Once again, it takes joint action from other cowardly Western states before Canada is willing to say anything the slightest bit critical of Israel, no matter how meaningless. “ International law is clear: Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal, ” they say. And yet they have absolutely nothing meaningless to offer as consequence for said illegality. Government of Canada release So, another letter, of course! Your statement "businesses should not bid for construction tenders... should be aware of legal and reputational consequences of participating in settlement construction" is not worth the paper it is written on unless you promise *real* consequences *you* are prepared to levy, not just "should"s and "reputational consequences." It is long past time for sanctions on Israel in response to ongoing violations of international law and the continued expansion of illegal settlements, and more importantly, for *your* government to divest from th...
Yesterday, I saw a post from a Dutch antiwar organization: Geen Bommen maar bomen. “Not bombs; trees instead.” I love it. Today, I saw a campaign from MCC: “bread, not bombs.” So I wrote adapted their letter to write to the prime minister et al.: Sure, money is important, but even more crucial is air to breathe and food to eat. War makes money for a tiny fragment of human population, but for the vast majority, war means displacement, loss, deprivation and at worst death. Even for those far away from war, like here in Canada, every bomb that drops leaves not only a crater in some distant soil but also further deepens the desperate carbon crisis we are in, which will exact its retribution faster and faster in wildfires, droughts and floods. That is why I am writing to you today. Canadians did not vote for war in the 2025 election. War does not lead to security. How could the hunger, displacement, and worsening impacts of climate change lead to sec...