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From March 24 until October 31, Canada was at war in Libya. This involvement included not just the use of Canadian jets flying dozens of bombing runs, but also overall leadership of NATO’s military operations, under Canada’s Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard. All three major political parties supported the war. In June, one of the first acts of the New Democratic Party (NDP) federal caucus, in its new role as official opposition, was to vote with the Harper Tories (and the Liberals) to extend Canada’s involvement in the war. Only Elizabeth May of the Green Party, voted against.
How do anti-war activists assess this experience? The war was portrayed as a defence of a revolutionary movement. And in fact, in the context of the magnificent Arab Spring of early 2011, a mass uprising had taken place against the Libyan regime. But given the bitter experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, is it credible that NATO war planes could be used as an instrument of democracy?
Come hear Derrick O’Keefe introduce a discussion of these issues at the next meeting of the International Solidarity Committee of the Greater Toronto Workers’ Assembly. Derrick is co-chair of Stopwar.ca in Vancouver, and is the former editor of rabble.ca.
For more information: gtwa.isc@gmail .com
