Fredericton Peace Coalition

Bruce Brown died of cancer at age 18. Some of Marilyn Kissinger’s other friends lived into their early and late twenties, dying in the late 1960s. Most had died by the late 1980s. Doreen Thomas says her friends and family lasted until their forties and sixties, but ”everybody’s household was full of cancer. The people who didn’t have internal cancer, we had outside cancer. I’ve had 11 [tumors] removed.” Thomas had moved to Enniskillen, New Brunswick, in 1953. Two years later, the Canadian military started spraying Agent Orange and other chemicals at nearby Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, and kept doing so until at least 1984.

MY RELIGION THEN AND NOW

My Christian Church in two o nine,
Rejected war and violence,
Called rule by force the empires crime,
Which threatened mans existence.
Our founder said “the words the way”
Of Politics and Temples,
Who rule by love so neighbours say,
Let’s join these peaceful peoples.
My Church, alas, met Constantine,*
The King of Rome by violence,
And joined the Empires war machine,
As rule by force assistants.
My Christian Church, two thousand nine,
Supports its wars and violence,
“Our wars are just, we’re fighting crime,
While others watch in silence”.
My Christian Church, two thousand nine,
Has lost its independence,
When rule by force wins all the time,
We’re slaves to war and violence.
Two thousand nine; the Empires war,
They threaten nuclear weapons,
Which Humankind rejects before,
We’re loveless lifeless atoms.
To be Religious really means -
To live not needing war machines.

* Until 315AD when Constantine conquered Rome Christians refused to carry arms.

Ezra Nawi is going to prison–for peacefully resisting settler and army violence against West Bank Palestinians and the illegal expropriation of their land.

The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel has accused the Israeli security forces of deliberately shackling Palestinian prisoners in a painful and dangerous manner, amounting to a form of torture.

On the eve of crucial talks with the White House over halting its ongoing takeover of the occupied West Bank, Israel’s defence ministry yesterday confirmed plans for a massive expansion of a settlement near Ramallah.

Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel.

Villagers living near a gold mine owned and run by Canada’s Barrick Gold in Tanzania are demanding the immediate closure of the project, saying they are paying a deadly price for the mining activities in the area….scores of people are showing serious signs of exposure to pollution in the form of water contaminated with various chemicals allegedly flowing out of the mine and into the nearby River Tigethe. The villagers accuse the mine management, under the Canadian investor company, of causing fatal health hazards to human beings, livestock, and land in Kebasula Ward in Tarime, where the mine is located. They say more than 20 people have died in recent weeks as a direct result of the contaminated water.

Michelle Robidoux, a spokeswoman for the War Resisters Support Campaign, says about 50 deserters have applied for refugee status and there are dozens more living below the radar, waiting to see how the legal and political battles play out.

Abousfian Abdelrazik is back on Canadian soil a partly free man, but his lawyer says mysterious people are watching his every move and he may seek a court injunction to stop it. Mr. Abdelrazik was getting reacquainted with family Sunday after arriving in Montreal, while people in plain clothes and unmarked cars followed and videotaped him.

“The purpose of this Canadian tour is simple,” said Charkaoui at a news conference this morning. “I want to talk directly to Canadians, to show them that I was treated unfairly by their government, by our government.”