September 13, 2024
Dear Rachel Bendayan (MP) and Ruba Ghazal (MPP),
As my representatives I wrote to you both on October 9, 2023, to warn you about the dangers of Israel's declaration of war on Gaza. Israel has now killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, and as many as 186,000 according to an article in The Lancet. The ICJ and ICC have ruled that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide, with ethnic cleanising now spreading to the West Bank and threatening war with Lebanon and Iran. In fact, this conflict has already begun. Canada has played lapdog to American foreign policy and the deep state, about which nothing constructive can be said. Further, United Nations experts have determined that Israel is carrying out a campaign of mass starvation against the Palestinian population. The international community is aghast at what can only be viewed as a campaign of neocolonial mass extermination, directed by the likes of Tony Blinken and the pro-Zionist camp. It is not simply ironic that Indigenous cultures are being honoured in Canada's national museums and in its statuary in the capital city at the same time that Canada defends a genocidal settler-colonial regime that is undertaking ethnic cleansing. We have heard it said many times that "Israel has the right to defend itself" when in fact an occupying force does not have the right to kill its captives. In this so-called "woke" era of Black Lives Matter and Justin Trudeau's "feminist" foreign policy, one would think that slaves would be accorded the right to resist slavery, and that Canada would help to free them rather than support the slavocracy, and so we see how the state's discourse of anti-oppression, which is omnipresent on state-sponsored television and radio, is only operative when it serves the plutocracy.
In Ukraine, the Biden administration has crossed every one of its own red lines, ignoring the security concerns of Russia as a matter of policy since at least the Western-backed Maiden colour coup that ousted a pro-Russian leadership and installed a far-right nationalist regime. Approximately 700,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 100,000 Russian soldiers have died, millions of the brightest citizens have fled the country - as is the case for Israel also - and the assets of the country have been retailed to foreign investors. In other words, NATO and Western powers have bankrupted Ukraine in much the same way they ruined Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Haiti, Honduras and Venezuela. However, NATO will not bankrupt Russia and China - all experts tell us that this is most unlikely, both economically and militarily. Not that such an outcome is desirable, it is not, and diplomacy has been ruled out by Western powers since the end of the Cold War, but one does want to know what "negotiating power" the Atlanticists think they can wield by showering Russia with missiles, which the Russians have indicated is a nuclear threshold. What cabal of asinine cynics are promoting the limited use of nuclear strikes as a means to offset the West's declining fortunes, which is the end result of the short-term globalization agenda of the Thatcherites and Reaganites coming home to roost. How much more profit does the billionaire class really need before anyone in government takes the smallest step to the left, which is to say, in the name of humanity and decency. The failure to do anything but follow the most depraved US and EU policies finds conservatives incubating a Canadian version of far-right fanaticism. And whose fault is this? I will tell you: It's the neoliberals, stupid.
A century ago, a communist would explain that fascism is the right wing of liberal capitalism and social democracy is its left wing. With the disappearance of the Soviet Union, the developed West has de-unionized labour and increased the cost of living, allowing economic predation to run amok. Liberal elites have practically destroyed the middle class through its privatization mentality. Where it has not bankrupted the middle class financially, it has done so ideologically. My sense is that knowledge of the looming ecological crisis has contributed to a devil may care attitude, which was not enhanced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Humanity has previously proven itself capable of the worst forms of fatalism. How about giving some attention to the most progressive thought leaders - outside the neoliberal duopoly - and cooling off the war machine. Please do what you can, while you can. To begin, you could work to find a solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict beyond toothless calls for a ceasefire. Demand that the US stop arming the genocidal regime in Israel. In the case of Ukraine, pull back the NATO forces that are operating inside that country and allow the Russian federation the military security it needs to defend itself and ethnic Russians inside of Ukraine. Cease to increase NATO spending, since this Cold War institution has no progressive role to play in the new multipolar world that has emerged. Allow other countries to develop and prosper. Focus on creating meaningful jobs at home that pay a living wage. Fund pre- and post-secondary education adequately so that young people have something to look forward to. Stop threatening Canadians with the privatization of health care services and the downgrading of postal service work. Concern yourselves with the people who elect you rather than greedy investors and shareholders.
Sincerely,
Dr. Marc James Léger
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