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Went down to the Legislature to kick off the beginning of the Activist Season here in Victoria. First with the call is the Canadian Peace Coalition, (CPA) demanding there be no “humanitarian” intervention in Syria. Also at the Ledge were Falun Gong devotees, many from Vancouver, demonstrating their practice and leafleting passers-by with info on China’s persecution of practitioners there. And, Zoe Blunt and her friends from Weildcoast were there too, talking up the Tahtlan opposition to fracking and pipelines being driven through their lands without permission. It’s a hot-button issue here that seems destined to end badly soon.
I spoke to CPAer Dr. Joan Russow, another Joan from the Falun Gong supporters, and got a bit of tape of the Tahtlan presentation brought south by Wildcoast.ca
Here’s a bit of the CPA’s blurb.
Once again, a report about the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction is being used to justify an intervention. We are always opposed to the use of any weapons on civilians, but as was the case with the last
reports of an alleged attack, there is no conclusive proof that the attack came from the Syrian government.
Undaunted by the lack of evidence, US Secretary of State John Kerry has nevertheless declared that the US and its NATO allies will strike Syria. Any intervention by a new “coalition of the willing” will be
against international law and must be opposed.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has said that Canada will be in “lock-step” with its NATO allies. Canadian officials are currently meeting with counterparts from France, the UK and the US to devise strategies for an intervention.
Regardless of what one thinks of either the Syrian government or of the opposition forces, we know from recent experience that:
– NATO and its allies have and will continue to lie about the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction to justify “humanitarian” intervention.
– NATO-led attacks, justified as a “responsibility to protect” (R2P) civilians, have resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths. The death toll from military attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya can be counted in the hundreds of thousands.
– The geopolitical calculations of the NATO powers, and not the interests of ordinary people, are always the main considerations for any intervention.
