Google it, Bush

I used to think governments are absolute sources of truth and fact. They are aware of things the people aren't. The political knowledge people gain from reading newspapers, magazines, and academic journals, is inferior to the first-hand, direct, and accurate, knowledge of governments. Nothing gets by them, and if it does it’s getting by everyone else as well. How wrong I was. Check out this blog entry from The Nation.

Nuclear Proliferation and Democratic Deficit

This is the draft of an article published in Planet S Magazine: March 29 – April 11, 2007 Volume 5: Issue 16

Sometime after the mushroom clouds settled in Japan at the close of the Second World War, a move was made against the spread and use of nuclear weapons. For one, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established, setting its sights on preventing another Hiroshima or Nagasaki. In 1968 the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was established, and signed by numerous states, as an agreement to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons. And yet, despite the existence of the agency and the treaty, both very popular, at least in word, we are facing a nuclear weapons crisis.

The world remains inundated with these bombs and, only worse, more are being developed. The reason this is such a bad situation is that most people, especially in Western countries, are opposed to the nuclear weapons industry. Nevertheless, their opposition usually falls on deaf ears. While the United States accuses Iran of having a secret nuclear weapons program, and condemns North Korea for having the bomb, it continues to fund the design and production of nuclear weapons.

So the time is ripe for a documentary film about the nuclear weapons industry. And this is just what Danny Bradbury, a journalist and filmmaker, has done with Epicentre, a film whose grand topic arose from something much smaller.

“It started off being a film primarily about the downwinders: a group of people in the U.S. who were dusted by radioactive fallout from the atmospheric tests in the 50s and 60s. I arranged to go and interview some of these people and as I went down there and talked to them I realized that actually the bomb had a much bigger effect in many different ways in terms of the effect on the land and the environment from the testing and the nuclear reactors it used to produce the weapons, the fuel for the weapons, and on the people that lived on that land and what had happened to them. So, essentially, it turned into a much bigger story. The film sort of developed organically as I went along and it went from being one movie to being three or four different movies that I resolved to try and squeeze down into one broad look on the issue.”

“And actually one of the things I found out was that the U.S. nuclear weapons complex is revitalizing, they’re re-developing the complex in a sort of multi-decade plan. And they’ve made decisions to re-design essentially the entire nuclear arsenal – begin making new nuclear weapons. Not only has the issue not gone away since the Cold War but actually we are in a crucial period and it’s coming to the foreground again in terms of foreign policy and world politics.”

Bradbury suggests that the West is not living up to its image as a moral authority. Considering the evidence, he’s definitely on the right lines.

“We really should be leading the way in terms of trying to lead the world to a non-nuclear stage – to the point where we are able to get rid of all nuclear weapons. But in fact the U.S. is moving in the opposite direction. They’re essentially giving a message to the world that ‘not only are we keeping our bombs,’ which we actually did commit to trying to get rid of under the non-proliferation treaty, ‘but also we’re developing new ones.’”

And to make matters worse, the effect of the nuclear weapons industry is not confined to the relations between states. It has had a corroding effect on our internal political system, and our most beloved of institutions: democracy.

“Everyone talks about the effect of nuclear weapons on the world in terms of national boundaries. They think about it in terms of nations. To me, it seems much more productive to think about this in terms of a division between a government and its people. So when you look at the effect of the bomb, and when you look at the stake holds that’s involved in producing a bomb, and who controls it, it very much divides the people from the government. So the government says ‘we need to pile all this tax-money into developing nuclear weapons.’ And the people, generally I think, don’t appreciate the idea of being incinerated within half an hour’s notice.”

Nevertheless, we should not see ourselves as just passive, resigned to merely wishing the nuclear weapons industry away. We, specifically the people of Saskatchewan, are partly responsible for the spread of nuclear weapons. And so we have a role, if we wish to take it, in ending nuclear proliferation.

“The nuclear energy industry arose because the nuclear weapons industry existed. And there’s always been an extremely strong tie between the two. Some of the uranium that was used in the original Japanese bombs came from Saskatchewan. We’ll always have to live with that fact. We have a responsibility for what happened. Of course we are all responsible in some way or another. If you support, in any way, what happens within the nuclear weapons complex then ultimately you’ve helped to make the world a worse place.”

Burmese Ways

After becoming independent in 1948 it was called the Union of Burma. In 1974 it became the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. It went back to the Union of Burma in 1988. Since 1989 it's been the Union of Myanmar. One constant has been the capital: Rangoon. Very recently, though, they've changed that as well. Naypyidaw is the Union of Myanmar's capital city as of this moment.

I'm spent.

Israel - Apartheid?

John Dugard, a South African lawyer and UN special rapporteur on human rights in Palestinian territories, has recently likened Israel’s policy towards Palestinians to the apartheid of South Africa. He cites the restriction of movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), with its over 500 checkpoints and roadblocks; the Wall being constructed in the West Bank, separating Israelis from Palestinians; and the constant military attacks of civilian areas. In his words: "Can it seriously be denied that the purpose of such action is to establish and maintain domination by one racial group (Jews) over another racial group (Palestinians) and systematically oppressing them? Israel denies that this is its intention or purpose. But such an intention or purpose may be inferred from the actions described in this report."

The former United States President, Jimmy Carter, has made similar claims in his book Palestine: Peace not Apartheid; although, in my opinion, his criticism of Israel seems overly motivated by his religious beliefs.

Report

Equity Report Two: Aboriginals in the Workforce

Originally Published:
Planet S Magazine
March 14 - March 28, 2007 Volume 5: Issue 15
Page 9

The headline of the Government of Saskatchewan news release, issued on March 9, was positively ecstatic: “Job Numbers Sizzling.” According to the province, we’ve just come through the best February in history for employment numbers in Saskatchewan, and—not surprisingly—the lowest unemployment rate on record for that month as well. Job numbers were up in construction, services, trade and finance, insurance and real estate, and the oil, gas and mining industries.

Obviously, the figures do present a bit of a double-edged sword in terms of the very real labour crunch the province is facing, with businesses scrambling to find employees. Yet somehow—although moderate gains have been made in recent years—an exceedingly large pool of potential workers remains essentially untapped in Saskatchewan—the Aboriginal community.

According to Statistics Canada, the rate of unemployment nationally among Aboriginals is 2.5 times greater than among non-Aboriginals. Perhaps most depressingly, this actually represents an improvement, as employment increased by 23 per cent for Aboriginals—compared to 11 per cent for non-Aboriginals—between 2001 and 2005.

According to Eric Howe, a professor of economics at the U of S with a special interest in Aboriginal economic development, the ‘good news’ portion of these statistics—pointing to an increase in employment for Aboriginals relative to non-Aboriginals—is at least cause for hope.

“With a continuing development of appropriate social policies, such as the increasing number of educational programs for Aboriginal people, cautious optimism is appropriate,” says Howe.

But while the increasing employment of Aboriginal people across the country in comparison to non-Aboriginals is a welcome development, Aboriginals are, disconcertingly, not seeing a corresponding increase in their average wage as compared to non-Aboriginals. According to Howe, this has a lot to do with the kinds of jobs Aboriginals have been receiving.

“The increased employment rate is filling in the job distribution—so although there are more Aboriginal people who are employed, disproportionately many of the additional workers are in less well-paying jobs, which keeps the average from rising as much as it does for a typical Aboriginal worker,” he says.

So what’s the key for improving both employment rates and wages for Aboriginal people? Obviously, this is a complex issue—entrenched attitudes of racism in the larger society continue to keep Aboriginals out of the workforce, and the resulting sense of isolation and hopelessness many Aboriginal people feel only compounds the issue. But according to Howe, doing everything we can to raise Aboriginal education levels is a crucial first step.

The stats bear this out—showing that, with postsecondary education, Aboriginal employment rates across Canada nearly mirror that of non-Aboriginals. Aboriginal people who have some form of postsecondary education experience an employment rate of 82.5 percent, just one percentile short of their non-Aboriginal counterparts. Sadly, Saskatchewan’s employment gap for Aboriginals with a postsecondary education is a little wider—with Aboriginals at 80.0 percent and non-Aboriginals at 86.1 percent. Still, the point stands: the spread of higher education in the Aboriginal community generally leads to an improved economic position.

Working towards increased postsecondary education for Aboriginal people is a complex task, perhaps, but one which is nonetheless within our control—depending on the will of federal and provincial governments to commit to programs that work, such as subsidising the cost of higher education. But as Howe points out, there are other relevant factors affecting the economic potential of Aboriginals—and some of them will be much more difficult to address.

Where you happen to live in Canada, for instance, plays a large role in deciding whether or not you have a job if you’re Aboriginal. Simply put, some provinces are just doing better than others when it comes to Aboriginal equality in the workforce. And Saskatchewan is not one of them.

We have the largest employment rate gap between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals in Western Canada. Furthermore, Saskatoon and Regina, with their large Aboriginal populations, are the biggest culprits.

Why is the level of employment so poor here? One reason, says Howe, has to do with where Saskatchewan’s Aboriginal population has traditionally lived—and the lengths they have to go to in order to join in the province’s employment boom.

“Probably the most important difference is that between reserves in Saskatchewan as opposed to elsewhere in Canada,” Howe says. “Most of Saskatchewan’s reserves are located in rural areas. As we all know, job growth in our province is almost entirely an urban phenomenon.

“Consequently, when Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan seek a job—and move to where the jobs are—they have to leave the reserve to move to urban areas. For many of the reserves in the remainder of Canada, they can stay on reserve until they get a job and decide to move,” Howe explains.

For Aboriginals in Saskatchewan, this means leaving their home—and often their families—behind in order to seek employment that is by no means assured. Thankfully, the rise in urban reserves—most notably the successful Muskeg Lake Cree Nation urban reserve in Saskatoon—and the work of groups like the Saskatoon Tribal Council, has increased the level of support available to Aboriginals arriving in the province’s cities. It’s a start, at least, on the long road to equality.

Human shields

A distinction is commonly made between jus ad bellum and jus in bello: roughly translated as the justice of war and the justice within war. A state's decision to go to war with another is justified if there have been acts of aggression against it. Having justice on one's side, however, does not mean anything goes. There are strict rules of war: no targeting of civilians; and no use of violence beyond what is required, among other things. So, it's possible to be in accordance with jus ad bellum and not jus in bello, and vice-versa. For example, we would be right in defending our state against aggression but wrong in dropping a nuclear bomb in our aggressor's civilian-filled capital as an extended response.

Whether or not Israel's war with Palestine is justified will not be decided easily - jus ad bellum is complex in this case. A much easier task is asserting their violation of jus in bello. In a recent raid of Nablus in the West Bank, Israeli soldiers took to using young Palestinians as human shields. Nothing could be a more obvious violation of the rules of war.

B'Tselem: Human Shields