By Dr. Haidar Eid - The Electronic Intifada

The horror of the racist apartheid regime in South Africa was challenged with a sustained campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions initiated in 1958 and given new urgency in 1960 after the Sharpeville Massacre...Similarly, the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions has been gathering momentum since 2005. Gaza 2009, like Sharpeville 1960, cannot be ignored: it demands a response from all who believe in a common humanity. Now is the time to boycott the apartheid Israeli state, to divest and to impose sanctions against it.

Days after the Government of Canada "knowingly allowed the violation of both Canadian domestic law and international human rights law by failing to stop former US president George W Bush from crossing the border for a paid speaking engagement", it has done precisely that by barring Respect MP George Galloway from a speaking engagement in Toronto...

Well known Indigenous activist Splitting-the-Sky was arrested with others at a demonstration against unindicted war criminal George Bush, speaking in Calgary. Please circulate widely...

In recognition of International Day Against Police Brutality, MW features a collection of material on IDAPB from both the corporate and alternative press.

"When I see blood and muscle worker struggle with his/her natural enemy - the policeman, I do not need to ask myself on whose side I am".

--George Orwell

A series of events aimed at protesting the impending visit of former president George W Bush to Calgary launched Thursday afternoon with a short lived demonstration on downtown's Stephen Avenue...

This year's Israeli Apartheid Week has seen an alarming increase in harassment, intimidation and physical violence against its organizers and guests. While people who seem to be affiliated with the Jewish Defense League (JDL) are the primary organizers of the attacks, unfortunately, the student groups Hasbara and Hillel have also joined in, using cameras, physical proximity, and threatening language to intimidate activists, especially women students, calling them "terrorists" and repeating the accusations of "incitement" and "hate speech".

LAW sent the attached letter today to the RCMP War Crimes Division requesting them to begin an investigation. 'W' is reported to be planning to visit Calgary on or before March 17, 2009.

Art & Anarchy is unleasing an anti-Olympic art show this week. In combat against the Culural Olympiad, the weeklong event features revolutionary art made by anti authoritarian artists: paint, theatre, sculpture, performance, carvings and song, all situated to confront the Olympics and destroy capitalism!

By beatingthebushes

Lawyers Against War have received no response from either the Government of Canada or Opposition Critics, calling for Canada to adhere to Canadian and International law and either bar entry to Bush or prosecute him. Please help.

March 9, 2009

A group of U.S. military veterans will visit Vancouver this week to show support for war resisters who are seeking sanctuary in Canada...“We are proud of our young men and women who have refused to be part of the illegal war in Iraq,” declared Mike Ferner, President of Veterans For Peace. “These war resisters had the courage to listen to their consciences. Unlike President Bush, they obeyed international law.”

By Jamal Juma - March 04, 2009

The Israeli invasion of Gaza...generated serious popular backlash the world over. The overwhelmingly weak official positions and statements, especially in the Arab world, stood in stark contrast to the outpouring of rage that was witnessed in the streets of capitals, cities, and towns across the globe. However, this recent wave of protests has a particular quality that differentiates it from past mobilizations: the initial flare-up of energy is being channeled into effective grassroots political action, primarily in the form of an ongoing campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).

February 17, 2009

We salute the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) in Durban, and Western Australian dock worker members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), for refusing to handle Israeli cargo...Theirs is a courageous response to Israel's attack on Palestinians in Gaza that, since December 27 alone, have left some 1,400 dead and 5,000 wounded -- nearly all of them civilians.

The last intact residence on the proposed freeway alignment in Surrey's Bridgeview neighbourhood is slated for demolition TODAY -- MONDAY, to be replaced by an ugly pile of "pre-load" sand. Bridgeview was hit first and hardest by preparation for the SFPR freeway, which feeds a longstanding desire on the part of government and developers to completely industrialize this multicultural working family neighbourhood...A group of resisters from Surrey, Delta and Vancouver are NOW outside the house preparing to stand in front of the bulldozers 24/7, in support of this community and in solidarity with the Day of Civil Disobedience Against Climate Change throughout North America.

This is the fifth consecutive year of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). Launched in Toronto, this week-long initiative hosts a string of lectures, film screenings, panels, demonstrations, cultural performances and other events across campuses and community centers around the world to inform the public about the continuing violations of one of the longest and devastating occupations in modern history...[I]f you didn't support IAW in the past, now is the time to start.

This reaction to the news that Bush is visiting Canada, and without his diplomatic immunity, theoretically vulnerable to prosecution for war crimes, is a reaction likely shared by many the world over. Canada must try to hold him here. The world is watching.