Alternatives International Journal

Reading Zinn in Times of Insanity

Feroz MEHDI — 2013-01-01T20:20:46Z

The Palestine Authority submitted a proposal to the United Nations General Assembly demanding a non-member observer status. There were 139 countries that voted in favour except Canada and a couple of usual suspects.

On December 11, 2012 the Minister of International Cooperation, Julian Fantino announced that the Government of Canada, through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), will be establishing a strategic partnership with Grand Challenges Canada to find innovative solutions to global health challenges. And what is Grand Challenges Canada? It is an NGO funded by the government of Canada.

And now hold your breath. Government of Canada has ordered, yes ordered that no scientific papers written by Iranian scientists be published in Canadian scientific journals.

Not enough. Here is the colonialist mindset of this government:

Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa Spence has been on hunger strike since over two weeks. She wants to meet the Prime Minister. She wants to talk to him about the conditions in her community. Writes Brent Patterson from the Council of Canadians, “Today, a Minister in his government ‘felt concerned' about her health. Last year, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples expressed concern to the Harper government about the conditions in Chief Spence's community of Attawapiskat, including the lack of running water. This same minister, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan, dismissed the concern as a "publicity stunt"”.

How can we describe the Harper's government? Amazing? Baffling? Mind boggling? Or simply, Insane.

It reminds me of a lecture from Howard Zinn that he gave during the Bush administration in November 2006. He said “I'd like to talk about the situation we face today and what are the obstacles to do something about it. In a certain sense I don't have to tell you what our situation is. Why beleaguer you with those suicidal bits of news, the things that depress your friends and drive them to distractions? We all know the country has been taken over by a group of aliens. They are ruthless. They don't care about human rights, they don't care about freedom of expression. And yes, I wake up in the morning and I feel I live in an occupied country”.

That is very close to what we are experiencing in Canada today.

So, What to do? There is no short cut. We have to build strong social movements to build and promote democracy, to fight injustice, to fight the rule of insanity. As Howard Zinn said in another lecture, “In order for that to happen, all of us have to start doing something, anything. Little things. You don't have to do heroic things. There are some people who will do heroic things. Little things. The little things add up. That's how social movements develop. Somebody does something small, somebody else does something small…You get a million small acts, and they merge at some points in history into a great force that brings about change”.

Last year in Spring we saw the building of a great social movement in Quebec. The students demanded that the tuition fees not be hiked. The government refused. The students went on strike. Slowly the government took extraordinary position to crush the strike. The movement grew and was joined by the citizens at large. Hundreds and thousands were on the streets demanding justice. The Prime Minister and the media in general became rude and arrogant. The movement developed even further. We all saw the result. The students won! Yes, the education minister resigned unable to confront the students growing appeal in the public, the government lost the elections and the Prime Minister lost his seat and resigned from political scene.

So, yes Zinn is right when he says “If we could we would not have to talk about doing something now. But history shows that you have to build up. It takes time, and you must not get discouraged. It starts with small actions and small groups. It takes time, sometimes decades, for a movement to build into a force strong enough to change things”.

The year 2013 will be the year of building up social movements across Canada. The process has already started in many cities and its growth is promising. There is a historic convergence in the making. The First Nations, Quebec and rest of Canada are together on the move. Its challenge is to end the occupation of Canada by ruthless aliens.

Canada Formally Joins the Axis of Evil

Feroz MEHDI — 2012-12-01T15:19:00Z

So here we are. It is November 29 2012. November 29 is the international day in solidarity with Palestine. It is also the day when the UN passed the resolution for partition of Palestine in 1947. It is today in 2012 that the World Social Forum-Free Palestine was launched in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It is today that the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of giving a non-member state status to Palestine. 138 countries voted in favour and 9 voted against. Canada has officially joined the axis of evil with Israel and the USA by voting against the Palestinian proposal. The Canadian foreign minister, we were told by the Canadian media, flew to the UN meeting specially to vote against the Palestinian proposal.

Palestinians do not expect any miraculous change in Israeli policy. End of occupation is what they want. We do not expect any miracle from Harper's Canadian government. We simply want them out. The movement to throw them out is building.

First Forum in Solidarity with Palestine

The first World Social Forum-Free Palestine was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil from November 29 to December 1. Over 3000 people registered and a hundred plus people from 36 countries participated. Seventy delegates from Palestine, the West Bank, Gaza and refugee camps, witnessed and addressed five main panels and 168 self organized workshops, seminars and conferences. It is in Porto Alegre that the first WSF was held in 2001 and it is in 2012 that the first historic forum on Palestine is held in this very city. This is a first forum on Palestine solidarity. For sure it is not the last one.

The next rendezvous is Tunis. World Social Forum will be held in the cradle of the Arab Spring from March 26 to 30, 2013. Within that open space will be a space for Free Palestine for the entire duration of the forum.

It is not simply one forum to another, one meeting to the next. It is building and expanding the solidarity movement for the right to self determination for the Palestinians. It is a movement in the making to achieve its objectives. The Latin American organizations were observing this first forum on Palestine held in Brazil very closely. There are bound to be echoes. There was a need to begin this process in this part of the world where progressive governments are being elected by the people. When a politicized and conscious people raise the issue, the governments have to listen or face the consequences. Already MST, along with many other trade unions and social movements of the region, is planning to launch a movement against arms trade including Brazilian government's arms treaty with Israel.

An extremely vicious campaign was launched by the Zionist lobby in Porto Alegre to get the event cancelled. The Brazilian government had to address the dual issue of demands from social progressive movements and the Zionist lobby. The result was that the forum took place!

World Social Forum: 10th Anniversary

Feroz MEHDI — 2011-02-23T20:22:53Z

Senegal welcomed the world this month, as 75,000 people representing local and international progressive movements and organizations came to Dakar from over 130 countries.

Contrary to what some would like to believe, the WSF process is alive and kicking and strong as never before. From February 6 to 11, 2011 the WSF was held in Dakar, Senegal. The opening march gathered over 75 000 people representing local and international movements and organizations. Over 130 countries were represented. Caravans from many African countries arrived by road. The forum provided space to over 3000 self-organized activities and 40 odd peoples assemblies.

The ongoing Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions provided the background to the activities giving a charged political environment to the entire process. As the final declaration of the Peoples Social Movements stated “We affirm our support for and our active solidarity with the people of Tunisia, Egypt and the Arab world who have risen up to demand a true democracy and build the peoples power. Their struggles are lighting the path to another world, free from oppression and exploitation”.

Dakar was the venue to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the World Social Forum, the first was held in Porto Alegre in 2001. “Since that time, we have built a common history of work which led to some progress, particularly in Latin America, where we have been able to intervene in neoliberal alliances and to create several alternatives for just development that truly honor nature”.

The social forum process is growing. In 2010 alone there were 19 national forums, 5 regional forums and 31 thematic forums all over the world involving an impressive number of organizations, networks and tens of thousands of people. Without falling into simplistic causality it is worthwhile noting that in 2010 ten social forums were held in the Arab world, the last being in Egypt!

One of the fundamental objective of the WSF process is to facilitate exchange of experience and promote formation of new strategic alliances. In Dakar, the self-organized activities for two days was followed by a two-day peoples convergence assemblies. These thematic assemblies gave space to the gathered social movements to plan their actions in the coming months and years. Assemblies on climate change, food sovereignty, migration and others resulted in convergence of strategies of the global social movements. In the convergence assembly organized by the groups working in defense of Palestinian human rights it was decided to hold a thematic World Social Forum in Solidarity with Palestine sometimes in 2012. Brazilian groups have even offered to host this event!

World Social Forum 2013 in Montreal?

In Dakar, at the International Council meeting after the end of the Forum, concrete proposals were put forward arguing that the next WSF should be held in a country from the North. It was argued that the countries from the North play a central role in developing conditions that push the world population towards poverty, war and climatic disasters. The social movements in the North are thus at the frontline and there is a need that the social movements of the South lend them support.

Social movements in Canada and Quebec have a long history of social and political mobilization. The anti-war movement of 2003 prevented the Canadian government to embark on the US bandwagon in the invasion of Iraq. And then again in 2001 the mass mobilizations with support from all major trade unions marked the end of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas.

With the ongoing onslaughts on the civil society organizations and human rights groups across Canada by the present Harper government there is an increase in alliance building between progressive organizations, community groups and trade unions. The opposition is growing against the exploitation of shale gas and Tar sands and an attempt is being made to bring all environment groups in Canada together on the same platform during a conference “Cochabamba +1” to be held in Montreal from 15 to 17 April this year.

Canada's role in occupation of Afghanistan, its blind support to atrocities perpetrated by Israel on the Palestinian people have thrown immense challenges to the social movements in Canada. It is in this background that the Montreal/Quebec activists in the BDS campaign have decided to hold a BDS conference every year in October. With Quebec's largest teachers union fneeq having adopted the BDS call against Israeli apartheid, an education campaign has been started in colleges gathering support and public opinion in solidarity with Palestinian human rights.

In 2009, Montreal was the venue of the meeting of International Council of the WSF. In a reception organized for the IC members the Mayor of Montreal extended his invitation to hold an eventual WSF in Montreal.

In Dakar a 150 strong Quebec delegation proposed Montreal as the venue of the next WSF in 2013. Apart from Canada, Spain is also on the proposed list. The next International Council meeting will be held at the end of May this year in Paris in parallel with the G 8 and G 20 meetings where the final decision on the venue will be made.

Palestine at the World Social Forum 2011

Feroz MEHDI — 2011-02-16T16:37:09Z

In the plenary concluding session of the World Education Forum in Ramallah on October 31, 2010 it was decided to hold a thematic forum “World Forum in Solidarity with Palestine” sometimes in 2012.

Alternatives International organized a seminar on this theme to explore further the possibility of achieving this goal. The seminar was registered in the self-organized activities during the World Social Forum 2011 held in Dakar from February 6 to 11, 2011.

Background

Last couple of years we have seen a steep rise in international solidarity movements for Palestinian rights. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid is growing at a tremendous pace with major trade unions representing millions of workers in Europe and North America adopting the Palestinian BDS call of 2005.

The international solidarity actions inside the Palestinian territories is also gaining steam despite increasing restrictions imposed on travelers by the Israeli authorities. Delegations from many countries enter Palestine every month and join anti-apartheid rallies. They participate with Palestinians against house demolitions and for lifting the siege of Gaza. Free Gaza Flotilla campaign is increasing despite the Israeli attack on a Turkish boat and murdering of several peace activists. Flotillas from all over the world are preparing to reach Gaza with humanitarian assistance supplies and to protest the siege.

Many political parties around the world have adopted the BDS resolution and over a 100 countries have recognized an independent state of Palestine within the 1967 borders. Latest countries to join in recognizing an independent Palestinian state are Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Failures of all peace processes sponsored by the USA its allies and its client states will definitely bring even more countries to take independent decisions of recognizing the state of Palestine.

And now the Palestinian cause has entered the family of the WSF process in a big way. All organizations participating in the WSF since its inception in 2001 are in support for Palestinian rights but by choosing Palestine as the venue for the World Education Forum in 2010 they have brought the issue to the centre stage of the global social movements. Palestinian organizations and social movements including the trade unions took up the challenge and did a great job in hosting the Forum in several cities in Palestine including 1948 Palestine. Now it is the responsibility and duty of the WSF members to take the cause further and mobilize social movements in favour of the Palestinian rights and for the BDS campaign all over the world.

It is in this background that Alternatives International organized a seminar “Towards a World Forum in Solidarity with Palestine” during the WSF 2011 in Dakar.

People's Assembly on Palestine

In addition to discussions around the above mentioned forum, several other seminars and discussions took place around issues of solidarity with Palestine. Three whole days were spent on discussions on BDS campaign, Russell Tribunal activities, Free Gaza Flotilla and other actions such as the Israeli Apartheid week held in several university campuses around the world. All these activities were held under the same tent and were attended by over 300 people in all. This convergence of activities and activists amplified the mood and the message having a significant impact on the people gathered for the WSF.

The following declaration was adopted by the Assembly:

WSF: People's Movement Assembly on Palestine Declaration

In Dakar, Senegal the People's movement Assembly on Palestine convenes at the World Social Forum (WSF) at a time of intense popular struggle in Palestine against Israeli apartheid, colonization and occupation, and for full implementation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

For the People's Movement Assembly on Palestine hundreds have gathered during the WSF at the Palestine tent to strengthen, re-enforce and strategize on the growing global solidarity movement rooted in and lead-by the Palestinian popular resistance against Israeli occupation.

Activists, meeting in Dakar, building global strategies to support Palestinian Liberation, stand in full solidarity with popular protests in Egypt, Tunisia and across the region resisting oppressive state regimes inherently linked to Israeli apartheid, and will participate in the solidarity actions.

Today, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign is a central tool for social movements working to confront Israeli apartheid policies. As the global movement for liberation in Palestine grows and social movements internationally deepen their implication in the Palestinian liberation struggle the Peoples' Movement Assembly on Palestine calls for people to support the following actions:

1. Global Day of Action March 30th on Palestinian land day and the International assembly against AGREXCO/Carmel in June 4 and 5 in Montpellier, France.

2. Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) events from the 7th to the 21th of March 2011 and beyond including at University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar.

3. World Social Forum in Solidarity with Palestine, a thematic event within the WSF process, with national and international consultations in Palestine and globally starting now lead by Palestinian Civil Society.

4. Global week of actions in support of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla II that will confront the illegal Israeli siege on Gaza the last week of May 2011.

5. Support the Russel Tribunal working to highlight Israeli violations of International law.

6. Support Palestinian Popular resistance by sending International civilian mission in Palestine.

Alternatives' Days 2010

Feroz MEHDI — 2010-06-02T18:49:45Z

Alternatives welcomes you to the 16th edition of Alternatives' Days to participate with hundreds of other activists in debates, discussions and activities grouped this year under the title: Solidarity in Action!

Reserve your place NOW for the 16th annual Alternatives' Days!!

Dates : 27, 28, 29 August 2010
Place : Camp Papillon de St-Alphonse de Rodriguez

Limited space, reserve now!!
Call: (514) 982-6606 poste 2221

Once again this year the activities will be held in a summer camp, Camp Papillon de St-Alphonse de Rodriguez in the Laurentiens. In addition to the hundreds of activists from here, there will be a dozen or more international activists and will reflect and strategize together on ways to act on important themes such as ecology, human rights and social justice to construct a society we want for us.

Bring your family along! There will be arrangements for daycare services!

Preliminary Program

Three main themes are proposed for intellectual debates towards understanding the issues leading to strategizing actions and ways of your participation.

A. Climate Justice

Following the abject failure of governments to propose a political solution to climatic crisis during the Copenhagen conference of December 2009, Bolivia organized a People's Summit on Climate and Rights of the Earth. From April 20 to 22, 2010 over 35 000 delegates representing social movements, First Nations, NGOs from 146 countries came together during this Summit to discuss ways to save our planet from the catastrophe caused to its environment by the neoliberal markets and the capitalist system.

The next people's summit is scheduled for December this year in Cancun. Moving towards that rendezvous, people and movements all over the world will organize various actions on the issue of climate justice through referendums, popular consultations and tribunals to judge the country, people and governments responsible for destruction of the climate and aggravating climate change. The capitalist system will be on the bench of the accused.

Activities:

1. Opening Panel: From Copenhagen to Cancun: While the governments are sacrificing the planet for profits, people are organizing. In Quebec, a coalition for climate justice is a necessity.

2. Film screening: Petropolis

3. Preparing the International Tribunal for environmental crimes

4. Campaign 1: Europe-Canada Free trade: It smells Tar Sands!

5. Mining Companies: Digging our graves with impunity

Panelists (To be completed): Amir Khadir, Louise Vandelac, Ian Angus, Christophe Aguiton, Georges Lebel and representatives from environment groups in Canada and other countries.

B. Quebec/Canada: Democracy Now!

Since the coming to power of the present Conservative Canadian government we are witnessing intensifying attacks on democratic institutions, practices, rights and liberties. At the national level we are witnessing decreasing transparency on governmental actions, muffling of dissenting voices, ignorance and disrespect for decisions made by international tribunals, growing disrespect for international laws and restrictions on freedom of expression and media. These systematic attacks are aimed at shutting the voices of dissent, difference of opinions and views critical of the Canadian government policies.

While many organizations and people are mobilizing on this issue in Quebec, the government of Charest is preparing to steal the middle class and the poor sections of the society of $3.5 billion which is four times more it is collecting from the big companies ($800 million). Its time to mobilize!

Activities:

1. Opening Panel: No Democracy without Voices

2. Fighting for Public Services

3. Combating the rise of the Christian Right

Panel (To be completed): Louis Roy, Micheline Thibeaudot, Jacques Letourneau, Raphael Canet, Alexa Conradi

C. Movement for Human Dignity

Millions of people the world over are subjected to discrimination and have been deprived a life of dignity. Freedom to be able to live a life of dignity, to be able to choose ways of living and working is a prerequisite to dignified human existence. Among these millions we find the aboriginals, Dalits, bonded laborers, migrant workers colonized people to name a few categories. This is a movement for dignity, freedom, rights, justice and actions for the discriminated of the world with special focus on Palestine and the settler colony of Israel internationally and rights of migrant workers and people of the First Nations in Quebec.

Activities:

1. Opening Panel: Combating New Colonialism

2. BDS Campaigns in Quebec and Canada

3. Mobilization for World Education Forum in Palestine and the WSF-2011 in Dakar

4. Twenty Years after OKA!

5. Migrant workers rights in Quebec

Panel (To be completed): Pierre Beaudet, Franklin Midi, Mireille France Fanon, representatives from CUPW, CJPP, Tadamon, Mustafa Heneway, CSQ, First Nations, etc.

In addition to all these, there will be cultural shows, workshops on rooftop gardens, international internship programs, tools of communication.

Governance, Ideology and Electoral Politics

Feroz MEHDI — 2007-12-29T13:18:31Z

The rightwing Hindutva nationalist party the Bhartiya Janata Party
(BJP) was re-elected to power for the fourth consecutive term in the
province of Gujarat on December 23, 2007. Gujarat, one of the
economically most prosperous provinces in India. This election
victory has assured 20 years of uninterrupted rule of the BJP. The
only other province that has the record of continuing long governance
is that of West Bengal ruled by the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) which has been in power since the past 30 years.

While the Hindutva ideology of the BJP is inspired by fascism of
Mussolini and Hitler, the CPM gets its inspiration from Marxism. Both
West Bengal and Gujarat leadership claim that their continuing
victory results from their respective ideologies and leadership.
Leadership meaning ‘good and effective governance'. While the
ideology of Hindutva operates within the capitalist system, the
ideology of the CPM, that is Marxism, has to make compromises within
the capitalist system till the time when socialism overthrows the
capitalist system and socialism takes over. That is, they are
preparing the ground for an eventual victory of socialism.

Electoral politics in India has its own dynamics and calculations
that transcend ideologies. The first longest uninterrupted rule in
India was that of the Congress party. The Congress under the
leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru and other stalwarts and
leaders of the movement of independence against the British
colonialism was in power from day one in 1950 till 1975. Again after
a short break till 1980, it was back in power on and off. All this to
say that being in power through electoral politics is not the forte
of any single ideology or political party in India.

There was recently an incident in the province of West Bengal where
the ruling communist party evacuated farmers from their lands in
order to sell the land to industrialists to construct industries. The
motive was to embark on industrialization since agrarian economy was
not sufficient to make progress. Things must have gone wrong since
there were protests by the farmers and peasants that resulted in
killings and other atrocities blamed and counter blamed by the ruling
CPM and the opposition groups and political parties. Needless to say
the opposition is always looking for issues to make an assault on the
ruling party, and they got one such issue in the land evacuation
process.

The ruling party, CPM has provided a case in their defence. The
intellectuals, including journalists and academics that were
sympathisers of the party, got furious and made the people know about their anger against the CPM. The CPM intellectuals treated these
‘revolts', as one CPM intellectual termed it, being anti-political.
In brief, who so ever is against the CPM in the times of their
distress does not understand politics and is anti political.

In Gujarat the BJP and its goons orchestrated a pogrom against the
Muslim minority of the province in 2002 that resulted in the massacre
of over 3000 men, women and children. The intellectuals, including
the mainstream media and academics were up in arms against the
Gujarat BJP and its fascism. Elections in the province soon followed
and the BJP won again with a thumping majority. The BJP intellectuals
said that the intellectuals do not understand the ground realities
and politics.

Communal fascism is a real threat in India today. Electoral politics
is an important strategy to combat that threat. So far it is proving
to be insufficient. What other mass mobilizations need to be done in
order to combat this threat? There are people in India working to
combat this menace like the people's movement to create secular
environment in schools and education systems, but they face multiple
obstacles. The major obstacles they face are both from the Left and
the Right. While the Left does not count them in their electoral
game, the Right competes with them with their own kind of people's
movement to create a fascistic environment.

In such a situation where the political parties, both from the right
and the left, treat any independent initiative and movement in search
of an alternative with ‘messianic moralism' and denigrates them to
being anti-politics, there is a need of reasserting alternative mode
of governance and alternatives to stagnated political thought.