The local chapter of Israel on Campus brought a soldier from the Israel ‘Defense’ Force (IDF) to the University of Western Ontario. Our campus was one of many stops on the “Our Soldiers Speak” tour. Sergeant Benjamin Anthony has been visiting campuses to tell students about his ‘glorious’ work as an instrument of the Israeli government. He began his speech here in London, Ontario by boasting about his role as a machine-gunner who has carried out raids.
But approximately 150 protestors were ready to condemn the IDF. Many of us wore the names of children who were murdered during Operation Cast Lead, which began in December, 2008. Some of us also wore red shirts, at the protest.
Activists passed around flyers and a petition from the Canadian Boat to Gaza while we were waiting for the speaker (who arrived more than half an hour after the event was scheduled to begin). One of the event organizers grabbed the petition and left the room with it. Others had to chase him get the petition back — at which point he only could feebly tell us that the petition shouldn’t be passed around, then and there.
Michael Ignatieff (the head of the Liberal Party) dropped by a public skating rink here in London, Ontario for a photo op. Some of us were waiting to greet him with a protest.
A Food Not Bombs table also was set up well before Ignatieff stopped by.
During the protest, some of us stood on the stage, facing the skating rink. (The Liberal Party had set up a hot chocolate dispenser on there beforehand.)
Our main chant was “Hey Mike, what’s the story? Why you acting like a Tory?”
There also were chants about the mining bill (c-300), war resisters, mining justice and climate justice.
Other protest photos are posted on Facebook — here. (Keep clicking “Previous” to see those photos.)
Here is a Liberal Party video of the photo op — with the protest edited out. You won’t see us in the Party’s official photos either.
To try to drum up even more of that dirty money, the company that profits from the Toronto exchange boasts about how it is the world’s number one hub for mining and fossil fuel capital.
This page gives a lot of important information about the crimes that the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) company profits from, as it helps mining companies to rake in money from tearing up lands and communities across the world.
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To continue drawing in mining investments and mining company listings, the company behind the TSX — the TMX Group Inc. – proclaims -
TMX: Your Global Resource for Capital
Be a part of TMX Group and benefit from greater access to capital, liquidity, visibility for transactions, analyst coverage, specialized indices and listing requirements specifically tailored to mining companies.
Capitalize on TMX Global Leadership in Mining
• Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange list more [traded 'public'] mining companies than any other exchange
• 79.1 billion mining shares traded on Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange in 2009
International Mining Companies Choose TMX
• 50% of the 9,700 mineral exploration projects held by [Toronto Stock Exchange] TSX & TSXV companies are outside of Canada
• Over 200 analysts cover Exchange-listed mining companies
Those words are from a PDF document that gives a quick overview of Toronto Stock Exchange ties to mining industries. The map on the second page is very informative.
These community statements are from locals who share their experiences, knowledge, and concerns, for the Global Minga week of action. Most of the speakers draw from international backgrounds (including family abroad) -
Bikes Not Oil! Rapping at the pumps (audio) -
A few of us made this recording in a park after the rally that it was prepared for. I’m one of the backup guys.
“Canadians increasingly live in a confusion of values. A 2008 survey by the Globe and Mail found that while 79 percent of respondents said the tar sands are good for Alberta and Canada, more than half of those respondents (55 percent) said that the sands were not good for the environment. The obvious contradiction can be justified only by minimizing or disconnecting oneself from the importance of [natural environments]. The problem is that global warming and the rapid dying out of species makes this level of self-deception increasingly dangerous.”
“Canada –already the largest oil supplier to the U.S.–pumped out record exports south of the border this summer, as Alberta’s oilsands crude fill the gaps left by competitors.
U.S. imports of crude oil from Canada rose 5.4 per cent in July to the highest monthly level in at least 36 years, according to figures released by the U.S. Energy Department.”
“Canada is the largest exporter of crude oil to the U.S. and has increased the amount it ships as OPEC countries have cut back.
“[Throughout human history there have been] many deliberate acts to destroy or exploit the natural environment to achieve military goals. In the 5th century BC the retreating Scythians poisoned the water wells in an effort to slow the advancing Persian army. Roman troops razed the city of Carthage in 146 BC and poisoned the surrounding soil with salt to prevent its future cultivation. The American Civil War saw the widespread implementation of ‘scorched earth’ policies.
In August 1945 the United States detonated atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in massive loss of life and environmental destruction. During the Vietnam War, the US implemented Operation Ranch Hand, to devastating effect, to destroy vegetation used by its enemy for cover and sustenance, using chemicals such as Agent Orange.
More recently still, who can forget the haunting images of more than 700 burning Kuwaiti oil well-heads which had been deliberately ignited by retreating Iraqi forces during the Gulf War in 1991 a scene that was likened to Dante’s Inferno. Over the following 10 years the Saddam regime built barriers and levees to drain the al-Hawizeh and al-Hammar marshes in southern Iraq.” “This effectively destroyed the livelihood of the 500,000 Marsh Arabs who had inhabited this unique ecosystem.
Acts of significant and deliberate environmental destruction, exploitation and contamination during armed conflict have continued in more recent times, including the use of cluster bombs and weapons containing depleted uranium by US and British forces in Iraq.
“Israeli and international corporations are directly involved in the occupation: in the construction of Israeli colonies and infrastructure in the occupied territories, in the settlements’ economy, in building walls and checkpoints, in the supply of specific equipment used in the control and repression of the civilian population under occupation.”
“Currently, we focus our attention on three main areas of corporate involvement in the occupation: The Settlement Industry, Economic Exploitation and Control of Population. At this stage in our project, we are not investigating the vast industry of military production and arms trade. The information we provide on the exploitation of Palestinian labor and production is also very limited.”
Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler (in this article) -
A recent “Human Rights Watch (HRW) report focuses on six cases of Israeli drone-launched missile attacks in which 29 Palestinian civilians, eight of them children, were killed. Based on cross-referenced eyewitness accounts corroborated by doctors, as well as ballistics and forensic evidence collected on the attack sites, the report asserts that ‘in none of the cases did HRW find evidence that Palestinian fighters were present in the immediate area of the attack at the time.’ ”
“Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at the emergencies program of HRW, estimates that at least 87 civilians were killed in 42 drone attacks.”
“Israel is the world leader in drone technology.”
“Israeli drones have advanced sensors, combining radars, electro- optical and infrared cameras, and lasers providing real time imaging by day and night.”
“According to Palestinian sources, 900 civilians were killed during the military operations, among a total of more than 1,400 killed. The HRW report says a third of the fatalities were from drone-launched missiles. Israeli sources put the civilian death toll at 300.”
George Monbiot (in this article) -
“Blaise Pascal (‘the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his own room’) couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Americans “remain one of the most controlled peoples on the planet, especially regarding control of our consciousness, public and private.”
“I know it doesn’t feel like that to most Americans. But therein rests the proof. Everything feels normal; [almost] everybody else around us is doing the same things, so it must be OK.
This is a sort of Stockholm Syndrome …, in which the prisoner identifies with the values of his or her captors, which in our case is of course, [American corporations, the American state, and a wider status quo -- including] its manufactured popular[ized] culture.
