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BC ACTIVISTS PROTEST "SHIP OF SHAME"
By David Morgan
(This article is from the July 1-31/2000 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
"WHAT WE'RE DOING is killing the population of Iraq in a really catastrophic way," said spokesperson Randy Caravaggio, on June 20, as about forty peace activists from Victoria and Vancouver protested the sailing from the Esquimalt (Victoria) docks of HMCS Calgary, bound for the Persian Gulf to assist the US Navy enforce sanctions on Iraq. Several of us carried crosses marked "No blood for oil," as we demonstrated for two hours at a busy intersection near the dock.
The next day, when HMCS Calgary was scheduled to sail, we assembled at the Esquimalt dockyard gates at noon. There were about 30 of us, representing Campaign to End the Sanctions Against the People of Iraq, First Nations members, Friends of the People of Iraq, Green party, Capitol Region Committee on Race Relations, Hands Off Iraq, several members of the Moslem community, Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, Womens' International League for Peace and Freedom and several others.
While we gathered, Art Farquharson played his guitar and sang feisty songs. Randy Caravaggio had a letter for CFB Esquimalt commander Rear Admiral Buck, but we had to be satisfied giving it to the guard as Buck was "busy." Our banners and placards called HMCS Calgary the "Ship of Shame," but a placard marked "Shame on our MPs" left no doubt where the shame belonged.
After speeches and chants, we moved our demonstration to City Hall in the heart of Victoria. The crowd on the sidewalks could get a good look at our signs, and leaflets were handed out freely. The people of Victoria were being shown that "blockade" and "enforcing sanctions" means the deaths of children half a world away.
We then marched the six blocks to the office of Liberal MP David Anderson, a member of Chretien's cabinet. When we began marching on the road, a cop asked us to stay on the sidewalk, but we felt that a few minutes of inconvenience for Victoria was nothing compared to what is being inflicted on Iraq.
"OK," said the (friendly) cop, "if you want attention you will get it," as he radioed for support. By the time we got to Anderson's office we had an escort of squad cars and motorcycle police, helping to attract the media.
Anderson was not there, and the staff at his office locked the door and hid in a back room! We had hoped to ask Anderson for his views on the open letter that Liberal MP Colleen Beaumier sent to Chretien and Foreign Affairs Minister Axworthy on June 15, condemning the government's Iraq policy. Instead, we read the most powerful part of her letter to the crowd:
"Canadians do not wish to be party to a policy that kills over 5,000 Iraqi children a month. Canadians expect more of their government, and expect it to uphold principles which our country is best known for: justice, human rights, and peace building."
Then Joan Russow, leader of the federal Green Party, made a petition of support for Beaumier's letter to slide under Anderson's locked door. An empty 45-gallon oil drum marked "No Blood for Oil" was left as a calling card, bringing to a close our two days of protest.
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