Author: justpeace87

Just Peace Committee, a member of the Canada Chapter of the International League of Peoples' Struggles (ILPS).

Universal Nuclear Disarmament Now!

by justpeace87

CALL OF INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF PEOPLES’ STRUGGLES (ILPS), July 14, 2019
UNIVERSAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT NOW! STOP MILITARIZATION!
JUST PEACE FOR THE PEOPLES EVERYWHERE!
Join local commemorations of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and make these pledges in the fight for just peace.
Vancouver: Seaforth Park Peace Flame, south end of Burrard Bridge
Friday, August 9 at 5:00

The anti-imperialist alliance known as the International League of People’s Struggles (ILPS) met in Hong Kong from June 23 to 26 where 400 members and guests agreed to mark the anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with demonstrations in their areas around the world. The resolution came from decisions and a program of action made by the Commission for just peace against wars of aggression and counterrevolution and against nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
The Commission’s program included actions at Japan embassies and consulates to demand an apology and compensation for so-called “comfort women” on August 14. As well, it is mobilizing for an international day of action against wars of aggression, militarization, militarism and imperialism on September 21 this year.
Tensions of inter-imperialist rivalries and all the contradictions of a global system in deep crisis are higher than ever before. Military mobilization is increasing while militarist and terrorist ideas and groupings are flourishing and the arms production industries churning while the people everywhere are working to resist and create alternatives to the failing system. Every tactic of imperialism, from cyber attacks to misinformation campaigns, from economic attacks to support for terrorism, from internal interference for regime-change to armed interventions, is being deployed against states that deviate from the imperialist blueprint and movements that resist or pursue the path of independence. The people must rise to the challenge; the whole planet is at stake.
Reviewing history and acknowledging both injustices and victories for just peace is important. In commemorating the large-scale bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that murdered and maimed 100’s of thousands of unarmed civilians, including Koreans and some Americans, we oppose nuclear and other weaponry of mass destruction. More than that, we oppose aggressions past and present of all states trying to take over others, capture markets and societies and dictate to and impose systems on them. In that light, the ILPS and its friends and allies together oppose US, Japanese, Chinese, Canadian, European and other imperialist bodies that are causing much destruction around the world.
Japan occupied and warred against neighbouring countries in the early 20th century. Its government has returned to an aggressive policy that celebrates this past and seeks to restore imperialist Japan. We condemn imperialist Japan’s past and present actions and policies.
We also condemn US imperialist’s past and present military aggression and militarism, from organizing coups and human rights violations against socialism in Latin America, to meddling and arming itself and terrorists against sovereign nations in Eastern Europe and Western Asia (aka “Middle East”). We strongly oppose the alliance between Japan, the US and South Korea and this alliance’s supporters in Canada and Europe in their efforts to deprive and destroy North Korean society. We are against the continuing massive nuclear presence and nuclear power expansion in the region. We applaud the ongoing real efforts to resolve the war and reunify Korea.
We stand firmly against the militarization of the Asian-Pacific region that is already stirring up international conflicts to the point exchanges of fire power, driving retaliatory strategies, disturbing and monopolizing waters and lands important for food and traditional practices, harming women and children, and prolonging wars such as the just guerrilla war against the vicious repressive and greedy government of the Philippines.
Countries such as North Korea and Iran are struggling to survive against threats and sanctions. Nuclear energy development is a necessary component of providing energy to run industries and infrastructure. Nuclear weapons development is seen as a necessary deterrent against the blackmail and threats of states holding thousands of nuclear warheads such as the US and France. Missile testing is seen as necessary for launching communications satellites and preparing for defense. With its advanced and widening nuclear weapons development, Russia is also a nuclear threat and the tensions between the US and Russia these days pose increasing danger. It has thousands of nukes.
US imperialist rhetoric, mobilizations and policies cause a ripple effect of violence and militarization, for which it refuses to take responsibility. The monopoly capitalist economy, still today represented by, centralized in and defended by the US, is based on principles of violence against others and it depends on production for war. It is a system that constantly produces violence: labour, gender, economic, family, environmental, cultural and military violence. Now that it is coming apart at the seams, it is even more violence prone.
The people must continue to organize and rise to fight against this inherently violent system in order to achieve just peace. Conflicts cannot be resolved without properly and truly addressing just social, political and land reform demands. Negotiations are always preferred, and every act of legal, civil society must be attempted, but the armed self defense and opposition to repression and military aggression is often called for. The ILPS, while opposing wars of aggression and militarization/ militarism, defends such just struggles for just peace.
ILPS-Canada specifically calls on democratically minded and peace-loving people in Canada to organize and mobilize for just peace. Oppose colonial relations and policies! End the support for and dependency on the arms trade. Demand that Canada stop attacking diplomatic relations with Cuba and Venezuela and stop participating in the sanctions against the DPRK and Venezuela. Canada, get out of Afghanistan, the Middle East and Eastern Europe! Demand that Canada reject NATO.

No more Hiroshimas! Oppose militarization and aggression! Just and Lasting Peace!

Dismantle NATO! Hands off Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, Yemen, Iran and North Korea!

Occupation is a crime! Free, free, Palestine!

Ilps.info            Ilps-canada.ca          http://www.facebook.com/Ilps.info/

Just Peace Campaign (justpeace87@yahoo.com/ justpeace.blog)

DIPLOMACY, NOT WAR!

by justpeace87

The Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver (VPSC) calls for full diplomatic relations and privileges to be restored between Canada and Venezuela. We reject the propaganda against Venezuela, namely that the President was illegitimately elected and there is a “humanitarian crisis” in Venezuela. It is the imposition of economic restrictions on Venezuela that is really the major cause of shortages of goods in Venezuela. Dangerous lies are being used to drum up support for sanctions, interference and possibly military intervention against Bolivarian Venezuela.

 

No more lies! Respect the democratic process and sovereignty of Venezuela! Diplomacy, not war!

 

Hand in hand with the US, the Government of Canada is hitting diplomatic ties with Venezuela. Canada has kicked out the Venezuelan Ambassador to Canada, though the Chargé d’Affaires is still running the Venezuelan Embassy in Canada. Venezuela has been forced to close its consular services in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal because Canada is refusing to renew diplomatic visas to Venezuela’s consular staff in Canada.

 

Canada is a facilitator of building the Right-wing alliance of South America known as the Lima Group to oppose Bolivarian Venezuela; working in tandem with its US imperialist masters, it and other imperialist allies are spreading lies through corporate media and other channels about a false “humanitarian crisis” and vicious and illegitimate “dictatorship” while it supports the interference, coercive economic measures and destabilization efforts against Venezuela.

 

Despite an authorized people’s solidarity sit-in at the Venezuelan Embassy to the US in Washington, DC, the US again violated international law and protocols by raiding that Embassy, arresting its guests, and taking it over in early May. Because of the interference regarding aid culminating in the showdown on February 23, the Maduro government of Venezuela had to request that US diplomats leave Caracas. In solidarity with the US imperialists, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Christine Friedland, under the Trudeau leadership, voluntarily suspended its consular office in Caracas. This follows repeated cyberattacks, that were proven to have been launched from Texas, against the hydro-electric power network in Venezuela last February, which Canada and the US wrongly blamed on the Maduro government.

 

 

 

Canada is also serving US imperialism by chiseling away at diplomatic ties with Cuba and supporting US tactics to destroy the Cuban revolution. It and the US are trying to get between Cuba and Venezuela to discredit them both and thwart progress in both countries.

 

Canada voluntarily closed its consular office in Cuba. After doing so, the Canada’s Foreign Affairs Ministry headed by Christine Friedland has informed Cubans that they must apply for visas to enter Canada via some third country. By such measures, the Canadian Government is reversing and thereby damaging 60 years of diplomatic relations with revolutionary Cuba. The inhibited visa access is blocking and frustrating many exchanges between Cubans and Canadians.

 

Meanwhile, the Canadian government is supportive of the enactment of the Title 3 section of the Helmsburton Act of the US. The Helmsburton Act was passed in 1996 to allow sanctions. Never implemented until now, Title 3 of this Act undermines Cuban authority, sovereignty and law by declaring that Cuban property owners who fled Cuba at the time of the revolution can now reclaim property in Cuba. Also, the US has suspended the “People to People” program whereby US citizens were conditionally allowed to visit Cuba as individuals. By causing more economic constraints and loss of business, all these measures amount to an extension of the economic war against Cuba.

 

Much propaganda surrounds these measures. For example, the US is accusing Cuba of leading the revolution in Venezuela and running the Venezuelan Bolivarian armed forces. It says that the 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela at present are Cuban military personnel when they are, in fact, mostly women who are in Venezuela to carry out collaborative programs such as medical and educational services.

 

We call for an end to the repression and harassment against Venezuelan diplomats and diplomatic relations with Venezuela. We reject economic war, military planning and interference against Bolivarian Venezuela and all legitimate and democratic nations demonstrating alternatives to the imperialist model. We demand a return to diplomacy and negotiations. We want the Venezuelan Ambassador to Canada returned and diplomatic visas to Canada renewed. We want the legitimately elected and re-elected President Maduro and all his representatives abroad respected.

 

Stop the lies and interference in Venezuela and Cuba! Hands off Venezuela and Cuba!

 

We support the Venezuelan people, the peoples of Latin America and the Bolivarian movement by uniting in action to stop the imperialist interference, destabilization efforts, economic war including unilateral coercive measures, attacks on embassies and regime change schemes against Venezuela and its regional allies such as Cuba and Nicaragua.

 

Actions: initiate or join in solidarity actions in your region; carry petitions and make leaflets, post solidarity messages on the internet, write to Foreign Affairs and the PM, and share information. Celebrate Venezuela Independence Day on July 5 and Cuban independence on July 26. Join in the international mobilization for just peace on September 21, 2019.

 

Join the VPSC pickets:

at Joyce Skytrain Station on June 27 at 5:30; and at City Hall Station on July 18 at 5:30

 

Corporate Media Narratives

by justpeace87
Close to 200 people gathered at Mt. Pleasant Neighbourhood House in East Vancouver last night to hear a presentation by independent journalist Eva Bartlett. The forum was one of the stops on Bartlett’s Canadian tour sponsored and coordinated by the Canadian Peace Congress. This one in Vancouver was supported by the Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver.
Bartlett’s talk exposed the corporate media disaster narrative that omits many voices. She gave the example of Syria and compared the Syria narrative broadcast by the corporate media with that of its Venezuela narrative.
In sum, she described how the corporate narrative operates as part of the imperialist arsenal deployed with the objective of regime change. It creates the fake news of a crisis to justify calls for intervention. It demonizes enemies of imperialism to the level of caricatures while whitewashing terrorists, fascists and the extreme Right. It attempts to control this narrative while playing a role at destabilizing a society while deprivation of supplies and services and attacks on the local infrastructure go on.  The corporate media, such as the BBC, are packaged as authoritative voices.
Discussing Syria, she highlighted these key points.
  -other voices are portrayed as brainwashed or forced to say things, and prominent ones assassinated (the deaths of two priests were examples of assassinations)
  -some individuals are bribed or intimidated or forced to make false statements to the corporate media
  -the state is blamed for creating the shortage of food caused by terrorists stealing and hording food
  -images and quotes are taken out of context and often manipulated (One video was exposed as having been filmed in Malta, not Syria, with a staged performance.)
  -The narrative falsely claimed there was a major domestic conflict between Sunnis versus Shias.
  -actual cases of starvation caused by terrorists hording supplies were omitted while false claims of starvation were circulated and blamed on the state
Comparison with Venezuela
  -the corporate media recycled the line that an evil regime was starving its people (Bartlett’s investigation in March found no evidence starvation even in the poorest quarters; a state food program protects the most needy)
      ex. Univision TV reporter Ramos reported that people near the Presidential palace were scrounging in garbage bins to get food, but his video was actually shot in an upper class neighbourhood 7 km away where food is too expensive for poor people and there is some dumpster diving)
  –collectivos are demonized, portrayed as criminal organizations funded by the government by the corporate media while they are in fact community projects that may receive some state funding. Bartlett’s videos of such collectivos showed communal food production and livestock breeding, even energy production
  -the corporate media keeps giving the impression that there is chaos in Venezuela, but Bartlett observed calm even during blackouts when people had to line up for several blocks to use an ATM or collect water from a natural source. People were going about their daily business and children were playing outside.
  -Although the corporate media has kept blaming the state for the blackouts, even Forbes Magazine had to admit that the major blackouts could have been caused by cyberattacks and physical attacks. The most recent investigations by the state have revealed that sniping is also a cause. Statements by US leaders show that the US knew about the major power outages in Venezuela before they occurred. Generally, there have been intermittent smaller power outages because of problems caused by the sanctions.
 -the corporate media omits criticisms of the sanctions and reports on the consequences they are having to the economy. Sanctions are part of an economic war, and the people appear to be well aware of it.
 -blackouts in Venezuela are emphasized and blamed on the government while the blackouts in Palestine that cause serious hardship are ignored, as are the blackouts in Syria.
-While the corporate media reported mass discontent and internal conflict, the people’s mass demonstrations in support of the Bolivarian government and Pres. Maduro are largely omitted. Bartlett had trouble finding the demonstrations by opponents that the corporate media exaggerated.
Bartlett’s YouTube channel contains many full videos and reports on Venezuela and other situations.

Earth Day, May 1st Message

by justpeace87

STATEMENT FOR EARTH DAY AND MAY 1, 2019

PEACE AND SOLIDARITY FOR THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD!

The Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver (VPSC) joins in celebrating the achievements of the working class and workers organizations in their struggles for their rights and better working conditions leading to a better world. We support the gains in workplace health and safety though we join in expressing sorrow for workers who have become ill and died due to unhealthy and unsafe workplaces, as we commiserate regarding the activists who have passed or been persecuted in their struggles to defend life and the rights and wellbeing of the people and nature. We also salute the achievements of the politically conscious and environmental protection organizations that are contributing to sustainable production that does not squander nature’s resources or abuse people and who are working hard to defend life, hopefully towards a better future for humankind and the ecosystems.

The main objective of VPSC is to defend the achievements of the Venezuelan people, oppose interference and interventions that harm that country. We promote peace in the region. We are building solidarity against the efforts of a ring of foreign powers led by the US to destabilize Venezuelan society, disable its independence and wreck its achievements so as to build up arrangements for plundering and exploiting the land and its people that benefit the few. These states are making military preparations to step in should these strategies fail.

In this regard, we object to the deliberate actions of the Canadian government to play a role in thwarting the peoples’ movements, assisting the interference and participating in sanctions and militarization against Venezuela.

As well as opposing the socialist direction of the Bolivarian government of Venezuela, Venezuelan oil and its revenues are of great interest to multinational corporations and the politicians that kowtow to them. While many countries in Europe and North America are rich enough and developed enough to manage their own resources better, make the transition from dependency on fossil fuels to clean, safe and renewable energy supplies, and support ventures in new kinds of technological enterprises, they are reluctant to do so because of greed and the mammoth profits made from the outmoded industrial model and its reliance on socially and environmentally dangerous and destructive energy sources such as fossil fuels and nuclear power, and wasteful and exploitative practices. Ironically, elements among them have gone so far as to repeatedly sabotage the hydroelectric network in Venezuela, which causes serious difficulties for the people. They implement sanctions which deny the state revenues to carry out its services and functions and deny trade, which have put Venezuela in an economic crisis. The US has pretended to offer aid as a way to intervene, when it could offer real assistance. Meanwhile, masses of its own citizens and residents suffer because of unemployment and underemployment, limited access to health care, xenophobia, insufficient social supports, pollution and chaos.

The Trudeau government has clearly shown its preference and enthusiasm for expanding fossil fuel industries, accumulation and distribution, for example. It is allowing multinationals to continue to exploit and control the peoples in Canada and the wealth of resources Canada has. This government has not truly and fully embraced decisions on measures to counter global warming. Indeed, it is clearly hostile to change and many of the people working hard to find a better way. It is hostile to Bolivarian Venezuela and the Venezuelan people’s advances.

Working people and people of conscience must unite and engage in solidarity for each other’s causes. We must look for points of unity among us and build a movement against exploitation and plunder of the people and the Earth so that we can save the planet and humanity. The situation is crying out for unity in action for a better way.

Achievements such as the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela must be defended. The Venezuela conflict is pivotal for the future of humankind. Not only will the outcome impact the nations of Latin America, it will impact the status of democratic relations and living and working conditions everywhere. Furthermore, the lawlessness and aggressive attitude and actions of the imperialist powers must be confronted.

 

Long live international solidarity!

Hands off Venezuela!

No to foreign interference and interventions!

No military threats and solutions!

Just peace!

 

 

@peace.vancouver                                         Facebook: Vancouver Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver

REPORT ON ANTI-NATO ACTION IN D.C.

by justpeace87

UNAC Mobilization a Big Success Against NATO, War and Racism

 

from Red Lamp News and Analysis, April 2, 2019

International League of People’s Struggle or ILPS, New Patriotic Alliance or Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan USA) and representatives of Anakbayan youth USA joined the United National Antiwar Coalition or UNAC together with a dozen of justice and peace organizations under No to NATO. The Virginia Defenders for Freedom and Justice and Equality based here in Richmond Virginia which I came to join also participated in the mobilization sending their representatives in Washington D.C. The mobilization was a big success.

UNAC is composed of various organizations in the US fighting against US imperialism and war of intervention, plunder and destruction in other countries. The coalition called “No to NATO, War and Racism! U.S. Hands Off Venezuela”.

The mobilization was participated of many people’s mass organizations coming from various states and some as far as Canada, traveling 10 hours on road to join the march.

The march started at 2:45 in the afternoon but speakers went on stage at around 1:00 in the afternoon speaking on the need to oppose US imperialist wars of aggression in other countries specifically today the ongoing embargo and US sanctions in Venezuela and against their Maduro with the US trying to put its puppet representative Guido for its total control of the country’s oil resources.

The March rally route highlighted the functions of US government agencies and went to do a stop on each of them. It started in front of the White-house and went to pass the building of the International Monetary Fund at 700 19th St. NW, the World Bank, the Organization of American States at 188 F. St. NW, the Office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Customs and Border “Protection” at 1300 Pennsylvania road.

Various speakers expounded on the need to oppose ongoing U.S. Intervention in Venezuela, the need for all people’s to support the struggle’s in other countries as well as continuous organizing of anti-imperialist organizations and the solidarity movement inside the belly of the beast.

Speaking on behalf of the Philippines was former Congressman Raymond “Mong” Palatino who represented the Bayan- Philippines and ILPS- Philippines. Mong Palatino spoke on the continuing attack of the Filipino people by the US-backed fascist corrupt Duterte regime and the US’
role in funding its military and police that have killed thousands in the Philippines under a pretext of fighting the entry of drugs but is being used as a political cover to attack legitimate dissent and rights of the Filipino people.

Many speakers highlighted the need to develop a vibrant anti-imperialist organization in the U.S. and its role in supporting the struggles of neo-colonial countries. Many condemned and lambasted the US intent in seeking to take advantage of Venezuela’s economic problems by orchestrating a U.S. embargo to choke the economy and its latent intent to roll back the country into the age of right-wing fascist puppet regimes supportive of the US hegemonic power and agenda. Some speakers also spoke of the U.S. role to transform its Latin American backyard as a haven for big multinational corporations and continue to exploit resources like oil in the case of Venezuela as one of the world ’s highest deposit far more compared that in the middle east. A speaker also mentioned the U.S. using the framework of the Monroe doctrine of 1831 to continuously intervene in Latin America.

The coalition also highlighted the role of NATO in the U.S. wars of intervention, plunder and destruction of other countries as a largest military alliance in the world with the largest military spreading (roughly three-quarters of the world total) and nuclear stockpiles. Founded on April 4, 1949, 70 years this coming Thursday, NATO is seen as a formation that serves well U.S. craving for more wars in the world. While proclaiming to “preserving peace”, NATO has violated international laws and to mention a few it has bombed Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Afganistan, Pakistan, and Libya. It indeed has only exacerbated the tensions with Russia, increased the risk of nuclear devastation. As a leading contributor to the tremendous effects and devastation as a result of imperialist intervention in other countries, it is also the main cause of wide displacement of people, the growing immigration and refugees, and climate crisis.

NATO has caused the erosion of civil liberties and in fact, is the main catalyst for racism and bigotry to grow in the U.S. and throughout the world. Instead of celebrating NATO, the coalition called for its dismantling and rechanneling its funding and resources to people’s needs, the call to stop militarizing cultures in other parts of the world. Instead of celebrating NATO hiding on the slogan of “maintaining world peace which is nothing but a mechanism for U.S. imperialist control and domination in the world over its resources and markets ), the group called to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech against the war he made in April, 1967, as well as his assassination on April 4, 1968.

Amid Donald Trumps doubletalk call that NATO is obsolete, speakers at the rally exposed him as a salesman of U.S. imperialism by asking member countries to buy more arms from the U.S. for wars. Among others being mentioned is NATO adding its partnership with Colombia exposing its self its false pretenses as only within “North Atlantic” suing NATO as a leeway for U.S. Congress to decide of committing the right to oversee the atrocities U.S. wars, used as a cover by member governments to join U.S. wars under the pretense that they are somehow are more legal or acceptable, a cover to illegally and recklessly share nuclear weapons of mass destruction with supposedly non-nuclear nations as well as used to assign nations the responsibility to go to war if other nations go to war as well its aggressive promotion of militarism that threatens the environment, fuel racism, and bigotry and eroding civil liberties and finally making sure that the world resources are in the hands of the few big U.S. capitalists.

March Route and the US Government institutions the marchers passed by.
(March Guide was developed by the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality)

International Monetary Fund – 700 19th St. NW
Also founded in 1945, the International Monetary Fund or IMF, is an international financial institution notorious for demanding so-called “structural reforms” in return for financial assistance. These reforms include promoting budgets, removing price controls, slashing government subsidies for the poor, privatizing state-owned enterprises, and changing national laws to make it easier for foreign investors to make profits. Meeting these demands has resulted in the neo-colonization of many countries in Asia including the Philippines, Africa and Latin America and more recently in Eastern Europe, as in Poland, Hungry and Ukraine.

World bank (Inspection Panel) – 1818 H. St. NW 
Founded in 1945, the World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to countries for capital projects. It claims that its goal is reducing poverty, but in granting loans to developing countries it often traps them in deepening cycles of debt. Further, the loans are dependent on agreeing to anti-worker structural “reforms.” In Ghana, it forces school fees on poor students. In Tanzania, it demanded the government to privatize its water system as what it did in the Philippines with foreign corporations taking control of the Maynilad and MWSS. In post-war Iraq, it pushed for eliminating food subsidies. Further, many of the capital projects its funds have been deeply destructive of the environment.

Organization of American States – 1889 F. St. NW
Founded in 1948, the Organization of American States, or OAS, is made up of the 35 countries of South, Central and North America and the Caribbean. The OAS has now thrown its weight behind the U.S. campaign to overthrow the elected government of Venezuela. On January 10, it passed a resolution “to not recognize the legitimacy of Nicolas Maduro’s new term” as president of Venezuela. Venezuela is in the process of withdrawing from the OAS. Cuba was expelled from the organization in 1962, an order that only ceased to the effect in 2009. But Cuba now refuses to accept re-admission in solidarity with Venezuela. OAS member Colombia has now become NATO’s first South American “global partner.” President Trump has said he wants to see Brazil become another partner. Both countries border Venezuela and are led by right-wing presidents eager to do Washington’s bidding. So now NATO is being brought into the U.S. campaign to overthrow a socialist government that has nationalized the country’s oil industry and uses the revenue to benefit the vast majorities of Venezuelans, especially the poor.

Office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser – 1350 Pennsylvania. NW
As of July 2017, the District of Colombia has a poverty rate of 16.6% meaning one out of every six residents is poor, most of them Black or Latino/a. And this is in the capital of the richest country in the world. Further, D.C. has a higher level of income inequality than any state in the country. Households in the top 20% of income have more than half of all D.C. income, while the bottom 20% has 2%. Why can’t the government address this situation? Because our taxes are being wasted on war. We’re told that military spending only takes up about a quarter of the federal budget, but that’s just for the Department of “Defense.” It doesn’t include nuclear weapons, which come under the Department of Energy. Or veterans’ health care and benefits, which come under the Department of Veteran Affairs. Or interest payments on the national debt, which is the cost of past wars and is now nearly equal to the “Defense” budget. Altogether, half our federal tax dollars go to past, present and future wars. This is why the politicians claim there’s no money for better schools, public transit, universal health care or the environment, and that we must cut hard-won domestic programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And this is why we say, “Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad!” and use the country’s vast military spending for people’s needs in the cities and rural areas and for the reparations for the wars abroad.

Customs and Border “Protection” – 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

The Customs and Border Protection agency was formed in 2003 by combining functions of several other agencies, such as the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) and the U.S. Border Patrol. It is now the largest federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and one of the largest enforcement agencies in the entire country, with more than 45,600 sworn federal agents and officers. Remember that every border of the United States was carved out of indigenous lands. The descendants of those who stole the land now want to keep out mainly Latino/a immigrants, many of whom are indigenous. This was true under President Obama, whose administration deported more immigrants than any president before him, and that repression has now been ratcheted up under the brutally racist policies of the Trump administration. “No hay fronteras en la lucha los obreros – There are no borders in the workers struggle!”

SOLIDARITY MISSION TO VENEZUELA

by justpeace87

U.S. Anti-War Movement Leaders Report from Embattled Venezuela

 

by John Catalinotto, Published on Workers World, March 12, 2019

Reports from anti-war delegation members Sara Flounders and Joe Lombardo in Venezuela were used to prepare this article.

Leaders of the anti-war movement in the United States arrived in Caracas on March 9 and 10 to find out firsthand the truth of how the government and population are responding to the U.S.-led attacks on Venezuela. They will use this truth to build solidarity with the worldwide efforts to stop the covert U.S. war, economic sabotage and propaganda assault on Venezuela.

As they landed in Caracas, the delegates, like the Venezuelan people, were faced with a power outage caused by sabotage of the electrical grid. This interfered with transportation and communications for them, too, even though their hotel had its own power generator.

Everyone in the group had planned to arrive on March 9, but some airlines insisted that the travelers have visas just to fly to Venezuela. Since the break in U.S.-Venezuelan relations, no visas are being issued in the U.S., but most of the delegation members were able to fly anyway, based on letters from their Venezuelan hosts.

Saturday, March 9, sharing the same flight into Caracas were Bahman Azad, the organizational secretary of the U.S. Peace Council, the organization sponsoring the delegation; Gerry Condon,president of Veterans for Peace; Sara Flounders, co-coordinator of the International Action Center; Ajamu Baraka, national coordinator of the Black Alliance for Peace; progressive journalist Eva Bartlett; and Joe Lombardo, co-coordinator of the United National Antiwar Coalition.

Arriving later that day and Sunday to complete the delegation were Sarah Martin from Women Against Military Madness; Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers of Popular Resistance; Darien De Lu, president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom-U.S.; Miguel Figueroa, president of the Canadian Peace Congress; and Daniel Shea, board of directors, Veterans For Peace.

The delegation met over the next few days with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, who discussed with them the historic struggle between the U.S. and Venezuela over who will control the great oil and gold resources of this South American nation. The fact that Washington is now acting so openly against the Venezuelan government exposes to people all over the world the real face of U.S. imperialism.

Role of U.S. population is key

Arreaza made it clear that the Bolivarian government attaches great importance to the potential response of the people in the U.S. He said you must be in the front lines, that you are the first victims of imperialism and that the most fundamental change will happen inside the United States.

This underscores the importance of the demonstration that the members of the delegation and their organizations are building for March 30 in Washington, D.C. UNAC originally called this event to protest the upcoming 70th anniversary of NATO, set to be celebrated there by the Western warmakers on April 4. But after the U.S. moves against the government in Caracas, the coalition refocused the March 30 action more urgently on opposing U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Many organizations now support this protest.

Solidarity groups in Venezuela are also paying attention to the U.S. movement. The Committee of International Solidarity (COSI) met the delegates as they arrived at the airport and have helped explain what is happening on the ground in their country.

In addition to our meetings with Arreaza, the North American delegates held discussions with organizers from COSI, including its president, Carolus Wimmer; Carlos Ron, the vice minister of foreign affairs for North America, who had been stationed in New York for some time; and Pasqualina Curcio, an economist at the Central University of Venezuela.

Curcio discussed the U.S. role in creating the “humanitarian crisis” in Venezuela. These include shortages of basic necessities: toilet paper, corn, milk, coffee and vital medicines. To counter these shortages, the Bolivarian government established a distribution network to serve 6 million families by importing food, medicine and hygiene products.

The current U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil, the blocking of its banking services and the edicts that prevent the government from using its gold reserves all restrict the ability of the Venezuelan government to satisfy basic needs.

On top of this, the U.S. has handed $11 billion worth of assets of Venezuela’s national oil company, CITGO, directly to Juan Guaidó, a virtually unknown right-wing politician until U.S. Vice President Mike Pence suggested on Jan. 23 that Guaidó nominate himself to be “interim president.”

U.S. frank about plans for aggression

Foreign Minister Arreaza was recently in negotiations with the notorious Elliott Abrams, who just this January was appointed Special Representative for Venezuela by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Abrams had organized bloody right-wing coups in Central America in the 1980s for the Reagan administration and was also a key architect of the Iraq War.

Arreaza characterized Abrams as “frank” when he told the Venezuelan that “all options are on the table” — a threat of military intervention aimed at splitting the Venezuelan military.

When Arreaza then reminded Abrams that “The coup has failed,” the U.S. organizer of counterrevolutions shrugged and said, “This is a long-term project.”

Arreaza explained to the anti-war delegation that in countering the shutdown of its electrical power, Venezuela had to deal with an attack on the brain of its electrical system. “The enemy knows the weakness of the system,” he said. “The U.S. knows what Venezuela could not buy or replace. Knows what we have. This is cyber terrorism!”

Abrams also told Arreaza that to get peace, Venezuela must do as Nicaragua did in 1990, that is, hold a new election that the European Union would set up — and that would open the door to the right-wing.

Arreaza explained to the antiwar group that Venezuela has a broad system of social protection that began under Hugo Chávez and was even further expanded after Maduro became president. “That’s why,” he said, “four days without power in several major cities did not lead to chaos,” as it would have in most of the world. The imperialists wanted an image of people looting food markets, but that failed.

Russia, China and Turkey are helping Venezuela, said Arreaza. “We need the solidarity of the whole world, though. Terrorist brigades are being armed against us.”

Contending forces

The demonstration supporting Guaidó on the day the delegation arrived was smaller than its organizers had projected. While Maduro may have the support of half the population, his opposition is divided into many forces. And most of them oppose U.S. military intervention.

Eastern Caracas, an upper- and middle-class area, is a base of the opposition to the Maduro government. Western Caracas is working class and Black, with a lot of support for the government. Lombardo reports that the west side used to be a real shanty town, but the Bolivarian Revolution put resources into this community and now the people live in nice apartment buildings.

Guaidó’s forces, reports Flounders, were described as racist, sort of the KKK of Venezuela. Nine of the people burnt to death by the counterrevolutionary opposition in 2017 were Black Venezuelans.

Even by Sunday, March 10, the delegation already had a lot of media requests for interviews. They plan a press conference at the United Nations in New York City on Monday, March 18 at 11 a.m., as well as a public webinar report-back on March 26 at 7pm.

John Catalinotto was born in New York, USA, where he teaches mathematics at City University. He was a civilian organizer for the anti-war, anti-racist American Servicemen’s Union during the U.S. war in Vietnam, since 1982 managing editor of Workers World weekly newspaper, key organizer for the International Action Center of the Tribunal on Yugoslavia (June 2000) and Tribunal on Iraq (August 2004). Collaborator with Avante and odiario.info (Portugal) and Terra e Tempo (Galicia). Edited two books, Metal of Dishonor about depleted uranium (1997) and Hidden Agenda: the U.S.-NATO Takeover of Yugoslavia (2002). Member of Tlaxcala.

NORTH AMERICAN DAY OF ACTION AGAINST NATO

by justpeace87

STATEMENT (MARCH 23, 2019)

JOIN IN NORTH AMERICAN DAY OF ACTION AGAINST NATO!

Seaforth Peace Park, noon on March 30

 

March 30 is a day of action throughout North America and beyond to oppose the next summit of the North Arlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). With imperialism on a desperate course of militarization, terror and meddling so as to gain and control markets for monopoly capital, NATO is planning more interventions and intimidation.

 

NATO is causing chaos and suffering as it tries to destabilize domestic affairs hoping that forces friendlier to the interests of imperialism will takeover. This does not usually work and all it produces is drawn-out violence and societal destruction, as in Afghanistan, Syria and Libya.

 

The Trudeau government has been strengthening Canada’s role in NATO, adopting policies of aggression and extending its military budget, operations and commitments. Rallies and marches will be held in Canadian cities.

 

In Vancouver, go to the Peace Flame at the Seaforth Peace Park at the south end of Burrard Bridge at noon on Saturday, March 30.  There will be a short march from the park along Burrard Bridge and back after some speeches. The theme of this event is “SAY NO TO NATO WARS AND INTERVENTIONS.”

 

Venezuela is a case being highlighted internationally on this day of action. The situation is crying out for broad solidarity to ward off the attempts to interfere and orchestrate a change in government in Venezuela, with the aim of thwarting the people’s Bolivarian Movement and its leadership. Venezuela is another case of cruel economic sanctions that cause suffering to the masses in the hope that they will fall to their knees and succumb to the dictate of the financial oligarchy and the US-led empire. These sanctions are a violation of international law and UN protocol. Economic warfare is carried out as NATO partners and other allies line up their weaponry and aim it at Venezuela, poised to engage in military warfare.

 

One of NATO’s areas of development is cyber-war. Venezuela is also victim of a cyber-attack that shut down a hydroelectric dam supplying most of the country with electricity on March 7. The state quickly recovered and then investigated the attack to verify that the computerized system at the Guri Dam was hacked, tracing the hacker to Houston, Texas.

 

The dam’s technology was bought from a Canadian company. Canada is supporting and encouraging right-wing countries (the Lima Group) to gang up on Venezuela. P.M. Justin Trudeau has aligned the government more closely with NATO and Washington, DC than ever before. It is enthusiastically supporting the sanctions that are hurting the people in Venezuela and elsewhere such as North Korea.  It is calling for regime-changes in Venezuela, Syria, Korea and beyond. It is mobilizing militarily while pressing hard against democracy and the peoples’ basic rights at home. Canadians must rise up to show solidarity for the Venezuelan people and opposition to wars of aggression and interventions as a normal practice to enforce imperialist rule. They must help to expose the Canadian government and mobilize a people’s opposition for justice and peace.

 

International solidarity is urgently needed. Let us unite against NATO and all interference and wars of aggression. Stand up for the people of Venezuela and the peoples around the world. Defend the peoples’ efforts to defend themselves and build alternatives that offer livelihoods, material comforts and real security.

 

No to NATO Wars and Interventions!                                                                     International solidarity!

Unite for Just Peace against Imperialist Domination and Aggression!

Hands off Venezuela!                               Long live the Bolivarian cause and Movement!

 

Facebook: Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver

Twitter: #venezuelapeacesol

 

Venezuela, crux of the Latin American war zone

by justpeace87

PUBLIC FORUM:
VENEZUELA, CENTER OF THE LATIN AMERICAN WAR ZONE

Thursday, March 21, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Center for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

Speakers from the Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver will talk about (1) Venezuela as the current focus of the continuing imperialist, “dirty war” on Latin America, and (2) building solidarity for Bolivarian Venezuela and peace.

While the US and its allies did its best to destabilize Venezuela and push the right-wing opposition into a civil war, and their international media churned the frenzy to give the appearance of a civil war, they did not succeed. There is no civil war. The leader of the opposition to the Bolivarian movement, despite all the resources imperialism provided, has been neutralized and is taking refuge in Colombia for the moment. A legal case of sedition is being prepared against him. The defense of Bolivarian Venezuela on February 23rd, supported by a widely expressed voice of solidarity around the world, was a triumph in this episode of the war on Venezuela and the efforts to subjugate all of Latin America and the Caribbean to imperialist command. However, danger lurks. The US and its allies including Canada and in Europe is preparing to engage in more interference and attempts at intervention. They are arming and training special forces in Colombia, Brazil and Colombia. Meanwhile, sanctions are starving the Venezuelan society by blocking much needed funds and supplies from entering the country and restricting exports. The Maduro government is doing its best to find aid and further socialize the country for survival and advancement. However, time is short. International solidarity is urgently required to help the Venezuelan people live and fend off more imperialist and right-wing attacks.

Please come to this vital discussion. Your solidarity is necessary! The situation will be explained in more detail, and in the context of imperialist strategy and interests in Latin America. We will then discuss building solidarity.

This email and #venezuelapeacesol on Twitter.

Facebook: Vancouver Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver

International Day for Venezuela Solidarity

by justpeace87

Statement of the Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver                   February 18, 2019

HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!

Stop Trump’s War on Venezuela!                 Stop Trudeau’s War on Venezuela!

 

The Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver represents solidarity for peace and social justice in Venezuela, Latin America and elsewhere. We do not support the illegitimate declaration of an interim president and all the states of the imperialist encirclement that are propping up the “ghost government.” It is a dark and menacing shadow looming over the region threatening war and oppression.

 

US military forces are gathering in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, poised for an invasion. Military bases encircle the Venezuelan land border. Cuba has broadcast a stern denunciation of this military activity and we echo it. Hands off Venezuela!

 

Supported by the majority of the working and oppressed people in Venezuela, the Bolivarian Party government of Venezuela, led by the legitimately elected President, Eduardo Maduro, has been offering peaceful remedies to de-escalate the political crisis and alleviate economic hardship. He is appealing to the UN to lift the boycott against Venezuela and release Venezuelan funds invested abroad. Also, he has been calling for a national election in Venezuela to address the leadership challenge. We support these initiatives in the name of peace and in considering the best interests of the Venezuelan people.

 

The inauguration of President Nicolás Maduro for a second six-year term in office took place on January 10, 2019, in the presence of international guests. He was re-elected in May 2018 with 67 percent of the vote in an election that was judged to be free and fair by independent observers. There was a 46% turnout at the polls despite a boycott by the main opposition right-wing parties.

 

One of the main causes of the economic trouble, aside from the fluctuating global oil prices, is the harsh sanctions imposed on Venezuela by many countries through a United Nations decision. Sanctions against legitimate, peaceful governments on political grounds are acts of aggression. Under similar sanctions, the Iranian people have been suffering from the massive reduction of its oil trade, and Venezuela has been experiencing a similar, drastic loss of oil trade revenue. Many imports have been cut off. The same forces who have instigated the cruel sanctions are complaining of the sharpening economic problems in Venezuela. They are making that the basis for their rejection of the elected government.

 

We call for an end to the sanctions! We oppose Canada’s participation in the sanctions and meddling in the affairs of Venezuela which are creating instability in the entire region. It is irresponsible and underhanded. Instead of promoting peace, the Canadian government is a factor for the war danger. We demand an end to foreign interference. We denounce the support for the illegal and reactionary stunt of propping up a puppet who is arbitrarily and falsely posing as a representative of the Venezuelan people. Far from caring about the welfare of the people, he has created instability and is threatening justice and peace.

 

The domestic and foreign political opponents of the Bolivarian government of Venezuela are trying to manufacture a so-called humanitarian crisis. No international humanitarian relief agency has made any appeal about Venezuela. Think of all the situations in Africa, the Asia and elsewhere where victims, concerned people and genuine humanitarian aid personnel have cried out for assistance for people in grave situations to no avail, when many states ignored them. Imperialist states led by the US and joined by others including Canada are supporting political opponents of the Maduro government so as to create a credibility crisis. To do so, they are deliberately spreading misinformation, stirring up instability and blaming the real government for the economic hardships created by their own sanctions.

 

Major private corporations and states that serve them are angry that the late Hugo Chavez and Eduardo Maduro have been leading social reforms. They are angry that profits are being sacrificed for the sake of the Venezuela people’s betterment and freedom. US imperialism cannot forgive Chávez and Maduro for nationalizing the oil industry that it greedily covets. Likewise, the local oligarchy cannot forgive Chávez and Maduro for using the oil profits to build schools, hospitals and clinics, low-cost housing and other progressive programs for the broad masses of the people.

 

The VPSC condemns the attempt by the US and the local reactionaries in Venezuela to overthrow the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and reverse its patriotic and progressive Bolivarian orientation. We extend our solidarity to the Venezuelan government and people and support their right to national self-determination and to chart their own independent course of development.

 

At this critical time, we urge people in Canada and beyond to organize and join actions to support the people of Venezuela as they struggle to build a fair and just society. We must rally against the imperialist threats and financial and economic sanctions meant to punish the Venezuelan people for daring to build a society that refuses to obey the dictates of Washington and company.

 

Join our action on Saturday, February 23: a picket at the Vancouver Public Library at Robson and Homer Streets starting at 11:00 a.m., followed by a rally in front of the CBC at Georgia and Hamilton Streets at noon (12:00).

 

No More Sanctions!

Hands off Venezuela! No military intervention!

Respect the democratic process!

Stop Trump’s Gold and Oil Grab!

International Solidarity!

 

The Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver is a collective of mass organizations committed to unity in action to defend the people of Venezuela and the Bolivarian Movement for change.

 

KEEP DEMOCRACY IN VENEZUELA!

by justpeace87

(From the January issue of Just Peace Newsbulletin)

RESPECT THE VENEZUELAN ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRATIC PROCESS

In Venezuela on May 22, 2018, Nicolas Maduro was re-elected with 0ver 67% of the votes. On January 15, 2019, the inauguration of the second term of his presidency was held with international visitors present. His party represents the Bolivarian movement to raise living standards for workers and the poor, provide more public services, and regionalize and nationalize economic activities.

On Wednesday, January 23, however, the leader of the opposition party and head of the national assembly, Juan Guaido, arbitrarily declared himself president defying the constitutional democratic process and he is enjoying the wholehearted support of right-wing and major capitalist governments including the US and Canada. A UN meeting was called to discuss whether the Maduro government posed a danger to world peace, with many states outrageously declaring it illegitimate.

Since Hugo Chavez was first elected as President in Venezuela, advances in housing, healthcare and education have been made. This is why he and all the “Chavistas” enjoy the support of the majority of the people. However, it maddens local companies and some interests because they stand to lose profits, influence and privilege. Neither does it please the multinational corporations and states such as the US and Canada. They still persist in putting the Maduro government in a bad light and they are continuing the implementation of cruel sanctions against Venezuela. For example, Canadian officials regularly assert that the elections were fraudulent and claim that the Maduro government abuses human rights, without any substantiation. They threw out the Venezuelan Ambassador to Canada. Locally, the enemies of the Bolivarian movement/ “Chavistas” carry out all sorts of plots against it; there have been terrorist violence, an assassination attempt on Maduro and schemes to hoard products to create economic chaos. Now the leader of the opposition party and head of the national assembly, Juan Guaido, has arbitrarily declared himself president defying the constitutional democratic process and he is enjoying the wholehearted support of right-wing and major capitalist governments including the US and Canada. This stance exposes their anti-socialist and anti-democratic nature.

Yes, the Venezuelan economy has problems. Sanctions cut off petroleum exports to many countries and block imports from getting in. Also, the country is still capitalist, though under going reforms. Private businesses rise and fall with the whims of the market and companies exploit workers and gouge consumers, creating mass hardship and social inequality. Nationalization of industries is an adjustment and private companies stand to lose.

The Trump administration of the United States has obviously backed this coup attempt in Venezuela. The US, Canada and others should stop meddling.

The hostilities against Venezuela should stop. The military encirclement of Venezuela that the US and other countries have put in place threatens peace in the region should be dismantled. The sanctions should be lifted. The false presentation of Guaido as a legitimate representative of the people’s will should be rejected.

This maniacal desire of global capital represented by US imperialism and its allies to have all countries conform to its world view and way of life is unjust. It is creating instability, exacerbating local conflicts, and increasing the violence by which many civilians perish and suffer. Sovereignty and democracy are shoved aside. The peoples of the world should unite to stand up for life, decent standards and just peace.