Fredericton Peace Coalition

March 8 has been co-opted and turned into a so-called commemoration of women’s achievements, as though there were no more need for further achievements. It is time to return March 8 to its historic role as the day women challenge government decisions and policies inimical to peace, justice and the preservation of the human species. It is time for March 8 to be known as the day when women unite and march against state policies dangerous to the health and safety of the nation … when we name and acknowledge the atrocities that are daily perpetrated against women throughout the world. On IWD, we must insist on being, as Alice Walker put it, the ones we have been waiting for. As you observe IWD, hold a place in your heart for women who will be gathering despite the danger of doing so, in Iran where 33 women leaders have been arrested in advance of IWD, the women in Afghanistan who are planning a march and the women in Iraq who say, “There will be no civil society without liberated women.”

The fifth anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. war and occupation in Iraq is approaching. The vote to extend or not extend the mission in Afghanistan in Canadian Parliament is also coming up — March 13.

In Fredericton, we will mark the anniversary and renew calls for the end of occupation in Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza at a rally on Saturday, March 15 at 1pm at City Hall (corner of York and Queen). For more info, contact info@frederictonpeace.org

Palestinians in Gaza are facing “the worst humanitatian crisis” since the U.S.-backed Israeli occupation began in 1967, according to a new report released by human rights and aid groups. And since Feb. 27 nearly 130 Palestinians – the majority unarmed civilians – have been killed in Israeli military attacks. Four Israelis, and now eight more in Jerusalem, have also been killed.

Uranium: The Radioactive Waste Left Behind

After 9/11, unfortunately the United States and its allies like Canada pushed us from the frying pan into the fire, by putting in power the Northern Alliance criminals and warlords. As long as they follow this wrong policy, the situation in Afghanistan will become more disastrous.

I know Bob Lovelace as a soft-spoken and self-reliant neighbour, devoted father and dedicated Queen’s University teacher admired by his students and colleagues. He’s the kind of guy who constructs a log house in the woods north of Kingston with his own skill and sweat; builds a box planter at the local swimming spot and keeps it stocked with marigolds and petunias; and provides venison for a potluck supper. He’s as innately confrontational as a panda bear. Yet much of the public knows Bob Lovelace as a nominally militant aboriginal prisoner now serving a six-month jail sentence and facing cumulative personal fines of nearly $400,000 for contempt of court. His transgression? Refusing to obey a judicial order not to continue his peaceful blockade at a proposed uranium mine site on lands Algonquin First Nations have never ceded title to under any prior treaty or land claim settlement.

According to CTV.ca, the House of Commons vote on the extension of the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan to 2011 has been set for Thursday March 13. This is less than 10 days from now, so please contact your MP to express your opposition to the war.

For more information and campaign resources, visit: The End It! campaign

George Galloway: In their acclaim for this new Prince Hal, the media have once again made themselves the useful idiots of disastrous military adventurism

As the Israeli army continued its military offensive targeting Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern part of the Gaza Strip Palestinian medical sources reported that the death toll in the Gaza Strip stood at 56 by Saturday night.

Racist assumptions mar western media coverage of Kenya