Global Research, in collaboration with AKASAN (Haitians Helping Haitians) and the Canada Haiti Action Network (CHAN), is launching a Haiti fund raising campaign in support of Haitian grass-roots initiatives.

The country’s institutions, including schools and hospitals, are in ruins. Income-generating activities have been shattered. People have lost their homes. Moreover, many poor neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince have not received adequate emergency assistance. Beyond the provision of short-term emergency relief, what is required is the empowerment of local-level civil society initiatives involved in both humanitarian and reconstruction activities.

The fundraising drive has two related objectives:

1. to help strengthen, in the short-run, the capacity of Haitian emergency and first response services.
2. to contribute to grass-roots efforts, which assist the survivors of the January 2010 earthquake recover under the best conditions possible. These would also include support to health and education as well as the rehabilitation of income generating activities.

Article continues . . .

War Resisters Speak Out

Date: Monday, Feb. 15, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre, 3rd Floor, 91 Albert Street, Winnipeg
Admission: by donation

In this one hour film, Andy Barrie, a CBC radio host and Vietnam era war resister, directs questions to a panel of this new generation of resisters and deserters and gives them a chance to tell their stories. Following the film, will be a brief presentation by celebrated deserter Joshua Key, author of The Deserter’s Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq. A group discussion will commence.

The screening takes place on the seventh anniversary of the massive worldwide protests against the US-led invasion of Iraq.

By Eric Margolis, Toronto Sun, Feb. 5, 2010

U.S. President Barack Obama calls the $3.8-trillion US budget he just sent to Congress a major step in restoring America’s economic health.

In fact, it’s another potent fix given to a sick patient deeply addicted to the dangerous drug — debt.

More empires have fallen because of reckless finances than invasion. The latest example was the Soviet Union, which spent itself into ruin by buying tanks.

Washington’s deficit (the difference between spending and income from taxes) will reach a vertiginous $1.6 trillion US this year. The huge sum will be borrowed, mostly from China and Japan, to which the U.S. already owes $1.5 trillion. Debt service will cost $250 billion.

To spend $1 trillion, one would have had to start spending $1 million daily soon after Rome was founded and continue for 2,738 years until today.

Obama’s total military budget is nearly $1 trillion. This includes Pentagon spending of $880 billion. Add secret black programs (about $70 billion); military aid to foreign nations like Egypt, Israel and Pakistan; 225,000 military “contractors” (mercenaries and workers); and veterans’ costs. Add $75 billion (nearly four times Canada’s total defence budget) for 16 intelligence agencies with 200,000 employees.

Article continues . . .

Al Jazeera English, Feb. 7, 2010

NATO and Afghan troops are preparing for a major offensive against Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan.

Ahead of the operation, thousands of civilians have fled their homes near the Marjah area of Helmand province.

Many will be going to displacement camps near the capital, Kabul.

But as Al Jazeera’s David Chater reports, conditions there are dismal.

Rations of firewood are scarce as temperatures plummet below zero at night.

Abousfian Abdelrazik meets the press in Montreal on his return to Canada on Saturday, June 27, 2009. Photo: Tatiana Gomez

Delist Now!: Six-Month Campaign to Free Abousfian Abdelrazik from the Prison Without Walls

By Project Fly Home, Feb. 5, 2010

June 27th will mark the one-year anniversary of Abousfian Abdelrazik’s return to Canada after six years of forced exile and imprisonment in Sudan. Though this anniversary is something to celebrate, many challenges remain for Mr. Abdelrazik and the broader fight against oppressive “security” measures and racism. Mr. Abdelrazik is home, but not yet free and the fight against the UN 1267 regime and for a normal life for Mr. Abdelrazik has only just begun.

The UN 1267 List, which has included Mr. Abdelrazik’s name since 2006, subjects individuals to a flight ban, an arms embargo and a complete asset freeze. These restrictions are severe and indefinite. Listed individuals face vague allegations, have no right to a hearing before they are placed on the list, and are provided with no evidence to support the claims against them. The Federal Court wrote in its June 2009 decision on Mr. Abdelrazik’s case, “There is nothing in the listing or de-listing procedure that recognizes the principles of natural justice or that provides for basic procedural fairness.” (For more information, please read our backgrounder on the 1267 List.)

Project Fly Home invites you to join us over the next six months as we wage an intense campaign focused on two specific demands, which we hope will help move us towards the abolition of the 1267 List and challenge the racist national security agenda as a whole. If this campaign is successful, Mr. Abdelrazik will be able to mark this upcoming one-year of his return with his fundamental rights and freedoms restored, and will be able to move on and live his life in dignity.

The two demands this six-month campaign will make of the government are:

[1] Immediately lift the domestic sanctions on Mr. Abdelrazik

In 2002, Canada changed the Al Qaida and Taliban Regulations (the domestic legislation implementing the 1267 regime) to exempt Mr. Liban Hussein, the only Canadian then on the 1267 list (for more information on Mr. Liban Hussein, see the paragraphs in this article. We demand that the government do the same for Mr. Abdelrazik, or otherwise take action to immediately free him from the sanctions in Canada, ideally repealing the regulations entirely, to be consistent with basic principles of justice and Canadian and international human rights law.

[2] Actively advocate to delist Mr. Abdelrazik from the UN 1267 List.

Though the Canadian government asked the UN 1267 Committee to remove Mr. Abdelrazik’s name from the 1267 List in 2007, it is very difficult to get off the 1267 List once you are on it. There are, in fact, dozens of dead people on the list. Delisting requires the consensus of all members of the committee. Thus, each member of the committee can block a delisting request, and is not required to provide any reason for doing so. This leads to decisions that seem to have much less to do with the individuals in question than external political objectives. The Canadian government must champion Mr. Abdelrazik’s case to the Committee, by clearly making it a diplomatic priority in their relations with the members of the committee, in order for him to be delisted.

In the next six months, Project Fly Home Montreal will be organizing a number of actions and events in the context of this campaign. Please stay posted for more details! Please plan your own actions to support this campaign in the lead-up to the first anniversary of Mr. Abdelrazik’s return to Canada.

To get involved, for more information, or to inform us of your plans to support this six-month focused campaign, please contact us at projectflyhome@gmail.com.

Project Fly Home’s six demands are endorsed by:

1. Advocacy Collective (Fredericton, NB)
2. Apatrides Anonymes
3. Boundary Peace Initiative from the B.C. Southern Interior
4. CAIR-CAN – Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations
5. Canadian Arab Federation
6. Canadian Labour Congress
7. Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW)
8. Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice
9. Coalition contre la répression et les abus policiers
10. Common Cause – Hamilton
11. Council of Canadians – Montreal
12. Council of Canadians | London
13. El-Hidaya Association
14. Fredericton Peace Coalition
15. Immigrant Workers Centre
16. Indigenous Solidarity Committee
17. New Brunswick Public Interest Research Group
18. NSPIRG (Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group)
19. OPIRG Carleton
20. People for Peace London
21. People’s Commission Network
22. PINAY
23. Pointe Libertaire
24. Project Fly Home
25. QPIRG Concordia
26. Soeurs Auxiliatrices
27. South Asian Women’s Community Centre
28. Students for Sustainability – St Thomas University
29. Students for Sustainability – University of New Brunswick
30. Sudbury Against War and Occupation
31. The Calgary Committee in Support of Abousfian Abdelrazik
32. Ziba Kazemi Foundation
33. Canadian Peace Alliance
34. No One Is Illegal Ottawa

* To add your organization to this list, please read the sign-on statement and email your organization’s name in English and French to projectflyhome@gmail.com.

Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010
Time: Doors open at 7:15 p.m., show starts at 8:00 p.m.
Place: West End Cultural Centre, 586 Ellice Avenue (at Sherbrook)
Tickets: $15 regular, $10 student, available at the door. Advance tickets available West End Cultural Centre or by calling Hilaire at 391-7672 or Janine at 799-0980.
More information: Hilaire at 391-7672

The Winnipeg Afro-Aboriginal Cross-cultural Association (WAACA) is celebrating its one year anniversary with an energetically charged and unique cross-cultural concert featuring Summer Bear Dance Troupe, and the African drum and circus performance of Yamoussa and Kalabanté. The stage will come to life with Ojibway, Cree, Assiniboine and Sioux tribes represented in the Summer Bear Dance Troupe from Winnipeg, and Yamoussa Bangoura, Productions Kalabante from Montreal, a multi-talented collaboration of Guinean and Francophone musicians and acrobats.

Date: Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Place: Duckworth Lounge (2nd Floor) University of Winnipeg

Feature events:

- War and its Unique Impact on Women; Panel Discussion 11:30 AM -12:20 PM – Room 3M64
- First Nations Women’s Access to Justice; Nahanni Fontaine; 12:30 PM-1:20 PM – Room 3M64
- Are there limits to Canada’s `Responsibility to Protect’?; Marilou McPhedran; 1:30 PM-2:20 PM – Room 3M64

Sponsors: Menno Simons College and Global College

Download the poster and spread the word.

By Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Jan. 22, 2010

In January, the Harper government quietly announced that after decades of support, Canada was ceasing aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA.)  Founded in 1949, UNRWA is the primary organ to provide aid to Palestinian refugees scattered around the world.  The Harper government’s decision represents a cruel break from Canada’s traditionally supportive and humane position vis-à-vis the Palestinian refugees.

Please click here to send an email to the all Party leaders, as well as MPs in your locale, challenging them on this decision.

Once you have had the opportunity to respond above, please forward this information to friends and acquaintances who you think would like to help.  The Palestinian refugees need our support.

More Info
Canada has provided funding to UNRWA for years, and typically providing UNRWA with up to 4 percent of its budget, about $20 million annually.  UNRWA provides aid to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.  UNRWA is under severe financial duress, as the refugee population continues to expand, and the plight of the refugees worsens progressively in Gaza and elsewhere.The announcements on Canada’s cessation of funding to UNRWA were made by Victor Toews, the president of Canada’s Treasury Board, who was travelling in the Middle East last week on behalf of Canada’s Minister of International Cooperation, Beverley Oda.

Especially with the international collective punishment of the Palestinians of Gaza, Canada’s decision deals a severe blow both financially and psychologically to the Palestinian refugees, and to Canadian principles of justice and humanitarian concern.

SOLIDARITY ROCK IN SUPPORT OF CUBAN UNDERGROUND MUSIC SCENE

Date: March 6, 2010
Time: Doors 7:15 / Show 8:00
Place: West End Cultural Centre, 586 Ellice Avenue at Sherbrook
Tickets: $10 (advance), $12 (at the door); available at the West End, Music Trader, and Into the Music

On March 6, the Winnipeg chapter of the International Solidarity Rock Campaign will host an awareness-raising concert featuring some of the city’s best rock and roll. Rallying both support and funds for musicians in Cuba, local legends SubCity will be joined by The Shouting Ground (Winnipeg) and The Falklands (Edmonton) in what promises to be a high-energy affair.

In addition to the music, the West End will play host to an exhibition of Cuban art curated by Kelse Middleton of the University of Winnipeg’s Art History Students Association and the Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity will also be on hand to provide information on their activities.

The concert is an all-ages affair and tickets are on sale at the West End Cultural Centre as well as Music Trader in Osborne Village and Into the Music in the Exchange District. The event is supported by CKUW 95.9, UMFM 101.5, Half Pints Brewing Company, Transistor 66, Mondragon, Manitoba Music, Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity, and Because Industries.

Download the poster and spread the word.

First Annual Afghanistan Film Festival and Mini Market

Date: Monday, March 8, 2010
Place: Eckhart-Grammate Hall (3rd floor, Centenniel Building), University of Winnipeg
Films and Times:

• 4:00 p.m. Enemies of Happiness (free afternoon matinee)
• 6:00 p.m. Beauty School of Kabul
• 7:45 p.m. Afghan Star

Tickets for the evening double feature: 12.00 (adults); $7.00 (students with ID). Tickets are available at McNally-Robinson Booksellers, University of Winnipeg Info Booth, University of Manitoba Answers Booth, Red River College

Sponsors’ Message

The Manitoba Chapter of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan in partnership with Global College are proud to present this film festival to mark International Women’s Day 2010 and to educate Canadians on the struggle for justice and human rights in Afghanistan.

Our goal is to honour the women and children of Afghanistan and raise funds to support our various projects that enable better educational opportunities for women & children in Afghanistan. Women in Afghanistan continue to face grave poverty, gender inequlity, discriminatory laws and negative social stigma. Domestic abuse, rape, forced prostitution and trafficking remains a sad reality for many Afghan women. We are committed to improving the conditions of human rights, ending women’s oppressions and improving the lives of Afghan women so that they can lead lives of dignity, safety, and opportunity.

For more information regarding Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, please consult http://www.cw4wafghan.ca.

All proceeds from this event will go towards our various initiatives such as funding the Omid-e-Mirmum Orphanage and the Omid Girl’s Scholarship fund.

We will be selling various fairly-traded Afghan crafts & soaps made in Kandahar at the Arghand Cooperative. In addition, we will be selling various desserts including Afghan treats & tea.