NDP Takes Orwellian World View to Deny My Candidacy
Up is down. Right is left. International law is whatever empire says it is. Democracy is following our rules.
The audacity, chauvinism and absurdity of the NDP vetting committee is a sight to behold. To justify denying party members the right to choose whether they want me to lead the party, the three-person backroom committee is citing “democracy”.
In their evidence rejecting my candidacy they claimed, “Many of your public positions contradict the NDP’s core commitments to democracy, international law, and solidarity with oppressed peoples”. Leaving aside the ridiculousness of ‘vetters’ claiming the mantle of democracy, I have done as much as any other to challenge Canada’s role in overthrowing elected governments. I co-authored a book about the 2004 coup in Haiti and have discussed Canada’s role in ousting Patrice Lumumba, Mohammed Mossadegh and Salvador Allende. My latest (co-authored) book, Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy, details Ottawa’s role in 20 US-backed coups.
As I detailed in Left, Right: Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada, the NDP ignored Canada’s role in ousting Mossadegh. Even more the party effectively backed Canada’s contribution to overthrowing democracy in Congo in 1960 and seeking to do so in Venezuela in 2019.
Claiming that my positions contradict “solidarity with oppressed peoples” is a grotesque mischaracterization. I’ve written books about Canada’s role in subjugating people in Africa, Haiti and Palestine. My activism has aggressively challenged Canada’s role in the holocaust in Gaza.
As part of these efforts, I’ve repeatedly pointed out how the NDP has failed to offer “solidarity with oppressed people”. The party formally backed the racist Core Group in Haiti and until recently participated in the pro-apartheid Canada Israel Interparliamentary Group.
Claiming that my positions contradict international law is also absurd. In fact, over the past two decades, few have criticized Canada’s violations of international law more.
Among other things, I have written about how Canadian sanctions often violate international law. In 2020 I wrote “Do Canada’s unilateral sanctions violate international law?” and have supported various initiatives questioning the legality of Canadian sanctions. For its part, the NDP has repeatedly backed Ottawa imposing unilateral sanctions and seems to have entirely ignored whether unilateral sanctions violate international law.
I’ve written about how Canada’s support for Israeli and US policy has enabled those countries’ to violate international law. Too often the NDP has been silent in these violations of international law.
I have also written about how Canada’s 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, which wasn’t sanctioned by the UN Security Council, contravened international law. The NDP backed Canada’s significant contribution to NATO’s 78-day bombing, only turning critical over a month after it began.
Unlike Yugoslavia, the Security Council sanctioned intervention in Libya through resolutions 1970 and 1973. Still, the scope of the Canadian-led NATO bombing violated those resolutions. Additionally, Canadian special forces and private security firm GardaWorld’s presence in Libya directly contravened the UN resolutions.
The NDP voted twice in Parliament to attack Libya. Party interim leader Nycole Turmel also applauded the killing of Muammar Gaddafi, which was a war crime and part of NATO’s violation of resolutions 1970 and 1973.
During the first official NDP leadership debate on November 27 not a single question about international affairs or Mark Carney’s radical militarism was asked. The NDP has no lessons to give on international law or solidarity with oppressed people. Blocking party members from choosing a candidate in the name of upholding “democracy” is simply Orwellian.
Please email the NDP Federal Council and urge them to overturn this anti-democratic decision and allow Yves Engler to run.
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