letter to supporters from war resister andré shepherd

André Shepherd is a US war resister who applied for asylum in Germany in November, 2008. As he awaits a decision from Germany's Federal Office for Migration, he released this statement to his supporters.

Dear Friends and Supporters:

I want to use this time to extend my heartfelt thanks for everything that you all have done. It touches my heart to see so much love and support that you have shown me. The numerous efforts from some many people around the globe have given me the strength to continue on this difficult path. My appreciation goes out to all of you.

Currently we are awaiting a decision from the Federal Office for Migration in Germany, as to the ruling on this case. This could last several more months as they must carefully consider the arguments presented on the legality of this conflict. I as well as my lawyer feel that the law is on my side since the American Government's reasons to the war have been found to be without merit on all levels. Provided the decision is against us, I resolve to take this fight to the next level, i.e. bring this before an open court.

It is in everyone's best interest to be aware that this fight is not about a single soldier's bid for freedom; rather it is about whether or not the United States intentionally violated International Law and ultimately its own laws regarding Wars of Aggression. Since the answer is so obvious, it should only be a matter of time before we get a ruling to that effect. Nevertheless, we have to remain vigilant in our efforts to claim victory.

For the last six months, we have been fighting not only for my freedom, but to lay the foundations to bring about the end of these Wars of Aggression. It is important to consider that although the War on Iraq is the centerpiece of our arguments, we need to take a closer look at the War on Afghanistan as well. Since Washington has opted to escalate the war in Afghanistan, many articles on the subject have since been published, showing that once again we are not being told what we ought to about the nature of this conflict.

It saddens me to say that we have once again been hoodwinked into thinking that the actions of our leaders were made purely by "good intentions". After reviewing numerous amounts of information, reviewing soldiers' stories as well as speaking with a member of the Afghanistan Parliament Malloli Joia I have come to the conclusion that the War in Afghanistan is just another one of the Powers that Be's war for profit. We must sound the alarm on the destructive nature of this war, as well as the crimes against humanity being perpetuated.

On the campaign front, things are going quite well. We have collected around 3,000 signatures for solidarity to the cause. We also have collected money through the fundraising campaign to help cover the legal costs for this historic fight, but we still need your help. We have received letters from around the world from people from all walks of life, blessing me with thoughts and prayers of support. We have traveled throughout different regions in Germany, attending events and conferences that feature not only me, but other soldiers from around the world who have also decided to resist our Governments imperialistic designs. The media coverage was also overwhelming, with this story being featured in numerous major news outlets, such as Der Spiegel, Die Frankfurter Rundschau, Democracy Now!, Courage to Resist, and hundreds of others.

Even though we have made quite a splash on the world stage as of late our work is not done. We plan to build on our successes as well as pushing the envelope a little more in order to get the decision makers' attention. I ask each and every one of you to please get involved by spreading the word to as many people as possible. I also would like to ask everyone on both sides of the Atlantic to write their representatives in Government asking their leadership to look into this case and to report back to you on the progress. I sincerely believe with the combination of public support as well as the rule of law, we will be victorious.

In closing, I wish to thank all of you again for the wonderful show of support that you have provided. Our future looks very bright despite the obstacles that lie ahead. In the near future I will have a website that will make it easier for everyone no matter where you are living to be able to follow this case and to be able to see how you can help. May God bless all of you.

Until next time,

Sincerely, André Shepherd

Learn more and sign a petition in support of André here.

reminder: war criminals coming to toronto, meet and greet them

This Friday, May 22, join the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War for a public forum: Why George Bush should be charged with war crimes.

Speakers will include:

Michael Mandel, professor of international law, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, author of How America Gets Away With Murder: Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage, and Crimes Against Humanity,

and

Chuck Wiley, a 17-year veteran of the US military who refused to participate in the Iraq War, is currently seeking refuge in Canada, and is a member of the War Resisters Support Campaign,

among others.

Join a public forum to hear international law experts and civil liberties campaigners explain the myriad of crimes committed by the Bush administration, and to find out how Bush could formally be charged with war crimes in Canada. Also find out how other US leaders — including former US president Bill Clinton, who will appear with Bush on May 29 — could be charged with war crimes, too.

Public forum:
Friday, May 22 at 7:00 p.m.
Steelworkers' Hall
25 Cecil Street, Toronto

Then, next Friday, May 29, the day of the Bush-Clinton visit, join a city-wide rally to demand that Bush be charged and arrested for war crimes.

It's bad enough that Stephen Harper's Canada is not a haven for war resisters. Don't let it be a haven for war criminals!

Rally: Friday, May 29, 2009, 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
255 Front Street, Toronto

BUSH OUT! RESISTERS IN!

spinal network, 4th edition

The new Spinal Network is out! The best resource guide for people who use wheelchairs has been re-issued, and it's better than ever.

I wrote and edited the Sports & Recreation section of this book, plus a few profiles for other chapters. I edited the Sports chapter of the previous edition, but this time (ten years later) I had more autonomy and responsibility for the whole section. I thoroughly enjoyed the project, and I'm very proud of the results.

You can see the beautiful smiling face of Canadian athlete Chantal Petitclerc on the cover here (click to enlarge, it's worth it), and the Table of Contents and Introduction here.

I wish I could show you the title page, as it's the first book where both Allan and I are officially listed. He made us all look good with some some amazing emergency proofreading, and our editor was good enough to give him the credit.

Spinal Network is a book we all hope we'll never need, but any of us might one day, or we may know someone who does. It's written for people with new spinal cord injuries or new diagnoses, or people whose conditions have progressed and are now wheeling instead of walking. It's written with compassion, humour and hope, but above all, it's written with honesty and truth.

wmtc/jos in the globe and mail again

Our family continues to get our point across in the G&M. John Ibbitison said the Bush era "has returned to haunt" Obama. Allan headed to his keyboard.

Your front page headline claims the Bush era has returned to haunt Barack Obama. After only a few months in office, Mr. Obama has argued that photographic and video evidence of torture by the U.S. military should remain a secret, has agreed that any government official who ordered and approved of torture should be immune from prosecution, and has stated he will continue holding military "trials" for inmates at Guantanamo Bay. Mr. Obama's lawyers have argued that these inmates, including Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, should not be considered "persons" under the law. Far from being haunted by the Bush era, Mr. Obama seems more than content to continue it.

Allan Wood
Mississauga, ON

more on hunting for jesus: donald rumsfeld and the full armour of god

Further to this post about the US's Christian Crusade in Afghanistan, have you seen this? Via ThinkProgress and many other places.

In a lengthy article on Donald Rumsfeld's rocky tenure as Defense Secretary, GQ published never-before-seen cover sheets from top-secret intelligence briefings produced by Rumsfeld’s Pentagon. Starting in the days surrounding the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the cover sheets featured inspirational Bible verses printed over military images, "and were delivered by Rumsfeld himself to the White House" to the president, "who referred to America's war on terror as a 'crusade,'" GQ writes. Below are some examples of the Bible quotes (view the images here):

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." [The quote appears over an image of a tank at sunrise]

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." [The quote appears over an image of a soldier in Baghdad]

"It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men." [The quote appears over an image of Saddam Hussein]

"Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, The nation that keeps faith." [The quote appears over an image of tanks entering an Iraqi city]

GQ's Robert Draper writes that when colleagues complained to the Pentagon official who came up with the cover sheets, he replied, "'my seniors' — JCS chairman Richard Myers, Rumsfeld, and the commander in chief himself – appreciated the cover pages."

Go here to follow links to photos.

two observations, part two: activism and community

I have no idea if this observation can be said to accurately compare New York and Toronto, or is peculiar to New York and my Toronto experience is more common.

Since becoming active in the war resisters movement in Canada, I find myself part of a community of activists, people who know each other from all different related movements, see each other at all different events, and who regularly socialize together.

Political meetings and events almost always have a social component, and people regularly go out together after the event.

We never did this in New York.

In successive cycles of activism in New York City - reproductive rights, sexual assault, youth issues, sexual assault (different work) and domestic violence, AIDS work (briefly) and back to reproductive rights again - I never experienced this.

I always made a friend or two through these various groups, including some close and lasting friendships. But the group as a whole didn't socialize. After the meeting, we all went our separate ways. The most you'd do is walk with someone out of the meeting to the subway.

The coordinating committee of the Haven Coalition often met at coffee shops. We lived and worked in far-flung corners of the city, so we tried to share the travel burden. But even then, we'd have a meal together, and we'd talk and laugh a little, but when the meeting was over, it was over.

Here, a meeting ends, and people go to a pub. Not everyone goes every time, but a gathering place is announced, and everyone is welcome.

It took me a while to adjust. I used to attend weekly meetings but mostly kept to myself. As I've adjusted to the social aspect, I've made more friends, and I'm happier. Funny how that works.

i will not make common ground with the enemies of human rights

Today at Notre Dame University, President Obama said:

So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions. Let's reduce unintended pregnancies. Let's make adoption more available. Let's provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term.

For any woman who freely chooses to carry an unintended or unwanted pregnancy to term, more power to her. But she's no better or purer or more moral than a woman who terminates her unwanted pregnancy.

"Making adoption more available" isn't going to make abortion go away. No one and nothing is going to make abortion go away. It's not a sin, it's not a crime, and it's none of anyone else's damn business.

When we open up our hearts and our minds to those who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe — that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.

Memo to Barack Obama.

When those people stop trying to control other people's bodies, and when they stop trying to force their religious beliefs on the rest of society, I'll consider discovering the possibility of finding common ground with them.

Until then, there's a war on. Women's bodies are the battleground, and we will defend our rights with every weapon available to us.

The right to control one's reproduction is not "women's rights". It's human rights. I will not make common ground with the enemies of human rights.

two observations, part one: canadians are still so nice

It's been a long time since I've written a post comparing life here in Canada to my former life in New York City. This is no longer "my new life": it's just my life. In a few months, we'll have been here four years. The Transition Complete sign is no longer even visible in our rear-view mirror.

Every so often, though, something reminds me that what's become commonplace was once amazing.

When we first moved here, I was constantly flabbergasted at how nice everyone was. When you're moving to a new country, there are so many business details to take care of. We had to get our SIN cards, our health care cards, our shiny wonderful new Permanent Resident cards. We had to open bank accounts, buy a car, set up utilities, have cable installed. And on and on and on.

Without exception, every person we dealt with was polite, friendly and helpful.

Here's a story I always tell. When we arrived at our little rental house in Port Credit - lets see if I can do this without choking up, thinking about who's missing - there was an electricity bill waiting for us. We paid rent for a month before we moved, so the bill wasn't unexpected, but $420? That can't be right.

Now, in New York City, calling ConEd is not a task to be undertaken lightly. You'll want to have a good night's sleep and appropriate amounts of caffeine in your system, or maybe Xanax. I knew I had to call the utility company, but I was dreading it. I took a deep breath and girded myself for battle.

"Hi, I have a problem with my bill."

"Hi, how are you today?"

"Uh... fine thank you. I have a problem with my bill."

"All right, why don't you give me the account number and I'll take a look." I give her the number.

"The account is only one month old, and no one was living at this location during that month, but I've been charged $420."

"Oh my, that does seem like a lot of money! Let me see... Are you new to the area?"

"Yes, I am."

"New to Mississauga?"

"I'm new to Canada. We actually just arrived today."

"Today? How exciting! Welcome to Canada!"

. . . I'm almost too puzzled to respond. "Uh, thank you."

"Where did you move from, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Uh, no, we moved from New York City."

"Oh my, from New York City to Mississauga, now that's a big change, eh?"

I'm thinking, where am I? Who are these people?

The representative then cheerfully and politely explains that because we have no credit history with the company, they are asking for a deposit, which will be held in escrow, earning a small amount of interest. After a year has passed, I'm to call again, and the deposit will be credited to my account.

"I'm so sorry you didn't know about this. I hope it's not a big problem for you?"

"No, no, it's fine."

"Is there anything else I can help you with today?"

"No, thank you."

"Good luck settling in, and welcome to Canada. I hope you and your family will be very happy here."

When I hung up, I related this story to Allan. We looked at each other, puzzled. I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

And this is how it went - everywhere.

Now I'm used to this. It's made me friendlier. It's made me take an extra moment to add a little friendliness to a business transaction. It's not the ten minutes of small talk that I associate with small town life and so dislike. But it's not the slam-bang-next! that you get in New York.

* * * *

Over time, I also came to see what might be the flipside of all this politeness. I've written about the indirectness, the passive-aggressiveness that I find so maddening here.

I prefer to have more clear communication than I get with so many people in Canada. If USians are accused of being brusque, they are also more direct and straightforward, more likely to say what they mean. And if Canadians are more polite, they are also more indirect, more likely to speak in code. (With the usual disclaimers for generalizations and exceptions.)

I've blogged about this enough, I don't need to go into it again. But I see that over time, I may have started to focus on the downside, the indirectness, more than the upside, the politeness.

Something happened recently that made me recall how nice everyone is here.

As you may recall, the law firm where I work on weekends recently cut our transportation benefit, so I now take a GO bus home on Saturdays and Sundays. I always sit in the front to avoid motion sickness, so I hear whatever comes over the driver's dispatch radio.

Frequently - not every day, but often - a driver calls in with a passenger's special need. "I have a passenger at Square One who is trying to get to the University of Guelph. The Guelph bus doesn't run on Saturday. Can anyone help him?"

Another driver's voice is heard: "I can pick him up at Square One and get him to Airport Road. It will be about an hour, but I can definitely get him."

The dispatcher asks, "Can anyone help him at Airport Road?"

Another driver responds, "I will be at Airport Road at 21:40. I can take him as far as..."

The conversation continues until a route is mapped out whereby the passenger will ride a series of GO buses and slowly make his way to the University of Guelph.

I've never heard anything like this. I've never heard public transit employees take their jobs so seriously, or go out of their way for passengers like this.

* * * *

Here's a New York City memory for contrast.

In the 1980s, the subways were pretty bad in New York. This was somewhere between the graffiti era of the 1970s and the improvements of the 90s. (I see people are worried about it again.)

Hundreds of miles of track were being relaid and bridges were being rebuilt, so there was a lot of re-routing going on, often unexpectedly. Subway cars were gradually being replaced, but there were more decrepit, filthy cars in the system than shiny new ones.

The signage was horrendous, both in stations and on the actual trains. I used to say you have to know where you're going to get anywhere; you had to know the system to use it. You'd be walking through some maze of corridors and stairs connecting various lines, you'd get to an intersection, and all of a sudden: no more signs. Or you'd find yourself on a platform that said "Broadway Local," "Broadway Express," and "Nites Only". What is now the #1 train went by something like seven different names.

The PA systems either didn't work at all or were completely inaudible. You'd be sitting on a train and you'd here, "Attention passengers, attention passengers. This D train will now be running on the grrthpwmpzthp track beyond thpdgrzyz Street. Any passenger wishing to go to bzzztkcrtz or zzzztpgdthp, you must exit at rjzzzzzp Street."

Remember, in New York City, many different trains run on the same track. You don't just wait on a platform and get on whatever train comes; you have to see if it's your train. Then there's the perennial question: is an R train running on a D track now a D train? Well, it depends who you ask.

So there I was at Jay Street-Boro Hall in Brooklyn, switching from an F train to an A train. A subway pulls in. It has the big blue A on one car, a purple F on another car, an orange F on yet another car, then two more cars with As.

I find the car with the transit operator leaning out of his window and ask, "Is this an A train?"

He replies, "Can't you read? What does it look like?"

Ah, New York.

I won't say that all New York City transit workers were quite that polite and helpful in the 80s. Let's just say his answer wasn't so unusual.

Sitting on the GO bus, listening to the drivers coordinate a travel schedule for the dude trying to get to Guelph, I thought of this and chuckled to myself.

I also thought of it when I read this post by Impudent Strumpet.

* * * *

PS: the discussion in comments on this post is great.

reversals we can believe in

By now I'm sure you all know that the Obama administration is attempting to block the release of additional evidence of torture perpetrated by the US, making itself complicit in the cover-up of war crimes committed by its predecessors. The release of the photos, which had been set for May 28, was hard won by the ACLU and other rights groups, and those organizations are vigorously fighting this latest setback.

During the Abu Ghraib investigation, several US senators and congresspeople saw many of the photos that had not been released to the public. These are said to document sexual assault and abuse of both women and child prisoners, among other stomach-churning horrors.

By now you should also know that Obama has revived the use of military commissions to "try" the remaining Guantanamo prisoners. The administration is tweaking the rules a bit, such as supposedly barring "evidence" obtained by torture. But when you're holding a kangaroo court, visible to no one, accountable to no one, under your own improvised rules, you can do anything you want. (All quotes necessary here, as military tribunals are not trials and all the so-called evidence is meaningless.)

I hope those of you who still fantasized about Obama changing US foreign policy - substantially, as opposed to rhetorically - are rousing from your slumber. Remember: the Republicans represent man's inhumanity to man. The Democrats represent exactly the opposite.

If you read one piece about this travesty, make it Glenn Greenwald:

There are many bizarre aspects to Obama's decision to try to suppress evidence of America's detainee abuse, beginning with the newfound willingness of so many people to say: "We want our leaders to suppress information that reflects poorly on what our government does." One would think that it would be impossible to train a citizenry to be grateful to political officials for concealing evidence of government wrongdoing, or to accept the idea that evidence that reflects poorly on the conduct of political leaders should, for that reason alone, be covered-up: "Obama and his military commanders decide when it's best that we're kept in the dark, and I'm thankful when they keep from me things that reflect poorly on my government because I trust them to decide what I should and should not know." It's the fantasy of every political leader to have a citizenry willing to think that way ("I know it's totally unrealistic, but wouldn't it be great if we could actually convince people that it's for their own good when we cover-up evidence of government crimes?").

But what is ultimately even more amazing is the claim that suppressing these photographs is necessary to prevent an inflammation of anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world generally and Afghanistan specifically. That claim is coming from the same people who are doing this: [Please click through...]

. . . .

We're currently occupying two Muslim countries. We're killing civilians regularly (as usual) -- with airplanes and unmanned sky robots. We're imprisoning tens of thousands of Muslims with no trial, for years. Our government continues to insist that it has the power to abduct people -- virtually all Muslim -- ship them to Bagram, put them in cages, and keep them there indefinitely with no charges of any kind. We're denying our torture victims any ability to obtain justice for what was done to them by insisting that the way we tortured them is a "state secret" and that we need to "look to the future." We provide Israel with the arms and money used to do things like devastate Gaza. Independent of whether any or all of these policies are justifiable, the extent to which those actions "inflame anti-American sentiment" is impossible to overstate.

And now, the very same people who are doing all of that are claiming that they must suppress evidence of our government's abuse of detainees because to allow the evidence to be seen would "inflame anti-American sentiment." It's not hard to believe that releasing the photos would do so to some extent -- people generally consider it a bad thing to torture and brutally abuse helpless detainees -- but compared to everything else we're doing, the notion that releasing or concealing these photos would make an appreciable difference in terms of how we're perceived in the Muslim world is laughable on its face.

More here.

u.s. troops in afghanistan: "we hunt people for jesus"

There's a long story in last month's issue of Harper's about a disturbing, but little noted, trend: US Christian evangelicals using the war in Afghanistan as a platform for missionary work - and as a crusade. You can't read that for free online, but it relates to this.

US soldiers have been encouraged to spread the message of their Christian faith among Afghanistan's predominantly Muslim population, video footage obtained by Al Jazeera appears to show.

Military chaplains stationed in the US air base at Bagram were also filmed with bibles printed in the country's main Pashto and Dari languages.

In one recorded sermon, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, is seen telling soldiers that as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility "to be witnesses for him".

"The special forces guys - they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down," he says.

"Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business."

According to this story at Military.com (via BoingBoing), the Army confirmed that the bibles existed, confiscated them and issued reprimands.

But according to Jeff Sharlet, who has been studying US evangelicals for a long time, the trend is much more extensive than that. "Jesus Killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military" is available to read with a subscription password or in print. Some scary stuff.

Thanks to both Allan and James for linkage.

ssod

Search string of the day:

can your male next door neighbor turn out to be gay

Is he calling a moving van, or hoping for a date?

why suffer when you don't have to?

Many people are very resistant to taking any sort of medication, be it over-the-counter, prescription, or herbal remedy. People will, for example, suffer for hours with a headache before finally taking ibuprofen or acetaminophen. They'll sneeze, cough and rub their eyes raw before trying an allergy medication. And when it comes to prescription drugs, many people are loathe to take anything at all, for any reason. Some people will try anything called "herbal" or "natural," but will resist taking any prescription drugs.

These people, I have observed, are not necessarily health-conscious. They will drink soda (pop) full of artificial colours, flavours and processed sugar; they'll eat processed food and junk food. They don't necessarily exercise. Some even smoke. Many have taken drugs recreationally at least at some point in their lives. But when it comes to prescription drugs: no way.

I'm not talking about people who are suffering from AIDS or other serious conditions who need twenty different medications to get through a day. I mean things like taking Advil for a headache, or Claritin for seasonal allergies, or some common prescription drug used to treat common conditions.

I know that all drugs have side effects, but not everyone experiences those, and sometimes the side effect is very mild compared to the condition the drug is used to treat. That's not always the case - I've had some wild side effects myself - but for most commonly prescribed drugs, side effects are temporary, or mild, or both.

And of course I know that ingesting too much of any drug is dangerous. Swallowing handfuls of ibuprofen every day can fry your liver and tear up your gastrointestinal tract. But taking Advil for the occasional headache is not going to give an otherwise healthy person an ulcer or liver disease.

I've heard many people say, "I try never to take anything like that if I can help it," or "I try to wait until it's really, really bad before I take anything". I never understand it.

Pain is more easily stopped in early stages, before your body is in full-on, raging pain mode. Allergic reactions are easier to prevent than reverse: once your body is having a histamine reaction, it's much harder to get under control than it is to prevent the reaction in the first place. And above all, what about personal comfort? Why suffer if you don't have to? Yet so many people would rather suffer than take a drug.

I've needed various prescription meds for as long as I can remember. I take them because I need them, and I don't attach special meaning to that need, any more than I do to wearing glasses. I don't know if this is because I grew up in a home where there was some chronic illness, or because there are health professionals in my family, or whatever else, but it's never bothered me. Not that illness has never bothered me, but the need to take medications in of itself does not.

So, health care professionals and medication-shunners out there, help me understand this.

who comes to canada, and who does not

What's wrong with this picture?

Condoleezza Rice: coming to Canada May 13, 2009. To be introduced by introduced by Mr. George Russell, Executive Editor of Fox News New York.

George W. Bush: coming to Canada May 29, 2009.

Michael Chertoff (former Secretary of Homeland Security; co-author of "Patriot Act"), John Bolton (former Bush UN ambassador), and John Howard (former Prime Minister of Australia and constant supporter of the invasion of Iraq): coming to Canada May 31, 2009.

George Galloway, MP, peace activist: barred from entering Canada.

Ann Wright, retired US Army colonel, peace activist: barred from entering Canada.

Medea Benjamin, peace activist: barred from entering Canada.

Reza Alijani, dissident journalist, and Shadi Sadr, women's rights activist, both Iranian, barred from entering Canada.

Robin Long, Cliff Cornell, Chris Teske, Daniel Sandate, US war resisters: deported from Canada.

Jeremy Hinzman, Kimberly Rivera, Dale Landry, Dean Walcott, Patrick Hart, and many others, US war resisters: persecuted by the Harper Government, fighting multiple attempts to deport them from Canada.

If this is not the Canada you want, speak up.

In Toronto:

Friday, May 22, 7:00 p.m.
Attend a public forum on charging Bush with war crimes, featuring several war resisters.
United Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil Street

Friday, May 29, 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. - but especially from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Rally outside Bush speaking engagement.
Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front Street

In Calgary:

Check People v. Bush for plans to protest Rice's visit.

Everywhere:

Write, call, email!

The Right Hon. Stephen Harper
613.992.4211
pm@pm.gc.ca

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney
613.954.1064 (Ministry office)
613.992.2235 (Parliamentary Office)
minister@cic.gc.ca
Kennej@parl.gc.ca

If you email Jason Kenney, please cc the opposition party critics:
Liberal party immigration critic Maurizio Bevilacqua: BevilM@parl.gc.ca
NDP immigration critic Olivia Chow: chowo@parl.gc.ca
Bloc Québécois immigration critic Thierry St-Cyr: StCyrT@parl.gc.ca

War Criminals OUT! Resisters IN!

impending big life change, part two

Part one here.

There's a lot to freak out about. I'm not going to let my fear and anxiety stop me from doing what I want to do. But I need to acknowledge the feelings and talk about them before pushing past them.

Age. My friend told me I'm looking at four to five years of library school, assuming I go part-time, then another three to four years of working at various inconvenient locations until I land my dream library job. The first thing I thought was, I turn 48 next month. How old do I want to be when I start a new career path? Isn't mid-50s too old?

Well, no. After living with those negative feelings for a while, I started to think of it this way. If I start now, by the time I'm, say, 55, I'll be (hopefully) earning more money and living a life closer to what I want. If I don't, where will I be? I'll be that age anyway, and I'll be doing the same thing I'm doing now - that much more sick of it, that much more frustrated, that much more unhappy. If I want to make a change, I can't worry about how old I'll be.

My friend AWE, who started law school for a second career at age 37, told me she had many law-school classmates who were older than her. And that was in a full-time program. The part-time, evening law schools, she said, are full of people in their 50s. This really helped.

AWE also pointed out that, given I'll need more education for any career change, library school is pretty low intensity - two years if you go full-time - and my BA in English applies perfectly. If I wanted to enter, for example, a health-care profession, I'd need more coursework on the undergraduate level, and in areas that are not my strengths. So I'm well positioned for this. Once I accepted and got accustomed to the fact that I will need more education for any career change, I saw this more clearly.

In addition, the three to four years of imperfect jobs that my friend mentioned might not apply to me as much. He wanted a job at a specific Toronto library branch, and was waiting for that to open up. I'll have a wide range of acceptable locations, including Toronto, Mississauga and Oakville.

I've also recently discovered it might not take four years to finish the program. More on that shortly.

So the age factor is looking a bit better. And when it doesn't look good, I have to ignore it.

Energy. I'll have to keep my weekend job and go to school at the same time. Can I do it? I can go part-time and stretch it out for up to six years. I can go full-time and be overly burdened. Or I can try for a middle option. After meeting with the assistant dean yesterday, I've learned that there are several, such as going to school over the summer, and/or doing an independent study path for a large chunk of credits.

In addition to school, I'll need to get a grunt-level job in one of the public library systems. My librarian friend strongly recommends working as a page, shelving books, 10 or 15 hours a week, to log time in the union, and therefore be eligible to apply for good jobs after finishing my degree.

We all have finite amounts of time and energy, but my health issues make this a non-negotiable for me. I can't compromise on getting enough rest, or my life will fall apart.

Can I do it?

Money. I've learned that we're not eligible for OSAP (Ontario student loans). So we're looking at education loans from our bank. And if I'm going to school during the week and working on weekends, I won't be writing or transcribing. Can we afford this? (But can we afford not to?)

Ohmygodthisisallhappeningsofast! Up until yesterday, I believed - based on what I had read on the iSchool's website - that the deadline to begin the program in September 2009 had passed, and I was looking at applying for September 2010. (There is only one intake a year, in September.) So I thought I had a long time to re-organize my life, tie up all the loose ends, before starting something new, which is my preferred method of attack.

Yesterday the dean told me that if I want to apply for this year, I still can.

Holy shit.

This began a whole new set of freakoutedness. Can I get it together that quickly? What will this mean in terms of the war resisters Campaign? I'm determined to see it through to the end. If I start school in September, will I be able to stay active? (Could we have a goddamn election, please??)

But if I'm concerned about how old I'll be when I finish this process, beginning this September would be one more year in my favour. And I know that just because I prefer to have everything neatly tied up with no loose ends showing doesn't mean life works that way. I've accelerated my life plans to take advantage of opportunities before. Maybe I have to again.

Another campaign friend pointed out something important last night. She suggested I apply for the program right away, then if I decide to wait until 2010 to begin, I can defer admission. The dean says I could apply now, and they'd hold my application for a year if I wanted. She emphasized I might want to order my university transcripts and look into financing, to get the ball rolling, no matter which year I decide to start.

But if I do want to apply for this September, I have to begin immediately.

* * * *

I'm sure there are a few more things to freak out about, but that's all I can think of right now.

in which i announce an impending big life change, part one

I'm considering going to graduate school to change my day job. I never thought I'd do this - I thought if I undertook more education, it would be for the creative side of my life, or for my own enrichment. But right now I'm seriously exploring getting a Masters degree to become a part-time librarian.

The starting point, unsurprisingly, is my lousy work situation. I've been earning the bulk of my income as a document production specialist in corporate law firms for almost 20 years. In New York City, this worked beautifully, but in Toronto, it really hasn't gone well for me. I had a good job with one firm that ended up going out of business. I took another job that was badly misrepresented to me; I loathed it and quit. And my current job doesn't provide me with enough hours, so I'm under constant pressure to earn additional income through other means.

I've been looking for a job nearly continuously for two years. The few promising leads I had - firms that were considering adding a weekend shift, for example - are gone with the recession wind. There's just nothing, and no prospects.

When we first moved to Canada, Allan found his job very easily, and it was exactly what we had in mind - giving us the impression that these types of jobs were there for the finding. Only now do I realize how exceptional that was. Indeed, Allan may have the only job like his in Toronto. Yet another example in a long line of examples of how perfectly everything flowed for us after we moved here.

I had a lot of writing work when we first moved here, and didn't have to look for a day-job for a while. When I did, I also found one right away. Then the firm went out of business, and on from there.

* * * *

My underemployment sets up a chain reaction that spoils the rest of my life. My writing becomes a source of income instead of a creative and intellectual outlet. Financial need dictates what stories I pitch, which I hate. I have no time or space to develop my own writing projects, so all my ideas just sit on a list, unexplored.

We have enough money to pay our bills (barely) but no money left for what's really important to me: travel. For me that doesn't mean visiting my mom in New Jersey or going to Boston for a baseball game. Those are holidays, and they're fun, but they don't slake my craving to see the world. I live with a very potent sense of time rushing by, of my life rushing by, and I'm not doing the things I want to do, because I can't afford them. Yes, I'm grateful to be employed and be able to pay my bills. But I want more out of life.

If I chose, I could find a full-time document production job fairly easily. Then we'd be able to take one really good trip each year. But working full-time, I couldn't write, or else I couldn't do serious activism, certainly not both. And Allan and I would never see each other: our schedules would be completely opposite. That hardly seems like the way to go.

The whole time I've been unemployed or underemployed, I've always kept my eyes open for anything else I might do, any other field I might go into. It's been very sobering to see how difficult - impossible? - it is to change fields without more education. I have a university degree and a ton of all different kinds of work experience. Once upon a time, I would have been highly marketable, but credential inflation has changed that. My credentials are inadequate for most fields now.

And besides, what would I do? What field could I enter that would pay well enough that I could work only part-time, and still have mental space and physical time to write?

* * * *

So that's the negative push from behind. None of us changes our lives without it. You don't make a big life change if you're happy and comfortable with the status quo. But you don't want to just run from something. You need something positive to move towards.

I inadvertently discovered that an activist friend, someone I know through the Campaign and IS, has written a novel. I didn't know he was a writer - but I do know that he is a librarian. Driving home from a meeting one night, a light bulb went off. Is being a librarian is a good job for a writer?

I recalled wanting to be a librarian as a child. Yes, that's what a book geek I am: while other kids dreamed of being baseball players or firemen, I dreamed of being a librarian. I adored libraries and books, and I loved "looking things up," which is what we used to do before the internet existed. I thought being around books all day, and being able to look up anything you wanted, any time, would be an amazing job.

Now, as an adult, add being extremely organized, and having a natural inclination towards helping people find good information.

I can easily visualize myself being a librarian in a public library system. This is very important. I have to be able to imagine a path in order to take it, and there are very few new careers I can imagine myself doing. Being a librarian is one of them.

So I began to investigate, first by speaking to my friend, then reading up online. I've learned that the job does indeed seem to be a good fit for a writer, especially because Toronto and Mississauga librarians are unionized. Working part-time, I'd have a steady schedule, and a job that was interesting, but one you mostly don't take home with you. I'd earn more working part-time as a librarian than I could working full-time in my current field. And if I chose to work full-time for a while, I could earn enough to pay off student loans - and to travel.

Yesterday I met with an assistant dean at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information, "the iSchool". I'm a little freaked out, but I think I'm going for it.

More about the freak out in part two.

wmtc letter in globe and mail: my canada includes the right to protest

I have a letter in today's Globe and Mail, in response to a disgusting letter they ran yesterday. Sentences in brackets were cut.

A letter writer says, "The people of Canada are sick and tired of immigrants who bring the battles of their home country with them". Many of the people protesting are Canadian: We are sickened by genocides around the world and tired of people not paying attention to them. [Perhaps the letter writer does not care about the world outside Canada's borders, but many Canadians do.

The letter also suggests that the Tamil protests be met with arrests. My Canada includes the right to protest.]

Laura Kaminker
Mississauga, ON

The overall reaction to the Tamil genocide - a yawning silence - and to the Tamil protests in Toronto - how dare you inconvenience me! - is so disheartening.

what i'm reading: triangle

On March 25, 1911, a fire erupted at the Triangle Waist Company, a clothing factory in New York City's Greenwich Village. Thirty minutes later, 146 people were dead. They were all immigrants, and most were young women.

Until September 11, 2001, the incident stood as the deadliest workplace disaster in New York City history. It was also the most significant event of its kind, by far.

The Triangle fire became a catalyst for the burgeoning women's movement, labour movement, and the movement towards progressive government, that is, the notion that government could and should improve people's lives. Movements organizing around the Triangle fire brought changes in women's rights, immigrants' rights, labour laws, building standards, fire codes, and in the nature of city government itself. The Triangle fire was a nexus that linked all the most important changes of that era.

I am the granddaughter of clothing workers, and the daughter of a union man who organized clothing workers, so I always knew about Triangle. Later, I came to see the fire as part of my heritage as a New Yorker, a feminist, and an activist.

So is it any wonder that when I read head-over-heels reviews of a book about the fire, I wanted to read it?

I've just started reading Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, by David Von Drehle. The book is social history at its best: it reads like a novel, putting you right on the street, in the factory, in the courtroom, in workers' meetings, but it's all impeccably researched nonfiction.

You might think a book about one incident would be bogged down in detail, but Von Drehle uses the factory fire as a lens through which to view an entire era of urban America. He writes in a very clear, straightforward style, making Triangle much more accessible than much history I've read.

I'm excited to read it. And because right now I have no money to buy books, I'm excited that the Mississauga Public Library is such a great place.

* * * *

You can get the gist of the importance of the Triangle fire on Wikipedia, but the best source online is a project of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Their site on the fire is amazing and well worth a visit.

good news, bad news

New York, my home state, is one step closer to equality.

British Columbia is not.

british m.p. witnessed police provacateurs at g20 demos

This happens frequently at big demonstrations, and has for decades - even centuries. But rarely do we get eyewitness accounts from such a reputable source.

An MP who was involved in last month's G20 protests in London is to call for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite the crowds.

Liberal Democrat Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards.

Brake, who along with hundreds of others was corralled behind police lines near Bank tube station in the City of London on the day of the protests, says he was informed by people in the crowd that the men had been seen to throw bottles at the police and had encouraged others to do the same shortly before they passed through the cordon.

Brake, a member of the influential home affairs select committee, will raise the allegations when he gives evidence before parliament's joint committee on human rights on Tuesday.

"When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, 'There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police,'" Brake said. But when the crowd became suspicious of the men and accused them of being police officers, the pair approached the police line and passed through after showing some form of identification.

Brake has produced a draft report of his experiences for the human rights committee, having received written statements from people in the crowd. These include Tony Amos, a photographer who was standing with protesters in the Royal Exchange between 5pm and 6pm. "He [one of the alleged officers] was egging protesters on. It was very noticeable," Amos said. "Then suddenly a protester seemed to identify him as a policeman and turned on him. He ­legged it towards the police line, flashed some ID and they just let him through, no questions asked."

Amos added: "He was pretty much inciting the crowd. He could not be called an observer. I don't believe in conspiracy theories but this really struck me. Hopefully, a review of video evidence will clear this up."

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has received 256 complaints relating to the G20 protests. Of these, 121 have been made about the use of force by police officers, while 75 relate to police tactics. The IPCC said it had no record of complaints involving the use of police agents provocateurs. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We would never deploy officers in this way or condone such behaviour."

The use of plain-clothes officers in crowd situations is considered a vital tactic for gathering evidence. It has been used effectively to combat football hooliganism in the UK and was employed during the May Day protests in 2001.

Brake said he intends to raise the allegations with the Met's commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, when he next appears before the home affairs select committee. "There is a logic having plain-clothes officers in the crowd, but no logic if the officers are actively encouraging violence, which would be a source of great concern," Brake said.

The MP said that given only a few people were allowed out of the corralled crowd for the five hours he was held inside it, there should be no problem in investigating the allegation by examining video footage.

An aside: notice how Amos, the photographer, must disclaim belief in "conspiracy theories" to bolster his credibility. Any story not fully sanctioned by official government sources is now "conspiracy theory".

Via Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing, a true hero of the blogosphere, via James, always keeping me informed.

too little, too late: rcmp apologizes, but we must remain outraged

A year and a half after Robert Dziekanski was murdered by the RCMP in the Vancouver airport, the second-in-command of the Mounties has apologized, and implies the agency will use the incident to change... something. He doesn't say what. Deputy Commissioner William Sweeney told a Senate committee:

We are very sorry for Mr. Dziekanski's death and we are committed to learning as much as possible from this terrible event.

Sweeney's statement also referred to how Dziekanski's death hurt the RCMP's reputation with the public it is supposed to serve - although he also mentioned the media, as if the problem is the publicity and not the murder itself. (Remember Donald Rumsfeld blaming Abu Ghraib on the presence of digital cameras?) This RCMP apology was issued after some weaker and more equivocal statements last week.

It is all too late.

Not just too late for poor Mr. Dziekanski, his mother and everyone else who loved him. It's too for the RCMP, and for all of us. How many months did the agency waste lying, covering up, denying the facts, trying to tell us that what we saw right in front of our eyes was not what really happened?

And that's the central point, really. The RCMP gave us a version of what happened. But we all saw the video, so we knew they were lying. Without the video, many people, maybe most people, would have believed the RCMP's story. Only the presence of the video taken by a by-stander brought the truth to light and made it stick.

And this calls into question all the stories the RCMP has ever told and will ever tell about "unfortunate incidents" past and present, for which there is no video record.

Robert Dziekanski is one of hundreds North Americans who have been killed by Tasers. Many more are tasered but survive.

According to Truth Not Tasers, who does us all a tremendous public service in honour of her or his murdered brother:

ONE Canadian and EIGHTEEN Americans have died so far this year after they were tasered by police, including a 16-YEAR-OLD BOY, a 15-YEAR-OLD boy - and a 17-YEAR OLD boy who became AT LEAST the FIFTH 17-year-old to die in North America proximal to the taser used by police. ONE American has died after being tasered by a fellow civilian.

At least SEVENTY-ONE North Americans died in 2008 after they were tasered by police, including at least FIVE (and possibly SIX) Canadians. At least SEVENTY-EIGHT North Americans (that we know of) died in 2007 after they were tasered by police, FIVE of them Canadian. At least 408 people have died in North America proximal to police use of tasers since 2001 and one proximal to civilian use of the taser (in April 2009). TWENTY-SEVEN (EIGHT?) people have died in Canada since 2003 after police used tasers on them. One person has died in Britain. One person has died in Australia.

Fifteen-year-old Brett Elder died when he was tasered in Bay City, Michigan. The young man, who had recently lost his mother, had been drinking, so naturally alcohol-induced "excited delirium" was cited as a key factor in his death.

It's always something. Some underlying illness, alcohol, marijuana - something. Hey, I have an idea. Since the cops don't know about the presence of other factors, why not stop tasering?

Running around naked seems to be increasingly dangerous. Someone enjoying (and exhibiting) himself at the Coachella Festival didn't obey the police when they ordered him to cover up, so police wrestled him to the ground and tasered him multiple times. Naked Coachella Man wasn't bothering anyone; no had complained about him. But the police saw fit to sit on him and repeatedly taser his shoulder. (Video at that link NSFW.)

Naked Coachella Man survived. Poor Iman Morales was not so lucky. Naked, ranting, mentally ill but not hurting anyone, Morales stood on his Brooklyn fire escape holding a fluorescent light bulb. The police killed him in front of his mother.

Police fired a Taser at a naked Brooklyn man armed with only a fluorescent light tube yesterday, sending him falling to his death from a second-floor ledge after he went on a 40-minute rant.

Iman Morales' mom begged cops not to hurt her son, telling them he's sick - then watched in horror as he plunged from the top of the roll-down gate on which he'd been perched.

An Emergency Services officer, acting on the orders of his boss, fired at the 35-year-old man at around 2 p.m., as he waved the 8-foot fluorescent light tube, police sources said.

"His body froze up and he fell face-first," said Sean Johnson, who witnessed the drama at 489 Tompkins Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Morales, who crashed 10 feet to the pavement, died a few hours later at Kings County Hospital.

Asked if police followed the proper protocol for using a Taser, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said, "That's being reviewed."

Oh yes. It's being reviewed.

In this bizarre Florida incident, no one was seriously hurt, but it should leave us wondering about the mental capacities of people working in correctional facilities, who have access to weapons and power over lives. Via Digby.

It was "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" at the Franklin Correctional Institution, and Sgt. Walter Schmidt wanted to give the kids an idea of what their parents do.

So he took out a handheld stun device and zapped them with 50,000 volts of electricity.

The children, whose ages are not available, reportedly yelped in pain, fell to the ground and grabbed red burn marks on their arms. One was taken to a nearby hospital.

DOC spokeswoman Jo Ellyn Rackleff said in an e-mail, "We believe that a number of children may have received a shock."

Schmidt, the arsenal sergeant at the Panhandle prison, said he asked parents for permission to shock the kids.

"When they said 'sure,' I went ahead and did it," he said by phone Friday.

Three days after the April 24 incident, Warden Duffie Harrison wrote Schmidt that his "retention would be detrimental to the best interests of the state" because he had "engaged in inappropriate conduct while demonstrating weapons...to several kids during a special event at the institution."

"You tased at least two kids to demonstrate the EID, which is in direct violation of procedure and placed the department at risk of litigation," Harrison wrote.

Schmidt was terminated after 14 years with the Department of Corrections.

"It wasn't intended to be malicious, but educational," Schmidt said. "The big shock came when I got fired."

Do you think Schmidt's little pun was intentional?

Sure, that one is just plain stupid, and might leave you chuckling. But think about the implications. We assume - we hope! - this guard wouldn't have demonstrated to the kids how it feels to be shot, or clubbed over the head. Why did he assume he could demonstrate what it feels like to be tased? Does he think his taser is a toy? Is he not sufficiently aware of the lethal potential of this weapon?

* * * *

As long as the taser death toll mounts, and police forces continue to dissemble and deny, every good cop out there, every Mountie that joined the force to help people, has their reputation damaged, and their job made more difficult. Their credibility, their intentions, and their actions in times of crises, come under more intense scrutiny by an increasingly skeptical public.

It's time to end this experiment in technology that supposedly save lives. It's been a great success for the shareholders of Taser International Inc., but a disaster for the rest of us.

As long as cops still carry these supposedly non-lethal weapons which are killing so many people, we are all at risk.

come on bc, show us what democracy looks like

Tomorrow, people in British Columbia have an historic opportunity to expand their democracy. For all the info, see BC-STV: Single Transferable Vote.

Ontario voters didn't move things forward when they had the chance in 2007, likely confused and misled by the entrenched interests who want to maintain the status quo. You out there on the west coast, show us how it's done!

Power Up Your Vote!.

stand in solidarity with the tamil people

Some of this information is outdated - the May 9 protest was two days ago - but since last night's protest by Tamil Canadians on the Gardiner Expressway has brought the issue into view for many people, I'll post it anyway. From Toronto Coalition to Stop the War:

* * * *

Call for solidarity with Tamils
End the killing in Sri Lanka now!

Dear friends:

A humanitarian catastrophe is well underway among Tamils in Sri Lanka. Since January, over 6,000 Tamils have been killed in a brutal war of aggression led by the government of Sri Lanka. Thousands more have been wounded, many of them critically. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, and remain trapped in so-called "safe zones" where government forces continue to shell civilians, hospitals and schools.

These attacks are part of a decades-long campaign led by the government of Sri Lanka against the Tamil people and their culture. Since 1983, over 70,000 Tamils have been killed in this conflict, which many human rights groups warn could turn into a genocide.

Now more than ever, we need to show our support for peace and justice in Sri Lanka, and to stand in solidarity with the Tamil people.

In particular, non-Tamil allies - both individual activists and organizations - must make an extra effort to show the Tamil community that it isn't isolated. We have mobilized in large numbers for Afghans, for Iraqis, for Palestinians, for Lebanese and for Somalis.

Now it's time to mobilize for Tamils.

The Toronto Coalition to Stop the War is calling on all allies and supporters to take action now to end the killing in Sri Lanka. Please forward this message and follow the steps below to show your support.

Thank you in advance.

In solidarity,
Toronto Coalition to Stop the War

Call for solidarity with Tamils
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ACTIONS & EVENTS:
1) City-wide rally and march: May 9
2) Sign and circulate the solidarity statement
3) Contact your Member of Parliament
4) Write letters to the editor
5) Show your support on facebook
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1) City-wide rally and march: May 9

[details on event deleted]
Event on facebook

Download the poster here
Download the leaflet here
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) Sign and circulate the solidarity statement

The Canadian Peace Alliance has produced a solidarity statement, calling for an end to the attacks on the Tamil people. If your group would like to endorse this statement, please e-mail cpa@web.ca.

Stop the attacks on the Tamil people
Solidarity statement by the Canadian Peace Alliance
Please read the statement here.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3) Contact your Member of Parliament

The Canadian Peace Alliance has produced a sample letter that you can send to your Member of Parliament. Download the letter here.

Please copy the letter and circulate to family, friends, co-workers, etc. Remember that no postage is required to send a letter to your Member of Parliament. Just mail your letter to the following address, and it's free of charge:

Member of Parliament (add your MP's name)
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4) Write letters to the editor

Please take a moment to send a short letter to the editor in response to any articles you see in the media about the situation of Tamils in Sri Lanka or about the ongoing solidarity protests in Toronto and elsewhere.

Even if your letter isn't published, it sends a message to the editorial board that this is an important issue and that support is growing for the Tamil cause.

Please keep your letters short (under 200 words) and concise.

L note: this is particularly important, given people will be writing letters denouncing protests that inconvenienced them!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5) Show your support on facebook

Join this group on facebook to show your support for peace and justice for Tamils. Please invite your friends to join too!

I’m not Tamil, but I support peace and justice for Tamils: group here.

genocide is more important than traffic

I am one of the many people in the Greater Toronto Area who are being inconvenienced by protests by and in support of the Tamil people.

Right now I should be on a bus, on my way home. Instead I will be several hours late. I've had a long day, and I'm tired.

To say this pales in comparison to what is happening to the Tamil people is beyond understatement. It can't even be said in the same sentence.

I'll get home. We'll all get home. People are being slaughtered. Rich, comfortable nations won't help because they've decided a group of people are terrorists. The Tamil protesters are refusing to be silenced. We must stand in solidarity with them.

* * * *

As another GO passenger complained to the driver about the inconvenience, I interjected, "There's a genocide going on. It's much more important than how long it takes us to get home."

The passenger, a young black man, said, "I know that. I'm not unsympathetic to their cause. But they've been called a terrorist group, so anything they do will be interpreted badly."

I said, "Anybody can be called a terrorist. Today's terrorist is often tomorrow's hero."

He smiled. "I know that," he said. "It's true. I'm not opposed to what they're doing. I just want to go home."

I thought that was pretty good. The driver said, "I hear you, and I agree with you. But some of them got aggressive. They attacked police."

I said, "I've been to too many protests to just accept that protesters attacked police. It's usually the other way around."

The driver nodded and said, "I know. That's true. But in this case, I do think there were some violent protesters, not connected to the main peaceful protests happening at the consulate. And it doesn't do their cause any good. You know if they're violent, that's all the media will show."

I don't know if the protesters were violent, but the driver was reasonable. He was listening. And he wasn't dismissing the protesters, their cause, or even the idea of protesting.

I thought, I like this town.

Another passenger said, "What's the protest about? Tamelles? Who is that? What are they?"

The young black man looked at me and said, "You'd have to be asleep for the last month to not know about this."

I said, "Maybe she was."

Then I called Allan to see how we could get home.

[Kim in TO blogged about this today, too.]

* * * *

Learn more at the Canadian Peace Alliance and at TamilNet.

johann hari on dubai

I'm in the middle of reading a lengthy feature by the outstanding British journalist Johann Hari: The Dark Side of Dubai.

I thought I knew how bad things were in Dubai, but I was wrong. I also thought the story was too long and I would skim it, but I'm riveted.

I highly recommend spending some time with this one: The dark side of Dubai.

Thanks to James for sending.

And may I add, regarding both A. L. Kennedy (in my previous post) and Johann Hari, that it really pisses me off that writers can be this good, this young.

what i'm reading: a l kennedy

I've just finished reading Day, by A. L. Kennedy, one of my favourite contemporary writers.

I loved the book, but I don't want to say too much about it, because - as with all of Kennedy's novels that I've read - it's best experienced totally cold. She has an uncanny talent for unfolding the basic facts of a story - place, time, background of the main character - in surprising ways. Reviews and book jacket synopses that unwind the whole thing and piece it back together ruin the joy of discovery.

So I won't tell you plot, only theme. The book deals with World War II, the "good" war, but offers a perspective that reminds us - sometimes subtly, sometimes loudly - that there is no good war. Perhaps some war is unavoidable - the book never comments on that - but everyone on all sides is left damaged. And the damages of modern warfare are unique and plentiful. Day is about war, love, courage, identity and belongingness. Like all A. L. Kennedy novels, it's about human frailty, cruelty, kindness, and the blind groping to make connections with others.

Kennedy is young, Scottish and amazingly talented. She writes novels, documentaries, radio plays, TV dramas - and she does stand-up comedy! Check out the FAQs on her website. Here's a sample.

I AM A PUBLISHER WITH, RATHER WORRYINGLY, YOUR CONTACT DETAILS AND I AM POSTING YOU THIS BOOK, WILL YOU READ IT AND WRITE ME A BRIEF ENCOMIUM FOR IT ?

No. Unless I'm amazingly unbusy this won't happen, either. I'd love to be more help, but I have no time to do so. Reading your book would cause me to miss out on seeing my pals, sleeping and taking nourishment. It would also stop me getting on with my own writing. Well done for knowing what an encomium is - you must be proper publisher. And therefore you'll be worried about your job. Sorry.

I AM A JOURNALIST - WILL YOU MIND WHEN I RIP OFF SOME OR INDEED MOST OF THIS AND USE IT TO FILL UP MY COLUMN, AS IT WERE?

D'you know, I just expect it - I really do. On you go, knock yourself out. If you don't feel bad about it already then there's nothing I can do to make you.

DO YOU HATE JOURNALISTS ?

No, some of my best friends are journalists. Well, two of my best friends are journalists and I chat to some of the rest of them. And they are currently working under insane amounts of pressure from all sides. They are a fine thing and let me know what's going on where I am not and are an essential element in any healthy democracy. I just loathe bad and lazy journalism - which undermines democracy, misinforms me and helped take my country into an illegal war rather recently.

WILL YOU HELP ME WITH MY DISSERTATION/ TRANSLATION/ THESIS/ ESSAY ?

No. Lack of time again. Plus, I would be of absolutely no use to you in this regard - I do not think along academic lines. Best of luck and I'd advise you to avoid the whole Woman Writer area and the Scottish Writer thingy. Very dull.

I AM VERY, VERY UNHINGED AND WANT TO EMAIL, PHONE, STALK AND PERHAPS KILL SOMEONE - SHOULD I GET IN TOUCH ?

Oddly, I'd rather you didn't. I know you may have bonded with whoever you think I am and/or developed a weirdly intense relationship with my work, but that doesn't mean we're pals, or ever could be. I have enough pals already.

That's a small sample; there's a long page full of this.

I haven't loved everything I've read by Kennedy, but I don't have to. Some of my favourite musicians make music that I dislike, but I'd rather they try new things and move in new directions than endlessly repeat themselves and become self-parodies. Similarly, I admire Kennedy's willingness to go in different directions, and I don't feel I have to love everything she does in order to highly recommend her work. And the novels I like of hers, I love.

My favourite books of Kennedy's (so far) have been So I Am Glad and Bliss, and now I add Day to the list. I'm going to read Paradise soon.

If you read fiction, and you haven't yet read A. L. Kennedy, I hope you will soon remedy that.

music and passion by sara marlowe

Last night Allan and I left work early to attend a CD release party for "True Stories", new music by Sara Marlowe.

Sara is a talented musician and committed activist, and she seamlessly combines the two. Her lyrics fall squarely in the tradition of music in support of social justice, while her music is a free-ranging mix of rock, jazz and folk. Sara's arrangements, which feature cello, flute and mandolin, give the songs a texture and depth that is simply beautiful.

For many of the war resisters and campaigners in the crowd, the highlight of the evening had to be the transcendent version of "Let Them Stay," a kind of campaign theme song, which Sara wrote. I had never heard it performed with a full band, and I had chills.

Also performing were Fellow Worker, who sings in the movement and protest tradition, by turns funny, moving and inspiring, and DJ Mohammed Ali Aumeer, aka Socialist Hip Hop, who regularly donates CDs to raise money for the war resisters and other peace activism. Sara and Ali perform a number together about Haiti that blows me away every time I hear it.

Sara Marlowe: website, on MySpace, on Rhapsody.

alyssa manning in canadian lawyer magazine

My story about Alyssa Manning, the lawyer representing many of the US war resisters in Canada, is in this month's issue of Canadian Lawyer magazine.

I'm very happy to have given Alyssa some national recognition for her outstanding work and commitment. And of course, this is more visibility for the resisters and the Campaign to let them stay. Almost every lawyer in Canada sees this magazine, so I'll be interested to see the response to the story.

You can read it here (pdf).

rotman's hat shop on spadina

On my way to War Resister Support Campaign meetings every week, I pass Rotman's Hat Shop, a dusty anachronism, and I wonder, who owns this place? Is it really still in business? Who is Rotman, whose Jewish last name stands alone among the Chinese novelty stores and Vietnamese pho shops? And a hat store, like a typewriter repair shop, is itself a piece of the past.

The Kensington Market/Chinatown area bears some similarity to New York's Lower East Side, where a few ancient synagogues and famous Jewish delis hang on as proof of the past. The Jewish community whose teeming poverty once made the Lower East Side the most densely populated blocks on earth has long since moved on, giving way to successive waves of immigrant groups, to artists and revolutionaries and junkies, and now to developers, high-end restaurants and boutique hotels. Although my knowledge of Toronto history is scant, I sensed that Rotman's must be part of the same pattern.

A story in yesterday's Globe and Mail explained the familiar tale to me: David Rotman, the last of Spadina's Jewish merchants has sold the building and retired. It's a nice story, worth reading if you like these urban tales.

Rotman's on Flickr: here, here and here, among many others.

torture's other victims

Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor and Publisher, a trade publication, is quoted often in this blog. He was one of the lonely media voices opposing the invasion of Iraq from the very beginning. He helped expose how the mainstream media, telling lies, sold the war to the US public and covered up the theft of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Mitchell is also a steadfast voice in support of US servicepeople, exposing the shameful way their government treats them.

Here is a recent piece of his in Huffington Post. Please read.

With each new revelation on U.S. torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Gitmo (and who, knows, probably elsewhere), I am reminded of the chilling story of Alyssa Peterson, who I have written about numerous times in the past three years but now with especially sad relevance. Appalled when ordered to take part in interrogations that, no doubt, involved what we would call torture, she refused, then killed herself a few days later, in September 2003.

Of course, we now know from the torture memos and the U.S. Senate committee probe and various new press reports, that the "Gitmo-izing" of Iraq was happening just at the time Alyssa got swept up in it.

Alyssa Peterson was one of the first female soldiers killed in Iraq. A cover-up, naturally, followed.

Peterson, 27, a Flagstaff, Ariz., native, served with C Company, 311th Military Intelligence BN, 101st Airborne. Peterson was an Arabic-speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at our air base in troubled Tal Afar in northwestern Iraq. According to official records, she died on Sept. 15, 2003, from a "non-hostile weapons discharge."

A "non-hostile weapons discharge" leading to death is not unusual in Iraq, often quite accidental, so this one apparently raised few eyebrows. The Arizona Republic, three days after her death, reported that Army officials "said that a number of possible scenarios are being considered, including Peterson's own weapon discharging, the weapon of another soldier discharging, or the accidental shooting of Peterson by an Iraqi civilian." And that might have ended it right there.

But in this case, a longtime radio and newspaper reporter named Kevin Elston, not satisfied with the public story, decided to probe deeper in 2005, "just on a hunch," he told me in late 2006 (there's a chapter about it in my book on Iraq and the media, So Wrong for So Long). He made "hundreds of phone calls" to the military and couldn't get anywhere, so he filed a Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] request. When the documents of the official investigation of her death arrived, they contained bombshell revelations. Here's what the Flagstaff public radio station, KNAU, where Elston worked, reported:

"Peterson objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed."

The official probe of her death would later note that earlier she had been "reprimanded" for showing "empathy" for the prisoners. One of the most moving parts of the report, in fact, is this: "She said that she did not know how to be two people; she ... could not be one person in the cage and another outside the wire."

She was then assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards, and sent to suicide prevention training. "But on the night of September 15th, 2003, Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle," the documents disclose.

The official report revealed that a notebook she had written in was found next to her body, but blacked out its contents.

The Army talked to some of Peterson's colleagues. Asked to summarize their comments, Elston told me: "The reactions to the suicide were that she was having a difficult time separating her personal feelings from her professional duties. That was the consistent point in the testimonies, that she objected to the interrogation techniques, without describing what those techniques were."

Elston said that the documents also refer to a suicide note found on her body, which suggested that she found it ironic that suicide prevention training had taught her how to commit suicide. He filed another FOIA request for a copy of the actual note. It did not emerge.

Peterson, a devout Mormon, had graduated from Flagstaff High School and earned a psychology degree from Northern Arizona University on a military scholarship. She was trained in interrogation techniques at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and was sent to the Middle East in 2003.

A report in The Arizona Daily Sun of Flagstaff -- three years after Alyssa's death -- revealed that Spc. Peterson's mother, Bobbi Peterson, reached at her home in northern Arizona, said that neither she nor her husband Richard had received any official documents that contained information outlined in Elston's report.

In other words: Like the press and the public, even the parents had been kept in the dark.

Tomorrow I will write about Kayla Williams, a woman who served with Alyssa, who told me me that she talked to her about her problems shortly before she killed herself. Kayla also was forced to take part in torture interrogations, where she saw detainees punched. Another favorite technique: strip the prisoners and then remove their blindfolds so that the first thing they saw was Kayla Williams. She also opted out, but survived, and is haunted years later.

Here's what Williams told Soledad O'Brien of CNN : "I was asked to assist. And what I saw was that individuals who were doing interrogations had slipped over a line and were really doing things that were inappropriate. There were prisoners that were burned with lit cigarettes."

All of this only gains relevance in light of the current debate over whether those who were "just following orders" in torture routines should be held accountable today.

Part two here.

In every instance of torture, there are two victims: the tortured and the torturer. People who behave inhumanely lose a piece of their humanity not easily returned. Unless a person is mentally ill - unless there is actually something wrong with the conscience, that it is not merely buried or placed on hold or temporarily ignored - the torturer will suffer. Whether that suffering is expressed in alcoholism or drug addiction, violence against partners and children, or against oneself, or all of the above, the tortured conscience will surface.

Military resistance saves lives. US war resisters in Canada may have saved the lives of innocent people, may have saved anyone (who cares what they may have done) from torture, and may have saved their own lives by refusing to carry torture on their consciences.

eu does the right thing, canada makes a fool of itself

Before the news hit the mainstream media, HSI Canada emailed about the great victory for seals in Europe, with the EU enacting a nearly absolute ban on all seal products.

Then - I'm getting caught up now, having been out of the country - Parliament voted to use the 2010 Vancouver Olympics to promote seal products, including the use of at least one seal product in Team Canada's uniform - stupidly reported as "Team Canada to wear sealskin uniforms in Vancouver". Team Canada, to its credit, wants no part of it.

[As an aside, I can't help but notice how this non-binding motion about the Olympics got a ton of coverage, with most media acting as if a law has been passed. Meanwhile, the non-binding motion calling on the government to stop deporting US war resisters and allow them to apply for permanent residence in Canada - passed by Parliament twice - is completely ignored.]

Looking for the seal-slaughter news, I saw a large number of newspaper editorials opposing the seal hunt and calling for its end, an encouraging sign. Here's a first-hand report written by Rebecca Aldworth, director of Humane Society International/Canada; click through for video.

I have watched history being made today. The European Union has closed its borders to products of cruel commercial seal slaughters, removing a primary market for Canada's globally-condemned sealing industry. Many believe this ban will deliver a blow from which the Canadian seal slaughter may not recover.

The Canadian government tried every trick in the book to try to derail the ban: sending massive delegations to lobby on behalf of the sealing industry, misinforming decision-makers, and even threatening trade reprisals. But the EU acted on behalf of its citizens and, in doing so, has saved millions of defenseless seals from a horrible fate.

We've Made History

I grew up in sealing country, and I have observed the commercial hunt for 11 years. In that time, I have witnessed cruelty that no thinking, compassionate person could ever accept. It has been difficult, often heartbreaking. But I have always known that in bearing witness to this slaughter, we can stop it.

Every year, the ProtectSeals team has endured hazardous conditions to document the seal hunt. We are committed to showing the world that the Canadian government is lying when it claims that the hunt is humane.

On our trips to the ice, Humane Society International and The Humane Society of the United States have brought key opinion shapers such as Paul McCartney and Swedish Member of the European Parliament Carl Schlyter. Neither has wavered in speaking out against the hunt. Shortly after seeing the seal hunt, Schlyter introduced a resolution in the European Parliament, calling on the EU to ban trade in seal products. Our footage of the seal slaughter and our testimony were key in convincing the rest of the EU to agree to the ban. It gives me enormous satisfaction to know that we played a central role in making history for seals.

What Does It Mean?

This is the beginning of the end for the Canadian seal slaughter. The Canadian government estimates the loss of the EU market will cost Canada’s sealing industry $6.6 million (CAD) annually. Given that the landed value of the Canadian seal hunt last year was less than $7 million, the implications are enormous.

With this ban, the EU joins the United States (which outlawed seal products in 1972) and Mexico and Croatia, which ended the trade in 2006. Soon there will be nowhere left to sell the products of cruel commercial seal slaughters, and seals will be worth more alive than dead.

Seals' lives have already been saved. Just the promise of an EU ban was enough to drive this year's price for seal fur down to $15 (CAD) per skin—a decline of 86 percent since 2006.

As a result, many sealers stayed home. Out of Canada's quota of 338,200 seals, fewer than 60,000 have been killed to date. By the regulated closing date of the seal hunt — May 15 — it is likely more than a quarter of a million baby seals will have been spared.

Now that the EU has banned its trade in seal products, countless more seals will live out their lives in peace from this year forward.

What's Next?

We must remain vigilant. With generous government subsidies, the Canadian sealing industry may soon develop new markets for seal products. We must make certain that other nations follow the example set by the EU. The ProtectSeals campaign is working in several key countries already to ensure that there is nowhere left for the Canadian sealing industry to market its products.

The only way to permanently end Canada's commercial seal slaughter is for the Canadian government to pass a strong law prohibiting commercial seal hunting. Senator Mac Harb has introduced such a ban, but no other senator has yet been brave enough yet to step forward and support it.

We are working hard in Canada to turn public opposition to the seal hunt into political action. The overwhelming majority of Canadians want the slaughter to stop, and it is time for the government to take action.

There is still much work to do, but we should all take a moment to celebrate this historic achievement. We have won this victory as a movement, and it is one we will remember for decades to come.

I am grateful to the European Union for rejecting cruelty, and I am grateful for everyone who has worked so very hard to make this day possible. The seals could not ask for stronger allies.

Ways to get involved here.

freedom fries, french's, fox

Thought I would share a bit of insanity from the country of my birth, as reported in today's Globe & Mail.

The United States is in the midst of a devastating recession, mired in two overseas wars and grappling with a swine flu outbreak, but conservative critics are assailing President Barack Obama on another pressing issue: his choice of burger topping.

Dijongate is in full force, with Fox News and a conservative blogger leading the charge against the President for his choice of the apparently un-American mustard atop his cheeseburger during a recent impromptu lunch stop with Vice-President Joe Biden.

There's no evidence of wiretapped hotel rooms or a Deep Throat lurking in the shadows, but there are indeed accusations of a cover-up. MSNBC, apparently, edited out the President's request for Dijon in order to help Mr. Obama maintain his "man of the people" street cred.

Fox's Sean Hannity has been telling his viewers that MSNBC, and reporter Andrea Mitchell in particular, are trying to hide Mr. Obama's Dijon-loving ways from the public.

Mr. Hannity has been referring to the President's lunch as his "fancy burger."

"It was Grey Poupon, which is equally snotty," alleged one commenter on Mr. Hannity's website.

William Jacobson, a Cornell law school professor who has also been blogging about Dijongate, noted that Ms. Mitchell "didn't mention one arugula-like fact" about Mr. Obama's order earlier this week at Ray's Hell Burger in Arlington, Va.

Prof. Jacobson said the MSNBC video of the stop at Ray's cuts out just as Mr. Obama asks for Dijon.

"MSNBC edited out the audio when Obama ordered his Hell Burger just at the moment when Obama asked for Dijon mustard," Prof. Jacobson wrote in a post yesterday entitled "Thou Shalt Not Mock Obama's Mustard."

"Now, I have nothing against Dijon mustard, but the image didn't fit with the image being spun by the White House and MSNBC. Dijon mustard on a Hell Burger had a very John Kerry-ish quality about it."

It all harks back to those silly days of "freedom fries," the name given to French fries by hawkish conservatives in 2003 when France expressed strong opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The French stand resulted in a call from American right-wingers for a boycott of French goods and the removal of the country's name from products. That left America's best-selling mustard - French's - in a bit of a quandary.

French's, in fact, figures prominently in a Dijon-related anecdote Mr. Obama chronicled in his book The Audacity of Hope.

He told the story of his first tour through Illinois, when he ordered Dijon on his cheeseburger at a TGI Friday's.

His panicked political aide assured the waitress that Mr. Obama didn't want Dijon at all and waved her away, thrusting a bottle of French's at him.

"As the waitress walked away, I leaned over and whispered that I didn't think there were any photographers around," Mr. Obama wrote.

The anecdote underscored Mr. Obama's thoughts on the absurdity of focusing on non-issues in politics.

"What's troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and trivial," he wrote.

One commenter on Prof. Jacobson's blog yesterday mocked Dijongate: "Wait till the right finds out he eats guacamole, then he'll be seen as a pro-immigrant nut job. God forbid he ever takes a bite of hummus!"

As much as this is amusing in a head-shaking kind of way, it's also horribly sad.

women making peace

Antonia Zerbisias celebrates women waging peace.

Not that all men are warmongers, but it's striking how, in recent years, the most outspoken, out-front, outrageous and out-there peace activists have been women.

And older women at that.

Is it because, as our baby-making hormones ebb, our anti-war-mones take over?

Here in Canada, we have the Raging Grannies, often seen at the front lines of demonstrations against everything from the U.S. attack on Iraq to the globalization of trade that exploits workers, including women and children, around the word.

Earlier this year, when Israel deployed its forces over and into the already besieged Gaza, it was a group of women who protested by occupying the Israeli consulate here in Toronto.

Author-activist Judy Rebick (Transforming Power: From the Personal to the Political) explained her being part of that to me: "When Israel attacked Gaza – and I know how few options the Gazans have, and that Israel was bombing (what many critics describe as) an open-air prison – I was just so outraged. So, when I was asked to participate in the sit-in to help make it more high profile, I said yes. And I got involved."

Not coincidentally, it was a female MP who publicly took a stand against the bombing of Gaza, the NDP's Libby Davies.

Last month in Toronto, at a meeting to support Iraq war resisters fighting deportation to the U.S., it was all women at the podium, including Michelle Robidoux, the group's principal co-ordinator, as well as current NDP MP Olivia Chow and former MP Peggy Nash.

Please click through to read more - but, as always, best enjoyed without comments.

u.s. department of justice drops case against watada

[Redsock guest post]

Great news!

The Department of Justice has dropped its case against 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, a war resister who refused Iraq deployment in June 2006 and denounced President George W. Bush’s decision to invade as illegal and immoral.

In Feb. 2007, military judge Lieutenant Colonel John Head halted Watada's case following possible inconsistencies concerning a "stipulation of fact" agreed before the hearing. The decision led to a mistrial, ending Watada's court martial. The Army appealed, but a judge said Watada could not be tried again on the same charges, as it would violate his right to be free of double jeopardy.

The Justice Department is dropping its appeal of that judge's decision.

"Because there are no longer any criminal charges pending against Lt. Watada, and because (his) military service has been extended far beyond his normal release date, he anticipates that he will soon be released from active duty," Watada's attorney, James Lobsenz, said in a media advisory published Wednesday. "He plans to return to civilian life and to attend law school."

James M. Branum, an Oklahoma lawyer who has worked with many war resisters: "The Army doesn't have enough jail cells to accommodate all the people who go AWOL."

Nearly 7,000 soldiers deserted in fiscal year 2007, according to figures from each branch of the US military.

Courage To Resist may have more info on Thursday.