G8/20 Toronto Community Mobilization

Toronto Community Mobilization Network | collaborating for change in toronto and the world
Information, workshops, resistance. Get informed. Spread the word.

May 21, 2010 

 

This statement is being released by the Toronto Community Mobilization
Network after being incorrectly quoted and incorrectly represented in
the mainstream media. 

 

Please forward to alternative media sites, social justice listservs, on
blogs and other social media. 

 

The Toronto Community Mobilization Network is *not* an umbrella group.
The Toronto Community Mobilization Network is *not *organizing any
actions. 

 

So what does the Toronto Community Mobilization Network do? The Toronto
Community Mobilization Network works to support education, outreach,
infrastructure such as food and housing, coordinate legal and medic
teams, and community based mobilizations leading up to and during the
G20 Summit in Toronto. We do so within the framework of solidarity and
respect (http://g20.torontomobilize.org/SolidarityRespect). 

 

A calendar of events from June 21-27, 2010 is hosted on our website so
that people struggling for social justice are able to attend events that
fit their political viewpoint and their expectations of effectiveness
and safety. The Toronto Community Mobilization Network does not speak
for these individual actions. 

 

The Toronto Community Mobilization Network organizes for justice and
dignity through supporting community groups and concerned residents to
share their outrage and their hope in the months leading up to and
during the G8/G20 Summits in June 2010. 

 

"The G8/G20 causes immense violence on Indigenous people, poor people,
on women and on people of color around the world. The G20 and its banks
are responsible for the global financial meltdown and the resulting
austerity measures that have deprived many communities of choices", says
Syed Hussan of the Toronto Community Mobilization  Network. 

 

"Canada hosts the Tar Sands, exists on stolen native land, has enforced
exclusionary immigration policy, cut social support for women and poor
communities, is inaccessible to disAbled people and has been named as
one of the worst global environmental culprits time and again", he adds.

 

"Communities in Canada and around the world oppose Canada and the G20
policies and in their place are implementing their own people based
solutions to resolve the ongoing economic and social crises in our
lives", says Sharmeen Khan of the Network.

 

Khan adds, "Forms of resistance and solutions are diverse because the
majority of communities impacted by the G20 are not homogenous.  But our
diverse communities are our strength and we respect and learn from
these different alternative perspectives."

 
http://g20.torontomobilize.org/

B'Nai Brith debunked

The Z-Files: Even Jonathan Kay from National Post Thinks So...
Excerpt:
I would probably never agree with Jonathan Kay or anyone who writes for the National Post on anything but this. B'Nai Brith, I believe, has been debunked so many times. This is the same organization, remember, that praises Pastor John Hagee, the pastor who formed Christian United For Israel and believes that Adolph Hitler was sent from God to help Jews find the promised land and has been quoted as saying that Jews "have everything but spiritual life" and that anti-Semitism was the result of the Jews' "rebellion [against God]." So, B'Nai Brith seems to be calling 'Anti-Semitism' left and right (mostly Left) on anyone and everyone who criticizes Israel's human rights violations, but is content to praise a man who has actually said blatantly anti-Semitic things. Strange.

The Armageddon Factor by Marci McDonald

chapters.indigo.ca: The Armageddon Factor: The Rise Of Christian Nationalism In Canada: Marci Mcdonald: Books
A must-read for any Canadian who is still thinks Stephen Harper and his Conservative government might be good for this country.

From the publisher:
An urgent wake-up call for all Canadians who think that this country is immune from the righteous brand of Christian nationalism that has bitterly divided and weakened the United States.

In her new book, Marci McDonald documents the startling extent of the influence that the religious right already wields in Canada and shows how, quietly, often stealthily, it has provoked far-reaching changes in Canadian policies and institutions, including our public service, our schools and our courts.

In four short years, galvanized by their failure to stop same-sex marriage, not only have conservative Christians developed a permanent infrastructure in Ottawa, designed to outlast whatever party is in power, but they have done so by borrowing the rowdy style of the American religious right to which most of their leaders boast close ties. Their rise has been tied to the election of Stephen Harper and it is no secret that evangelicals have already re-shaped Harper''s foreign policy in the Middle East, guided by what McDonald terms the Armageddon Factor. But few Canadians are aware that a militant band of conservative Christians with a direct pipeline to Harper''s cabinet is also attempting to reshape the country''s social, cultural and even scientific policies, driven by a belief that Canada has a biblically ordained role to play in the final days before Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ.

About the Author
MARCI McDONALD is one of Canada''s most respected journalists. The winner of seven gold National Magazine Awards, she is also the recipient of the Canadian Association of Journalists'' investigative feature award. A former bureau chief for Maclean''s in Paris and Washington, she has interviewed Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton, and spent five more years in the United States as a senior writer for US News & World Report. A winner of the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy, her study of the backstage machinations behind the free trade deal led to her book, Yankee Doodle Dandy: Brian Mulroney and the America Agenda. Her controversial cover story in the Walrus, "Stephen Harper and the TheoCons," inspired this book.

Canada has the 2nd lowest taxes for business next to Mexico

Canada scores well in tax report - thestar.com
So, we could still roll back a lot of the corporate tax cuts that the Harper government had introduced and plans on, and we would still be competitive. Then we could fund social programs again and reduce our deficit and then our debt.
Same goes for Ontario, McGuinty.

Harper government cancels funding for Toronto Gay Pride Festival

Decision to nix Pride funding a ‘slap in the face’ - thestar.com
Simple. Harper hates Toronto. Tony Clement hates Toronto and he is in charge of the funding this year (and, the Conservative party is pretty much anti-gay, anti-equality, anti-rights and they just don't got no sense.) Clement will bend over backwards to screw Toronto. So, there he goes.
Hopefully, there will be an election soon and we can get rid of these guys and steer the country back to normal mode from asshole mode.

Climate Change Accountability Act finally on its way to the Senate

New Democrat climate change bill passes House of Commons | NDP

OTTAWA – Today [May 5, 2010], the New Democrat Climate Change Accountability Act (Bill
C-311) passed its final vote in the House of Commons by a vote of 149
to 136.

“It is a great day for Canada as we finally have a blueprint for
greening our future,” said New Democrat Leader Jack Layton. “We would
not be here without the thousands of Canadians who called and wrote to
their Members of Parliament, pushing them to finally adopt meaningful
climate-change legislation.”

“It’s been a lot of work with a lot of ups and downs,” said Bruce Hyer
(Thunder Bay–Superior North), who introduced the bill in the House. “But
finally Canada will be on its way to having clear regulations and
frameworks for fighting climate change. We can at least hold our heads
up high in the international community.”

...

We don't need ignorant people like Senator Nancy Ruth in our Senate

Aid groups advised to ‘shut the f--- up’ on abortion - thestar.com
Excerpt:

OTTAWA – Aid experts alarmed by Canada’s new anti-abortion stand in
foreign policy have been advised to “shut the f--- up” or risk Prime
Minister Stephen Harper taking even more harsh measures – abroad, or
maybe even at home if abortion becomes an election issue.

“We’ve got five weeks or whatever left until G-8 starts. Shut the
f--- up on this issue,” Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth told a group of
international-development advocates who gathered on Parliament Hill
on Monday to sound the alarm about Canada’s hard-right stand against
abortion in foreign aid.

...

This kind of attitude and behaviour is totally inappropriate coming from a Canadian senator. She should be removed from office immediately. The Senate is supposed to be the part of our government that gives thoughtful and intelligent second thought to our bills before they are allowed to pass. It is not for crude potty-mouthed bigots to embarrass us to the world.

Although Ruth is a Conservative senator, she was appointed by Paul Martin back when the Liberals were governing. I think Ruth was emboldened by the fact that Harper has gotten way with so much damage to our institutions in the face of the ineffectual Liberal opposition, so, she felt that she could now act the way she felt in her Conservative heart, instead of acting responsibly and with civility as a Canadian senator should.


See also:
Senator's profanity reveals Tory culture of intimidation