Force cannot be used to sort out conflicts nor can any terrorist attack be justified
January 4, 2020. Toronto demonstration against U.S. aggression against Iran is one of many across Canada in January.
We are reposting a principled editorial of TML Weekly condemning the assassination of a leading Iranian scientist on November 27. Two days later Israel reportedly murdered a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Sunday, November 29, in a drone strike along the Syria-Iraq border. According to several Arab media outlets, citing Iraqi officials, three more people were killed alongside the commander, identified as Muslim Shahdan. Al Arabiya, quoting Iraqi intelligence sources, reported Shahdan’s car was targeted after he crossed the al-Qa’im border crossing into Syria. The Lebanese TV network Al-Mayadeen, however, denied the reports, quoting reliable sources. Assassination is a preferred method of Israel.
As a reminder, well before the establishment of the illegitimate state of Israel in contravention of the UN Resolution 181 of November 29, 1947, Zionists were assassinating anti-Zionist Jews who opposed their colonial and racist project. The terrorism file contains at least 44 names of Jews who were murdered – not by the Palestinian Arabs – but by those trained in European state terrorism.((Nahum Barnea and Danny Rubenstein, Davar, 19 March 1982). Today assassination and violence has become the preferred method of control of both Israel and its imperialist sponsors to control and quell all opposition.Continue reading →
November 12, 2020. Nurses in San Francisco demand safe staffing levels and conditions of work they require.
(November 21) – The continuing clash in the United States over the results of the presidential election, in the face of COVID-19 cases surging across the country, has only further confirmed the sentiment among the people that the country is headed in the wrong direction and those in government, at all levels, are unfit to govern. Health care workers and other first responders and essential workers still do not have sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing. For example, nurses in Minnesota caring for COVID-19 patients say they have not been tested since the pandemic began. Firefighters and teachers are sleeping in their cars so as not to infect their families. It is commonly felt and spoken of that what is occurring is criminal and government must be held accountable – for all the deaths and for not guaranteeing free PPE, testing, and health care for all in need. Continue reading →
In Bristol on June 7, the statue of Edward Colston was torn down by protesters and thrown in the harbour. Colston was a notorious human trafficker in the late 17th century who was associated with Bristol, one of the main ports connected with trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans.
(London) – This year witnessed an unprecedented upsurge of opposition to racism and Eurocentrism in all forms, in what was popularly known as the Black Lives Matter movement. Initially horrified by the police killing of George Floyd and other events in the US, throughout the country people of all nationalities demanded an end to state racism and police violence in Britain too, an end to all forms of inequality, as well as an end to the public glorification of slavery and colonialism and those who carried out crimes against humanity. Continue reading →
Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from the Labour Party on October 29 by General Secretary David Evans. The reason given was that of failing to retract his reaction to a recent report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). This report alleged that the Labour Party under Corbyn’s leadership had breached the 2010 Equality Act through a combination of “inappropriate involvement” and harassment in complaints procedures relating to antisemitism, and inadequate training provision for those handling the complaints. Corbyn was suspended, it was said, for refusing to accept all the EHRC report’s conclusions and for claiming that “the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents.” In response, Corbyn declared his intention to “strongly contest the political intervention to suspend” him. Continue reading →
October 30, 2004. Demonstration in opposition to the presence of warships in Montreal.
By Christine Dandenault and Claude Brunelle
Canada is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established on April 4, 1949. It has also been a member of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) since May 12, 1958. The integration of the Canadian military into the U.S. military has been one of the characteristics of Canada’s membership in these military alliances. Despite the determined and continued opposition of the Quebec, Canadian and Indigenous peoples to any participation of Canada in such alliances and wars of aggression and occupation under the helm of the U.S. imperialists, the Canadian government continues its interventions against the peoples of the world. This translates into putting the territory, public space and public funds at the disposal of these alliances.
La Presse reported on October 21, that the Canadian government will be increasing the federal budget allocation for war based on its commitment as a member of NATO. “NATO figures show that Canada is on the verge of committing 1.45 per cent of its GDP to the military this year. This not only represents a significant hike from last year’s 1.29 per cent, but the largest share of the GDP for defence in a decade.[1]
“It also exceeds the Liberal government’s original provisions, set out in the 2017 defence policy, to spend 1.4 per cent of the GDP on the military by 2024-2025 – the year NATO members were to reach the two per cent target.”[2] Continue reading →
At a one-day conference titled “Preparing NATO and the Allies for the Future Challenges” in Sofia, Bulgaria on October 27, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana gave a speech in which he outlined NATO’s current preoccupations.
The speech was part of the first panel discussion called “NATO in the next decade: Providing peace and security in a challenging security environment.” Continue reading →
Fifth of a series on the 2020 Halifax International Security Forum
The Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) – NATO-sponsored and U.S. organized – is highlighted by the orchestrated promotion of a confrontal strategy against China. We are printing below in its entirety two items by Michèle A. Flournoy, who is reportedly on the short list for Biden’s top Pentagon post. Her views are neither unique nor exceptional and remarkably bleak. They express a palpable desperation about the dilemma of U.S. national security doctrine. Continue reading →
November 21, 2009. Demonstration against the first Halifax International Security Forum demands “Warmongers Out of Halifax!”
Third in a series
From November 20 to 22, the 12th Halifax International Security Forum (HISF) convened as a platform for warmongering and empire-building of U.S. imperialism and the NATO bloc, in which the Trudeau Liberal government is fully embroiled. The HISF was convened in a virtual format. For the 12th consecutive year, the anti-war forces in Halifax are organizing to oppose it. On November 20, No Harbour for War organized a public anti-war webinar. On November 21, a rally is organized at Halifax Peace Park across from the venue of the HISF. Continue reading →
Canadians are demanding that Canada get out of NATO and NORAD as the very basis for a new direction for foreign relations, and for an economy founded in self-reliance and public enterprise to guarantee the rights of all.
A woman’s going to send the drones So ready the covers of your Vogues The food bank lines are now miles long But a woman’s the one who sends the bombs Liberal feminism can’t be wrong When a woman’s the one who sends the bombs. Can’t get workers PPE But you go girl Nancy Pelosi All hail the bipartisan war parties Now Trump is gone we all agree George W. Bush has been redeemed The war criminals are on our team And there’s a Black woman on my TV screen And when she bombs I’ll yell yasss Queen We’ll force your countries to be free And little Black girls can finally see Themselves in drones and F-16s And this is MLK Jr’s dream Brought to you by Wall Street Brought to you by the elites We’ll never ever give you peace Fund military and police But a woman could be commander in chief See what can happen when you believe? This is gender equality So everybody take a knee The resistance heroes hip hip hooray The FBI and CIA The generals and NSA So please enjoy your new air base We’ve all forgot Abu Ghraib We all forgot Guantanamo Bay And none of them will see the Hague The Patriot Act’s so yesterday We‘re all in love with John McCain Make Lockheed Martin great again Centrist neo-liberals all the rage Kids still living in a cage The war party is here to stay And let’s lock Julian Assange away. We can’t let him expose the truth We’re never bringing home the troops Obama’s so cool shooting hoops You’ll all be crushed under the boot We’re plotting out another coup Billionaires we won’t prosecute We save that for moms of truant youth Those Timberlands were looking cute So let the oil companies pollute He’ll put them in the cabinet Add bankers to make up the set We’ll regulate the internet Corporate news is all you’ll get But a woman’s going to send the jets Are Yemeni women happy yet? This moment gives me all the feels A woman’s making weapons deals A woman’s making refugees A woman’s going to rob and steal Last week we were environmentalists But now wars for oil are feminist And history will reminisce How all the donors benefit Orange man is out the door Things can go back to how they were before Biden voted for the Iraq War How dare you ask for any more Your kids still super predators And his kid’s on strike number four But prison’s just for you and yours And really the crime bill’s all your fault This is the time for unity Bow down to oil and energy And let’s be friends with GOP And white suburban families There’s no more white supremacy Black woman deliver us the vote We’ll still be kneeling on your throat But a woman’s going to send the drones So volunteer to work those phones So we can bomb some woman’s home And probably waterboard her son They’re back in fashion neo-cons So four more years of settlements War parties are in agreement And let’s hashtag Black excellence Kamala is Vice President. The ladies join the gentlemen In sword, famine, wild beast, pestilence The four horse persons of apocalypse These days we call that feminist Is this the dream of suffragists? And I heard her bombs never miss And don’t forget to call her Ms. Madame, her honour, she or ma’am Get ready those detainment camps Muster the troops line up the ranks A woman’s going to send the tanks And all of us will give her thanks Especially weapons manufacturers, banks And thanks to those suburban moms A woman’s going to send the bombs I’m glad a woman is so strong To send our countries all those bombs.
March 20, 2003. Mass anti-war action as Australian people reject U.S. imperialist aggression in Iraq alongside people around the world.
Angus Campbell, chief of Australian Imperial Defence Staff, is billed as a lead speaker by the NATO-sponsored, US-organized ‘Halifax’ Imperialist Insecurity Forum (HISF) now underway. He is to speak on a panel on the Plenary 5 pabel: “GoCanada! Middle Powers Show The Way.”[1]
An official inquiry has just confirmed Australian soldiers were involved in the unlawful killing of dozens of Afghan civilians.
It found 25 special forces soldiers killed 39 civilians in practices known as “throwdowns” where concealable weapons were placed on the bodies of those killed in order to photograph evidence to justify the killings. Continue reading →
The DND annually gives around $4 billion of public funds to private companies rather than investing that money in building a viable public service sector and giving workers a chance to have stable Canadian standard jobs with security of employment.
September 2018. PSAC’s broad public campaign successfully halts the contracting out of cleaning services at Greenwood military base in rural Nova Scotia. The planned contracting out of cleaning services in Kingston is also reversed.
(November 17, updated November 28) – In the past days, the Greek government has escalated its authoritarianism by banning this year’s anti-imperialist march on the US embassy. The march is held every year on November 17 to commemorate the anniversary of the uprising of the Polytechnic students and the workers of Athens against the military junta in 1973. The Greek communist party, trade unions and mass organizations said loud and clear that the anti-imperialist march on Tuesday, November 17 would place by observing all health protection measures, as it happened on May Day. The rally conveyed the messages “USA out – NATO out” and “bread-education-freedom”, which were slogans of the Polytechnic uprising, but also express the contemporary struggles against Greece’s involvement in US-NATO imperialist plans, as well as the workers’ and people’s demands for rights to work, education, health, individual and trade union freedoms. The oligarchs, their governments and the US-NATO allies find this content of the militant commemoration of the Polytechnic uprising very disturbing. Continue reading →
The 12th annual Halifax International Security Forum will be convened on November 20-22 as a platform for warmongering and empire building of U.S. imperialism and the NATO bloc, in which the Trudeau Liberal Government is fully embroiled. Continue reading →
One hundred years ago this week, the IRA carried out one of its most successful operations. The British secret service in Ireland was decimated when 13 senior intelligence officers were executed and many more fled into Dublin Castle. Behind the war against the British state in Ireland was a highly organised Intelligence Department operating in the main under Michael Collins’s direction. Former and serving British soldiers or RIC men, tradesmen, landladies, maids, taximen, businessmen, postmen, British agents and others supplied vital snippets of information on which the department depended. Continue reading →
Joshua Stein in Byline Times reveals how arms monopolies are booming while the rest of the British economy suffers from the impact of the Coronavirus crisis
The fourth Astute-class nuclear-powered submarine, HMS Audacious, outside its indoor ship building complex at BAE Systems in 2017 | Owen Humphreys/PA Archive/PA Images
The Ministry of Defence has forked out hundreds of millions of pounds to its favoured clients in 2020, in the face of the economic ruin caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Continue reading →
The German Government plans to increase military operations in the “Indo-Pacific” in the strategic competition with China.
Poster from anti-NATO rally in Munich, February 18, 2017
BERLIN/CANBERRA (german-foreign-policy.com) – The German government plans to send a frigate for patrol in the Indian Ocean and to deploy German naval officers on Australian warships, announced German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on the occasion of her talks with her Australian counterpart. A training expedition of the frigate Hamburg to the Indian Ocean was originally planned for this year but had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. Continue reading →
The open collaboration of the Trudeau Liberals and nazi-fascist forces. “Canadian soldiers did not fight in World War II to support the fascist cause: they fought to defeat it. Their participation in commemorations such as the one which is organized every year in Etobicoke undermines their integrity and the honour of all Canadians who gave their lives in the anti-fascist war. It deserves a public outcry against it” | Tony Seed
Cadets from Royal Military College, as well as representatives of the Canadian Armed Forces, participate in “Ukrainian Remembrance Day,” in Etobicoke, November 11, 2015, alongside supporters of the fascist Ukrainian formations from World War II and supporters of neo-Nazi organizations that are part of the current coup regime.
Demonstration against conscription in Victoria Square, Montreal, May 17, 1917. Working people in Quebec could find no convincing reason to sacrifice their lives for the glory of the British Empire. The Canadian government imposed conscription in August 1917.
By Nick Lin
On November 11, 1918, the Armistice which brought World War I to an end was signed, marking the end of the war. A slaughterhouse of unprecedented proportions, World War I was referred to as the “war to end all wars.” Despite this, it is well known that the subsequent peace treaty signed in Versailles, was a factor in laying the grounds for the growth of fascism and World War II. Continue reading →
Episode 68 of Education is a Right Podcast, released on the occasion of Remembrance Day 2020, is introduced as follows:
“This year Remembrance Day takes place in the 75th anniversary year of the end of World War II. It will take place in schools in the conditions of a pandemic where assembly or other large gatherings are not permitted. This means educators will play a bigger role in commemorating Remembrance Day with their students than they might in other years. In this episode we discuss the importance of contributing to peace through remembrance for educators and students.”
January 25, 2020. Demonstration in Montreal opposing U.S. aggression against Iran.
By Christine Dandenault
The workers of Canada and Quebec do not want Canada to contribute to world conflicts or wars of aggression against friendly peoples. The 2003 march of more than 200,000 people in the streets of Montreal in minus 20 degree Celsius weather against the invasion of Iraq, along with various actions organized against the presence of NATO warships in the Port of Montreal and elsewhere against the promotion of war amongst the youth clearly attest to this. Continue reading →
English journalist PAUL MASON* poses the question, as it is being totally ignored amidst the often revisionist and pro-war centenary commemorations, part of the all-round falsification of history.
– On the occasion of Remembrance Day, we are featuring a series of articles on the war and related matters of concern. This article was originally published on this blog on November 14, 2014 and republished in November 6, 2018 on the occasion of the centenary of the end of World War I –
Quiz question: why did the first world war end? We are witnessing commemorations in which the human preference for restraint and dignity will be under pressure from the televisual tendency for wittering on without knowledge or feeling.
So one crucial piece of knowledge should be, for schoolchildren and for TV presenters alike: how and why did it actually end? Continue reading →
The discussion on institutional Israeli racism against its own Palestinian Arab population has all but ceased following the final approval of the discriminatory Nation-State Law in July 2018. Indeed, the latest addition to Israel’s Basic Law is a mere start of a new government-espoused agenda that is designed to further marginalize over a fifth of Israel’s population. Continue reading →
A proposal to erect a statue dedicated to US abolitionist and activist Frederick Douglass has been passed by Belfast City Council. Douglass, a former slave, visited Belfast in 1845 as part of his lecturing tour of Ireland. Continue reading →
“The Cuban people hold a special place in the hearts of the peoples of Africa. The Cuban internationalists have made a contribution to African independence, freedom and justice, unparalleled for its principled and selfless character…Cubans came to our region as doctors, teachers, soldiers, agricultural experts, but never as colonizers. They have shared the same trenches with us in the struggle against colonialism, underdevelopment, and apartheid.” –Nelson Mandela Continue reading →
Salvador Allende’s Historic Inauguration 50 Years Later – Declassified White House Records Show How Nixon-Kissinger Set Strategy of Destabilization – And Why
(Washington D.C., November 3) – Several days after Salvador Allende’s history-changing November 3, 1970, inauguration, Richard Nixon convened his National Security Council for a formal meeting on what policy the U.S. should adopt toward Chile’s new Popular Unity government. Only a few officials who gathered in the White House Cabinet Room knew that, under Nixon’s orders, the CIA had covertly tried, and failed, to foment a preemptive military coup to prevent Allende from ever being inaugurated. The SECRET/SENSITIVE NSC memorandum of conversation revealed a consensus that Allende’s democratic election and his socialist agenda for substantive change in Chile threatened U.S. interests, but divergent views on what the U.S. could, and should do about it. “We can bring his downfall, perhaps, without being counterproductive,” suggested Secretary of State William Rogers, who opposed overt hostility and aggression toward Chile. “We have to do everything we can to hurt [Allende] and bring him down,” agreed the secretary of defense, Melvin Laird. Continue reading →
August 28, 2020. Demonstration of over 70,000 in Washington, DC, under conditions of the pandemic, on the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington | Karey
TML Weekly has published a special edition devoted to the US elections which are being held today. The articles are thought provoking. It states that “The aim is to provide readers with views, commentary and analysis, and information to help them grapple with what is pertinent and what is not in the election and to go to the heart of the matter of what is taking place in that country. It is crucial to lift the veil on the disinformation aimed at keeping the people disempowered.”
It calls on its readers to not get caught up in the disinformation which is being ratcheted up a hundredfold. “Reject all discourse which leaves the people out of the equation or blames the people for the outcome or declares that the vote counts or that the people confer a mandate or that the military should intervene in any way.” Continue reading →
Kevin Barry was hanged at the age of 18 by the British in Mountjoy Jail on 1 November 1920, 100 years ago this week. He was the first republican to be executed by the British after the 1916 Rising, but his martyrdom inspired the republican side in the War of Independence. Continue reading →
Episode 68 of Education is a Right Podcast, released on the occasion of Remembrance Day 2020, is introduced as follows:
Tony Seed's Weblog 