04) WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO PROTEST CHENEY'S VISIT

     The fall book-signing season took a strange turn when accused war criminal Dick Cheney was invited to speak to a $500 dinner held by the Le Bon Mot Book Club at the upper-crust Vancouver Club. The city's broad-based peace coalition, StopWar, quickly called a news conference and a rally to protest the visit by the former U.S. Vice-President.

     At the Sept. 23 news conference, Vancouver Kingsway NDP MP Don Davies, the official opposition critic for immigration, demanded that Immigration Minister Jason Kenney bar Cheney from entering Canada. Three days later, hundreds turned out at the Vancouver Club, chanting "arrest Cheney" and blocking entry for many of the ultra-rich guests.

     The following commentary from Rabble.ca on the Cheney visit is by protest spokesperson Derrick O'Keefe, who is co-chair of StopWar and a member of the Canadian Peace Alliance executive.

     Dick Cheney is a war criminal. We intend to organize a "welcome" for him here in Vancouver befitting a person with such a record. We do this not just for catharsis or out of our own anger at the policies that Cheney carried out while he was in power with the Bush administration, but also we do this out of a sense of responsibility to international law and historical justice.

     An injury to one is truly an injury to all. That is a slogan that motivates our actions here in Vancouver in protesting Cheney's upcoming presence. And Cheney has caused significant injuries, to say the least. His record includes hundreds of thousands dead in an illegal war in Iraq, and countless thousands tortured.

     A familiar talking point of the current U.S. administration tells us "look forward, not backward" to justify their failure to prosecute Cheney and other criminals from the Bush administration. But looking backward honestly and fully is the very basis of law, of justice, and of a self‑respecting society. Therefore we also seek to hold Cheney accountable because it will help the fight for a more just society in the United States.

     In our effort to hold Cheney to account and have him arrested for war crimes, the peace movement wishes to address a few different audiences:

     First, to Dick Cheney, we say: Rethink your visit to Vancouver. This really is not your kind of town ‑ in the 1980s we had hundreds of thousands marching against nuclear weapons, and in the lead up to the Iraq war we had monthly marches of tens of thousands of people. This is not a wise place for you to make your first trip outside of the United States on this book tour. People here are steadfast in their opposition to war and torture, and to demanding that you are arrested for war crimes.

     To the organizers of this book club event: you call yourselves "le bon mot" book club, but there is nothing witty about your name. Le mot juste for your honoured guest is criminal. We know that the founder of your book club, Leah Costello, is an active member of the West Vancouver Electoral District Association of the Conservative Party of Canada. We feel that the local Conservatives and indeed the governing party in Canada should be made to answer serious questions about their hosting and welcoming Dick Cheney. Is Dick Cheney a figure that Conservatives in Canada are proud to host? Perhaps he is, but that should concern us all.

     To all elected officials in Vancouver, at the provincial level and at the federal level: Canadian law is clear, and international law is clear. You have a responsibility to act and to bar Cheney or ‑ better yet, I would say ‑ to arrest him here in Canada.

     To our fellow citizens of Vancouver: Let's not quietly allow this city and this country to become a safe haven for war criminals. Let's not quietly allow Cheney to waltz into town to have his book event...

(The above article is from the October 1-15, 2011, 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.)