March, 2016

The rhetoric surrounding Canada’s military mission in the Middle East is polarized along party lines – yet regardless of whether it’s the Liberals or the Conservatives, there is a shared desire to escalate Canada’s imperialist aggression. Started under Harper’s Conservatives and continued by the Trudeau Liberals, Canada’s presence in the Middle East is increasing, and intensifying the conflict. The impact on the local population is devastating – causing refugees to flee conflict areas. The Trudeau Liberals find it appropriate to pat themselves on the back in accepting a meagre amount of refugees to mitigate the effects of the humanitarian disaster they had a direct hand in creating.

On one side, Conservative politicians are putting pressure on the Trudeau government to increase Canada’s involvement in the US led crusade against ISIS. They express embarrassment for the fact that Canada was not invited to the ‘adults table’ at the anti-ISIS meeting in Paris earlier this year. On the other, liberals commend Trudeau’s decision to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees and applaud his so-called humanitarian shift in Canada’s foreign policy in Iraq and Syria.

Digging deeper than partisan expressions of support, we quickly are able to demystify the current manufactured media narratives and see that there is no real change under the surface.

While pundits allied to different political parties are pushing partisan propaganda, tensions keep increasing with no discernible effect other than victimizing more Syrians[1]. Meanwhile, imperialist forces (NATO, European Union, the US and their allies such as Canada) do not show signs of restraining their efforts to further destabilize the region in benefit of the profiteers.

Canada, sanctioned by Trudeau, continues to be criminally involved in the Middle East, even though he promised the withdrawal of Canadian troops on the campaign trail. As a matter of fact, before returning Canada’s bombers in February, the Liberal government actually increased the number of airstrikes against Syria. The US-led airstrikes were deliberately coupled with renewed material and organizational support to anti-government groups in Syria. Trudeau’s statement that Canada will increase its troop presence for “training purposes” is completely in line with the imperialist agenda, and it needs to be stopped.

We are led to believe that these training missions are a de-escalation from the war effort but it is far from that. As a matter of fact, the new mission tripled the number of special forces deployed on the ground to train Iraqi forces for the next two years. The Liberals also increased the number of Armed Forces members deployed as part of the coalition mission from 650 to 830. All in all the Liberals have increased Canada’s contribution to the war effort to more than 1.6 billion dollars over the next 3 years.[2]

These dirty wars are lobbied for by the ever increasing appetite of big corporations who want to control new markets, gain access to natural resources and to cheap labour – not for noble humanitarian reasons. The dictates of the market economy, in need of a docile, mobile and young work force, capable of joining the ranks of precarious proletariat in big North American and European cities, are also to blame.

All these atrocities have one single root cause: capitalism and its quest for ever increased profits.

How can we believe in our dear Prime Minister’s sincerity when he calls for accepting Syrian refugees when his government’s policies perpetuate the same pattern of exploitation and oppression that uproots millions of individuals from their homes each year?

We must put an end to this exploitation and oppression. This is why the Young Communist League demands:

• The immediate retirement of NATO, an illegal military alliance, and of all other imperialist treaties; the installation of a foreign policy based on peace, disarmament sustainable development and solidarity;
• The immediate retreat of all Canadian soldiers mobilized outside of the country starting with troops in Ukraine and in the Middle-East;
• The immediate end of 15 billion-dollar arms agreement with Saudi Arabia;
• The welcoming of all immigrants and asylum seekers with full rights – no one is illegal;
• The complete abrogation of Bill C-51 that attacks democratic rights under the pretext of ‘war against terrorism’;
• Fighting against Islamophobia and all xenophobic and racist behaviours towards marginalized communities.

The Young Communist League of Canada fully supports the March 19th, 2016 actions against the war taking place across Canada and encourages all youth and students to take action to stop the war.

For a list of demonstrations taking place on March 19th visit: http://www.canadianpeacecongress.ca/middle-east/peacedemomarch19-day-of-action-against-war-in-middle-east/#more-266