Sunday, May 16, 2021

Israeli Bombs Destroy Gaza Media Center; AP, Al-Jazeera, Others Taken Out

Israel destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press, Al-Jazeera and other media outlets on Saturday, the latest step by Israel to silence reporting.


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Israel destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press, Al-Jazeera and other media outlets on Saturday, the latest step by Israel to silence reporting

Smoke billows as an Israeli air bomb is dropped on the Jala Tower during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Israel's air force targeted the 11-floor Jala Tower housing Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television and the Associated Press news agency among many other media outlets. (Photo by Mahmud Hams / AFP via Getty Images)


IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY AT THE TOP OF THE PICTURE YOU CAN SEE THE SECOND ISRAELI MISSLE COMING IN FOR A HIT

Israeli bombs destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press, Al-Jazeera and other media outlets on Saturday, the latest step by Israel to silence reporting from Gaza amid its military bombardment. The  Israeli air raid totally demolished the structure.

Live Al Jazeera video showed the 11-story al-Jalaa building, which also houses a number of residences and other offices, crashing to the ground after being bombed as dust and debris flew into the air.

The strike came just hours after another Israeli bombing of a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least eight Palestinian children and two women from an extended family, in the deadliest single strike of Israel's current assault.

AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt has released the following statement:

We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza. They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit.

We are seeking information from the Israeli government and are engaged with the U.S. State Department to try to learn more.

This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today.

Al Jazeera’s Safwat al-Kahlout, reporting from Gaza City, said he had worked at the building for 11 years, and often did live reports from its roof.

“I have been covering lots of events from this building,” he said. “We have lots of good memories with our colleagues”.

It was not immediately made clear why the building was targeted by Israel.

“Now, no one can understand the feeling of the people whose homes have been destroyed by such kind of air attacks,” al-Kahlout said. “It’s really difficult to wake up one day and then you realize that your office is not there with all the career experiences, memories that you’ve had.”

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"These Are Not 'Clashes'": Media Slammed for Coverage Amid Deadly IDF Attacks on Gaza

A U.S. State Department spokesperson also faced criticism for refusing to condemn the reported killing of Palestinian children.



A wounded Palestinian child was brought to Indonesian Hospital to receive medical treatment after Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on May 10, 2021 in Beit Lahia, Gaza. At least 20 Palestinians, including nine children, were killed, according to local health authorities. (Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Amid reporting that Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 20 Palestinians, including nine children, rights activists and journalists on Monday called out some members of the media for covering the latest developments with language that misrepresents the power dynamics of the region.

After Israeli forces injured hundreds of Palestinians with rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas at the Al-Aqsa Mosque—and refused to stand down—Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded with the deadly airstrikes, claiming to strike "Hamas terror targets."

As Jack Mirkinson of Discourse Blog and many other critics pointed out, outlets including the Associated Press, BBC, New York Times, Reuters, and the Washington Post used "clash" or "clashes" to describe the attack on the mosque, which is a holy site for Muslims and Jews. As Mirkinson wrote Monday:


This is not a "clash" between two equal sides. This is a straightforward attack by Israel on Palestinians. For days, the Israeli government has been systematically assaulting Palestinians worshipping at one of the holiest sites in Islam, during Ramadan, all while enforcing a move to ethnically cleanse a Jerusalem neighborhood of its Palestinian residents. Israeli forces have fired rubber bullets and stun grenades, injuring hundreds of people. The deputy mayor of Jerusalem has been filmed lamenting that Palestinian activists weren't shot in the head.

Israel is one of the most militarily advanced countries in the world, thanks to the United States. It is the government in charge. It is the occupying power. It is the one taking active steps to displace Palestinians, to attack worshipers at a mosque. The asymmetry at play is beyond overwhelming.

Some reports "are completely bewildering," he wrote, while others "are clearly so nervous about veering from the script that even when they start strong, they descend into near-gibberish."

I received zero email alerts from the New York Times about what Israel has been doing in recent days. But now that Hamas has fired a rocket, and Israel (not Palestine) is “on edge," it’s a different story. https://t.co/ssQDeZXx94 pic.twitter.com/p9jtSBQXpa

— Jack Mirkinson (@jackmirkinson) May 10, 2021

Mirkinson was far from alone. In a statement Monday night, Linda Sarsour, executive director and co-founder of MPower Change, the largest Muslim-led digital advocacy organization in the United States, said, "These are not 'clashes.'"

"They are attacks," Sarsour continued. "They are violent assaults by an occupying force. They are acts of ethnic cleansing, carried out by Israeli forces, on Palestinians, for worshipping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan, or for merely existing in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah."

As Common Dreams has reported in recent days, attempts by Israeli settlers and security forces to drive Palestinians out of the Al-Bustan and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem have sparked global condemnation—including from some progressive U.S. lawmakers.

"One word you hear a lot when you cover Israel-Palestine is the word 'clashes'. 'There are clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem tonight!' It's a word, personally, I cannot stand."

Let @mehdirhasan explain why: pic.twitter.com/5cJxj5ZV52

— The Mehdi Hasan Show (@MehdiHasanShow) May 10, 2021

"What we're seeing aren't 'clashes,'" Sarsour emphasized. "What we're seeing is the oppression of an apartheid state, against people engaged in peaceful worship during the holiest nights of the year for Muslims around the world."

"The Palestinians are a resilient people," she added. "They want freedom and liberation. They want to live with dignity. They want justice—all universal values, rights, and principles we all deserve. Let's stop the whitewashing of their systemic, violent oppression."

"Clashes" isn't the only word choice that has "stoked controversy," Alex MacDonald reported Monday for Middle East Eye. Others include "conflict," "property dispute," and the terms used when referring to structures at "the Old City complex which houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, and the Western Wall."



Terms such as "clashes", "conflict" and "property dispute" have been criticised for distorting the narrative coming out of Jerusalem.


We take a look at the words and phrases which have sparked controversy: https://t.co/PgeM7i5MBX

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) May 10, 2021

Reporters, rights advocates, and progressive lawmakers also called out U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price for how he handled questions from journalists on Monday, including his refusal to explicitly condemn the IDF's reported killing of Palestinian children in the airstrikes.

"Washington is increasingly twisting its tongue in knots trying to square what they say is their support for human rights with support for Israel as it commits war crimes and crimes against humanity," tweeted Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American writer and political analyst, with a video clip.

U.S. Rep Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress, also weighed in, tagging Price's official Twitter account:

Is @StateDeptSpox really refusing to condemn the killing of Palestinian children? https://t.co/h3tXqaxqXp
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 10, 2021

Jeremy Scahill of The Intercept—which last month published a thorough examination of U.S. President Joe Biden's record on foreign and military issues, including "what would become a career-spanning defense of Israeli militarism"—pointed out that Price's responses were not surprising.

"The questions from reporters here are solid. And the answers from the State Department spokesperson are, unfortunately, not shocking," Scahill said. "This is a bipartisan horror and Joe Biden has a very long history of defending Israel's gratuitous violence and killings."

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)—who, along with Tlaib, was the first Muslim woman elected to Congress—took to Twitter Monday to address an issue Price was questioned about: the right to self-defense.

Many will tell you Israel has a right to defend itself, to safety and security, but are silent on whether Palestinians have those rights too.
Until we can defend the rights of Palestinians just as we do Israelis, we have no leg to stand on when it comes to justice or peace.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) May 10, 2021

Meanwhile, some Israeli Jews took to the streets chanting "Yimach Shemam," a Hebrew phrase that means "may their names be erased," which was denounced as "sick," "shocking," and "revolting."



I am sharing this, reluctantly, to point to the song they're singing. It's a Kahanist revenge song, words from the biblical story of Samson:
"O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes"
(Yimach Shemam, may their name be effaced, the youths chant) https://t.co/OZCYNpdjUF

— Yair Wallach (@YairWallach) May 10, 2021

"Hard to capture how deeply horrifying this video is. Thousands of Israeli Jews singing about revenge... dancing as a fire burns on the Temple Mount," said Simone Zimmerman, director of B'Tselem USA and co-founder of IfNotNow. "This is genocidal animus towards Palestinians—emboldened and unfiltered."


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State Dept Spokesperson Under Fire for 'Spineless' 
Refusal to Condemn Israel's Killing of Children in Gaza

"This unsurprising response is devoid of empathy and concern for human suffering," said Rep. Ilhan Omar. "He can't even condemn the killing of children."

by Jake Johnson, staff writer
Published on Tuesday, May 11, 2021
by Common Dreams

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price listens to questions from reporters during a press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 2021. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Pressed repeatedly by reporters during a briefing on Monday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price refused to condemn Israel's killing of children with airstrikes on Gaza, offering evasive and mealy-mouthed responses that members of Congress slammed as unacceptable.

"We cannot just condemn rockets fired by Hamas and ignore Israel's state-sanctioned police violence against Palestinians—including unlawful evictions, violent attacks on protestors, and the murder of Palestinian children."
—Rep. Mark Pocan

Asked straightforwardly whether he condemns the killing of Palestinian children, Price replied that the Biden administration does not "have independent confirmation of facts on the ground yet" and is "hesitant to get into reports that are just emerging."

"Obviously, the deaths of civilians, be they Israeli or Palestinians, are something we would take very seriously," added Price.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), whip for the Congressional Progressive Caucus, tweeted late Monday that "this unsurprising response is devoid of empathy and concern for human suffering."

"He can't even condemn the killing of children," Omar added.

Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American writer and political analyst, called Price's remarks "spineless."

Reporters press US State Department on Palestinian right to self-defence #EastJerusalem#AlAqsa pic.twitter.com/U3cmK54TRM
— The National (@TheNationalNews) May 10, 2021

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israel's airstrikes in Gaza on Monday killed 24 people, including nine children. Israel claimed it was targeting "Hamas operatives" and said the airstrikes were retaliation for rockets fired into Israel from Gaza, which reportedly caused several injuries.

Hamas claimed responsibility for a rocket attack in Jerusalem, where Israeli security forces injured more than 300 Palestinians earlier Monday in an assault on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site.

At the start of Monday's briefing, Price stressed "Israel's legitimate right to defend itself and to defend its people and its territory." But asked whether Palestinians have the same right, Price quickly reverted to defending the broad principle of self-defense while refusing to answer the question.

"It is long past time we finally take action to protect Palestinian human rights and save lives."
—Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and André Carson

"We believe in the concept of self-defense," said Price. "We believe it applies to any state."

Given that Palestinians are a stateless people living under Israeli military occupation, they would not have a right to self-defense under Price's standard, as Associated Press reporter Matt Lee pointed out.

"Are you saying the Palestinians don't have a right to self-defense?" Lee asked, to which Price replied, "I was making a broader point not attached to Israel or the Palestinians in that case... I'm not in a position to debate the legalities from up here."

Following the State Department press briefing, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) tweeted that "we cannot just condemn rockets fired by Hamas and ignore Israel's state-sanctioned police violence against Palestinians—including unlawful evictions, violent attacks on protestors, and the murder of Palestinian children."

"U.S. aid should not be funding this violence," Pocan added.

Omar, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.) sent a similar message in a joint statement issued Monday, declaring, "We are horrified by the violent assault by Israeli forces on the Al-Aqsa mosque, and the continued violent attacks on the Palestinian people during the holy month of Ramadan.

"We continue to provide the Israeli government with over $3 billion in military aid every year—with no conditions or accountability for wanton human rights abuses and continuing illegal seizures of Palestinian land," the lawmakers continued. "For decades, we have paid lip service to a Palestinian state, while land seizures, settlement expansion, and forced displacement continue, making a future home for Palestinians more and more out of reach."

"It is long past time we finally take action to protect Palestinian human rights and save lives," the trio said.


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100+ Groups Condemn Israeli Violence in East Jerusalem and Gaza

The groups' statement says the current conflagration is part of a "broader context of Israel's ongoing policy to forcibly remove Palestinians from their homes through eviction, home demolition, and displacement."

Published on Friday, May 14, 2021
by Common Dreams


Gaza residents gather at the site of homes destroyed by Israeli air and artillery attacks on May 14, 2015. (Photo: Ahmed Zakot/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As the death toll from Israel's ongoing air and artillery strikes in Gaza topped 120 on Friday and as Israeli security forces killed at least 10 Arab protesters in the occupied West Bank, over 100 U.S.-based advocacy groups issued a statement urging the Biden administration to condemn the Israeli government's plan to ethnically cleanse thousands of Palestinians from neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

"Israeli state violence is, of course, not limited to Jerusalem. We are horrified by Israel's use of disproportionate and deadly force against Palestinians in Gaza which have already resulted in the killings of dozens of Palestinians, including children."
—100+ groups' statement

The groups—which include peace, faith-based, labor, racial justice, and other organizations—wrote that they "stand in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem currently at risk of losing their homes and call on the Biden administration to immediately and publicly condemn the Israeli government's plans to forcibly displace 1,550 Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah and Al-Bustan neighborhoods," while urging the U.S. administration to "exert the utmost diplomatic pressure to prevent these potential war crimes from taking place."

The statement says the planned expulsions are occurring in the "broader context of Israel's ongoing policy to forcibly remove Palestinians from their homes through eviction, home demolition, and displacement, with the express intent of pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem in order to create and maintain a Jewish majority and supremacy in the city."

Proud to be part of this statement signed by over 100 progressive organizations demanding that the Biden administration stop Israel's forced displacement of Palestinians in #SheikhJarrah, and flanking the calls of @RepMarieNewman & @repmarkpocan's letter https://t.co/7nNbmI2yWc

— Jewish Voice for Peace Action #SaveSheikhJarrah (@JvpAction) May 13, 2021

Decrying the "overwhelming violence and force from Israeli police and settlers" against Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan, the statement notes specific disturbing incidents that have occurred in East Jerusalem, including "a police officer kneeling on a protester's neck while he shouts he is being suffocated" and Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Arieh King telling a Palestinian activist it was a "pity" that he wasn't shot in the head.

The statement continues:

Israeli state violence is, of course, not limited to Jerusalem. We are horrified by Israel's use of disproportionate and deadly force against Palestinians in Gaza which have already resulted in the killings of dozens of Palestinians, including children. This comes within the context of Israel's 14-year illegal blockade on Gaza which has created an open-air prison with severe shortages of life-saving medicines, food, electricity, and clean water, making life unsafe and unbearable. We call on the Biden administration to condemn this violence and address its root causes: Israeli blockade and occupation.

The signatories said that the Biden administration must "uphold international law and act in accordance with the urgency of the moment to prevent the Israeli government's forced displacement of thousands of Palestinians."

Finally, they affirmed their support for a letter led by U.S. Reps. Marie Newman (D-Ill.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and signed by 23 other House Democrats urging the Biden administration to pressure Israeli leaders to "desist from its plans to demolish Palestinian homes in Al-Bustan and evict Palestinians from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah."

"We call on the Biden administration to condemn this violence and address its root causes: Israeli blockade and occupation."
—statement

The groups' statement comes a day after progressive members of the U.S. House of Representatives convened a special hour—also organized by Newman and Pocan—during which the lawmakers discussed the root causes of Israeli-Palestinian violence, namely the foundation of Israel through settler colonization, ethnic cleansing, and ongoing oppression and apartheid.

 

"If we are to make good on our promises to support equal human rights for all, it is our duty to end the apartheid system that for decades has subjected Palestinians to inhumane treatment and racism, reducing Palestinians to live in utter fear and terror of losing a child, being indefinitely detained or killed because of who they are, and the unequal rights and protections they have under Israeli law," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and the first Palestinian-American woman elected to Congress. "It must end."



'Where's the Outrage, POTUS?' Rashida Tlaib Demands US Action as Israeli Forces Assault Al-Aqsa

As Israeli police wounded more than 300 Palestinians, Tlaib said U.S. lawmakers "must condition the aid we send to Israel, and end it altogether if those conditions are not followed."

Published on Monday, May 10, 2021
by Common Dreams


Palestinian paramedics transport a protester wounded by Israeli security forces at Lions Gate in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City on May 10, 2021. (Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman ever elected to Congress, demanded Monday that U.S. lawmakers and President Joe Biden take immediate and concrete action in response to Israeli forces' latest assault on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where more than 300 Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas.

"This is equivalent to attacking the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, or the Temple Mount for Jews. Israel attacks it during Ramadan."
—Rep. Rashida Tlaib

"Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam, and people praying during the holiest days of the holy month of Ramadan have been beaten, gassed, shot, and killed by Israeli forces," Tlaib tweeted Monday morning. "They are denied medics and forced to use prayer mats as stretchers. A place of peace desecrated by violence."

The Michigan Democrat went on to call out the bipartisan coalition of U.S. House members who rejected conditioning aid to Israel last month, shortly before Israeli settlers and state forces resumed efforts to forcefully expel Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem—an effort that sparked outrage from Tlaib, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and other progressive lawmakers.

"American taxpayer money is being used to commit human rights violations," said Tlaib. "Congress must condition the aid we send to Israel, and end it altogether if those conditions are not followed. Statements aren't working, [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken. Enough is enough."

"I was seven years old when I first prayed at the Al-Aqsa with my sity. It's a sacred site for Muslims," Tlaib added. "This is equivalent to attacking the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, or the Temple Mount for Jews. Israel attacks it during Ramadan. Where's the outrage, POTUS?"

Al-Aqsa is the 3rd holiest site in Islam, & people praying during the holiest days of the holy month of Ramadan have been beaten, gassed, shot, & killed by Israeli forces. They are denied medics & forced to use prayer mats as stretchers.

A place of peace desecrated by violence. https://t.co/S7kc74ceHE
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) May 10, 2021

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said at least 305 Palestinians were injured, several critically, in the Israeli forces' attack on Al-Aqsa Monday, which came on the Israeli national holiday that marks the country's seizure of East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War of 1967.

"We want Israel to be held accountable for its crimes against Palestinians. The Biden administration and the language of false equivalency continue to uphold this occupation."
—Mohammed El-Kurd

Observers feared that tensions and violence would continue escalating throughout the day as thousands of right-wing Israelis were planning to march through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City, but the demonstration was reportedly rerouted at the last minute.

"This is good news," said Yair Rosenberg, senior writer at Tablet magazine. "Hopefully it's not too late and the police can actually keep the marchers to the new route. Let's hope more responsible decision-making follows."

Video footage of the Monday attack posted to social media shows Israeli police beating a Palestinian detained at the compound, women and children scrambling to find cover amid Israeli forces' bombardment of the mosque, and medics escorting wounded Palestinians away from the chaotic scene.

Khaled Zabarqa, a 48-year-old lawyer who had been praying at Al-Aqsa just before Israeli forces began firing on the compound, asked in an interview with the New York Times, "Why have they been attacking the Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan?"

"The Aqsa Mosque is a sacred place for Muslims," said Zabarqa. "Israel is starting a religious war."

Women are being targeted by Israeli forces in Al Aqsa Mosque. Grenades are being thrown at defence less women. (R) pic.twitter.com/koZRFPWslp
— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) May 10, 2021

On top of the violence at Al-Aqsa, Israeli forces also reportedly attacked Palestinian demonstrators in Sheikh Jarrah on Monday as they protested Israel's ongoing efforts to expel them from their homes.

"They beat me up then a minute later, completely denied they had done such a thing," one protester who said he was assaulted by Israeli police told Al Jazeera. "This is a terrorist government. This is what a government that protects and abets terrorist ministers within its ranks is."

In an appearance on Democracy Now! Monday morning, Palestinian writer and poet Mohammed El-Kurd—whose family lives in Sheikh Jarrah—said that "we want more than just condemnations" of Israeli conduct from the U.S. and the rest of the international community.

"We want Israel to be held accountable for its crimes against Palestinians," said El-Kurd. "The Biden administration and the language of false equivalency continue to uphold this occupation."

Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd says Israel is "doing everything it can to terrorize Palestinians" while Jewish settlers "can just walk around our neighborhoods, steal our homes and wield their guns." pic.twitter.com/19rXZ9UJoG
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) May 10, 2021

"I think you can deescalate the situation and the tension and the violence in Jerusalem by ending the occupation. That is the only solution," El-Kurd continued. "It is insane for Palestinians to continue living under this occupation for 73 years."

Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst on Israel-Palestine with the International Crisis Group, argued in a column for The American Prospect on Monday that "the least Biden can do is stop the harm to Palestinians, which in turn will also prevent harm to Israelis."

"One of the first steps Biden could take is to unequivocally disavow the Trump administration's January 2020 'Peace to Prosperity' plan, which put a stamp of approval on Israel's taking of land and resources by force and excluded Palestinians from the process outright," wrote Zonszein. "The administration should also plainly condemn, as the U.K. has, the systematic efforts by Israel to dispossess Palestinians from their homes."

"The Biden administration should also enforce America's own foreign-aid laws by ensuring greater transparency and accountability for how its aid to Israel is currently used, so that Israel is held to U.S. human rights standards and other benchmarks for aid recipients—something that has increasing support within the Democratic Party," Zonszein added.

Correction: This article previously misstated that Rep. Rashida Tlaib was the first Palestinian-American ever elected to Congress. She was the first Palestinian-American woman ever elected to Congress.  

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Liberals block first step to universal dental care

Brandon Doucet
May 12, 2021



This past week, NDP MP Jack Harris introduced a private member's bill aiming to address a glaring gap in our universal health-care system. The bill proposed that dental insurance be provided to households that presently lack dental insurance and make less than $90,000 per year. Harris views this as an interim measure until dental care can be included in Canada's universal health-care system.

A public dental plan is urgently needed. The financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to more unemployment and many are working reduced hours. This results in a loss of dental coverage for many people as well as less disposable income to pay for dental procedures out of pocket. The current safety net for dental care is inadequate, with only 5 per cent coming from targeted government programs. This number is even lower than the 10 per cent spent in the U.S. on public programs.

The targeted programs vary between provinces, but they tend to cover people on social services, low-income children as well as the federal government funding a dental plan for Indigenous peoples. As these targeted programs are underfunded, many in need fall through the gaps, and those who rely on the programs often struggle finding a dentist who will accept them.

In order for this much-needed bill to become reality, the NDP would need to have the support of the Liberals, who have signalled that they will not support the bill. Health Minister Patty Hajdu claims that the data is both limited and dated. Granted, while some of the data addressing access to dental care is several years old, the need for this program is clearly indicated.

Since dental care is private in Canada, many people with low and middle incomes are unable to access routine care. In 2018, one in three Canadians lacked dental insurance and over one in five avoid the dentist each year due to financial constraints. This lack of access is a serious problem. When preventative cleanings and early treatment are neglected, oral health deteriorates, which has consequences that extend beyond the mouth.

Poor oral health has been shown to cause or worsen many general health conditions like heart disease and diabetes, among others. Missing front teeth or visible decay can make it difficult to find employment. Further, living with dental pain can make it difficult to sleep or to focus at work.

When people are unable to afford dental care, they often end up turning to their doctor for relief. In 2014, doctors' offices were visited every three minutes and emergency departments every nine minutes by patients seeking treatment for dental pain. Nationwide, this problem is estimated to cost $150 million annually, while patients are left still needing treatment by a dentist.

Economic trends show the number of people who are uninsured is rising as many retire and lose work-related benefits. Additionally, more people work in the precarious gig economy, which does not provide benefits like dental insurance.

The financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has only made things worse. Before the pandemic in 2019, the parliamentary budget officer (PBO) estimated this dental plan would help 4.2 million people. An updated estimate from the PBO in October 2020 showed this number jumping to 6.5 million as people lost income and employment during the pandemic.

The dental plan is estimated to cost $1.5 billion per year. With only half a per cent increase in health-care spending, a lot of dental neglect and the resulting pain and suffering could be alleviated or even prevented. Further, the plan could ease some of the financial hardships Canadians are facing by allowing people to use their health card rather than their credit card to access dental care.

Through implementation of a wealth tax, this plan can be paid for by more affluent Canadians, whose wealth has increased by a staggering $78 billion during the pandemic.

Given the indisputable evidence supporting the need for the proposed bill, it is clear that if the Liberals truly cared about access to dental care, they would support the modest NDP plan. With a 2019 poll showing 86 per cent of Canadians are in support of a dental plan for the uninsured, it is time the Liberals to put some teeth into medicare.

Brandon Doucet is a dentist practising in Nova Scotia with interests in surgery and public health and the founder of Coalition for Dentalcare.

Image credit: StockSnap/PixabayFURTHER READING

Smile with Dignity: A social justice perspective on dental care
A close look at the Alliance for People's Health Smile with Dignity Campaign, featuring interviews with members of VANDU, Bruce Wallace, Martha Roberts and Melanie Roberts.

2.3 million people in Ontario cannot afford dental care
Demand that Ontario extend public dental programs.

Canada's pseudo-health-care system relies on people getting sick, not staying well
Federal and most provincial governments continue to deny many thousands of citizens the basic preventive and protective health services that are standard practice in most other advanced nations.
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The folly of right-wing nationalist politics

Duncan Cameron
May 11, 2021


 


In the preface of his just-published memoir La Grande Illusion, Michel Barnier, the man who led the Brexit negotiations for the EU, cites an anguished King Lear beating his own head: "[…] that let thy folly in, / And thy dear judgment out."

Barnier explains his job was to limit Brexit damage to the EU; he lamented that whatever was agreed and decided, Bexit would leave both parties weaker.

In France, right wing, anti-immigrant, anti-EU leader Marine Le Pen was virtually alone in welcoming Brexit enthusiastically.

For Barnier, the U.K. authorities erred by taking right-wing nationalist Nigel Farage and his UK Independence Party (UKIP) too lightly, something he believes historical memory in Germany and France helped to prevent.

American Republicans have been fostering right-wing nationalism for political gain for decades. Nelson Rockefeller, U.S. vice-president under Gerald Ford, was the last liberal Republican of any standing. He left office in 1977.

In the mid-1960s, U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson isolated southern Democratic politicians so as to pass much-needed civil rights legislation.

The Texan president was proud of his civil rights laws, but knew he had relegated the historic Democratic "solid South" to history.

The Republican southern strategy was based on appeals to the rural poor struggling to make a living or to find a new life in the cities.

From Richard Nixon to Donald Trump, Republicans relied on appeals to America first and military spending to cover up what became a serious deterioration in the U.S. social fabric as government spending went from being part of the solution to being the problem on its own. 

Political scientist Thomas Ferguson has documented how U.S. big business interests poured money into local and state elections to ensure positive support for their largely unpopular policies.

What Ferguson calls "political investment" is the practice of spending serious sums on party competition to keep hand-picked, docile representatives in power.

Elections matter -- so the right rigged the elections. Public opinion matters, so business interests ensured the investor perspective prevailed in think-tanks, editorial meetings, and cabinet decision-making.

Having turned one citizen, one vote -- or electoral democracy -- into who spends the most, wins, makes nonsense of ballots and elections.

It is nonetheless surprising to see 120 congressional Republicans denying the 2020 presidential election results. Countless party members are still playing along with the outlandish view popularized by Donald Trump that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Nor should one imagine that all the problems are on the Republican side of the aisle.

Following the defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016, the Democratic National Committee concocted a very dubious analysis of the results, claiming electoral manipulation by the Russians influenced the election.

The corollary of this assertion was that Trump won with Russian support, and that he was likely to be under the influence of Russian President Putin.

The entire American media was taken up for months with examining this obviously bogus explanation for the loss by Hillary Clinton.

As embarrassing as it must have been to admit that her candidacy failed, Clinton lost to a man who was clearly unfit for office.

In order to fund the U.S. military-industrial-university complex at the growing astronomical levels that baffle all understanding, Democrats and Republicans alike identify external enemies of the U.S.

China, which has begun to reclaim its centuries-long position as a leading economic power, is now accused by the U.S. of ignoring world trade rules and plotting actions in the South China Sea. It is not clear how this China bashing will turn out, but it is tiresome in the extreme to have to put up with such accusations being repeated constantly in the media.

Not long after the Cold War ended in 1989, U.S. president Bill Clinton expanded NATO into the Russian backyard in violation of undertakings by previous president George H.W. Bush. 

Why take such a provocative step? American military suppliers wanted Poland and other eastern European countries in NATO so they would buy American-made NATO-approved military equipment.

No country needs this NATO-approved equipment.

The total absurdity of increased military spending to meet non-existent threats to national security is clearly evident.

Given that military spending represents the single-largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions, continued expansion of outlays for new equipment says volumes about the dangerous, irrational actions of the American political class.

The only thing likely to force a revision to American policies is a worldwide citizen revolt. Fortunately, as Nancy Fraser has been explaining, one is underway that looks to be growing.

For those unable to see the folly of right-wing American nationalist politics, a look at other right-wing regimes serves to make the point.  

The monstrous Bolsonaro regime in Brazil has not only left its citizens unprotected from the deadly coronavirus, its neglect of basic sanitary protections has led to the disease leaking to its neighbours.

In Europe, the virus has devastated Hungary, otherwise notable because it is led by an antisemitic crypto-fascist.

Leader of India, the Hindu nationalist Modi, has watched the country become the world leader in absolute number of deaths from the pandemic without coming up with any kind of plan to stem the spread of the malady.

The pandemic has revealed what historians have long pointed to: right-wing authoritarian governments damage the social fabric, leaving citizens with a diminished sense of well-being.

We "the citizens of the United Nations" must fight back. Invoking the climate emergency to unite behind an immediate halt to every type of military spending would be a good place to start.

Duncan Cameron is president emeritus of rabble.ca and writes a weekly column on politics and current affairs.

Image credit: The U.S. Army/Flickr

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Human rights defenders call on Canada to end support to Colombian police and army

Brent Patterson
May 12, 2021



As the violence against the ongoing national strike in Colombia continues, the Colombian human rights organization CREDHOS (the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights) is calling on Canada to stop any technical assistance, aid, logistical or financial support to the Colombian army and police.

Representatives from CREDHOS have stated:

"The military and the police are interfering with peaceful social protest. The army is patrolling different urban areas of the cities. We are calling on the international community to ensure that logistical or financial support to the police and national army is stopped because right now they are attacking the people and we don't want that to continue."

"The world is seeing the repression that is happening in Colombia. We call on Canada and other countries to please talk about the violence in Colombia. If there is any sort of military support or technical assistance, please abstain from providing that military aid because they are attacking the civilian population."

"With due respect to the Canadian government we are asking that through your different actions and mechanisms, [and] diplomatic channels that you have with the Colombian state, that you can speak to the national government and express your concern about systematic human rights violations in the context of the social protests."

"Hopefully from the actions of the Canadian government and other countries we will be able to de-escalate the violence we are facing today in our country."

Bilateral police initiative with Colombia

On October 30, 2017, the Canadian Press reported on a "bilateral police initiative" between Canada and Colombia.

At that time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated: "This effort will support post-conflict policing efforts in Colombia and will see Canadian police providing training, capacity building and strategic advice to our Colombian friends."

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has also noted that they maintain a "liaison officer" in Bogota. The RCMP says their role is to "act as the link between law enforcement agencies in Canada and in their host country."

$45 million of Canadian military exports to Colombia

In 2018, Canada exported $310,576 of military goods to Colombia. In 2017, it was $114,688. In 2016, it was $215,066. And it 2015 it was $522,203.

In 2014, it was $44,754,393.

That was the year that the Canadian Commercial Corporation, a federal government-owned Crown corporation, stated it toured the exhibition floor at the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa with a delegation from Colombia. That was also the year that Canada sold 24 light armoured vehicles (LAVs) to the Colombian army and at least four armoured personnel carriers (APCs) to the National Police of Colombia.

The precedent for stopping military exports

Canada has previously taken action to stop military exports when there have been serious concerns about human rights violations.

In July 2020, The Globe and Mail reported that Canada would "block the export of sensitive military goods" to Hong Kong and that "a Canadian government official familiar [with the announcement] said Ottawa wants to prevent equipment being shipped to Hong Kong that could be used by the local police to suppress protests."

Next steps

On May 4, the Canadian ambassador to Colombia Marcel Lebleu tweeted: "I deeply regret all the deaths, injuries and violence in Colombia. We defend the right to peaceful demonstration and we are concerned about the excessive use of force against protesters. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased."

On May 9, Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau stated: "Canada condemns the violence, including the disproportionate use of force by security forces, and urges that the violence cease. The right to peaceful assembly and association are the bedrock of democracy and must be promoted and protected at all times."

As a next step, it's hoped the ambassador and minister will hear the plea from CREDHOS to help de-escalate the violence and support the call to stop providing military aid, technical assistance, and logistical and financial support to the police and national army.

Brent Patterson is the executive director of Peace Brigades International-Canada. Follow them at @PBIcanada.

Image: Neda Amani/Twitter

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KANADA

Reconciliation means rethinking parks governance

David Suzuki
May 12, 2021

Protection and restoration are two sides of the conservation coin -- protection for spaces that haven't yet been damaged or destroyed by large-scale human impacts and restoration for ecologically critical places that have.

Although both might seem like relatively straightforward scientific tasks, they have been and continue to be significantly shaped by colonialism -- globally and in Canada.

Landscape-level restoration initiatives are somewhat new. It's only recently that the scale of our activities has degraded entire ecosystems. Yet restoration initiatives are still subject to colonial approaches.

Consider one recent European-led, nature-based approach to climate change, part of an initiative to plant a billion trees. It included the Serengeti plains and Kruger National Park in Africa as potential reforestation areas. According to the Yale Journal of Forestry, "By not excluding conservation areas and traditional rangelands … these maps promote the idea that Africa's natural heritage can be turned into industrial tree plantations to offset the rich world's carbon emissions."

Protected areas were established in Canada decades before Newfoundland and Labrador joined other provinces and territories to form the country we know today. Most are rooted in a colonial approach that defied Indigenous rights and fractured Indigenous peoples' relations with land.

Jasper National Park's website provides this overview:

"When Jasper Park Forest Reserve was created in 1907… Indigenous peoples were seen as obstacles to the enjoyment of nature. According to wilderness conservation policies at the time, Indigenous peoples were considered incompatible with nature and so couldn't live in, hunt, or harvest within park boundaries. First Nation and Métis peoples were physically removed from the landscape, blocked from accessing it and banned from harvesting plants and animals, holding gatherings and accessing cultural sites."

This is not unique to Jasper. Indigenous people were also forcibly removed to create Vancouver's Stanley Park and Quetico Park in Ontario, among others.

As Indigenous writer Robert Jago remarks in "National Parks Are Colonial Crime Scenes," "Canada's Parks Departments have treated Indigenous peoples like an infestation ever since the founding, in 1885, of what is now Banff National Park."

How can we, who find solace and communion in parks, help overcome these past injustices?

Indigenous peoples are already leading on many fronts, including championing land repatriation and Indigenous land governance, and by asserting rights and responsibilities that provincial and federal governments have long denied. These initiatives deserve broad public support.

As one example, in Jasper, Simpcw First Nation Chief Nathan Matthew announced in 2017 that his tribe was going to resume hunting deer, sheep and elk within the park, after being banned from doing so when the park was established. "We're determined to exercise our title and right within our territory," he said.

In "Return the National Parks to the Tribes," Indigenous American David Treuer writes:

"For Native Americans, there can be no better remedy for the theft of land than land. And for us, no lands are as spiritually significant as the national parks. They should be returned to us. Indians should tend -- and protect and preserve -- these favoured gardens again."

Canada too must explore new means of land governance. Indigenous peoples have long histories of responsibly stewarding ecosystems, of living within them without causing their demise. Many national and provincial parks are not succeeding in their primary objective to maintain biodiversity. Jasper recently announced extirpation of a resident caribou herd, and conflict continues over management decisions that could affect the two remaining, highly imperilled, herds.

According to Treuer:

"[i]t's not clear that today's model of care and custodianship best meets the needs of the land, Native people, or the general public. Nor is it clear that the current system will adequately ensure the parks' future. That's something Indians are good at: pushing ahead while bringing the past along with us.… Placing these lands under collective Native control would be good not just for Natives, but for the parks as well."

It's our collective responsibility to engage in conversations about how new systems of land governance could look. Everything should be on the table, including ownership and governance of current protected areas. As Jago notes, "The places Canada has made into parks are filled with our stories -- every mountain, every valley has a name and a history for Indigenous peoples."

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Boreal Project Manager Rachel Plotkin.

Learn more at davidsuzuki.org. 

Image credit: Pavel Brodsky/Unsplash

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