Montreal protest against war, racism, islamophobia and austerity
Channel: Rick Cognyl Fournier
Date: 2014-11-22

Demonstration: Against war, racism, islamophobia and austerity

As health care, education, unemployment insurance, equity programs and the arts are cut in the name of austerity, military spending (at $22.6 billion in 2012) has increased every year since 1998 and is projected to continue. Since 2004, Canada has invaded or bombed Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq and Libya, leaving a trail of destruction followed by corrupt client regimes and neoliberal austerity policies. 

Every new invasion is justified as a contribution to humanitarianism and democracy, but the results speak for themselves. Canadian oil contractors in Iraq, engineering firms in Libya, sweatshop operators in Haiti and mining companies in Afghanistan have all benefitted while the people of those countries have suffered. Meanwhile, Canadian police and security forces have continuously harassed, infiltrated and intimidated racialized communities in Canada, imprisoning people without trial and cracking down on democratic dissent.

Invasions abroad, state violence at home, resource theft on indigenous land within Canada's borders and across oceans: all of these contribute to the enrichment of a tiny elite at the expense of the world's majority. Join us as we hit the streets to oppose war, austerity, racism and islamophobia: interlocking systems of violence that stand in the war of achieving a more just and equal world!