Alternatives International

Palestinian Reconciliation: Conditions Required for Success

Nassar Ibrahim — 2011-06-01T17:21:20Z

The signing of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement is just the beginning of the internal reconciliation process on the national, political, strategic and tactical levels. Nassar Ibrahim writes that for reconciliation to be successful, two crucial conditions must be met.

The concept of reconciliation (sulha or musalaha in Arabic) immediately raises good connotations related to the positive social meaning this concept has in popular consciousness. Reconciliation is usually associated with daily differences and social tensions intertwined in the contexts of relations, overlapping interests and the relative positions of all involved. These differences and tensions might culminate in conflicts between and amongst circumscribed or wider social groups, such that once the reconciliation or sulha has been achieved through external or internal intervention, social life and relations return back to “normal” forms and principles. In this sense, reconciliation does not lead to a change of relationships, power balances or ethics of the group; its role in this case is instead to “re-harmonize” the existing structure with ongoing social contexts and disparities.

We hope that the Palestinian political reconciliation formally signed and celebrated in Cairo on 4 May 2011 does not go in this direction. The reasons that led to the Palestinian division, which lasted more than four years with all its negative consequences, as well as the questions and national challenges entailed in this reconciliation, are more complex and dangerous than the level of reconciliation, or sulha, conceived in its simplistic social and communal meaning.

One who believes that the mere signing of a reconciliation agreement means the end of contradictions between Fatah and Hamas is most mistaken. On the contrary, the signing of the reconciliation agreement puts the Palestinian political factions at the very beginning of the reconciliation process on the national, political, strategic and tactical levels. The value of this agreement must be understood in its implicit recognition of the failure and futility of factional options; it must also be considered a realisation of the fact that the political, social, economic and national challenges can be met only by a cohesive political actor. Fatah and Hamas did not solely give in to the pressure of the people's demands, but recognised the non-viability of the current political path and the weakness to which they had abandoned themselves.
The range of complacency and optimism that greeted the reconciliation reflects a satisfaction at the opportunity provided by the agreement for a conciliation process, although conditions for a real reconciliation have not been fully met. We are thus cautiously optimistic about the reconciliation, waiting for political actors to seize this fundamental opportunity and commence discussion of the most vital issues, such that we do not return to the same sectarianism and fragmented political framework after a few days or months.

The first of the conditions for success of reconciliation is a reevaluation and reconstruction of the Palestinian political strategy in order to regain a balance in accordance with national priorities on all levels. The re-evaluation must be based on the fact that the Palestinian people are still in the stage of national liberation, such that the political strategy should first and foremost serve this liberation, with all the attendant implications and priorities, including an interaction between the various forms of struggle. This requires a position far away from a compromise on Palestinian national goals and rights as a precondition for national unity.

It is imperative to identify clear boundaries between the goals of the Palestinian national liberation process and the functions of the Palestinian Authority, especially in light of the catastrophic consequences of the amalgamation of the two and the PA's cooptation of the liberation struggle in both its political and social aspects, with all the terrible cultural and moral consequences of this process.

Reconciliation is the opportunity for a fresh evaluation of the peace process and the political performance of the Palestinian leadership. An assessment in this context - especially after the long-term failure of the process under the pressure of American and Israeli conditions - will highlight the manifestations of the imbalances in the past two decades, as well as the necessity to cut with incorrect political choices and thus to regain the initiative in respect to national interests. Such a political reorientation is not anymore dictated solely by loyalty to the Palestinian cause; it became imperative after decades of compromises recently crowned by Obama's speeches to Congress and the American Israeli Public Affairs Commitee, which leave no hope for consistent change in the future assets of America foreign policy.

The second condition is to rebuild the Palestinian political bodies of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority in accordance not only with a new national strategy, but also with an evaluation of the evolving regional scenario, taking into account the impacts of the Arab revolutions and their role in promoting and re-framing the Palestinian national struggle in its Arab dimension, a dimension which has been deeply harmed by the Arab dictatorial regimes in the last decades. Furthermore the change in the internal balance of power and a pursuance of national efforts on the basis of democracy must be taken into consideration to ensure the participation of all Palestinian political and social forces according to their actual role on the ground.

A balance must accordingly be achieved between the functions of national liberation and the functions of social development, such that the latter is in tune and does not constitute an obstacle to liberation. A primary goal must be to escape from the trap of foreign funding, which has transformed into a field of political pressure.

The implementation of these major points will lead Palestinian political forces to face serious and dangerous national challenges. To not miss this opportunity implies not falling into narrow and selfish sectarian thinking. Every political force must work hard to meet the national challenge, which is first and foremost the ability to rebuild itself on all levels.

The process we are witnessing on the ground goes well beyond a political tightrope walk; it affects the very future of the Palestinian people and their national rights, which are the raison d'être of any Palestinian organization or party, whatever its history, authority or legitimacy might be.

Alternative Information Center (AIC)

Students, labour, academics: Growing Pan-Canadian solidarity with Palestine

Mostafa Henaway — 2011-05-11T17:49:36Z

A series of developments and initiatives across Canada and Quebec underline the growing concern on and around Canadian campuses for issues relating to Palestine and in particular, around Palestinian academics and labour unions.
From May 15 to 30 2011, Dr. Amjad Barham, president of the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE), will be touring Canada and Québec to speak and meet with academics and other members of the labour movement.

The speaking tour, entitled “Building Solidarity from South Africa to Palestine” includes Barham representing the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) as well as a representative (yet to be confirmed) from the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU), an affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

Officials from the Canadian Association of University Teachers will meet Dr. Barham when the tour reaches Ottawa. CAUT already has a collegial relationship with PFUUPE: last year the two organizations signed a reciprocal membership agreement, and CAUT is assisting the PFUUPE in its application for membership in Education International. Last November's CAUT Council adopted a general motion from the floor to investigate and report back on ways to support academic colleagues in Palestine.

“Dr. Barhams's visit to Canada will allow us to explore further ways we can work with PFUUPE to develop its capacity to defend the academic and professional rights of staff in the West Bank and Gaza.,” says CAUT President Penni Stewart.
This speaking tour will be an important opportunity for debate and discussion on the question of how we as academics and trade unionists can stand in solidarity with Palestinians. The tour will be an occasion for questions and debate around issues such as: Why are trade unionists around the world increasingly comparing the situation in Palestine with that of South African apartheid? What is the situation of Palestinian academics, students and workers today? Why has there been a call by Palestinian trade unions for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) modeled on the solidarity movement against South African apartheid? What is the role of trade union activists in what is happening in Palestine and South Africa today?

This solidarity tour is aimed at fostering relationships between Palestinian, South African, Canadian and Québécois trade unionists in the hopes of building on the already considerable work of Canadian and Québec solidarity campaigns. It is also an important opportunity for public education on the experiences of workers and trade unionists in Palestine and South Africa.

"Faculty for Palestine is very excited to hear that Dr. Amjad Barham, will be touring Canada as part of an important labour solidarity tour which will also feature a South African trade unionist.” says Alan Sears, a sociologist at Ryerson University who is active with Faculty for Palestine, a network of more than 450 Canadian faculty at more than 40 universities and 15 colleges across the country, which organizes primarily around the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign (including academic boycott), the right to education under occupation and building ties with Palestinian colleagues, students and staff, and defending freedom of expression on Canadian campuses around Palestinian solidarity. In Québec, similar work is being done by a group called CUWU (College and University Workers United).

Sears continues: “Dr. Barham is the President of the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees and a strong supporter of the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions. In a context in Canada in which student-led divestment campaigns against investment in Israeli apartheid are shaking up many of our university campuses and challenging with Israeli institutions, the tour promises to be an excellent space for strategic debate, analysis of apartheids, and further organizing."

As was the case in the struggle for divestment from apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, student groups on a growing number of campuses have been taking leadership positions in the movement for divestment from companies involved in violations of Palestinian human rights and the occupation of Palestine. Students Against Israeli Apartheid at the University of Toronto, York University and Carleton University correctly point out that these “complicit companies create military technologies used in the murder of civilians, the destruction of infrastructure and the daily humiliation of Palestinians.” As the growing educational campaigns during Israeli Apartheid Week spread to more campuses each year, they stimulate increased discussion and debate around these issues which lasts much longer than just a week.

At the campus where I work, a student group (Solidarity with Palestinian Human Rights) joined with other community groups to help support the Canadian Boat to Gaza initiative (canadaboatgaza.org), a civil society campaign to challenge the blockade of Gaza. While not directly an academic or labour union issue, the illegal blockade of Gaza of course affects students and university staff along with everyone else. Despite marginal improvements since last summer`s flotilla, aid deliveries to Gaza are still a fraction of what was needed before the blockade was imposed in 2007. As my colleague, Ziad Medoukh (head of French and director of the Peace Centre at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza) notes, schools supplies, computer equipment and books are still among the goods which are severely restricted and only sporadically available under the blockade of Gaza. Despite high levels of participation in primary-secondary education and healthy enrolments at the five universities in Gaza, the hopes and aspirations of a whole generation in Gaza are being needlessly stunted due to senseless restrictions which have nothing to do with anyone's “security”. Those who finish their studies and earn scholarships abroad are often caught by restrictions on human mobility which cruelly curtail travel for academic, medical, commercial or family purposes. While there is now hope that the Rafah border with Egypt will open (and stay open) for people and goods, Palestinians also have the right to free ship traffic through the port of Gaza – the only Mediterranean port which is closed to shipping – and to the use of their own territorial waters.

Ziad Medoukh adds that the Palestinians of Gaza are left with “a hope in international civil society solidarity which is organizing throughout the world in order to try, through peaceful actions, to break this blockade, in particular with, the ‘French Boat for Gaza', ‘Canadian Boat for Gaza', an ‘International Boat for Gaza' campaign – a whole flotilla for Gaza. We in Gaza, given our current situation, are impatiently awaiting the arrival of this international freedom flotilla… with one clear message: the blockade of Gaza must and will be lifted.”

More and more Canadians, on campus and in our communities, are heeding this sort of call from Palestinians, be they in Gaza or from the West Bank. Whether it is by working on civil society campaigns like the Canadian Boat to Gaza, by joining student-led initiatives on campus for boycott, divestment and sanctions, or simply by showing up and listening what our academic colleagues and fellow trade unionists from Palestine have to say, the growing involvement of Canadian faculty for Palestine is a cause in which we can all participate.

David Heap is Associate Professor (French and Linguistics) at the University of Western Ontario, active with both Faculty for Palestine and Labour for Palestine, as well as the national steering committee of the Canadian Boat to Gaza. This article also is also to appear in the May 2011 issue of the Canadian Association of University Teacher Bulletin, cautbulletin.ca

Labour tour: Building Solidarity from South Africa to Palestine

The speaking tour will begin in Montreal (May 15-19), then travel through Ontario, to Regina and Vancouver. CAUT members and affiliates will be welcome as part of the discussion at the different solidarity tour venues across the country.

MONTREAL: Tuesday May 17, 7pm. Centre St. Pierre Salle 304. 1212, rue Panet (metro Beaudry).

OTTAWA: Wednesday May 18 7pm. CUPW National Office, 377 Bank St.

TORONTO
Saturday May 21, 6:30pm-9:30pm, Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St. (Bathurst subway).
Thursday May 26, 7pm-10pm, CUPE Ontario Convention, Sheraton Hotel, 123 Queen St. West

WINDSOR: Sunday May 22, 2pm-5pm, Oak Room, Vanier Hall, University of Windsor

HAMILTON: Tuesday May 24, 6pm-8pm, McMaster University.

LONDON: Wednesday May 25, 7pm-9pm, Tolpuddle room, 380 Adelaide St. North (at King)
REGINA: Thursday May 27. 7:30 pm, Regina Union Centre, 2709 12th Ave

VANCOUVER: Sunday May 29, 6pm
Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph Street, Vancouver (Victoria and Triumph, two blocks north of Hastings St.)

Initial tour sponsors include: Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW-STTP); Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) – Ontario Division; CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee; CUPE Toronto District Council; CUPE Locals 15, 2491, 3903, 3906; Fédération nationale des enseignants et enseignantes du Québec (FNEEQ); FTQ Conseil Régional de Montréal; London & District Labour Council; Metropolitan Montréal Central Council, Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN); Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Local 568; Teaching Support Staff Union, Social Justice Committee, Simon Fraser University; Toronto Secondary Unit Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association Human Rights' Committee; Vancouver & District Labour Council; Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, Vancouver; Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid; Faculty for Palestine; Independent Jewish Voices; London Solidarity Coalition for Palestine; Not in Our Name: Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism; Tadamon! Montreal; Canada-Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet).

Ways you can support this important tour:

Sponsor the tour, host the trade unionists, organize members to come out to the event in your community, donate funds, publicize the tour or write about it in your newsletter or website.

To Sponsor, Donate or Participate in the Tour, please contact:

SAtoPalestine@yahoo.com
More information about the tour can be found at http://www.tadamon.ca/post/9022/

The Law of Mother Earth: Behind Bolivia's historic bill

Nick Buxton — 2011-04-29T20:17:01Z

Indigenous and campesino (small-scale farmer) movements in the Andean nation of Bolivia are on the verge of pushing through one of the most radical environmental bills in global history. The "Mother Earth" law under debate in Bolivia's legislature will almost certainly be approved, as it has already been agreed to by the majority governing party, Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS).

The law draws deeply on indigenous concepts that view nature as a sacred home, the Pachamama (Mother Earth) on which we intimately depend. As the law states, “Mother Earth is a living dynamic system made up of the undivided community of all living beings, who are all interconnected, interdependent and complementary, sharing a common destiny.”

The law would give nature legal rights, specifically the rights to life and regeneration, biodiversity, water, clean air, balance, and restoration. Bolivia's law mandates a fundamental ecological reorientation of Bolivia's economy and society, requiring all existing and future laws to adapt to the Mother Earth law and accept the ecological limits set by nature. It calls for public policy to be guided by Sumaj Kawsay or Vivir Bien (an indigenous concept meaning “living well,” or living in harmony with nature and people), rather than the current focus on producing more goods and stimulating consumption.

In practical terms, the law requires the government to transition from non-renewable to renewable energy; to develop new economic indicators that will assess the ecological impact of all economic activity; to carry out ecological audits of all private and state companies; to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; to develop policies of food and renewable energy sovereignty; to research and invest resources in energy efficiency, ecological practices, and organic agriculture; and to require all companies and individuals to be accountable for environmental contamination with a duty to restore damaged environments.

The law will be backed up by a new Ministry of Mother Earth, an inter-Ministry Advisory Council, and an Ombudsman. Undarico Pinto, leader of the 3.5 million-strong campesino movement CSUTCB, which helped draft the law, believes this legislation represents a turning point in Bolivian law: "Existing laws are not strong enough. This will make industry more transparent. It will allow people to regulate industry at national, regional, and local levels."

However, there is also strong awareness among Bolivia's social movements—in particular for the Pacto de Unidad (Unity Pact), a coalition of the country's five largest social movements and a key force behind the law—that the existence of a new law will not be enough to prompt real change in environmental practices.

A major obstacle is the fact that Bolivia is structurally dependent on extractive industries. Since the discovery of silver by the Spanish in the 16th Century, Bolivia's history has been tied to ruthless exploitation of its people and its environment in order to transfer wealth to the richest countries; poet and historian Eduardo Galeano's famous book Open Veins draws largely on the brutal story of how Bolivia's exploitation fuelled the industrial expansion of Europe. In 2010, 70 percent of Bolivia's exports were still in the form of minerals, gas, and oil. This structural dependence will be very difficult to unravel.

Moreover, there is a great deal of opposition from powerful sectors, particularly mining and agro-industrial enterprises, to any ecological laws that would threaten profits. The main organization of soya producers, which claimed that the law “will make the productive sector inviable,” is one of many powerful groups who have already come out against the law. Within the government, there are many ministries and officials that would also like the law to remain nothing more than a visionary but ultimately meaningless statement.

Raul Prada, one of the advisors to Pacto de Unidad, explained that the Mother Earth law was developed by Bolivia's largest social movements in response to their perceived exclusion from policy-making by the MAS government, led by indigenous President Evo Morales. They have generally supported MAS since its resounding election victory in 2005, but were frustrated by what they saw as a lack of progress. Rather than merely expressing their concern, these movements—comprised mainly of indigenous and farming communities—are pro-actively developing a series of new laws. Their first priority was the passage of the Mother Earth Law, based on a commitment made at the historic global Peoples Conference on Climate Change held in Bolivia in April 2010. To some surprise, the diverse movements soon developed a consensual agreement that was supported by MAS legislators.

Raul Prada notes that, even with significant pressure from social movements, transitioning to an economy based on the concept Vivir Bien will not be easy. “It is going to be difficult to transit from an extractive economy. We clearly can't close mines straight away, but we can develop a model where this economy has less and less weight. It will need policies developed in participation with movements, particularly in areas such as food sovereignty. It will need redirection of investment and policies towards different ecological models of development. It will need the cooperation of the international community to develop regional economies that complement each other.”

Ultimately, though, this is a challenge far bigger than Bolivia, says Prada: “Our ecological and social crisis is not just a problem for Bolivia or Ecuador; it is a problem for all of us. We need to pull together peoples, researchers, and communities to develop real concrete alternatives so that the dominant systems of exploitation don't just continue by default. This is not an easy task, but I believe with international solidarity, we can and must succeed.”

Some Reflections On The Way From Cochabamba To Durban

Elizabeth Peredo Beltran — 2011-04-26T17:55:08Z

There is a rebellious movement growing across the planet protesting the unfair impacts of climate change and environmental crisis. A global intuition was being formed on the real causes of climate crisis, and on that we must listen to the voices of peoples and listen to the voice of nature herself reminding us that something is really very wrong in how we do inhabit the planet. More and more people are realizing that this is one of the most challenging crisis that we humans have ever faced. It forces us to question both capitalism and colonialism. The crisis reflects the harmful results of greed and over-consumption, on the dominant paradigms for human life on this planet. This situation have lead us to a juncture between life or death. We have never made such an important choice before. There is no doubt.

This global rebellious explains why the Cochabamba's People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth was so succesfull, despite beign convoqued and organized in just four mounths. It gathered together more than 35,000 thousand people from 142 different countries and some official national delegations. To address the challenge the participants divided into 17 working groups, and even there was an additional 18th working group reflecting a critical vision as always happens in healthy societies that must listen to all voices.

Cochabamba gave a voice to the people. It brought to us the possibility to challenge the “walls” built around the climate negotiations. All that force and emotion came from the grass roots, from our lifelong experiences of struggles in different fields we have been able to build a comprehensive political platform reflecting broad agendas opening paths and possibilities to face this crisis of civilization. Cochabamba was the most serious attempt in the last years to free the debate from the closed doors showing that such debate needs to take place between people to build a global transformation agenda. And we faced not only those very technical issues discussed in climate negotiations, such as shared vision, the Kyoto Protocol, finance, technology and others, but also new concepts such as climate justice, indigenous rights, structural causes, the idea of a Tribunal on Climate Justice.

At the same time of recovering that political cummulative inherit we have due our struggles, the Cochabamba agenda formed the basis of a real political bridge between two currents of social movements and activists: those with their roots in social struggles and those from the environmental struggles. The results are challenging and are beginning to be discussed in different fora including the embracing proposal to codify the Rights of Mother Earth, because they simply take the global wish to recover a balance between humans and nature, and working through the legacy of colonialism and capitalism in human history.

This agenda is now a big challenge because we need to begin to apply it whenever it were possible all over the world. It brings many possibilities that must be measured at the local and concrete levels. And we have from then a reference, ideas that have been collectivelly built to save humanity and the life in the planet, our home.

The proposal of building the rights of Mother Earth is a real challenge because it confronts our traditional values and forces us to rethink whether our current system of human rights are able to stop destruction of the planet or whether these rights have in fact been hijacked by big corporations. It also allows us to realize in that we live a kind of schizophrenia in which all those nice values and agreements resolved in the UN system are, in fact, less binding than the neoliberal governance system that reigns over our lives. In this context reinventing our governance systems to stop both environmental destruction and human injustice is urgent. Both the new Bolivian and the new Ecuadorian constitutions have begun to recognize the concept of “living well” calling for an end to over-consumption and recognizing the finite limits imposed by nature on "limitless" growth and development. The ecological footprint is a tool that can help us to quantify and recognize this concept.

In this crisis we need a narrative, and we are building it. The People's Agreement is a wonderful attempt to construct a narrative that reflects the inputs and struggles of social movements. There are many other initiatives and thoughts and statements that are contributing to a new vision. But we have to go beyond rhetoric, because, rhetoric and declarations are insufficient to create real change. We have to overcome rhetoric.

To go beyond rhetoric requires a political vision and probable to be more focused at the local levels, recognizing the efforts that the people is already doing to defend themselves and the planet, like the struggles of indigenous peoples in the Amazonas against dams, or the daily struggle of women everywhere to take care of life. But at the same time go beyond rhetoric needs of personal and cultural deep changes. And probably this will not be possible until we will be able to construct supportive social structures and policies.

In this sense it is particularly important to put into practice the concept of “living well” (which basically means that nobody has the right to over consume the planet) in cities, in the context of growing urban centers that are devouring our planetç

Another challenge that must be faced is the unity of social movements. Between Cochabamba and Durban was Cancun, and it was a real lesson on how things can become when unity is not a priority. Unity of the social movements must be a central task to have a civil society expressing their visions and demands in Durban forcing the richest countries to realize that their decisions are condemning people and ecosystems to inevitable death in the next few years a process that has already begun all over the world.

We have to be strong enough to demand that the UNFCCC process must give an outcome that could respect the climate debt. It is really frightening how all the events that are directly caused by global warming are not linked to the negotiations. Those tragedies really not touch the hearth of the negotiation. Just since Copenhagen we have seen: Pakistan, Brazil, Central America, Andean Nations, the Philippines, Russia, Australia, and now the US with dreadful tornadoes. But the affliction of amnesia is all-powerful. They forget their responsibilities on historical emissions and instead want even to change the base-year for their commitment on green house gas reductions.

Yesterday Vinod Raina from India quoted Mahatma Ghandi's thoughts about the Truth. Mahatma Gandhi said that the most important struggle is for the truth: "Nonviolence and truth (Satya) are inseparable and presupposes one another. There is no god higher than truth." And this is a matter of violence and truth indeed. They all know what are going to be the human impacts, especially in the global south, especially for the poorest, the eldest, for children and women. But they do not care. Lets ask them to tell the truth.

That is why I believe that -besides giving our solidarity- we must take the Fukushima tragedy very seriously, because it is a real metaphore for the global climate and environmental crisis. We all are living the “Fukushima syndrome” that is about how far can go neoliberal greed in hiding the truth and in forget taking care seriously of life. They know the truth but they confide in business, they know the dangers but they condemn their workers to death, they know the harmful impacts, but the hide them from the people and remove regulation from the people's control. They don't want to respect our right to life.

Climate Justice struggles are bringing to us some vital signals to keep on fostering the hope for armonius life on earth, their linkage to the structural causes and other crises like the environmental, the biodiversity, the inmigration ones… And it is bringing great ideas like the Tribunal, an initiative from the people to demonstrate their criminality, highlighting those responsible for this crises, give the plattform to the most vulnerable and push the powerful for change.

But the change will come from the bottom up, from the local level and from our daily lives. Real changes will come combining the global and the local, the public and the private, the personal and the collective. Is the people who will give their hands and their strenght for this transformation.

*This note has been presented in the Closing Plenary that took place in Montreal Last Sunday 17th April organized by Alternatives and promoted by various local nets and social movements in the International Conference “Cochabamba + 1” (15-17 April).

Montreal Meeting Shows Growing Support for Climate Justice

John Riddell — 2011-04-26T17:49:15Z

Conference organizer: “This is the first chance in twenty years for such a political discussion embracing forces from both Quebec and [English] Canada”

Bolivia marked Earth Day (April 22) this year by formulating the Law of Mother Earth, which — when adopted — will establish eleven new rights for nature, including the rights not to be polluted and to continue vital cycles free from human interference.

On April 20, the United Nations General Assembly debated a proposal introduced by Bolivia, with support of other South American countries, to adopt a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature. The proposed global treaty says that “Mother Earth has the right to exist, persist, and to continue the vital cycles … that sustain all human beings.”

Meanwhile, Canada's political and media establishment have organized an election campaign in which the world's ecological crisis is barely mentioned.

But a conference with more than 300 participants, held in Montreal April 15—17, showed that Bolivia's bold approach to ecology is gaining increased support in Canada.

The event was jointly sponsored by Alternatives, a Quebec-based social justice organization, and Canadian Dimension. Supporters included the Council of Canadians, Greenpeace, the Indigenous Environmental Network, and major union groups: CAW, CSN, CSQ, CUPE, CUPW, FTQ, and PSAC.[1]

Cochabamba One Year Later

Entitled “Cochabamba+1,” the conference marked the first anniversary of the April 2010 gathering in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which launched a world movement to defend the “rights of Mother Nature.”[2]

In a Skype-transmitted keynote address, Bolivia's ambassador to the UN, Pablo Solón, told the conference that “the spirit of Cochabamba is everywhere — a global movement without which we will suffer a world catastrophe.”

“The capitalist plan is to place values on all the services that nature provides,” Solón added. All of nature could then be bought and sold. “That's their ‘Green economy.' The Cochabamba path, by contrast, is to recognize the rights of the non-human parts of nature — to exist, reproduce, and retain their interrelationships.”

The Cochabamba alternative, which rejects the capitalist framework, is easy to explain in Canada, said Judy Rebick, founding publisher of Rabble.ca. “This alternative says that there are no market solutions. That's already understood with regard to social problems, and it applies to nature as well.”

Many speakers expressed alarm regarding the Canadian government's open hostility to defense of the environment. “We have become the pariahs of the planet,” said Dorval Brunelle, a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

“Canada is among the leaders in killing Kyoto,” the world treaty limiting carbon emissions, commented Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow. “Under Harper, Canada is an eco-outlaw,” she added, expressing “special thanks to Bolivia” for offering an alternative.

“Bolivia must not stand alone,” Polaris Institute director Tony Clarke said. “Civil society must unite with the Cochabamba platform.” Governmental “negotiations on climate change will go nowhere unless there is a counterweight,” he added.

Amir Khadir, Quebec Solidaire co-spokesperson and member of the National Assembly, noted the absence of political will on this issue in our society. “To get out of our dead end we must look at Latin America, where social movements, unions, indigenous peoples, and farmers have joined a synthesis.”

Challenge of Colonialism

The disastrous effects of Canada's tar sands oilfields was analyzed by several speakers. Ben Powless of the Indigenous Environmental Network emphasized their impact on Native peoples, noting that the tar sands “poison Athabaska water resources and destroy Indigenous people's food sources.” Oil extraction “violates the treaties with Indigenous peoples that we are all part of as Canadians.” Any environmental movement in this country “has to take seriously the challenge of colonialism in this country.”

Responding to Powless, Amir Khadir described Canada as “a colonial enterprise.” Canada's notoriously pro-corporate mining legislation is “a colonialist law, copied from South Africa,” he said. “Canada is a mining-based state [un minéralo-état] just as Saudi Arabia is a monarchy based on oil.” The Quebec government has been Ottawa's “best pupil” in applying these policies and now has set its sights on ravaging Quebec's north, Khadir said. He hailed the resistance of the Cree peoples in the northlands and of Natives living near Oka: “The indigenous peoples are winning respect for their rights.”

Community-based movements

Khadir also greeted the progress achieved in resisting development of shale gas in Quebec. Now in vogue globally as a new source of hydrocarbons, shale gas extraction depends on fracturing underground rock layers by forcible injection of fluids (“fracking”). It is widely feared for side-effects that include poisoned water and massive methane release.

“Within six months, in communities along the St. Lawrence river, 15 resistance networks arose, quite outside the ecological movement. They brought these big development plans to a halt,” Khadir said.

Kim Cornelissen, vice-president of the Quebec Association against Pollution, noted that under Canada's mining laws, Quebec municipalities have no legal power to restrain shale gas development. They were undeterred. “Many adopted resolutions against shale gas development, even though they had no authority to do so.” This was effective, she said. “There is a difference between what is legal and what is politically effective.”

A panel on food and water issues focused on the contributions of working farmers to ecological survival. Véronique Côté of the Union Paysanne (Farmers' Union), Quebec affiliate of La Via Campesina, described how small-scale farming operations preserve and improve water supply. Pat Mooney of EDC Group, a research institute, explained that independent farmers represent the future of the world's food supply. “The world's four giant livestock corporations work with only 25 breeds of 5 species. The farmers raise 8,000 unique breeds of 40 species,” he said.

Michel Fortin, a CSN union leader with long experience in the Abitibi-Bowater pulp and paper plant in Clermont, Quebec, described how its workers, faced with demands for concessions, went on the offensive on environmental issues. They achieved many gains, including worker involvement in environmental decisions, an 85% reduction in waste, and the transformation of the Malbaie river — formerly poisoned by plant operations — into a first-rate site for salmon fishing.

Workers and the Environment

Nick De Carlo, the Canadian Auto Workers' national representative for the environment, recalled the slogan, “System change, not climate change,” voiced in the conference's first session. “I agree,” said De Carlo, “but change to what, and how? The issues we are raising challenge to capitalism itself, and the changes will be carried out by workers. So we must build the workers' movement.”

De Carlo emphasized that he was not speaking only of the workers' movement in the limited sense of salaried workers organized in unions. “The social movement must be something new.” It must aim for a reorganized, locally controlled economy. “Everything that the environment needs is also needed by workers and their unions,” he said.

Addressing the same challenge, Khadir pointed to “a true dilemma.” With regard to the ecological challenge, “Most working people are sympathetic to world solutions, but not if this puts their jobs in jeopardy. Ecologists speak of great principles, and people answer, ‘But how are we to live?'”

To encompass working-class struggles, “we must meet this concern,” Khadir said. “The new society will go past socialism — because socialism, like capitalism, is productivist — but it must also assure employment.”

Remarks by John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, illustrated this point. Toronto unions campaigned with success for a civic initiative to retrofit homes for energy savings. “It was a great success,” he said. “More jobs, cost savings, and reductions in energy use.” A similar success was achieved in diverting organic matter and recyclables from the waste stream, as an alternative to hazardous dumping of Toronto trash into an abandoned open-pit mine in Ontario. Cartwright also reported on the Labour Council's “good jobs” campaign. “Our second conference brought together 600 people, nearly half of them people of colour — it was the first such environmental conference in our history.”

Challenge of Unity

In the final conference session, several young activists criticized it for a lack of inclusivity. It was noted that only one of thirty panellists was under thirty years old. With the exception of one “horizontally”-conceived session, discussions were in a traditional panel format that were thought to have restricted input from other participants.

Speaking for the conference organizers, Cy Gonick, publisher of Canadian Dimension, acknowledged that “we have to be as inclusive as we can. The Conference tried, and was not entirely successful. We know we need to do better and will work with everyone who feels somewhat excluded.”

Elizabeth Peredo Beltrán of the Solón Foundation in La Paz — a significant force in Bolivia's efforts for climate justice — spoke of unity in a broader framework: the need to bring together social and environmental struggles. “Social movements are drawn to influencing governmental negotiations,” she said, “but this must not take us away for the struggle for water and other specific goals. We must draw on the knowledge and cultural values of indigenous people, young people, and women. People are trapped by misinformation, but scientists know the truth. We must insist on the truth.”

South African author and activist Patrick Bond also stressed the need to unite “saving the environment with saving the poor.” The approach — the core concept of the global movement for climate justice — will be at the heart of a people's summit in Durban, South Africa, in December 2011, where yet another session of governmental negotiations on climate justice is to take place.

Andrea Harden-Donahue, energy and climate justice campaigner for the Council of Canadians, stressed that “the UN climate talks are not going to cut it.” Pressure on the negotiators is good, but “hope is not in Harper and not in the UN but in building alliances for local action,” she said.

It is important to recognize that the climate justice movement already exists, Judy Rebick said, in dozens of vigorous local struggles, especially the huge fight against mining. “We need to get in touch with those doing the work and provide a platform where they can share experiences.”

With regard to the road forward, the closing session was marked by considerable agreement, expressed in part by the following four proposals.

For a network to link climate justice activists across Canada (proposed by Cy Gonick).

For a civil society tribunal on crimes against the environment (Elizabeth Peredo).

To support the protests in Durban through both direct participation and local actions (Suzanne Weiss).

To protest the neglect of environmental issues in the elections. (Michel Camus)

But the main achievement lay in the simple fact of the conference itself and the richness of its discussions. “This is the first chance in twenty years for such a political discussion embracing forces from both Quebec and [English] Canada,” commented conference organizer Roger Rashi. In addition, the conference expressed new energy and increased confidence in building the climate justice movement.

Peredo caught the spirit of the conference in stressing that “climate justice is a matter of life and death” for our species. “We need huge mobilizations at the local level.”

Dale Marshall, climate change analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation, pointed to a contradiction in our conduct. “We say that the situation is urgent, but we do not act as if its urgent. We need to express urgency in our collective actions.” The question of how to give expression to this urgency must now be resolved through the experience of the broader movement for ecological and climate justice.

John Riddell is a member of Toronto Bolivia Solidarity.

[1]. Canadian Auto Workers, Confédération des syndicats nationaux, Centrale des syndicats du Quebec, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Federation des travailleurs et travailleuses du Quebec, Public Service Alliance of Canada.

[2]. For documents of the Cochabamba conference, see Cochabamba: Documents of the World Peoples' Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth.

We are not alone: Resistance before and after the elections

Christian Nadeau — 2011-04-19T20:12:04Z

Since the publication of my book Rogue in Power, I have called the attention of my readers to two main points. First, I wanted to underline the significance of a mass vote against the Conservatives, taking into account the particularities of each riding. Second, I invited the members of civil society to imagine today what kind of mobilization we will need after the elections. In essence, even if we imagine that Stephen Harper and his team lose the next elections, which I highly doubt, we will need to do a lot of work to rebuild the Canadian institutions and democratic practices needed for the maintenance of the rule of law. If, as I fear, the Conservatives win, whether as a majority or a minority, then we will need to be in a position to resist their aggressive policies as of the first days following the election. If we are not prepared to face them, they will be ready to face us in any event, and we will come to recognize that we haven't seen anything yet.

In the short and long terms, democracy in Canada will be under attack on two levels. It is called into question by the systematic dismantling of its institutions by the Harper Conservatives. However, democracy is also undermined from the inside by a cult of indifference. The self-proclaimed analyses of certain media are the cause of many problems. One such problem is clearly seen in the large number of journalists commenting on political news as though this were merely sporting events or artistic performances. How often do we hear commentators discussing the Conservatives' contempt for Parliament, their disregard for social justice and democracy, and other related issues? These questions, they say, do not reach the average voter. But it is very easy to pretend to know what citizens think when speaking on their behalf. The “real world,” pseudo-political analysts tell us, wants to hear about the economy and nothing else. Strange reasoning, because how can we possibly discuss the economy if the Parliament is not functioning and if it hides the real cost of F-35 fighter jets, or if the distribution of funds to development aid programs rests on the arbitrary will of a few people? It is obvious that the economy is a crucial political question. However, the economy means nothing if it is considered for its own sake, abstractly and without points of reference located in our very way of conceiving the nature of a just and democratic society.

Another problem with the current election is that we seem to have already forgotten the reasons why we are in an election in the first place. Everything is unfolding as though the only important thing worth discussing is the manner in which Ignatieff flirts with electors or whether Harper was or was not ready to form a coalition in 2004. I am not saying that these points are unimportant, but they seem to have priority in the media and elsewhere in civil society, while the fundamental questions are not discussed because of a presumed lack of interest on the part of the electorate. In predicting indifference, do we not cultivate it, when things could, after all, be otherwise?

Nobody gets the idea to get on stage if the play they are watching is not good or if the sports team is not making an effort to win. But the political arena is not a theatre in which the actors are strictly separated from the audience. We can and must express what we want and need. By telling citizens that politics is merely a game, and that we have no chance of winning anything, we promote exactly what we ought to be revisiting with all our strength: the passivity of the electorate.

Is it possible to respond to all these problems? Is the task too demanding? No, because we are so numerous. No, because we are very strong, well organized and capable of tremendous mobilization. Civil society exists, we can see the proof everywhere; it would take very little to see deployed the largest opposition ever seen in this country against a government that can, and should, no longer act on our behalf. This is true here and now, before the elections, and it must remain true after the elections. Together, we can avoid the worst situation if only we think about the long term.

There are dozens of organizations that fight constantly to protect us. We must invest in them. In simply considering the case of Québec, we cannot ignore the crucial role of the unions, the CSN, FTQ, CSQ, as well as other important actors in civil society – I am thinking particularly of Alternatives, the Ligue des Droits et Libertés, the main student organizations, the FRAPRU activists, the Conseil Québécois des Gais et Lesbiennes, The Quebec Federation of Women; in short, all those organizations essential to the proper functioning of what Rousseau called “a well-ordered society”. Elsewhere in Canada, there is the Canadian Health Coalition, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, the International Women's Rights Project, the Raging Grannies, the Native Women's Association of Canada, Amnesty International, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Oxfam Canada, the CWP Advocacy Network, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action, Democracy Watch, and many, many others. The fight is possible: we are not alone!

The great recklessness of Stephen Harper, which is in line with his way of thinking about his relationship to power, ultimately undermines the very bases of his moral authority. The political actions sought by his party and also his infamous recourse to prorogations, have had the effect of diluting confidence between the voters and their government. In light of this, he can no longer stake his authority on anything like a genuine democratic legitimacy, and must rely instead on demonstrations of power or fiat. Moreover, no longer evincing moral legitimacy, he forces his projects through by sowing the seeds of disorder in the opposition and fuelling discord therein. Our own power, by contrast, stems from the legitimacy of the causes for which we are ready to fight and to unify our forces.

I sincerely hope that in the days to come there will be huge demonstrations in this country, that tens of thousands of people will show up in each of the big cities, from Montreal, to Québec, to Toronto, and Ottawa, as well as in Winnipeg and Vancouver, to name but a few. We will also need many meetings outside the major urban centres to fight against a government that now lacks all credibility and whose projects run contrary to a just society. I also hope that these mobilizations will continue after the elections, in order that we not lose sight of the fact that we are not fighting against Harper and his acolytes as individuals, but precisely against what they represent. A philosopher's dream? We will soon see...

Christian Nadeau is a Professor of Philosophy at Université de Montréal

LETTER FROM KABUL

Nipa Banerjee — 2011-04-14T14:05:03Z

I board a plane from Frankfurt, bound for Dubai on the way to one of my innumerable trips to Afghanistan. I muse about my journey over the years in the land of the Kabuliwallahs, the fruits and nuts traders I used to watch with immense curiosity in my childhood days in Kolkata (Calcutta) in India. As a child I knew the Kabuliwallahs to be visitors from the distant terrains of a mysterious land, framed by majestic jagged Hindukush mountain ranges. I wonder - is the land any less mysterious to me today?

I am brought back to reality by a friendly voice of an American introducing himself as Bob. He is heading for Iraq - a civilian working in an US supported project. During the course of our conversation I ask him if the security situation has improved in Iraq with the gradual withdrawal of the US troops, secretly hoping that he will say “yes” so that my dreams for betterment of security in Afghanistan would heighten. He crushes my hopes with an instant response - not at all and that it has worsened for foreigners, who are a hated lot but that he keeps returning because the job in Iraq gives him his daily bread. But, he says that he will not go to Afghanistan, even for money. He says that I must be a courageous (and probably thinks rather nutty) woman traveling to Afghanistan with no protection, no security, no insurance. I assure him that bad luck can hit a person anywhere - in the streets of Ottawa, New York or Kabul.

Sitting beside us is a Canadian national swim team member going to Dubai for a championship event. Overhearing our conversation, he intervenes and says that the Canadian government has kept the public in the dark about the situation in Afghanistan - what is Canada doing in a place that is steeped in sky high corruption, where women's ears and nose are cut off and acid thrown in the faces of girl children going to school? A loud laughter from the American - do you believe our governments care about these issues?

The WikiLeaks revealed the discrepancy between what diplomats really feel or know about Afghanistan and the messages they deliver to their public. No transparent message about the state of affairs in Afghanistan has ever been delivered to the tax-paying public by the governments. A consistently rosy public picture of progress in Afghanistan is deliberately maintained when, in reality, the situation is quite grim and governance extremely weak. Nor has the international community undertaken much transparent dialogue with the Afghan government about the need for better attention to governance and rule of law, which are at the base of any accountable and stable government.

I am not certain how much our government cared. But I know that I did and so did many other colleagues of mine, both Canadian and Afghan. But it is difficult to keep up the caring in the flagrant absence of care in the management of the “engagement” in Afghanistan by the authorities of both the international community and Afghanistan itself. The young, educated Afghans - Pashtuns, Tajiks and Hazaras - those who never saw foreign soil and others of Afghan descent born abroad - who held high hopes and ready to help their leaders to build a nation in 2001, have been ignored and betrayed. I meet them every day - young people caught in a quandary- they just cannot get out. They want a strong self-sustaining nation while the country's western mentors hype the notion that with its divided tribal loyalties Afghanistan could never be a nation with strong institutions.

A bewildering maze of training programs in Afghanistan has had little results in institution building. As an instance, a civilian police force has not been developed, yet. The recent record of abusive performance of the south Sudanese police trained by Canadians is only one example that raises questions about the wisdom of assigning the task of police training to westerners who appear ineffective in building new civil institutions in war torn countries, where access to justice, and protection of civil rights have not been practised for decades. Afghans have little confidence on the police forces, trained by foreigners. Hearing cars racing with high pitched sirens my Afghan colleagues rush to inspect the commotion from the fourth floor soviet style building of the Afghan Ministry of Finance. They turn back laughing, with the sarcastic comment- oh these are the foreign Afghan police flexing their muscles!

Serious doubts remain whether the Afghan armed forces will be ready to take over full responsibility from the international troops in 2014. Development of a huge army is also considered fiscally unsustainable because Afghanistan will not be able to pay for more than fraction of the costs of its own security forces for years. The World Bank approximates Afghanistan's GDP as $12 billion when the US alone spends $113 billion annually in Afghanistan.

The plane descends to Kabul. A surprise - a counter for females only - a novelty in Afghanistan! Pushing aside principles of feminism, I dash for the female counter to get the stamp of immigration. Special privilege given to females was short lived, however. This counter disappeared within three weeks presumably based on the argument that gender (male and female) equality demands that women should not be given extra advantages.

As I ride through the dusty streets of Kabul, children run up to the side of the road - amazingly beautiful children but malnourished, with unwashed clothing and faces and shocking vacant looks - their glazed eyes tell tales of poverty stealing their childhood. At that moment flashes in my mind, the ostensibly expensive restaurants of Kabul where the exclusive crowd of expatriates dine on French croissants, fried brie cheese and foie de gras…

My car passes with the spiraling dust covering the little faces of the children. I think again – I've made this journey several times over the last seven years, why am I so disconcerted this time? Superficially, conditions have hardly changed since the first time I arrived, wide eyed and hopeful, in 2003! But there must have been a decline over the years, perhaps imperceptible slides downward, until the hard realities have hit harder this time to let my dreams disappear. The reality is that any visible progress is absent. It is documented by research that livelihoods of dozens of households across rural Afghanistan surveyed in 2003/04 deteriorated by 2008/09 with the research teams revisiting the same families finding the majority worse off than before, with many struggling to meet even the most basic of day to day needs.

Accountability is lacking for billions invested in the country. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) and other evaluations discovered that hundreds of structures across the country have been poorly constructed or never completed at all. While billions of dollars are flowing into the country, lives of the poor have not improved. Over 36 percent of the people live below the poverty line, earning less than a dollar a day. A Kabul University professor's research apparently brings the figure of absolute poverty to above 80 percent, which has not yet been vetted by the Afghan government. Strangely enough, in a country where the unemployment rate is close to 40%, hundreds of men (with no knowledge of any local language) are imported from Nepal, for guarding the compounds of the international organizations. The little kids I left on the roadside, representing children who have the good fortune of not dying before the age of five, will never see a class room. Many of the girls will be illegally married by the time they are 12, and die at labor, their yet undeveloped wombs struggling to deliver babies. The boys will be without jobs and give in to the Taliban enticement, perhaps finish their lives as suicide bombers while in their teens.

How much of the shares of the billions of dollars of aid are benefiting these street children or their parents? The government officials deny corruption to be real because Transparency International's ranking is based on “perception” and no real “evidence” of corruption exists. The evidence of waste and mismanagement, on which corruption grows is glaring when a Canadian tax payer cannot get a clear answer to the question of how much income has been generated by the micro credit dispensed to the poor.

In Kabul, I visited a micro credit client - a woman. By her own account, she had sent the credit received to her son who was jobless in Iran. How was she to pay back the loan? She said that her family income was good enough to re-pay the loan. I let my readers to conjecture how the “poor” benefit from such micro credits? Admittedly, this was a random interview arranged by the microfinance institution of the client I saw. One may say this is anecdotal. But collation of how many anecdotes of this nature would count as “evidence”?

Developmentally, microfinance is an instrument of poverty reduction. But does it serve the purpose in practice? Several queries to determine the value for money for billions disbursed as micro credit produced no response as no record of income generated (if any) from micro credit is available. The mismanagement of the micro-finance institutions and the complacency of the donors are both to be blamed for such failures.

Similar problems are noted in the education sector. With hundreds of schools built, little information is available on sustained enrolment, as even Canada's Afghanistan Task Force admits. In its report to the US Congress, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said it was increasingly concerned that the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan was impeded by lack of accountability and oversight, inadequate metrics and attention paid to sustainability of projects, and insufficient Afghan institution-building.

As I arrive in Kabul city center, the city is buzzing with WikiLeaks - some Afghan civil servant find the leaks about their own ministers amusing while some high ranking officials accused of making unseemly comments about the Afghan president are busy calling press conferences issuing denials, while the rumor mill runs hundred miles an hour. The rumors wane, as in Canada, with time and new rumors take over. The most recent and devastating news released by journalist Dexter Filkins on the Kabul Bank collapse, involving some highest level Afghan officials, has gripped the city.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has painted a grim picture of the Afghan government's handling of the Kabul bank crisis, an assessment that could lead to the Fund ending its Afghan support program. Aid from many donor countries and agencies depends on an IMF program being in place. In fact, a panic has set in the government because the donors have issued a warning that without an IMF program, development funds will stop. The Afghan officials agree that the Kabul Bank crisis was caused by poor management but exacerbated by an "erroneous" audit by accounting firm (Price Water House Coopers) and "ineffective" international technical support, the latter not an unusual or erroneous assessment for most Technical Assistance Programs, which have resulted in failure of institution building, the most important ingredient for transition to the assumption of full leadership by Afghans as foreigners withdraw.

What other news is buzzing? Afghans and their leadership are wary of US General David Petraeus' support for Afghan Local Police program (ALP), which could fuel conflicts and empower the type of militia commanders who ravaged Afghanistan during the civil war period of 1990.

Immediately following the US troop surge, a sense of better security in Kabul city had emerged. But the short lived sense of security broke with several incidents with attacks in the center of security steel fenced city, with high casualty rates. Afghans do not believe US President Barack Obama's assurance that that there are fewer areas under Taliban control and that more Afghans have the chance to build hopeful futures.

2010 is the bloodiest year of the decade, says Robert Watkins, the outgoing Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General at the UNAMA in Kabul. More than 2,700 civilians were killed in 2010 - up 15% from the year before. The UN blames the Taliban and other insurgents (and less NATO) for the rise in civilian deaths. But loss of family members, whether inflicted by NATO or the Taliban, does not lessen the pain of the grieving families although the reaction to the recent accidental killing of nine boys by American forces show that the deaths of Afghans at foreign hands resonate deeply, and provoke even greater outrage than killings by the Taliban.

Afghan people believe that due to the international community's strategy of aid focused in the provinces where their troops are located, insecurity has spread to the more secure provinces, especially in the north, and created political fissures. The recent optimistic assessment of advances in the war from General Petraeus is not widely shared among Afghans who know that violence rose to its highest levels last year, and predictions are that 2011 will be even worse. To the coalition, the Afghan government remains dangerously ineffective, and the Pakistan sanctuary for the Taliban's leadership is still secure. No wonder that in the absence of no signal of abatement in insecurity, Afghans are frustrated. Afghans believe that aid allocated to Afghanistan is spent with little local inputs.

Based on my own experience, of living and working in Afghanistan from 2003-06, I can confirm that some of the southern states, the Pashtun heartlands, were accessible to foreigners like me, who could travel in these areas without armored cars and guards and without head covers, all of which are unthinkable today. Some of the northern provinces, almost completely free of Taliban violence up to 2005-06 are currently under serious Taliban threats. On January 23 of this year, Reuters described the insurgent violence at its worst since 2001

President Karzai's recent call for phase out of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) has grabbed Afghans' attention. The PRTs were to serve as the civil military coordination mechanism. However, PRT operations have never been well coordinated Educated Afghans believe that PRTs' have subordinated humanitarian and development programming interests to political interests of foreigners, with the reconstruction programs undertaken mainly for winning the hearts and minds of the Afghans for the foreign troops.

Research shows that Afghans perceive that there is little evidence of aid projects reducing conflict and violence or having other significant counterinsurgency benefits. The PRTs wrongfully over-estimated the value of reconstruction programming for hearts and minds win instead of defending security of the Afghans, leading Afghan people to conclude that PRTs are largely irrelevant for Afghan security. PRTs' impacts on both security and reconstruction are rather disappointing to them without accruing benefits to the Afghans. PRTs' main utilitarian value has been to sustain international political engagement

Development investment concentration in the PRT provinces has had little impact on institution building or legitimacy building of the Afghan state, even at the provincial level, because the PRTs have created parallel structures for development delivery, by-passing the Afghan government and undermining their programs. Strengthening of governance in the provinces has been neglected. The Afghans feel that even if the right number of army and the police are trained, and made fit to fight the insurgency within the next four years (which they doubt), Afghanistan's poor governance capacity will make peace and security unsustainable.

For development, the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS-2008) written by foreign experts, never quite took off. The strategies were not based on broad consultations and have yet to be translated, into any Afghan language. The sector results strategies developed belatedly, were never translated into action, never monitored and continues reporting on mundane activities, without results focus. The international community hardly demanded delivery on ANDS as they kept themselves busy designing mechanisms and delivering programs parallel to those of the ANDS, virtually undermining the Afghan government programs.

Little lessons were learnt from the ANDS episode. For the London and Kabul Conferences of 2010, the Afghan government identified 22 National Priority Programs (NPPs). Planning, development and implementation of twenty two national programs for a government with low capacity are unrealistic, at best. In the absence of adequate capacity in the government, one would expect the donors, who endorsed the Kabul plans, to provide help in program development. But no firm commitments have yet been procured. Half a year after the Kabul Conference, the potential of timely design and planning of the NPPs remain unclear.

At the Kabul Conference, the Afghan government picked up the American notion of a “hundred days actions”, a benchmark normally used for evaluating the early success of an American president. But could the ensuing hundred days after the Kabul Conference be compared with the hundred days after a President's entry into the White House? Are the development situations and demands the same? Afghanistan requires basic service delivery (concrete results) to the people, stricken with poverty, ill health, ignorance and violence. Therefore, if anything, concrete delivery of services to address such deficiencies, after the Kabul Conference, should have been the benchmarks for reporting on 100 days or a year after. Actions taken with snail-paced movements towards the start of planning for the NPPs, without a concrete results oriented approach, do not count.

Following the US symbol, reams of papers are being produced to narrate 100 days and 300 days actions after the Kabul Conference; the narratives providing little confidence that any bankable and fundable programs will be developed soon. Currently, there is nothing concrete except broad concepts. Forgotten is the fact that even if security is perfect, people need minimum service delivery - how and through whom such delivery will take place is not known yet.

But there are no dearth of discussions in various groups, the so-called coordination groups- Working Groups, Standing Committees, Cluster Committees, Joint Coordination and Monitoring Boards. An Afghan friend of deputy minister (DM) rank, describing in satirical tones the discussions and decisions taken in various committees, made me roar with laughter.

The project the DM related is one that impacts on lives of people— men, women and children in a poor area, where an unfinished irrigation canal left a ditch in the middle of the road. With melted snow, rain and mud, the ditch, about six feet deep, was dangerous in the unlighted street. Men, women and children were accidentally falling into the ditch, dying. A working group was formed to find a solution. The working group suggested that an ambulance be placed on the side of the ditch for 24 hours so that any one falling into the ditch could be lifted and taken to a hospital 50 kilometers away. The proposal was not palatable to the technical committee, which considered the full time placement of an ambulance with a driver to be not cost-beneficial.

A better proposal would be to build a hospital right beside the ditch so that people falling into the ditch could be immediately treated at the hospital. However, the highest level project approval committee considered the cost of the land and hospital construction to be exorbitant and offered a better proposal - digging a new ditch by the side of the hospital 50 kilometers away. A large donor member of this committee, with a lot of undisbursed funds, had an innovative proposal - to buy a large tract of fallow land around the existing ditch and turn it into a grave yard with tomb stones. When people fell in the ditch and die, they could be buried right away with tomb stones placed on their graves. The proposal was accepted by the majority. That was three years ago. The ditch is still there, deepening and people continue to fall into it and die. Bargaining continues for the cost of the land for the grave yard.

As the DM was relating this symbolic story sitting in his office, I was freezing. The wall was adorned with a fancy air conditioner, with heating and cooling facility. But it was turned off. Being a spoilt Canadian, used to central heating, I requested if it could be turned on. The DM said that the unit was in reality a Technical Assistant. Curious, I asked about the significance of the simile. The DM explained that the “machine is visible and fixed on the wall but it does not produce like most of our Technical Assistants”. To date, over $2 billion has been invested in Technical Assistance programs.

What has been of most concern to me during this trip, however, is the lack of common goals and interests that Afghans should share with their leaders and the international community. The feel of unity and trust has broken over the decade. The young educated Afghans, including the middle and rank and file civil servants, who wanted to embrace democracy feel betrayed and disenfranchised by the flawed elections; the minority groups and women feel left behind with an exclusive reconciliation process; and the spirit of national unity is reaping apart in the seams.

Nipa Banerjee served as head of Canada's aid program in Kabul from 2003-06 and now teaches international development at the University of Ottawa. She frequently visits Afghanistan.

Elections 2011 and criminalization of dissent

Stefan Christoff — 2011-04-05T13:42:29Z

As election ads fill the airwaves and campaign buses travel Canada's thawing highways over the next month, the national media-driven debate has shifted toward the possibility of the Conservatives forming a majority government. In newspaper pages coast-to-coast debates are alive on the rough style of party politics propelling attack ads against opposition politicians.

Critically missing from this discussion is the attack on grassroots activism in Canada overseen by this Conservative government.

Propelling the outright physical assault unleashed on people protesting the G20 summit in Toronto this past summer is a criminal attempt via state power in Ottawa to attack activist networks in Canada. In reflecting on the political realities of a potential Conservative majority, it is critical to reflect on systemic actions, undertaken by a Conservative minority parliament, to silence voices of dissent in Canada.

G20 repression

In response to grassroots mobilizations questioning the G20 process, that locks-out the majority of the world's nations while pushing disastrous economic austerity policies at closed-door inter-governmental meetings, the Conservative government unleashed a $1-billion police attack on protesters.

Military-grade weaponry, tens-of-thousands of police and a three-layer security fence created the backdrop for systemic repression. Physical attacks, illegal detentions and sexual harassment came to shape many experiences of the thousands who dared to publicly question and actively protest the G20.

Police attacks on the streets in Toronto speak to the Conservative disdain for activism and the inherently violent nature of austerity measures. State repression across Europe, from London in recent days, to Athens over recent months and in Seoul, Korea, location for the last G20 summit, illustrates attempts globally to suppress popular rejection of austerity economics.

As corporate taxes are lowered funding for public institutions is hacked, in Canada today the Conservative government aims to ensure the lowest tax rate for corporations in G7 economies, reducing annual government revenues by $14-billion as funding for public healthcare and education remains tight while the working majority face storms of an economic recession.

Activists challenging the economics of free market mania and the violent repression accompanying policies that evoke illusions of the invisible hand of the market, despite the 2008 Wall Street meltdown, are meeting an iron fist of repression around the world. Today activists face a firing line in Canada, involving police armed with toxic gas canisters, sound grenades and rubber bullets ready to fire.

Conservative political violence

In Canada, attacks on public protest at the G20 summit in Toronto point to broader attempts via Conservatives not only to silence protest but to attack organized non-governmental opposition in Canada, a dangerous shift in recent years that must be taken into consideration leading up to the 2011 elections.

Certainly Canada's history is profoundly marked by state violence, from the mass repression against workers strikes in the early 1900s, or the colonial violence against indigenous people foundational to Canadian nation building, to the enforcement of the 'War Measures Act' by Pierre Trudeau in 1970, leading to the jailing of tens-of-thousands of left political dissenters in Quebec and across Canada, the majority imprisoned without charge.

Conservative government repression against contemporary activists occurs within this historical trajectory of state violence targeting dissenting voices.

Alarming actions directed at activists in Canada today by state security and police forces is shifting to new heights in recent years and is key to considering our contemporary political reality today in Canada.

A bloated "national security" budget is directing additional millions in public spending to institutions like Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) which in turn has moved to harass activists in Canada publicly questioning government domestic and foreign policy, especially in relation to Israel/Palestine.

Multiple millions spent on technologies of domestic political repression in Canada under a Conservative government is not confined to violent experiences in Toronto during the G20 summit but also to Montreal in recent months.

Police violence against street protests kicked into full-throttle at the 15th annual protest against police brutality on March 15, 2011. Hundreds of riot police attacked a crowd of over 500 demonstrators on St. Denis street gathering to denounce systemic racial profiling and police shooting deaths in the city. Utilizing helicopters, riot-clad cops on horseback, sound grenades, police in Montreal arrested over 250 people, the majority without charge, sending a message to remain silent in the face of police brutality.

Similar to Toronto at the G20 summit the vast majority of physical violence against people was orchestrated by police while a limited amount of property damage by protesters, mainly directed at corporate storefronts.

Days earlier in Montreal 10 activists faced a "pre-emptive" police arrest hours prior to mass protests on March 12th called for by Quebec's major unions protesting the highly unpopular 2011 Quebec budget, crafted on similar economic austerity logic pronounced by Canada's Conservative government in militarized downtown Toronto during the G20. Hikes in public fees for access healthcare and education in tandem to sustained corporate tax relief is paramount to the 2011 budget in Quebec.

Certainly the Conservative government in Ottawa played no direct role in repression of anti-police brutality or anti-austerity protests in Montreal over recent weeks, however it is the political moves in Ottawa to normalize police repression, displayed at the G20 in Toronto and enforced by a Conservative "law and order" agenda, that provides political cover for police abuses at protests across the country.

Criminalizing dissent

Beyond direct repression targeting street protests in Canada, Conservatives in Ottawa have moved to silence institutions critical of government policy, international solidarity organizations like KAIROS and Alternatives, facing total government funding cuts due to support for Palestinian self-determination.

It is this attack on political advocacy and engagement outside of governmental politics that is central to the Conservative assault on dissent, an attempt to streamline politics into a more tightly controlled political space on the right. A shift away from a democratic process that includes non-governmental and street-level politics as an important part of the political landscape, a shift away from a political process that celebrates dissenting voices as foundational to democracy.

Currently, in Canada we are witnessing a shift toward the politics of fear, an attempt via Conservative strategists to develop a national political culture rooted in attack politics, a style that normalizes vocalized violence, a rhetoric that can very quickly shift into terrible political violence, as seen in the U.S. over recent years, specifically in the recent Arizona shootings.

As advocates for ideas different to Conservative domestic and foreign policy are criminalized, unfunded and silenced in Canada, the political debate shifts right, while state repression becomes normalized against the grassroots community activists working to take action and expand political participation beyond casting ballots a handful of times a decade into a meaningful grassroots process.

Certainly a clear majority in Canada stands at odds with this stark political vision of fear politics and state violence against community activism propelled by the Conservative government.

As Conservative policies work to compound poverty in Canada via austerity economics, extending war in Afghanistan and expanding global inequality via "free-trade" economics, activists are working throughout the year, election season or not, to challenge these policies and face violent criminalization.

Today it is key to clearly recognize the Conservative attempts to sharpen political repression in Canada. Toronto's G20 summit, the attacks on activists, the mass arrests, suggests possibilities for this state repression to profoundly alter Canada's political landscape.

In Canada there is a sustained attack on activism via the Conservative government and it is critical to fight back by all means.

Stefan Christoff is a Montreal-based community organizer, musician and writer who contributes to rabble.ca Stefan can be found on Twitter.

Source: rabble.ca

Then fall, Caesar

Michael Ryan Wiseman — 2011-03-15T15:53:14Z

“Beware the ides of March.” And with these words the soothsayers stop soothing. This is not good news— not for a Caesar, a dictator, a self-styled demigod.

Hope, ever last into the casket, dismisses the warning. “He is a dreamer.” For what power is there in dreams, those fleeting visions from a world unbridled, a world so unlike our own? After all, a dream dreamt is soon forgotten as the weight of a world that is not of our making discards the fabric ere it fall into the hands of the weavers.

Half-despaired, half-frenzied, all-starved, we ask upon what meat do these, our Caesars, feed that they have grown so great? This dish, whose unbound strength can be found only in its binding, is nothing less than the very synapses and sinews of our body politic. Simply kept, it is not they who are strong but we who are weak. “Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Reader, is not in our stars, but in ourselves— that we are underlings.”

What is taking us so long? The answer is in the question. Us. But what begins as a whisper under the breath to the mirror ends together screaming peace for a time we're no longer willing to waste. Listen, now, as they stagger madly about, their thoughts flailing, vainly striking for us, their minds' eyes unable to adjust to the light we've shed on proceedings.

– “The ides of March are come. ”
– “Aye, Caesar, but not gone.”

This is MR Wiseman's last kick at the AIJ can. In parting he wishes to extend his sincerest gratitude to the brilliant cast of characters that have devoted their scarce time and abundant humanity to this humble rag. A toast to the next one, the best one.

Saluting the revolutionary women of Egypt

Horace CAMPBELL — 2011-03-15T15:53:13Z

Honouring the struggles of women all over the world against patriarchy and oppression in the week of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, Horace Campbell focuses on the instrumental role of key women activists in the Egyptian protests.

When the revolutionary momentum in North Africa erupted onto the world stage at the start of January 2011, the world was exposed to a new force in international politics. This force was sustained by the energy and power of the grassroots women and youths of Africa.

We want to use the 100th anniversary of the commemoration of International Women's Day to salute the women who emerged in the leadership of this revolution that is still under way. In particular, it is important to salute women such as Amal Sharaf and Asmaa Mahfouz of the April 6 Youth Movement of Egypt, who showed exemplary leadership in challenging the much-dreaded Mubarak regime. These women are part of a new generation of revolutionaries who are fighting to shift the power in society from patriarchs and capitalists to working women and men. African peoples throughout the world have embraced the celebration of International Women's Day, even though at the inception of this celebration, people of African descent were discriminated against in the mainstream women's movement. We salute those women from Egypt along with the women who call for investment in caring instead of killing.

Tunisia's Mohammed Bouzazi entered the annals of revolutionary martyrs when he sacrificed himself to rally the youths in Tunisia to stand up and fight. The Tunisian example gave confidence to youths all across Africa and the Middle East. But it is the outstanding leadership of Egypt's women, especially Asmaa Mahfouz, that is being highlighted today. Asmaa Mahfouz is a young revolutionary who was one of the founders of the April 6 Youth Movement. This movement was formed by young Egyptian revolutionaries, including Ahmed Maher and Amal Sharaf, in 2008 to support the workers in the industrial city of El-Mahalla who were on strike for better working conditions, better wages and who were protesting rising food prices. The April 6 Movement used the tools of social media and brought new ideas about the politics of inclusion as well as new ideas about political organising to the forefront of Egyptian politics. Though mainly from the educated classes of the Facebook generation, this group of men and women struggled to translate online activism into real mobilisation of humans to stand up for their rights. Esam al-Amin, in his brilliant analysis of the implications of the Egyptian revolution, wrote that, ‘[a]s the demonstrations continued, every day broke new ground. It started with the educated youth, both middle class and affluent. They were soon joined by the oppressed and uneducated poor. Within a few days, the protests swelled to include all segments of society, including judges, lawyers, doctors, engineers, journalists, artists, civil servants, workers, farmers, day laborers, students, home makers, the underclass and the unemployed.'

When I was recently in Kenya grounding with grassroots activists from Bunge la Wananchi, I urged them to study carefully the lessons of the Egyptian process and to grasp the tactics and strategies of that revolutionary struggle. I recommended to them the writings of Esam al-Amin, who has consistently been elaborating to the world the unique lessons of this Egyptian revolution. His most recent input on ‘When Egypt's revolution was at the crossroads' again shed light on the simple but clear demands of those who moved an uprising to the stage of a popular revolution. He clearly acknowledged that, ‘[i]ndeed the transformation from a protest to an uprising to a successful revolution was remarkable. But the ultimate triumph of Egypt's revolution was not inevitable. At different junctures of the eighteen momentous days the revolution could have been aborted or taken a completely different turn.'

It is now internationally recognised that Asmaa Mahfouz played a crucial role not only within the April 6 Youth Movement but also by her own initiative to post the historic 18 January YouTube video calling on Egyptians to come out to Tahrir Square on 25 January 2011. In her outline of the 12 decisive moments that played a crucial role in maintaining the momentum of the revolution, Asmaa's steadfastness, courage and initiative exposed to the world the new politics that is awaiting the world in this revolutionary moment.

Before recording the inspiring video, Asmaa had gone to Tahrir Square as a lone soldier with the hope of inspiring an uprising against the Mubarak regime. In the video, she chastised the people for not mustering the bravery to come out en masse and join her in Tahrir. She implored young people not to sacrifice themselves by self-immolation, but to stand up to fight the regime. In this call she said inter alia:

‘I posted that I, a girl, am going down to Tahrir Square and I will stand alone. And I will hold up a banner, perhaps people will show some honour. I even wrote my number, so maybe people will come down with me. No one came except three guys! Three guys and three armoured cars of riot police! And tens of hired thugs and officers came to terrorise us.'

Asmaa was challenging the Egyptian people to demand their honour and human dignity from a corrupt and brutal government that had ruled the country with an iron fist under emergency laws for over three decades. She implored her compatriots to head to Tahrir Square on 25 January to reclaim their future and their dignity. She said:

‘I am making this video to give you one simple message. We want to go down to Tahrir Square on January 25th. If we still have honour, and want to live in dignity on this land we have to go down (to Tahrir Square) on January 25th. We'll go down and demand our rights, our fundamental human rights.

‘I am going down on January 25th, and from now till then, I am going to distribute fliers in the street everyday. I will not set myself on fire! If the security forces want to set me on fire let them come and do it. If you think yourself a man, come with me on January 25th.'

It is now history that the call of this young woman propelled a revolutionary moment that brought down the regime in Egypt. Al-Amin properly located the leadership of women such as Asmaa Mahfouz in his analysis when he noted that Egypt ‘is a largely patriarchal society not used to having women, especially young females, leading any group or organization, let alone a political movement.' Women such as Asmaa Mahfouz are not unique in Africa and throughout the contours of the popular revolution Nawal El Saadawi and other veteran freedom fighters were bringing their experiences of anti-dictatorial and anti-sexist struggles to this revolutionary process. Asmaa was well aware of the patriarchal inclination of her society and the limitations of the patriarchal model of liberation when she asserted:

‘Whoever says women shouldn't go to protests because they will get beaten, let him have some honour and manhood and come with me on January 25th… Sitting at home and just following us on news or Facebook leads to our humiliation, leads to my own humiliation…

‘If you have honour and dignity as a man, come! Come and protect me and other girls in the protest. If you stay at home, then you deserve all that's being done to you. And you will be guilty before your nation and your people. And you will be responsible for what happens to us on the street while you sit at home. Go down on the street, send SMS, post it on the ‘net, make people aware.

‘Never say there's no hope! Hope disappears only when you say there's no hope. So long you come down with us, there will be hope. Don't be afraid of the government, fear none but God!

‘Don't think you can be safe anymore! None of us are! Come down with us and demand your rights, my rights, your family's rights.

‘I am going down on January 25th, and I will say “No” to corruption. “No” to this regime.'

Asmaa was not only instrumental to sparking the Egyptian revolution, she and other women played critical roles in the decisive moments that guaranteed the victory of the people. They paid a heavy sacrifice, bearing the brunt of at least 10 per cent of the casualties in the first week. The women gave their time, their passion and their inspiration for the revolution.

Amal Sharaf was another one of the key organisers of the Egypt protest. She is an English teacher and co-founder of the April 6 Youth Movement. According to Amal, she has two daughters: her 10-year-old biological daughter and the April 6 Youth Movement. In an interview, it was revealed that 36-year-old Amal Sharaf worked round the clock along with her team of 10 persons from a ‘control room' in Cairo to make sure that the protests were peaceful and persistent. Amal was arrested alongside other colleagues when security forces raided their office.

Patriarchy has historically oppressed women so that women's roles in past revolutions and societal transformation were relegated to the footnotes of history. Just as in this revolution in Egypt, women have played frontline roles in the liberation of many societies from the shackles of colonialism and all forms of oppression, only for the male folks to turn to the oppression of women in the supposedly liberated societies.

Only one day in a year is dedicated to the celebration of women's achievements globally. However, the commemoration of International Women's Day at this moment offers us an opportunity to reflect on and support the efforts of women around the world to liberate themselves and to oppose a capitalist system that passes the heaviest burden of care onto women. When Asmaa chastised the critiques of women protesters to ‘have some honour and manhood', it was a statement that seeks to redefine the honour of manhood in relation to standing up to the masculinists in society who support the dehumanisation and exploitation of women. This is a major statement about human rights and the transformation of gender relations in the 21st century.

On this International Women's Day, I want to salute the revolutionary women all over Africa who are standing up for peace and justice. As I was writing this piece, news came through of the killing of unarmed women in Côte d'Ivoire, just as Egyptian women who were mounting an International Women's Day rally in Tahrir Square were heckled by some men. These experiences are reminders of the uphill struggles that are still ahead to achieve the goals of the emancipation of women and the humanisation of the male. As my sister Ifi Amadiume rightly observed in her comments on the attack on the women in Tahrir Square, ‘Egyptian women are now saying that they are the deciding factor for the future of women's rights for the next decade.' She notes that the struggle of the women was not only for their rights but also in a context where ‘building rudimentary democratic institutions from the bottom up' will be an uphill task.

In Egypt, the contours of the revolutionary moment thus far reflect a high level of planning, tenacity, organisation and inclusiveness that transcends gender and religion. But the gains of the revolution are being threatened by counter-revolution manifest in the stirring-up of religious differences and what seems like an attempt to leave women out of the gains of a post-Mubarak reconstruction. According to Al Jazeera, there are ‘[f]ears that the condition of Egyptian women could return to “normal” after the uprising appears legitimate. After all, there have been several cases in history of uprisings that prove that women can be used in a revolution and then told “thank you, you can go back home.”' The revolutionary process will face counter-revolutionaries just as the women faced sexism and harassment in ‘liberation square' on International Women's Day. These experiences further point to the reality that revolutionary struggles are protracted struggles and the revolutionary women must continue to command the revolutionary upper-ground that they commanded prior to and during the 18 days that shook the world.

Throughout the pan-African world, the struggles for reproductive rights along with the struggles for basic integrity as human beings have once again propelled women to the front of the African liberation struggles. On this International Women's Day, I want to salute the revolutionary women all over Africa who are standing up for peace and justice. They are carrying forth the historic torch that will light up humanity against all forms of oppression and deformed masculinity.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS, Pan-African Voices for Freedom and Justice

Horace Campbell is a teacher and writer. Professor Campbell's website is www.horacecampbell.net.

Photo: flickr/ erik-n