imperialism

Afghanistan: The crucible for reorienting Canadian foreign policy

Operation Apollo, Operation Athena, Operation Archer, Operation Accius, Operation Altair... since Canada first entered the war on Afghanistan in 2001 the list of extensions, renewals and "spin-offs" has gone on and on and on. Originally scheduled to end in 2003, Canada's involvement in this imperialist aggression threatens to continue until 2014 if Prime Minister Stephen Harper gets his way.

Afghanistan has been the central preoccupation of Canadian foreign policy over the past decade. It has also been a main focus of peace movement activity. Mobilizations against the war in Afghanistan have not been nearly as spectacular as those against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The build up was slower, and it took more time to locate a basis of unity upon which to build mobilizations.

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Afghanistan imperialism NATO canadian military afghan war neocolonialism U.S. military natural resources oil pipelines exploiting resources

in her own words

Altruism at the Oscars: Legitimizing racism, inequality and imperial design

The unusually lengthy list of nominees for this year's Best Picture Oscar features a slew of do-gooder films about the suffering of others. Most are about people who are at a considerable cultural distance from the white, middle-class Americans that are the primary consumers of these films.

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arts Movies film poverty racism Entertainment imperialism academy awards stereotypes

America's shameful history in Vietnam finally revealed

Gerry Caplan

| May 4, 2013

For weeks Nick Turse's new book has been rattling around in my head. Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam is not just another history book. Its implications for today are both profound and unnerving. It will haunt you every time the United States launches yet another military adventure somewhere in the world in the name of American idealism.

How to convey 260 meticulously documented, explosive pages of horror stories? On every page there's a new one, barely believable, that demands to be shared. Maybe you begin with My Lai, the scandal we still all know about, the one that has borne the burden as America's shameful bad apple in Vietnam. Until now.

Redeye

French push for resources drives conflict in northern Mali

January 30, 2013

| The war in Mali is less about driving out Islamic terrorists and more about securing the uranium that France needs for its nuclear reactors, according to Conn Hallinan of Foreign Policy in Focus.

Length: 15:05 minutes (13.82 MB)

Progressive Voices

Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt

January 28, 2013

| Author and journalist Chris Hedges offers his perspective on Idle no More, Occupy and more.

Length: 20:57 minutes (19.18 MB)

Progressive Voices

The Society of the Spectacle, the Lesser of Two Evils, and the US Election

November 9, 2012

| Kevin Mackay provides post-election analysis on American domestic and foreign policy, the structural problems with the United States electoral system, and more.

Length: 15:00 minutes (13.74 MB)

Columnists

India's 'untouchables' and the violence of imperialism

Struggles against racism and discrimination get a lot of publicity when they are oriented in terms of white Northerners subordinating another group within or outside the Global North. The attention is predictable in light of the history of imperialism, the global political and economic power of North America and the European Union, and the racism experienced by various groups within those regions. The case of the Dalits in India -- historically known in the USA and Canada as the "untouchables" -- opens up the categories of discrimination to an integral analysis that includes caste, class and race.

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imperialism colonialism india global south anti-racism anti-imperialism Discrimination human rights Dalits

Opinion

Syria, the Arab revolutions and the 'war on terror'

To understand Syria it is necessary to consider both the 'war on terror' (which can be traced to 2001) and the Arab revolutions (a more recent phenomenon, emerging first in Tunisia in December 2010).

One of those contexts without the other leads to a one-sided, inadequate understanding of events and their political meaning. Those on the left -- a small minority -- who have been in some sense sympathetic to the Gaddafi and Assad regimes, seeing them as a progressive bulwark against Western imperialism, may be consistent opponents of the U.S.-led 'war on terror,' but they don't understand the immensely positive and liberating role of the Arab revolutions.

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Syria anti-war movement foreign policy NATO imperialism Arab Spring

politics

Foreign policy and the problem of the 'Western Saviour Complex'

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"Take up the White Man's burden -
Have done with childish days -
The lightly proffered laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years,
Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers!"
-Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's burden, 1899

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Afghanistan Canadian politics anti-racism imperialism foreign policy politics in Canada Libya

Workers' Struggles Amidst Neoliberal Globalization: A National Workers Conference

Date: Saturday, August 11, 2012 - 10:39pm - Sunday, August 12, 2012 - 10:39pm

Location

United Steelworkers Hall

25 Cecil Street

Toronto, ON

Canada

Phone: (416) 519-2553

43° 39' 23.1192" N, 79° 23' 45.96" W

See map: Google Maps

Amidst the engulfing impacts of the economic crisis on workers’ lives, a national conference aims to spark up vital discussions towards generating a wave of resistance for genuine social change. The Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC), its member organizations and allies invite all to participate in “Workers Struggles Amidst Neoliberal Globalization,” to be held on August 11th and 12th at the United Steel Workers Hall in Toronto. As workers’ lives and conditions are being edged onto the precipice of society by the crisis of neoliberal globalization, the conference hopes to meet this critical moment by underscoring the important role that all workers have to play in addressing the challenges and opportunities at hand.

imperialism

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