent groups, not as committees of labour councils. They recruit from the union rank and file and from the community, and they can organize their artistic program in any way they want. Some Mayworks organizers worry privately that full integration of arts-and-culture work into regular union structures could compromise its diversity and curtail the involvement of artists, non-union workers and the broader community.

As one committee member puts it, “the great thing about Mayworks is that it creates space for all kinds of people to get involved, and it gets messages out in ways that connect differently. We need unions to see and foster that potential without wanting to control it too much. It’s a hard balancing act for some. So far, unions are doing pretty well, but we need a lot more support.”

Despite a few setbacks (at least one local group is only just pulling out of a financial deficit), Mayworks continues to grow and expand. That’s a good thing, says Don Monet, a visual artist and owner of CUBE gallery in Ottawa. “What I like about Mayworks is it helps unions recognize the value in having artists help to tell our stories. In some cases it also helps artists break through stereotypes of labour and celebrate it for what it is. More than ever, we need a politicized art that reminds us about solidarity — in the past and for the future.”

This article, written by Morna Ballantyne, appears in the May/June 2008 issue of Canadian Dimension.

Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 103. May 1, 2008
Justice for Migrant Workers: Why We Will March
By Chris Ramsaroop

I want to thank the committee for providing Justicia for Migrant Workers Ontario (J4MW) with the opportunity to present to you about the conditions of migrant agricultural workers here in Canada. Many members of J4MW have been organizing in the fields of Southern Ontario for over 7 years. So in one sense it is ironic that you are giving us the equivalent of one minute for each year that we have been organizing workers but also to note the disparate discussion that has occurred amongst both policy makers and governing officials to engage with workers employed under the most precarious conditions. To put it simply: we are not interested in elected officials using this as an opportunity to expand indentureship and exploitation, nor are we here to support the expansion of employer-driven programs. These programs have led to the countless testimonials of abuse and injustices that have been reported to us hundreds, if not thousands of times, over the last seven years.

Listen to the Workers
While you are here today to question us about the conditions for these workers in the fields, I am here to challenge you to listen to the demands of these migrant workers! Engage in a discussion with the workers. Respect their demands for fairness and inclusion. This is something that no governing party in the Canadian Parliament has afforded to these men and women in the over forty years that the program for seasonal migrant workers has been in operation. To simply treat these workers, their families and their communities as silent, expendable and invisible foreign labour denies their humanity. This has been directly manifested itself in both deplorable living and working conditions across this nation. As Nandita Sharma (Home Economics: Nationalism and the Making of ‘Migrant Workers’ in Canada, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006, p. 19) so eloquently writes: “…regulations (such as the Non-Immigrant Employment Authorization Programme – NIEAP) that render migrant workers socially and politically powerless in Canada. Their non-immigrant status is used to deny them the rights normally associated with citizenship that is civil, political and social rights.”

Before describing some of the most pertinent issues faced by workers, I want to quote the comments that some workers asked me to convey to you the parliamentarians about their experiences in Canada. These workers wants you to know that: “They have to respect each individual as a person and not as a farm worker as a person. Them farmer, they would not have anything…if (it was not for the migrant workers) …farmer have to respect and they don’t respect how hard a person work, so they treat you like a crook, a trini, a Jamaican, a bajan, and this is how they think. They don’t think that this is a person with two kids and a wife …they have to deal like you deal with human because if it come like if I workin’ in my country its like I driving a long distance to go to work this is nothing different cause in the present form, the program is like a form of contemporary slavery. The only difference is that if there is a problem on the job I entitled to go home: long time ago they would have killed me, now they sending me home. So it’s the same thing basically the punishment change…”

Migrant Workers Lack Status
With the exception of being sponsored by an employer or through marriage, these farm workers are not permitted to apply for status here in Canada. We have met workers who for the last two or three decades have toiled in Canadian fields for upwards of eight months a year. Yet, despite their contributions, neither they nor their families will ever have the opportunity to apply for status in Canada. We believe that workers if they so desire should have the right to apply for residency in Canada. Both these workers and their families should be granted status.

Several areas have consistently raised inequities in the just treatment of migrant farm workers:

Wages: Many of these workers may lack the promised adequate employment when they arrive and they may be unemployed or ‘rented’ by other employers. In the former case, workers unemployed for significant periods of time are forced to work under the table. In the latter case, workers are ‘rented’ to other employers to pick their crops. Both practices are widespread. This shortchanges these workers the promised the wages and benefits that they are entitled to receive from Canadian employers and the state.

Repatriation: In Ontario, we have gathered statistics about repatriation or the unilateral deportations that workers are subjected to. For the period of 1996 to 2008, J4MW has calculated that there have been over 9,507 premature repatriations or workers who have fled the program. The numbers, provided by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, cover broad categories: Breech of Contract (2,510); Medical (1,006); Domestic (3,022); and AWOL (2,969). It has been difficult to provide a national snap shot. However, these figures are troubling for several reasons. Workers are being sent home, sometimes at their own expense, without a proper appeal mechanism. Through anecdotal evidence, we know that many of these workers were sent home for nefarious reasons: exerting their rights at work; their employer is not happy with their work performance; for non-work activities; for injuries at work; the employer no longer needs the worker; the worker broke curfew; or for inter-racial dating. The overall point is that workers are being unilaterally sent home. The actual or threat of repatriation acts a control mechanism that leads to gross violations of human rights under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program.

Healthcare: Many workers who are sent home for either medical or domestic reasons are returned due to sickness or injuries received in Canada. We are downloading our healthcare costs onto the home countries. In some cases, workers are going home to die. We have ample testimonies to document this position: workers are having their Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) cards withheld; first time workers have a time delay in receiving their OHIP cards; and because of visa restrictions workers who are seriously injured have their healthcare severely curtailed. Fear of being labeled non-status in Canada and thus deported, these workers return to their home countries where the costs of their sickness or injuries incurred in Canada may not be met.

Justice for Migrant Farm Workers
Migrant workers in Canada endure the inequities of non-status, repatriation and lack of social mobility. This curtails their ability to exert their rights. These workers constantly face the threat of being sent home prematurely for standing up for their rights. The program’s employer-driven model means workers are fearful for being banned for the program or not being called back the next year by their employer. This is all compounded by the fact that the workers are indentured to one employer.

As Sharma (Home Economics, p. 19) notes: “People admitted under (guest worker) programs are denied the freedom of labour market and spatial mobility available to those existing within the legal designation of citizen or permanent resident.” Guest worker programs “exist because it is unconstitutional for the state to restrict the mobility of citizens or immigrants. Such restrictions apply only for non-immigrants or foreign visitors who can legally be full indentured to employers in Canada…Those categorized as migrant workers have little or no de facto claims to the minimum wage and labour standards and protection available to the citizenry. Migrant workers are also usually made ineligible for social benefits.”

Justicia for Migrant Workers makes a number of recommendations as follows:

1. Implementation of the recommendations of the 2004 Arthurs Report on the Canada Labour Code with respect to agricultural workers (section 10).
2. More transparent and accountable reporting mechanisms of the detailed information on workers’ repatriation, deportation, and medical repatriation, including information pertaining to deaths, injuries and reasons for deportation.
3. Reassignment of the jurisdiction of migrant labourers to being under the provisions of the Federal Labour Code. Migrant workers come to Canada under a federal program and should be under that jurisdiction.
4. Immediate regularization and status for current participants in migrant workers programs, but also for previous agricultural workers and their families. J4MW supports a broad based approach to status.
5. An end to unilateral repatriation and deportations of migrant workers.
6. Enforcement of Canada’s Healthcare Act so that blockages to full access for migrant workers are removed. We hold that each province violates aspects of the act in the area of protection for migrant agricultural workers.
7. Abolition of the employer-driven programs that effectively establishes an indentured worker system. No worker should be indentured to one site of employment, or one employer, or one sector.
8. Revise Canadian social entitlements to ensure that migrant workers receive equal access and equitable access to unemployment insurance, the Canadian Pension Plan and other benefits the Canadian old age security system.
9. Termination of employer-sanctioned organizations such as the Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Service (FARMS) in the administration of SAWP. It is a conflict of interest for employers to participate in and govern and administer a program such as FARMS while the workers are left voiceless!
10. Increase of the minimum wage.
11. Effective enforcement of proper working and living conditions for migrant workers.
12. When prosecuting bad employers, the state must ensure that workers’ rights are protected and that workers are not deported and do not face reprisals from employers.
13. Removal of existing barriers of access to education for temporary workers. Visas that are granted to migrant agricultural workers do not permit them to attend educational facilities in Canada. Steps undertaken to remove restrictions on international students to work off campus suggests that it is also time that the government allow migrant workers access to education.
14. Any discussion of buyouts or compensation for Canadian farmers must also provide provisions for compensation for migrant agricultural workers who might be losing their employment due to a crisis in agriculture.

Migrant agricultural workers must be accorded the right to respect, dignity and justice.

Chris Ramsaroop is an activist in Justicia for Migrant Workers in Ontario.

May Day 2008: MAY DAY OF ACTION: STATUS FOR ALL!
No One Is Illegal-Toronto is calling on all allies and supporters to endorse and help organise the May Day of Action for Status for All on Saturday, May 3rd.

Millions across North America have taken to the streets in the last two years, demanding Status for All! In Toronto, workers, students, trade unionists, activists and community members have led passionate demonstrations calling for justice and dignity for immigrants and refugees.

May Day 2008 - May 3rd On May 3rd, we will take to the streets. We will demand an end to detentions and deportations. We will demand access without fear to essential services. We will demand an end to security certificates and secret trials. We will demand a full and inclusive regularization program. We will demand justice, dignity and respect!

JOIN US
WAYS TO SUPPORT:
1. Organize a loud contingent to come out on May 3rd.
2. Endorse the May Day of Action by emailing NOII a short statement of support.
3. Financial and in-kind (photocopying, translation) donations.
4. Organize a NOII workshop/presentation at your school, union local, agency, community centre or workplace.

NOII website

I took a deep breath.

“I’m back in Jerusalem, after spending the day in southern Hebron with a hundred Israeli and international activists helping rebuild a Palestinian family’s home that was demolished by the Israeli army.” Silence.

“Don’t you understand that going to the West Bank is putting your mind and body in danger? Why can’t you travel like a normal person and just drink wine by the sea?”

In the winter of 2006, I arrived in Israel/Occupied Palestine for my sixth visit to the region in 24 years. Past trips had been to visit relatives, to celebrate my bat mitzvah and with classmates to see the religious relics we learned about in Jewish day school. This time, I arrived in the country on an all expenses paid tour with Birthright Israel, a joint project of the Israeli government, North American Jewish federations and dozens of philanthropists who support the Zionist state. I had speculations that the trip wasn’t actually “free” in terms of its influential political agenda, but I decided to see for myself. Besides, I had an agenda of my own. I wanted to witness the occupation and learn Palestinian narratives for the first time. [Moreover], I was ready to begin the challenging journey of disrupting my deep bond with Zionism, the belief in a Jewish state, a belief that had been tangled up in my Jewish identity for too long.

After a 12 hour flight, I arrived at Ben Gurion airport with 30 young Jewish Canadians. We were greeted by 10 smiling uniformed soldiers and our Israeli tour guide, who shouted proudly “Welcome Home!”

I felt uncomfortable at the idea that I was being granted immediate comforts and privileges. I tried to keep an open mind, however this moment set the tone for the rest of the tour. We were rapidly introduced to a restricted view of the country in which militarized culture and Jewish privilege is normalized and the occupation, Palestinians and their history is made invisible.

The 10-day tour was emotionally and physically exhausting. Each day I had to check in with myself to ensure I was not being influenced by the heavy doses of propaganda, booze, late nights and packed days. We were literally schlepped in a tour bus from one end of the country to the other; from Yad Vashem (the Holocaust museum) to Har Hertzel (a military cemetery), from drinking at a Jerusalem pub until late, to climbing Massada at sunrise, from camping out in the Ramon Crater, to listening to a lecturer on the Mideast conflict and the “problem of Islamification.”

We were encouraged to get to know the soldiers on our trip in order to understand their experiences. However, aside from the usual religious/secular debates, their politics were all extremely right wing; there was little room for discussion. In Jerusalem, on a walk back to the hotel from the old city, I learned that one of the Israeli women accompanying us was a dog trainer and guard at checkpoints. She told me how great the job is because she loves working with animals. I found it hard to picture her at a checkpoint in uniform; she seemed like a little girl. I asked her what she thought of the group Machsom Watch (an Israeli women’s group whose members witness, intervene and document human rights abuses at checkpoints). She took a long look at me and said firmly, “It’s people like them who make it hard for us to do our job.”

One night, while camping in the Ramon crater, we played war games. We were all told to meet in the darkness of the desert after supper. We arrived to find the Israelis we befriended over the last five days transformed. They were no longer the smiling soldiers who met us at the airport, but stoned faced figures yelling at us to get in lines. Some of us giggled at the serious tone of the military experience, but were soon scared out of it by barking orders to “Shut up”.

We were separated into smaller groups where we were taught how to sneak up on the enemy in the event of a nighttime attack. Later on, we were rounded up for a final exercise where we jogged as a troop, taking turns carrying a wounded soldier on a stretcher, with orders to fall to the ground when the commander yelled “The Arabs are attacking!” At the end of the program I went to sit by the fire, trying to make sense of what just happened, while everyone else boasted about how much fun it was. “Aren’t guns sexy?” I heard one woman say. The Israeli tour guide came to stand beside me and said, “What’s your problem Aviva? It’s just a game.”

By the end of the trip, three participants from my group fulfilled the ultimate agenda of Birthright Israel and decided to exercise their birthright, move to the country to join the Israeli army.

By the end of the Birthright tour, I was more certain than ever that this was a community of Jews I could no longer identify with.

Growing up, I learned to feel at home with the idea of Israel: the Holy Land. A place my grandparents fled to, away from the pogroms of Russia. A place I celebrated in song, dance and stories throughout 18 years of Zionist/Jewish school, summer camps and religious ceremonies. A place I learned to be thankful for, and proud of.

I was never taught about the wider context in which the state was created, nor was I ever challenged to think about the dangers of aligning religion with state powers. I was unaware of the history of colonization, displacement, and institutionalized racism that gave birth to my homeland. The history of Palestine and the Palestinian people was conveniently left out of my Jewish education. Generations of youth like me were born into a culture of flag-waving and falafel-eating in celebration of Jewish nationalism, made comfortable by these dangerous gaps in the history we were taught.

It is quite a challenge to untangle Judaism and Zionism, discourses I learned were synonymous. Even during my most recent visit to the state, where I felt I was relatively critical and aware, I found myself yearning to be part of Jewish traditions and religious ceremonies that don’t entice me as much at home.

It was the first December I was not in Winnipeg, a city where Christmas is inescapable. I enjoyed, momentarily, the surrounding scene of menorahs in store windows and songs playing that I knew the words to. It felt good to have my experience of Channukah reflected in public space.

However, after spending time in the West Bank, I witnessed the difficulties that arise for Palestinian communities during holiday time. Jewish holidays are identified as a high security times which translate into increased number of checkpoints, producing longer wait times and aggravation, temporary or total closures on Palestinian cities and towns (in which all entry permits can be cancelled) or population groups are often targeted, (i.e. men under 35) ceasing their mobility. It enraged me that, as a visitor to the region, what made me feel temporarily comfortable and excited had simultaneously created a context of hostility and violence for the native people under occupation. I reminded myself that it was not the menorah that had created this violence, but the state which uses the context of these peaceful customs to repress Palestinians on the pretext of security.

After the Birthright tour, I signed up for an alternative tour called Birthright Unplugged. The six-day tour of the West Bank is not free as there is significantly less support (politically and financially) for anti-occupation education. There have been twelve Birthright Unplugged trips with 100 participants since 2005.

As soon as the tour began, I knew I had found home in a radical Jewish community. We started by learning about each other, unpacking our assumptions and privileges and sharing our expectations for the trip. We agreed to share these with each other rather than with our Palestinian hosts, so as to not burden them with these teachings; such as feelings of guilt and shame while unlearning racism and deconstructing Zionism. We expressed a shared desire to bring these stories back home, as well our intense fear about how our families and communities would react. Many of us already felt severed from our communities due to our sexual politics and radical consciousness. And yet, somehow, that experience made it easier to imagine coming out as anti occupation Jews.

Over six days, we visited Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps in order to develop an understanding of what it means to live under occupation. We visited a family in Mas’ha, a village in the Salfit governorate of the West Bank, whose home is surrounded by the apartheid wall. We entered the gate and collectively became speechless looking around at the cage the Amer family calls home: each side of the property completely surrounded by concrete wall and electric fence.

Hani Amer, the father of the family, shared their story via a friend who translated: “No matter what government controls the area, this land is Palestine and I am Palestinian, our relation is with the land, not the name the government chooses and so we remain here because this is our home. But this is no life for my children.”

A wall was constructed in front of the Amer family home to isolate them from the rest of their community so that they will abandon their house to enable the Israeli settlement to expand. Further, a fence was built on the settlement side of their property, at the request of settlers who, ironically, did not wish to live next to a wall. The Amer family has, for many years, had rocks and garbage thrown into their yard, endured verbal harassment of their children, and had their green house and side room demolished. And they had to fight to have a gate built into the wall so they could go in and out of their home and gain access to their agricultural land.

On my return home I felt a responsibility to share what I heard, witnessed and experienced in Israel/Occupied Palestine. So I created a zine with another Birthright Unplugged alumni, Ilana Lerman. OUT was sent to friends and zine distros around North America to continue the dialogue.

Since my return home, I have connected with other radical Jews in Winnipeg as well as like-minded Jews nationally at the Toronto Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadian’s conference in March 2008.

Through OUT as well as other means, alumni continue to support one another in our efforts of creative resistance. Despite the geographic distance between us, we are slowly building new radical Jewish communities dedicated to breaking the silence of injustice and working toward a just peace. Although some view any criticism of Israel or Zionism as anti-Semitism, I believe that critical dialogue of the state is the best solidarity with Jews that one could have. Unfortunately, because those who are critical of the state find it difficult to find a safe space in which to host this dialogue, many radical Jews must leave the community in order to do this work and to find places where our politics and passion for change are celebrated rather than tolerated.

It is through my queer consciousness that I developed the tools and strength to think critically about all systems of power and, eventually, to come out as an anti Zionist Jew. I see these pieces of my identity as intimately intertwined and necessarily loud—despite the call to remain silent. It is crucial that we recognize all systems of domination as interlocking and incapable of existing in isolation. I want to make these links visible and, in doing so, fight sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, anti-Semitism, colonization and all systems of domination in order to promote radical change.

I have a clear memory of attending a rally for Israel at the Manitoba legislative building in high school. There I was, waving an Israeli flag proudly showing my support for the Jewish state, snarling at the faceless activists holding signs that read ‘End the Occupation’. I can remember my confusion and rage. “What occupation?” I saw Jewish people I knew on the other side of the picket line and felt my anger rising. I identified them as self-hating Jews. I never asked them to explain their position.

Today, I am that face of opposition. It took a long time for me to arrive at a place where I can hear criticisms of the state of Israel without feeling personally attacked. I still don’t feel comfortable speaking about my views to certain members of my family and Jewish community, for fear of being ostracized and silenced. I understand the barriers in place to communicating these politics, and so I have tolerance and understanding for those who are not ready to hear what I have to say.

It takes seconds to bulldoze a home and a lifetime to build a movement. We can keep rebuilding homes, but they will keep being torn down until Jews and allies all over the world take action to create a culture of resistance that welcomes transformation.

Aviva Cipilinski is a queer anarcha-feminist community activist who believes in the power of personal stories as a tool for social change. Visit HYPERLINK “http://www.qzap.org” http://www.qzap.org/ to view Aviva and Ilana’s zine: “OUT”

The YMCA of Greater Vancouver picked Briemberg for the International Peacemaker award from a field of nine nominees to honour people working to change the world.

Nominated by Stopwar.ca, Vancouver’s largest anti-war coalition, Briemberg, 69, traces his life-long effort for peace back to the 1950s when as a Rhodes scholar he studied in England and was inspired by Bertrand Russell, then in his 90s, engaging in civil disobedience against nuclear weapons.

While teaching sociology at Simon Fraser University in the 1960s, Briemberg helped establish the Committee to Aid War Objectors to provide support for American war resisters seeking refuge in Canada. His anti-nuclear weapon campaigns continued in Vancouver with End the Arms Race and the efforts to free jailed Israeli nuclear program whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu.

To Briemberg, work to support Palestinians in accordance with international law, human rights laws, and United Nations resolutions on the conflict, is simply consistent with the moral values and idealism imparted to him by his Jewish parents while growing up in Edmonton.

Briemberg went on to help found the Canada-Palestine Network (CanPalNet) and served on the board of the Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation whose projects include providing mental health services for Palestinian children traumatized by violence. Briemberg’s commitment to education extends beyond the classroom. Briemberg helped found a newspaper called the Western Voice and is now a host of Co-op Radio’s Redeye program.

The YMCA’s peace awards began 20 years ago to recognize individuals who are “proof that each of us has the power to create a more peaceful world and that every individual effort can make a difference.” Since 1987, more than 900 individuals and groups across the country have received YMCA peace medallions for work locally, with youth and internationally.

Briemberg is currently being sued by Canwest Global, owners of The Vancouver Sun and The Province, for producing a parody of The Sun and its pro-Israel editorial policies. Though Briemberg had nothing to do with the production of the parody, Canwest cited his pro-Palestinian work as the reason he is being sued. The Seriously Free Speech Committee has been formed in support and to help raise funds for his defence. For more information: www.seriouslyfreespeech.ca

At the national convention of CUPW, representing over fifty thousand workers across Canada, a strong majority of delegates voted for a resolution in support of the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli apartheid.

Marking the first time a country-wide labour union in North America has voted to participate in the global campaign against apartheid in Palestine, CUPW’s resolution represents a critical juncture for the involvement of North American labour in this campaign. International support for CUPW’s resolution - which recognizes the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights, including the right of return - could prove key to shoring up this victory.

In Canada, CUPW has been at the forefront of campaigns against privatization and deregulation of postal services in Canada, while maintaining a proud history of international solidarity. During the South African apartheid years, CUPW played a lead role in labor solidarity with South African workers, engaging in concrete actions such as the refusal to handle mail from South Africa.

CUPW has now joined the international campaign against Israeli apartheid, committing itself to “support the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obligations to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and lands as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.”

Israel’s apartheid and colonial policies have resulted in the near collapse of the Palestinian economy, resulting in massive unemployment and bleak poverty. In the West Bank, over 51 % of the population is estimated to live under the poverty line; in Gaza, the figure rises to 81 %. Israel’s policies have had a particularly acute effect on Palestinian postal workers, as the apartheid regime has ensured that there is no Palestinian-controlled access to other countries.

As a result, all incoming and outgoing Palestinian mail has to pass through the Israeli postal service, which routinely delays delivery, often for several months. In the course of fulfilling their duty, Palestinian postal workers are forced to travel through Israeli checkpoints at which Israeli soldiers regularly delay their passage, detaining them for hours under the sun or rain, or denying them passage altogether. Working under a brutal military occupation, Palestinian postal workers can risk imprisonment, injury, and death in the course of a day’s work.

CUPW’s resolution comes at a time when Israel prepares to celebrate the sixtieth year since its establishment, a celebration in which many of the most powerful governments of the world will participate. For sixty years, the Palestinian people have endured and resisted ongoing displacement, land confiscation, military violence, institutionalized racism, and political repression of the minority who managed to remain in their homeland. CUPW’s resolution is a clear statement to the world that when the states of the world stand behind oppression and apartheid, it is up to the people of the world to oppose it.

Every passing week demostrates the urgent need for a strong popular movement against Israeli apartheid. Last week, Israel once more stepped up the violence of its bloody siege of Gaza, leaving dozens of Palestinian civilians dead. Israel continues to impose collective punishment on the 1.5 million Palestinians of Gaza, who live with chronic shortages of electricity, fuel, food and basic necessities as a result.

We call on all workers and labour unions to join CUPW in creating a strong and effective boycott movement to help bring an end to this injustice and violence…

actions you can take:

* Endorse this statement: send the name of your organization and city to:
tadamon[at]resist.ca.

* Send a message of solidarity through email or fax to the CUPW National office congratulating them on their stand against Israeli apartheid. Please fax your letter of support to CUPW National Office at: + 1 613 563 7861 email at: tadamon[at]resist.ca

* Ask your union, community group, association or collective to follow CUPW’s lead and adopt a position in support of the international campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli apartheid.

* In Montreal, join the “Boycott Apartheid” bloc in the demonstration organized by the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (CJPP) to mark the 60th year of the Nakba on Saturday, 10 May 2008, 1pm Dorchester Square (Peel & René-Lévesque) in Montreal. To join the boycott bloc, look for the “boycott Israeli Apartheid” banner.

endorsed by:

Tadamon! Montreal (Montreal, Quebec)
Palestinian BDS National Committee (Palestine)
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (Toronto, Canada)
Fédération nationale des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ) (Quebec)
Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ) (Quebec)
Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel (Beirut, Lebanon)
People’s Movement (Beirut, Lebanon)
Civil Resistance Campaign (Beirut, Lebanon)