Canada’s role in organizing electoral coups in Middle East and North Africa

By ENVER VILLAMIZAR

TML Daily – ON JULY 18, Canada’s new Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Lynne Yelich announced two Canadian projects to train women in electoral campaigning in the Middle East and North Africa, namely in Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen. The announcement comes as the U.S. imperialists are scheming to invade Syria in various ways. Jordan and Lebanon border Syria and the U.S. and Israel are active in Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen. In North Africa, the U.S. carries out drone strikes in Tunisia and NATO forces, including Canada, invaded Libya in 2011 and overthrew its government. Meanwhile, foreign interference continues in Egypt.

The two Canadian projects are said to “support the development of women candidates’ electoral campaigning skills and help to expand recognition of women’s rights as these countries continue to undergo political transitions.”

The projects are also said to push Canada’s efforts and interests in promoting “democratic transition” and “increasing the political participation of women” in the Middle East North Africa region.

So-called political or democratic transition is an imperialist euphemism for interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Such a “transition” certainly applies to the NATO invasion of Libya, the assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and imposition of a puppet government. Clearly these projects will not be to support those women who affirm national sovereignty and oppose and actively resist foreign interference – only those who agree to be imperialist lackeys and join in their schemes to rip these countries open for monopoly plunder.

One project will take place in Lebanon, Libya and Tunisia. It is called the “Arab Women’s Leadership Institute Candidate Preparation School,” and is said to be aimed at building the capacity of female candidates in those countries. It is a straight payout to the International Republican Institute (IRI), which will be implementing it.

The project’s activities include, “Training six individuals — two from each country — in campaign management; coaching the same individuals on strategic communications with the electorate; providing ‘campaign school’ training and mentoring to hundreds of other participants from the three countries.”

The IRI is a notorious outfit affiliated with the U.S. Republican Party that functions as a mechanism for U.S. intervention and interference by financing selected political parties and institutions “in countries important to US interests” under the guise of promoting democracy and freedom. Its president, a former National Security Council and U.S. State Department official “helped conceive and implement the Bush administration’s new Middle East democracy policy,” according to the IRI website. The IRI Board of Directors is chaired by warmongering U.S. Senator John McCain and filled with other Republican Party operatives, many of them former state and government officials, as well as representatives of big U.S. monopolies. Much of its funding comes from the U.S. State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

IRI “democracy promotion” has included, among other things, funding and training opposition forces bent on destabilization and regime change in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, involvement in the 2004 coup against President Aristide in Haiti, the 2009 coup and its aftermath in Honduras and interference in the internal affairs of Egypt and other Middle Eastern and North African countries for similar ends.

The second project, to be implemented by the Forum of Federations in Jordan, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, is called “Empowering Women for Participation in the Political Process of Building Devolved and Decentralized Democracies.” The project’s activities include:

”Providing regional capacity-building training for women’s networks and coalitions dedicated to decentralization; enabling regional dialogue on common platforms and challenges among women, such as activists, parliamentarians, aspiring candidates and businesswomen already engaged in politics or leadership roles; developing gender-specific and gender-sensitive training materials, including audiovisual and virtual tools, on local governance and women.”

The combined cost of these two projects is $971,200. Funding from Canada will be provided through the Global Peace and Security Fund.

Canadians should denounce these schemes to foment electoral coups as an insult to women and the ancient peoples of the Middle East and North Africa who have been fighting tooth and nail to rid themselves of the yoke of colonialism and neo-colonialism. Elections in Canada have become a farce whereby marketing firms and monopolies are able to gain state power through manipulative methods. All the more so because these electoral projects come from a government that has come under investigation by Canadian security forces, elections officials and the courts over allegations of abuse of the system and outright corruption to manipulate the electoral process in order to win elections and stay in power. These activities include overspending, voter suppression, micro-targeting, appointing partisan political insiders to positions of power and privilege and encouraging corrupt practices. This has nothing to do with empowering the people generally or women in particular.

Most countries, including Canada, have laws against foreign money being used to influence elections. This is a basic issue when it comes to upholding national sovereignty and preventing outside interests from manipulating a population and undermining the public authority. The activities Foreign Affairs has planned for the Middle East and North Africa would not be permitted in Canada under law (although no doubt the U.S. does so in various ways). Why would they be acceptable when the situation is reversed? It goes to show that anything goes nationally and internationally when public right is not recognized and monopoly right to act with impunity in the service of maximizing profits and suppressing rivals is given primacy.

The kind of underhanded election activity the imperialists want to bring to the people of the Middle East and North Africa is despised by Canadians from all walks of life, whether it be carried out in Canada or abroad.

(With files from DFAIT)

TML Daily, August 1, 2013 – No. 95

Related reading

Policy debate over invasion of Syria, TML Daily, August 1, 2013 – No. 95