Tour by "Palestine's Mandela" blocked by Canada

Dear Friends,

After weeks of waiting for the Canadian government to issue a visa, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti and CJPME have been forced to cancel his upcoming speaking tour. Despite the urgency of the issue being brought directly to high-level officials in Foreign Affairs and Immigration and Citizenship, the government continued to delay the issuance of a visa, resulting in a cancellation of Barghouti's visit. In the past, Dr. Barghouti has received a visa to Canada within 24 hours after applying. CJPME believes these delays are part of the Harper government's broader strategy of muzzling or obstructing any voice critical of the policies of the Israeli government.

Please protest this obstruction by clicking here. Your email will be sent to the leaders of all political parties, as well as selected MPs in your locale.

Please forward this email to other like-minded friends and acquaintances.

If you like the work that CJPME does, please donate to help us expand our work.

More Info

Dr. Barghouti applied for a visa on March 5th, for entry into Canada on March 19th, yet despite the urgency of the issue being brought directly to high-level officials in Foreign Affairs and Immigration and Citizenship, the government delayed the issuance of a visa to the point where Barghouti missed two key flights, resulting in a cancellation of his visit. In addition to being a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and a former presidential candidate, Dr. Barghouti is a recent Nobel Peace Prize nominee. In the past, Dr. Barghouti has received a visa to Canada within 24 hours after applying.

Dr. Barghouti was scheduled to speak at three public events in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa on the topic: Palestinian political dynamics and the realities for Middle East Peace. Dr. Barghouti also had appointments with several prominent members of parliament schedule for Monday, March 22nd. The delays with Dr. Barghouti's visa were brought to the attention of Foreign Affairs and Citizenship and Immigration as early as Wednesday March 17th, with Minister Cannon being directly advised of the situation. On Thursday, March 18th, the Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration advised the Bloc Quebecois critic Thierry St. Cyr that officials were aware of the urgency of the matter, but were still doing checks on Barghouti, and his host organization Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME.)

"This seems to be another example of the Harper government's dislike for free speech," declared Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME. "Dr. Barghouti has long advocated for a peaceful transition to a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine - his message should appeal to anyone with a sincere commitment to Middle East peace." Dr. Barghouti's record is without blemish: he is a physician and an independent Palestinian politician with a known commitment to non-violence. CJPME believes that the Harper government's obstruction of Dr. Barghouti's visa is part of a broader strategy to muzzle or obstruct any voice critical of the policies of the Israeli government.

Please forward this email to other like-minded friends and acquaintances.

Warmest regards,

The CJPME Leadership

YCL Ontario supports Sudbury strike

This Monday there is a large rally in Sudbury taking place to support the 3 000 Vale Inco workers who have been on strike for the past 8 months. This is a huge strike and it has great political significance that reaches beyond the economic demands of the workers.

For more info check out the ry blog: http://rebelyouth-magazine.blogspot.com/2010/03/build-solidarity-with-striking-sudbury.html

CUPE, the Steelworkers and the OFL are organizing buses across the province to be in Sudbury on Monday. We are encouraging all progressive youth to mobilize and contact local labour councils, CUPE and Steelworker locals to see if there are buses leaving from your area on Monday morning.

__________________________________________

“Bridging the Gap”

A Solidarity Rally for Vale Inco Strikers

Monday, March 22 @ 4:30 p.m.

USW Union Hall,

66 Brady St. | SUDBURY

Over 3,000 steelworkers in Sudbury have been holding the line for 8 months in the Vale Inco strike. They are in a battle against one of the most profitable corporations in the world who want to take away workers’ pensions and seniority rights.

This strike is having a devastating impact on these workers, their families and the community. Something has to give and it’s not the workers.

The time for solidarity is now!

CUPE National and CUPE Ontario are joining with the CLC and the OFL in the Bridging the Gap Solidarity Rally planned for Monday, March 22nd at 4:30 pm in Sudbury. We are organizing buses to get our members and staff there. Can we count on you.

For information on location and departure time for buses leaving for Sudbury, please call Meaghan Dixon at CUPE Ontario at, e-mail meaghanraedixon@yahoo.ca or call: 416-299-9739 or 416-902-4916.

I will mourn on Nakba Day

by Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Sakharov Human Rights Prize laureate, member of Bereaved Families for Peace and a co-initiator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine

I will mourn on Nakba Day. I will mourn for vanished Palestine most of which I never knew. I will mourn for the holy land that is losing its humanity, its landscape, its beauty and its children on the altar of racism and evil. I will mourn for the Jewish youngsters who invade and desecrate the homes of families in Chikh Jarakh, throw the inhabitants into the street, and then sing and dance in memory of Baruch Goldstein, the infamous murderer of Palestinian children, while the owners of the desecrated houses with their children and old people are sleeping in the rain, on the street, opposite their own homes. I will mourn for the soldiers and police who protect those wicked Jewish orthodox invaders without any pangs of conscience. I will mourn for the lands of Bil’in and Ni’lin and for the heroes of Bil’in and Ni’lin, many of whom are children aged 10 and 12, who fearlessly stand up for their right to live in dignity on the land of their fathers. I will mourn for the human rights that have been buried for a long time now in this country, for the blood that is dispensable with impunity, for the killings committed with blessings, for the mendacious Zionist myth on which I was educated and for the crushed Palestinian narrative that is forbidden to express itself but the truth of which has returned and the green shoots of which are poking out through the weeds and the racist laws

I will mourn for the former Minister of Education, Livnat, who defended the law against mourning on Nakba day saying: “If they have nothing to mourn over they will have no reason to rebel,” words worthy of the worst of our adversaries and the most wicked of colonialists.
I will mourn for all of us who do not know what to do in the face of a law that is pure ruthlessness, one of dozens of racist laws that are in the process of assuming places of honour – if not all the places – in the statute-books of the democratic Jewish State. I will mourn for the democracy in this country, half of whose subjects live in conditions that are forbidden even for beasts in other democratic countries.
I will mourn for the children. Those who have died. Those who will die tomorrow. Those who can no longer live here, and those who are living here like monstrous golems that have turned on their creators,whose identity is shaped by fear, evil, racism, the twisted love of a land that is not theirs, hatred for all that is not in their image and an insatiable appetite for killing.
I will mourn on Nakba Day. And also on the day that precedes it which we call Remembrance Day and which is nothing but a day dedicated to the cult of dead flesh, at the end of which everyone goes out and grills another kind of dead flesh on open flames, sings, dances, overeats and gets drunk. I will mourn for our Independence Day that is nothing but a celebration of the triumph of closure and subjugation.
All these things I will mourn on Nakba Day. I will join the millions of dispossessed, downtrodden and humiliated who have not given up on the future and who still believe there is a chance, who stand as witnesses and as firebrands of the true human spirit.
I will mourn on Nakba Day in order to be worthy of them, so that my children will know which side I am on, and so that they too can believe there is a chance for hope and a future in which justice will prevail.

Translated from Hebrew by George Malent.

Letter to NDP: quit so-called Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism

March 18, 2010

The Honourable Jack Layton

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

Dear Jack,

We understand that the Israel lobby groups, such as the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Canada Israel Committee, the Canadian Council on Israel and Jewish Advocacy, and B’nai Brith, are leaning on the NDP to switch political loyalties from the Canadian people to the Israeli government. They are pressuring the NDP to stay in the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (which is attempting to criminalize legitimate criticism of Israel). The CIC is demanding you admonish Libby Davis who spoke out against the Conservative’s anti-civil liberty motion to denounce Israeli Apartheid Week.

These organizations are not allies of the NDP, and will never share your values and principles of social justice and fair play.

You may be tempted to obey them to “avoid trouble”. Don’t. Like criminal, shake-down thugs demanding protection money, once you cave in, they will keep demanding you pay them “or else.” It can never be mutually beneficial, because the Israel lobby’s objective is to either control your position on Israel or to discredit and undermine the NDP.

Last week, Israel had no problem slapping the face of their closest friend, the U.S., by announcing the construction of 1,600 illegal Jewish settlements in the heart of Palestine Jerusalem.

To their not-so-close friends, they’ll break arms. Last August, the leadership of the United Church thought they could buy peace with the CJC by obstructing a grassroots UC resolution to study and educate about the Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. After a September National Post editorial blasted them, the UC leadership publicly apologized for supporting the human rights organization, Independent Jewish Voices. The UC thought they had paid enough “protection money”. But the CJC attacked them again in the most patronizing manner, demanding more obedience and concessions. The UC was battered by that experience.

Your continued participation in the CPCCA gives this neo-McCarthyist body legitimacy. The Bloc Quebecois quit the coalition because they recognized the political damage that being associated with such a right wing body could pose to them. The NDP must quit as well.

If the NDP sides with a right-wing political tendency that adamantly supports the Israeli government to thwart a peace settlement with Palestine and expand Jewish settlements in the heart of Palestinian territory, you will pay dearly in the long run. Your allies will abandon you as you sell-out your core values.

However, if you take a firm stand to remain loyal to your core principles and allies, you will find more than ample support to resist the bullying from the right-wing lobbies, and continue to be a vital democratic party. As Jews, we stand ready to support you when you do.

Sincerely,

Independent Jewish Voices Canada

VI INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM FOR THE FREEDOM OF THE CUBAN FIVE

¡FREEDOM NOW!

VI International Colloquium

For the freedom of the Five Cuban Heroes

& against terrorism

Holguín, from November 17^th to 21^st, 2010

The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples invites all friends of Cuba to join us in the 6^th International Colloquium for the freedom of the Five Cuban Heroes, prisoners of the empire & against terrorism.

This sixth edition will take place from November 17^th to 21^st, 2010; in Holguin province and it will be a new opportunity to all justice-loving people to unite wills and efforts in the struggle to free the Cuban Five, unjustly imprisoned in north American jails for fighting against terrorism. Accreditation fees for the event will be $25.00 CUC per person.

The comfortable Hotel Pernik, located in the center of the provincial capital, will be ready for accommodation in single/double rooms, including breakfast, transfers in-out and transportation to all the activities of the program.

Moreover, from November 22^nd to 24^th, the participants will have access to an additional program of optional visits to places of historical and cultural interest.

Program

Wednesday, November 17^th

15:00 Welcome ceremony, information meeting, and accreditation for all participants at EXPO-HOLGUIN

Thursday, November 18^th

09:30 Opening of the VI Colloquium.

10:00 Updating about the case of the Cuban Five

Meeting with relatives of the Cuban Five at Expo-Holguín

12:30 pm Lunch at Expo-Holguín

02:30 pm Exchange of all foreign delegations by geographical areas

Friday, November 19^th

08:00 Voluntary work in organic urban farms, and planting of trees.

12:30 Lunch at Expo-Holguín.

14:30 Meeting with the delegates to the Colloquium according to different interests: lawyers, journalists and alternative media, writers and artists, teachers and students.

16:30 Meeting with the National Commission in the case of the Cuban Five at ICAP and the International Committee of Solidarity with the Five Cuban Heroes.

Place: Expo-Holguín.

Saturday, November 20^th

08:00 Solidarity Parade.

08:30 Meeting at Che Guevara Monument.

10:00 Session of the VI Colloquium

12:30 Lunch

14:30 Reading and Adoption of the Final Declaration of the Colloquium and the action plan for the future.

15:30 Conclusions.

20:30 Get together with the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR)

Sunday, November 21^st

09:00 Exchange about the struggle for the freedom of the Cuban Five in different municipalities of the province.

09:30 Public audience against terrorism.

Place: Boca de Samà community.

20:00 Cultural activity in homage to the 50^th Anniversary of ICAP.

Monday, November 22^nd

RETURN OF DELEGATES TO THEIR COUNTRY

Optional tours offered by Amistur Agency, which will be sold during the days of the event for no less than 15 persons

Enjoy a day at Guardalavaca Beach

Visit to Guardalavaca Beach. Beach time. Lunch

Visit to Taina Aboriginal Village and “Chorro de Maita” Museum.

Prize per person: 25 CUC

Meeting with the History

Departure to Birán. Visit to the birth house of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.

P.M. Lunch in a restaurant

City tour by different hisdtorical and cultural places of interest, including the visit to the Provincial Museum “La Periquera”.

Prize per person: 25 CUC

CLOSE TO OUR NATIONAL ROOTS

9:00 AM Visit to the National Monumentary Park Bariay, where the Monument to the 5^th Centenary is: Built in October 27^th, 1992, during the celebration of 500 years of Christopher Columbus arrival, which reminds the encounter of both cultures, the European and the Aboriginal ones.

1 Arrival to the National Monumentary Park Bariay

2 Visit to the Spanish Fort.

3 Visit to the information centre.

4 Transfer to the Museum of the Forester to enjoy a welcoming cocktail (Natural coconut water)

Lunch at “Colombo” Restaurant with a liquid included.

5 Return to the hotel.

Prize per person: 30 CUC

NOTE: To the friends arriving by Havana City, there will be a bus during November 15^th, 16^th and 17^th, departing at 6.00 AM from ICAP Headquarters, located on 17 Street, No. 301, between H & I streets, Vedado. There will also be a lunch included with. All this will be 15:00 CUC. The return, November 22^nd from Pernik Hotel, at 6:00 AM, with the same characteristics.

Organizar Committee: Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples

Address: San Carlos street Nº 27, Peralta, Holguín CP80100. Cuba.

Telephone: (53-24) 461 914; (53-24) 424 376

E-Mail: icaphg@hg.cc.cu

icap@cristal.hlg.sld.cu

Oficial Tour Operator: AMISTUR S.A.

Address: Paseo Ave. Nº 406 e/ 17 y 19 streets, Vedado, Havana City. Cuba.

Teléfono: (53-7) 830 1220; (53-7) 833 2374; (53-7) 834 4544

E-Mail: comercial@amistur.cu

Los prizes of the event are per day and they cover accomodation in single/double rooms, breakfast and transportation, from November 17th to 21st.

AMISTUR CUBA S.A.

Name of the event: VI International Colloquium for the Freedom of the Cuban Five

Topic: Solidarity

Dates: From November 17^th to 22^nd , 2010

Place: EXPO-Holguín

Especialist: Lic. Argelio F. Martínez Domínguez.

AMISTUR CUBA S.A.

Telef. (537) 834 45 44/ 8301220/ 833 2374

Fax.- (537) 838 3753

E-Mail: comercial@amistur.cu

Especialist: Lic. Tania Fernández Viu.

AMISTUR CUBA S.A.

Telef. (537) 834 45 44/ 8301220/ 833 2374

Fax.- (537) 838 3753

E-Mail: eventas@amistur.cu

Prizes:

Prizes per person, by night (CUC)During the event November 17th-22nd, 2010
Hotels	Category	SGL in CUC	DBL in CUC
En Ciudad Holguín
Hotel Pernik ( CP)	3*	22,00	17,00

DINNER WITH LIQUIDS INCLUDED 10,00 CUC PER PERSON

Services included in the prize of the package

§Accomodation with breakfast included

§2 Transfers from and to airports / hotel / airport

§3 Transfers to the event sessions

§ Personalized assistance

§5 Reconfirmation of flights

Prizes per person by each night (CUC) PRE & POST EVENT
Hoteles	Categoría	SGL en CUC	DBL en CUC
En Ciudad Holguín
PRECIO POR PAX (CP)	3*	20,00	15,00

Free the Cuban Five!

REPUBLICA DE CUBA

Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular

Comisión de Relaciones Internacionales

The International Relations Commission of the National Assembly of the Peoples’ Power of the Republic of Cuba calls on the Commissions for Human Rights and International Relations, Parliamentary Groups of Friendship with Cuba and all parliamentarians of the world to participate in the PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE FORUM An Injustice that has Already Gone on for 12 Years to be held next March 18, 2010, from 09:00 to 12:00 at http://foro.jovenclub.cu/

For the last 12 years, five Cubans - Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero and René González – have been serving long and unjust sentences in American prisons for the sole crime of defending Cuba from the actions of terrorist groups based in the United States.

Their legal process has been going on for 10 years without justice having been served, in spite of the fact that both the Atlanta Appeals Court and the very Miami Court that tried them have recognized that none of them have harmed the national security of the United States.

During all these years, they have endured many legal and human rights violations: solitary confinement on various occasions without justified cause, delays in authorizing visas for their families thus resulting that in most cases they have only been allowed one visit per year on average, and the reiterated and systematic denial of visas by the United States government to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, the wives of Gerardo Hernández and René González, respectively.

During these years, there have been numerous statements made demanding freedom for the Cuban Five. Parliaments, hundreds of parliamentarians, prestigious legal, religious and human rights organizations, as well as government leaders and notable personalities the world over, including 10 Nobel Prize laureates, have asked for their freedom.

Up until this moment, these demands have been ignored. In June of 2009, the United States Supreme Court announced, without any explanations, its decision to not review the case of the Cuban Five: this means that the legal resources for their case have now been used up.

After 12 years of prison, it is time that the Obama Administration feels the full weight of international demands and puts an end to the injustice and suffering of these five men and their families.

The International Relations Commission of the Cuban Parliament calls upon all parliamentarians of the world so that through this Forum we build another space for proposals and concrete actions directed at the United States government and Congress, to demand that their president releases these five Cuban anti-terrorists and grants visas to Olga Salanueva and Adriana Pérez, in order to put an end to what Amnesty International describes as “unnecessary punishment that goes against both the norms for the humane treatment of the prisoners, and the obligation of countries to protect family life”.

Out of our shelters!

OUT OF OUR SHELTERS! OUT OF OUR LIVES! was the message delivered
to the Canada Border Services Agency on March 8th, International Women's
Day, by the 120 plus women and trans-folks who poured into the Toronto
Rape Crisis Centre for an Emergency Assembly.

The Assembly was called after it came to the attention of the Shelter |
Sanctuary | Status campaign that in Feb. 2010 an Immigration Enforcement
officer went into a women's shelter, looking to deport a non-status migrant
woman, and survivor of violence. Since this information has been made public,
more and more women have started to break the silence.

The Assembly agreed to begin a large-scale campaign insisting that
Immigration Canada make women's spaces and services OFF-LIMITS to
Immigration Enforcement. We are writing today to ask for your support. Please
read below, forward and act! Our actions can make immediate change.

(Details of the assembly can be found at http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/435
Here is what the Toronto Star had to say: http://bit.ly/dAeIlT )

The gathering of over a hundred women, with support from hundreds of others calls for:

1) IMMEDIATE ACTION
This FRIDAY, March 12:
Phone or Email Reg Williams, Director of Immigration Enforcement in Toronto
Phone: 905.612.6070
Email: reg.williams@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca, cc shelter.sanctuary.status@gmail.com

Insist that CBSA has no place in anti-violence against women organizations.
A sample of what you can say or write can be found at:
http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/436

Forward this call to your friends, family and networks. The more
people/organizations that they hear from, the stronger our message will be!

2) If you are part of an organization that serves or supports migrant women,
transpeople and children, or work in a shelter or anti-violence against women
organization, invite a member of the SSS campaign to talk to you about
Access Without Fear. We can work with you to ensure that your centre is safe
and accessible for all people, regardless of immigration status.

3) Shelters and anti-VAW organizations across the city and across the country
are signing on to a declaration demanding:
-a moratorium on all deportations for women surviving violence
-Immigration Enforcement stay out of shelters and anti-VAW spaces
-women fighting back against violence be given immediate status

The full declaration is available here: http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/node/432
If you are working in the anti-VAW sector, work with residents and
participants to get your organization to sign on to the declaration.

4) Get involved with the SSS campaign. On March 19, come out to the
SSS: Access Without Fear Forum for front-line workers and service providers
to develop strategies aimed at ensuring access to essential services for people
without full status. Register here: http://bit.ly/9y1Pvo

The Shelter|Sanctuary|Status Coalition is a growing movement of over 120

anti-Violence Against Women organizations that are working to create safe

spaces for all women, regardless of immigration status.
http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org/sss
shelter.sanctuary.status@gmail.com

Toronto in the struggle for Palestine solidarity

A View From Toronto – A Hub of
“Israel Delegitimization”

Rafeef Ziadah

As a Palestinian refugee, the city of Toronto has always been a place of exile to me. I usually think of it as a large (rather cold) waiting room on my way back to Haifa where my grandparents were born. However, following the publication of a recent report by the prominent Israeli think-tank, the Reut Institute, I felt some pride for my adopted city. The Reut Institute declared Toronto a “hub of Israel delegitimization” and that the growing campaign calling for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel had become a “strategic threat.” The report confirmed to those of us involved in the BDS movement that our work was not in vain. The tireless work of many people around the world to build an effective movement to challenge Israeli apartheid was beginning to pay off. The aim of this article is to look at the key arguments of the Reut Institute’s report and to use them to interpret the response to the recently-concluded Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), held in Toronto (and also started there) and numerous cities across Canada and the world.

Delegitimization Network

The premise of the Reut Institute Report is that there is a Resistance Network (made up of groups like Hizbullah and Hamas) and a Delegitimization Network. Toronto falls into the latter as a key hub of BDS activities around the world. According to the report, the delegitimization network aims to “eliminate the Zionist model by turning Israel into a pariah state through challenging the moral legitimacy of its authorities and very existence (as opposed to its policies); tying its military hands through the use of non-military tools such as international law; and undermining its economy through boycotts, divestments, and sanctions.”

It is true that the BDS movement has been based on clear principles of human rights and international law and attempts to use these as a means of “tying [Israel's] military hands.” These principles are summarized in the three demands found in the Palestinian BDS Call, signed by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations in July 2005:

1.ending the occupation and dismantling the Apartheid wall;
2.equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel; and
3.the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

In the academic and cultural fields, the BDS movement derives its perspective from the Palestinian Call for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel issued a year earlier in July 2004. These two calls represent the most authoritative and widely supported strategic statements to have emerged from Palestine in decades, signed onto by all political factions, labour, student and women organizations, and refugee groups. What the Reut Institute calls a “delegitimization network” is a Palestinian-led movement initiated by those living under Israeli apartheid and exiled from their land. It is this call for solidarity that cities around the world are taking up.

Click here to continue reading

Harper Budget Viewpoints

A news bulletin from PublicValues.ca, March 16, 2010

New at www.PublicValues.ca:
BUDGET 2010, TOO LITTLE FOR TOO MANY, by John Baglow. Public service freeze, cuts to corporate taxes, cities left to fend for themselves. http://www.publicvalues.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00603

PUBLIC SECTOR SPENDING IS ESSENTIAL TO OUR ECONOMY, by Larry Brown. Cuts to public sector have adverse effects on private sector. http://www.publicvalues.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00607

CANDIDATE SMITHERMAN WOULD PRIVATIZE GARBAGE, TTC, by James Laxer. Taking cue from feds and province, Toronto public services would be on the table. http://www.publicvalues.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00606

RECALL OF COMMON FOOD ADDITIVE REVEALS GOVERNMENT FAILURES ON FOOD SAFETY. Contaminated protein was distributed for six weeks after contamination was detected.http://www.publicvalues.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00608

VICTORIA LOOKING TO PRIVATIZE SEWAGE SERVICES AGAINST INDUSTRY ADVICE. P3 not the way to go says construction head. http://www.publicvalues.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00605

LOOMING PENSION CRISIS NEEDS ATTENTION NOW. Union goal is to have 100 per cent of members with a good pension plan. http://www.publicvalues.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00609

"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves..."

__,_._,___

Support NGO Kairos

Please take 30 seconds to address 3 big issues

Dear Friends,

In the past several months, there have been several government attempts to limit Canadians' ability to address human rights issues in Palestine. The government cut funding to the NGO KAIROS because of its support for Palestinian rights. The government replaced the leadership at Rights and Democracy because it supported Israeli and Palestinian NGOs researching rights abuses in Gaza. Finally, last week, a conservative MP sought to muzzle Israeli Apartheid Week's attempts to call attention to Israeli rights abuses against Palestinians. Please help us address each of these three issues:

Protest the defunding of KAIROS by clicking here.

Protest the government's attack on Rights and Democracy by clicking here.

Protest Conservative MP Tim Uppal's motion to effectively shut down Israeli Apartheid Week activitiesby clicking here.

Please forward this email to other like-minded friends and acquaintances. If you like the work that CJPME does, please donate to help us expand our work.

Warmest regards,

The CJPME Leadership

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East

Canadian Youth Climate Coalition - new website

The Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC) is excited to launch their new website today. The new site is full of ways to get involved in the work of the CYCC and to connect with the Canadian youth climate movement. Please take a moment to check out the site and find out how you might like to connect with our work or the work of others within the movement.

www.ourclimate.ca

While there, please sign up as an individual member of CYCC. It's free, takes less than a minute, and ensures that you won't miss out on events, job opportunities or the latest news from the Canadian youth climate movement. The mailing list generated from individual members joining on the site will be the major list we use to communicate from now on. Make sure you don't miss any exciting opportunities - join today!

Please share this email with others who you think would be interested.

We look forward to working with you in the future.

In Solidarity
Amber Church

Stop the Siemans closure!

Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) Hamilton Committee, CPC

Siemens is trying to distract public attention from the real reason for its unilateral decision to shut the Hamilton turbine facility in 15 months and layoff 550 workers – an operation Siemens recently boasted was highly productive and efficient – by blaming public concerns about coal fired generation for their departure to North Carolina next year.

It’s true that that the US sunbelt states don’t much care about the environment – not enough to legislate strong laws and regulations reigning in the corporations at any rate.

Debates on diversity of tactics

A reply from the old times ...

«If you tremble with indignation about any injustice, you are my comrade (...) True rebels don't wear hoods, for one more reason: During the revolution, people should be able to recognize the revolution’s avant-guard in their faces. Peoples don’t take pride in associating with hooded persons.»

Ernesto Che Guevara

Given the nature of recent debates re: diversity of tactics, below are
some specific resources for your information. While the ORN has come
together under a basis of unity that explicitly respects a diversity of
tactics (http://olympicresistance.net/content/about), the articles and
videos below covers a range within the debate.

* For coverage, reports, and analysis on the Convergence as awhole please
check Vancouver Media Co-op and other independent media. Also, ORN
statment celebrating success of the Convergence:
http://olympicresistance.net/content/orn-celebrates-success-convergence-0

+++++++++++++++++++++++

VIDEOS:

Report from Heart Attack
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/2752

The National Lawyers Guild vs BC Civil Liberties:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/2779

Debate on Diversity of Tactics
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/2916

+++++++++++++++++++++++

GENERAL INFO:

Solidarity and Unity Statement:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/2739

"Criminal Element” is VANOC and IOC
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/2742

Setting the Record Straight on Violent Protest and the Olympics
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/commentary/2010/02/07/setting-record-straight-violent-protest-and-olympics

Assessing the Anti-Olympics Protests in Vancouver
http://www.newsocialist.org/index.php?id=2017

+++++++++++++++++++++++

ON DIVERSITY OF TACTICS:

In defense of the black bloc: A communique from Olympic resisters
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/2792

Thoughts on the anonymous communiqué from members of the Black Bloc by
Andrew Loewen: http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/story/2790

No action is sufficient in itself, black bloc or otherwise - A response to
Judy Rebick, Andrew Loewen, and others:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/blog/oshipeya/3044

Breaking Windows is not a revolutionary act by Judy Rebick:
http://transformingpower.ca/en/blog/breaking-windows-not-revolutionary-act

The Black Bloc and the 21st Century anti-Colonial Movement at the Olympics
-A response to Judy Rebick: http://www.peaceculture.org/drupal/node/492

Activists Debate Vancouver Olympic Protests by Derrick O'Keefe (with
extensive debate within the comments):
http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=1053

Response to Derrick O'Keefe about the black bloc and Heart Attack demo:
http://www.mediacoop.ca/blog/oshipeya/3029

Tactical Considerations:
http://resistrantrelax.wordpress.com/2010/02/17/tactical-considerations/

Some Thoughts on Vancouver and the Black Bloc by David Rovics:
http://mostlywater.org/im_better_anarchist_you_some_thoughts_vancouver_and_black_bloc_0

Black Blocs, ‘Violence’ and the Possibilities of Action:
http://peaceculture.org/drupal/node/485

Black Bloc vs. Liberal Shlock
http://anarchistnews.org/?q=node/10839

Rhetorical Militancy for a Rhetorical Mass Movement? If Only We Could Make
Them Like Us
http://www.mediacoop.ca/blog/john-garvey/3040

Union of Young Communists of Brazil - 5th congress