November 1, 2009

October in Review, Part II

Bloody weeks and funding for war on a hot, hot planet

by Dominion Staff

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

A protest march against the Olympic Torch caused the relay to be rerouted. Photo: NoFutureFace

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The Olympic torch relay kicked off in Victoria, BC, where it was disrupted by activists. "We're going to get out there and we're going to go on a route that we've chosen, with stops that we've chosen, and follow our own agenda," Tamara Herman from No2010 Victoria told the CBC. Anti-Olympic activists in Victoria and Vancouver continued to be harassed by police in the Vancouver Integrated Security Unit.

Abdelkader Belaouni was granted status as a permanent resident in Canada, after spending three years and nine months in a Montréal church. Belaouni, who is blind, fled the civil war in Algeria for the US in 1996, and left the US for Canada in 2003.

Documents obtained by the Canadian Press showed that deportations from Canada rose from approximately 8,300 in 1999 to 12,700 in 2008.

The RCMP seized a ship carrying 76 Tamil migrants off the waters of British Columbia. The occupants of the ship were taken to two detention centers in the Fraser Valley. "Public officials and the media must refrain from stereotyping these migrants as illegals or criminals. They have survived a long and arduous journey in the hopes that the Canadian state will fully comply with its international refugee and human rights law obligations,” said Peggy Lee in a press release put out by No One Is Illegal Vancouver.

More than 50 people confronted immigration minister Jason Kenney at McGill University in Montréal. “I plead guilty, I’m a racist,” said Kenney, with a "hint of sarcasm" according to a release by organizers with No One Is Illegal Montréal.

US war resister Rodney Watson took sanctuary in a Vancouver Church. He was scheduled to be deported to the US on September 11. He has a fiancee and 10-month-old son in Vancouver. "We are also in agreement that this choice, by both Rodney and the church, is consistent with Canadian traditions and values of peaceful resistance to unjust decisions by government. We reiterate that through two majority votes, Parliament has called on the Government of Canada to stop the deportation of these war resisters," said a release from the War Resisters Support Campaign.

Westcan Paper announced that it would shut its Eurocan Paper Mill in Kitimat, BC. The closure will result in the loss of 535 jobs.

More than 100 protestors disrupted question period about Bill 311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, in Parliament, yelling "I say 311; you say 'Sign it'." They were removed from the gallery of the House of Commons by security. "In the lead up to Copenhagen's UN Climate Conference in December, we may expect to see even more actions like this," wrote activist Ben Powless.

Members of the Tsilhqot’in Nation and their supporters protested outside of a Vancouver hotel against Taseko Mines Ltd's proposed Prosperity project. If approved, the Prosperity mine would result in the destruction of Teztan Biny (Fish Lake), a fish bearing lake in Tsilhqot’in territory. “We are planning on getting our word out that we are opposed to mines being developed in our area. It’s a mine that will drain a lake in our territory. The lake is situated directly above the Taseko River, which is a destination for salmon,” Loretta Williams, Mining Coordinator with the Tsilhqot’in National Government, told The Tyee.

Yukon Territory's Liberal opposition leader Arthur Mitchell argued that Premier Dennis Fentie should be held in "contempt of house" for misleading Yukoners about his talks with ATCO, a private energy company. Fentie continues to deny he was in talks to privatize Yukon Energy.

Ex President George W. Bush visited Canada, where he was met with protests in Edmonton, and had shoes thrown at him in Montréal.

Translation: Honduras, 29 November. If there is no return to democracy with the restitution of Mel Zelaya, Don't Vote! All out in the streets with a fist raised for a massive electoral boycott. Photo: Unknown

A negotiated settlement was reached in Honduras, which if approved by congress would see President Manuel Zelaya return back to power until elections on November 29. In a statement about the negotiated deal, the National Front Against the Coup D'Etat stated "We reiterate that the National Constituent Assembly is an absolute aspiration of the Honduran people and a nonnegotiable right for which we will continue struggling in the streets, until achieving the refoundation of society to exist in justice, equality and true democracy."

A series of coordinated explosions in Baghdad killed over 150 people in what the BBC called Iraq's "bloodiest" attack since April 2007.

More than 90 people were killed in Peshawar, Pakistan, when a car bomb exploded in a market. The explosion occurred as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the country. According to Al Jazeera, the explosion was the ninth recorded attack in Pakistan since the beginning of October.

Activists in New York and Los Angeles protested police brutality on the 14th annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation. "When you think of what we represent; of people who have been beaten up, locked up and killed, we are a strong, powerful voice that can make change in this country and on this planet," said spokesperson Aidge Patterson at the LA event. On the same day, four cop cars were torched in Seattle. Organizers from the coalition that organizes the National Day of Protest denied any links.

In Washingon, President Obama signed off on a US$680 billion war budget.

The Yes-Men carried out a successful hoax by having a member pose as a representative from the US Chamber of Commerce and admit to a reversal of their position on climate change. "We believe that climate legislation currently being considered by the U.S. Senate is a great start towards a bill that will spur American innovation, create jobs, and give us all a good chance of survival," said Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum during a news conference. The mainstream media reported on the hoax as if it was real news.

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