Friday News

The shootings in Ottawa and in Washington State were evil. More facts are coming out. The murderer of the people in Ottawa was wrong. People can express dissent without murdering innocent human beings. We have to combat this hate. The murderer was filled with hate and his actions are antithetical to altruism. I don’t believe in using this incident as an excuse to promote anti-terror laws that violate the human rights of Canadians at all. False Flag attacks has existed worldwide for decades from Operation Gladio to Operation Ajax. It is obvious that ISIS has al-Qaeda origin and al-Qaeda linked terrorists has been funded by Western intelligence. That still doesn’t justify the act of the murderer at all. These actions by the killer should be totally condemned period. Not to mention that we should condemn the bigotry of Islamophobia. This murderer is not representative of all Muslims. We have to make sure that Muslims are not stereotyped. The Canadian soldier was killed in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu on October 20, 2014. Later, there was the shooting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on October 22. The Canadian authorities and the mainstream media have jumped on the story and blamed “Islamic extremism” for both incidents even though we know very little about the two men who acted alone. We know that no terrorist organization so far have claimed responsibility for the attacks. We are told that both young men have converted to Islam. Martin Couture-Rouleau, who hit a soldier with his car in Saint-Jean, had “self-radicalized over the internet”. The Edmonton Sun said that “family and law enforcement try to find out why he followed ISIS kill commands.” Is there any evidence that he was “following ISIS Kill commands”? None so far. Accounts say that both were known by authorities and the authorities confiscated their passports for fear that they would join terrorist organizations overseas. If they confiscated their passports, wouldn’t they have concerns about them doing attacks in Canada as well? We can speculate at this time about both of the men’s motives in doing these evil actions. Some have talked about the CSIS or the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The CSIS is known for using informants to infiltrate Muslim organizations and issue violent threats against Canadian citizens. We do know that ISIS and related groups have been supported covertly by the U.S. and its Persian Gulf allies since the outset of the Syrian insurgency in March of 2011. For a while, the authorities talk about Islamic extremists, radicalization on the Internet, and homegrown terrorism. We know that the root of much of the terrorism in the world is not necessarily Islamic fundamentalism, but foreign occupation. Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists have been supported covertly by Western intelligence. Back in 2007, Alexandre Popovic wrote extensively about how CSIS informants “infiltrated the Canadian Muslim community and contributed to portray Islam in a negative way and fuel the stereotypes that Muslims are essentially dangerous extremists.” (Alexandre Popovic, Les manipulations médiatiques du SCRS, September 1, 2007). One of the informants, Youssef Muammar, became the “leader of several organizations such as the International Islamic Foundation of Canada, Petro Action, the International Institute of Islamic Research, the Communauté de la nation musulmane du Grand Montréal, the Grand Mosque, Info-Islam and the magazine Le Monde islamique.” (André Noël, «Un drôle d’espion», La Presse, December 14, 2001, p. A7, cited in Alexandre Popovic, Les manipulations médiatiques du SCRS, September 1, 2007). These informants have shaped the public perception of the Canadian Muslim community. Some are exploiting these events to spy on people and to promote a network of citizens turned informants. And last but not least, why is it so easy for extremists to use Facebook and other social media to issue death threats and apparently radicalize young fragile minds when until recently Facebook “moderators were told to ban images of breastfeeding if the nipples were exposed”? The attacks in Canada should be condemned. Also, we should use this time to promote our human rights and our civil liberties too. I send prayers and condolences to the families of friends of the 2 people who died in Ottawa including other innocent people who died in the world. .


Some in the mainstream media (like Bill O’Reilly, etc.) are blaming everything, but the real causes for ebola. We see a new American victim of ebola being treated in New York City now. If we want to defeat ebola, then we need a better health care system in America. That system must put the needs of patients and workers first with a massive influx of financial and medical aid to Africa. We need more solidarity not scapegoating of people unfairly. Many politicians and medical commentators have used the racist blame game involving the ebola crisis. The reactionary extremists are exploiting ebola as a means to promote border enforcement policies, which have nothing to do with public health. It has to do with racism and xenophobia though. We know about the mistakes made by the CDC and others in enforcing policies that would protect the health care workers like the two Dallas nurses Nina Pham and Amber Vinson. Thousands have died in Africa from ebola, so isolationism is not needed to end this crisis. The heartless calls for travel bans don’t work. We need the deployment of medical personnel, not U.S. troops there. The disease has hit hard the nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. More than 9,000 people have been infected and over 4,500 people have died according to official statistics. There has been a racist panic about ebola too. There are the two children in New Burlington, N.J., who were kept from attending Howard Yocum Elementary School because they come from Rwanda--a country that, as Salon.com pointed out, is "approximately 2,600 miles away from the closest West African country with Ebola cases--a distance roughly equivalent to that between Seattle, Washington, and Philadelphia." Meanwhile, parents in Hazelhurst, Miss., pulled their children out of school recently after learning that Hazlehurst Middle School principal Lee Wannik had travelled to Zambia for his brother's funeral--approximately 3,100 miles away from the areas where Ebola has hit. Wannik was forced to take paid vacation time off to allay parent fears. There was the racist cover of Newsweek magazine showing a picture of a chimpanzee and the headline "A Back Door for Ebola: Smuggled Bushmeat Could Spark a U.S. Epidemic." The truth is that the infection has nothing to do with bushmeat, eating chimpanzee meat isn’t common in the Ebola affected regions, and transmitting ebola from eating bushmeat is next to nil. This racist hysteria is not limited to Republicans though. Many Democrats want a travel ban to and from Western Africa like Senator Kay Hagan of NC, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, and Michelle Nunn of Georgia. They want to win the elections in November. Our health care system is for profit. Public health experts readily condemn closing borders and banning travel, because it can make the ebola crisis worse. It can negatively impact the economies of the hardest hit nations; it can make health care workers have a harder time to travel and track the spread of the disease. It can also force people to travel clandestinely in order to seek work, etc. The NNU have been brave to defend the nurses helping people. We have to fight poverty in America and in Africa too including structural discrimination. Multinational corporations should not exploit the resources of Africa. Infrastructure must be developed in order for ebola to be stopped.



The movement for social change is a long road. The protesters have every right to peacefully protest. We know that protesting is not enough. We need a plan and political including economic strategies developed in order for us to make justice a reality. We need not only signs showing legitimate outrage at police terrorism and mass incarceration. We need political action as a way to address our concerns and to stand up against injustices. Innocent life being killed is wrong. What happened to Eric Garner and so many other Brothers and Sisters are abominations. Their lives matter. Also, we should condemn militarism and imperialism. NATO has committed war crimes in Libya where they aided terrorists, who killed innocent black Libyan Brothers and Sisters. Plenty of black people have condemned unjust violence and murder of any kind for years and decades (as black organizations have condemned black on black violence along with police terrorism for decades. There have been vigils, protests, and other PROGRAMS now addressing the deaths of innocent black human life). We condemn the epidemic of police brutality in the world. People are entitled to economic justice (not neoliberal talking points) and an end to the War on Drugs. Brothers and Sisters in Ferguson suffered tear gas, LRAD sound weapons, police brutality, and other forms of oppression. Yet, they are still here and still strong. That strength comes from us and from our black African ancestry too. That strength ended the Maafa, overt apartheid in the States, and other injustices. Yes, the movement won't stop, because we can't stop. We won't stop, because the truth is infallible and the power of courageous human beings will not be denied permanently. So, we will CONTINUE to support the movement forever. The status quo doesn't work and it must be changed in a revolutionary fashion. In the final ANALYSIS, we can’t let up. We have to work in our communities, be involved in mentorships, volunteer, educate people on their human rights, boycott (in a righteous fashion), stand up for freedom, and oppose unjust laws. Yes, power should be to the people not to the oligarchy.


We see the crimes of Blackwater being exposed now. On Wednesday, something interesting happened. A jury of eight women and four men in a federal district court in Washington, D.C. convicted four Blackwater mercenaries for their role in the 2007 Nisour Square massacre. The jurors have found one of the contractors guilty of murder and the other three guilty of manslaughter for firing hundreds of rounds of ammunition and grenades at Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in a brutal operation. This operation caused 17 people to die and wounded 20 other human beings. The jury’s decision shocked some in the media and political establishment. The jurors were repulsed over the barbaric crimes described in the courtroom. There has been testimony from dozens of Iraqi eyewitnesses and victims. They were allowed to see for themselves the brutal reality of a war that has been greatly hidden from the American public. The verdict shows how deep the crimes done by the West against Iraq have been. Private mercenaries have been hired to enforce imperialism globally. The people convicted are Blackwater employees Nicholas Slatten (found guilty of murder) and Evan Liberty, Paul Slough and Dustin Heard (found guilty of manslaughter and using a machine gun to carry out a violent crime). Imperialism’s fruits deal with murder, death, and harm to the masses of the people. There are countless atrocities done in the war on terror. Some have been exposed publicly. Some are more hidden. There was the systematic leveling of Fallujah in 2004 by U.S. Marines. It was initiated in response to the killing of several Blackwater mercenaries and it resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 Iraqis. There was the Hadith Massacre where a group of U.S. Marines killed 24 unarmed Iraqis in November 2005. Only one soldier was convicted. There has been the incineration of a religious school in Pakistan by CIA drones in October 2006, killing at least 68 children; the massacre of 47 people attending a wedding party in Nangahar province, Afghanistan in July 2008, and a similar mass killing in Kandahar province that killed 63 only four months later. The Bush administration’s top officials (like President Bush himself, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and many others) planned and launched the war of Iraq based on outright lies. The top military and CIA officials have done a war of terror against the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan. This reactionary foreign policy has been supported by Republican and Democratic leaders. Some even refuse to release the Senate investigation report of CIA caught spying on Senate staffers preparing the report. So, we should continue to oppose torture, drone assassinations, massacres, and extra judicial killings. Justice is not only about convicting the Blackwater mercenaries who were involved in massacres, but it is about the convictions of the highest members of the military-state apparatus involved in the atrocities as well.


Regardless, people should vote their conscience. No one should force someone to vote a certain way. Human beings should look at the issues fairly and make up of their minds. In other words, political independence is the way to go. Historically, many midterm elections have much lower voter turnout than Presidential elections. That is why I respect someone who stands up for their views sincerely regardless if I agree with them or not. Another point is that we need to support others who are telling the truth independently. Even many Democrats wish to be allied with the status quo instead of freedom and justice. Some Democrats (not just the Republicans, because we know what they are all about) endorse imperialist aggression overseas and austerity neoliberalism at home. Also, domestically, we see police terrorism and the violation of our rights. Black people and people of color do face stop and frisk all over America. There are independent groups doing great work in fighting stop in frisk in Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, etc. The racist police occupation of Black America is totally unjustified. That is why I support the independent media showing the truth. The mainstream media is dominated by the corporate ruling class. Less than 10 parent corporations own the majority of the mainstream media worldwide. Disney, Viacom, GE, etc. own hundreds of billions of dollars form mass media mergers. The FCC was heavily deregulated by 1996 with the Telecommunications Act. We see the evils of racism. Also, we should continue to advance freedom and self-determination politically and economically. We deserve justice and we are in a class struggle too. The status quo must be challenged if we want to be free. There must be a democratic control of the economy and social ownership of property, so all of the needs of the people are met. Also, it is important for us to help the poor too (that means that we must be in favor of the interests of the working class, and we have to confront economic inequality. We see massive subsidies for the rich, but some want to scapegoat the poor. That is not right. In this time, we see a layer of people having untold wealth, while the masses of people globally suffer in poverty and economic stagnation. This reality must change). The colonial, capitalist system has exploited black people at the expense of the development of Empire and oligarchy. We see Wall Street being protected by the establishment and those who refuse to advance economic justice. So, we have work to do.


By Timothy