A reflection on Mangkhut, Florence and the state of the Philippines

Canada must provide humanitarian assistance without conditions to the people of the Philippines | SAM MacLEAN

My thoughts have been with all my friends and the fraternal peoples of the Philippines and South Asia threatened from super typhoon Mangkhut. My aim in this reflection is to analyze the news coverage of both Florence and Mangkhut and to inform Canadians about the reality facing the Filipino people.

(September 15) – Mangkhut is the 15th and strongest storm this year to batter the Philippines.

Mangkhut (also known as Ompong) has brought ferocious winds of up to 130mph and a storm surge of up to 23ft. The Category 5 typhoon greatly surpasses the strength of Hurricane Florence now striking the US Atlantic coast.

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No consent – No pipeline! Canadian’s opposition to Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline project

Protesters block the gates of Kinder Morgan’s Burnaby Mountain facility, March 17, 2018.

Sighting. Map of Tenochtitlan, 1524

Context for the first European image of the Aztec capital, razed by the Spanish in 1521 | KATE WILES

This day. Quebec’s National Day

June 24, 1834. Ludger Duvernay and the members of the Aide-toi, le ciel t’aiders Society (“God helps those who help themselves”) institute June 24 as Quebec’s National Day | http://www.fetenationale.qc.ca

On June 24, the people of Quebec officially mark their National Day established in 1834 by the Quebec patriot Ludger Duvernay and the members of the Aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera Society (“God helps those who help themselves”). The Society was founded on March 8 of the same year with the aim to “provide a designated place for thought to discuss the country’s state of affairs” and “to rekindle the burning desire of love of country, either by shedding light on the deeds of those governing us, or by paying fair tribute to the eloquent and brave defenders of our rights.”

We dot the I’s: Obama, CNN and political prisoners

By TONY SEED (Published March 21, slightly revised by the author on March 26) 

According to CNN, Cuban president Raul Castro “refused to answer the question,” when US president Barack Obama called on Jim Acosta, the Senior White House Correspondent for CNN, a Cuban-American, to ask the first question in a joint press conference with President Raúl Castro at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana on March 21. (After the presentations by the two heads of state in the joint press conference, the floor was opened to questions from the large number of international and Cuban journalists.) Acosta cynically asked if Cuba would release political prisoners.

President Castro immediately replied:

“Give me the list of political prisoners and I will release them immediately. Just mention a list. What political prisoners? Give me a name or names. After this meeting is over, you can give me a list of political prisoners. And if we have those political prisoners, they will be released before tonight ends.”

Before her assassination, Berta Cáceres singled out Hillary Clinton for backing Honduran coup

Berta Caceres at the banks of the Gualcarque River in the Rio Blanco region of western Honduras where she, COPINH (the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras) and the people of Rio Blanco have maintained a two year struggle to halt construction on the Agua Zarca Hydroelectric project, that poses grave threats to local environment, river and indigenous Lenca people from the region.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is facing a new round of questions about her personal role in the 2009 coup in Honduras that ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. Since the coup, Honduras has become one of the most violent places in the world. Last week, indigenous activist Berta Cáceres was assassinated in her home. In an interview two years ago, Cáceres singled out Clinton for her role supporting the coup. “We’re coming out of a coup that we can’t put behind us. We can’t reverse it,” Cáceres said. “It just kept going. And after, there was the issue of the elections. The same Hillary Clinton, in her book, ‘Hard Choices”, practically said what was going to happen in Honduras. This demonstrates the meddling of North Americans in our country. The return of the president, Mel Zelaya, became a secondary issue. There were going to be elections in Honduras. And here she [Clinton] recognized that they didn’t permit Mel Zelaya’s return to the presidency.”

Yesterday Amy Goodman of Democracy Now played this rarely seen clip of Cáceres and interviewed historian Greg Grandin.

Condemn the assassination of Honduran leader Berta Cáceres

Berta Cáceres in Intibuca, Honduras, January 2015 | T. Russo

The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) condemns the assassination of Honduran Indigenous rights activist Berta Cáceres. Cáceres, co-founder of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) was shot by gunmen who broke into her home in the early morning hours of March 3. A tireless fighter for the rights of the peoples, she was a leader of the Lenca people of the Rio Blanco area of Honduras. Most recently, she was leading the fight against the Honduran government’s violation of Indigenous title and in favour of the requirement to obtain the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples for any proposed new hydroelectric projects on their territories.