[IPSM] March 18: Global Day of Action Against the Occupation of Iraq / 18 MARS: Journée mondiale d'action contre l'occupation de l'Irak

[lcarle at po-box.mcgill.ca]

Dear friends,

Please consider some kind of action against war, and particularly the 
illegal occupation of Iraq, on March 18th.  Remember also Canada's 
dubious implication (at the most optimistic) in Haiti and Afghanistan, 
and increased aggression in general military policy.  For more Canadian 
information, please see http://www.ploughshares.ca and

http://www.ceasefire.ca/site/c.afLJJWOuHkE/b.1413911/k.6289/February_7_2006.htm?auid=1394632&kntaw11633=DABBDF93014046D09821D6084200940A

While immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq might cause more 
chaos than good right now, the occupation remains illegal, frought with 
human rights abuses including US-government sanctioned torture, the 
bold-faced flouting of international law, and a gross waste of 
resources and of human life and ingenuity.  It must end; the nature of 
the action must change.  If we believe in our own democracies, then we 
are each deeply implicated in the deaths of many thousands of Iraquis, 
Afghanis, Haitians and foreign soldiers including our own.  Let's not 
forget that this war was sold and continues to be justified on the 
basis of pure lies.

Democracy and peace-building don't work unless we DO them and talk about them.

Loren

DEMONSTRATION in Montreal
Saturday, 18 March, 2006
12:30 pm : gathering in Dorchester Square
(corner of Peel & Rene Levesque)
1:00 pm   :  DEPARTURE of demo


Afghanistan: Toward counter-insurgency by other means
Ernie Regehr
January 2006
http://www.ploughshares.ca/

Election campaign attention to Canada?s growing military commitment to 
Afghanistan did not get beyond the briefest controversy over whether 
Canada was abandoning its peacekeeping tradition in favour of 
war-fighting. That?s a pity because a variation on that question will 
still need to be answered by the new Government: Is Canada going to 
Afghanistan to help protect vulnerable people and create security 
conditions conducive to humanitarian and reconstruction efforts, or are 
we entering the fight on one side of a civil war?

...

"The new [Canadian] defence minister is a retired general who once 
lobbied government on behalf of some big military contractors, a 
background which some find troubling.  Up until February 2004 - when he 
left [Hill and Knowlton] to run in the June election - Gordon O'Connor 
was a registered lobbyist. He represented defence contractors such as 
Airbus Military, United Defense, General Dynamics Canada and BAE 
Systems as well as a variety of other, non-military clients."  Cnews, 
Feb. 5/06 http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2006/02/07/1430220-cp.html



            (English translation follows French message)

Bonjour,

nous vous transmettons un message du Collectif
Échec à la guerre, annonçant la composante
montréalaise de la journée mondiale d'action contre
l'occupation de l'Irak.

Commençons déjà à faire connaître ce rendez-vous
autour de nous !

Raymond Legault
pour OCVC (Objection de conscience / Voices of Conscience)

=========================
   MESSAGE DU COLLECTIF
=========================

Trois ans après l'invasion criminelle des troupes
étasuniennes et "de la coalition" en Irak, le 18 mars
prochain sera une journée mondiale d'action contre
la guerre d'occupation dans ce pays.  Tant le Forum
social mondial de Bamako que celui de Caracas ont
lancé des appels pressants en ce sens.

À Montréal, le Collectif Échec à la guerre organise
une grande manifestation le 18 mars pour exiger non
seulement le retrait immédiat des troupes d'occupation
d'Irak, mais aussi le retrait des troupes canadiennes
d'Afghanistan et le rejet du partenariat militaire de plus
en plus étroit entre le Canada et l'empire étasunien.

            MANIFESTATION à Montréal
            18 mars, 2006
            12h30 : rassemblement au Square Dorchester
                            (intersection Peel et René Lévesque)
            13h00 :  DÉPART

Alors que l'administration Bush vient d'annoncer des
demandes de crédits supplémentaires de 120 milliards
pour poursuivre ses guerres en Irak et en Afghanistan,
et alors que les puissances occidentales menacent
de plus en plus l'Iran s'il ne se conforme pas à leur
diktat sur la question de l'énergie nucléaire, il est très
important que nous manifestions à nouveau notre
rejet des guerres en cours et planifiées...

D'autres informations... bientôt !

Comité de suivi du Collectif Échec à la guerre

========================
    ENGLISH BEGINS HERE
========================

Hello,

we are relaying to you a message from Collectif
Echec a la guerre, announcing the Montreal
component of the Global Day of Action Against the
Occupation of Iraq.

Let's start spreading this information around us
right now !

Raymond Legault
for OCVC (Objection de conscience / Voices of Conscience)

====================================
   MESSAGE FROM ECHEC A LA GUERRE
====================================

Three years after the criminal invasion of US and
"coalition" troops in Iraq, March 18th will be a Global
Day of Action Against the Occupation of that country.
Indeed, pressing calls to this end were made at both
World Social Forum gatherings in Bamako and Caracas.

In Montreal, Echec a la guerre is organising a large
demonstration on 18 March to demand not only the
immediate withdrawal of occupation troops from Iraq,
but also the withdrawal of Canadian troops from
Afghanistan, and the rejection of the ever closer
military partnership between Canada and the US.

            DEMONSTRATION in Montreal
            18 March, 2006
            12:30 pm : gathering in Dorchester Square
                            (corner of Peel & Rene Levesque)
            1:00 pm   :  DEPARTURE of demo

Just as the Bush administration announces a request
for 120 billion dollars of additional funding for its wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as Western powers are
threatening Iran more and more if it does not comply
with their orders on the issue of nuclear energy, it is
very important that we demonstrate again our rejection
of wars, both ongoing and in the making...

More information... soon !

Follow-up Committee of Collectif Echec a la guerre


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