Harper's Free Trade Mantra: Hush, Rush, and Sign
Written by Dawn Paley
Tuesday, 01 July 2008
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1356/1/
This January, after little more than 6 months of negotiations, the
Canadian Government announced the completion of negotiations of the
Canada-Peru Free Trade Agreement at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland.

Six months later, on June 7, 2008, Canada announced that negotiations
for a controversial Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia were
finalized.

The negotiations with Colombia were controversial from the get go: the
country has the worst human rights record in the hemisphere, and the
government of Alvaro Uribe is riddled by ongoing scandals that have
revealed proven links between Uribe's allies in Congress and
paramilitary death squads.

In a corruption scandal that would most certainly bring down a
Canadian Prime Minister, Uribe himself is the subject of a recent
Sentence by the Colombian Supreme Court. The justices condemned him
for buying the key vote of Congresswoman Yidis Medina in exchange for
political favours, a crime necessary for the constitutional changes
that opened the door to Uribe's re-election in 2006.

On June 26th, Medina was sentenced to 3 ½ years of house arrest for
accepting bribes from the president. The president promptly responded

Written by Ramor Ryan

"The Epic Struggle for Another Oaxaca Has Not Finished," says David Venegas.

"History is a nightmare from which I am trying to wake." - Stephen Daedalus, in Ulysses, James Joyce 1922

Oaxaca City, Mexico, May 15 - Midnight in Oaxaca, and walking around the historic center, it's almost as if nothing had ever happened here. The bourgeoisie sit around under the colonial arches in the long stretch of French-style outdoor cafes lining the central plaza. Aside from being beset by a small army of ambulant trinket vendors and beggars, the well-heeled citizens sipping cappuccinos seem very at ease with the world. A few late night tourists wander about the pleasant old streets under the starry sky, and the industrious hum of the sultry cosmopolitan city invokes an eternal calm.

Features > June 4, 2008
No Strings Attached?
How U.S. funding of the world press corps may be buying influence
By Jeremy Bigwood
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3697/no_strings_attached/

Lebanese men in Beruit watch Alhurra, a U.S.-funded Arabic-language television network. The name of the satelite channel means 'the free one' in Arabic.

Domestic propaganda campaigns like the “Pentagon Pundits” fiasco have been exposed and decried. Mainstream media outlets hired high-ranking military officers to provide “analysis” about the war in Iraq. Turns out they had ties to military contractors with a vested interest in continuing the war.

By Bonita Lawrence and Enakshi Dua, courtesy of illvox.org

From: Special issue of “Social Justice” entitled “Race, Racism and Empire: Reflections from Canada”. Guest Editors: Narda Razack, Enakshi Dua and Jody Warner. In Press.

INTRODUCTION

In continuous conversations over the years, we have discussed our discomfort with the manner in which Aboriginal people and perspectives are excluded within anti-racism. We have been surprised and disturbed by how rarely this exclusion has been taken up, or indeed, even noticed. As a result of this exclusion, Aboriginal people cannot see themselves in anti-racism contexts, and Aboriginal activism against settler domination takes place without people of colour as allies. While anti-racist theorists may ignore contemporary Indigenous presence, Canada certainly does not. Police surveillance is a reality that all racialized people face, and yet Native communities are at risk of direct military intervention in ways that no other racialized community in Canada faces.

On March 28, 2008, Naomi Klein gave the keynote address to Canada's first Independent Canadian Jewish Conference, attended by over 100 Jews against the occupation of Palestine from over a dozen organizations in over 20 cities across Canada. Click here to see the video of her presentation.

Rami El-Amine

Michael Staudenmaier’s talk Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and the Three Way Fight presented at the 2007 National Conference on Organized Resistance (NCOR) uses an article I wrote for Left Turn magazine, “Anti-Arab Racism, Islam and the Left,” to critique what he refers to as a “bi-polarity” common on the left. Staudenmaier defines bi-polarity as “the dualistic and anti-dialectical tendency to reduce complex situations to two opposing, and static, sides.” He says that that I offer an “us” (anti-imperialists) vs. “them” (the imperialists) approach to analyzing events in the Middle East and Islamist movements more specifically. His main proof of this is my criticism of “Defending My Enemy’s Enemy,” a posting by Mathew Lyons on the Three Way Fight blog during Israel’s 2006 war on Lebanon in which Lyons characterizes Hezbollah as “essentially a right wing political movement.” Staudenmaier singles out (and is particularly irritated by) my suggestion that Lyons’ argument may one day be used by Hillary Clinton or Bush in justifying an attack on Hezbullah and/or Iran.

Not Just a Smear Tactic

Matthew N. Lyons

April Rosenblum. The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere: Making Resistance to Anti-Semitism Part of All of Our Movements. Self-published, 2007. Download at www.thepast.info

In July of 2006, Bluestockings bookshop in New York City announced it was hosting a workshop for social justice activists on “opposing anti-Semitism in the movement.” The announcement sparked a heated online discussion on New York’s Indymedia website. Some people asked if the workshop was going to be “some Zionist bullshit” and why it wasn’t going to address other forms of discrimination, such as “Zionist anti-Semetism [sic]” against Palestinians. Critics doubted the existence of any real anti-Semitism on the left, or they suggested that it was caused by “right-wing Jews” having “cried wolf too many times.” One charged that “whining about anti-Semitism is like whining about ‘anti-white,’ or ‘reverse racism.’” They added that “Jews are one of the wealthiest groups in the world with the most privilege.”

ttp://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/4_13_8/4_13_8.html
HIP - Port au Prince, Haiti — The situation in Haiti was thrown into further confusion on April 12 as the Haitian parliament passed a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis. Led by rightists in Haiti's parliament such as Senators Youri Latortue, Adris Riche and renegade Lavalas party Senator Roudy Herveaux , the vote of censure was passed on April 12, 2008 at 11:55 am EST.
President Rene Garcia Preval, following controversial U.N.-sponsored elections in 2006, appointed Alexis as Prime Minister. Alexis served for an administration touted as a coalition government backed by the United States and the international community that included members of the so-called opposition that forced former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile in 2004. Alexis' administration gave the final appearance of a legal veneer to the ouster of Aristide and his political movement known as Lavalas by co-opting former grass-roots leaders into his government.

ZNet Commentary
Colombia Assassinates Raul Reyes of FARC March 02, 2008
By Justin Podur
http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2008-03/02podur.cfm

Haitian solidarity: Local group strives to draw attention to Canada's role in the country's grief
Sarelle Azuelos
Gauntlet News
February 28, 2008
http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/12221
Haitian people have suffered a history of almost constant violence and strife. Four years ago Canadian, French and U.S. forces, with support of the UN, held a military coup against the democratically elected then-leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Great debate surrounded the continuing involvement of foreign influences in Haiti's government.

The Canada Haiti Action Network is hosting a solidarity demonstration on Fri., Feb. 29 to raise awareness of Haiti's plight and hopefully encourage the Canadian government to respect the country's sovereignty.