06) SHUT DOWN CANADA'S SPY AGENCIES!

 

Statement by the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada, Oct. 11, 2013

 

            The revelation that the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) has been conducting surveillance of Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry gives new importance to demands to shut down Canada's spy agencies.

 

            Documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, and reported by Brazil's Globo TV, show that Latin America's biggest country has been subject to intensive snooping by U.S., British and Canadian spy agencies, which cooperate closely in the interests of this clique of imperialist powers.

 

            The metadata of phone calls and emails from and to the Brazilian ministry have been targeted by the CSEC, using a software program called Olympia to map the ministry's communications. While Stephen Harper's PMO has evaded direct comment on the news reports, there seems little doubt that the CSEC is being used to support the private interests of Canadian‑based mining transnationals.

 

            Working from his base in Rio de Janeiro, U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald broke this story, as well as earlier reports about the NSA's global spy program. The NSA has been gathering metadata on billions of emails, phone calls, and other internet data flowing through Brazil, which is an important transit point for international communications. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and state‑run oil company Petrobras are among the key targets of NSA spying. The revelations led Rousseff to cancel a planned visit to the U.S., where she was to be the guest of honour for a state dinner, and Brazil is stepping up efforts to protect its state and economic interests from U.S. espionage. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly last month, Rousseff called for international regulations on data privacy and limiting espionage programs targeting the Internet.

 

            From the Canadian perspective, there are several ominous aspects to the CESC revelations. One is that this arm of the Canadian state appears to be acting directly at the service of private investors, with the active collusion of the Harper Conservative government. In effect, Canadian taxpayers, without any prior knowledge or consent, are subsidizing the financial interests of Canadian mining capital.

 

            Just as significant, the growing role of the CESC indicates that under the Tories, the repressive apparatus of the Canadian state continues to expand relentlessly, with the aim of criminalizing more Canadians and engaging in ever‑wider surveillance and espionage activities. While the governments of the major imperialist powers cling to the fiction that they do not spy on their own citizens, it is crystal clear that their mutual cooperation includes mutual swapping of surveillance information from country to country. This raises the stakes much higher, as these governments devote enormous resources on gathering information about individuals and movements which raise criticisms against the drive towards new imperialist wars, neoliberal economic policies, theft of indigenous lands, environmental destruction, relentless expansion of fossil fuel consumption, and wider attacks on democratic rights and civil liberties.

 

            Third, the CESC spying on Brazil indicates that much, or perhaps even most of this espionage activity is not directed at alleged "terrorist threats," but rather at supporting the interests of big capital, which sees Brazil and the other BRICS countries as serious potential rivals to the global hegemony of US imperialism and its closest allies. This points to a dangerous sharpening of international tensions, at a time when global cooperation is desperately needed to tackle climate change, hunger, economic disparities, and militarism.

 

            The Communist Party of Canada demands that the repressive spying agencies of the Canadian state, including the CESC, CSIS, etc., must be fully dismantled, and the data gathered by these anti‑democratic forces be destroyed. The people of Canada seek cooperation and friendship with peoples of all countries, including Brazil, which (unlike the Harper Tories) is attempting to provide genuine leadership in the search for solutions to the serious problems facing our planet. We call for a swift and unconditional apology by the Harper government for the CESC spying activities, and for an immediate end to all such efforts to undermine the legitimate economic interests of other nations. Finally, we demand that the Canadian government and military end all cooperation with U.S. security agencies, and begin to work with Brazil and the other BRICS countries to find ways to protect the privacy and security of global communications networks.

 

(The above article is from the November 1-15, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)