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Afghanistan to Canada: Five reasons to march this Saturday
(From the Canadian Peace Alliance) Saturday April 4 is a global day of action against war. The date coincides with the 60th anniversary NATO summit in Strasbourg and is the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous Beyond Vietnam speech at the Riverside Church in New York.
The Canadian Peace Alliance and the Collectif Échec à la guerre are calling for pan-Canadian demonstrations on April 4 to demand an end to the NATO-led war. These demonstrations have taken on a renewed significance this week.
Five Reasons you should join demonstrations across Canada this weekend.
1- Free Speech - Use it or Lose it! The Harper government is trying to silence anti-war voices in Canada. They have banned George Galloway from speaking in Canada, cut funding to the Canadian Arab Federation because they spoke out against war on the people of Gaza, encouraged suppression of free speech on university campuses and are denying refuge to US war resisters against the will of the people and the Canadian Parliament.
Every person that comes out this Saturday will help protect our hard-won civil rights and freedom of speech.
2- The Surge and Expansion The US has already sent another 21,000 troops to Afghanistan and has expanded the war to Pakistan. This is a disaster that will stoke more violence in the region bringing open war to a nuclear armed nation of 170 million people. They have also begun arming local militias throughout Afghanistan, sowing the seeds of a bloody future. Every new soldier sent to Afghanistan makes the situation worse. According to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “The mere presence of foreign soldiers fighting a war in Afghanistan is probably the single most important factor in the resurgence of the Taliban.”
The Canadian Forces have told soldiers to expect their tours-of-duty to be extended and Harper has hinted that they may be willing to extend Canada’s deployment. We need a strong show of opposition to the expansion. Don’t Extend It End It!
3- Women’s Rights Afghan President Hamid Karzai, has just passed a law that legalizes rape in Afghanistan. The new family law also places draconian limits on a woman’s right to education, and employment. It allows their husbands to determine when they may leave the house and bans women from refusing their husbands sexual advances.
As the courageous Afghan MP Malalai Joya has been saying for years: The government that Canada supports in Afghanistan is a “photocopy” of the Taliban when it comes to women’s rights. 4- $18 Billion is being spent on the war. We are in the midst of the biggest economic crisis in decades yet the Harper government has continued to plow more money into war. They will spend $18 billion on the war in Afghanistan and are increasing military spending to a total of $490 Billion over the next 20 years. With $4 billion we could provide affordable housing for all Canadians or abolish tuition fees. That money could be used to expand employment insurance, invest in green technology, re-tool empty factories and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions or nationalize industries in financial trouble. Join us to demand that we fund peace, a clean environment, good jobs and human needs - not war. 5- Self determination for the people of Afghanistan. The Afghan people want disarmament and a free society. NATO responds by sending troops, tanks and guns to support a corrupt warlord government, and then they wonder why its not working. The only way we will see a bright future in Afghanistan is if the Afghan people are in charge of their own country. That cannot happen under a foreign occupation concerned with its own geo-political interests.
Join us this Saturday to demand freedom for Afghanistan. Bring the troops home now!
April 4 Events Listings
Calgary 2pm - Corner of 8th St and 17th Ave SW (Tompkins Park) For more information contact candil@shaw.ca
Charlottetown Demonstrate for Peace in Charlottetown on April 3, 2009 4:30 p.m. in front of the PEI Legislature, Richmond Street, lcb45@eastlink.ca
Edmonton Anti-NATO Rally 1 pm Edmonton Rally 1 p.m. Saturday April 4 - Churchill Square - (102 Avenue and 100 Street) www.ecawar.ca
Grand Forks April 4th @ 1 pm - Walk from Lois Hagan Park - (beside City Hall) For Info: Laura @ 442-0434
Montreal MANIFESTATION - Rassemblement à 13 h : Square Dorchester (Peel & René-Lévesque) Départ à 13 h 30 Collectif Échec à la guerre
Ottawa 1 pm - At the Spider - National Art Gallery Ottawa Peace Assembly
Toronto Rally & march 1:00pm - Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto Toronto Coalition to Stop the War
Vancouver Join the ‘Housing Not War’ contingent of the Grand March for Housing… 12 Noon at Seaforth Peace Flame Park Stopwar.ca coalition Vancouver
Windsor Gather in the Parkette at Wyandotte & Goyeau 12 Noon. Windsor Peace Coalition
Winnipeg Join the Debate - The question to be resolved is a simple one: “Should Canada remain in NATO?” * Dr. James Fergusson, Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, University of Manitoba * Professor Henry Heller, Department of History, University of Manitoba 1 p.m. - St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, 641 St. Matthew’s Avenue (corner of St. Matthew and Maryland). Peace Alliance Winnipeg
Matthew Brett is the Canadian Dimension weblog manager. The views expressed on this blog do not necessarily represent his own. Read more by Matthew Brett.
