[Stopwar-l] updates & Demo Sat Dec 12

[StopWar]

STOPWAR NEWS AND UPDATES

 1) Reminder: Protest Sat. Dec. 12, Noon 

2)
Take Action on torture scandal 

3) Canadian Peace Alliance statement: End
Torture. End the War. 

4) Malalai Joya, Op-Ed in the Georgia Straight:
Canada must withdraw troops from Afghanistan immediately 

5) StopWar
Statement on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics
 ******

 1) REMINDER: PROTEST
SAT. DEC. 12, NOON

 PROTEST THE ESCALATION, PROTEST CANADIAN COMPLICITY IN
TORTURE IN AFGHANISTAN! 

 Sat. Dec. 12, Noon at Robson ">TAKE ACTION ON
TORTURE SCANDAL

 Call on the Harper government to:

 * Fire Peter MacKay

* Call a full public inquiry
 * Bring the troops home now (not in 2011)


Contact the Prime Minister today:

 * pm at pm.gc.ca [1] Phone: 613-992-4211,
Fax: 613-941-6900
 * Guy Giorno, Stephen Harper's Chief of Staff, Phone:
613-992-4211 x11

 ******

 3) CANADIAN PEACE ALLIANCE STATEMENT: END
TORTURE. END THE WAR.

 The testimony of Richard Colvin shows that the
highest levels of the Conservative Government are complicit in war crimes.
As many as 600 detainees, many of whom were just innocent bystanders, were
handed over to Afghan law enforcement agencies by the Canadian forces.
Torture by the Afghan police forces is known to be widespread.

 Stephen
Harper and Peter MacKay are challenging the credibility of Colvin, saying
that he is listening to "Taliban propaganda" Yet it is the Harper
government that totally lacks credibility on this issue. It is hard to
believe that they didn't see multiple memos and reports from one of the top
diplomats in Afghanistan. It would represent a radical departure from
standard procedure for any government.

 And even if the memos didn't
circulate to the political masters in the Conservative party, there were
countless reports from international agencies such as the Red Cross,
Amnesty International, School of Law of New York University, Center for
Human Rights and Human Rights Watch which all said that torture of
detainees was widespread. The Tories must have known this information or
they showed a woeful lack of knowledge about their main foreign policy
plank.

 Once the issue of detainee torture hit the media in early 2007,
the Harper Government worked to both discredit the reports and to allay
fears with a new detainee transfer agreement. That agreement has not
stopped the torture of innocent Afghan civilians.

 The Afghan Independent
Human Rights Commission released a report in April 2009 that interviewed
people who had been detained by Afghan police and army. The results were
staggering. According to their findings, 98.5% of detainees said that they
were tortured. They have concluded that torture "is a commonplace practice
in Afghanistan's law enforcement institutions," and add that "torture is
also perpetrated by the parties to the armed conflict in Afghanistan,
including the international security forces."

 According to Afghan MP
Malalai Joya, "It is an open secret that this happens. The Canadian
government is still supporting this."

 An inquiry into the torture of
detainees is long overdue but given the obstructionist nature of the
Conservatives, we are unlikely to get a full accounting of these scandalous
revelations. Peter MacKay, who earlier this year called for a Parliamentary
discussion on the future role of Canada in Afghanistan, has decided to
cancel that debate, likely because he fears any scrutiny on the torture
issue. Complicity in war crimes is too serious an issue to be swept under
the carpet. There must be a parliamentary debate on ending Canada's
complicity in the crime of the Afghan war.

 Torture is part and parcel of
this occupation and the so-called 'war on terror.' Right now, the U.S. is
expanded the prison at Bagram Airbase in what Afghans are calling a 'new
Guantanamo.' Only by ending this occupation can we ensure an end to
Canadian complicity in torture. We need to bring the troops home
immediately.

 Canadian Peace Alliance 

****** 

4) MALALAI JOYA: CANADA
MUST WITHDRAW TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN IMMEDIATELY


http://www.straight.com/ [2]article-273047/vancouver/
[3]malalai-joya-canada-must- [4]withdraw-troops-afghanistan- [5]immediately
[6]

 "I have just completed a two-week speaking tour across Canada,
bringing a message to the great people of this country: The people of
Afghanistan are fed up with the occupation of their country and with the
corrupt, Mafia-state of Hamid Karzai and the warlords and drug lords backed
by NATO..." 

****** 

5) STOPWAR STATEMENT ON THE VANCOUVER 2010 OLYMPIC
GAMES  

StopWar Statement on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games 
 December
9, 2009 
 ***Please distribute widely.*** 

 The Olympic Charter states
that the Olympic movement aims, "to place sport at the 
 service of the
harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful 

society concerned with the preservation of human dignity". The Stopwar.ca
coalition in 
 Vancouver, Canada considers that this noble ideal is
contradicted the by reality of the 
 Games which reveals a consistent,
predictable and historical pattern of militarization 
 and anti-democratic
acts everywhere that they are hosted. The 2010 Winter Games that 
 will
take place in Vancouver next February are no exception to this reality. 


StopWar is especially concerned with the militarization of Vancouver and
Whistler 
 during the Games, with its accompanying restrictions on the
democracy and safety of 
 our community. Enormous resources, including one
billion dollars of 
 spending, considerable military personnel and
equipment, and countless thousands of 
 police and private security
personnel are being deployed. Featured among the identified 
 "threats" to
the Games are domestic protest. The Games are accompanied by 
 the largest
domestic military and security operation in Canadian military history. It 

includes: 40 km of electronically monitored security fencing; over 1000
closed circuit 
 cameras; the use of military aerial surveillance; the
creation of new policing forces such 
 as VISU (Vancouver Integrated
Security Unit), JTFG (Joint Task Force Games), 
 and participation of US
security and policing agencies; and finally, the use of 4500 
 Canadian
Forces troops, many of whom will be pulled from the war in Afghanistan to
be 
 relocated in 10 military camps between Vancouver and Whistler. 

 The
increased surveillance and militarization of the Olympic host communities,
as well 
 as those that the Olympic Torch will be passing through, has
resulted in an assault on 
 civil liberties that is increasing as the Games
draw closer. What's more, British 
 Columbia is facing environmental
destruction and the erosion of social services as a 
 result of the Games.


 The pattern of anti-democratic and repressive security procedures and
apparatuses that 
 follow the Olympic Games wherever they are hosted can be
traced to IOC rules. Rule 
 51 of the IOC Charter (2007) stipulates that
"No kind of demonstration or political, 
 religious or racial propaganda is
permitted in any Olympic sites,venues or other areas." 
 Rules and
procedures such as this call into question the legitimacy of any community

 hosting the Olympic Games if they are guaranteed to remove the basic
principles and 
 protections of a democratic society. The Canadian agencies
responsible for security 
 have identified domestic protest groups as the
most significant security threat, thereby 
 legitimizing the use of force
to suppress opposition and the effective removal of the 
 fundamental
freedoms of speech, thought, and assembly protected by the Canadian 

Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

 Like the stated goal of the Olympic
Games, the Olympic Truce movement is similarly 
 hypocritical and reveals
nothing more than a rhetorical commitment to peace that is 
 contradicted
by real actions. Despite Canada being in its 9th year of waging war on the

 people of Afghanistan, the Canadian Olympic Truce is calling on the world
community 
 "to cease hostilities during the Games and promote the ideals
of peace through sport", 
 however, Canada has no plans to cease causing
death and destruction in Afghan 
 society. In an ironic twist of history,
we remember that the 1980 Olympic Games hosted 
 by the Soviet Union were
boycotted by over 60 countries, including Canada, in protest 
 of the
Soviet occupation and war in Afghanistan that had begun a year earlier in
1979. 

 The continued Canadian aggression in Afghanistan reflects a
paternalistic and 
 Imperialist commitment in which the sovereignty of
Afghanistan and the ability of Afghan 
 people to determine their own
future is disregarded. In the same way, the Olympic 
 Games reveal the true
agenda of the Canadian and BC governments to disregard and 
 further attack
the struggle for self-determination and sovereignty of local Indigenous 

nations. Land and resource development for the Games has displayed a total
disrespect 
 for legally recognized Indigenous land, title and resources
and the destruction of sacred 
 sites. Government supported chiefs have
been bought out and traditional indigenous 
 symbols and artistic
expression have been co-opted. 

 Stopwar opposes the use of war as a means
of settling international disputes. We 
 demand that Canada withdraw our
troops from Afghanistan immediately and that 
 Canada respect and recognize
Indigenous rights, title, and sovereignty on the stolen 
 and colonized
land of Turtle Island (North America). 

 We believe that the Vancouver
2010 Olympic games will leave a lasting legacy that is 
 disastrous for our
community and nation. We call on all peace loving people to expose 
 and
bring to the world stage our experience of the militarization that come
from hosting 
 the Olympic Games. By being vigilant and vocal about what it
really means to promote a 
 peaceful society concerned with the
preservation of human dignity we can try to ensure 
 that no nation and no
community is forced to endure these conditions again. 



Links:
------
[1]
https://mce_host/pm@pm.gc.ca
[2]
http://www.straight.com/article-273047/vancouver/malalai-joya-canada-must-withdraw-troops-afghanistan-immediately
[3]
http://www.straight.com/article-273047/vancouver/malalai-joya-canada-must-withdraw-troops-afghanistan-immediately
[4]
http://www.straight.com/article-273047/vancouver/malalai-joya-canada-must-withdraw-troops-afghanistan-immediately
[5]
http://www.straight.com/article-273047/vancouver/malalai-joya-canada-must-withdraw-troops-afghanistan-immediately
[6]
http://www.straight.com/article-273047/vancouver/malalai-joya-canada-must-withdraw-troops-afghanistan-immediately
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