ILPS in Canada Resists the Genocidal 7!

The International League of People’s Struggle in Canada celebrates the conclusion of our summit and mobilization countering the G7 Summit held in Kananaskis, Alberta. This meeting of the Genocidal 7 is where the exploitation and oppression of the vast majority of the world’s people is being coordinated. The major issues of imperialism cannot help but be intensified through forums like the Genocidal 7 Summit, where collusion between imperialists will result in further death and destruction for the people.

ILPS-Canada held a successful people’s forum in Calgary on Saturday, June 14th, and a march on June 15th alongside many other organizations and alliances. ILPS-Canada is excited to see that our response to the G7 summit was a major development in strengthening the anti-imperialist people’s movement in Calgary, where many organizations and interested individuals came together for the first time and discussed the connection of local struggles in Calgary to national liberation movements in the global south.

People’s Forum: June 14

Around 150 people met in downtown Calgary for a people’s forum countering the Genocidal 7 summit. The forum was chaired by Yasmeen Khan, Vice-Chair of ILPS North America. Her opening remarks highlighted the ever-intensifying crisis of imperialism in the world. This was followed by a tribute to Ka Louie Jalandoni, outstanding Filipino revolutionary and internationalist. After this, Victor Garces from ILPS International provided an overview of the economic situation in the world, including the debt crisis and overall crisis of imperialism and its impacts on the toiling people of the world.

The rest of the day comprised two panel discussions, each followed by breakout group discussions where participants shared their experiences and developed concrete resolutions to advance anti-imperialist work in Calgary and across Canada.

The first panel discussion was on Anti-militarization, Indigenous sovereignty, and national liberation struggles. We welcomed speakers who discussed Canadian imperialist foreign policy, the Palestine solidarity movement in Calgary, Canadian imperialist intervention in the Philippines, and the struggles of Indigenous peoples in Canada against colonialism and extraction. Participants were especially enthused by a video presentation prepared by the Lax’yip firekeepers, a group of Indigenous youth defending their land from the Prince Rupert Gas Pipeline. Speakers discussed the manifestations of Canadian imperialism in communities and the importance of international solidarity to link shared struggles.

The second panel discussed organizing workers, migrants, and tenants. This panel inspired strong proletarian internationalism among the participants, who heard from union organizers, migrant workers, and tenant organizers. The struggles of the Canadian working class against low wages and high cost of living were linked to the working- and peasant-class struggles of migrant workers in their homelands and in Canada, and the struggles of tenants for decent and affordable housing. An undeniable highlight was the statement given by Nellie Alcaraz, a migrant worker, who powerfully linked her experience growing up as a peasant in the Philippines to the working-class struggle in Canada and the global movement against imperialism. The panel concluded by linking the campaigns for workers’ and tenants’ rights in Canada to national liberation and anti-imperialist struggles around the world. 

We welcomed solidarity statements from Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle, ILPS-US, ILPS-Latin American, BAYAN Canada and Nikkei Vancouver for Justice. Lastly, we heard cultural performances from Chantal Chagnon, Cree/Métis storyteller, artist, and social justice advocate, who sang and drummed in a spirit of unity and solidarity, and Joey, a migrant worker from a local meat plant who sang Martial Law-era protest songs from the Philippines.

The following organizing resolutions were united upon by the forum participants:

1. To conduct political education within organizations and with the unorganized public on shared issues such as state repression and poverty
2. Encourage the use of arts and cultural expression for the people and people’s struggles
3. Affirm solidarity with all people’s movements, with special focus on the revolutionary struggles waged by the people of Palestine and Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island
4. Participants to participate in organizer training and skill-sharing, including trainings led by ILPS-Canada
5. Unorganized individuals to join an organization or union
6. Strengthen alliances in Calgary and Alberta more broadly, including:
   1. To hold a Calgary orientation of ILPS-Canada
   2. To build an ILPS-Canada coordinating network or committee among Alberta-based groups
   3. To encourage the formation of organization-to-organization solidarity between and among Indigenous peoples and migrant groups through multilateral fora
7. Protect the land, water, air, people, and all our relations

The forum also united on major campaign resolutions:

1. Hold the G7 and NATO accountable for their crimes against the people
2. Oppose the PRGT Pipeline in Gitxsan Territory
3. Hold the Canadian state accountable to fulfilling UNDRIP
4. Reject and resist global war and extraction by:
   1. Calling for funding for social services instead of military spending by the Canadian state
   2. Joining the ILPS anti-militarization campaign “War is a racket: No wars for profit”

March to Resist the Genocidal 7: June 15

The ISSG established a “designated protest zone” at Calgary City Hall, where demonstrators were encouraged to keep their protest confined. Several groups led activities at City Hall, including the Amhara Association of Ethiopia, the movement for an independent Kashmir, and the Calgary Climate Hub. ILPS-Canada was proud and excited to connect with and stand in solidarity with them in our shared struggle against imperialism.

ILPS-Canada began our mobilization around 1:30pm at Calgary City Hall, where we invited protestors from the various groups present to join our forces. We welcomed organizations and individuals from the Palestine solidarity movement, the Filipino national democratic movement, the climate movement, Indigenous water protectors and land defenders, the interfaith community, and the Canadian working class.

Throughout our march, marshalls acted quickly to ensure the safety of participants and the public, including clearing the road within seconds to allow the passage of an ambulance near the US Consulate. We heard statements and cultural performances highlighting US intervention in the Philippines, Canadian imperialism abroad, colonialism in Turtle Island, the role of the international debt crisis in causing poverty and conflict in the global south, and solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle.

Our march was prevented from moving on its original course and interrupted midway through by the response of the Calgary police, who intimidated protestors and pushed at the back of our protest line, causing fear among the people. We returned to City Hall in response to the CPS and RCMP intimidation. However, the people demanded to return to the streets in defiance of this intimidation, and our march continued along Stephen Ave. No arrests were made due to the unity established within the group particularly upheld by a strong and united Marshall and security team comprised of the members of people’s organizations. 

The show of force concluded at City Hall where we celebrated international solidarity and called for continued alliance-work to build the broadest people’s movement against imperialism, fascism, and all reaction in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and the world.