Forget Pakistan

There's something amazing happening in North America. The Lakota Sioux have formally withdrawn from all their treaties with the United States. They have made this bold decision in line with international law and due to over a century of broken promises and violence from the Americans.

A delegation from the nation formally served notice to the State Department (don't forget that First Nations peoples aren't Canadians or Americans, they are their own nation) and several other South American states. The Bolivian government sent a representative to their press conference.

As usual, the media is not covering this news apart from sarcastic editorials in dismal mid-western newspapers blaming the Lakota for the many problems on their reservations and stating that this move is counterproductive (don't you know that you should work within the system, even if the system is designed to kill or assimilate you). No one apparently is interested in pondering who benefits from keeping First Nations peoples addicted to civilization. How much coal is under their land; how much ethanol can you grow on their land?

To learn more about this developing story visit: http://www.republicoflakota.com/index.htm

Don't expect to hear about this on the six o'clock news. You have to learn about this one on your own.

Bhutto-matically

This is one of those assassinations where we're constantly told that we're supposed to feel bad. Now why should we feel bad for Benazir Bhutto?

Seems to me the primary reason is that she's dead and she died violently which isn't much fun. But then poor people have been dying violently in Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan since the British first arrived and the Americans followed (and earlier when Aryans from Central Asia arrived and then Muslims). Perhaps it's only just that a member of the elite, usually insulated from violence, has died on her own sword.

The truth is that elites have a monopoly on violence and that that violence flows only one way, down. So perhaps I'll withhold my tears for now.

The other argument I've heard for why we need to mourn her is that she's a woman. Yes it's true (and perhaps unbelievable) that there could be a woman head of state in Pakistan. I bet the Saudis would sweat if she ever visited on official business. For that reason it's a tragedy. Women should of course be able to participate in public life without threat. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that Bhutto was interested in supporting other women or building systems to have them elected etc. She was an exception and unless some other man's daughter aspires to greatness I don't think we'll ever see another woman head of state in Pakistan.

So perhaps some tears here but then again how much do we really need leaders to take our power away?

But I think it's important to remember that she's a super elite. Did you ever hear her speak? I guarantee that she (like all South Asian super elites) was educated in Britain. She has more in common with the Oxbridge elite than almost anyone in Pakistan. Another example of an out of touch leader (the Bush family are stinking rich, Paul Martin runs Canada Steamship Lines, South Korea's new leader used to run Hyundai, for instance). Bhutto never went without her whole life while millions in Pakistan barely survive because of the system that elites like her have created. Also it's important to remember that she's been booted out of power twice for being corrupt (a common ailment in Pakistan--ask Nawaz Sharif).

So I feel that Madame Bhutto is not necessarily someone to mourn. Just another elite leader blown to bits. When you live (and profit) by the sword, you die by the sword. Yet I somehow doubt that this latest "martyr" will convince her fellow elites to change direction.

Declaration of War

Today the states and individuals of the Climate Alliance formally declare war on the United States of America and Canada. Though we did not choose it, a state of war now exists between our two opposing visions of the future. We reject death and pain and choose the path of coexistence and respect with our one, indivisible and perfect home. For that we will pay any price.

Whereas the Government of the United States of America, the Corporations of the United States of America and the Government of Canada and the Corporations of Canada have unilaterally declared war on the planet, non-human beings and future generations.

Whereas the above mentioned belligerents have actively rejected any essential multilateral solutions to the urgent problem of climate change and have actively worked to derail the workings of the International Panel on Climate Change.

Whereas the above mentioned belligerents contribute over and above any other state's production of greenhouse gases while housing a mere fraction of the globe's human population.

Whereas the climate criminals continue to make intricate and violent plans to increase their production of deadly greenhouse gases.

Whereas these aggressive bodies are pressing for a hypocritical double standard on states that only seek to match these rich states' material development.

Be it resolved that the Climate Alliance will not end the persecution of this war until the United States of America and Canada are broken and dissolved and their evil leaders are tried and punished for Crimes Against Nature. Your smoke stacks will fall, your vehicles will stop, your clearcuts will be reborn, you will choke on your own cancerous poisons. This is justice. You have chosen the path of pain and suffering by your indifference and we condemn you.

We call on partisans in these two states and two corporations to take up arms in the service of the planet. Our war is for you and your children and for the future of life on earth. Don't fail them now. The wheel is poised to spin.

Approved December 10, 2007 - 8:48pm EST.

Choices

The expansion of the tar sands oil extraction in northern Alberta is one of the most under discussed issues in Canada today. It has been called the "biggest environmental crime in history". Canada is never going to reach our Kyoto obligations if the tar sands project goes ahead. Our greenhouse gas production is going to go through the roof with the energy intensive tar sands processes.

Not only that but the "project" is destroying the landscape making it look more like the moon than a vibrant healthy mix of ecosystems; that means that animals and plants won't be able to live there, try as they might. Yes, believe it or not, humans aren't the only beings on this planet and we don't have the right to displace others.

It's also poisoning the people that live there with certain First Nations communities suffering dramatic health problems by living downstream; these include cancers that rarely occur in the general population. Incidentally to those of you who might think that the government will step in when health is at risk learn about the story of Dr. John O'Connor who was sanctioned by Health Canada and Alberta Health for speaking out against the health impacts of the tar sands "development". The government isn't going to do anything to protect these communities no matter the evidence.

The tar sands also consume tons of fresh water which is contaminated during the process and has to be left in special ponds for potentially thousands of years (if they don't breach their banks and flow to the sea first). It takes five barrels of oil to produce one barrel of oil and then those barrels of oil are contaminated.

To read more about this important issue, I suggest you pick up a copy of the Dominion Paper or check it out online here.

I read these facts and I can't accept that this project has to happen. There's no reason for it and, even if there was, it's wrong. With all the evidence against it, it has to be stopped. It's like driving; all the evidence against driving means we have to ban cars forever. But as in either case, no one else sees it this way, so I guess I'm crazy.

Does this mean I have to go out and talk to people and hold their hands and try and get them to see that I'm right and that fucking Bambi has a right to live on this land? Remind them that the First Nations people in northern Alberta don't want cancer and death? Fuck that. People don't give a shit and I have to rub their faces in it so they care. Your economic development is killing everything.

So I'm faced with a choice. I can try and continue to live with a decreasing ecological footprint while the rest of the world continues to go the other direction and set an example for people as to how humans could live, with a lot less, but a future. Or I can head to Alberta and disrupt this terrible industrial death machine. One things for certain, I'm not going to continue sleepwalking and winning nothing, as I have been for the past two years. Something is going to happen.

For one special reader, I'm thinking about it. For the rest of you what are you going to do? It might be northern Alberta, or China, or Bangladesh, the Sydney tar ponds, Bhopal but eventually the death machine will make its way to you. Are you just going to stick your heads under the sand? It's so easy to do so but that doesn't mean it's right. Good luck to us all and our non-human companions on this earth.

Road Rage

Just watched a film called The Road to Guantanamo. Apparently you can watch the whole thing online here (not sure how long this link will last).

It's the story of four young men who travel to Pakistan to celebrate their friend's wedding in 2001 just after 9/11. Getting caught up in the emotion of the moment, they travel to Afghanistan to do what they can to help refugees and the people of Afghanistan. They don't really explain their motivations well but being young and idealistic that's probably reason enough; didn't you do stupid things as a 20 year old? They spend weeks just waiting with nothing to do then try to get back to Pakistan. They end up at a battle and are captured with other foreigners and Taliban. Then the film outlines their treatment first in Afghanistan and then on to Guantanamo Bay and Camp X-Ray.

It's pretty traumatic viewing. I am so angry at the Americans and their treatment of these three young men (one disappeared in Afghanistan and was probably mass graved). I wept with rage at their treatment and at my own growing hatred. There wasn't a moment of goodness say with a guard smiling at a prisoner, nothing. The Americans tried to control every aspect of their lives; in Guantanamo, they couldn't even stand up and got five minutes of exercise a week. They were tortured and mistreated, beaten all for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Can you imagine someone pointing a gun at you or holding a ferocious dog just far enough from you? Can you imagine them screaming at you all the time, telling you what to do and when to do it? Can you imagine solitary confinement? Can you imagine being punched for telling the truth when asked a question?

One question that kept popping into my head was: If the Americans hate these people so much and don't much care for the truth, why not just kill them? It would be a whole lot better than years of trauma and torture.

Check out the film and maybe you'll gain respect for these young men and what they had to endure. They got out but hundreds more are still there. Still being beaten, still being mistreated and lied to, still waiting for justice that never comes.