Seven Oaks Magazine.

Maybe George W. Bush’s re-election was a wake-up call. Perhaps due to the Republican Administration’s (and Dick Cheney’s!) second term victory and the then looming U.S. assault of Fallujah, last weekend’s pan-Canadian Peace Conference was permeated by a level of urgency not often found at these sorts of gatherings.

Close to 150 anti-war activists from across the country – from Halifax to Whitehorse – met in Toronto November 5-7 to make plans on an array of issues and days of action opposing war and occupation. In workshops, resolution debates, and panel discussions, the nervous energy provided by the dire state of international politics had some interesting and productive side effects. The self-indulgent speechifying – not to mention monotonous quasi-religious interventions dressed up in ultra-radical rhetoric -- that is an unfortunate staple of activist gatherings was largely absent. Practical plans were hatched, and, what’s more, people seemed interested in implementing them. Too often, all that remains from a conference or gathering of people involved in a progressive cause are beautiful words, ideas, and thoughts thrown about – the momentary, ephemeral surge of enthusiasm that comes from a sense of shared purpose.

But, thankfully, that wasn’t the case this time. Convened by the Canadian Peace Alliance (CPA), in conjunction with the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, Voices of Women and the Women’s International League For Peace and Freedom, the conference laid down an ambitious agenda for the revived anti-war movement in this country.

First up is the timely occasion of Mr. Bush’s first official state visit to Canada since stealing the presidency in 2000. Prime Minister Paul Martin has been “mending fences” with the U.S. Administration since his swearing in last year. He has continued the process, regardless of the Liberals’ progressive posturing, or soothing words about this country’s “humanitarian” foreign policy. (Such “human rights” rhetoric, old hat to imperial politicians and so appealing to Canadians outraged by the aggressive war making of the likes of Bush, Blair or Sharon, is less convincing to Haitians and Somalis and other victims of our government’s humanity). Bush’s visit, though, makes it much harder for Martin to strike that pose. Much more important than image, though, is reality: Will Canada sign-on to “Star Wars” missile defence? Will Canada grant asylum to U.S. war resisters fleeing from participation in an immoral occupation? Will Canada continue to prop up the illegitimate regime in Port-au-Prince, or the U.S.-puppet in Kabul?

These questions, and the opportunity to expose the real aims of Canada’s foreign policy, will be front-and-centre in the mobilizations that accompany Bush’s visit to Ottawa. While this welcoming party will have to be organized on short notice, the Toronto conference also endorsed and began to plan for the next truly global days of action, March 19-21, which will mark the 2nd anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The call had already gone out from a number of anti-war groups and was endorsed by the European Social Forum held last month in London. With the brutality of the occupation in Iraq intensifying, and with the U.S. peace movement no longer largely absorbed in – or distracted by -- a presidential campaign, the potential is there for the March rallies to be the largest since the historic February 15, 2003 global protests. And, of course, people worldwide, bewildered and angered by Bush’s election win, will welcome the chance to show their opposition to the Empire.

More immediately, the battle for Fallujah and the rest of Iraq continues. Cynically holding off until after the election, the major U.S. offensive marks a new stage in their effort to subdue (ie. to kill) the resistance of the Iraqi people. On the other main front in the Middle East, Yasser Arafat’s death brings new uncertainty to the long-suffering Palestinian people. Significantly, the CPA convention passed a strongly worded resolution condemning the Apartheid Wall erected by Israel in the West Bank and calling for implementation of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling, which states that the wall is illegal and should be dismantled.

The ICJ ruling may carry more political weight, but in a sense it’s just like the many resolutions passed at the Toronto peace conference. The facts are there, the analysis is there, and the call for justice is there. All that remains is the sustained political work, the (often difficult and unglamorous) broad movement building required. We all left last weekend’s conference with renewed hope for the work of opposing empire and the wars that this system breeds, and for building a peaceful and just future.

Derrick O’Keefe is a founding editor of Seven Oaks. He attended the Toronto pan-Canadian Peace Conference as a delegate of the StopWar coalition.