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Letter to my fellow delegatesTo: NDP Delegates From: Dave Mann, Convention Delegate, Brant
Friday, September 8th, 2006, 10:35 AM, Quebec City ---
I recognized then [after a trip to World Youth Congress in Geneva in August 1936] that if you came to a choice between losing freedom of speech, religion, association, thought and resorting to force, you use force.
- Tommy Douglas.
The CCF caucus, including Tommy Douglas, voted in favor of war (1939). This proved to many Canadians that the CCF was not a radical party and afforded moderate voters the opportunity to elect North America`s first socialist government.
Fellow Delegates: Today I am asking you to deny "an overwhelming majority" to the proposal to remove Canadian Forces from Afganistan. How do Canada's New Democrats propose to safeguard the democratic process in Afghanistan?
What will help us convince at least a quarter of those who vote that we would make the best government?
"Canadian troops are not engaged in peacekeeping. They are involved on one side in a civil war." - James Laxer
Yes, and just as Karl Marx and many other socialists publicly advocated for the Union's victory over the Confederacy in the US civil war, so it is also in the interests of New Democrats to support and to advocate for those forces in Afghanistan that are building democratic institutions and the rule of law.
As MALALAI JOYA is proving, Afghanis are as deserving of democracy as any other human being. The NDP I grew up in backed the Republican`s in Spain (1936), the African National Congress in its violent struggle against apartheid and the Sandinistas, for a time, in their fight with the Contras.
There are so many obvious questions that arise from our leader`s statements, but I haven't seen them answered anywhere. Should all our troops come home, or should our troops just withdraw to Kabul? Should our troops stick with NATO/ISAF and not work with the Americans?
If the Taliban don't agree to peace talks by next February, should our troops come home? Should they come home peace talks or not? Should we stay in the form of diplomats and aid workers, absent military security?
If we say no to the government of Afghanistan when they ask for our help, what are the conditions that have to be present to say yes when we're asked for our help?
As of Thursday, I haven't been able to discern MALALAI JOYA`s take on NATO/ISAF. The Afghan Women's Network is quite clear, though - it was the AWN that first called on NATO to help the Afghan government assert control throughout the country, and not just in Kabul. I can't imagine that Joya would support our Leader, Jack Layton's proposal to bring the Taliban into the tent. Joya - I understand, is furious that there are former warlords in the Afghan parliament - she is alone in this, in that everybody wants them to participate in the political system rather than revert to the gun. Would she want Taliban warlords in parliament, too? I seriously doubt it.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration. How will Canada's NDP answer Malalai Joya's Challenge?On September 8th, 2006, Malalai Joya, member of the Loya Jerga (Afghan parliament) from Farah Province who received more votes than any other candidate, addressed the Convention of Canada's New Democratic Party. Here are the two paragarphs from her speech that directly relate to Canadians involvement in Afganistan's civil war: "I think if Canada and other governments really want to help Afghan people and bring positive changes, they must act independently, rather than becoming a tool to implement the wrong policies of the US government. They must align themselves to the wishes and needs of Afghan people and stop any kind of support to the warlords and reactionary and ignorant element within the system. Only by such policy, they can gain people's trust and will prove themselves as real friends of Afghan people. We are deeply sorry for the deaths of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. If the Canadian government could not act independently rather than following Pentagon's agenda, we are afraid the efforts of Canadian troops will first of all serve the US government and not the Afghan people." full text of speech from NDP website Could anyone provide me with a quote from Ms. Joya in which she explicitly states her wish for Canadian military forces to leave Afghanistan? On Friday, September 8th, 2006, after her speech to the NDP Convention, I attended a gathering of 80 people in Quebec City. Ms. Joya was also there. I was able to ask her "Yes or No, do you want Canada's army to leave Afghanistan." Her assistant (who has my respect, despite her Galloway-esque accent and demeanor) pulled her away from me before she could reply. I have carefully read everything about her on the internet and have read all her speeches. She never comes right out and says "Canada go home." I will not be shocked if someone is able to find the words but so far they have eluded me. Why is this important? Because Ms. Joya did say, "They [Canada and other governments] must align themselves to the wishes and needs of Afghan people and stop any kind of support to the warlords and reactionary and ignorant element within the system." My question to fellow New Democrats: How can we "align [our]selves to the wishes and needs of Afghan people and stop any kind of support to the warlords and reactionary and ignorant element within the system" if we leave the country? We can't do anything if the Taliban and the "Jihadis" are free to put to the sword all who oppose their theocracy. At the NDP Convention Ms. Joya also said "Liberation should be achieved in a country by the people themselves." I agree, that's a fine ideal. But the fact is no nation, not even Canada and the United States of America were able to establish a democracy without outside intervention. Check your history. Brantford Expositor EditorialNDP Right To Debate Policy
September 15, 2006
I would like to thank Retired Master Corporal Darren Farrow for his letter (Sept. 13, 2006, page A6) [included in comment section attached below]. I attended the NDP convention in Quebec City as a delegate for the Brant NDP. I voted against the resolution to have Canada's soldiers leave Afghanistan and was the first delegate to speak against it, immediately following the speech of our leader, Jack Layton. The Muslim world is engaged in a civil war between democrats and religious leaders who pervert Islam to justify their dictatorship. Canada, I believe, has a responsibility to make certain the democrats win. I reminded the delegates that in 1965, even after our Party had passed a resolution against US involvement in Vietnam, David Lewis, a committed anti-communist, NDP Leader and father of Stephen Lewis, had continued to support US actions in Vietnam and defended the British Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson's support for the US government. Why would I feel it necessary to remind my fellow New Democrats that former NDP leaders had supported US military actions in the past? Because I thought, among all the delegates there, that I was alone. I was gladly mistaken. Peter Stoffer, an NDP Member of Parliament, also opposed the resolution as did several members of Canada's military there in attendance. The one aspect of Retired Master Corporal Farrow's letter that I found objectionable was the question "...how would you feel if people question your mission while your friends die?" One reason our young women and young men are dying is to extend the right to question the mission, or any government action, to the people of Afghanistan. If I was a soldier I would be glad to know that people were thinking about me, concerned for my well-being. Whether they thought I should be there or not. It seems strange to me that while young people are sacrificing everything people in Canada and the US carry on as if the war isn't happening. The Liberal and Conservative governments have done little to sell the cause, prefering to let the people sleep. Last weekend the NDP maintained its tradition of debating the issues. Since 9/11/2001 the people have been lied to continuously by the chronically incompetant conservative government of George W Bush. It makes it almost impossible to speak in favor of NATO's intervention. One person who is exercising her newly won rights in Malalai Joya. She received more votes than any other person in Afghan history and she despises the Americans almost as much as she hates the Taliban. She spoke at the convention and her speech can be found on the NDP website. It was not easy to argue that our soldiers should stay when the Afghan version of Martin Luther King condemns the mission as being solely in the interests of American corporations. But I tried. Perhaps the retired master corporal doesn't care what an Afghan woman who lives every day in fear of the assassin's bullet thinks? "You cannot question the mission while it is in progress" is representative of the type of fascist argument we should fight against. I wish these arguments weren't partisan; I wish Canadians could agree on our foreign policy. I'm afraid its too late. Some interesting quotes and factsM.J. Coldwell: During debate on the motion concerning the declaration of war on Italy on 10 June 1940, the CCF Party’s spokesman stated: This war is none of our seeking; it is thrust upon us. And we have no option, it seems to me, but to accept the challenge and to go forward to ultimate victory.(7) Canada, House of Commons, Debates, 10 June 1940, p. 653. http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp303-e.htm#B.%20Second Tommy Douglas: The CCF caucus, including Tommy Douglas, voted in favor of war (1939). This proved to many Canadians that the CCF was not a radical party and provided moderate voters the option of supporting the CCF. • Opposing dictatorships: “I recognized then [after a trip to World Youth Congress in Geneva in August 1936] that if you came to a choice between losing freedom of speech, religion, association, thought … and resorting to force, you’d use force.” • Support for the war (1941): “I believe that apart from the conscription of men for overseas service, the country should bend every effort towards the successful prosecution of the war.” David Lewis: In July 1965, The Federal NDP passed a resolution opposing the Vietnam War, subsequently in September, the Ontario NDP organized a public meeting, publicized as a "Report from Parliament" at which the featured speaker was Deputy Leader David Lewis. Remember, David was strongly anti-communist thanks in part to his ties to the East European Bundist movement. At the meeting Lewis defended British Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s support of the U.S., telling the audience that "both sides" were to blame for the conflict, and that the greatest danger to peace in Southeast Asia was China. Lewis was roundly booed at this meeting. http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/marxists//history/canada/socialisthistory/Docs/1961-/Vietnam/SevenYears.htm From the Communist Manifesto: Karl Marx on the "universal interdependence of nations." In place of the old local and national seclusion and self-sufficiency, we have intercourse in every direction, universal inter-dependence of nations. And as in material, so also in intellectual production. The intellectual creations of individual nations become common property. National one-sidedness and narrow-mindedness become more and more impossible, ... The working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got. ... National differences and antagonisms between peoples are daily more and more vanishing, owing ... to the world-market, to uniformity in the mode of production and in the conditions of life corresponding thereto. In our eyes, individual terror is inadmissible precisely because it belittles the role of the masses in their own consciousness, reconciles them to their powerlessness, and turns their eyes and hopes towards a great avenger and liberator who some day will come and accomplish his mission. - From Leon Trotsky's 1909 "Why Marxists oppose Individual Terrorism." |
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