No Harbour for War!

Bush Not Welcome in Halifax!

Demonstrate against war criminal
George W Bush and for Justice, Freedom and Equality

Statement of the People's Front (Halifax) - 28 November 2004

George W Bush and his entourage of armed bodyguards, spies, metal detectors, jet
fighters and AWACS radar planes are to pay a lightning "visit" of several hours to the
port of Halifax on 1 December 2004. Halifax is a strategic ice-free harbour regularly
used by the US Navy for war exercises and refueling, the headquarters of Maritime
Command and the main naval base from which the Government of Canada has been
continuously despatching warships to the far-off Persian Gulf since August, 1990.

The frenziedly-organized "visit" is purportedly at the demand of the White House.

The media is widely spinning it as a "thoughtful" expression of "belated thanks" for
the hospitality shown by the people of Nova Scotia (and Newfoundland) for hosting
crews and passengers from commercial airplanes grounded during the 9/11 panic in
2001.

Nova Scotians and Newfoundlanders did so not to help the imperial project of George
W Bush, but to assist the thousands of people, hailing from many different countries,
stranded by the cynical decision of the Liberal government to divert the overseas
flights to less populated centres in Atlantic Canada.[1]

This flimsy pretext is to cover up the central reason for Bush's "visit" to the most
heavily militarized city in Canada, for any cultured and civilized person would have
issued heartfelt thanks at the appropriate moment three years ago -- as hundreds of
the passengers actually did. Such "thanks" presupposes a level of human behaviour
that the United States has descended well below -- as the whole world sees in the
brutality of US actions against the civilian population of Falluja, Iraq, where the
casualty level is in the thousands and an ancient city on the banks of the Euphrates
has been reduced to rubble.

If it is true, as the news agencies very briefly and originally reported, that Bush is to
give public "thanks" to the Canadian navy for its participation in his obsessive crusade
on "terror" then such demagogic "thanks", "reconciliation" and smiles portends
further grave danger not only for Canadians but also for the peoples of the world.

George W Bush aims to impose on Canadians the idea of intensifying what he calls
the all-consuming struggle against terrorism in the name of "continental security".
Bush sees Canada's armed forces "defending North America", not defending Canada.
He sees the men and women of the armed forces operating in far-flung countries as
cannon fodder for US adventures. He demands more military spending to increase
"troop strength" and its "interoperability" with US forces under Northern Command.
He wants Canadians annexed to a system which divides humanity as never before
and sustains global poverty, famine and continuous war.

Paul Martin's objective is to integrate the Canadian economy, security, regulations

and its conception of rights and sovereignty with those of the American superpower.
With his "new multilateralism", Martin extended the deployment of troops in
Afghanistan and intervened in Haiti; placed military trainers in Jordan/Iraq and
destroyers in the Persian Gulf; defended Zionist state terrorism as an expression of
Israel's "right to self-defence"; and rejoined the Standing Fleet of NATO whose
theatre of operations has been extended into Balkans, the Middle East and Central
Asia. Martin is preparing troops for jungle warfare and urban warfare, integrating the
military forces, upgrading command-and-control systems, and preparing to extend
the field of operation for an interventionist bluewater navy. All of this is going ahead
at maximum speed in the name of democracy, peacekeeping, security and human
rights. It must not pass!

During the Cold War, the Pentagon named Halifax in 1982 as a 'forward deployment
base' for its fleets of warships and aircraft armed with nuclear weapons, which came
and went together with the "oceanographic" ships of its rival superpower. Open and
covert operations from Canadian territory were launched against the sovereignty of
other peoples too, to carry out aggression. In 1984 the US used Halifax as a base for
the mine-laying forces sent to illegally block the harbours of impoverished Nicaragua.

With terrorism replacing the Soviet Union as the menace, the militarization of the
port of Halifax is being accelerated. Citing drug and arms trafficking, organized crime
and "new transnational threats," the media float fear-mongering stories, ludicrous
anthrax scares, fictitious Al Qaeda "sleeper cells", attacks on container shipping,
missile-smuggling through the port, and even convict the longshoremen for suspect
loyalties. US Homeland Security now extends into the port of Halifax, home to CIA
and FBI units protected under Bill C-55 as part of the "national security" state.** All
these measures are being introduced in conformity with US demands that Canada
militarize its harbours, provide safe havens for its warships, and enhance the colossal
profits of its global shipping and oil cartels. This is the "thanks" George W Bush
demands.

The People's Front calls on Nova Scotians to take responsibility for what is at stake
for the harbour of Halifax, the country and all of humanity as a result of the darkest
reaction which George W Bush represents.

All out against the "visit" of George W Bush to Halifax!

This war criminal is not welcome in Canada!
US out of Iraq!
US and Canada out of Haiti!
No to the US state terror in which Canada participates!
No Harbour for War!
 Demonstrate against George Bush
Wednesday 1 December 2004
- Meet at the Dalhousie Student Union by 9:30 AM for a rally and march to
Pier 21

- Meet at the Grand Parade square (1841 Argyle St. in front of City Hall) by
10 AM for a brief rally and march at 10:15 AM to Pier 21.

Tuesday 30 November 2004

On Tue, Nov 30, Halifax Peace Coalition is holding a mock trial of George
Bush at Victoria Park at 5 PM. March on the US consulate office at Purdy's
Wharf Tower II. Also join the picket from 12-4:30 pm, office of SNC-
Lavalin, Park Lane Mall on Spring Garden to denounce its participation in
manufacturing 300-500 million bullets for the US military for their illegal
occupation of Iraq.
*As revealed by former federal transport minister (and Toronto MP) David Collenette
, 11 September 2002, The National, CBC TV
 
 ** Bill C-55 provides that a
"controlled access military zone" can be established around US warships in the ports
of Halifax, Esquimault and Nanoose Bay.