Canada led the way to ban landmines. Now it is time to ban cluster bombs. I urge the Canadian government to join with the 30 other nations working toward a new treaty to stop the suffering caused by cluster bombs.
I await your reply.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
To: day.s@parl.gc.ca
Cc: Finley.D@parl.gc.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca
Re: KIHC detainees
My name is Timothy Schwinghamer. I am a graduate student at the University of Manitoba. I am emailing you because the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre ought to provide medical care immediately and daily to Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, and Hassan Almrei, and any other detainees who suffer. If the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre will not send in health care staff, which they did do until September, the government must allow an independent outside doctor in to check on the detainees. The federal government must immediately appoint a neutral mediator to deal with the problems, and set up a system to deal with ongoing issues that is balanced and fair, as per the concerns raised by the federal government's own Office of the Correctional Investigator.
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Re: KIHC detainees
My name is Timothy Schwinghamer. I am a graduate student at the University of Manitoba. I am emailing you because the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre ought to provide medical care immediately and daily to Mohammad Mahjoub, Mahmoud Jaballah, and Hassan Almrei, and any other detainees who suffer. If the Kingston Immigration Holding Centre will not send in health care staff, which they did do until September, the government must allow an independent outside doctor in to check on the detainees. The federal government must immediately appoint a neutral mediator to deal with the problems, and set up a system to deal with ongoing issues that is balanced and fair, as per the concerns raised by the federal government's own Office of the Correctional Investigator.
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Ecotage
Sabotage with an ecological motive; terrorism carried out against companies and institutions which are considered to be causing unnecessary damage to the environment.
1971 Newsweek
"A Washington-based antipollution lobby called Environmental Action is sponsoring a national contest to develop and publicize new ways of harassing alleged corporate polluters. The contest... is entitled ‘ecotage’."
1985 Maclean's
"Said Richard Bailey, an Oregon trucker, former logger and member of Earth First: ‘Ecotage is almost like a religion.’"
1987 New Internationalist
"Earth First is crammed with stories of civil disobedience or ‘ecotage’."
Hence ecoteur n. [after saboteur n.], a person who carries out acts of ecotage.
1972 Observer
"Environmental Action this week published a paper-back collection of the most creative and feasible..entries. A foreword says that if Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were alive today they would be ‘ecoteurs’ by night."
1990 Seattle Times
The Sea Shepherds are a small band of ecoteurs dedicated to saving whales.
1971 Newsweek
"A Washington-based antipollution lobby called Environmental Action is sponsoring a national contest to develop and publicize new ways of harassing alleged corporate polluters. The contest... is entitled ‘ecotage’."
1985 Maclean's
"Said Richard Bailey, an Oregon trucker, former logger and member of Earth First: ‘Ecotage is almost like a religion.’"
1987 New Internationalist
"Earth First is crammed with stories of civil disobedience or ‘ecotage’."
Hence ecoteur n. [after saboteur n.], a person who carries out acts of ecotage.
1972 Observer
"Environmental Action this week published a paper-back collection of the most creative and feasible..entries. A foreword says that if Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were alive today they would be ‘ecoteurs’ by night."
1990 Seattle Times
The Sea Shepherds are a small band of ecoteurs dedicated to saving whales.
Violent evictions at El Estor, Izabal, Guatemala
On January 8th and 9th 2007, hundreds of police and soldiers in Guatemala forcibly evicted the inhabitants of several communities who were living on lands that a Guatemalan military government had granted to Canadian mining company INCO in 1965. Local indigenous populations claim the land to be theirs, and resent the exploitation of an outside corporation. Canada’s Skye Resources now lays claim to the land, and paid workers a nominal sum to destroy people’s homes. With the force of the army and police, company workers took chainsaws and torches to people’s homes, while women and children stood by. Skye Resources claims that they maintained "a peaceful atmosphere during this action."
Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q20YxkM-CGI
Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q20YxkM-CGI
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
Two things today
#1
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Re: Nuclear war
Cc: MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
My name is Timothy Schwinghamer. I am a graduate student at the University of Manitoba. I am writing to you because I am frightened by the potentially imminent attack by the U. S. on Iran. Such an attack could move western and central Asia into total chaos. It could create radioactive fallout. It would kill millions of people and could ignite a nuclear war. Before any such eventuality, I will participate in organizing and mobilizing an anti-war movement, to the best of my ability. However, you must withdraw any military presence in western Asia. Stopping the U. S. attack on Iran will require a great deal of diplomatic creativity and swiftness.
Very recently, the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, in consultation with a board of sponsors that includes 18 nobel laureates, moved the Doomsday Clock from 7 to 5 min 'til midnight. We are marching - like The Fool - with one foot over the precipice.
Stop the nuclear war before it happens.
Sincerely,
[etc.]
#2
[I can't seem to access the original article in the Lancet. Here's the next best thing.]
Potentials for exposure to industrial chemicals suspected of causing developmental neurotoxicity
To: pm@pm.gc.ca
Re: Nuclear war
Cc: MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
My name is Timothy Schwinghamer. I am a graduate student at the University of Manitoba. I am writing to you because I am frightened by the potentially imminent attack by the U. S. on Iran. Such an attack could move western and central Asia into total chaos. It could create radioactive fallout. It would kill millions of people and could ignite a nuclear war. Before any such eventuality, I will participate in organizing and mobilizing an anti-war movement, to the best of my ability. However, you must withdraw any military presence in western Asia. Stopping the U. S. attack on Iran will require a great deal of diplomatic creativity and swiftness.
Very recently, the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, in consultation with a board of sponsors that includes 18 nobel laureates, moved the Doomsday Clock from 7 to 5 min 'til midnight. We are marching - like The Fool - with one foot over the precipice.
Stop the nuclear war before it happens.
Sincerely,
[etc.]
#2
[I can't seem to access the original article in the Lancet. Here's the next best thing.]
Potentials for exposure to industrial chemicals suspected of causing developmental neurotoxicity
Thursday, January 25, 2007
At the corner of Broadway and Kennedy, behind the Law Courts, Jan 27, 1:00 p. m.
protest Guantánamo.
In January 2002, the U.S. authorities transferred the first “War on Terror” detainees to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Despite international condemnation, more then 400 people of some 30 nationalities continue to be held there without being fairly charged or tried. Not one has been convicted of a criminal offence by the U.S. Amnesty International has also received credible reports of the torture and ill-treatment of detainees. And the indefinite nature of their detentions subjects them and their families to terrible uncertainty and suffering. Guantánamo is part of a global system that operates outside international humanitarian law, treats human rights with contempt, and tells other governments that it is acceptable to abuse human rights. The US government needs to hear the global plea to give fair trials or freedom to the detainees – and to close the Guantánamo detention centre. Join us in speaking up for human rights, please come out and participate in the rally being held this Saturday in Winnipeg at the corner of Broadway and Kennedy, behind the Law Courts, Jan 27, 1:00 p. m.
Canada needs to speak up on Guantánamo. Many world leaders have said the U.S. detention centre at Guantánamo Bay is ineffective, wrong and must be closed. Canada purports to be a leader in defending human rights, but so far the Canadian government has been silent on Guantánamo. Let’s end this silence. Urge Prime Minister Harper to demand fair trials or freedom for Guantánamo detainees.
Take action here: http://ems01.com/a/l.x?T=ikjeolofahkcnahlafkpdfklge&M=25
Jump aboard Amnesty’s global online flotilla: http://ems01.com/a/l.x?T=ikjeolofahkcnahlafkpdfklge&M=26
Why Close Guantanamo? http://ems01.com/a/l.x?T=ikjeolofahkcnahlafkpdfklge&M=28
Questions and Answers about Gitmo: http://ems01.com/a/l.x?T=ikjeolofahkcnahlafkpdfklge&M=29
In January 2002, the U.S. authorities transferred the first “War on Terror” detainees to the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Despite international condemnation, more then 400 people of some 30 nationalities continue to be held there without being fairly charged or tried. Not one has been convicted of a criminal offence by the U.S. Amnesty International has also received credible reports of the torture and ill-treatment of detainees. And the indefinite nature of their detentions subjects them and their families to terrible uncertainty and suffering. Guantánamo is part of a global system that operates outside international humanitarian law, treats human rights with contempt, and tells other governments that it is acceptable to abuse human rights. The US government needs to hear the global plea to give fair trials or freedom to the detainees – and to close the Guantánamo detention centre. Join us in speaking up for human rights, please come out and participate in the rally being held this Saturday in Winnipeg at the corner of Broadway and Kennedy, behind the Law Courts, Jan 27, 1:00 p. m.
Canada needs to speak up on Guantánamo. Many world leaders have said the U.S. detention centre at Guantánamo Bay is ineffective, wrong and must be closed. Canada purports to be a leader in defending human rights, but so far the Canadian government has been silent on Guantánamo. Let’s end this silence. Urge Prime Minister Harper to demand fair trials or freedom for Guantánamo detainees.
Take action here: http://ems01.com/a/l.x?T=ikjeolofahkcnahlafkpdfklge&M=25
Jump aboard Amnesty’s global online flotilla: http://ems01.com/a/l.x?T=ikjeolofahkcnahlafkpdfklge&M=26
Why Close Guantanamo? http://ems01.com/a/l.x?T=ikjeolofahkcnahlafkpdfklge&M=28
Questions and Answers about Gitmo: http://ems01.com/a/l.x?T=ikjeolofahkcnahlafkpdfklge&M=29
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