13) PEACE CONGRESS CONVENTION DELIVERS
ACTION PLAN FOR PEACE
Special to PV
The Canadian
Peace Congress held a successful convention in
Delegates
discussed the deepening global crisis of capitalism, which is driving an
increased aggressiveness by imperialism. While working people in capitalist
countries face severe austerity measures that drastically cut jobs and social
programs, their governments are ramping up military spending and seeking new
pretexts for war. In
The
convention had an excellent discussion on the Action Plan, which identified and
prioritized key areas of Peace Congress work. Delegates agreed that the Action
Plan needed to be bold but doable, and one to which all the organizations in
the Congress would be committed. Key areas of work are:
* Campaigning against NATO, demanding
* Campaigning against Canada's active
involvement in wars in Afghanistan, Haiti and Libya, working to immediately
withdraw Canadian military and to end those conflicts, and to build opposition
to aggression and war against Syria and Iran;
* Campaigning against military
spending in Canada, which is at its highest levels since before World War 2 and
continuing to rise, with special emphasis on engaging the trade union movement
and on pressuring the NDP;
* Developing a new campaign to oppose
the development of Canadian military bases in foreign countries, to link this
with the World Peace Council campaign against foreign military bases, and to
relate this issue to that of Canadian resource industries in Africa, Latin
America and the Caribbean;
* Working to oppose militarization of
the Arctic and make it an international zone of peace, and encouraging
cooperation and joint campaigning on this issue among WPC members organizations
in circumpolar countries;
* Working toward the Third Trilateral
Peace Conference, between the peace committees in Canada, the United States and
Mexico and with participation of the Cuban Movement for Peace, to be held in
Cuba in 2012;
* Developing a new campaign to end
nuclear weapons and strengthen Canada's commitment to a policy of no nuclear
weapons, including opposition to building nuclear subs through the recently‑awarded
shipbuilding contracts to the Irvings;
* Producing a regular, cross‑country
peace publication.
The
convention had a number of special interventions, including from the Canadian
Peace Alliance (whose coordinator brought greetings and a report on the CPA
convention and current campaigns), participants at the 17th World Festival of
Youth and Students (held Dec. 2010 in South Africa), CODIR (the Committee for
the Defense of the Iranian People's Rights), and activists who are working to
rebuild the Quebec Peace Council.
The
Convention held elections to the two Executive positions that are elected at
large; Cheryl‑Ann Carr from
This
convention was a solid demonstration of the quantitative and qualitative growth
of the Canadian Peace Congress. Membership and participation have increased
significantly since the last convention three years ago, and the delegates
concretely discussed how to build the membership further. The mood was strongly
united, and eagerly geared toward campaigning.
The documents
from the convention are available at the Peace Congress web site: www.canadianpeacecongress.ca.
(The above
article is from the January 1-31, 2012, issue of People's