kar0ling

To the 20 (re-elected) Liberal MPs who signed the Vote Palestine platform.  You signed the Vote Palestine platform.   The time to fulfill your pledge is now.  Gaza is facing mass starvation. This isn't food scarcity. This is intentional blockage of food as a tool of genocide. Canada's joint statement with 25 other nations called on all the parties to "uphold the obligations of international humanitarian law."  But Israel has been flagrantly violating multiple obligations of international law almost daily since October 8, 2023 and certain on every day since Canada's statement was released. There is no need to wait, to give Israel the benefit of the doubt to do the right thing.  "We are prepared to take further action", the statement reads. So do it.  Canada must immediately impose a true arms embargo on Israel – a two-way arms embargo – and it must actually put it into force and close all loopholes.  Canada must immediately levy sancti...

 A letter to the organizers: While Russia is carrying out unprovoked war against Ukraine, Folklorama is eschewing holding a Russian pavilion, even though such a display is about 100s of years old Russian culture, not today's regime led by Putin. That's a fair and compassionate decision.  So why is the Israeli pavilion allowed to continue without any censure while Israel commits war crimes condemned by the International Court of Justice? *Jewish* culture is thousands of years old but it's not a Jewish pavilion, it's an explicitly *Israeli* pavilion. It's celebrating the state that is committing genocide. It's celebrating settler colonialism that is going on to this very day. Why are you allowing the Israeli pavilion to continue?

 How many times can they make utterly meaningless, toothless "strongly worded" statements and keep doing nothing while hundreds die from Israeli violence each day and hundreds more quietly slip away from starvation? Dear Minister Anand and others If you are truly "prepared to take action" to respond to the suffering of civilians in Gaza, the time to do so was more than a year ago. The time to do so was the day after your May statement when it was obvious there was no "if", but Israel would continue its actions unabated. The time to do so is now.  There is no need to wait and see. We know Israel is ignore this statement as it did every other one.  You will not escape the charge of genocide for having made these "strongly worded" statements accompanied by no meaningful action.  You must enforce ​ a two-way embargo now. You must use all the means within your power to get food into Gaza now.  There is no time to wait.  No more meaningless word...

Famine is not a natural disaster -- it is caused by political decisions. Gaza is already in a medical crisis due to bombed hospitals and blocked supply chains, it's already in a humanitarian crisis from relentless bombing turning entire cities into rubble and now it is in crisis due to starvation. Famine.  I saw the outline of the synagogue in Heidelberg (destroyed on Krystallnacht) today, and I walked past gold blocks on the sidewalk marking the homes of Jewish people who perished in the Nazi era. What are these memorials doing if not urging us not to stand idly by as atrocities happen again to a group that has been dehumanized? Mr Carney and Ms Anand, I wrote you the letter below back in May when you came out with a joint statement opposing Israel's military operations in Gaza.  It is long past time to stand up and do something about it.  The Hague Group has already done so. The Western nations no longer have any claim to moral high ground on international...

A response to Winnipeg's Executive Policy Committee regarding their endless delays on making modifications to Wellington Crescent after a cyclist was killed 6 June 2024.  A piece of context that is needed is that this stretch of roadway was identified by the bike advocacy organization as a crucial stretch with inadequate protections for more than a decade before the vehicular murder occurred. Every day, I open the news in the morning, and the frequency of times death due to road violence is one of the items is shocking. What's even more shocking is how blasé this carnage is treated.  Why do we accept these deaths without question? But folks like to focus on the positive, so I'm coming here to be positive. And I'm writing to you from the Netherlands, where I'm feeling really positive about riding bike. To address the road carnage, you're recommending a bike lane on Wellington. I support the recommendation to fund a bike lane. I support reducing the speed l...

Dear Mr Carney and Ms Anand The nations of the Hague Group have plenty of black marks to their names regarding human rights abuses. Yet even they can recognize and condemn genocide when they see it. Even they declare " Either we act together to enforce international law or we risk its collapse.... Let this moment mark the beginning of a renewed commitment to internationalism and the principles that bind us as a global community.”   I join with them to beg Canada to support the findings of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice with more than words. We must take meaningful action to stop the genocide.    I join with Greenpeace to demand  that Canada: support an immediate and permanent ceasefire; halt all arms sales and military cooperation with Israel; ensure the safe and unrestricted delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza; uphold international law and human rights; and actively work toward a just and lasting peace for both ...

Dear Winnipeg elected officials  The North East ride of the Bike to the Future series was supposed to be today, but it was  cancelled because of unsafe air quality.  These rides are meant to raise awareness about the climate crisis, yet the crisis itself has shut these rides down twice this year. If the air isn’t even safe to bike in, how can we keep ignoring the need for urgent change? We can't keep making things worse.  Cancelled bike rides may not seem like a reason to install more lanes but in fact it is: we must reduce car dependency. We must have alternatives. There must be safe and easy walking, biking, and transit choices.  This is a time for courage, not compromise.  Instead of delaying plans for one crucial bike lane, we should be roaring ahead on implementation of multiple active transit projects, no matter how much drivers complain.  When will the elected representatives of Winnipeg make decisions appropriate to the level of crisis we ...