Mobilization Against War and Occupation demands:
No to war and occupation! yes to self-determination! By Janine Solanki
On August 9, 2018, Saudi Arabia and its coalition forces targeted a school bus in Yemen with a United States made a laser-guided bomb. 40 children and 11 adults were murdered, and 79 more were injured. This tragedy is not the only one that Yemen has suffered after over three years of a Saudi-led, U.S.-backed war and bombing campaign against Yemen. Since March 2015 this war has killed over 14,000 people in Yemen. Beyond indiscriminate bombings, Saudi Arabia and its allies have imposed an air, land and sea blockade of Yemen that prevents vital medicines, food supplies and fuel from getting to Yemen. The war and blockade has caused the worst cholera epidemic in history, and now Yemen is facing a famine. On August 24, Vancouver’s antiwar coalition MAWO (Mobilization Against War and Occupation) held a monthly antiwar, anti-occupation rally and petition campaign in downtown Vancouver. With banners and picket signs demanding “U.S./ Saudi Arabia Hands Off Yemen” and “Stop Bombing Yemen!” activists brought public attention to the war on Yemen which has been largely ignored in mainstream and capitalist media. An information table was busy as people stopped to talk to organizers, to sign petitions and to get more information. Teams of activists approached passers-by and collected signatures on petitions demanding that Canada end its
MOTHER OF ALL STRUGGLES! Indigenous struggle against colonialism
$15 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. A petition was also available demanding that Canada get out of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), which draws attention to Canada’s participation in NATO military interventions, such as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and on Russia’s borders in Latvia. To wrap up the action, protesters raised their picket signs and gathered together to hear Alison Bodine, MAWO’s chairperson, speak on the megaphone to the crowd and people passing by. Alison outlined why MAWO has this action every month, to protest the new era of war and occupation that is bringing destruction and bloodshed to our brothers and sisters in oppressed nations around the world. Alison also spoke on how the government of Canada is spending millions of dollars on waging war abroad while waging war at home where homelessness, education and healthcare all lack funding and attention. As this action came to a close, it was with the commitment to continue educating, organizing and mobilizing against war and occupation, with these monthly antiwar actions and other public events. MAWO also believes in the importance of collaboration and is working to build a strong and united antiwar movement with other organizations around the world. To find out about upcoming events and actions, visit www.mawovancouver.org or follow on Facebook or @mawovan on Twitter. MAWO rally demands “U.S./ Saudi Arabia Hands Off Yemen!” August 24, 2018.
Arthur Manuel 1951 -2017
Indigenous leader, writer and organizer from the Secwepemc Nation. Former Chief of Neskonlith Indian Band and chair of Shuswap Nation Tribal Council.
“Canada, as a society, is still in denial about its historical and current colonialism when it comes to Indigenous peoples, and how the country is still largely based on the white supremacism of its founding document, the British North America (BNA) Act. Colonialism is not a “behaviour” that can be superficially changed by a prime minister professing “sunny ways.”It is the foundational system in Canada. Canada was created by an Act of British parliament in 1867. It was more a corporate reorganization, a hurried consolidation of debts, than the birth of a nation. The problem was that they were using the theft of our lands, tucked into what, for them, was this innocuous-sounding Section 91.24 of the BNA Act to cover their debts.” - From "The Reconciliation Manifesto," 2017.
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