Resisting the herd
Matt McLean
Several weeks ago in his article “Herd mentality,” Bryan Peeler argued that challenging Canada’s occupation of Afghanistan and Haiti, and the American occupation of Iraq, essentially means supporting fascism, genocide, theocracy and terrorism. This accusation against global justice activists is nothing new. It is far easier to support imperialism and war as instructed by the head of the herd, government, big business and corporate media, than it is to resist.
However, the increasingly combative role of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, and the consequential loss of life, has forced Canadians to question the legitimacy of “peacekeeping” in Afghanistan and Haiti. If the increasing combat in Afghanistan has done anything positive, it has begun to lift the thin veil of “peacekeeping” that has justified some of our nation’s worst crimes.
Prime Minister Harper and corporate media repeatedly tell Canadians that our soldiers are fighting to spread freedom and democracy in Afghanistan. The truth of the matter, as has been reported in numerous NGO human rights reports, is that Canadian soldiers are dying and killing to uphold a government of warlords, drug lords and religious extremists who care little for liberty and democracy.
UNICEF has reported that women and children’s death rates from preventable disease have not changed since 2001. Less than 50 per cent of primary school-aged girls attend school, while a quarter of primary school-age children work. Amnesty International has reported that, “the current criminal justice system is simply unwilling or unable to address issues of violence against women. At the moment [October 2003] it is more likely to violate the rights of women than to protect and uphold their rights.”
This is unsurprising considering Afghanistan’s Chief Justice, Fazl Al Shinwar, is the protégé of American- supported fundamentalist warlord Abdul-Rabb al-Rasul Sayyaf. Chief Justice Shinwar has banned cable television, arrested journalists for blasphemy, and charged Afghanistan’s Women’s Affairs minister, Sima Samar, with blasphemy for criticizing Sharia law.
Many argue this proves the necessity of the Canadian mission — without Canada, Afghanistan would “regress” and return to Taliban rule. Lest we get too comfortable, we should recall that Cherif Bassiouni, an independent UN human rights expert, reported in early 2005 that there have been “arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions and abuses committed by the United States-led coalition forces . . . [that] fall under the internationally accepted definition of torture.” Without Canadian and coalitions soldiers, this government of warlords, drug dealers and Taliban-like fundamentalists could not exist. The coalition forces make this disgusting government possible.
Canadians should also be aware of Canada’s role in the recent Haitian coup d’état. On February 29, 2004, American Marines invaded the Haitian Presidential Palace and demanded the resignation of the popular and democratically-elected president. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was told only his resignation could prevent bloodshed in the capital. While Marines forced Aristide’s resignation at gunpoint, the Canadian Joint Task Force Two secured the airport from which President Aristide would be flown to the Central African Republic.
Next the coup perpetrators and the Haitian elite selected a seven-member “Council of the Wise,” who chose Gérard Latortue, who has been living in Florida for the past 15 years, as the new prime minister of Haiti. Latortue has since reversed progressive labour laws, cut social spending, and signed international financial agreements that require the “restructuring” of Haiti’s economy through the sale of state-owned utilities, the privatization of education and health care, and strict debt repayment schedules.
As the World Bank stated in late 2004, “The transitional period and the Transitional Government provide a window of opportunity for implementing economic governance reforms with the involvement of civil society stakeholders that may be hard for a future government to undo.” The overthrow of Haiti’s democratically- elected government was used to establish a neo-liberal economic order that the Haitian people have repeatedly rejected at the ballot box since 1990.
The Canadian government has since supplied millions in military aid and sent RCMP officers to train the new Haitian National Police (HNP). The HNP has become infamous for its violence towards Aristide’s supporters in Haiti’s urban slums. The HNP reportedly killed 600 citizens during a raid into one such neighbourhood in October 2004.
Democratically-elected prime minister Yvon Neptune has been a political prisoner since the coup, as has left-leaning potential presidential nominee Father Gerard Jean-Juste. Both were prevented from running for election by the interim government. These are only two of the thousands of political prisoners held since the 2004 coup. The interim government of Haiti, under the tutelage of the RCMP and Canadian government, has become one of the world’s leading human-rights violators.
Like so many others, I protested this past March in opposition to these wars. I will protest again in May when the Canadian government turns parts of Winnipeg into an urban warfare training zone. I protest because I do not support Canada’s subversion of democracy in Haiti. I protest because I do not support the Canadian government’s support of drug lords, warlords and religious extremists in Afghanistan. I protest because my conscience does not allow me to join the herd, even if it means being trampled on occasion.
Matt McLean is pursuing a master’s degree in history.
