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Editorial
Time to defend dissent
As Ottawa-based organizations with working relationships across the Americas, we observe that activists are increasingly targets of smear campaigns aimed at slandering them as delinquents, saboteurs or terrorists. They are also frequently subject to unfounded accusations  and dilated legal processes, from which they are often released without charge, but nonetheless made to endure months, even years of burdensome stress. In the worst cases, they are targets of further violence and even assassination. Recent reports from Peace Brigades International, Amnesty International, the Inter American Commission on Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders support this perception. At the root of various cases, in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Ecuador and Peru, we see aggressive industry and state promotion of the interests of Canadian mining companies.
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Criminalization of dissent
Petro-state politics prompts CSIS to spy on citizens at alarming rate, FOIs reveal
The Vancouver Observer 25/02/2013 - Environmental activist Rod Marining knows the feel of steel handcuffs on his wrists. As co-founder of Greenpeace International, he sailed aboard Greenpeace ships campaigning against French atmospheric nuclear testing in French Polynesia, Japanese whaling in the Pacific and was thrown in  jail for demonstrating against mahogany lumber imports to Europe. "I am considered a national security risk," he said, noting that the RCMP keeps a file on him, for his eco-warrior activities on the high seas. But these days, activists can get on the security radar for a whole lot less: according to a Guardian report on documents released under freedom of information laws, the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) are increasingly blurring the line between real terrorists and average citizens who organize petitions, attend protests and express dissent. Read moreAfter visit from CSIS, Hamilton man criticizes 'intimidation'British activists being detained in UK airports under anti-terrorism legislation on return home from Palestine
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Terrorism
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State secret
Bradley Manning pleads guilty to 10 charges but denies 'aiding the enemy'
The Guardian 28/02/2013 -Through his lawyer, David Coombs, the soldier pleaded guilty to 10 lesser charges that included possessing and wilfully communicating to an unauthorised person all the main elements of the WikiLeaks disclosure. That covered the so-called "collateral murder" video of an Apache helicopter attack in Iraq; some US diplomatic cables  including one of the early WikiLeaks publications the Reykjavik cable; portions of the Iraq and Afghanistan warlogs, some of the files on detainees in Guantanamo; and two intelligence memos.
These lesser charges each carry a two-year maximum sentence, committing Manning to a possible upper limit of 20 years in prison. Manning also pleaded not guilty to 12 counts which relate to the major offences of which he is accused by the US government. Specifically, he pleaded not guilty to "aiding the enemy" - the idea that he knowingly gave help to al-Qaida and in a separate count that by causing secret intelligence to be published on the internet he knowingly made it accessible to the enemy. Read moreBradley Manning tried going to NY Times, Washington Post, Politico before turning to WikiLeaksUS - Why massive national security leaks are good for us |
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National security
TruthOut 28/02/2013 - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which celebrates its 10th birthday this March, has grown into a  miniature Pentagon. It's supposed to be the actual "defense" department -- since the Pentagon is essentially a Department of Offense -- and it's rife with all the same issues and defects that critics of the military-industrial complex have decried for decades. In other words, "homeland security" has become another obese boondoggle. But here's the strange thing: unlike the Pentagon, this monstrosity draws no attention whatsoever -- even though, by our calculations, this country has spent a jaw-dropping $791 billion on "homeland security" since 9/11. To give you a sense of just how big that is, Washington spent an inflation-adjusted $500 billion on the entire New Deal. Read more |
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Rule of law
Drones and the end of strategy
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Border security
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Guantanamo
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Immigration and refugee rights
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National security
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Omar Khadr
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Racism
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Surveillance and privacy
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Torture
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War in Mali
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War on terror
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Miscellaneous
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About us
The ICLMG is a national coalition of thirty-nine Canadian civil society organizations that was established in the aftermath of the September, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. You will find in this News Digest news articles, events, calls to action and much more regarding national security, anti-terrorism, civil liberties and other issues related to the mandate and concerns of ICLMG and its member organizations. 
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Event
Defending Dissent when Life and Land are in Peril
Tuesday March 5, 2013
7 to 9 pm
Arts Court Theatre,
2 Daly Ave, Ottawa
Toronto's Aluna Theatre presents 'The Last Walk of Adolfo Ich' followed by a discussion about threats to environmental and land defenders with Guatemalan and local guests.
Roch Tassé, ICLMG National Coordinator, will speak at the panel
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Take action
"Hundred for Hassan" Campaign
Hassan will be put in prison if he does not pay his "creditor" - in this case, the Canadian government - $2,000 per month for the cost of his own surveillance. We invite you to be one of 100 people who care about due process and the presumption of innocence and oppose abusive extradition proceedings, by pledging $20 per month or more to share the cost of Dr. Diab's oppressive burden. This is our way of taking a public stand and saying, "This is just wrong."
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significantly increased the sentences of two co-conspirators. All three sought leave to appeal their sentences to the Supreme Court, but today the high court declined to hear the cases. 
age is strongly biased in favor of invention which is a priori taken as a sign of and instigator of progress. Doing things more efficiently, more reliably and at less risk is what the era of technology is all about. Coming up with accurate measures of how those aims are actually being met is more difficult. But the burden is always on those who question innovation rather than on those promoting it. That logic is evident in the push for maximum development and deployment of drones. In the military sphere, the process already is far along.
