war resisters in port colborne: "for us, there is no easy way out"

Last night, a few carloads of members of the War Resisters Support Campaign traveled to Port Colborne to support Jeremy and Ashlea Brockway, a war-resister family who lives in that small town on Lake Erie. (I posted two local stories about the Brockways last week.) Our supporters from Buffalo were there - we've gone from never having met in person to seeing each other every month! - as well as a meeting-house full of local supporters. It was an emotionally intense evening. I imagine every person in that room was deeply affected by what they saw and heard.

Reverend Robert Hurkmans of St. James and St. Brendans Anglican Church welcomed us, then showed the Campaign's original movie, "Let Them Stay". I hadn't seen it in a long time, and it's as moving and inspiring as ever. Many of the people attending this event were hearing about the war resisters movement for the first time, and the movie is an excellent introduction.

After that, I was called upon to say a few words about the campaign. I was under the impression that the topic might be controversial - that the audience might not be fully supportive - so I tried to give a personal perspective. I talked about military resistance as the heart of the peace movement, and the moral courage it takes to put so much on the line to say no to war.

I mentioned I have just become a Canadian citizen (much applause, so sweet), and that my earliest memory of Canada is from during the Vietnam War. Canada was the place that accepted the brave young men who chose not to go to Vietnam. Canada was the place of peace, in contrast to the country of war that I lived in. I said I want to believe that somewhere that Canada still exists - I do believe that for the people of Canada, it does still exist - and I dream of making that Canada visible again.

I mentioned the motions that passed in Parliament, and the deportations, and Bill C-440. Hopefully it made sense and wasn't just a big blur.

Then we got to the heart of why we were there.

Jeremy Brockway cannot appear in public at this time. He suffers from very serious depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress, and public speaking is out of the question. He did, however, sit down with Rev. Rob Hurkmans and a video camera. We watched a short video of their interview.

First we saw a photo of Jeremy Brockway in his marine uniform - a good-looking young man beaming with patriotism and pride. Then we saw him today. He is broken. By using that word, I don't imply that Jeremy - or anyone else who struggles with the same issues - is beyond repair. On the contrary, I know that healing is possible. But for Jeremy, right now, every day is a struggle to survive. He has lost interest in life. It's everything he can do to hang on.

Jeremy was forced to participate in some terrible things in Iraq, and he witnessed many more brutal war crimes and other horrors. When his anxiety started to surface, he was told it would pass. As his condition worsened, he was given drugs that put him in a zombie-like state. Naturally that didn't help. It can't. His application for medical leave was denied. His application for Conscientious Objector status was shredded in front of him. Jeremy was in a terrible emotional and mental condition.

And he was ordered to redeploy.

After the video of Jeremy, Ashlea Brockway took the podium. She was crying. She said, "I had all these things I was going to say, but after seeing Jeremy... I don't know if I can do this." But she did. Ashlea spoke eloquently and movingly, sometimes through her tears, about their family's struggle.

Jeremy was a United States Marine. The Marines' motto, Ashlea reminded us, is semper fidelis, Latin for Always Faithful. Jeremy took this very seriously. He had great loyalty and great faith in the Marines. And gradually he learned the loyalty was a one-way street.

Ashlea said she knows that Jeremy has not told her all of what he saw in Iraq, but what she does know is chilling and gruesome. Jeremy was sent to a roof to install an antenna - not because the antenna was needed, but because his command knew there was a sniper in the area and wanted to draw the sniper out. In other words, Jeremy was used as human bait.

Buildings blown up, the bodies of children found in the rubble. An Iraqi officer left to bleed to death because it's cheaper to pay the life insurance than send a helicopter. And on and on.

Ashlea told us how Jeremy was treated when his PTSD and depression began to surface - how he was mocked, and ridiculed, and abused. How he was kept quiet with drugs. How he wanted to die.

She said, "Some people think we took an easy way out by coming to Canada. But for us, there is no easy way out."

She said, "People say, go back and take your punishment, and get on with your life." I wish everyone labouring under that delusion could have been there last night. First, could Jeremy Brockway survive in prison? If he could survive, incarcerating a man with combat-induced PTSD is tantamount to torture. No, it is torture.

And if he did survive, then what? With a dishonourable discharge, a felony offense, on his record, Jeremy won't be able to find work or go to school. He won't be eligible for any veterans' benefits. How will the family survive?

Ashlea told us how Jeremy returned from Iraq a changed man, and the strain that has put on them and their marriage. (They were married for one month before Jeremy deployed.) Ashlea struggles to stand by Jeremy - because splitting up would solve nothing, none of their problems would go away, but they would have lost their main support person in the bargain. She mentioned that Jeremy's grandfather came back from the Korean War a changed man, and that the grandparents' marriage failed, and she believes that was why. With this, she widened the picture to include all former soldiers who struggle with PTSD.

Here Ashlea soared. She said, "Just because I stand here under the banner of the war resisters, doesn't mean I don't stand with all soldiers, everywhere. There are good men and women all over the US, and probably Canadians, too, who served their countries honourably, and now suffer in silence, because the stigma of post-traumatic stress is so great." Some of them, she said, don't even realize that what they have is called PTSD; they are just "different" and can't get on with their lives.

Ashlea said there is a unit in the Canadian veterans' system where therapists are specially trained to deal with combat-related mental health issues. But deserters and AWOL soldiers are ineligible for treatment. Even if they can pay for treatment out-of-pocket with their own money, they will not be seen.

"Jeremy has already sacrificed for his country," she said. "He has already served loyally. He can't ever take that back." And now that that sacrifice has been made, she said, the Marines have turned their backs on Jeremy.

This is so often forgotten about war resisters. Many of the resisters are veterans, men and women who followed orders and served honourably. But because the military denies them the right to follow their conscience, their status as veterans is denied, too.

Ashlea's desire to raise awareness of post-traumatic stress and all combat-induced mental health issues really moved me. She is taking the ultimate step of being a survivor: she is using her own experience to try to help others.

Ashlea said that people are always telling her how strong she is, and she knows that everyone in the room has problems and challenges in their lives, and we all need strength, too. So she wrote down some of the words and thoughts that give her strength, and printed that up, and brought copies for everyone.

I was deeply touched by Ashlea's desire to share the source of her strength. From her hand-out, I learned that she is a religious Christian. It doesn't matter to me that my own inspiration derives from a different source. I'm grateful that Ashlea's faith helps to sustain her, and moved that she wanted to share it with us.

After Ashlea's talk, Reverend Rob read a letter from the Member of Parliament for Colborne, Malcolm Allen, supporting Jeremy and Ashlea, reaffirming the NDP's support for war resisters, and calling on the government to Let Them Stay.

Campaigner Lee Zaslofsky reaffirmed the Campaign's support for the Brockways, and recapped the political situation on Bill C-440. A woman from the local legal-aid clinic told us she is helping Ashlea with her Humanitarian and Compassionate application, and had a petition for us to sign for that.

People signed petitions and postcards, and quietly donated money to help the Brockways, and thanked us for doing this work. I have to say, I was a little overwhelmed at the emotional intensity of the evening - and very glad to be there.

For Jeremy and Ashlea Brockway, there is no easy answer. A man struggling with such turmoil cannot flip a switch and return to his former self. But, Ashlea said, "If we could know that we could stay in Canada, if we didn't live with the fear of deportation and court martial and prison, if we knew that we could settle here and just live our lives, I hold out hope that then Jeremy could begin to release his pain, and begin to heal."

The first step: Support Bill C-440.

are you now or have you ever been: the new mccarthyism turns on libby davies

What kind of a country are we living in when Members of Parliament attack one of their own colleagues and demand her resignation for expressing a point of view different from their own?

This insane attempt to censure and stigmatize any discussion about the Palestinian people that isn't simply "Israel good, Palestine bad" is completely out of control. It is a mass hysteria. We cannot make it go away but we cannot allow it stand unchallenged.

British MP George Galloway, a peace activist, is called a terrorist, because he gave money to Hamas.

Organizers of Israel Apartheid Week are condemned and harassed and vilified.

The words "Israeli apartheid" have been banned from Canada's largest Pride week. They're banning words, people! Doesn't that make you sit up and take notice?!

Now Libby Davies, as fine an MP as this country has, a woman as committed to justice and equality as any public figure you'll meet, is being attacked in the House of Commons because she dared to utter words that some people don't agree with.

Davies was asked, "When do you believe that the occupation in Israel started — '48 or 67?" She answered 1948.

And for this, her colleagues are calling for her resignation?!

Yet these same MPs - so outraged, so incensed, in such a state of hysteria over Libby Davies' words - were silent about the brutal murder of nine activists and the illegal detention of hundreds by Israeli forces.

What is happening when words are more widely condemned than murder??

What's more, the whole Davies flap was a set-up - an ambush. The question was asked by a pro-Zionist blogger, posing as either neutral or pro-Palestinian, in an attempt to "prove" that Davies denies Israel's right to exist. Libby Davies, are you now or have you ever been a member of the pro-Palestinian community?

Naturally, the Liberals and the Tories side together on this. We expect that, as they are indistinguishable on foreign policy. But we might have once expected more form the NDP. Murray Dobbin, writing in Straight.com, explains how this all came about. It was, as Dobbin says, a leadership test for Layton. And Layton flat-out failed.

Today, Tuesday June 15, is a day the NDP‘s Jack Layton will face a leadership test. He is poised to make a decision to punish one of his MPs and it could stain his leadership for a long time to come.

The party is in a state of near hysteria over what should have been a minor flap. But when the question of Israel and the Palestinians is involved, nothing is simple. The pro-Israel lobby and its friends are masters of taking advantage of any situation to promote their cause and vilify Israel’s critics. And it doesn’t matter if the victim is an icon of progressive politics.

In this case Vancouver East MP Libby Davies got bushwacked by a pro-Israel activist posing as a neutral – if not pro-Palestinian – blogger. After a rally for the Palestinians criticizing Israel’s deadly assault on the aid flotilla, a man approached Libby asking for an interview. As she always does, because she never hides her views, she complied. He immediately set her up with what he called a “background question.” He asked when the occupation began, 1948 or 1967.

Libby hesitated then said 1948. She made the point that the date was not important – that whatever the date the occupation was the longest in the world – and far too long.

The next day the interview appeared on YouTube. But in 24 hours it had gone nowhere – just 28 views. Then the most vociferous supporter of Israel in the NDP caucus, Thomas Mulcair, got wind of it and it escalated out of control. He went on a relentless campaign to punish Libby. The spin he helped create was that if Libby believed the occupation began in 1948 then she, ipso facto, believes that Israel has no right to exist. Libby has always gone to great lengths to make it clear that she supports Israel’s right to exist and the two-state solution endorsed by the NDP. But suddenly Jack Layton was in full-panic mode. He apologized to the Israeli ambassador. He hung Libby out to dry. He forced her to issue a public apology.

Apology? For what?

Some have criticized Libby’s statement as evidence that she does not know the history of the occupation which most mainstream commentators date from 1967 – when Israel militarily occupied the West bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights. But Libby’s problem was not that she didn’t know enough. She knew too much.

On Davies' website, she writes:

My reference to the year 1948 as the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was a serious and completely inadvertent error; I apologize for this and regret any confusion it has caused.

I have always supported a two-state solution to the on-going Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have never questioned Israel's right to exist and the Palestinian’s right to a viable state.

New Democrats have long called for a peaceful, negotiated end to the conflict where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side with secure borders. This is a policy I fully support.

I reject the allegation that I hate Israel, and I reject the assertion that I said that Israel is illegitimate or an abomination. Neither are true.

Libby Davies has always supported women and working people, and has stood up for the weakest among us - the unemployed, homeless people, people battling substance abuse. Now she needs our visible and vocal support.

If this New McCarthyism bothers you, I urge you to take action to make your views known. Here are a few ideas.

Write a letter to your local newspaper supporting Libby Davies. Keep it short and very focused, no more than a few sentences, and it will stand a better chance of being published.

Email the NDP. Activist Rick Telfer very kindly provides us with the addresses. Tell Layton and the NDP caucus that you support Libby Davies and you want the party to support her, too.

Call Davies' office to express your thanks for her statement and your support for her: 613.992.6030. In Vancouver, you can also call her constituency office: 604.775.5800.

Call Jack Layton's Parliament office to say you support Davies and are very disappointed in his criticism of Libby: 613.947.0867.

Call NDP MP Thomas Mulcair's Parliament office to say that you are disappointed and disgusted by his attack his colleague Davies, and by his decision to side with the Israel Lobby, the Liberals, and the Conservatives. As Rick said in his recent message to a Facebook group, Mulcair's actions are absolutely shameful and an embarrassment to New Democrats: 613.995.7691.

"Like" Davies' page on Facebook and post a supportive message there.

Forward this post to anyone you know who will support Davies against this shameful McCarthyism.

I again repeat what I always say. We should never be afraid of words. We should never be afraid of ideas. When those who oppose our ideas attempt to ban our words, they show their weakness. You can ban a word but you cannot suppress the truth.

11-year-old artist vs capitalist disaster

Check out this amazing young person, Olivia Bouler. This is the kind of story I used to try to write about when I was writing professionally. (Past tense... wow.)

Olivia Bouler doesn’t have time for anything else these days except to draw and paint. But that’s OK for the artistic fifth-grader, because everything she does is for the birds.

The Islip, N.Y., girl, who turns 11 on Friday, has raised an estimated $80,000 by sending her sketches and paintings of birds to people who donate to organizations helping with relief efforts in the Gulf of Mexico spill disaster.

“I do some in the mornings and some in the afternoons, and weekends are really the time for me get cracking at them,” Olivia told msnbc.com on Thursday in a telephone interview as she and her parents were headed to the Gulf for a visit.

Olivia came up with the idea to help birds in the Gulf four days after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the nation’s worst oil spill. Olivia's father's family grew up in Alabama, and she has spent vacations in the Gulf.

“Olivia heard about the oil spill and she immediately thought of the birds. She’s a bird lover. She knew they were nesting and she knew the spill would bring an incredible change to their habitat,” said her mother, Nadine Bouler.

So Olivia wrote to the National Audubon Society, saying she would like to help by doing drawings and giving the wildlife conservation group any money she raised. She signed it, a bit precociously, “Olivia Bouler, 11 years old and willing to help.”

Thus was born Olivia's "Save the Gulf" campaign. In addition to purchasing one of Olivia’s drawings, the Audubon Society collaborated with Olivia's family to create a fundraising program whereby Olivia sends one of her original paintings to anyone who donates to any of several organizations helping wildlife in the Gulf.

AOL got on board, giving Olivia her own artist’s gallery on its site and donating $25,000 to Audubon in her name. Appearances on local and national TV followed, and her "Save the Gulf: Olivia's Bird Illustrations" page on Facebook has now attracted more than 10,000 fans.

For political people, highlighting these kinds of individual efforts is always a tricky thing. Those of us who believe that we need wholesale, systemic change often eschew stories like this, and I understand why. It's like applauding volunteers at your local food bank without asking why there is still hunger in your community. One of the largest, richest corporations in the world murders our environment (along with 11 workers) and a region's livelihood for profit, and the media turns our attention to the efforts of a fifth grade girl.

Applauding individual efforts to help should never shift our focus from the criminal corporate irresponsibility that is destroying our planet.

But in war and all other human-made disasters, individual people with ideas, energy and determinism are out there trying to repair the damage these capitalist criminals create. And those heroes should be applauded and supported. While we try to create a world without hunger, people should not be allowed to starve.

An 11-year-old girl with so much concern, passion and focus should be hailed; her efforts deserve to be widely supported. Young people growing up with a strong sense of the fragility of the planet, our shared need to protect it, and the belief that they themselves can contribute, should give us all hope.

As long as we don't miss the opportunity to denounce the unchecked capitalism that caused the Gulf disaster. Which brings me back to my last post, and more on that when I can.

Olivia Bouler's gallery

"Save the Gulf: Olivia's Bird Illustrations" on Facebook

The Suzuki Foundation asks us to contact the government to prevent a similar disaster from happening in Canada: here.

still coming sooner or later: marxism conference notes and video

Back here, I listed the talks I attended at the 2010 Marxism conference, and said I planned to write about them in more detail, and post video when possible.

Everything has taken much longer than planned (what else is new), and I'm having some trouble getting my hands on the audio and video files I wanted.

But I am still planning on writing about these talks:

"20 years since Oka: the fight for indigenous sovereignty" with Ellen Gabriel.

"From South Africa to Israel: histories of Apartheid" with Joe Kelly, a South African activist, and Clare O'Connor, from the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. I am waiting to get an audio recording of this, so I can check my notes and post the most accurate information. Kelly laid out the case for why it is accurate, appropriate and historical to refer to Israel as an apartheid state, and I don't want to miss any of it.

"After Cochabamba: the fight for climate justice". This was a panel talk by Andrea Harden, a member of the Council of Canadians who participated in both the state-run climate change conference in Copenhagen and the people's climate change conference in Bolivia, Charlotte Ireland, a Toronto-based peace and environmental activist, and Clayton Thomas-Mueller, of the Indigenous Environmental Network. I'll post a combination of my notes and some of theirs.

"Crisis & Resistance: from Greece to the G20" featured Kostas Katarahias of the Federation of Hospital Doctors Unions of Greece, Judith Orr of the British Socialist Workers Party, John Cartwright of the Toronto and York Regional Labour Council, and Carolyn Egan of the Toronto Steelworkers Union. This was an electrifying meeting that I look forward to sharing. It was videotaped and I'm hoping to post the whole thing in four parts.

So this is just to say I haven't forgotten. I'm working on it.

more birthday celebrations: wolf pups at jungle cat world

We're going back to Jungle Cat World today. And we're meeting these guys!








There's something wrong about humans touching and playing with wolves, something wrong about a wolf in captivity. It makes me uncomfortable. But I understand that there's a need for this, if species are going to survive. Jungle Cat World does a lot of education and conservation work, and they take very good care of their animals.

One of these lucky boys will be a mate for Bianca, the Arctic Wolf who honoured us with her howl on our first visit.

These photos of the new wolf pups are by the wildlife photographer WildByDesign. If you like them, I hope you'll visit his Deviant Art page. If you click on Gallery, you can sort by type of animal. I risk becoming obsessed with his wolves and foxes page. His work is amazing.





My post about our first trip to Jungle Cat World (with some photos and links to more) is here.

An update on the animals we saw there is here.

happy birthday from xena and gabrielle!

Birthdays are a time for indulgence.

My partner and best friend knows I feel this way, and he indulges me.

Today I spent the whole day - a day I am normally at work - sitting on my patio, reading Little Dorrit and playing with my dogs. Well, watching Cody sleep and playing with Tala.

Now I have just poured myself a glass of wine and am sitting down to watch Episode 1, Season One, of "Xena Warrior Princess". Next to Dallas, this is my favourite junk food for the brain. Really, I like it better than Dallas, because I have a thing for Gabrielle. Plus I love the hodge-podge mythology and I get to see New Zealand.

I don't usually do the "look what I got for my birthday" thing, but I am so excited about owning the entire Xena series that I had to post about it!

There was also Rocky & Bullwinkle, a book by a war resister, and big stack of music. I rarely buy myself anything, then Allan makes up for it all at once.

Now back to Xena!

happy birthday to me

I have been alive on this planet 49 years today.

Yes, the clock is ticking to 50, and you know what? I don't care! I am here, alive and kicking.

My oldest nephew, born on my birthday, turns 29 today, and in a few weeks my mother turns 79. So next year is a biggie for several in my family! My mom, who also has a great attitude about aging, was saying, "I can't believe I'm going to be 80. How did that happen?" I feel the same way. It's completely mind-boggling, how fast the time goes.

As Dharma Seeker said on Facebook, I have so much to celebrate since my last birthday. Cody is still with us, and cancer free. We are Canadian citizens. I've begun steps towards a new career. Plus the usual wonders: the love and friendship in my life, reasonably good health, a happy life. I have the usual complaints, but today is not a day for complaints.

Today is not a day for anything! I'm taking the day off, staying at home with my pups, Charles Dickens, and a big pile of presents from my own true love.

Tomorrow: wolf puppies! More soon on that.

question for readers: why do you care so much about the gun registry?

I have no problem with gun owners being required to register their weapons.

And I have no problem understanding why the Conservatives want to repeal the long-gun registry, mostly as a sop to rural Canadians and a foil to the Liberals. (Not good reasons.)

And I have no problem understanding why the Liberals make such a fuss over the gun registry, mostly because they are bereft of ideas and leadership, and this is an easy issue on which to appear firm.

But why do so many people act as if registering guns actually cuts down on crime and keeps people safer?

Why are so many people who are otherwise not big "law and order" types so focused on the gun registry?

Why do people think that registering guns will reduce violence against women?

Supposedly women and victims of violent crimes (or their survivors) love the gun registry. Well, I'm a woman and a survivor of violent crime. And I don't think it makes much of a difference either way.

Please tell me your point of view.

And please follow the guidelines of this blog. Snark is not welcome.

"port colborne remembers the vietnam war. this is the same thing."

Jeremy Brockway is an Iraq War veteran living in Port Colborne, in Ontario's Niagara region, with his wife Ashlea their two children. Jeremy was a Marine, and he served in Iraq in 2006 and 2007. From his experiences there, Jeremy suffers from severe PTSD and depression from his experiences in Iraq. The Marines gave him no help and ordered him to redeploy.

Physically and emotionally unable to continue playing his part in the US occupation, Brockway turned his back on the war and came to Canada. He and Ashlea have been in Canada for several years, but are only now beginning to tell their story publicly.

Next week, a group from the War Resisters Support Campaign will travel from Toronto to Port Colborne to meet the Brockways and add our support to the community they have already found in their town.

If you live in the Niagara region, join us to support Jeremy and Ashlea, and everyone who says no to war.

From the St. Catharines Standard:

Semper fidelis is Latin for always faithful.

It's the motto of the U.S. Marine Corps, a motto Cpl. Jeremy Brockway lived by after he joined in July 2005.

A motto he further lived by while serving in Iraq from July 2006 to February 2007.

"He was always faithful, whether it was training or serving -- and now when he's in need, there isn't the same faithfulness back," says Rev. Robert Hurkmans of St. James and St. Brendans Anglican church in Port Colborne.

Hurkmans says the 25-year-old Brockway suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder and has other mental-health related issues, including anxiety disorder, from his time spent serving in Iraq.

Brockway is now living in Port Colborne and is considered a deserter by the Marine Corps.

He lives with his wife, Ashlea, 24, and sons William, 2, and Wesley, seven months.

Ashlea says her husband started having trouble coping with what he was seeing while serving in Iraq.

When he came home to Camp Lejeune, the marines base in North Carolina, Jeremy tried to get help but was "blown off," his wife says.

"He was diagnosed with PTSD and depression. His doctor suggested he be discharged, but that was denied. He tried to be a conscientious objector, but the paperwork was never filed."

Ashlea says while her husband was off for medical time, his unit redeployed to Iraq and he wasn't with them. He tried transferring to another unit, but the transfer was denied and he had no unit to go overseas with.

With no options open to the family, in February 2008 they moved to the London, Ont., area where there was a group of war resisters. The family then moved to Welland before eventually settling in Port Colborne last year.

Hurkmans says a community worker at his church introduced him to the Brockway family and thought there might be some way to help them.

The actual parish itself isn't helping the family, says Hurkmans, adding some members took it upon themselves to do what they could.

"They wanted to help the family out."

The family is now in legal limbo. They could be deported at any time, there is an arrest warrant out for the marine so if he does return to the U.S. he faces immediate arrest.

"The marine corps is harder on people. Jeremy would be charged with felony desertion and would be discharged," says Ashlea, adding her husband would also face jail time.

Hurkmans says Jeremy would lose all military benefits, including medical, if discharged.

Ashlea says her husband needs mental-health help, as he can barely leave the family's apartment because of his anxiety disorder.

Hurkmans says soldiers deserve to get the help and support the need.

"We need to take care of people that are laying down their lives for us," he says.

On Thursday, the Brockway family will speak at an event called War Resisters: From Iraq to Port Colborne, at the Guild Hall at 72 Charlotte St. in Port Colborne, at 7:30 p.m. A film called Let Them Stay will also be shown. People will hear more about the war resisters' campaign and have a chance to ask questions.

And from Niagara This Week:

A war not worth fighting
Port family to share experiences at Guild Hall event

When American marine Cpl. Jeremy Brockway enlisted in 2006 to fight the War on Terror, little did he know what lasting effect it would have on him.

Stationed in Iraq, the hardships and stress of the war affected him both mentally and physically. After being diagnosed by a specialist stationed there with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, Brockway sought help but wasn’t given any by the American military. Eventually, his infantry had redeployed without him and Brockway was left alone with no one to turn to.

“He didn’t have anyone to report to. We knew he had a problem,” said Brockway’s wife, Ashlea, who spoke on his behalf. The whole experience had left Brockway physically and mentally unstable.

Ashlea said her husband had sought and exhausted all legal options. Without any notice, Brockway left Iraq and ventured to Canada where he currently resides with his wife and his two sons, two-year-old William and seven-month-old Wesley.

Brockway couldn’t return to his native Minnesota. Upon entering the United States, he would’ve been detained and given a dishonourable discharge under military law.

Seeking refuge in Canada, Brockway found support from the War Resisters Support Campaign, a non-profit organization founded in 2004 to mobilize support here to convince the Canadian government to offer sanctuary to all American military personnel who wish to live in Canada because of their opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

The organization offers practical support to U.S. war resisters in Canada, including temporary housing, funds for everyday expenses when needed, access to legal advice and representation, and many other less formal supports.

“In our eyes, the war was unjust,” Ashlea said. “Here’s a guy who is sick of the war. He enlisted voluntarily but that doesn’t mean they should put people in situations they don’t want to be in.”

According to the War Resisters Support Campaign website (www.resisters.ca) there are about 40 American war resisters living in Canada.

The resisters had contacted the organization and have applied for refugee status in Canada.

“That’s why we’re here (in Port Colborne),” Ashlea said. “We shouldn’t be forced to fight a war with no real reason.”

The Brockway family applied for refugee status in Canada but that was denied by the federal government. So far, no one has been granted such status, Ashlea said.

The Brockway family received support from St. James and St. Brendan Anglican Church, which will be hosting an information night, War Resisters: From Iraq to Port Colborne, June 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Guild Hall, 72 Charlotte St.

The evening will feature a screening of the moving Let Them Stay, and provide information about the War Resisters Campaign as well as the Brockway family story.

Pastor Rob Hurkmans said the evening was to inform people about the war resisters group and to explore ways they can help.

“Port Colborne remembers the Vietnam War. We had plenty of draft dodgers that lived here,” Hurkmans said. “Same thing. They were fighting a war they didn’t want to. The family had shared its story with our congregation we thought it would be interesting to hold an event to discuss it.”

Supportive letters, especially if you live in the area, are very helpful. Write to letters@niagarathisweek.com, and leave feedback here and here.

War Resisters: From Iraq to Port Colborne
June 17, 7:30 p.m.
The Guild Hall
72 Charlotte Street
Port Colborne, Ontario

palestinian supporter in austin, texas gets a knock on her door. it's the fbi.

The New McCarthyism: video shows FBI visit to the home of a Palestine solidarity activist.

Thanks to David H and redsock for sending.

salutin: "it isn’t the fake lake that bothers me, it’s the fake leadership. why are we enduring this?"

Rick Salutin has an excellent column on how the G20 is strangling Toronto.

Shut off the traffic and impede the pedestrians. Shopping dies, business dies. People are afraid to go to work, either due to the checkpoints or the fertilizer bombers. Cancel the components that make cities attractive – the art gallery, theatre, the university. Friends of friends postpone their wedding on the Toronto Islands, because their visiting parents may have trouble reaching their hotel inside the security barrier. Special-education kids won’t get bused to school even though it’s outside the dread Zone. Everything dies by proximity to security.

At least the SARS shutdown could be blamed on a virus. But this is definitive proof that we live in the new age of the security state. It ruins everything, even the return of former Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay. It usurps press coverage – they aren’t allowed to go up to Huntsville for the preceding G8; instead they have to sit around a fake lake out at the CNE.

I want to be clear (as a lake). It isn’t the fake lake that bothers me, it’s the fake leadership. Why are we enduring this? So our precious leaders can deal with the wretched economy that their previous policies bestowed on us. And what have they already decided to do? Nothing, based on “leadership” provided by the summit host, our own PM.

Read it here: "Turning a vibrant town into a desert".

On a related note, Imp Strump asks, "Why are they holding the G20 here if they don't want the trappings of a city?"

iceland makes it nine

Today Iceland became the ninth country to fully legalize equal marriage. Iceland is the only country with an openly gay head of state, and the bill was not controversial: it passed unanimously. Nice!

Story here.

These countries now recognize same-sex marriage as fully equal with opposite-sex marriage:
Belgium
Canada
Iceland
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
South Africa
Spain
Sweden

There's a long list of countries with "in some jurisdictions," and various second-class names for not-marriage, but the list with full equality, so far, goes to nine. Equal rights are equal rights. Either we have them or we do not.

gaza freedom flotilla survivors protest at u.s. rep sherman's office, updated with more video

Update on this post: "u.s. rep calls for arrest of flotilla survivors, survivors say bring it", the protest at US Representative Brad Sherman's office. Many thanks to David H for sending.

More video here and here.

ssod

Search string of the day:

male nude rugby players of uk

Apparently they are on calendars, not the pitch. Interested parties are encouraged to pursue this search.

statement from canadian council for refugees on amended bill c-11

This is a follow-up to this post: "newsflash: liberals remember they are the opposition".

It's important news for everyone concerned with fairness and justice for refugee claimants in Canada. And, equally important, perhaps more important for most Canadians, it's important news that the system can work, if we make it work.

Bill C-11 was being rushed through Parliament without hearings, without amendments, without consultation with groups representing the people most affected by the bill. Former Liberal immigration critic Maurizio Bevilacqua, out to secure the Tory endorsement of his campaign for the mayoralty of the City of Vaughan, was performing beautifully as Jason Kenney's right-hand man. Liberal "Leader" (yeah, right) Michael Ignatieff was all set to let it happen.

But The People pushed back - hard. We called and wrote our Members of Parliament, we rallied behind groups like the Canadian Council for Refugees and the Refugees Lawyers' Association. We made an outcry. We made noise.

By all reports, Liberal MPs insisted that Ignatieff listen to the majority rather than Bevilacqua. The result is not perfect, but it's a huge improvement over the original bill. And I am somewhat hopeful that the most egregious clause that remains intact, the so-called "safe country list," will be struck down in the courts.

+ + + +

Statement on amended Bill C-11 from the Canadian Council for Refugees

The Canadian Council for Refugees welcomes the introduction of significant amendments to Bill C-11 to better protect refugees.

The amendments address critical flaws identified by the CCR by:
* Guaranteeing access to the appeal to all refused claimants.
* Guaranteeing the right to counsel at the interview.
* Preserving full access for all, including refugee claimants, to a humanitarian and compassionate application, including a full examination of the hardship of removal from Canada as well as the best interests of any affected child

The CCR appreciates the efforts of Members of Parliament from all parties who worked towards these guarantees.

There remain grave concerns with the bill. The introduction of a list of “designated countries of origin” is wrong on principle: refugee determination requires the assessment of an individual case, not judgments on countries. It is also a serious mistake to politicize the process by listing countries. The interview, requiring claimants to be prepared to immediately tell their story to an official, risks hurting the most vulnerable refugees, including women who have been sexually assaulted and persons persecuted on the basis of their sexual orientation.

The bill also fails to provide a mechanism to deal with changes of circumstances after a claimant has been refused, which may lead to refugees being sent back to face persecution.

The CCR also recognizes that the current refugee system, despite its many important strengths, has weaknesses, including the lack of appeal. Bill C-11 may offer the best opportunity in the foreseeable future to achieve a workable reform, although a much better bill would have been possible if the government had consulted fully before tabling.

On balance, the CCR believes that the interests of refugees would be best served by the adoption of Bill C-11, as amended, and encourages Members of Parliament to support it. Ideally, the CCR would like to see further amendments to address the remaining serious problems in the bill.

We also seek a commitment from the government that the process for designating countries will include an effective review mechanism, to ensure that countries do not remain designated when conditions have changed.

If the bill is passed, it will be crucial that it be implemented with careful attention to ensuring the full protection of all refugees, in order to minimize the negative consequences of remaining weaknesses in the law. This must include full consultation on draft rules and regulations, which will determine many of the details of the refugee system.

jason kenney lectures the country on canadian citizenship

In a lovely coincidence of timing (for me personally), our pal Jason Kenney announced yesterday new guidelines designed to "strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship".

According to Kenney, "Canadian citizenship is more than a legal status, more than a passport. We expect citizens to have an ongoing commitment, connection and loyalty to Canada." In order to enforce this commitment and loyalty, Kenney has introduced legislation to make it easier for the government to revoke citizenship, cut down on supposed fraud, strengthen one-generation limits on passing on citizenship, and in the usual one positive move they throw in to any creepy bill, crack down on unscrupulous citizenship consultants who take advantage of immigrants.

The bill - Bill C-37: Strengthening the Value of Canadian Citizenship Act - does not propose removing dual citizenship rights. There seems to be wide agreement that that will not fly in Canada.

So it seems like the legislation is not as bad as many people feared after the Throne Speech. I do have concerns about allowing the government more leeway in revoking citizenship. Who might that be used for, I wonder? But mostly the bill reads like a hodge-podge of nonsense aimed to placate the anti-immigration crowd without much real substance.

Details of Bill C-37: Strengthening the Value of Canadian Citizenship Act are here.

becoming canadian: today we take the final step (updated!)

The final piece is in place: we are Canadian.

At the ceremony today in Mississauga, 119 permanent residents of Canada became Canadian citizens. We hailed from these 25 different countries:
Afghanistan
Albania
Barbados
China
Colombia
Congo
Egypt
England
Guyana
Honduras
India
Iraq
Israel
Korea
Lebanon
Pakistan
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United States of America

We said the oath, which I still find très bizarre - but then again, I find the whole concept of nationality, citizenship and loyalty oaths antiquated and fairly unnecessary. On the other hand, we recited the oath in both official languages, repeating the French phrase by phrase after the presiding judge, who was herself an immigrant once, probably from China.

In case you're wondering, I cried. Of course I cried. This represents the culmination of so many plans and dreams and so much hard work and waiting. It represents my final disengagement from the United States (although I am still a US citizen and will remain so, at least for the foreseeable future).

From our experience when we took the test wrote the exam, we knew there would be no time to celebrate afterwards without missing part of the Red Sox game (as if), so I suggested a good alternative: celebrate before! We went to The Brogue in Port Credit, the scene of our first pint and lunch in Canada when we came up to look at apartments, and from which we ended up living a block away for our first year. A couple of pints before a citizenship oath - that's a requirement, isn't it?

Every New Canadian at the swearing in received a little paper Maple Leaf flag, a bookmark with the lyrics to O Canada in both English and French, and a little booklet commemorating the day. Everyone recites the oath together, then each person is called up individually to receive a certificate and shake the judge's hand, then signs the loyalty oath as a legal document.

The citizenship certificate, unfortunately, is signed by my two least favourite Canadians: Stephen Harper and his sidekick, the Calgary Doughboy, Jason Kenney. In fact, Kenney's name was all over this day. But fortunately, he was not there in person, so I didn't have to execute any of our plans for public dissent.

So, this is it. Next step: passports, then voting. Can't wait!

Many, many thanks to everyone for all your love and support.

* * * *

11:00 a.m.

Impudent Strumpet is sending people here to congratulate us! I'm totally abashed. But I figured I'd better make a spot in case anyone took her up on it.

The ceremony is this afternoon. I'll update this post when it's official.

wmtc5 date change

Wmtc5, this year's backyard bash, will be held on Saturday, August 21, not August 28 as previously announced. If you're a friend of this blog and can be in the GTA on August 21, please let me know. I always lose track of some emails, so don't be shy.

By popular (although not unanimous) acclaim, this year's party will be a potluck.

Wmtc5 will also feature our very own Fake Lake! Only 27 bucks at Canadian Tire.

u.s. rep calls for arrest of flotilla survivors, survivors say bring it

US Representative Brad Sherman, a Democrat and chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee’s subcommittee on terrorism, has asked US Attorney General Eric Holder to arrest and prosecute US citizens who survived the Gaza Freedom Flotilla massacre. Sherman's bluster deftly combines two well-worn, Democratic dance moves - falling all over themselves to prove how much they love Israel, and beating their chests to appear tough on terrorism - into one grand Orwellian farce.

From Foreign Policy in Focus:

Because the Gaza Strip is currently ruled by Hamas, according the Sherman, any humanitarian aid to the people of that territory is “clearly an effort to give items of value to a terrorist organization,” which is prosecutable under the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. Despite the active support of the humanitarian aid effort by a number of pacifist organizations in the United States and Europe, Sherman insists that the organizers of the flotilla have “clear terrorist ties,” dismissing critical analysis of such charges as part of the ideological agenda of “the liberal media.”

Sherman also announced he would be working with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that the more than 700 non-U.S. citizens who took part in the flotilla would be permanently barred from ever entering the United States. This would include European parliamentarians, Nobel laureates, as well as leading writers, artists, intellectuals, pacifists, and human rights activists, virtually none of whom are in the least bit sympathetic with Hamas or with terrorism.

. . . .


Organizers and endorsers of the flotilla include such reputable American peace groups as Code Pink, Jewish Voice for Peace, Pax Christi, the American Friends Service Committee, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Resource Center for Nonviolence, War Resisters League, Women in Black and others. Supporters of this nonviolent effort to bring humanitarian aid to the people of the Gaza Strip also include such Israeli groups such as Yesh G’vul, Coalition of Women for Peace, New Profile, and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, among others.

Despite this, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), insists that these groups are “pro-Hamas people.” Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY) claims that the organizers of the flotilla have “links to Hamas and reportedly played a role in the attempted Millennium bombing in Los Angeles.” Rep. Ron Klein D-FL) insists that the real agenda of these peace and human rights organizations is “to bolster the terrorist Hamas government in Gaza.” Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) argues that Israel’s attack on the unarmed flotilla laden with humanitarian supplies part of an effort to “defend herself against terrorism.”

To which the Gaza Freedom activists reply: I dare you. CNN reports:

Activists with several free Gaza groups will symbolically surrender Thursday at a Congressman's office, after the lawmaker called for the prosecution of Americans who were aboard a flotilla raided last week by Israeli authorities.

On a conference call organized by the non-profit Israel Project last week, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, said that the Justice Department should prosecute any U.S. citizen aboard the well-publicized flotilla that was stopped by the Israeli military on its way to Gaza last week. Nine people were killed in the May 31 incident.

"So what is illegal is helping Hamas," Sherman said. "I will be asking the attorney general to prosecute all Americans involved in what was a clear effort to give items of value to a terrorist organization."

The U.S. State Department considers Hamas a foreign terrorist organization.

Sherman said the activists could be prosecuted under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which makes it illegal to give supplies to terror groups

Members of Gaza Freedom March said its group and others would offer themselves up for arrest Thursday at 2 p.m. ET.

"Should Rep. Sherman seek to arrest us, we have faith that no jury in America would possibly convict us for our humanitarian and human rights work in Palestine," the organizers said in a statement.

If Sherman does not have them arrested, the group said it will hold a memorial service for people who died in the raid.

The raid has sparked international condemnation and calls for an investigation.

Thanks to Russell for the FPIF link.

pride toronto vs free speech: reclaiming the radical roots

My friend Kim_in_TO has written a terrific personal perspective on Pride Toronto's censorship of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, and where it might lead.

Perhaps what began as a shockingly shameful attempt to muzzle political opinion will lead to a rejuvenation and reclamation of a movement. Or not. Whether or not the official Pride Toronto changes its tune is less important than the process of resistance itself. People are refusing to be silenced. They're remembering how their people were silenced for generations, and are forcefully pushing back. Only good things will stem from that.

Kim has also assembled a linkorama extraordinaire, including video of the recent town hall meeting on sanitizing Pride, Jane Farrow's rejection of the Honoured Dyke award, and the announcement that more than 20 past Pride honourees are returning their awards. (This story says 18, but the number of protesting past recipients has grown since then.)

For me the best link on Kim's page is my friend Christine Beckermann's excellent story on Rabble, "The Radical Roots of Pride". Christine offers a summary of the public fight for gay rights, and the Toronto flashpoint that galvanized the movement in Canada.

This summer will mark the 30th anniversary of the Pride Day celebrations in Toronto. For young people who may be heading out to their first Pride, it would be easy to think that the history of the struggle for LGBT rights has been an onward and upward advance of rational ideas over bigotry and hatred; that through reasoned argument, society and the state have come to accept the case for equal rights.

In fact, the struggle for queer rights has been a struggle with advances and setbacks, and the politics at the heart of the struggle at different periods have been critical.

. . . .

But the key event that brought the LGBT movement in Canada massively into the streets came in February 1981 when police raided four gay bathhouses in downtown Toronto, arresting nearly 268 men and charging them under the "bawdy house" section of the criminal code. It was the largest mass arrest in Canada since the October Crisis in 1970.

People who were arrested that night described the brutality and violence of the police. People were physically assaulted and verbally abused by homophobic cops. After a group of men had been corralled into the showers in one bathhouse, a cop remarked that it was too bad that the pipes in the shower room couldn't be hooked up with gas instead of water, harking back to the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. George Hislop, a leader in the gay rights movement at the time, described the behaviour of the police as "gestapo-like" and the police destruction of the establishments was so bad that one of them never reopened.

The arrests had an immediate effect, politicizing and galvanizing the gay rights movement here. The night after the arrest, over 3,000 people joined in a protest on Yonge Street which marched down to 52 Division, chanting "Fuck You 52". The march then moved on to Queen's Park to protest the Conservative government's inaction on updating the Human Rights code to include sexual orientation.

Participants in the march described the anger and intensity of the crowd. When the police tried to block protestors from turning onto Dundas Street to march to 52 Division, protestors swarmed through. And when a streetcar tried to push through the march, protestors began pushing it and rocking it, breaking a window before the driver finally decided to stay put.

Two weeks later, another march was held, this time drawing 5,000 people. And on March 6, a Gay Freedom Rally was held, effectively becoming Toronto's first pride event.

The responses to the Stonewall and bathhouse raids reflected a movement and a community that had had enough, and that was no longer willing to sit back. People's anger and frustration poured into the streets, and into a new movement which would pave the way for many of the rights which we have today.

These rights have not come easily, and this history of ordinary people who were inspired by other groups fighting against oppression, and who saw their liberation as being part of a larger struggle, should not be lost or sanitized out of Pride.

If you are interested in history and the struggle for the equality of all people, I highly recommend reading both Kim's post and Christine's story.

an all-or-nothing trap: the impossibility of moral purity

Hello, I'm back! I've been toying with two different ideas for essays, and I'm thinking the two might be related.

I've been thinking about moral purity: the impossibility of achieving it, the concept of moral purity used as a wedge to divide people of good conscience, used as a hammer to bludgeon good ideas, or as a knee-jerk to dismiss cognitive dissonance.

And I've been thinking about setting boundaries: how difficult it can be, and how necessary, and how necessarily incomplete.

I think perhaps the two intersect.

* * * *

In any arena in which ethics are controversial and debated, the concept of moral purity will surface. Where ethics are well established, no one raises the issue. No one justifies slavery by pointing to Cambodian factory workers earning 33 cents an hour. "Thirty cents an hour is practically slavery, and you buy t-shirts made in Cambodia, so stop complaining about slavery!" But click on any online story about the seal hunt in Canada, and a commenter is sure to be yelling, "Are all you people vegans? If not, then shut up, you hypocrites!" (Although that is likely to be spelled "hippocrats".)

This non-argument is so often thrown around, that we may have stopped examining it. So let's think about it.

Joe says that because Jane eats meat, she cannot cannot oppose the slaughter of seals for fur coats. Joe, mind you, is not a vegan himself. Joe eats meat and he thinks the seal hunt is just fine. Joe does whatever he wants. But he disagrees with Jane and thinks that by waving a banner of moral purity, he can dismiss Jane's moral concerns. Unless Jane does x - x being an extrapolation of her beliefs as judged by Joe, an opponent of that belief - Jane has no right to oppose y.

Does Jane's consumption of meat actually have anything to do with her opposition to the seal hunt? Should it?

According to this view, because I choose to eat meat, I cannot oppose: puppy mills, the slaughter of animals for fashion, irresponsible animal breeding, dogfighting, bullfighting. I also should not stop eating specific foods because of the cruelty inherent in their production, like veal and lobster, or to reduce my consumption of factory-farmed beef and chicken. My efforts - and my beliefs - are worthless because I am not a vegan.

So what do we have here? We have one person painted into a corner, and another absolved of all responsibility. Either you become vegan, or you must accept all animal cruelty. Joe is off the hook. He doesn't have to think about how his choices affect the planet. Jane must shut up and walk away.

Now it's open season for any and all practices of profit-driven corporations that view animals as industrial resources rather than living creatures. All unnecessary, environmentally destructive, or cruel practices are off-limits for protest. Only vegans are "allowed" to object.

The moral-purity argument is a cop-out, a red herring, a false dilemma, and a few other logical fallacies.

We should try not to get caught in this nonsensical trap.

One can condemn a cruelty, in and of itself, without extending the supposed logic to all other cruelties that might ever take place, or which one might have a part in.

Using the animal-cruelty example, many people draw a distinction between killing animals for food and, for example, forcing animals to kill each other for human entertainment. A distinction between eating animals and wearing fur. A distinction between eating some animals for which the practices are simply too cruel (lobster, veal, foie gras) and eating any animal at all.

Other people may disagree with those distinctions and find them false or hypocritical. But for the person that finds one thing acceptable and the other cruel, there is nothing wrong with speaking out against the cruelty.

Those of us who eat meat are perfectly justified in speaking out against dog fighting, bullfighting or other forms of animal cruelty used as sport. It may be wrong for humans to eat meat. I don't think it is. But I know it is wrong to torture and kill any living creature for sport and profit.

None of our hands are completely free of any connection to any cruel act. It's not possible to live completely free of taint in the modern world. Sometimes ethical choices come into conflict with each other - as an example, I wrote about the organic lettuce and non-recyclable packaging dilemma.

Most of us cannot live carbon-neutral lives. Does that mean we should waste energy with abandon, make no effort to reduce our consumption? And so on.

But throwing the moral purity argument around is very convenient. Given the all-or-nothing choice, people can choose nothing, shrug their shoulders and walk away.

* * * *

This brings me around to boundary-setting.

Once you become an activist - and even more so, once you become an organizer - setting boundaries is a constant challenge. (I realize boundary-setting is necessary and important in many other areas, but this is mine.) As an activist, there's no end to how much you can do, because the need is so great, and so constant. Not only is there no end to the actions - rallies, protests, letter-writing, talks - one can participate in, but there's an even greater need for organizers to make those events happen.

In fact, the need is infinite. But time and energy are always finite.

I know people who fill every available moment, drain every breath of energy, for activism. I admire them. But I know I'm not them. This is the one area of my life where I sometimes feel a pang of guilt. (It's true, I live an almost guilt-free existence.) But when it comes to saying no to activism, I am reluctant. I feel guilty. But I say no anyway. I tell myself, no one can do everything. I tell myself, just do what you can, and stick with that.

Sometimes my great need to set boundaries may work to my disadvantage. At the Marxism 2010 conference, there were many opportunities to join the International Socialists. They're an excellent group (more about why I love IS here), and they need the support. But, as I told several people, to me joining means organizing. It means being an active member - going to meetings, volunteering to get stuff done, being a go-to person. And since I'm unwilling or unable to do more than I am doing now, I don't join.

Our boundaries of ethical living are also important, but they need to be constantly tested. It's not enough to say, I'm doing all I can. Some time back I asked, Are my hands clean, and can I stand to get them a little cleaner? The answer is, our hands are never clean. They never will be. But that's no reason to keep them dirty. I just went back to that old post and found this line: "None of our hands are completely clean, but we don't have to purposely wallow in mud."

Just as we will never live ethically pure lives, there will always be more work to do than any of us can possibly do. And just as it is still worth making ethical choices, it's worth doing whatever we can, whenever we can, within our own boundaries. And testing those boundaries, always striving to push them outward.

u.s. army arrests alleged "collateral murder" video leaker

[redsock guest post]

Back in April, Laura posted about a video that had been sent to Wikileaks by someone in the US military. The video was filmed from an Apache helicopter gun-sight in 2007, "depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad".

Wired now reports that SPC Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Maryland, was arrested for leaking the video (and other information) roughly two weeks ago by the Army's Criminal Investigation Division. He has not been formally charged with any crime.

[Manning] enlisted in the Army in 2007 and held a Top Secret/SCI clearance, details confirmed by his friends and family members. He claimed to have been rummaging through classified military and government networks for more than a year and said that the networks contained "incredible things, awful things ... that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC." ...

Manning had already been sifting through the classified networks for months when he discovered the Iraq video in late 2009, he said. The video, later released by Wikileaks under the title "Collateral Murder," shows a 2007 Army helicopter attack on a group of men, some of whom were armed, that the soldiers believed were insurgents. The attack killed two Reuters employees and an unarmed Baghdad man who stumbled on the scene afterward and tried to rescue one of the wounded by pulling him into his van. The man's two children were in the van and suffered serious injuries in the hail of gunfire. ...

In January, while on leave in the United States, Manning visited a close friend in Boston and confessed he'd gotten his hands on unspecified sensitive information, and was weighing leaking it ...

Manning passed the video to Wikileaks in February ...

The second video he claimed to have leaked shows a May 2009 air strike near Garani village in Afghanistan that the local government says killed nearly 100 civilians, most of them children. The Pentagon released a report about the incident last year, but backed down from a plan to show video of the attack to reporters.

The New Yorker has published a long, fascinating profile on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Much of the article concerns the preparation Assange and his co-workers were doing in a rented house in Reykjavik a week before the video was released. Raffi Khatchadourian writes:

Assange also wanted to insure that, once the video was posted online, it would be impossible to remove. He told me that WikiLeaks maintains its content on more than twenty servers around the world and on hundreds of domain names. ... Assange calls the site "an uncensorable system for untraceable mass document leaking and public analysis," and a government or company that wanted to remove content from WikiLeaks would have to practically dismantle the Internet itself.

"we want to raise our children in a society that will not imprison their father for refusing to kill another human being"

As my inability to write continues, I will share a great piece about Jeremy Hinzman in the Catholic Register. Russell at Adopt Resistance has some great photos and a video and a moving report of the rally for Jeremy and his recent hearing.

As Jeremy Hinzman faced final judgment on whether Canada would keep him, Parliament began debate on a bill that would force the government to respect the conscience of U.S. soldiers like Hinzman who fled to Canada rather than fight in Iraq.

The Federal Court of Appeal has reserved judgment on legal issues underpinning Hinzman’s application for humanitarian and compassionate leave to remain in Canada despite a 2008 deportation order. The court’s decision on Hinzman’s case could take months.

In 2004 Hinzman was the first of about 200 U.S. war resisters to claim refugee status in Canada rather than serve in Iraq. Since the war was never sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, American conscientious objectors have sought refugee status based on claims they are being forced to participate in an illegal war.

Members of Pax Christi Toronto (formerly Catholics for Peace - Toronto) held a vigil in support of Hinzman, his wife Nga Nguyen, his son Liam and his Toronto-born daughter Meghan May 19. The Catholic peace group also protested outside the Federal Court of Appeal in downtown Toronto May 25, the day of Hinzman’s hearing.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a May 7 letter, has asked Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to cease efforts to deport Hinzman. In 2008 Kenney told a Conservative party convention U.S. conscientious objectors in Canada are “bogus refugee claimants.”

“Being a deserter from voluntary military service in a democracy does not, in any way, meet the standard international definition of a refugee,” said Kenney April 13 this year. “We’re not going to contort the refugee laws to suit some people’s agenda.”

Kenney is behind aggressive efforts to deport conscientious objectors, Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy told The Catholic Register. Calling the conscientious objectors “cowards” and “deserters” the government has defied two votes by the House of Commons calling on the government to allow U.S. soldiers to remain in Canada if they can’t, in conscience, serve in Iraq, he said.

Kennedy has introduced a Bill C-440 to force the government to create a separate category of refugees for conscientious objectors to the Iraq war. C-440, reached second reading and debate in Parliament May 25. Without firm direction from Parliament, Immigration and Refugee Board members will always rule against U.S. war resisters to please the government, said Kennedy.

“The IRB are all political appointments, and that’s the problem,” said Kennedy. He criticized his own party for setting up the political appointment system at the IRB.

In debate over Kennedy’s bill, Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre claimed the IRB was fully independent.

“The Liberals have said that U.S. military deserters, or as they call them, war resisters, should be granted refugee status even though the independent Immigration and Refugee Board has rejected all deserter claims as bogus,” Poilievre said.

Speaking to the vigil gathering at Toronto’s Peace Garden, Nga Nguyen Hinzman said she and her husband have no regrets about coming to Canada despite living under threat of deportation for the last two years.

“We want to raise our children in a society that will not imprison their father for refusing to kill another human being. We want to raise our children in a society that upholds the sacredness of life higher than a human contract,” she said.

Support Bill C-440

small acts of resistance, little reminders of war

At the war resisters event in Buffalo, the excellent folks from Military Families Speak Out were giving these away. They are plastic soldiers, posed in all the usual war positions, wearing stickers. One side reads BRING ME HOME NOW, the other MFSO.ORG.

People are encouraged to place them in public spaces - on library shelves, in the supermarket, on a park bench.

I absolutely love the idea and will be doing my bit this week.

Military Families Speak Out is a US-based organization, but we need a Canadian chapter. At the June 26 peace march for the G20 demos, the mother of a young Canadian killed in Afghanistan will address the crowd. To my knowledge, she is the first Canadian to take such a stand, and I hope her courage gives others to strength to join her.

buffalo war resisters event, more harassment at border

The pioneers of a warless world are the young men and women who refuse military service. - Albert Einstein

I was in Buffalo, New York, last night for a screening of "War Resisters Speak Out" and a discussion about Iraq War resisters in Canada, and why we work to win them sanctuary.

It was a great event. I think people learned a lot and were moved by the resisters' stories, told on film in their own words. We strengthened connections with the peace movement across these artificial national borders, and people gave generously to the war resister legal defense fund. The organizers are building support for a larger event on the Canadian side which will bring together peace activists and war resisters, and continue this important work.

For me personally, it was also wonderful to see my friends who I've met through this blog and through peace activism, Russell Brown, who writes the excellent blog Adopt Resistance, and Bruce and Mary Beyer, legendary veteran peace activists. And it was terrific to meet a few more friends in person, like Jim Hart, father of war resister Patrick Hart, and New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) Western Region Director John Curr. With Western New York State being an important border crossing, you can imagine that the defenders of our rights and civil liberties are pretty busy.

Speaking of which, the answer is yes, I was detained. Same drill as last time, but they held me twice as long. The border guard in the booth asks the usual questions, then swipes my passport. As soon as he does that, I am asked to surrender my car keys, four armed guards descend on the car and escort me inside. This time the inside guard also asked a series of ridiculous and meaningless questions, seemingly trying to trip me up or catch me in a lie. They held me for an hour, then returned me to the car, which had been searched.

A campaign friend urged me not to minimize this harassment, which is obviously based solely on my political opinions and legal political activism. I understand his anger, and I would share it about anyone else's border troubles. But for myself, I need to minimize the implications for my own peace of mind. Call it a coping mechanism. I don't want to have extreme anxiety and trauma flashbacks every time I fly out of Buffalo or drive down to see my mom. I have to approach it lightly and irreverently. Okay, this is the dance we do here at the border crossing. They will do their thing, I will not be hurt, and I will go on my way. The experience will last however long it's going to last, whether I'm wound up and anxious or daydreaming and deep-breathing to relax. I'm good at protecting myself that way.

But it's wrong, and it sucks.

amid the horror of gaza flotilla massacre, let's not lose sight of the bigger picture

I have been absolutely sickened by the accounts of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla massacre in the mainstream Israeli media. Not surprised, of course, but sickened nonetheless. These stories are positively Orwellian in their twisted attempts to blame the attack on the victims themselves. (My policy is never to link to disinformation, but if you haven't seen any of these yet, they're easy to find.)

I'm reminded of the response of a US military official after it was reported that three inmates in the Guantanamo concentration camp had committed suicide. (The three men were actually tortured to death.) He said: "They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us." There are times when victim-blaming becomes an exercise in absurdity.

Meanwhile, as the survivors of the Flotilla attack are released and speak to the media, we are hearing very different stories. A 19-year-old shot five times, including four bullets to the head at point-blank range. Reports of wounded people being dumped overboard. From the Guardian:

The first British survivor of the assault on the Mavi Marmara Gaza aid ship to return to London has told of her terror as Israeli troops ignored SOS calls for medical aid and continued to fire live rounds at activists.

Sarah Colborne, director of campaigns and operations at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who was on board the Turkish ship when the Israeli navy mounted a raid early on Monday, gave a press conference in central London still wearing her grey prison fatigues from her spell in jail in Be'er Sheva, southern Israel. She described how she saw one man fatally wounded from a gun shot to the head and how passengers feared for their lives as Israeli troops trained laser sights on the activists through the ship's windows.

Colborne, 43, from London, insisted the activists on the boat were on a purely humanitarian mission and the passengers were aged between one and 89. She claimed:

• Unarmed activists were shot by Israelis using live ammunition;

• The death toll of nine is likely to rise, because some activists remain missing;

• The Israelis ignored calls over the Tannoy and on written signs calling for them stop firing and to evacuate the critically injured;

• The Israeli forces handcuffed members of the activists' medical team who were sent to help treat the injured.

This post from firedoglake pulls together many stories of witnesses and survivors of the attack. (Thanks to Nick, JoS/wmtc crossover friend.)

Peace activists and people of conscience around the globe are reeling from this attack. But please, let's not lose sight of the big picture. In my earlier post, I asked,

"What could be more shameful than slaughtering people trying to bring aid to a trapped and dispossessed people? The apartheid system that dispossesses those people in the first place.

When activists and volunteers are murdered, we often see more shock and horror expressed than we do for the people those activists were trying to help. The people of the US were shocked by the 1964 murders of three young civil rights activists - more so than by the thousands of lynchings and other acts of terrorism and degradation lived every day by African Americans in the Jim Crow South.

In other words, let's not forget why the Gaza Freedom Flotilla is needed in the first place.

As international resistance to Israel's apartheid policies grows, Israel's repression grows in response. And as that repression becomes more blatant, Israel sows the seeds of its own undoing. We saw it in the US civil rights movement, we saw it in apartheid South Africa, and we will see it here, too.

[Update. Tomorrow in Toronto, join the Gaza Freedom March for an emergency protest. Details here.]

buffalo veterans for peace support u.s. war resisters in canada: film screening tonight

Tonight, along with several friends from the War Resisters Support Campaign, I'll be driving to Buffalo to attend an event organized by our friends in Western New York State. Buffalo Veterans for Peace - most notably peace activists Bruce Beyer and Russell Brown - have organized a screening of "War Resisters Speak Out".

Since the event is in the US, no war resisters in Canada can attend, but their words will attend through this excellent film. "War Resisters Speak Out" documents a 2008 event in which then-CBC radio host Andy Barrie, who came to Canada as a deserter from the Vietnam War, moderated a town hall meeting featuring a dozen Iraq War resisters. It was a great event, and the film is very powerful.

Campaign leader Michelle Robidoux and Campaigner Charlie Diamond, who is also a Vietnam War resister, will be speaking, and these crazy Buffalo folks have asked me to speak, too. Allan can't make it, so if he starts writing wmtc, you'll know I've been disappeared at the border.

Only kidding.

I think.

More info about the Buffalo event here (scroll down). If you live anywhere near Buffalo, please join us.

ottawa fundraiser for war resister skyler james

Ottawa folks, an opportunity to help a US war resister is in your near future. From Xtra.

Three years ago, Skyler James left the American military fearing for her life because her fellow soldiers found out she was a lesbian.

Since then, it’s been a constant battle, legally and emotionally, to remain with her newfound home and Canuck friends. But last fall James won a stay of deportation, thanks to a Federal Court ruling. However, she has to go back to the refugee board again in August and it doesn’t mean she will be permitted to stay.

On July 15, James and The War Resisters Campaign are teaming up and holding a fundraiser to help fund her legal battle. Details of the event are still being arranged, but it will likely hold 120 people and be held at a downtown bar.

Since we last spoke with James, she was laid off her call centre job last April. In the meantime, she’s looking for work and trying to enjoy the great weather. She describes our short winter as “wimpy” and “not as cold as prior winters”.

When James came to Ottawa, James says she had three fellow war resisters to talk to. All that has changed; people have been fleeing from the law or deported and jailed.

The story goes on to say "one guy turned himself in and got let out from prison early because of his certain situation". While technically true, this doesn't begin to tell the story. War resister James Burmeister - who suffers from traumatic brain injury and PTSD from the wounds he received while serving in Iraq, and whose mother was critically ill - could no longer tolerate living in legal limbo. He turned himself in, and served nine months in military prison without treatment for his medical conditions. His so-called early release amounted to a matter of weeks or days.

In Skyler James' case, the Federal Court ordering a new IRB hearing is hugely significant. This also happened in the case of Joshua Key - in fact, Josh's second hearing was one year ago yesterday. There has still been no decision.

To attend the fundraiser and learn more about how you can help Skyler James, join the Facebook group You Are Home Skyler James.

And of course, support Bill C-440, so Skyler and all the war resisters can stay.

newsflash: liberals remember they are the opposition

There is great news about C-11, the government's refugee "reform" bill, and proof that the Canadian political system actually works, at least sometimes. (At least compared to the US!)

An angry backlash from Liberal MPs has forced Michael Ignatieff to back off his party's apparent support for proposed reforms to Canada's refugee system.

Sources say the Liberal leader promised to rethink the matter after hearing a litany of complaints during a closed-door caucus meeting.

A host of MPs, including the entire Quebec caucus, told Ignatieff they can't and won't support the reform package — even though the government has agreed to changes demanded by the Liberals' own immigration critic, Maurizio Bevilacqua.

Sources say Bevilacqua was the only MP at the Liberal caucus meeting to express support for the bill.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced changes to the refugee reform bill earlier this week.

Kenney lavished praise on Bevilacqua for helping strike a deal that the government hopes will mean refugee reforms are passed before Parliament's summer recess later this month.

But Bevilacqua's Liberal colleagues were not so laudatory. Some privately groused that Bevilacqua's eagerness for a deal was motivated by his desire to line up Tory support for a possible bid for the mayoralty in Vaughan, Ont.

Bevilacqua did not respond to a request for comment.

A while back, I heard from a very reliable source that Bevilacqua was planning on supporting the Harper-Kenney refugee bill in exchange for the Conservative endorsement of his mayoralty campaign. While Bevilacqua was still a Member of Parliament, I bit my tongue - because if anything I wrote jeopardized Bill C-440, I would never forgive myself. Let me tell you, when I heard Bevilacqua sound like Jason Kenney's publicist during the C-11 debate, my tongue-biting was starting to hurt.

After that, our man Gerard Kennedy told us that Bill C-11 "must be amended, it cannot be allowed to pass in its present form," I was hopeful. And now it has come to pass.

"As a Liberal for the last 25 years, I cannot support any list of designated countries," asserted Denis Coderre, a former immigration minister.

Toronto MP Jim Karygiannis objected to the prospect of political interference in the creation of the safe countries list.

"At what price do we sell out to the Conservatives our values?" he said.

"I stand on the side of the people that are in favour of fair refugee reform and reflect the Canadian values which the international community has come to cherish and respect."

A number of MPs said Bevilacqua negotiated the changes to the bill with Ignatieff's blessing. But others said the leader only gave approval in principal to the process and did not sign off on anything — a factor they said Kenney chose to overlook when he boasted of striking a deal with the Liberals.

A senior Liberal adviser insisted: "We don't have a deal."

Please, I urge you, write to Michael Ignatieff and tell him you support this latest development, you support strong amendments to C-11 (especially the so-called "safe countries" provision), and that you support an Opposition that knows how to oppose.

Michael Ignatieff
Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca
613.995.9364

For more on C-11, start here.

we are canadian citizens!!!!!!!

Received in today's mail:

NOTICE TO APPEAR:
TO TAKE THE OATH OF CITIZENSHIP

Please appear on 10 June 2010 4:00 pm

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

around the writer's block

I have so many things to write about, yet no motivation or mental energy to write them.

I'm feeling overwhelmed by world events. I usually combat those feelings by writing. But right now the overwhelm is winning. More as soon as I can.

PS: I'd like to credit this cartoonist, but can't find the credit anywhere. Am still looking. It's a good time-waster.

toronto joins international protest of gaza freedom flotilla massacre

More than 1,000 people took to the streets of Toronto to voice their anger and grief at Israel's massacre of nine Gaza freedom activists, and imprisonment of several hundred more.

As the realization of what is happening to Palestinians increases around the globe, and the international resistance movement increases, Israeli repression and brutality grows in response. This is the most typical pattern of repressive regimes everywhere, through all times. And with every action like this, Israel sows the seeds of its own undoing.

How many more people will die before Israel succumbs to the inevitable and Palestine is free? We don't know. But we know this: you can kill a person, but you can't kill an idea.

marxism 2010: what i saw, with more to follow

I started to post this yesterday, until I saw the news about the Gaza Flotilla. It didn't seem right to be enthusing about what a great time I had on such a dark day. Still doesn't, but life goes on.

I had an absolutely amazing time at the Marxism conference! The talks I saw were so enlightening, and in some cases electrifying. It was also just so much fun.

Because of my weekend schedule, I was only able to attend Friday and Friday night, plus I left work early to attend the Saturday night events. Both nights I hung out afterwards, gabbing and drinking on the patio of the student pub. This is, without a doubt, the best community I have ever known - the place where I am truly my best self.

These are the talks I attended. It's very difficult to choose! When people ask each other, "Which talks did you see?" the answer always seems to include their process and rationale of how they ended up in one room versus another. I went for maximum education value in areas of particular interest to me.

I will write about each of them in varying degrees of detail as the week progresses. I'm also hoping to post video of some.

"20 years since Oka: the fight for indigenous sovereignty." Ellen Gabriel talked about this episode of native resistance to land development on the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, the ensuing blockade and standoff, the solidarity movement around it, and Mohawk resistance before and since. Although this was a huge event in Canada, it was completely unknown to me, living in New York at the time. Gabriel was behind the barricades and has been fighting for her Mohawk people all her life. It was fascinating and thrilling to hear her.

"From South Africa to Israel: histories of Apartheid." This talk was given jointly by Joe Kelly, a South African activist, and Clare O'Connor, from the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. Kelly laid out the case for why it is accurate, appropriate and historical to refer to Israel as an apartheid state. I didn't need convincing, but I did need more facts. There was discussion afterwards about the use of the word in organizing. There's video, and I hope to post it soon.

On Friday night, everyone came together for "After Cochabamba: the fight for climate justice". This brought together Andrea Harden, a member of the Council of Canadians who participated in both the state-run climate change conference in Copenhagen and the people's climate change conference in Bolivia, Charlotte Ireland, a Toronto-based peace and environmental activist, and Clayton Thomas-Mueller, of the Indigenous Environmental Network. All three were great, and Thomas-Muller was especially inspirational. But although most people seemed to find the talk uplifting and energizing, I found it overwhelming and depressing. Probably not what they were going for.

On Saturday night, the one event was "Crisis & Resistance: from Greece to the G20". It featured:
- Kostas Katarahias, General Council, Federation of Hospital Doctors Unions of Greece
- Judith Orr, Leading member, British Socialist Workers Party & anti-war activist
- John Cartwright, President, Toronto and York Regional Labour Council
- Carolyn Egan, President, Steelworker Toronto Area Council; International Socialists
This was positively electrifying. Kostas blew us all away, and Judith only added to that. John and Carolyn brought it all back home to Canada. I am very much hoping to post video of this, and you must all watch it!

After this, we all grabbed a drink and watched a Tribute to Howard Zinn. IS members read excerpts from The People Speak (trailer here), interspersed with footage from the movie. It was beautifully staged and read, but the highlight was Jeremy Hinzman reading a letter from a Gulf War veteran resister. Very powerful. Labour activist John Bell performed excerpts from Zinn's play Marx In Soho, in which Marx returns 150 years after his death. Bell was brilliant and Zinn's words, as always, were cutting, funny and hopeful.