Down But Not Out/war

Digital photoArt by Ronzig depicting peace activism, social unrest and the homeless situation in Toronto plus commentary about Canada’s role as co-sponsor of American imperialism.

This is a radio broadcast about the cost of our war in Afghanastan and the negative effect it has by drawing funds from necessary social programs at home and abroad.

We Lost The War

Definitions found in Wikipedia.

Authoritarianism:

characterized by or favoring absolute obedience to authority, as against individual freedom: an authoritarian regime.

Of or pertaining to a governmental or political system, principle, or practice in which individual freedom is held as completely subordinate to the power or authority of the state, centered either in one person or a small group that is not constitutionally accountable to the people.

Totalitarianism:

absolute control by the state or a governing branch of a highly centralized institution.

Fascism:

a political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government (as opposed to democracy or liberalism)

a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

A political theory advocating an authoritarian hierarchical government (as opposed to democracy or liberalism)

Capitalism:

an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.

Author’s note: When wealth is controlled by a limited number of individuals and corporations Capitalism becomes a form of government in that the powerful take control of the economy and through it the political direction of a nation. The Capitalists rule by proxy in a new form of Totalitarianism.

Early in the last century, the world went to war against fascism, a form of totalitarianism sponsored by Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. No sooner had we defeated them than the Soviet Union came up with its’ version of tyranny and the Cold War began. Ronald Reagan won the Cold War for our side by spending the Soviets into bankruptcy with his Star Wars project and we thought that authoritarianism was finally defeated.

But think again. In order to fight the Cold War, the USA as leaders of the so called Free World succumbed to the belief that it was necessary to sink to the level of the opposition in order to defeat them. Since the United States maintains a Democratic Constitution the people with political and economic power had to find a new means of wielding unrestricted power.

Hence the advent of Totalitarianism by proxy. It was quite simple to use the CIA to oust unsympathetic leaders and set up their own puppet dictators in authoritarian regimes around the world.

First on September 16, 1941, Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, was placed on the throne in Iran where he ruled with an iron hand until he was ousted by his people on February 11, 1979.

Preferring to deal with a single all powerful leader as opposed to the uncertainty of Democratically elected leaders, The United States soon set up or supported coups for Moammar Kadafi to rule Libya, Idi Amin Dada to rule Uganda, Saddam Hussein to rule Iraq, and Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos for the Phillipines to name a few of their proxy dictators. Each of these was of course a total failure and many of the pet dogs came back to bite the master in the ass, but the power brokers got a better idea. Instead of supporting dictators, why not buy out democracy? It was really quite simple. Just make the cost of running for election far too expensive for honest citizens to be able to compete and then pay for the campaigns of every important candidate, thereby ensuring that the resultant leader who gets elected has been bought and paid for in advance. The result is a secret control over the country, “proxy authoritarianism”.

We lost the Cold War by becoming the enemy.

TORONTO DISASTER RELIEF COMMITTEE 6 Trinity Square, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5G 1B1 Phone: 416-599-TDRC (8372) Fax: 416-599-5445 www.HousingNotWar.ca | housingnotwar@gmail.com MEDIA ADVISORY – For Immediate Release January 24, 2008 Manley Report and Federal government oppose public while unprecedented alliance demands Housing Not War John Manley, head of the Harper-appointed panel to study the government's Afghan War, stated upon the release of its report: "we are a rich country, we've got to do some of this stuff". "Manley is not referring to the need for a national housing program to relieve the suffering and death of homeless people in a rich country like Canada," said Beric German, Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC) co-founder. "Unlike the large majority of Canada's public, he wants to keep fighting to support one side in a civil war in Afghanistan." Manley, who recommends continuing war and new resources to wage it, claims the war is unpopular because ordinary people do not understand it. "Ordinary people simply share decent priorities, which the government has been rejecting. It chooses to ignore the homelessness disaster directly afflicting 300 000 people, ignore available solutions, and instead waste resources on an endless war most of us oppose," said Andrew Mindszenthy, TDRC Outreach Co-ordinator. Malalai Joya, a woman elected to the Afghan parliament then kicked out for criticizing warlord parliamentarians and now living in constant danger, recently visited Canada. In Canada, she said, "people are homeless, they are poor, but not only do they [Canada's government] not serve their people, but money is going" to support the warlords the NATO war props-up in Afghanistan – "not their innocent people". 90% of Canadian funds for Afghanistan go to war, not reconstruction. "In Canada," Joya said, "the government follows the footpath of the US, but the people are so great". 112 diverse organizations and thousands of individuals are publicly demanding Housing Not War: an end to the Afghan war, and a redirection of funds from record-high military spending to peaceful purposes, including an extra 1% for housing. Daily, new supporters join the national campaign launched by TDRC and the Canadian Peace Alliance. Canada's skyrocketing military spending has reached $18.2B annually (the highest since WWII) versus only $2B on housing. The only industrialized country with no national housing program, Canada struggles through the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression. Housing Not War declaration signers can be seen at www.HousingNotWar.ca. -30- MEDIA CONTACTS: Toronto Disaster Relief Committee 416-599-8372 (office)

More concerned citizens at the peace rally

Comments

Anonymous Nov 11/09

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Thank you. The more people who learn the truth, the better our chances of improving this society.

Anonymous Sept 15/09

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Anonymous Aug 22/09

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