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CounterPunch
October
5, 2002
Liz Among
the Inuits
Smash
Capitalism! Stuff the Monarchy!
by GLORIA BERGEN
My dearly departed friend and comrade Ron Rosenthal
was arrested only once during our relationship. He was pounced
upon by the police while writing, "STUFF THE WEDDING!"
on a concrete wall belonging to the Toronto General Hospital,
which paid his wages as an unionized orderly. I asked him what
he did when he saw the cops running towards him. His response
was typical Ron: "I knew I couldn't get away so I continued
to write as fast as I could to finish".
This event took place in 1981; the occasion
being the wedding of Charles Windsor and Diana whoever. Now,
20 odd years later, royalty is once again in the news in Canada.
So, I am devoting this article to Ron, my friend, my comrade,
who has since joined Karl Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky in human exile.
Elizabeth Windsor arrived in Canada on
October 4, 2002. Paid for by Canadian workers. Who knows the
real cost of her entourage? Her royal Golden Jubilee tour commences
in Iqaluit, one of the poorest and most remote communities in
North America, never mind Canada. It was just over a year ago
that Canada redrew its map for the first time in half a century
to carve out a new territory: Nunavut, of which Iquit is the
capital. The territory is three times the size of Texas, and
has an estimated population of 30,000 people.
The involvement of both Canadian and
U.S. military in the far north of Canada began during World War
II and continued with the building of a U.S. DEW (nuclear missile
warning) line across the far north of Canada. Inuit people were
relocated to this harsh environment by the Canadian government
to "stake a claim" against the aggressive U.S. building
there.
Elizabeth should fit right in with the
Canadian ruling class that wants to bring the Artic under their
control--fuck the people who have lived there for 4,000 years.
As the Inuit are being murdered--called suicide in the prisons
of the imperialists--Elizabeth can rest assured that her imperialist
history will protect her from viewing the realities of life of
the 6,800 Inuit who live in Iquluit. Squalor, alcholism, drug
addiction, and drug inducecd escapsim.
There is oil in Iquluit. There is copper,
silver, gold and diamonds in Iquluit. It's a perfect place for
a queen to go to who is thinking about her future and the future
of the monarchy and imperialism. She's a businesswoman after
all. She's okayed a big P.R. promotional tour starting with the
weakest link. If she can win over the bureaucrats in the remote
north, keep the 'natives' from rebelling', forcefeed their "leaders"
and extract promises from the traitors of Inuit people to maintain
their 'docile population', then capitalism has taken one small
step towards maintaining the status quo, hence, commitment and
loyalty of the Canadian population to the real powerbrokers in
Canada--the ruling class. There's oil in them thar hills, after
all. Rape the earth and the hell with the people and their communities
who have been raped.
But we, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist,
anti-monarchists--working class people in Canada, especially
the native students who have seen their earnings slashed by 50%
know that Elizabeth is not of our class, has not our interests
in mind, has no common denominator with us, Therefore we in Canada;
Inuit, European, Asian, Latin Americans -whoever--global people;
white, brown, black, yellow, Catholics, Jews, Palestinians, Anglicans,
Atheists, Ethiopians, Slavs, Mennonites, and workers all--say
"stuff the monarchy!" Smash Capitalism.
Gloria Bergen
can be reached at: globerg@sympatico.ca
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October 2,
2002
Carol Wolman,
MD
Is the
President Nuts?
Diagnosing Dubya
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Something
Rotten in Klamath
Linda S. Heard
Might Sharon
Nuke Iraq?
Joanne Mariner
When
the Judge Says:
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Peter P. Mahoney
A Vietnam
Vet Makes the
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Mark Engler
From the
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Uri Avnery
Manufacturing
Anti-Semites
Jennifer Berkshire
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On the
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Reveal a Revived
Movement for Global Justice
Dr. Susan
Block
Cockfight
at the
Baghdad Corral
Krystal Kyer
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Ron Jacobs
Born Without a Spine
Scott Loughrey
Mysteries
of 9/11
Jeremy Brecher
Collective
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Brenda Norrell
Troy
Black Feather on
the American Flag
Sam Bahour
Wake Up
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Richard Harth
Contrary
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Adieu, Hitchens, Adieu
Carol Norris
Rumsfeld
the Surrealist:
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Ben Tripp
Lists Upon
Lists
September
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Rep. Barbara
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Iraq: The
Vision
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Zeynep Toufe
"We
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Dave Marsh
The Troubador's
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Tariq Ali
Taking
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Neve Gordon
Bush's
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25 / 29, 2002
Alexander
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The
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the Bears of Wall Street
Ben Tripp
Hunting with George
Jeffrey St.
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Haywire: Boeing's New Navy Fighter Fails Bomb Tests
Joanne Mariner
Naming Genocide
James T. Philips
Riding to Maine
Anis Shivani
Life of a Bum
David Vest
Too True North
Jacob Levich
Case of the Missing Terrorist
William MacDougall
British Immigration Tests
Edward Hammond
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Molly Secours
Bush's "I" Words:
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Edward Lazarus
Civil Liberties After 9/11
Lee Sustar
Employers Attack
Anthony Gancarski
Ledeen's Mad World
Krystal Kyer
Bush the Magician
David Wiggins
West Point Grad:
Bush Threatens World Peace
September
24, 2002
Chet Batsmack,
American
The American
Century
Paul de Rooij
Smear Mongers
George Szamuely
International
Kangaroo Courts
Jack Wheeler
Janet Reno: America's Saddam?
Linda S. Heard
Portrait
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Gary Leupp
Random
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Wayne Madsen
Germany
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William Hughes
George
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