Re: CUPE, Can Arab Fed, Peaceniks align with Mid-East terror groups

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Posted by Don Butler in Ottawa Citizen on 10:35:04 2007/05/09

In Reply to: CUPE & Canadian peaceniks join with Hezbollah, Hamas posted by Cairo Conference

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Antiwar group backs working with Mideast radicals #footer_news {display:none;} #footer_news .footer_news_wrapper {padding:5px 10px 0 15px;} #footer_news .footer_news_container {float:left;border:1px solid gray;width:700px;} .footer_news_col {float:left;width:230px;padding:8px 0 0 0;} /* #body .footer_news_col .mediumimageright {float:left;} */ #page .footer_news_col .contentbox h4 a {color:#333;} #page .footer_news_col .mediumimageright {float:left;} #body .footer_news_col .contentbox {padding:0 5px 0 5px;} #body #footer .rule {display: block;} Hello Your Account Sign Out Email canada.com, Newspapers, TV, Radio Home News Sports Entertainment Health Travel National Post Victoria Times Colonist The Province (Vancouver) Vancouver Sun Edmonton Journal Calgary Herald Regina Leader-Post Saskatoon StarPhoenix Windsor Star Ottawa Citizen The Gazette (Montreal) DOSE Vancouver Island Newspapers VANNET Newspapers Global TV Global National Global BC Global Calgary Global Edmonton Global Lethbridge Global Saskatoon Global Regina Global Winnipeg Global Ontario Global Quebec Global Maritimes CH TV CH Vancouver Island CH Red Deer CH Hamilton CH Montreal TVTropolis X-treme Sports Specialty Channels CoolFM 99.1 91.5 The BEAT local classifieds working driving obituaries celebrating shopping renting contractors dating renting pets See today's Digital Edition Subscribe to email newsletter Subscriber Services canada.com where perspectives connect Weather Centre 18°C Partly cloudy Ottawa Detailed Forecast Ottawa Citizen Home Search for in the Ottawa Citizen Jobs in Ottawa working.com in Newspaper ads Ottawa Business Directory 10 year archive in FPinfomart in canada.com Wednesday, May 9, 2007 Digital Products See today's Digital Edition Subscribe to email newsletter Ottawa RushHour Ottawa Citizen Gameday Inside the Ottawa Citizen News Lotteries News Briefs Letters Editorials Opinion City Sports Sports Briefs Arts Business Driving Green Food Life Special Section Working Golf 2007 Columnists 30 days Archive Headlines Scan Newspaper Ads Special Sections Weekly Sections Food Style Weekly Homes Travel & Leisure Driving Working Style Weekly Televison Observer Citizen's Weekly Tech Weekly Features Ottawa RushHour Diplomatica Internships Parliament Hill Cam Ottawa Senators Faceoff Hockey Pool More Features Classifieds Marketplace Find a job at working.com Find a car at driving.ca Find real estate at Homes Find great stuff at shopping Find a contractor Announcements Announcements at Celebrating.com Obituaries at Remembering General Classifieds Local classifieds Selling? Place an ad Meet a match at Connecting Subscriber Exclusives Headlines marked with a are exclusive to subscribers. More Enter our contests Your Ottawa Citizen Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew subscription Update credit card information Help Send us a news tip Advertising Contact us Privacy Statement Letters To the editor About your event Site feedback Antiwar group backs working with Mideast radicals Canadians come away from Cairo meeting urging solidarity with Hezbollah, Hamas Don Butler, The Ottawa Citizen Published: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 Canadian activists who attended a controversial conference in Cairo are calling on antiwar campaigners to show increased solidarity with Mideast "resistance movements," including Hezbollah and Hamas. According to an audio clip obtained yesterday by the Citizen, the activists issued the call at a public meeting April 27 in Toronto at which Canadian delegates reported on their experiences at the March 29 to April 1 Cairo Conference. The focus of the conference was to forge an international alliance against "imperialism and Zionism." Twenty Canadians attended, mostly from Canadian antiwar groups. Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * The participants included representatives -- some quite senior -- of four Islamist groups listed as terrorist organizations by the Canadian government, including Hamas and Hezbollah. In an interview, David Harris, a terrorism expert and former chief of strategic planning for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said it was "absolutely extraordinary" that antiwar groups would align themselves with radical Islamic groups. "At the very least, people associated with the organizations connected with this should feel mortified and horrified," he said. The 90-minute meeting on April 27 at the Steelworkers' Hall on Cecil Street in downtown Toronto was chaired by James Clark of the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, who was one of the delegates at the Cairo meeting. Seven other delegates also presented reports. According to the audio recording, several talked about how "resistance movements" in the Middle East are keen to improve relations with antiwar and leftist groups in the West. "What we saw in Cairo were the first signs that a world movement is beginning to come together," Suzanne Rice, one of the Canadian delegates, told the gathering. A number of speakers urged audience members to sign up for next year's Cairo conference so an even larger Canadian delegation could attend. "We have to forge a more solid and more united anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist movement here to be able to have something to show our brothers and sisters when we get back," said one speaker. Ali Mallah, who represented the Canadian Arab Federation, the Canadian Union of Public Employees and two antiwar groups, said Canadian delegates "made a very important contribution" in Cairo. "We didn't agree with everything and we didn't disagree with many things," he said. There were debates about resistance at the conference, Mr. Mallah said, adding: "When we hear about Islamist resistance, let's try to put ourselves where they are and try to see if from their point of view." He said the question of Israel was "very difficult," because Middle Eastern groups reject its right to exist. "But there is no rejection of Judaism or Christianity, which we don't hear much about here." Mr. Mallah said officials from Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood told delegates they do not view religion, nationality or ideology as a barrier to co-operation with other activist groups, "as long as they agree on opposing the war, striving for peace and most importantly, standing up against imperialism and occupation." But Mr. Harris, who directs the International and Terrorist Intelligence Program at INSIGNIS Strategic Research Inc. in Ottawa, said such statements are part of a disinformation campaign designed to dupe western activists. "To the extent that their audience and any of us are gullible enough to actually believe that, then perhaps we deserve the consequences," Mr. Harris said. In fact, he said, radical Islam constitutes "one of the most imperialistic supremacist movements known to history. These groups want to eliminate our way of life." Mr. Harris said there was "something surprising about self-styled progressive peace and human rights operatives justifying cuddling with women-stoning, gay-killing, limb-amputating medieval throwbacks." He said activists who deal with groups like Hamas and Hezbollah shouldn't be surprised if they come under scrutiny from Canadian security services. "If you're going to start playing in those big leagues of international terror, you've got to expect that the defensive of Canada and other Western countries will begin to take an adverse interest in you," Mr. Harris said. But John Riddell, a longtime activist who was part of the Canadian delegation in Cairo, told the Toronto audience that casting militant Islamists as the enemy is just Canadian government spin. "It's the Harper government that says that Hezbollah and Hamas are officially terrorists," he said. "They want to intimidate us so we do not link up with the enemy. "That's not how we see it. The goal of us who work for peace has always been to cut across the battle lines in a world alliance." That isn't easy, he acknowledged, because of "the political barriers that exist in our country and the psychological barriers that go along with them." Still, Mr. Riddell quoted a Hezbollah leader who declared that thanks to the Cairo Conference, "the world is more beautiful, more promising for us. And tomorrow is for us, not for imperialism." Sid Lacombe, co-ordinator of the Canadian Peace Alliance, said the connection at the conference between groups in the Middle East and Western activists was "incredibly important. "The nature of imperialism over the last number of decades has meant that these divisions between Western activists and activists in the Middle East have been quite huge,'' he said. ''It's been very, very difficult for us to get past it. But it's the importance of the Cairo Conference that we're able to do this." Mr. Lacombe was one of several Canadian delegates who travelled to Beirut following the conference to view the devastation Israeli bombing caused during last year's war with Hezbollah. He said the Israeli attacks have only strengthen Hezbollah and broadened its base of popular support. "The resistance movements are absolutely phenomenal at doing development work," he said. "They're doing any number of educational campaigns, and they're doing this work to try to support themselves and to try to free themselves from the kind of violence that's being unleashed on them constantly. "To be able to see what the movements there are going through and to be able to meet with them is quite phenomenal," he said, adding that he hopes a "much, much larger delegation" of Canadian activists will attend the 2008 Cairo Conference. © The Ottawa Citizen 2007 Ads by Google Retire on US Gov loophole New â€œSRIâ€ Income Program Could Enable You to Retire Immediately www.DailyWealth.com/Income_Report Managed Futures Trading Alternative Investing & Portfolio Diversification Peak-Trading.com Axiomatic Economics about price & stock - not supply & demand explain inflation, great depression www.axiomaticeconomics.com Inside the canada.com Network . Smog Warning We're setting weather records ... Watch Video Usher: Mommy dearest Usher's mother will just have ... 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Re: Suicide terrorism isn't 'progressive' politics - John Robson in Ottawa Citizen 10:32:53 2007/05/11 (0)

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