No Harbour for War! Make Canada a
Zone for Peace!
Peace Activists Oppose War Conference in Halifax
A lively rally organized by No Harbour for War
was held in Halifax on November 23 at Peace and
Freedom Park, across from the Westin Hotel, site
of the annual war conference, the Halifax
International Security Forum (HISF). This marks
the 11th year that peace activists in Halifax have
come out to firmly reject their city being used as
the venue for this war conference.
 A representative of
No Harbour for War recounted the steadfast
opposition by Haligonians to the war conference
when it first began. It was pointed out, "It is
important to oppose this war conference for a
number of reasons. Firstly, since its beginning
with Peter MacKay, who was Canada's Defence
Minister, this so-called 'Halifax' conference was
based in Washington, DC and serves to support the
aggressive war policy of the U.S. imperialists
while being paid for by the Canadian taxpayers.
Secondly, it is part of the movement to integrate
Canada into the U.S. empire and its war machine.
In this, Halifax has played a key role.
"During the First World War Shearwater was
established as an advance deployment base for the
U.S. military. Today Halifax hosts visiting NATO
fleets and allied foreign warships on their way to
wars of aggression and military exercises.
Recently, the Cutlass Fury exercise, the largest
in recent years, was an example of military
exercises connected to Halifax in the interest of
U.S. imperialist aggression around the world. And
there is a list of such exercises and wars around
the globe connected to Halifax. This is why we are
demanding that Halifax
Be No Harbour for War! and that Canada
should no longer be a factor for future wars.
"Within this framework, this war conference, the
so-called International Security Forum, plays the
role of an international strategizing session
where leaders in the field meet to discuss topics
of interest to the empire and possible courses of
action. For example, Bolivia has just experienced
a coup d'état. Plans to deal with countries which
have been a thorn in the side of the empire for
many years were discussed here in previous
conferences. So was the South China Sea,
Venezuela, Libya, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and so
on.
"No Harbour For War salutes you for coming out
today -- let us march on, unite in action with
others and build the anti-war movement."
 
Actions to oppose the HISF were also held in
Ontario.
In Toronto on November 23, a picket was held out
front of the headquarters of the NATO Association
of Canada, an organization whose purpose is to
impose NATO's warmongering agenda on the
Parliament and the general public. The event was
organized by the Communist Party of Canada
(Marxist-Leninist) and the Canadian Voice of Women
for Peace and took place at the same time as No
Harbour for War held its annual protest against
the HISF in Halifax.
 
The picket in Toronto attracted the attention of
many people who stopped to express support for the
action or to find out more about the
U.S./NATO-sponsored HISF and Canada's involvement.
 Philip Fernandez,
speaking on behalf of CPC(M-L), noted that HISF is
an instrument of war and aggression in the service
of NATO and U.S. imperialism, which this year is
focused on containment of China. He added that in
the next year the U.S., NATO, Canada and others
intend to create an aggressive strategy to
challenge China under the pretext of defending
so-called freedom and democracy. He said that
Canadians want peaceful relations with all nations
and peoples and will oppose these war plans.
The picket received a warm message of greetings
from No Harbour for War, which was read by Tony
Seed, one of its founders.
In concluding the picket, the participants
expressed their determination to step up their
work in the new year to oppose NATO and the
Anglo-American imperialists and warmongers, to
oppose Canada's interfering role in the affairs of
other nations to foster regime change, and to
organize to make Canada a Zone for Peace.
Also on November 23, the Windsor Peace Coalition
used the occasion of its weekly picket to draw
attention to the Halifax war conference, with
signs calling for NATO to be dismantled.
Windsor, November 23, 2019.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 29 - November 30, 2019
Article Link:
No Harbour for War! Make Canada a
Zone for Peace!: Peace Activists Oppose War Conference in Halifax
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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