New Media » canadian politics

Get Your Propaganda Here. On Chavez, Slavery and Dancing IDF

jnarvey — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:31:53 +0000

Not getting enough political re-education in your breakfast cereal? Read the latest, greatest posts in The Propagandist.

The Propagandist Goes To War It’s a weird, scary world out there. Hugo Chavez fanboys...
Better Translation of Taliban Propaganda Requested It seems as though Pashto-English translation at the Associated Press...
Madman Deterrence Works for Israel. But For How Long? Having a well-publicized reputation as the most unpredictable and ultra-violent...

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The Bloc Quebecois Is Worried About Traitors to Canada

jnarvey — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:17:03 +0000

Separatists in Quebec want potential traitors to Canada identified by CSIS toute suite. How about looking in a mirror, Maria from the Bloc? From Kelly McParland in the National Post:

The head of CSIS, the national spy agency, is being questioned about his contention that some Canadian politicians are under the influence of foreign governments, and who gets all hot under the collar about it? A Bloc MP, who wants the “traitors” identified.

“Who are the traitors in the current political class, Mr. Fadden?” demanded Maria Mourani of the Bloc Quebecois. Mr. Fadden described her words as totally inappropriate, saying there was no question of treason.

“You don’t use the word ‘traitor’ but I’ll say it…. I’m giving you a chance to tell us. Who are these ministers who are traitors to the nation?” Ms. Mourani fired back.

Um… yeah.

There’s Something Distinct About Quebec, Alright

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The Propagandist Goes To War

jnarvey — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 16:50:12 +0000

It’s a weird, scary world out there. Hugo Chavez fanboys and Hezbollah-luvin’ fifth columnists are trying to undermine our rights and bring us back to the Dark Ages. Political correctness is strangling free speech.

The Propagandist is fighting back.

New Media fans, note that I’ll be moving much of my original political writing over to The Propagandist. This is not just another political website — we aim to make this THE go-to online magazine of its kind. Think Adbusters, but with a 180-degree difference in editorial slant.

The Propagandist is also looking for contributors. Interested? Check out the submission guidelines.

Read some of the latest articles in The Propagandist:

Semper Fi.

When a Dictator Isn’t a Dictator Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is accused of acting like...

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Libby Davies Has To Go

jnarvey — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:09:01 +0000

Libby Davies can be seen on YouTube saying she thinks that chanting “long live the intifada” “sounds good” and saying (not once but twice) that Israel has been occupying Palestinian land since 1948, that “it’s the longest occupation in history,” and that it’s time for boycotts and disinvestment. – Bob Rae

People are fired up about this. Here’s video of a protest outside NDP MP Libby Davies’ office in the heart of Vancouver:

No More Two-Track Middle East Policy From NDP Probably the best thing to come out of this weird...
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Police Brutality The cops are acting like thugs — again. Wu –...

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No More Two-Track Middle East Policy From NDP

jnarvey — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:15:26 +0000

Probably the best thing to come out of this weird incident with NDP Deputy Leader Libby Davies is the end of an unofficial two-track policy on Israel. With the statement from Thomas Mulcair, the NDP’s other deputy leader, the idea of Israel as an apartheid state is definitively ejected from mainstream political discourse in this country.

Let’s take a quick look at Mulcair’s statement as recorded in the National Post:

“No member of our caucus, whatever other title they have, is allowed to invent their own policy,” said Mr. Mulcair. “We take decisions together, parties formulate policies together, and to say that you’re personally in favour of boycott, divestment and sanctions for the only democracy in the Middle East is, as far as I’m concerned, grossly unacceptable.”

If the NDP caucus truly believes this, then it’s a sea-change for public discussion of foreign policy vis a vis Israel and the Palestinians in this country. The ideology behind boycott and divestment campaigns against Israel are firmly relegated to the land of 9/11 Truthers, Creationists and the more nefarious minds behind the Rhino party.

For political pragmatists like myself, the BDS campaign has always been an extreme phenomenon that never carried any official support from any legitimate political party or their rank and file, or at least shouldn’t have. Yet there’s no question that NDP rank and file were far more likely to have sympathy with the “Israel Apartheid State” view than their Liberal or Conservative party counterparts (and nobody really cares what Bloc members think about this stuff, anyway).

Now, many NDP members, particularly those a little higher up in the food chain, are forced to confront the reality that the BDS ideas they’ve flirted with for years are simply not part of the NDP platform — and really never have been. If NDP supporters want to retain ties to BDS, it will have to do so in a fairly clandestine manner; in the same way that when some Conservatives decide to make a statement about pro-life abortion politics, they do so in a private venue amongst their close colleagues. The days of NDP MPs like Libby Davies coming out overtly in favor of a controversial BDS campaign are now over.

That is to say, those days are over if the NDP really do mean what they’re saying.

Libby Davies Puts Her Foot In It

Why A Peace Agreement in the Middle East Doesn’t Matter Two seemingly unrelated yet dramatic developments occurred this week. South...
Breaking a Boycott The “BUYcott Israel” counter-demonstration on Sunday outside the Mountain Equipment...
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Stop Waiting for the Other Guy to Make the First Move

jnarvey — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:21:02 +0000

We seem to be headed towards an actual debate about Canada’s role in Afghanistan post-2011. Finally!

Conservatives. Liberals. Please stop waiting for the other side to clarify their position on Canada’s role in Afghanistan and just clarify your own? That would be awfully helpful.

The Approximate Level of Political Debate in Canada

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Afghanistan. Training Up and Getting Out?

jnarvey — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:29:07 +0000

Trying very hard not to look a gift horse in the mouth, here. The Conservatives’ new commitment of 90 trainers for the Afghan National Army and police, bringing out total commitment to nearly 3000 personnel, is certainly welcome news. This is totally consistent with what is being asked for by Afghans, Afghan Canadians, analysts and others who just want to see that country’s positive metrics (personal freedoms, access to health care and education, sparks of economic development) keep going up in the face of a dedicated insurgency.

That said, why are these new trainers going to stick to what pretty well everyone agrees was a limited and fairly arbitrary deadline at the end of 2011? From my post on the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee blog:

The deadline MacKay and others refer to is the end of our formal support for the Canadian battlegroup’s presence in Kandahar (not necessarily, as some believe, a predetermined end for ALL military support for Afghanistan). Yet a scaled down mission more focused on training, consultation with NATO and the Afghan government and perhaps protection of our own humanitarian aid and development assistance personnel, ought not be lumped into the same pile. Deadlines are fine, but they ought to be informed by the actual situation on the ground, not determined on a whim.

An Overview of Canada’s Training Effort in Afghanistan

Waking Up to the Challenge of Post-2011 in Afghanistan The Canadian nation endured an awful, endless sleep occasionally punctuated...
We Will Support the Afghan People for As Long as It Takes NATO’s new Secretary General leave no room for confusion. We’re...
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Waking Up to the Challenge of Post-2011 in Afghanistan

jnarvey — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:02:59 +0000

The Canadian nation endured an awful, endless sleep occasionally punctuated by vicious nightmares of Taliban thugs running wild across a blood-soaked plain. Finally, injected with some new serum, the chief ingredient being a healthy dose of political courage, this nation wakes with a start.

But now that they’ve woken, will they take action? Perhaps…

Segal commended Harper for staying true to the 2008 parliamentary motion that set the 2011 end-date for the military mission. But what’s needed now is “vision and renewed commitment” to the country and the international effort.

This is the time to examine all possible Canadian contributions to the Afghan mission, not to close the door on allies the country has been fighting beside for nearly a decade, Segal said.

“I’m making the case for consideration … that it’s wrong for all Canadians to withdraw, it’s wrong for us to only have a civilian presence, because who’s going to provide security for them?” he said in an interview.

The future is looking a bit brighter.

What Happens After 2011? A decision to walk away from an unfinished war, with...
The Best Way to Taliban-Proof Afghanistan. Stay Involved Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee co-founder and professional human rights advocate Lauryn...
On Afghanistan, It’s As True Now As It Was Then If the Afghan government falls to the Taliban or allows...

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Ludicrous and Buffoonish

jnarvey — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:03:35 +0000

Certain faculty at the University of Regina have brought shame to their institution in asking for withdrawal of support for the Project Hero scholarship program. From the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee blog:

There is something perverse in faculty of a university calling for the end of education supports for those whose families have given so much for this country. Even worse, the ludicrous and buffoonish characterization by supposedly educated people that our engagement is a wicked “imperialist” venture calls into question these critics’ abilities as critical thinkers and as educators.

Their uninformed analysis ignores the views of Afghans on the matter, and their extremist, relativist views make a mockery of scholarship. An embarrassment to Canada, they are sending out the message that human rights, security and peace are only for those in the West.

See the original embarrassing statement of the faculty here.

Body Counts and Desperation Tactics During the Vietnam war, American forces were obsessed with body...
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Body Counts and Desperation Tactics

jnarvey — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:26:31 +0000

During the Vietnam war, American forces were obsessed with body counts. In a jungle war where the South Vietnamese and US forces were theoretically in control of all territory, while actual military control extended only to the nearest treeline, counting enemy deaths served as some kind of grotesque marker for military success. In the end, these metrics were utterly beside the point. The Americans bugged out under the cover of a peace deal that was promptly torn up as communist tanks crashed through the gates of the presidential palace in Saigon.

Americans and NATO forces like our own don’t publicize body counts anymore. It’s not just because Vietnam tainted the practice. Partly, this is because they work for politicians elected by populations that have only rarely been comfortable with the scale of carnage made possible by industrial methods. Body counts may have helped certain soldiers win promotions, but this sort of information doesn’t do much to win the hearts and minds of the home front. Instead, we focus today on the more traditional metrics of success on the battlefield — territory and the support of the people who dwell within it.

These days, it is the Taliban who are obsessed with body counts — as usual, without distinguishing combatants and civilians. In the heart of Kabul, seventeen Afghans and foreigners were murdered this morning by suicide attackers. The enemy boasts of their “glorious” victory over medical doctors, a documentary film-maker, government officials and three Afghan policemen. It was a brutal act, only slightly dulled in its effect by the parade of Taliban atrocities that have come before it.

While the Taliban are focused on the body counts of doctors, film makers, aid workers and ordinary Afghan civilians, ISAF and the Afghan National Army are concentrating on the end-game. It’s not about counting corpses — it’s about boots on the ground and ordinary Afghans having a chance to get on with their lives without worrying about getting their throats slit by barbarians.

We’re still early into this surge, as our own soldiers and our allies have finally been given the resources they need to do the job. But the early signs are promising. Finally, we can start looking at what comes after the thugs have been routed. By 2011, we may already be a good ways along this road.

Further Reading
On This Day, The Birthday Of The Prophet: A Taliban Atrocity In The Streets of Kabul
Turning the Tide Against the Taliban

What’s in store for Canada in Afghanistan post-2011?

The Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee (CASC) will unveil its Vision for Canada’s Role in Afghanistan Post-2011 on March 9 at the National Archives Hall in Ottawa. The event, called “Canada and Afghanistan: Keeping Our Promises”, is hosted by the Free Thinking Film Society of Ottawa and is also a fundraiser for the Afghan School Project.

This Vision document will outline recommendations for how Canadians can best remain involved in Afghanistan, in terms of both civilian aid and the security that is essential for providing that aid. Abandoning Afghanistan is not an option:
“The threat of abandonment by Canada, the U.S., Britain, and other major NATO countries is not just causing fear and dismay among our Afghan friends,” says CASC senior adviser Lauryn Oates. “It is encouraging the Taliban, and it is encouraging the worst kind of corruption. It is making things worse for ordinary Afghans, whose rights our soldiers have been fighting and dying for.”

CASC’s Vision is based on unprecedented and far-ranging consultations carried out with participation from Canada’s Afghan immigrant community as well as a cross-section of the Afghanistan population. The consultation includes feedback from ordinary citizens as well as politicians, human rights workers, elders, community leaders and experienced analysts.
This event will raise funds for the Afghan School Project (ASP), a Canada-based grassroots initiative, established by the Canadian International Learning Foundation. The ASP provides financial and administrative support to an educational institution in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which provides more than 700 women and men with the opportunity to receive education, while providing members of the community with access to the Internet and online classes from Canadian and international institutions.

Speakers at this event include:

• Major-General (Ret’d) Lewis Mackenzie. Served in the Canadian Forces for 35 years, including a UN peacekeeping command in Yugoslavia in 1992. Awarded the Order of Canada in 2006
• Ehsanullah Ehsan, Director of the Afghan-Canadian Community Centre in Kandahar City
• Nasrine Gross, Afghan-American writer and human rights activist
• Dr. Nipa Banerjee, currently a professor of international development at the University of Ottawa, served as Canada’s head of aid in Kabul for three years.
• Dr. Douglas Bland, Chair of the Defence Management Studies Program at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University
• Lauryn Oates, Human rights and gender equity activist; CASC senior advisor
• Terry Glavin, Award-winning author and journalist. One of Canada’s leading voices in support of our Afghanistan campaign.

Event Details
March 9, 2010, 7:00 pm
National Archives/Library of Canada, 395 Wellington St., Ottawa

Tickets: $30 regular admission, $15 students
• Purchase tickets online:
Online at http://www.canilf.org/news/
• Purchase tickets in person:
Ottawa Folklore Centre (1111 Bank Street, Ottawa)
Compact Music (190 Bank; 7851 ½ Bank Street, Ottawa)

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