Arms for civil rights
Harper's swan song was the $15-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, which Harper boasted would provide 3,000 jobs (kind of expensive job creation) by selling weaponized armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. The combat vehicles with machine guns and anti-tank cannons are clearly intended to 'protect' the Mideast kingdom's monarchy from internal threats. The proposed sale is now being protested in a class-action law suit by University of Montreal professor Daniel Turp. Turp and his group's challenge--Operation Armoured Rights--points to how poorly Saudi Arabia treats its own citizens (47 executions in January, mostly public beheadings) and their horrific bombing campaign in Yemen.
A poll by Nanos Research showed that 60% of Canadians feel it is important to ensure arms go only to countries "that respect human rights" vs providing short-term jobs to a few Canadians. The Quebec and Federal Court challenges argue that the Canadian government is violating its own arms-export rules by permitting the armoured vehicles to go to Saudi Arabia. The law states shipments cannot proceed "unless it can be demonstrated there is no reasonable risk that the goods might be used against the civilian population."
Protest = anti-Semitism
Then there is the violation of Canadians' rights, implicit in a Conservative motion that was floored last week to condemn Canadian organizations that support the "boycott of Israel", though it fell short of Harper's vow last year to label such criticism of Israel as a "hate crime". As always happens when you violate laws (freedom of speech), you draw attention to the very thing you want to suppress. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, now in its eleventh year, cites UN resolutions and echoes the anti-apartheid campaigns against white minority rule in apartheid era South Africa, calling for "various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law".
Ironically, Canadians freely pursued this
campaign against Israel under the slavishly pro-Israeli Harper
government, and now are faced with the more liberal Liberal government
passing a law condemning them. Supposedly the Liberals are doing this
reluctantly, merely adding support to the Conservative motion. But
Trudeau is actually carrying through on a rash election promise made
while courting fencing-sitting Jewish voters, calling BDS "an example of
the new form of anti-Semitism in the world."
Justin'is Foreign
Affairs Minister Stephane Dion disagreed with the law, but was forced to
defend his boss. "There is no doubt," Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane
Dion declared in the House of Commons, that "most of the organizations
and individuals supporting the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement
are doing so in good faith." He denounced the Conservatives' opposition-day motion, which would "condemn any and all attempts by Canadian
organizations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both
here at home and abroad", as just more "politics of division." The
Tories, Dion whined, are just "bullies" who want to turn the defence
of Israel into a partisan issue. They'll portray anyone who votes
against their motion as "dissidents." "It's not us who wrote this motion,"
Dion complained, "but we have to vote yes or no."
So what's
wrong with a polite "No"? The campaign in Canada is widely supported,
including by the United Church and the Quakers. In 2014, the Canadian
Federation of Student's Ontario branch, representing 300,000 students,
joined BDS unanimously. The latest campaign is in Trudeau's Montreal,
where McGill BDS was formed in February 2016. McGill's Office of
Investments shows that the University holds investments in at least four
companies that profit from activities in the occupied territories (less
than 1% of investments).
The Board of Governors' Committee to
Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility forbids investment that
causes "social injury", a classic reason for disinvestment in Israel.
BDS is growing across the border and Europe too. In January, the United
Methodist Church in the US divested from five Israeli banks implicated
in Israel's illegal settlements, and French telecom giant, Orange,
recently pulled out of Israel.
Then there is the Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which just filed a lawsuit against the
Israeli government junket planned for this year's Oscar nominees.
Musician
Brian Eno summed up the irony of sending celebrities to Israel at a
time of increased repression against Palestinians: "Visit Palestine!
Enjoy a tear-gas filled weekend in an East Jerusalem ghetto!"
The
movement has some of its strongest support from within Israel itself.
In his acceptance speech in Berlin, Israeli film director, Udi Aloni,
winner of the top audience at Berlin Film Festival for Junction 48,
labelled the Israeli government "fascist" and urged Germany to cease its
military support of the Jewish state, calling Israel a "democracy of
white people". Must BDS protesters migrate to Israel to protest Israeli
actions?
The BDS parliamentary motion (passed by 229 to 51) will
have no legal impact, but it will have a chilling effect on free
expression. A similar attempt last month by the Conservative government
in Britain raised a loud protest and fizzled. A sad continuation of
Harper's slavish support for the pariah state. Another law to be
ignored.
