As we honour today the men and women who have fought and died in uniform, it is important that our remembrance of them not be taken as an endorsement of war or a celebration of all things military. For many people, soldiers in uniform do not inspire feelings of pride but memories of horror, destruction, and death. Some of us are survivors of war or refugees. Others of us who were born here are Canadians because our parents or grandparents or great-grandparents fled the violence of wars in faraway lands.
war crimes
No justice for Maher Arar in U.S. court
"Extraordinary rendition" is White House-speak for kidnapping. Just ask Maher Arar. He's a Canadian citizen who was "rendered" by the U.S. to Syria, where he was tortured for almost a year.
Perversity and honour: Scenes from a terrorist's election campaign
Two weeks ago, Hollywood liberal and all-around gorgeous good guy George Clooney hosted a glad-handing fundraising event that, according to the Patriot Act's broad provisions, should have landed him and fellow attendees Billy Crystal, Barbra Streisand, Tobey Maguire, and Robert Downey, Jr., behind bars for violating broadly designed material support for terrorism laws.
The terrorizing occupation of Afghanistan
We may never know what drove a U.S. Army staff sergeant to head out into the Afghan night and allegedly murder at least 16 civilians in their homes, among them nine children and three women. The massacre near Belambai, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, has shocked the world and intensified the calls for an end to the longest war in U.S. history. The attack has been called tragic, which it surely is. But when Afghans attack U.S. forces, they are called "terrorists." That is, perhaps, the inconsistency at the core of U.S. policy, that democracy can be delivered through the barrel of a gun, that terrorism can be fought by terrorizing a nation.
Using the Kony 2012 video to teach our youth about real global solidarity
Maybe you're like me, and all of a sudden, your child or your students ask, no, insist that you watch the viral video "Kony 2012." "So, like 70 million people have seen it, it's so amazing! You HAVE to see it!" She wants your opinion or he wants your approval because they are totally excited and plan to purchase the kits and go out with friends and plaster "Kony 2012" posters everywhere.
Taking liberties: 22 years behind bars for a 'crime of compassion'
When former U.S. president George W. Bush descended on the Regional Economic Summit in suburban Vancouver last October, there was, understandably, no shortage of protesters, pleas for indictments and cries of "war criminal." Left out of most news coverage as well as activist communiqués, however, was any focus on another former U.S. president who was tagging along, someone equally deserving of such protest but who seems, remarkably, to get off fairly lightly these days: Bill Clinton.
Norman Finkelstein: There was no war in Gaza, it was a massacre
What happened in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead was not a war but a massacre, a massacre of a defenceless, imprisoned and besieged civilian population. The IOF air assault (in the first of 3 weeks) dropped bombs around the clock hitting homes, hospitals, ambulances, UN and Red Cross outposts and compounds, schools, universities and government buildings, with the borders closed and no where in Gaza to seek refuge, "it was like shooting fish in a barrel." One thousand four hundred murdered with kill ratios of four-fifths being civilians (mostly women and children). For every Israeli citizen killed 100 Palestinian civilians were murdered.
Bradley Manning's pre-trial military hearing and possible death sentence
Accused whistle-blower Pvt. Bradley Manning turned 24 Saturday. He spent his birthday in a pre-trial military hearing that could ultimately lead to a sentence of life ... or death. Manning stands accused of causing the largest leak of government secrets in United States history.