JUST PEAce COMMITTEE

Statement of Commission 4 of the International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS) for Armistice Day, November 11, 2019

BUILD THE MOVEMENT FOR JUST PEACE!

Over 100 years since the conclusion of World War One, and war is still a constant, major problem for humanity. The International League of Peoples’ Struggles (ILPS; ilps.info) supports the just struggles of the peoples for national liberation, genuine democracy and a decent standard of living. We condemn militarization, bigotry and wars of aggression and counter-revolution. We oppose military intervention aimed at destroying social progress, popular democracy and societies that reject the global monopoly-capitalist system in favour of social and economic arrangements that benefit the people. We oppose occupation and domination. We call for the universal non-proliferation of nuclear and all weapons of mass destruction. In sum, we choose life. We support peace with social justice. We firmly reject the propaganda of aggression to achieve human rights and a “way of life”, as was used to justify wholesale terror and destruction of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

The ILPS calls for the respect of and return to peace processes in cases of internal conflict. Demands of the people for social justice must be addressed, such as demands for land reform, political and economic reforms, and legal or compensatory justice for the people. If those demands are ignored, the people have reason to wage their struggle, even armed struggle, for such conflicts are matters of survival. Rights and standards acknowledged and set internationally must be honoured. Neither people facing repressive and inhumane states can be expected to lay down their arms and abandon their struggles, nor oppressed nations under domination, unless social justice is respected and put on the table for honest negotiation. We call for ceasefires and resumption or initiation of peace talks in the Philippines, Colombia, Palestine, the Ukraine, Syria, Turkey and the Kashmir.

States and factions committing offenses such as invasion, genocide and “ethnic cleansing”, extrajudicial killings and detentions, deprivation of their citizens, and obstruction to democratic processes must be confronted and dealt with according to international norms and law. Sovereignty must be respected. States plotting and ganging up against another state or interfering and intervening against a peaceful, non-threatening state, (which is done largely for profit, control and political bias) should also be confronted and treated in the name of social and legal justice. The ILPS thus stands against the meddling and disruptive practices against countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and North Korea. It thoroughly opposes the occupation of Palestine. We also oppose the implementation of economic tactics to crush enemy states and peoples’ movements as they punish the people with deprivation. The ILPS thus condemns the US blockades against Cuba and North Korea, as well as the economic measures against Venezuela and Iran. Plans to invade as a so-called solution to conflicts are totally unacceptable, so we also oppose the militarization and war exercises around North Korea, Venezuela, the Ukraine, the Persian Gulf, the Caribbean and anywhere else.

World War One was a clash of old empires, including the British Empire, in which there was no sane reason for engaging millions of young people and unleashing widespread destruction of civilians and civilizations. Four empires fell by the end of WW1: the Russian Tsarist Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Prussian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire; it was the desertion of Russian soldiers and, eventually, the Russian Revolution that were the main factors for peace. Competing states sent millions of soldiers to wholesale slaughter. Just as Tsarist Russia had deployed masses of soldiers to satisfy a pact with Serbia, the British Empire intentionally mobilized divisions of men from its colonies, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, to stage futile battles such as Gallipoli, Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele.

New empires asserted themselves after WW1. Born out of the redivision of European states, industrializing Germany under the Nazi fascists attempted to build a new empire but was crushed by the dedication of myriads of men and women. Imperialist Japan, meanwhile, tried to make the most of the conflict in Europe to expand its territories and resources by invading more countries in East Asia, which forced a military response on the part of the US. The US had been creating its own empire establishing colonies in the Pacific and Caribbean regions, though it had held back for much of the two World Wars. However, vulture-like interests, especially profiteers in the US, drooled over the benefits they could enjoy from war and the destruction of Europe: chemical and arms corporations grew, and the US poised itself to reap the rewards and come out on top. Just as the Nazis were doing, the US also exploited the opportunity to develop arms, most notably the nuclear bomb. History has concluded that the release of nuclear bombs over Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan was not justified, intended rather as an experimentation and a display of might and conquest. The US thus asserted its role as a ruling empire of the world.

It is the US empire, which supports and defends the global elite, the global moguls of finance capital, that is the main factor for war today. This is the “way of life” that it declares it stands for. The kind of freedom it desires is market freedom, at any cost to the peoples of the world. It has been a factor in stirring up aggressive, anti-West Islamists who are trying hard to establish an Islamist empire in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions today. The US plays both sides in the conflicts with the Islamist movements, supporting some terrorists, for example in Libya and Syria so as to crush political and market obstacles, while gunning after others, such as the fundamentalist regime of Iran, so as to open up markets and spheres of influence. ILPS opposes all terror.

The ILPS understands that conflict is inherent in the imperialist economic system, which is rife with contradictions: inter-imperialist rivalries, class, nation, corporate competition, and so on. It thrives on violence and social division, seeking market niches, cheap resources, cheap labour, technological innovations, expropriations… In short, it is an exploiting and plundering system. Also, it imposes itself as far and as wide as possible by force. Arms are both a means and an industry.

Let us observe, educate and organize according to this reality, this scenario of social injustice and crimes against humanity and the planet. Let us not celebrate the imperialist violence. Let us not glorify war for domination and profit. Let us raise our voices together in calling and mobilizing for just peace!

All out to say, “No to NATO” from December 1 to 3, the time of the NATO summit in London, UK. Denounce all crimes against humanity and defend life and human rights on International Human Rights Day on December 10. Say, “No Taxes for War” on April 15. March for land, life and just peace on Earth Day, April 22. March on May Day, May 1^st.

US, Hands off Venezuela, Syria, Cuba, Iran, North Korea!                              Support the just causes of the peoples! 

Resume the peace talks regarding the Philippines, Palestine, and Colombia, now!            Israel, out of Palestine!

Universal nuclear non-proliferation now!             No to NATO!                      Not a single person used for war again!

https://ilps.info/en/2019/10/11/push-back-turkeys-invasion

Support the Kurdish struggle for self-determination!

Trump and Erdogan have no one else to blame but themselves in the worsening political and humanitarian crisis in Syria. The US aggression for regime change in Syria using the terrorist Islamic State failed and only increased hostilities.

What effectively thwarted the terrorist menace in Syria were the people themselves and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), composed mainly of armed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ).

A few weeks before the Turkish invasion, the US convinced the SDF to remove fortifications in the border area providing the SDF security guarantees. Following a phone conversation between the US and Turkish presidents, the US announced that it “will no longer be in the immediate area”. US military garrisons in Tel Abyad, Tel Musa, Tel Hinzir and Tel Arqam were abandoned. US and Turkey joint patrols in the border ceased. The US practically green-lighted the Turkish invasion and back-stabbed the SDF and Kurdish forces.

Trump released a statement on October 6 that Turkey will soon carry out its “long-planned operation” into northern Syria. Erdogan used the October 7 pullout of US forces in northern Syria to launch the first phase of “Operation Peace Spring” under the pretext of establishing a “safe zone” along the border. Its real intention is to demolish the self-administration of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the liberated areas in Syria and cut-off the Kurds in southern Turkey long struggling for self-determination under the leadership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The party is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and NATO.

Turkey’s invasion of northeast Syria is not only a violation of international law and a blatant breach of the International Security Council’s resolutions. It threatens a new wave of violence against Syria and the Kurdish people. Erdogan already threatened to open the doors and send 3.6 million migrants to Europe if the EU insists to denounce the operation as an invasion. The Syrian crisis has already engendered the largest refugee crisis of our time with more than 13 million in need of humanitarian assistance and 11 million refugees.

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) is one with the Kurdish people in fighting for their liberation. We are one with the Arab world and the rest of the international community in condemning Turkey’s invasion.  The Kurds have heroically defended Kobane and Rojava in the past. We trust that their resolute resistance and our solidarity can push back Turkey from northern Syria, and foil the US with its NATO allies from its imperialist intervention in the Middle East.

We call on all ILPS affiliates from across the globe to issue their own statements and hold indignation rallies against US and Turkey as well as solidarity actions for the Kurds.

Len Cooper
Chairperson
International League of Peoples’ Struggle

Melbourne Rally for International Day of Peace 21 September
No Australian Support for U.S. wars! Climate Action for Peace!

On 21 September, the International Day of Peace several peace, antiwar and community organisations came together in Melbourne, Australia, at a colourful and spirited rally calling for global peace, an end to wars of aggression and ending Australia’s support for U.S. wars.
The rally called for the removal of US bases and troops, an end to US/Australia military alliance and for an indepen-dent and peaceful foreign policy. Speakers called for an end to imperialist wars of aggression, more public funds to hospitals, schools and climate action, not to wars and fossil fuel profiteers and makers of climate change. Solidarity with people and countries fighting for justice, peace and independence.
In a powerful speech an Indigenous Palawa Woman from Tasmania, pointed out that “there’s no way that we could ever truly achieve peaceful foreign policy without confronting our colonial past and acts of genocide that have happened and been ignored, and the acts happening now that are also being ignored.” A member of Young Unionists for Climate Action Network made a compelling speech on the urgency for collective grass roots mobilisation by ordinary people demanding climate action, not to wait and rely on politicians who will never act. Several speakers made links between climate crisis and wars, in particular on how fossil fuel corporations and military corporations profit from and promote the world’s continuing dependency on fossil fuel and being in a perpetual state of wars. “Military/Industrial monopolies need fossil fuels and wars!” proclaimed one placard.
Coming one day after the massive climate crisis strike and march through Melbourne on 20September by more than 150,000 young people and supporters, including unionists and working people who left their jobs to participate, both rallies sent powerful messages. The rally heard 10 excellent speakers representing different organisations, including: Independent and Peaceful Australia Network; Medical Association for Prevention of War; Young Unionists for Climate Action Network and an Electrical Trades Union member; Monash University student and Indigenous woman from Tasmania; Spirit of Eureka; West Papuan student; ILPS/Australia; Migrante Melbourne; Venezuela Solidarity; an independent journalist; and peace activists.
An IPAN speaker concluded the speech noting “Australian people’s contribution to ending global wars of aggression is to build a broad people’s movement that unites many strands of peace, antiwar and anti/imperialist campaigns and struggles to remove U.S. bases and troops, end US\Australia military Alliance, and promote an independent and peaceful foreign policy that respects the sovereignty of people and countries. Independence from all big powers. This will be our meaningful contribution to global peace and justice.”
Spirit of Eureka is an affiliate of ILPS Australia. http://www.spiritofeureka.org/

HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!

In anticipation of a potential border incident that could trigger aggression from the imperialists and the state of Colombia, Venezuela is holding military exercises along the Venezuela-Colombia border until September 28. The reason is that Colombia is trying to provoke the US and its allies by spreading fake news saying that Colombian revolutionary guerrillas are taking refuge in Venezuela. The Vancouver Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver (VPSC) condemns the propaganda, the militarization of the border and any plans for a military intervention against Venezuela.

The Colombian state led by President Ivan Duque is in crisis. After the peace treaty with a large revolutionary faction, FARC, disintegrated, FARC Commander Ivan Marquez announced on August 29 that FARC was taking up arms again and resuming guerrilla warfare in the jungles. The decades-old Colombian revolution seeks social liberation, decent living conditions and democracy. The Colombian state has one of the worst records in history of allowing paramilitary engagements and assassinating civil leaders such as union leaders and human rights advocates as well as guerrilla leaders. Many Colombians live in miserable conditions. It has used the campaign against drug lords as an excuse and has solicited the support of the US and allies. US and allied forces came up with Plan Colombia over 20 years ago and have maintained a military encirclement of Colombia. With the gains of the civil war peace process and the growth of the Right in South America, Colombian and allied forces have been manifesting along the Venezuela-Colombia border as part of the counter-revolutionary campaign against the Bolivarian leadership of Venezuela.

The VPSC stands against the militarization of the region, expresses staunch solidarity with the just struggles of people of the Colombia, and deplores the human rights abuses by the Colombian state. Moreover, we strongly oppose the complicity of the US and its allies in both meddling in the civil war in Colombia and supporting the repressive Colombian state, while we oppose the interference in Venezuelan affairs that aims to stir up a civil war inside Venezuela.

The VPSC calls for full diplomatic relations and privileges to be restored between Canada and Venezuela. We want an end to the economic war that is causing deprivation to the people. 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!

As a group based in Canada, we condemn the Canadian state’s propaganda against Venezuela, its participation in executing the sanctions, and its role in orchestrating counter-revolution in Venezuela. 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.

Again, Canada followed the US lead when the US shut down the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, DC, and arrested and charged some of the defenders of the Embassy.

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. Largely because of the economic embargo, the need for real humanitarian aid is growing; however, the imperialists including Canada blame the Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro for causing a crisis.

Part of the counter-revolutionary strategy is to disturb Venezuelan-Cuban relations and attack the Cuban revolution. The US has been 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. Canada has lent a hand by making it more difficult for Cubans to get Canadian visas.

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 including cyber-attacks, economic war including unilateral coercive measures, attacks on embassies and regime change schemes against Venezuela and its regional allies such as Cuba and Nicaragua.

Justpeace87@yahoo.com

Facebook: Venezuela Peace and Solidarity Committee of Vancouver

(Also, see Hugo Chávez People´s Defense Front/ Frente para la Defensa de los Pueblos Hugo Chávez)

Statement of the International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS, ilps.info)

The International Day of Peace, September 21, 2019

OPPOSE WAR! BUILD THE MOVEMENT FOR PEACE WITH SOCIAL JUSTICE!  

The ILPS has organized in unity with its members and allies to make world peace day meaningful. We hope that it helps to bring more mass organizations together to build movements for just peace.Unite opposition to aggression and militarization!

The International Day of Peace was declared by the United Nations Organization General Assembly in 1981. This year’s theme is “Climate Action for Peace,” which intends to “draw attention to the importance of combating climate change as a way to protect and promote peace throughout the world. Climate change causes clear threats to international peace and security.” (https://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/) Problems of access to and shortages of resources such as agricultural land, drinking water and energy are resulting in increasing tensions around the world and causing serious conflicts. In 2015, UN member states established 17 Sustainable Development Goals covering issues including “poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment and social justice.” (ibid.) The 13^th goal is climate action; the UN is holding a Climate Action Summit on September 23, 2019.

The ILPS likewise links environmental problems to conflict. For one thing, we understand that military activities cause waste and environmental damage and destroy resources. We understand that many of the biggest conflicts in the world today are related to the petroleum industry and other extraction industries. We also appreciate that military forces and arms producers use and depend on large sources of petroleum and other minerals, as well as water.

The ILPS looks deeply at the causes of violence, including environmental destruction. We share the analysis that the global market economy and the ideals that propel it are the roots of most aggression, domination and militarization. That is, imperialism. First of all, resource extraction is unplanned or ill-planned. Resources are usually privately claimed and fought over, often with political and military support. Ownership, distribution and accessibility are unequal, causing an inherent major rift. Only a small fraction of the population own the wealth and control resources. 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. States are adopting aggressive policies and investing in war. 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 independence. The people must rise to the challenge; the whole planet is at stake.

International military alliances pose dangers, as well. Take North America Treaty Organization (NATO), for example, which is expanding and building more bases, deploying more forces. Led by the US, it was created as a Cold War military challenge to communism. Its role is still to defeat socialism, protect private markets, defend corporate monopoly interests and keep capitalism in control. Today the US and its allies are engaging in many operations and schemes of counter-revolution, especially in Latin America.

Moreover, they are trying to stir up internal conflict or take advantage of internal conflict and domestic turmoil, offering economic sanctions and military intervention as a supposed solution to crises. Media hype and misinformation campaigns are carried out to manufacture consent. The result?—destruction and mayhem in places like Libya, Syria, and Iraq. New plots and threats are being made against Venezuela and Iran today. The sanctions against such countries that pose no international threat are unjust.  They are causing shortages of resources and products that civilian populations need in everyday life. Well targeted and measured sanctions or other penalties could be justified against real fascist regimes and aggressors, such as Israel, Philippines and Saudi Arabia, but these are the friends of US imperialism and its allies. The UN cannot resolve such matters as long as the US controls it with the veto power in the Security Council.

The danger of nuclear war is high again. China, Russia and the US are developing weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear powered machinery and weaponry. The US tested a nuclear bomb early in 2019.

The ILPS supports the just struggles of the people trying to liberate themselves from oppression and military rule. We support governments that have democratic processes and provide for their peoples. We support responsible leadership that plans for sustainable economy and resource use with environmental protection. In short, we call for peace but peace with social justice. Social equality is at the heart of our vision. We support struggles including armed conflicts organized to defend the people and their lands and construct their own societies as they see fit.

The ILPS is part of the global movement for just peace against imperialism. We oppose wars of aggression and counter-revolution as well as the development of weapons of mass destruction, especial nuclear weapons. We try to encourage and facilitate the peoples’ movements for just peace.

It is of the utmost urgency that the working people and oppressed of all sectors unite and organize against war and for just peace today.

There will be more mass actions on Armistice Day (Europe and North America, Nov. 11) and during the next NATO Summit (London, Dec. 1-3).

No more Hiroshimas!                    Oppose militarization and aggression!                  

Just and Lasting Peace!

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

Occupation is a crime!  Free, free, Palestine!                     China, Out of the West Philippine Sea!

A Message from International Women’s Alliance 

NO MORE WARS OF AGGRESSION!

NO TO ANOTHER GENERATION OF COMFORT WOMEN!

 The International Women’s Alliance and all its allied organizations call on women of the world to commemorate August 14, the official end of World War II, with renewed energy and commitment to fight imperialist aggression and war. We call on all justice and peace-loving women and people around the world to especially honor the women victims of Japanese military sexual slavery who bravely came out and brought to light the systemic use of sexual violence as a tool of war.

The World War II was an imperialist war to re-divide the world among imperialist powers, an attempt to prevent the collapse of the capitalist system. It brought devastation to the lives of millions of people. Millions were trafficked and forced to work as slaves to produce war needs. Many of the victims were women from Korea, Philippines, China, Indonesia, the Netherlands who were threatened, abducted and forced to serve as sexual slaves to the Japanese imperial army.

 Decades after the war and even after they first publicly spoke of their harrowing experience, they are still crying for justice. Justice for many of these comfort women means the official recognition by the Japanese government and their own governments, as in the case of the Philippines, an official public apology from Japan, and compensation to atone for their suffering. Unfortunately, many of them have died without seeing justice. And with the recent moves of Japan to strengthen its military forces by removing any pretense of “peace” in its constitution, history is bound to repeat itself.

 Beyond the demand for justice for what was done to them, many comfort women have joined the call to end imperialist wars of aggression as these create new generations of comfort women. Until now in many parts of the world, rape is still used as a tool to subjugate, intimidate, humiliate, dominate, and instill fear among a population.

 As imperialist rivalry heightens, so do the attacks on women and their communities.  The imperialist US’ army and the CIA, have systematically used rape and torture to humiliate captives in their “terrorist war”. In Congo, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Iraq, Syria, and many other countries, mass rape of women, abduction and forced marriage are used to sow terror and fear among the population. The attacks against ethnic minority groups such as the Rohingyans have galvanized the systemic use of rape among state military forces to wipe out ethnic populations. So called “peace keeping forces” on the other hand, have been found guilty of rape and other forms of sexual assaults against women in areas of conflict where they were deployed.

 With the economic crisis getting worse and neo-liberal policies in many countries creating more chaos and devastation, we see more wars of aggression for economic and political dominance. With the resurgence of tyranny, fascism, racism, and misogyny, even the international laws, conventions, and institutions that were meant to prevent the use of sexual violence against women in armed conflict and to protect women from such prove to be either useless or are being eroded.

 The grave situation that many women face also gives rise to women who courageously stand for their rights against imperialist attacks. Like the comfort women, we take inspiration from the Yazidi women, from women in Africa, Middle East, and many parts of the world who are publicly telling their stories, to demand justice, and to educate the public about how capitalist greed and wars are creating generations of sexual slaves. Many of them brave public humiliation and threats to their lives to speak out against military sexual slavery and are joining the movements around the world to end imperialist wars of aggression.

 As we honor these women, and all those who fought against tyranny and fascism during WWII and beyond, we enjoin IWA member organizations and allies to actively participate in actions, commemorative activities on August 14 in their countries and communities.

 No to another generation of comfort women!

End the use of sexual violence in war and conflict!

End imperialist wars of aggression!

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)

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

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