
No. 21September 13, 2022
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44th General Election
The Cartel Parties Have No Remorse About Canada’s Crimes After 9/11
We are in the midst of the 6th federal election held since 9/11. The Chretien Liberals were in power in 2001 and it was on October 7 that the Prime Minister officially announced Canada’s participation in the so-called “war on terror,” with 40 members of the Joint Task Force, the army’s secret special forces unit being deployed in December. This was in the midst of Canada’s hosting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly which launched the justification of the operation of the NATO alliance outside of the North Atlantic in the name of ensuring the “defence and security of North America and Europe.”
The Canadian people did not accept the U.S. dictate that the Canadian government accepted and in their tens of thousands opposed unleashing the war of revenge and opposed the vilification of the people of Muslim faith and its repercussion on a broad swath of the world’s people whose national origins, colour of skin, and faith became enough to target them for police surveillance, harassment, brutal racist propaganda, killings and torture.
The Cartel Parties 20 Years Later
Speaking 20 years later at commemorative ceremonies in Ottawa and in interviews that followed, former Prime Minister Chretien showed not an ounce of remorse or retrospection about the disastrous consequence of the war on Afghanistan, simply stating that it was Canada’s duty, reiterating the justification that was provided 20 years ago — that because of Article 5 of NATO’s Washington Treaty which states that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all, the U.S. requested and NATO countries agreed to military and other support.
An old sound clip was played of Chretien expressing sadness at the incidents of attacks on Muslims, while of course saying nothing about the role of the U.S., Canada and its allies in setting out the campaign of vilification that created the state promotion of Islamophobia, as though it came out of thin air.
Justin Trudeau spoke in a similar manner on the campaign trail. After 20 years, he said, we need to reflect. He said he is thinking about Muslim Canadians “for whom much changed as attitudes shifted,” again without taking any responsibility for this “attitude shift.”
In a statement, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and the continued loss of human life adds weight to the anniversary. “9/11 was a tragedy that led to many more. And, while reflecting on the two decades of history we’ve lived since, more than anything, we need to not delay in recommitting to doing the hard work of building a more inclusive and compassionate world,” Singh said. Opposition to NATO is now absent from the NDP platform. A resolution presented to its policy convention for withdrawal from NATO was not even allowed to be debated. It reveals the taboo imposed by the cartel parties on any discussion about NATO whatsoever.
All the cartel parties, instead of encouraging discussion on Canada’s foreign policy and the need to withdraw Canada from NATO and dismantle NATO join to make China the issue. They do not support upholding the principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations or oppose the use of force to deal with problems within and between nation-states. They claim that Canadian interests are defended by integrating Canada into the U.S. war machine and working with “allies” to impose the U.S. as indispensable nation and U.S. style democracy and imperialist notions of peace and freedom.
These cartel party policies are putting Canadians in great danger and committing crimes against the peoples of the world.
From the Party Press Twenty Years Ago
National Office of CPC(M-L) Calls on Canadians to Actively Oppose State Terrorism at Home and Abroad
– TML Daily, September 11, 2001 –
The National Office of CPC(M-L) today calls on all the members and supporters of CPC(M-L), on all militant workers, organized and unorganized, on all justice-loving Canadians to go actively amongst their peers and lead them in coping with the tragedies which are unfolding in front of our eyes in the United States.
The National Office calls on all Canadian working people to condemn the use of state-organized terrorist attacks against the people. It calls on them to recognize the necessity to not be passive in the face of the situation in which the United States will seek to justify unleashing even more international terror against the peoples. This will be done in the name of punishing those who carried out this heinous crime.
The National Office of CPC(M-L) calls on all workers to see the necessity to oppose the fascist mystifications of the U.S. authorities and monopoly-controlled news media in the U.S. and Canada which seek to cover up who is to blame for these atrocities which are a counter-product of the crimes of the U.S. imperialists and their allies themselves. It is the U.S. imperialists and big powers, including Canada, which consider that the peoples of the world, their nations, nationalities and communities can exist only with their permission. It is their economic, political and military power which lies behind the reign of terror which they are seeking to justify in order to divide the peoples and divert them from seeking real solutions to the problems which they face.
This is not the time to permit the people’s political movement to take control over their lives to become disoriented so that the peoples become even more vulnerable to the tragedies which the U.S. imperialists and their allies have in store for them.
The National Office alerts the Canadian working class and people to prepare for all the possibilities, including any state-sanctioning of acts of revenge both at home and abroad. Do not permit any acts of revenge against any section of our people at home, in the United States or against any section of our humanity abroad. Other political parties also have a serious responsibility in this regard and the National Office of CPC(M-L) calls on them to make great efforts to ensure that politics which favour the people are put forward at this time.
Condemn the U.S. imperialist international reign of terror which is behind this heinous crime in the United States! Condemn the criminalization of dissent at home or abroad! With a clear conscience, put the blame squarely where it belongs!
The World Mourns Loss of Innocence
– TML Weekly, September 14, 2001 –
All over the world people mourned the terrible loss of life as a result of the terrorist attacks in the United States. There was anger — terrible anger. There was sorrow — profound sorrow. There was fear — the fear which accompanies all those who do not know what comes next.
People mourned for the dead and for those whose lives must continue without them. They mourned for others; they mourned for themselves. Most importantly, perhaps, they mourned the loss of innocence.
A consensus has been expressed that nothing will remain the same. But who can adequately express why this is the case or how it will change? Why can’t we do so? Is it because a climate is being created which does not permit us to do so?
A climate of war hysteria is being fostered. It does not permit people to grieve or work out how to turn their loss into strength. It is imposing conclusions which nobody wants.
It is now clear that nobody is safe so long as hooliganism is allowed to prevail. Will people now draw the conclusion that never again can they remain aloof and let others decide for them what will happen next? Is this the innocence the world has lost?
The loss of innocence must be used to draw the warranted conclusions. People must come forward to have their say on what comes next. They must participate in setting the agenda for society and working for its implementation. They must make sure that no harm can come to our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, either within our societies or anywhere in the world.
Let us turn our grief into collective strength. Let us mourn the loss of innocence by taking a bold step together in defence of the rights of all!
No to the use of force in settling conflicts amongst peoples, between peoples and between nations! No to imperialist war! End the imperialist reign of terror against the peoples of the world!
No to the Participation of Canadian Forces in U.S. Aggression Against Afghanistan! All Foreign Forces Get Out of Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf!
– TML Daily, October 17, 2001 –
TML Daily reiterates its vigorous opposition to Canadian participation in the U.S. “war on terrorism” and its aggression against Afghanistan as well as to the U.S. presence in the Persian Gulf. No amount of self-serving propaganda about the worthiness of the cause will make it so because the cause is not designed to eliminate terrorism but to establish U.S. hegemony over the entire region which has now been extended from the Persian Gulf to Central Asia.
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien is recalling with pride Canadian participation in the Korean War but it too was a war of aggression. The crimes committed during that war by the U.S., including the crimes against civilians, are yet to be recognized, let alone redressed. The Korean Peninsula is still a target of the U.S. “war on terrorism,” as is Iraq and any other country which the U.S. will decide to attack. Far from delivering war-mongering speeches which seek to glorify aggression in the name of “civilized values,” the Prime Minister should be spelling out for Canadian soldiers and sailors and their families the danger this U.S.-led adventure poses to world peace.
The frantic secret diplomacy in which the U.S., Britain and even Jean Chretien are engaged in shows that they give the green light to themselves to launch aggressions while they still seek to use deal-making and compromises to keep others in line. But this could backfire at any time and a much larger war could break out as the rivals of U.S. imperialism also seek to elbow one another out of spheres of influence, markets and sources of raw materials.
The urgent task facing the Canadian working class and people today is to oppose U.S. aggression abroad and Canada’s participation in it. It is to organize the people to establish anti-war governments, get Canada out of NATO and NORAD and call for their dismantling and oppose the measures to criminalize dissent and quell resistance at home.
No to Canada’s Participation in U.S. Aggression and War!
Hands Off Afghanistan!
Get Out of the Persian Gulf!
End the Sanctions Against Iraq, Now!
End the Occupation of Palestine, Now!
20th Anniversary of 9/11
20 Years of Resistance to U.S. Wars of Aggression and Terror
Video
48th Anniversary of U.S.-Backed Coup in Chile
Montreal Commemoration of Victims of the Coup and Call to Release All Political Prisoners Today
On the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup in Chile on September 11, 1973, several Chilean-Canadian organizations, human rights organizations and Latin American solidarity groups held an all-day rally at Parc des Amériques in Montreal. The organizers called on everyone to sign and circulate the petition “Freedom to All the Political Prisoners in Chile. They said:
“On September 11, 1973, the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende Gossens was overthrown in a military coup supported by Washington. The country then fell into a bloody dictatorship that lasted more than 17 years and left thousands dead. Tens of thousands are imprisoned and tortured while tens of thousands are deported or forced into exile.
“On October 18, 2019, thousands of people took to the streets to denounce the economic precariousness and the great social injustices maintained by the governments that followed the Pinochet dictatorship. The repression of Pinera’s government is brutal. Military and police violence resulted in deaths and hundreds of people were maimed. Tens of thousands of people are arrested and imprisoned under new laws that criminalize protests.”
To sign the petition click here.
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