There are always two versions of events in Latin American history. One that attempts to represent the truth while commonly being maligned by naysayers, and one that exists to bemuse the populations of the United States, Canada, and a handful of others so that the interferences and influences of their governments can remain justified. And while Mexico is technically a part of North America, its long history of social injustices places it in the same category as its southern neighbors. Regarding the recent violence in Oaxaca, from the IPS…

“The Mexican government justified on Monday the violent storming by federal police of social protests in the capital of the southern state of Oaxaca, saying it had restored peace and order. But the evidence tells a different story.

“The situation has got worse. We have been subjected to violent and unacceptable attacks (on Sunday) which left three dead, more than 50 under arrest, several ‘disappeared’ and some cases of torture,” Florentino López, spokesman for the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), told IPS.

Flavio Sosa, another of the organisation’s leaders, said negotiations with the government would be shut down as long as federal police forces — who he described as “criminals and rapists” — remained in Oaxaca.

But President Vicente Fox, whose six-year term is due to finish in December, sees things from a different angle. “Today, social harmony has returned to Oaxaca,” he said on Monday.

On Sunday afternoon, thousands of police in armoured trucks entered Oaxaca, the state capital. By dint of shoving, truncheon blows, tear gas and water cannon, the police evicted the APPO encampments and barricades that the protesters set up five months ago in the city streets and parks.

The demonstrators, most of whom offered no resistance and instead bunkered down in the buildings of the public Benito Juárez Autonomous University, held protest marches Monday through the city of Oaxaca, demanding withdrawal of the police and the immediate resignation of Governor Ulises Ruiz.

The conflict in Oaxaca began on May 22 when teachers went on strike for higher wages. They were joined by 350 social organisations that came together in APPO in June, after Ruiz called in the police to break up the teachers’ protest.â€?

Also of note is Anthony Fenton’s recent article for Canadian Dimension entitled Legitimizing Polyarchy: Canada’s Contribution to “Democracy Promotion” in Latin America and the Caribbean. An excerpt…

“Since it signed NAFTA (1994) and joined the Organization of American States, the Canadian government has more closely aligned its foreign policy with that of the United States than at any point in recent history. At the same time, the Canadian government has taken an increasing interest in the affairs of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Some attention has been paid to things like joint military exercises in the Caribbean with the U.S. and other allies, support for the damaging practices of Canadian mining companies, and the expanding presence of Canadian financial interests in the global South, but a newer area of Canada’s foreign policy posture warrants scrutiny: Canada’s deepening involvement in the controversial field of international ‘democracy promotion’ activities.

This article will focus largely on Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL), a ‘quasi-governmental’ organization that is a key but under-appreciated actor in assisting Canada’s foreign policy interests for the region in the name of democracy, private enterprise, and free markets. As “the right arm” of the Canadian government in the region, FOCAL is on the vanguard of broader trends in Canadian ‘democracy promotion’ activities in the hemishpere. The organization is notable for its material and ideological ties to the NED and other U.S. agencies. FOCAL makes up one facet of Canadian democracy promotion activities, but an examination of its activities demonstrates why progressive social movements should pay close attention to this new genre of political intervention into the affairs of the nations of the Global South.”

October 31, 2006

Halloween is a rather confused affair. Tonight, a shrinking number of children throughout North America will take to the streets in search of candy dressed as everything from super heroes to vampires. When I was a boy, Kiss costumes were all the rage. Today, well, I have no idea.

For everyone over the age of 19, Halloween was this past weekend. An opportunity to cut loose and do what most people do on the weekends in the city even when they’re not wearing costumes, Saturday night was fraught with throngs of drunks being shuttled around town in school buses from night club to night club, many acting as if they were little more than middle school kids drunk for the first time. Perhaps it’s the pimp and hoe outfits that transform what are supposed to be perfectly mature people into teens. Then again, perhaps those in their early 20’s now just represent an extension of the teen mindset. From my experience in this city, most 25 year olds tend to have as much reliable sense about them as those in their teens, so who knows.

If you’d like to learn a little about the roots of Halloween, try the following:

» Samhain
» Halloween

DVD Pick Of The Month: HBO’s Big Love. It’s a must see.

October 31, 2006

According to the Department of Defense, not enough is being done to combat what they’re referring to as “inaccurate�? information regarding Iraq. According to the BBC…

“Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said media manipulation by enemies of the US is the only thing keeping him awake at night.�?

I find that statement amazing. Were I involved in the manufacture of a war that has cost the lives of thousands of American service men and women, tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis, and produced tens of thousands of wounded American service men and women and innocent Iraqis, more than just my perception of failed psychological operations, most spearheaded by private American firms over the last several years, would be keeping me awake on a routine basis.

But it seems that the Defense Secretary is a man of stone, so in the wake of his unending desire to have the world bend to suit his requirements, there is now to be a new unit created to respond immediately to what the Department of Defense deems ‘inaccurate statements’. Which, of course, begs the question: which version of the truth will those subjected to the DOD’s scrutiny receive? And you thought the Department of Defense undertaking informational operations without oversight was worrisome.

Again, from the BBC…

“A Pentagon memo seen by the Associated Press news agency said the new unit will “develop messages” for the 24-hour news cycle and aim to “correct the record”.

A spokesman said the unit would monitor media such as weblogs and would also employ “surrogates”, or top politicians or lobbyists who could be interviewed on TV and radio shows.�?

If you weren’t afraid of this administration’s potential for harm prior to this, now would be a good time to rethink your position. Because if mid-term elections can cause the nation’s national security infrastructure to attempt to influence voters because public support for the war is waning, then Americans have more than just the disaster in Iraq to worry about.

Updated:

Also of interest is this Spiegel Online interview with Ron Suskind. The context…

“One hundred suspected terrorists from all over the world are still being held in secret American prisons. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, CIA expert Ron Suskind accuses Washington of “running like a headless chicken” in its war against al-Qaida. He reserves special criticism for the CIA’s torture methods, which he argues are unproductive.”

October 30, 2006

I’ve been busy moving into a new place, so that’s where I’ve disappeared to of late. Some of my friends that live in other cities have been interested to see the place, so here’s the mini-tour.

You can see all of them in the Digital set.

Eat: Went to the Salt Tasting Room last night with a friend. If you like meat, cheese, and good wines and Port, ask them if you can move in. It was excellent.

Live: I have a total weakness for quality, modern furniture. I’d like to thank Gary and everyone at Koolhaus for making my life, as usual, headache free. If you’re in Vancouver, they’re on 4th, and their stuff is worth both the wait and the long term investment.

October 30, 2006

From The New York Times…

“The American military has not properly tracked hundreds of thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces and has failed to provide spare parts, maintenance personnel or even repair manuals for most of the weapons given to the Iraqis, a federal report released Sunday has concluded.

The report was undertaken at the request of Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and who recently expressed an assessment far darker than the Bush administration’s on the situation in Iraq.

Mr. Warner sent his request in May to a federal oversight agency, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. He also asked the inspector general to examine whether Iraqi security forces were developing a logistics operation capable of sustaining the hundreds of thousands of troops and police officers the American military says it has trained.

The answers came Sunday from the inspector general’s office, which found discrepancies in American military records on where thousands of 9-millimeter pistols and hundreds of assault rifles and other weapons have ended up. The American military did not even take the elementary step of recording the serial numbers of weapons provided to Iraqis, the inspector general found, making it impossible to track or identify any that might have fallen into the wrong hands.”

October 30, 2006