George W. Bush is speaking at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton on Tuesday October 20. Join us, with other anti-war and social justice groups across Canada in calling for the arrest and indictment of Bush for war crimes, crimes against the peace and crimes against humanity. We will demonstrate our total opposition to his legacy of war and aggression and we will affirm our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and Iraq who are victims of his criminal aggression. Join us in our demands for peace, justice and rights! Under international law, aggressive war is the supreme international crime. Upholding the international rule of law means that those guilty of crimes must be brought to justice. The Canadian people and the peoples of the world have stood and continue to stand against these crimes. Bush ordered the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001 which has now killed as many as 50,000 people, while 2 million people remain refugees. He ordered the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 where the deaths of civilians alone number over 100,000 while approximately 2 million Iraqis remain refugees, and where many years of sanctions and war have brought poverty and malnutrition. Bush also supported and equipped the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006 in which more than 1000 civilians died and the Israeli assault on Gaza which killed over 1300 Palestinians -- including at least 300 children. Under Bush, the U.S. "normalized" a global system of kidnap (rendition), torture, secret prisons and secret trials, indefinite detention without trial and kangaroo courts. Although Bush has finally left the White House, his policy of war and aggression is being continued and intensified. The number of U.S. troops sent to Afghanistan has been increased by 17,000 and U.S. missile attacks against the people of Pakistan are also increasing. Meanwhile the assault on human and civil rights continues in both the U.S. and here in Canada. We call on the Canadian government to end its support for the doctrine of war and regime change and arrest and indict Bush for war crimes, crimes against the peace and crimes against humanity, especially those committed in Afghanistan and Iraq. We also call on the City of Edmonton to withdraw its support for the visit of this war criminal. Those who are trying to profit from Bush's crimes by organizing speaking tours must be held responsible for the estimated $500,000 in security costs associated with his visits in 2009. George Bush Go Home! Letter to Edmonton Mayor Stephen MandelDear Mayor Mandel: On October 20, 2009 former U.S. president George W. Bush will visit Edmonton. This visit is a violation of Canada's obligations under international law and of Canadian law. As Lawyers Against War has pointed out in a letter to Prime Minister Harper, which is attached, "Accusation of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by the Bush administration under the supervision and direction of G.W. Bush as President and Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces are well documented....None of these accusations have been dismissed or confirmed by a court of law. However, the credible inculpatory evidence supporting the accusations is overwhelming and there does not appear to be any credible exculpatory evidence refuting the accusations." In light of the credible accusations and reliable evidence of such war crimes and crimes against humanity, George W. Bush is inadmissible to Canada under the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act as well as under Canada's international obligations. According to the Globe and Mail, the total cost to Canadians for the RCMP services alone will be in excess of $500,000 this year. Bush is coming to Edmonton as a private citizen as part of a speaking tour which by his own statements is being carried out in order to bring in lucrative fees. Various corporations active in Alberta are sponsoring this visit for purposes which are not made public. Included in the sponsors is Economic Development Edmonton. It is totally unacceptable that the City of Edmonton utilize public funds for purposes of bringing war criminal George W. Bush to Edmonton. We wish to emphasize that the policy being followed by the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Police Services in providing public sponsorship and publicly-funded security to an individual person who is legally persona non grata is a grave breach of your responsibilities. That it is taking place at a time when the policies followed by the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Police Services are criminalizing dissent and making free political expression contingent on wealth makes it all the more grievous. In Edmonton, the police have begun to routinely deny citizens and residents permits to organize political expression and protest. Where a permit is provided, inflated policing costs are charged to the organizers. The families of missing and murdered women, mainly from the indigenous nations, were forced to pay the police $3,000 last year to organize a Valentine's Day march to remember their loved ones and call for action. Take Back the Night organizers were denied a permit. The Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism and the Canada-Palestine Cultural Association were denied a permit to march on the streets last January, and the organizers threatened with unspecified charges. When the more than 1,500 people participating upheld their right to march in the streets, an organizer was charged with "parading without a permit." The City of Edmonton knows very well that the police are pursuing a policy which is a violation of Canadians' civil rights and the City declined, in the end, to proceed to trial. Yet it continues to permit the police to criminalize dissent and arbitrarily decide who can exercise their democratic rights without facing police harassment. In light of all these facts, we citizens and residents of Edmonton consider it entirely unacceptable that the City of Edmonton is providing assistance to George Bush and using public finances to aid and abet this war criminal. We therefore request that you immediately take the following steps: 1. Inform the organizers that should the Canadian government continue to place itself above the law and not prohibit George W. Bush from entering Canada they will be held responsible for all security and policing surrounding the event. 2. Immediately request from Economic Development Edmonton a full accounting with regard to their sponsorship of Bush's visit and inform EDE that no public funds should be spent promoting the event on October 20th. 3. Request that the Edmonton City Police pursue the arrest of George W. Bush for war crimes, crimes against the peace and crimes against humanity. Yours truly, Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism Statement from George W. Bush
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Click to download poster as PDF. |
George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States,
will be
speaking in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at TCU Place on Wednesday,
October 21, 2009.
This group has been formed for the people of
Saskatchewan
and beyond who believe that George W. Bush is a war criminal and
that he should not be welcome in our province except with a pair
of handcuffs and a ticket to the international criminal
court.
As president of the United States, Bush presided over
one of
the most unpopular presidencies both within the U.S. and around the
world. He turned widespread sympathy for the people of America
after the 9-11 attacks into fear, disgust and disbelief at the
execution of the so-called "War on Terror" which included the
invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
The charges of war crimes, which are now being researched and carried forward by hundreds of lawyers and activists of all political stripes within the U.S. and around the world, arise from invasion of Iraq -- now widely acknowledged to have been started under false pretenses and in breach of the UN Charter and international law. The war in Iraq has claimed lives of Iraqis estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands to over a million. In addition, more than 4000 U.S. soldiers have perished with tens of thousands more injured.
Under the Bush administration, illegal detention, torture and extraordinary rendition became official policy and the world watched in horror as the conditions within prisons such as Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay were revealed. Geneva Conventions were thrown out the door and George W. Bush and his cohorts attempted to elevate themselves above the law.
For these and other reasons too numerous to count, we will oppose George W. Bush's visit to Saskatoon and make our message heard to the people of the world "George W. Bush is not welcome in Saskatoon." We have a conscience and we will not let the visit of a war criminal go unnoticed and unopposed.
We reject the nightmarish world built upon hatred and fear that the Bush administration laid out for us. Instead we choose to build a future based on the dignity of all human beings and respect for life.
For updates, see: www.bushnotwelcome.com
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The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal is inviting its wealthy members and friends ($400 a head) to a Conversation with George W. Bush on October 22 where he "will share his thoughts on his eight momentous years in the Oval Office and will discuss the challenges facing the world in the 21st century."
We denounce that invitation from Montreal's business circles to George W. Bush, whose policies were in violation of international law and led to such suffering worldwide.
The "eight momentous years" of George W. Bush in the White House were first and foremost those of two wars of aggression and occupation which continue today, for whom the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan tragically continue paying the price: of massive bombings of cities, of "collateral" massacres of villagers, of carnage and destruction, of rape and other sexual violence, of torture and arbitrary detention. For us as well as numerous other bodies such as the Brussels Tribunal in Europe, the Center for Constitutional Rights in the United States and Lawyers Against War in Canada, the Bush government is responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity by virtue of the provisions of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and in Canada the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act. That is why George W. Bush is persona non grata and should not be allowed to enter Canada.
The "eight momentous years" of George W. Bush were also those where neo-liberal policies -- the lifting of all blocks to the free market of maximum profit -- were pushed to a paroxysm, leading to the worst financial crisis since the Great Crash of 1929. Working populations of the entire world, including the United States, are tragically paying the price today and will continue to do so for a long time to come, as it is they who will be reimbursing the huge national debts linked to tax cuts for the rich, militarism and the financial rescue of speculators of the worst kind.
The "eight momentous years" of George W. Bush were those of an absurd and destructive policy in environmental affairs directly inspired by the oil sector: the negation of world scientific consensus on greenhouse gas emissions, the rejection of the Kyoto Protocol and the unbridled promotion of fossil fuels.
The "eight momentous years" of George W. Bush were those of outright retrogressive policies regarding women's rights and the desertion of the population of New Orleans before, during and after Hurricane Katrina, and of the deterioration in public services.
Other than the indignation we feel regarding this invitation to George Bush from the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal -- and its endorsement by other bodies such as the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations (MCFR) and the newspaper The Gazette -- we feel it's important to warn our fellow citizens about the dangers that this ultra-conservative mind set continues to represent, with its sole concern for the big powers. Because clearly in the United States as well as in Canada they are demanding more. In Calgary, Toronto, Saskatoon and in Montreal, that is the thrust of all these recent invitations to George W. Bush from Canadian business circles, who profit from war, the privatization of public services and state agencies and the development of Alberta's tar sands. This October 22, we will demonstrate to say NO to the presence of George W. Bush in Montreal, as well as to reject that mind set which continues to threaten us. Come out and express your opposition to the presence of George W. Bush in Montreal.
(Translated from the original French by TML Daily)
Read The
Marxist-Leninist
Daily
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca