Seeding Divestment Carleton's Yafa Jarrar discusses BDS campaign http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3225

These companies benefit by contributing to the ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of the Palestinian people. By investing in these firms, not only does Carleton University violate its own ethical principles (as an academic institution), but it also becomes complicit in breaches of international law and violations of human rights. All peoples and organizations, including Carleton University, are bound by the principles of international law.

In reference to the Nuremberg Principles, the 2004 Opinion of the International Court of Justice, Articles 49 and 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the UN Security Council Resolutions 446, 452, 465, and 471, Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Goldstone Report, and Canadian Domestic Law, it is incumbent upon Carleton University to end its investment in such companies, and any other company that supports the illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

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STOP-Proposed Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/proposed-prosperity-gold-copper-mine

Taseko Mines Ltd. is proposing to construct an open-pit copper and gold mine in the heart of Tsilhqot’in Territory, 125 km west of Williams Lake BC .If the project were to proceed it would:drain the beautiful, culturally important and rainbow trout-tilled Teztan Biny (Fish Lake);elimate cultural sites dating to at least 5,500 years ago;create an open pit 500 m deep and 1600 m in diameter;create 480 million tonnes of tailings and 328 million tons of waste rock;deposit waste in the Upper Fish Creek watershed eliminating the creek, Little Fish Lake and terrestrial habitat for grizzly bears;create a reservoir adjacent to the tailings impoundment in order to compensate for the permanent loss of fish habitat;put a permanent environmental liability in the headwaters of the Fish Creek, a tributary of the Taseko and Fraser Rivers;create up to 33 years of employment and economic development for the region;

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Ambassador Álvarez: Senators Ignore Political Bias of IACHR Report http://www.embavenez-us.org/news.php?nid=5280

“Venezuela rejects the reports from the OAS's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), because the IACHR is a politicized entity biased against Venezuela,” wrote Ambassador Álvarez. “The organization’s Secretariat, for example, supported the coup against President Hugo Chávez in 2002,” highlighted the diplomat.

“If we agree that the free will of the people to elect their representatives to be the bedrock of all political rights, then the Secretariat’s [of the IACHR] failure to defend the legitimate President of the country during the coup in 2002 disqualifies it from being an impartial observer and promoter of the political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights enjoyed by the Venezuelan people,” he added. “The IACHR is not the proper space for an objective discussion of human rights in Venezuela.”

“If the U.S. Senate were truly concerned about human rights in the region, it should ask its mission to the OAS to promote a discussion regarding the case of Luis Posada Carriles,” wrote Ambassador Álvarez of the case of the man known as the “Osama bin Laden of Latin America.” Posada Carriles is wanted in Venezuela for having blown up a civilian airliner and killed 73 people. Regardless, he lives freely in Miami, Florida. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cyberwar Hype Intended to Destroy the Open Internet http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/cyberwar-hype-intended-to-destroy-the-open-internet/#more-5902

When he was head of the country’s national intelligence, he scared President Bush with visions of e-doom, prompting the president to sign a comprehensive secret order that unleashed tens of billions of dollars into the military’s black budget so they could start making firewalls and building malware into military equipment. And now McConnell is back in civilian life as a vice president at the secretive defense contracting giant Booz Allen Hamilton. He’s out in front of Congress and the media, peddling the same Cybaremaggedon! gloom.And now he says we need to re-engineer the internet.

We need to develop an early-warning system to monitor cyberspace, identify intrusions and locate the source of attacks with a trail of evidence that can support diplomatic, military and legal options — and we must be able to do this in milliseconds. More specifically, we need to re-engineer the Internet to make attribution, geo-location, intelligence analysis and impact assessment — who did it, from where, why and what was the result — more manageable. The technologies are already available from public and private sources and can be further developed if we have the will to build them into our systems and to work with our allies and trading partners so they will do the same. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VIDEO-Interview with Max Igan part 5 http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/the-coto-report-goes-down-under-an-interview-with-max-igan-part-5/

On Behalf of the COTO Report I am pleased to present the fifth part of the interview with documentary filmmaker, musician and non-violent non-compliance expert Max Igan.

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The New Canadian Paradigm: Embracing Apartheid http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/03/supporting-apartheid/

Engler refers to the dispossession, oppression of Palestinians, and occupation of their land as “one of the world’s longest standing conflicts.” The buzzword for the “conflict” is “apartheid.”Engler acknowledges Canada’s ongoing, historical abuses against the First Nations of Turtle Island, but he does not define it as, or having been, apartheid. Canada is a state erected by European colonists on the dispossession and “slow-motion” genocide of the Indigenous peoples. Israel is also a state established by European colonists through the dispossession and genocide of the Indigenous peoples.

Early in its history, the Canadian state enacted laws and policies that unquestionably personified apartheid. The Original Peoples were placed in small reserves; a people never poor pre-contact became impoverished; the prison population became (and remains) inordinately Indigenous. Although the legislated apartheid in Canada is mitigated (the fearsomeness of the genocide allowed for assimilation as a policy of disappearing the other), the results of the dispossession and genocide still linger.

Engler documents Canadian partnerships with Israel in intelligence, security, and business. Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) works closely with Mossad. Mossad has abused Canadian passports in the past – something known and covered up by Ottawa.The author questions the purpose of the border management and security agreement with Israel – a state Canada shares no border with.

Militarily, Canada invited the Israeli airforce to train in Canada. The author details further cooperation, such as in communications and surveillance. Engler says the presence of foreigners fighting for the Israel Defense [sic] Forces (IDF) is a powerful symbol. Although illegal, recruitment from Canada staffs the IDF. Engler reports that early on, about 1000 Canadians fought to help establish Israel.Canada has also been a fertile ground to raise funds for Israel. Engler informs that Canadian Jews sent $100-$200 million in 1991 to Israel; with inflation this amount may be double now.

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Protesters in Eastern India Battle Against Mining Giant Arcelor Mittal http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=1554

In the rural, tribal lands of Eastern India, protesters are going head-to-head with world steel giant Arcelor Mittal. "We may give away our lives, but we will not part with an inch of our ancestral land," the villagers cry. "The forest, rivers and land are ours. We don't want factories, steel or iron. Arcelor Mittal Go Back."Meanwhile activists with AMARM in Jharkhand are fighting the project tooth and nail. In October, undeterred by a heavy downpour, thousands of men and women assembled at district headquarters in the proposed site in Gumla. They were armed with the traditional bow and arrow and carried brooms, sickles, grain threshers and tangi (machetes). The placards and banners they held aloft read “Mittal Go Back.” 

The villagers were protesting the sale of 1,025 acres of alleged “government” land for which the company paid the district administration 80 percent of cost (Rs.12.39 crores or $2.8 million). The villagers called for the immediate abrogation of the deeds, arguing that the land included community-owned natural resources such as rivers, streams, forests, and hills covering 10 villages in the district. Despite the odds, the locals are holding out hope of retaining their ancestral lands. “Keeping in mind the protests of the villagers," said head of Gumla administration Rahul Sharma, "the issue is pending with the divisional commissioner [and] no land has so far been given to the company."

comment-also see...Mining the Mountain: corruption and 'cultural genocide' brought by Vedanta Resources Ltd http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3530

Dodgy Development: DfID in India, Part II http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3529