[Indigsol] IPSMO Newsletter June 30

[Angela Schleihauf]

*IPSMO Newsletter, June 30, 2009
**Announcements, **Updates*,* **Articles, **



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**Event Announcements*
1a) Peace Caravan Heads for Akwesasne, July 1, 2009
1b) No Water to Waste: Walk, Concert and Rally at Site 41, July 4, 2009
 *
Update*
2) New Democrats Oppose Canada Peru Free Trade Agreement *(Response to an
inquiry by IPSMO member)*
*
Articles*
3a) Strong Response to Racist Backlash Against Six Nations in Ontario Offers
Important Lessons for Albertans- Macdonald Stainsby *(original appearance in
Vue Weekly)*
3b) Acceptable Versus Unacceptable Repression: A Lesson in Canadian Imperial
Hypocrisy- Todd Gordon *(originally distributed in The Bullet)*

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Event Announcements

**1a) Peace Caravan Heads for Akwesasne*

MNN.  June 28, 2009.  To support the Mohawks of Akwesasne who refuse to
allow the border guards to carry guns at the CBSA check point, a Peace
Caravan will be arriving on  Wednesay, June 30.  It  will start in Six
Nations and head east on the 401 to the  Cornwall exit.  The Six Nations
police will be escorting the caravan over the International Bridge to
Kahwenoke, Cornwall Island, to the tent site next to the former Canada
Customs at approx. 3pm.  There may be over 200 cars plus 4 buses.  Hundreds
of supporters are expected.  Many are arriving on Tues. June 29th.  All are
welcome to stay for July 1st to hear speakers and take part in socials.

For those coming from the US side or making donations, they may go to or
cross over from Loran Thompson’s Dock or Mac’s Marina at the old church in
St. Regis, off Highway 37 to Cornwall Island.

Bring your camping gear.

NEEDED:  water, food and money.  Funds would be greatly appreciated:  Go to
www.akwesasnewomensfire.com and donate online.  For donations by check or
money order please send to:  Akwesasne Womens Fire, 936 Island Rd, Akwesasne
 ON  K6H 5R7

For further information please contact:  Rosemarie White  613-933-8784;
Veronica Cook; 915-886-0210; Neddy Thompson   613-577-4647; and Nona
Benedict 613-551-5421 (c)   613-938-8145 (h) nonabena at yahoo.com

NOTE:  Please disregard the unsigned June 27th press release from the Mohawk
Council of Akwesasne which tried to redirect supporters to Ottawa.
 [613-936-1548 bwhite at akwesasne.ca].  Health Canada also gave a dire warning
for Indigenous communities to stay away from large social gatherings to stop
the spread of swine flu.  Former Chief Nona Benedict responded:  “Does this
mean July 1 Fireworks are canceled, as well as all future lacrosse games at
the arena and the Akwesasne Pow-wow?”


Canada is reviving the old tactic of disinformation, intimidation and
threats.  We are in the right.  We don’t want guns!  This is a time to
negotiate from a position of strength, not fear or weakness.  We can’t have
appeasers make deals behind our backs.  If we start giving away piecemeal,
eventually we will wind up with nothing.

The Mohawks are obviously not going to break the peace that has pervaded the
situation from the beginning to now.  The Peacemaker Dekanawida and our
ancestors will be proud of the message of peace that we have maintained.  If
anybody causes trouble, it will be outside agitators, police forces,
military, undercover agents and professional trouble makers.  We won’t fall
for it.  We will protect each other.

We thank everybody for supporting us.


Posted by:  Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com
kahentinetha2 at yahoo.com  Go to MNN “BORDER” category for more stories;
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1b) No Water to Waste: Walk,
Concert and Rally at Site 41
*
Community and Council of Canadians Walk to Save the Water
and Fight Controversial Dump


WHAT: Opponents of Site 41 will hold a 7km walk,
rally and concert to stop Simcoe County from building a dump site on top
of the Alliston aquifer, which would forever destroy some of the purest
water
in the world. Community members have fought tirelessly against the Site 41
project for over fifteen years but it is scheduled to open this fall and
construction or 'de-watering' of the site has begun. Due to this added
urgency, opposition to Site 41 is growing, with new organizations joining
the
fight this past week including the Métis Nation of Ontario, the United
Church
of Canada (Toronto), and the David Suzuki Foundation. The concert will be
headlined by Fiddes•Lefaive with additional local artists.

WHERE: The 7km walk will leave from Elmvale Arena in
Elmvale. The rally and concert will take place, cross from Site 41 in Tiny
Township on Concession Rd. 2 between Baseline Rd and Highway 6, just west of
Waverley just north of Elmvale and just south of Penetanguishene
and Midland. Site 41 is about a half hour drive north of Barrie.

WHEN: Saturday July 4. The walk will begin at 10:30
am at the Elmvale Arena. The rally and concert will begin at 1pm.

WHO: Maude Barlow, the Council of Canadians, CUPE
Ontario, Simcoe County community members and women from the aboriginal camp,
which has been erected across from the site since mid May.

WHY: “Water, in my opinion, is the single most
important environmental and human-rights threat of our time,” says Maude
Barlow, Chairperson, Council of Canadians and Senior Advisor to the
President
of the UN General Assembly, who will be participating in the protest. “But
while millions around the world are dying and going thirsty, Simcoe County
is
about to violate this unique and precious Canadian aquifer.”

For more information about Site 41, visit:
www.stopdumpsite41.ca
www.canadians.org/water/issues/Site41/index.html

Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians,
613-795-8685, dpenner at canadians.org*
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Update

2) New Democrats Oppose Canada Peru Free Trade Agreement*
*(Response to an inquiry by IPSMO member)*

Thank you for including me in your email concerning Bill C-24, the Canada
Peru Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA). New Democrats share your concern and
oppose this agreement as it currently stands.

New Democrats` vision for trade is focused on fair and sustainable
agreements. Regrettably, in spite of some improvements in the overall
design of this trade deal, the Canada Peru trade agreement fails to
address our concerns.  Primarily, it puts the interests of large
corporate before people and provides no effective enforcement of human
rights.

The CPFTA fails to deliver on tough labour standards and pays lip service
to environmental protection. Rather, labour and environmental provisions
are in a side agreement outside of the main text and have no vigorous
enforcement mechanisms. These same concerns are echoed by trade unions in
Peru and in Canada. In both Parliament and in Committee, the New Democrats
have pushed the Harper government to level the playing field. They refuse
to do so.

The CPFTA will increase the pressure on the Peruvian government to
accelerate and broaden the rapid industrialization of the Amazon
rainforest--72% of which is leased for multinational oil exploration and
extraction. Already, the measures put in place by the Peruvian government
to facilitate free trade with the US and Canada are linked to an increase
in the lethal violence by the Peruvian military against indigenous
populations and communities. These communities are struggling to preserve
their environment, dignity, and way of life and the CPFTA will make such
hardships more difficult to overcome.

The investor chapter is copied from NAFTA`s Chapter 11 investor rights.
The CPFTA provides powerful rights to private companies to sue governments
over their public policy, enforceable through investor-state arbitration
panels. Our experience with NAFTA demonstrates how this type of corporate
rights' regime undermines the legitimate role of government in protecting
and improving the lives of its citizens and the environment.

In addition, some provisions in the agreement put Canada at a tariff
disadvantage in specific agricultural sectors, such as potatoes, pork and
beef, versus the United States. Experts agree that CPFTA is second rate in
comparison to the more advantageous free trade deal signed in December
2007 by Peru and the United States.

Again, I appreciate hearing from you and want you to know that you can
count on Canada’s New Democrats to fight for fair and just trade
agreements. All the best.

Sincerely,


Jack Layton, MP (Toronto-Danforth)
Leader, Canada’s New Democrats
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Articles

3) Strong Response to Racist Backlash Against Six Nations in Ontario Offers
Important Lessons for Albertans
*
Macdonald Stainsby / oilsandstruth.org
Vue Weekly, Week of June 25, 2009
http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=12294

In the past week there have been two significant events that offer
important lessons about the ongoing struggles of First Nations peoples
in Canada. Sunday, June 21 was National Aboriginal Day, an ostensibly
apolitical day set aside for the celebration of proud nations and
history. Just two days later an explicitly political development took
place in Cayuga, Ontario, where a racist militia with the espoused aim
to "take back private property rights" held their first public
meeting—and were met by protesters from numerous regions around the
ongoing reclamation of the Haldimand Tract and the so-called Douglas
Creek Estates housing development. That land belongs to the Six Nations
of the Grand River, sovereign Mohawk Territory near the city of
Hamilton, Ontario.

National Aboriginal Day events—often co-sponsored by various level of
government, from federal on down—are held to establish pride, share
culture and history. As a point of departure, the theme this year was
"sharing our stories." On that note, a day to celebrate aboriginal
history and culture is also a day for understanding, and understanding
the racism that often greets struggles for self-determination when First
Nations, Métis or Inuit stand up for their national rights is perhaps
the most important lesson for non-native populations to learn. Nowhere
is that lesson currently more apparent than in sovereign Mohawk
Territory, where a racist backlash against the community of Six Nations
is taking a much darker turn.

Since the beginning of the Six Nations struggle to reclaim their
territory in February of 2006, the not-so-thinly-veiled racism of the
population that lives within Caledonia (the closest non-First Nations
community) has often come to the surface. A man named Gary McHale has
incited people to hold anti-Mohawk rallies on more than one occasion,
has run for parliamentary office in the province, garnering
not-insignificant support, and has simultaneously wooed both "respected
officials" and been endorsed by the most dangerous of white supremacist
organizations.

Under the rallying cry of "equality," McHale and his supporters have
urged the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police to take violent
measures to seize back territory and property reclaimed by Six
Nations—territory that was long ago determined by the Canadian
government to be now and forevermore Mohawk Territory. The same OPP
forces have made well over 100 arrests since the start of the
reclamation and continue to be provocative in case after case in their
dealings with the community.

Having failed at convincing the authorities to attack Six Nations, Gary
McHale's associate Doug Fleming issued a call in mid-June for the
formation of what he calls the Caledonia Militia to "ensure that the
criminal code is upheld" and promising to use "reasonable force to
remove illegal trespassers."

Quoting from the emergency response call issued by activists in
solidarity with Six Nations: "Doug Fleming (an associate of anti-native
sovereignty activist Gary McHale) whose brother Randy was recently
arrested for attempting to instigate a conflict with people at Six
Nations by running onto the former Douglas Creek Estates waving a
Canadian flag, has announced that he is now forming a 'militia' to
directly confront 'native lawlessness' in Caledonia. According to
Fleming, the militia would patrol areas in Caledonia by car and by foot
wearing uniforms and communicating with radio equipment. If alerted to
an instance of 'native lawlessness' the militia would then use
'reasonable force' to effect a citizen's arrest and would hold the
native person until such time as the OPP arrived to take the 'prisoner'
to jail."

It was only a few short months ago that the Aryan Guard, an
Alberta-based white supremacist group, attempted to hold their second
annual march in Calgary. Their "white pride" march came on the heels of
an incident in which the nearby Siksika Reserve was invaded, with the
offenders smashing windows and hurling (drunken) racist epithets at
members of the First Nation. Both these incidents occurred in a province
which continues to deny the proper rights of the sovereign Cree nation
of the Lubicon—with which the Alberta government refuses to negotiate
despite the community still living on unceded territory, having no
running water in their homes and watching as over $13 billion in oil and
gas revenues are taken from their traditional territory.

In the Cree, Métis and Dene community of Fort Chipewyan, the problem
isn't the lack of running water, but rather whether or not the water is
safe. The community has seen a statistically impossible increase in
cancer rates over approximately the same time frame as the rapid
escalation of the tar sands mining industry upstream from their
fly-in-only home and have long demanded a baseline health study to
determine whether or not the mining operations north of Fort McMurray
are responsible for these deaths and diseases.

On a day like the recent National Aboriginal Day it is certainly
positive that pride, history and culture be shared beyond the
communities still so misunderstood by the majority of those who see
themselves as Canadians. However, time might be better spent learning
about the current state and struggles of First Nations peoples,
especially when one considers that people like Doug Fleming can openly
call public meetings to set up what amounts to a vigilante group in
Ontario. For such people, it isn't the culture or history of the Mohawk
that so incenses them, it is the willingness of First Nations peoples
today to stand up for their rights, take back the land that continues to
belong to them and to honour their history by standing in the present,
not separated from the past.

We in Alberta can learn much from these realities, by opposing not only
the racist militias, gangs and marches that happen here in our own
province—as solidarity activists have done in Southern Ontario—but also
by opposing the policies of our government, policies that deliberately
create such racial divisions, and make the lives of First Nations simply
another "cost of doing business." V

Macdonald Stainsby is a social justice activist, writer and coordinator
of the website oilsandstruth.org.*
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**
3b) Acceptable Versus Unacceptable Repression:
A Lesson in Canadian Imperial Hypocrisy- Todd Gordon
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**
The   B u l l e t        Socialist Project
Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 231
June 30, 2009*


June has been a difficult month for progressive activists around the
world. Mass protests in Iran and indigenous blockades in Peru were met
with heavy repression, while a left-of-centre President in Honduras was
ousted in a military coup. What these tragic events do offer us, however,
is a very clear perspective on Canadian foreign policy.

Consider the Canadian response to the events in Iran. Canada issued three
press releases on the events in Iran, all by Foreign Affairs Minister,
Lawrence Cannon. The first was on June 15 after the repression against the
protests challenging electoral fraud began. It called for an investigation
into the allegations of fraud by the Iranian government and condemned the
government’s move to ban protests.

On June 21, after perhaps the worst day of violent repression of
protesters in Iran up to that point by government security forces and the
government-aligned militia, in which more than a dozen people were killed,
Canada issued a sharp condemnation of the Iranian government. In the press
release, Cannon stated that:

“Canada condemns the decision of the Iranian authorities to use violence
and force against their own people ... The Iranian people deserve to have
their voices heard, without fear of intimidation and violence. Canada
condemns the use of force to stifle dissent, and we continue to call on
Iran to fully respect all of its human rights obligations, both in law and
in practice, and to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into
the fraud allegations.”

A third statement was released on June 25 calling for the release of
political prisoners and personally criticizing the Iranian official put in
charge of the investigation of the detained reformist leaders.

But what did the Canadian government say following the first rumblings of
a potential military coup against the moderately left wing Honduran
president, Jose Manuel Zelaya, on June 25? Nothing. As of the evening of
June 29, it had issued one rather tepid press release late on June 28,
more than 12 hours after the coup became known outside Honduras.

And what did the Canadian government say when over 50 indigenous activists
in Peru were gunned down on June 5th by military and police forces for
protesting their government’s free trade policies? Nothing. The massacre
of indigenous protesters in Peru, many of whose bodies were then dumped by
police in a river, didn’t rate any mention at all.

So why does Iran rate a sharp rebuke, but a military coup in Honduras and
brutal repression in Peru inspire cautious condemnation and silence
respectively?
Canadian Economic Interests versus Human Rights

For starters, the Iranian government is a part of the “Axis of Evil” in
the war on “terror,” of which Canada is an eager member. Thus Iran is a
fair target for criticism when it moves to crush dissent, as it should be.
(Though we should be mindful that the interests of Canada, like those of
the U.S. or U.K., aren’t necessarily a democratic Iran but a compliant
one; one need only look at the history of foreign intervention in Iran in
the 20th century to be skeptical about the intentions of imperial powers.)

But the situation is different when it comes to Honduras and Peru.
Protest

Protest outside Goldcorp’s annual shareholders meeting.

In Honduras, Canadian corporations – largely, though not exclusively, in
mining – are major economic players. According to the Economic Commission
for Latin America and the Caribbean, from 1996-2006 Canada was in fact the
second largest foreign investor in the Central American country. Mining
companies like Goldcorp, Yamana and Breakwater Resources benefit from a
mining law passed in the wake of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 that strongly
favours foreign corporations over the rights of local communities. The
mining law and Canadian investments, particularly Goldcorp’s San Martin
open pit mine, have been the target of large demonstrations and blockades
over the last few years by indigenous peoples and small farmers whose
lands and livelihoods are threatened by the expansion of – well documented
– ecologically-disastrous Canadian mining.

In active support of Canadian capital (and foreign capital more generally)
in Honduras, the Canadian government has supported, through the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA), structural adjustment (now
described as Poverty Reduction Strategies). Structural adjustment is aimed
at the neoliberalization of the Honduran government and its public
policies. Among other things, CIDA committed $1.5-million from 2004 to
2010 toward a program at the Universidad Nacional de Honduras to assist in
the development and implementation of the country’s Poverty Reduction
Strategy process. The Canadian government has also been pursuing a free
trade agreement (FTA) with Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

It should come as no surprise, then, that social movements opposed to
mining investment and reactionary mining laws are a threat to
well-established Canadian interests in Honduras. President Zelaya was also
not on the best of terms with the mining industry. In his inaugural
address in January 2006 he declared a moratorium on the granting of new
mining concessions. While by no means stopping existing exploration or
halting operational mines, this move was nevertheless seen as a threat to
the security and stability of mining in the country, and industry
officials responded with lobbying and advertising campaigns to push their
interests.

Zelaya’s tenure also saw the adoption of a minimum wage increase, measures
to nationalize energy generation plants and the telephone system, and
Honduras’s entrance into the Venezuelan-initiated Bolivarian Alternative
for the Americas, a political and economic formation that seeks to counter
imperialist influence in the region.

Against this backdrop Zelaya, supported by trade unions and social
movements, called a vote for June 28 to determine if a majority of
Hondurans wanted to have a referendum during the upcoming elections in
November on convening a constitutional assembly. If called, the
constitutional assembly would seek to replace the current constitution,
adopted in 1982 by a brutal American-backed military regime, with one more
inclusive and democratic. Such a constitution could very well further
jeopardize mining interests in the country.

But the vote – to decide whether or not to have a referendum – was
strongly opposed by the anti-Zelaya-dominated Congress and Supreme Court
and by the military, all of whom claimed it’s illegal. Their efforts to
block the vote in the days leading up to it brought thousands of Hondurans
onto the streets, as the first concerns about a potential coup were
raised. But early in the morning of June 28 the military made its move,
violently detaining Zelaya at his house and then deporting him to Costa
Rica. Anti-Zelaya President of the Congress (and fellow member of Zelaya’s
Liberal Party), Roberto Michelletti, read a letter of resignation later in
the day allegedly signed by the ousted President, but Zelaya denies
signing the letter. The military occupied the country, establishing
checkpoints at the entrance of towns, while the national telephone system,
cell phone service and the energy grid has been shut down in a number of
areas.

The threat to the interests of the Canadian government and corporations
has subsided, at least for the time being.

And so the Canadian government is much cagier around the situation in
Honduras than it is with respect to Iran. The Organization of American
States (OAS) did pass a resolution on Friday June, 26, after the first
rumblings of a coup were heard, which called for the maintenance of
democracy and the rule of law. Yet, at the same time, in the special
session of the OAS Permanent Council on the situation in Honduras held
that same day the Canadian representative remained silent. Foreign Affairs
and International Trade issued no press release on the 26th or the 27th
condemning the clear threat to Honduran democracy.

A press release was finally issued by Peter Kent, Minister of State for
the Americas, very late in the evening of June 28. While Kent condemns the
coup d’état, he “calls on all parties to show restraint and to seek a
peaceful resolution” to the crisis, as if all parties, including Zelaya
and his supporters, are responsible for the military-orchestrated coup or
are equally unrestrained in their actions. This position is echoed in the
Canadian representative’s statement to the OAS Permanent Council following
the coup on the 28th. Canada has thus far failed, furthermore, to call for
the reinstatement of the Honduran President, placing it politically behind
the United States, which has called for Zelaya’s return, in its response
to the coup.
Non-Response to the Massacre in Peru

In Peru, meanwhile, Canadian companies have over $2.3-billion in
investments, ranking fourth among foreign investors in general but first
in mining, according to Foreign Affairs and International Trade. In an
effort to strengthen the rights of Canadian capital in the Andean nation
and lock in its access to Peruvian resources, Canada signed a free trade
agreement with Peru late in 2008.

CIDA has also been busy at work in Peru, spending over $24-million between
2002 and 2009 on public sector reform (aimed at “improving efficiency”),
developing new institutional and regulatory frameworks in the hydrocarbons
sector (promoting “international private sector investment”), and reform
in the mineral sector. Export Development Canada (EDC) – a government
credit agency designed to finance Canadian foreign investment – recently
posted a permanent representative for the Andean Region in Lima. EDC
President, Eric Seigel, proclaimed that “EDC intends to become a permanent
member of the Andean financial community, supporting growth for both
Andean and Canadian companies operating in the region.”

And so Canada said nothing when Peruvian President, Alan García, sent in a
600 strong police and military force – including armoured personnel
carriers and helicopter gun-ships – to crush a blockade of a major highway
by 5,000 indigenous activists. The military and police assault led to the
deaths of fifty protesters and the disappearance of many – possibly
hundreds – more, according to indigenous organizations. Nine police
officers were also killed during the assault when indigenous people fought
back in self defense against the massive government show of brutal force.

While Canada remained silent about the repression in Peru, it couldn’t
contain itself when, a mere two weeks later, Stockwell Day, Minister of
International Trade, proudly announced that legislation to implement the
Canada-Peru FTA was passed by parliament. But it was precisely the
neoliberal and Free Trade policies of García that sparked the blockades in
the first place. García, who has a long history of violence and political
corruption that led to his exile in the 1990s, has moved to open up large
swathes of indigenous land in the Amazon to foreign resource companies,
sweetening the deal for Canadian and other foreign companies with low tax
and royalty rates and cheap government-subsidized electricity rates.

The result, predictably, has been a steady growth of Canadian and other
foreign resource firms in the Peruvian Amazon, and increasing
confrontations between them and indigenous communities. Canada’s FTA with
Peru, along with the American FTA, will only intensify the conflicts
surrounding resource development and indigenous land.
If it’s Good for Canadian Business...

It’s no accident that the Canadian government quickly and sharply condemns
some instances of repression, such as that in Iran, while it ignores or
tepidly responds to others. If it’s good for Canadian business, then it’s
okay. This is imperialist Canada in the developing world: exploit people
and their resources to make a buck, and if some repression is required
along the way, well so be it. This isn’t just an American act; it’s a
Canadian one too, and it’s becoming all too familiar.

It’s also worth noting here that Canadian involvement in Honduras and Peru
(and many more countries besides) extends beyond investment interests and
financing neoliberal reform. Canada has also trained Honduran and Peruvian
military personnel through the Military Training Assistance Programme
(MTAP). The MTAP provides language, officer and “peace support” operations
training to roughly 1,300 military personnel from sixty-three different
developing countries a year. According to its Directorate, the MTAP serves
to “promote Canadian foreign and defence policy interests.” It “uses the
mechanism of military training assistance to develop and enhance bilateral
and defence relationships with countries of strategic interest to Canada.”

It happens to be the case that many of the participating countries are
ones with which Canada has, or is hoping to develop, strong economic ties
and which have troubling human rights records, including Peru and
Honduras.

The reality of Canadian involvement in the third world is an ugly one, and
deserves greater attention from the Canadian Left. The Honduran and
Peruvian situations are not the exception to the rule of Canadian foreign
policy. They represent the normal practice of the Canadian government
defending Canadian business interests against the human rights of workers,
poor communities, and indigenous peoples •

Todd Gordon is the author of Cops, Crime and Capitalism: The Law-and-Order
Agenda in Canada. He’s currently writing a book on Canadian imperialism.
His articles have appeared on Znet, The Bullet, Rabble and in New
Socialist magazine. He teaches political science at York University in
Toronto, and can be reached at tsgordon at yorku.ca.
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