[R-G] Banning art, blaming the victim and rewarding Canadian war exporters

[Anthony Fenton]

http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2248/

Canadian Politics, Economy and Foreign Policy
Banning art, blaming the victim and rewarding Canadian war exporters

Richard Sanders | April 23rd 2009 | 2

Posters have been banned on two university campuses in Ottawa because  
they used a cartoon image depicting an Israeli AH-64 attack helicopter  
firing at a Palestinian child. The poster’s artwork, by Brazilian  
cartoonist Carlos Latuff, is based on reality. U.S.-made AH-64  
gunships were among the major weapons used by Israel during its recent  
bombardment of Gaza. More than 1,380 people, including some 430  
children, were killed in those attacks against densely populated  
civilian neighbourhoods.

This is a war crime.

But according to Carleton University’s administration, it is the  
artwork — not the Israeli attacks — that deserve condemnation. The  
posters, Carleton authorities say, may “incite others to infringe  
rights protected in the Ontario Human Rights code” and are  
“insensitive to the norms of civil discourse in a free and democratic  
society.”

So, when students put up artwork depicting AH-64s targeting a  
Palestinian child, Carleton President Roseanne Runte said the posters  
“were deemed … to incite hatred,” and university authorities  
threatened students with expulsion. But when 56 Carleton professors  
asked Runte to join them in condemning violations of human rights  
caused by Israel’s bombing of a Gazan university, she bluntly refused.

This is a double standard.

In a similar fashion, when Israel’s military aircraft launched  
indiscriminate attacks wounding 5,300 people (at least half of whom  
were women and children) and totally or partially destroyed 22,000  
housing units, 92 mosques and 29 schools, the Canadian government  
responded by condemning Palestinians as the source of this violence.

On January 12, in the midst of this onslaught, Canada stood up at the  
UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and voted against “urgent  
international action” to halt Israel’s “massive violations” of human  
rights. The sole dissenting vote came from Canada, whose spokesperson,  
Marius Grinius, said the UN statement “used unnecessary, unhelpful and  
inflammatory language” and “failed to clearly recognize that rocket  
fire on Israel had led to the current crisis.” Both the foreign  
affairs minister, Lawrence Cannon, and former newsman Peter Kent, now  
Canada’s minister of state for foreign affairs for the Americas, held  
Hamas responsible for the Gaza massacre. This is called blaming the  
victim.
Canada’s Military-Industrial Complex in Gaza

The plot thickens when we consider that at least fifty Canadian  
military industries manufacture key components embedded within AH-64  
helicopters and two other major U.S. weapons exported to Israel,  
namely F-15 and F-16 warplanes. And Canadian workers are now forced,  
through the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), to invest in many of the  
world’s largest war industries. For example, the CPP’s portfolio  
includes $100 million in investments in Boeing and Lockheed Martin,  
which manufacture the AH-64s, F-15s and F-16s.

Our government also helps finance some of this country’s most  
profitable war-related companies through Industry Canada “investment”  
programs. A recent example of this largesse was announced the day  
after Canada’s shameful UN vote in Geneva. It was January 13, 2009.  
Israel’s military killed dozens of people in Gaza that day, including  
at least eleven children and three women. Tony Clement, Canada’s  
industry minister, and Christian Paradis, minister of public works and  
government services, were all smiles when they proudly unveiled a  
$52.3 million government “investment” in CMC Electronics.

This “investment” in “cutting-edge R&D” is part of Industry Canada’s  
Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative. It is designed to help CMC  
create cockpit components that are “easily customizable and adaptable  
to … varied aircraft platforms.” “Cutting-edge” is an apt metaphor.  
CMC supplies “weapon delivery” and “embedded combat training systems”  
for many of America’s most destructive war machines. But Canada’s  
supporting role in U.S. theatres of war was not one of our  
government’s talking points that day.

It never is.

Frontmen, like Paradis, prefer instead to speak glowingly of  
government “investments” to “ensure that Canada remains at the  
forefront of the aerospace and defence industry.”

This is called duplicity.

CMC has already supplied its so-called “defence” technologies for such  
“varied aircraft platforms” as the aforementioned AH-64s, F-15s and  
F-16s that made mincemeat of Gaza civilians and their already  
devastated infrastructure.

Other “cutting-edge” weapons equipped by CMC include the A-10  
“Warthog,” AC-130 “Spectre,” AV-8B “Harrier II,” E-2 “Hawkeye,” EA-6B  
“Prowler,” F-14 “Tomcat,” F/A-18 “Hornet,” F-35 Joint Strike Fighter,  
HH-60 “Pave Hawk,” MC-130 “Combat Talon,” OH-58D “Kiowa Warrior,” UH-1  
“Huey” and UH-60 “Black Hawk.” All these weapons have been used to  
great effect in Iraq, where war has claimed over one million lives  
since 2003.

But CMC is but one among many hundreds of Canadian military exporters  
that equip U.S. weapons systems used in Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan and  
elsewhere. Unbeknownst to most Canadians, war manufacturers are  
scattered right across this country like razor blades concealed in a  
loaf of bread. These industries provide an incredibly diverse range of  
products, largely for export, and mostly to the U.S. While many  
produce high-tech machined parts or sophisticated electronics and  
software that are shipped stateside for assembly into major weapons,  
others churn out rounds of ammunition, machine guns, armoured  
vehicles, or air-to-ground missiles that fire phosphorous and anti- 
personnel cluster bombs.

If only this were publicly known, it would be a scandal.

A recent on-line report by the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade  
(COAT) details fifty Canadian companies supplying parts for the three  
U.S. military aircraft exported to Israel. In addition, COAT’s report  
also names over 140 Canadian military companies that are exporting  
directly to Israel. Many of these are among 540 military companies  
represented in Ottawa by an organization called the Canadian  
Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI).

According to its website, CADSI’s “patriotic” mission “has its roots  
in the creation of the Canadian chapter of the American Defense  
Preparedness Association.” Between 2006 and 2008, CADSI received  
donations totalling $192,000 from Canada’s Department of Foreign  
Affairs and International Trade for “export marketing” and  
“international business development activities.”

This is called aiding and abetting war.

In 2004, CADSI organised a “mission” to “advance industrial  
partnerships between Canadian and Israeli companies.” Speakers  
included Canada’s minister of national defence, Israel’s ambassador to  
Canada and various high-level Israeli and Canadian government  
bureaucrats. CADSI then facilitated face-to-face “Company One-on-Ones”  
between Canadian and Israeli military companies.

CADSI’s main work is to organize Canada’s largest international arms  
bazaar, called CANSEC, so hundreds of this country’s military  
exporters can showcase their wares. Browsing the exhibition this May  
in Ottawa will be thousands of government buyers and military users  
from Canada, the U.S. and around the globe.

This is a call to action. Let’s do something.