Most Recent Content-
- Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009
Commentary Reducing the size of the Canadian Armed Forces should be a priority for those of us that want a more peaceful world. It should also be a priority for anyone concerned about the environment. -
- Sunday, Sep 20, 2009
Commentary Despite a loud chorus claiming otherwise, anti-Semitism is a mere fig leaf of its former oppressive character. Six decades ago "none is too many" was the order of the day in Ottawa, which rejected Jewish refugees escaping Nazi concentration camps. This hostile anti-semitic climate continued into the 1950s with institutions such as McGill University in Montreal imposing quotas on Jewish students. But Christianity's decline, combined with a rise in antiracist politics has significantly undercut anti-Semitism as a social force in Canada. -
- Sunday, Aug 16, 2009
Commentary Even a close observer of the Canadian press would know almost nothing about the ongoing demonstrations, blockades and work stoppages calling for the return of elected President Manuel Zelaya. Since Zelaya was overthrown by the military on June 28 the majority of teachers in Honduras have been on strike. Recently, health workers, air traffic controllers and taxi drivers have also taken job action against the coup. In response the military sent troops to oversee airports and hospitals across the country. -
- Monday, Jul 06, 2009
Commentary At Saturday's special meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) Canada's minister for the Americas, Peter Kent, recommended that ousted President Manuel Zelaya delay his planned return to the country. Kent said the "time is not right" prompting Zelaya to respond dryly: "I could delay until January 27 [2010]" when his term ends. Kent added that it was important to take into account the context in which the military overthrew Zelaya, particularly whether he had violated the Constitution. -
- Friday, May 15, 2009
Commentary On Sunday military forces trained by the Canadian Special Operational Regiment subdued a hijacker who took command of a Halifax-based CanJet plane at an airport partly run by Vancouver Airport Services. While Canadian companies and institutions played a major role in these events this drama did not take place in Canada. It happened in Montego Bay. -
- Monday, Apr 27, 2009
Commentary Three weeks ago, the Harper government rejected a proposal to make diplomatic and financial support for resource companies operating overseas contingent upon socially responsible conduct. Under popular pressure, the Mining Association of Canada agreed to 27 recommendations put forward at a 2007 civil society roundtable urging government to better monitor and address human rights and environmental effects of Canadian companies operating abroad. -
- Monday, Apr 13, 2009
Commentary At the end of February Stephen Harper referred to Russia as "aggressive." In a throwback to the Cold War, two weeks ago Defense Minister Peter MacKay added that Ottawa will respond to Russian flights in the Arctic by flying Canadian fighter jets near Russian airspace. Recent declarations from the Harper government are the latest installment in a 90-year-old struggle with Russia that should be opposed by most Canadians. Since the end of the Cold War Ottawa has actively pushed against Russian influence in Eastern Europe. Federal government documents uncovered by Canwest in July 2007 explained that Ottawa was trying to be "a visible and effective partner of the United States in Russia, Ukraine and zones of instability in Eastern Europe." -
- Saturday, Mar 28, 2009
Commentary A major obstacle for anyone organizing to "right" a Canadian foreign policy "wrong" is the widely held notion that this country acts benevolently on the world stage. "Myths for Profit," a recently released documentary written and directed by Amy Miller, challenges this assumption head-on. -
- Wednesday, Mar 18, 2009
Commentary During the first half of the 20th century, Toronto-based Brazilian Traction (or Brascan) dominated the Brazilian economy. At its high point in the 1940s, the company employed nearly 50,000 Brazilians. -
- Saturday, Feb 28, 2009
Commentary From the grips of the most barbaric form of plantation economy sprung probably the greatest example of liberation in the history of humanity. The 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution was simultaneously a struggle against slavery, colonialism and white supremacy. Defeating the French, British and Spanish empires, it led to freedom for all people regardless of color, decades before this idea found traction in Europe or North America. -
- Friday, Feb 13, 2009
Commentary The Harper government publicly supported Israel's brutal assault on Gaza and voted alone at the UN Human Rights Committee in defense of Israel's actions. Now Canada has taken over Israeli diplomacy. Literally. -
- Saturday, Jan 31, 2009
Commentary In mid December, Robert Fowler, a career Canadian diplomat who is currently the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy to Niger, and his aide Louis Guay, an official at Foreign Affairs, were abducted in Niger. They were kidnapped not long after visiting a mine operated by Montréal-based SEMAFO (Société d'exploitation minière-Afrique de l'Ouest). The president and CEO of SEMAFO, Benoit La Salle, told the National Post: "Louis [Guay] called me and said he was going down there on a UN mission and that he heard the mine was a Canadian success and he wanted to report this back to Canada." -
- Thursday, Jan 15, 2009
Commentary The Canadian Left has taken a major step forward in opposition to Zionism. On Saturday Montréal held probably the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration in Canadian history. Despite some ridiculous media reports, I estimate that there were between 12,000 and 17,000 (possibly as many as 25,000) people marching through the streets of downtown. "Jews, Christians, Muslims, anglos, francos, grandmothers and children walked together yesterday in the bitter cold to call for an immediate ceasefire in [Gaza]," noted the Montréal Gazette. The march was endorsed and organized by all three major Québec unions and most of the province's social groups. -
- Thursday, Jan 08, 2009
Commentary Are highly secretive Canadian Joint Task Force 2 commandos assassinating Afghanis during night raids? -
- Wednesday, Nov 05, 2008
Commentary Canadian resource companies are under fire in Peru. On October 21, Cesar Zuniga, the president of the Achuar indigenous group FENAP, told a local radio: "We, as indigenous people, reject the Canadian company Talisman. We do not want them working in our territory. We want the Peruvian state to respect us, and the armed forces to stop helping the company." -
- Saturday, Sep 13, 2008
Commentary In early July, a National Post reporter on board a Canadian naval vessel explained: "The usual tense games were played this weekend as this Canadian warship responsible for refueling and replenishing a coalition task force in the Indian Ocean passed in a heavy haze through one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. Iranian radio operators trying to hail the [Canadian vessel] Protecteur were interrupted by Omanis who firmly told their neighbours not speak to the Canadians who were making an 'innocent passage' through Omani territorial waters." -
- Monday, Sep 01, 2008
Commentary The mainstream media's hypocrisy during the Olympics would have been funny if it weren't so ignorance-producing. -
- Friday, May 09, 2008
Commentary Canadian foreign aid has been widely derided as ineffective. But that's simply not true. Commentators have just been looking in the wrong places. Canadian aid has been highly effective at transforming taxes into profits for major Canadian corporations. And it's also played a significant role in keeping the world safe for the U.S. led corporate oligarchy. -
- Sunday, Apr 13, 2008
ZNet Article As an advanced capitalist state, Québec support for Western imperialism in Haiti should not be surprising. -
- Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007
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- Tuesday, Oct 09, 2007
ZNet Article CIDA: foreign "aid" in name only? -
- Thursday, Sep 27, 2007
Commentary It appears that the US is planning an attack against Iran and Ottawa is pitching in to help. -
- Sunday, Sep 02, 2007
Commentary Why did Canada help overthrow Haiti's elected government in 2004? That's a question I heard over and over when speaking about Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority, a book Anthony Fenton and I co-wrote. Most people had difficulty understanding ZNet Article NGOs and Imperialism -
- Monday, Jul 30, 2007
ZNet Article A front–page article in Friday's New York Times reports "The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projected this year that one of every 22 patients would get an infection while hospitalized — 1.7 million cases a year — and that 99,000 would die, of... -
- Friday, Jul 13, 2007
Commentary Linda McQuaig's new book, Holding the Bully's Coat: Canada and the US Empire, is far better than most on the subject of Canadian foreign policy. Unfortunately, that is damning with faint praise indeed. -
- Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006
ZNet Article Does the Canadian-promoted “Responsibility to Protect†doctrine include murder rape, and threats of violence?
That’s the question we should be asking Canadian officials after a study in the prestigious Lancet medical journal released at the end of August revealed there were 8,000 murders, 35,000 rapes and thousands of incidents of armed threats in the 22 months after the ove... -
- Monday, Feb 27, 2006
ZNet Article Sometimes, activism can seem like a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Every activist has heard people say: “Nothing ever changes. Things are the way they are and that’s how it is and always will be. All your complaining and noise will do nothing to change anything.â€
But imagine what the world would be like without activists:
Women would be stuck at home rai... -
- Wednesday, Aug 24, 2005
ZNet Article All progressive Canadians should support workers who are currently “locked out†by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation management. They are fighting an important struggle over the future of public service broadcasting in an era when powerful political and economic forces would be pleased by CBC’s demise. But lost in the fog of advertising-driven media obfuscation is the reality that t... -
- Saturday, Aug 13, 2005
ZNet Article Starving children get media attention, well-fed imperial economists don’t. Yet modern history shows they are usually two sides of the famine coin.
Over the past month thousands have died of starvation in Niger. All the while food has been available. The poor simply don’t have the money to pay rising food costs, so they starve.
In the spring the International Monetary Fund pr... - All Most Recent Content
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Yves Engler's Bio Info: Yves Engler is a writer and activist in Montrea... moreYves Engler is a writer and activist in Montreal. He is author of the forthcoming book playing Left Wing: From Hockey to Politics: the making of a student activist. He’s traveled extensively in Venezuela. lessMy ZSpace FriendsRecent Friends Messages
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