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PBI-Canada and World Beyond War co-host “More militarism is not the answer” webinar

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo (clockwise): Rachel Small, Syed Hussan, Clayton Thomas-Muller, Tyler Shipley.

On April 8, PBI-Canada, World Beyond War and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute co-hosted a webinar to deepen our common understanding of the impact of militarism on Indigenous lands, borders and foreign policy.

Hosted by Rachel Small of World Beyond War, the panel consisted of Cree land defender Clayton Thomas-Muller, Migrant Workers Alliance executive director Syed Hussan, and Humber College professor Tyler Shipley.

A recording of the full webinar can be seen here.

Shipley commented: “These two militaries [Canada and the US] have been deeply integrated; they’ve been deeply intertwined in a very conscious way. This dates back as early as the 1950s when Canada pushes the Defence Production Sharing Agreement which was basically an economic-military deal on who would produce what… And in the last 20 years, since 9/11, there has been an explicit push to radically integrate the two militaries to such an extent that the former head of the Canadian Forces was actually commanding a force of 35,000 American troops in the war in Iraq.”

It is the Defence Production Sharing Agreement that also limits transparency to know if Canadian components are going into the equipment that is then exported via the United States to Honduras. PBI-Honduras accompanied COPINH is calling for a suspension of these exports from the U.S. given the human rights violations committed by Honduran security forces, namely the police and military.

Hussan warned: “At this point what we are seeing is that they’ve already announced, US Canada, very deep trade and security integration conference that’s going to take place as soon as the election happens, so they’ve already agreed to that… I think Canada wants to export water and critical minerals, which is not Canada’s, to the US. And I think all the parties would follow whether it’s Trump or Biden or Obama, whether it’s Poilievre or Trudeau or Carney to do deep integration.”

And Thomas-Muller explained: “From an Indigenous perspective, I’ve always framed Canada as a resource colony of military superpowers, namely the United States… This has dramatic impacts that are much more disproportionate to Indigenous peoples.”

He continued: “When we would look at this ask for militarization by the right it’s just part of the same old delay and dupe tactics to con the public into fast-tracking irresponsible extraction projects now whether that’s for the booming rare earth minerals market, you know every single missile they’re firing at Gaza in the genocide has about 900 pounds of rare earth minerals in it, so they are absolutely required for the application of military technologies and there is a renaissance across this country in the mining sector even here in Manitoba with the most popular premier in the country Wab Kinew and his NDP government, they are deeply in bed with the mining sector and are deeply invested in expanding and militarizing the port of Churchill in the Hudson Bay here in Manitoba because of the fact that this is set to become the biggest export terminal in the hemisphere because of the free Arctic Ocean, the free sea ice due to climate change. The Arctic Ocean routes coming out of Hudson Bay, out of Manitoba, cut ocean shipping lanes by 8,000 kilometres to anywhere on planet Earth.”

“So geopolitically this is a massive issue for Indigenous peoples and those Manitobans living in that region because of the investment that’s coming in, the thousands of workers that are coming in, the automation of the port, the dredging of the beluga whale sanctuary so these oil tankers, they’re very heavy, tar sands oil is 10 times more heavy than conventional oil; to get these ships in they’re going to have to do some pretty destructive things in one of the most beautiful [areas] of these lands they call Canada, the polar bears and the beluga whales, and all of this of course is running roughshod through Indigenous peoples’ territory, namely my nations territory, Pukatawagan Cree Nation; we own the train line to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada…”

Thomas-Mullen concluded by highlighting: “Prime Minister Carney wants to build a freeway to Churchill, a NAFTA super free trade highway I’ve heard it called over the years. That intention hasn’t changed, and so Indigenous peoples need to understand that this is being framed as economic development, as opportunities, but we’re the ones who are going to have our water poisoned by expanding gold mines and other rare earth mines. We’re the ones who are going to see our forests chopped down to make way for highways and these mines and all these other developments… We’re the ones who are going to have to live with the military bases that Carney wants to install all over Arctic Canada, and you know that’s Inuit people who’ve got to live with that. And just ask the Beaver Lake Cree about what it’s like to live beside a bombing range to know that it’s hell on earth.”

Peace Brigades International-Canada is deeply concerned that this integration, that this economic model, will put at risk the lives and well-being of Indigenous land defenders and water protectors who peacefully resist this militarization and this environmental devastation of their ancestral territories.

To watch the full webinar, click here.

PBI-Canada sends its best wishes to Salvador Martínez from the Santa Catarina Minas community in Mexico

By
Brent Patterson
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Educa Oaxaca has posted:

“The Solidarity group of Santa Catarina Minas in coordination with the Espiga de Maíz [Ear of Corn] collective invite you to participate in a raffle in support of Salvador Martínez Arellanes.

Chava [as he is known to friends and neighbours] has also participated in the No to Mining Front for a Future for All. As a community advocate, in 2018, Salvador Martínez from the Santa Catarina Minas community, went to Canada at the invitation of Peace Brigades International (PBI) to make visible the problems of Canadian mining projects in the region of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico.

In recent months Chava has had a condition that has deteriorated his health, he underwent surgery and followed by other complications of his immune system, recovery has been slow and expensive for him and his family.”

More about the raffle here.

Peace Brigades International, through its previous accompaniment of Services for Alternative Education A.C. (Educa Oaxaca), has long followed the situation of Vancouver-based Fortuna Silver mining operation in San José del Progreso, Mexico.

Jonathan Treat has reported: “[On March 14] 2009 roughly three hundred opponents to Fortuna Silver’s mining operation participated in a blockade of the entrance to the Trinidad/Cuzcatlán. After 40 days, the blockade was brutally broken [in May 2009] when some 700 police stormed into the community in full anti-riot gear, with automatic weapons, tear gas, attack dogs and a helicopter. People were beaten and more than 23 people were arrested; some were detained for three months.”

As the struggle against the mine continued, Bernardo Méndez was killed on January 18, 2012, and Bernardo Vásquez was killed on March 15, 2012.

During a PBI organized advocacy tour in Canada in November 2018, Neftalí Reyes Méndez from Educa Oaxaca and Salvador Martínez Arellanes (Chava) highlighted their concerns about Fortuna Silver.

On January 15, 2025, Promineria reported: “Fortuna Mining has signed a binding agreement to sell its 100% stake in Minera Cuzcatlán to Mexico’s Minas del Balsas. Minera Cuzcatlán owns the San José silver-gold mine in the state of Oaxaca. Following the sale, Fortuna will cease to participate in that mine, except for a royalty on the net smelter yield.”

That Promineria article further notes that while “the mine was scheduled to begin a phased closure process earlier this year”, Fortuna CEO Jorge Ganoza says “Minera del Balsas is well positioned to continue extracting value” from the mine, suggesting that the mine will continue to operate rather than close.

We continue to follow the situation with the mine and its impacts on local communities and send our best wishes to Chava.

PBI-Honduras present as UN report on human rights released noting the murder of Guapinol River defender Juan Lopez

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Bardia Jebelí, Deputy Representative and Officer-in-Charge of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Honduras, presented the report on human rights in Honduras 2024. Photo by ReporterosdeInvestigación.

On April 9, PBI-Honduras posted:

“Yesterday we were present at the presentation of the Annual Report 2024 of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras [OHCHR]. In 2024, according to OHCHR data, 8 human rights defenders and journalists were murdered, one of them was the environmental defender Juan López of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods [CMDBCP]. In the report, the OHCHR states that “[t]his death occurred in a context of constant attacks, threats, intimidation and criminalization of defenders” and that “the identification of the intellectual authors is still pending, which is essential to guarantee access to the right to justice, truth, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition’…”

The full passage from the report reads:

“In September, Juan López, environmentalist and member of the CMDBCP [the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods], was murdered,  emblematic defender of the Guapinol River against extractive projects. His death occurred in a context of constant attacks, threats, intimidation and criminalization of defenders. The defender and the CMDBCP were beneficiaries of precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights implemented through the National System for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Journalists, Social Communicators and Justice Operators (SNP). Due to the risk they presented in 2024, the competent authorities of the System revised the protection plans on two occasions. However, there was no substantive progress in implementation of the measures until after the death of Mr. López. The investigation of the murder led to the capture of the alleged perpetrators however, the identification of the intellectual authors is still pending, which is essential to guarantee access to the right to justice, truth, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition.”

Photo: A photo of Juan Lopez as Bardia Jebelí presents the report.

Corporate connections in the Global North

Peace Brigades International-Canada remains particularly attentive to any connections between Canadian and U.S. capital in the Los Pinares megaproject.

In January 2023, Elvin Fernaly Hernández Rivera, a researcher at ERIC & Radio Progreso (ERIC-RP) documented the ownership structure of the megaproject: “The two iron oxide mining licenses known as ASP and ASP2 were awarded to Inversiones Los Pinares belonging to the EMCO Group whose main partners are the married couple Lenir Pérez and Ana Facussé, who belong to one of the wealthiest families in the country. The mining licenses were preceded by the installation of the iron oxide pelletizing plant, located fifty meters from the Guapinol River. To carry out the iron processing, the EMCO Group created Inversiones ECOTEK S.A. because the licenses granted to Inversiones Los Pinares are for non-metallic mining, so they cannot be involved in the processing stage.”

An investigative report published in October 2024 by Contra Corriente and Drilled revealed that U.S.-based Nucor maintained a relationship with Inversiones Los Pinares, the company behind a controversial mining megaproject in Honduras, at least until September 30, 2023, despite having claimed to have ended their ties in October 2019.

A previous investigative report published in November 2020 by Contracorriente, the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and Univision Investiga, found that the U.S. firm has partnered with the project since March 2015 with the Panamanian company NE Holdings Subsidiary and since August 2016 through a second Panamanian firm with a similar name, NE Holdings.

A spokesperson for Nucor said in November 2020 that the company decided to sell the shares in NE Holdings in October 2019.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor has an office in Burlington, Ontario.

As of June 2024, the top investors in Nucor include the Royal Bank of Canada ($70 million), the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ($35 million), the Toronto-Dominion Bank ($19 million), TD Asset Management ($14 million) and the National Bank of Canada ($11 million).

Simply Wall St has noted: “The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently [Nucor’s] largest shareholder with 12% of shares outstanding.”

Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. explains: “The Vanguard Group, Inc., is owned by its U.S.-domiciled funds and ETFs [exchange-traded funds]. Those funds, in turn, are owned by their investors. …As a result, Canadian investors benefit from Vanguard’s low costs, client focus, stability and experience.”

The Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group has an office in Toronto, Ontario.

Photo: Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. is located in the Bay Adelaide Centre at 22 Adelaide Street West, Suite 2500, in Toronto.

Accompaniment

Peace Brigades International has accompanied Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) processes and Guapinol River defenders since January 2019.

Peace Brigades International-Canada visited Tocoa (where Mr. Lopez was killed) and the village of Guapinol (and saw the Guapinol River threatened by the Los Pinares megaproject that Mr. Lopez opposed) in October 2024.

We remain attentive to this situation and the safety of Guapinol River defenders.

PBI-Guatemala accompanies FAMDEGUA at Supreme Court of Justice hearing on the Military Diary case

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Guatemala has posted:

“On Tuesday, April 1, #PBI accompanies Famdegua Guatemala to a public hearing at the Chamber of Amparos and Preliminary Proceedings of the Supreme Court of Justice in the #MilitaryDiary case.

During the hearing, the adhesive plaintiffs, survivors and relatives of the victims, asked the Court to declare the amparo requested by the defense, which seeks to reject the plaintiffs in the case, to be without merit.   

According to the plaintiffs, granting such amparo would represent a serious setback in the field of transitional justice and a denial of the right to access to justice for the victims.”

What is the Military Diary case?

Journalist Sandra Cuffe has reported: “The Diario Militar, or Death Squad Diary, documented the abductions, torture, disappearances and executions of 183 people, including Mendez Calderon, between 1983 and 1985. The military intelligence dossier includes a section with a numbered list of the 183, with their names, affiliations, photograph, date and location of abduction, and other basic details.”

The Associated Press has also explained: “The ‘Military Diary’ is a dossier found in 1999, which would have been prepared by agents of the Guatemalan State who documented captures, forced disappearances, torture and murders of 183 people during the 1980s.”

Update on #CasoDiarioMilitar

PBI-Guatemala has been accompanying the #CasoDiarioMilitar court hearing process that began in May-June 2021.

In May 2024, PBI-Guatemala commented: “Currently, the process is moving very slowly and is practically at a standstill. However, the families and friends of the people who appear in the [military diary} commemorate the publication of this document every year [on May 20, 1999], in the hope of learning the whereabouts of their loved ones and raising awareness about the importance of this document in the history of Guatemala.”

Most recently, in December 2024, Prensa Comunitaria also reported: “Currently, the case is paralyzed.”

On March 20, 2025, the Associated Press reported: “Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has granted protection to a man accused of crimes against humanity during the 1960-1996 civil war and ordered him to remain free, upholding the decision of the judge hearing the case. Toribio Acevedo Ramírez, 70, is accused by the prosecutor’s office and victims of having participated in the disappearance and execution of dozens of people during the war in the Central American country, facts that were documented in a dossier known as Diario Militar. According to a protected witness, Acevedo Ramírez would have participated along with other state officials, such as police and military, in the crimes.”

Accompaniment

The Association of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared of Guatemala (FAMDEGUA) is playing a key role in the Diario Militar case.

Peace Brigades International accompanied FAMDEGUA from 1992 until 1999 then resumed that accompaniment in April 2024.

 

 

PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH to Jiniguare, expresses concern about displacement of Lenca community due to dam

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Honduras has posted:

“We accompanied ARCAH to the community of Jiniguare, in the municipality of Ojojona, where we had the opportunity to listen to the collective concern about the construction of the Jiniguare Dam. The construction of this dam would cause the people living in the area to displace.

From PBI we express our concern for the displacement of the Lenca community of Jiniguare and emphasize the importance of respecting the open council, where the community declared against dam projects on its territory.”

The Jiniguare dam

In October 2024, Bnamericas reported: “A contract has been signed for construction of the long-awaited Jiniguare dam in Honduras and the works could begin in the coming months, local authorities announced.”

That article adds: “Financing will soon be secured and the project’s environmental studies are underway, according to [Central District Mayor Jorge] Aldana.”

Peace Brigades International is aware that UK Export Finance (UKEF) is considering loaning support to the parties involved in the Jiniguare dam project.

Accompaniment

The Honduran Alternative for Community and Environmental Vindication (ARCAH) is a space for community articulation and an anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-patriarchal, anti-colonialist and anti-classist social movement that seeks to defend territories and common goods from any project that threatens the peace and cosmovision of communities.

Peace Brigades International has accompanied ARCAH since September 2022.

Further reading: PBI-Honduras accompanies ARCAH as it files a complaint against the privatization of water and the construction of dams (PBI-Canada, December 8, 2022).

Is AI technology supplied to the military being used to target journalists, medical workers and aid workers in Gaza?

By
Brent Patterson
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Video still from Middle East Eye.

On April 7, the Associated Press reported: “Microsoft has fired two employees who interrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration [at Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington] to protest its work supplying artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli military, according to a group representing the workers.”

While Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman was speaking, one of the now-fired employees, software engineer Ibtihal Aboussad who was based at Microsoft’s Canadian headquarters in Toronto, shouted: “You claim that you care about using AI for good, but Microsoft sells AI weapons to the Israeli military. Fifty-thousand people have died and Microsoft powers this genocide in our region.”

That article also notes: “An investigation by The Associated Press revealed earlier this year that AI models from Microsoft and OpenAI had been used as part of an Israeli military program to select bombing targets during the recent wars in Gaza and Lebanon.”

And on January 23, The Guardian reported: “The Israeli military’s reliance on Microsoft’s cloud technology and artificial intelligence systems surged during the most intensive phase of its bombardment of Gaza, leaked documents reveal.”

That article continued: “The leaked documents, which include commercial records from Israel’s defence ministry and files from Microsoft’s Israeli subsidiary, suggest Microsoft’s products and services, chiefly its Azure cloud computing platform, were used by units across Israel’s air, ground and naval forces, as well as its intelligence directorate.”

Human rights defenders targeted

While it is not clear if Microsoft AI technology was used, Dublin-based Front Line Defenders has stated: “Those defending the right to health and the right to life as doctors, nurses, or ambulance workers, those exposing and documenting war crimes as journalists, and those providing humanitarian support as volunteers or employees of aid agencies were all specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”

Front Line Defenders has noted: “People considered to be human rights defenders in the [Occupied Palestinian Territory] include journalists, lawyers, medical workers, fieldworkers, international volunteers who act as independent observers and carry out human rights work and defenders working for economic, social and cultural rights.”

To date, as many as 1,586 human rights defenders have been killed in Gaza, including 175 journalists, 408 aid workers, more than 1,000 medical staff, 2 lawyers, and 1 International Solidarity Movement volunteer (in the West Bank).

International court rulings

On January 26, 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found it plausible that Israel’s acts could amount to genocide and issued six provisional measures, including ordering Israel to preserve evidence of crimes committed in Gaza.

Then on November 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The court’s judges concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population and murder.

UN OCA on “atrocity crimes”

On March 28, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said: “The acts of war that we see bear the hallmarks of atrocity crimes. Hundreds of children and other civilians have been killed in health and Israeli airstrikes. Intensely populated areas hospitals are once again battlegrounds; patients killed in their beds, ambulances shot at, and first responders killed.”

UN experts of the transfer of weapons

Notably, on June 20, 2024, United Nations experts also stated the transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel may constitute serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws and risk State complicity in international crimes, possibly including genocide. They highlighted companies’ responsibilities under the Geneva Conventions, the Genocide Convention, international human rights treaties, and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Microsoft at CANSEC

Given the high number of Palestinian human rights defenders killed, the rulings of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, and UN experts highlighting the responsibilities of companies to international conventions, treaties and principles and their statement that the transfer of weapons to Israel may constitute serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws, we are following with close interest the upcoming CANSEC arms show in Ottawa.

The Microsoft Defence & Intelligence team was at CANSEC 2024, while Microsoft Canada is a member of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), the organizer of CANSEC.

It is expected that Microsoft will be at CANSEC again this coming May 28-29, 2025.

For more about the mobilization challenging CANSEC, go to: @shut.down.cansec on Instagram.

In the lead up to CANSEC there will also be a Stop the Genocide: Canada Must Stop Arming Israel rally on April 12 starting on Parliament Hill.

Translocal learning can improve protection strategies as the criminalization of defenders transcends borders

By
Brent Patterson
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Composite photo: United Kingdom, Colombia, Canada, Mexico.

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders Mary Lawlor: “[Criminalization is] about maintaining the power structures in place. This is true regardless of whether it’s a dictatorship, democracy or a corrupt narco-state.”

On March 27, 2025, Metropolitan Police raided the Westminster Quaker meeting house in London and arrested six young women, including a journalist, at a Youth Demand “Welcome Talk” like the virtual forum below that had taken place the day before.

Image: Youth Demand

In response to this police action, Oliver Robertson, head of witness and worship for Quakers in Britain, comments: “This raid is not an isolated incident. It reflects a growing trend of excessive policing under new laws brought in by the previous government, which are now being enforced by the current administration.”

Paul Parker, their recording clerk, also stated: “This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group meeting clearly shows what happens when a society criminalises protest.”

Criminalization “the most common tactic”

Mary Lawlor, the Dublin, Ireland-based United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, has further commented: “Criminalisation is the most common tactic used against human rights defenders, because it’s so easy and has such a big impact.”

And Washington, DC-based Global Witness has also noted: “In addition to killings and physical violence, defenders face the growing risk of criminalization – legal methods to harass, threaten, and stop their work – used to silence and prevent them from speaking out.”

Criminalization patterns around the world

Almost two years ago, in October 2023, The Guardian’s environment correspondents Matthew Taylor and Damien Gayle along with senior reporter Nina Lakhani wrote: “The Guardian has found striking similarities in the way governments from Canada and the US to Guatemala and Chile, from India and Tanzania to the UK, Europe and Australia, are cracking down on activists trying to protect the planet.”

“States learn from each other”

Photo: Mary Lawlor in Toronto.

That article from 2023 in The Guardian further quoted Lawlor who said: “[Criminalization is] about maintaining the power structures in place. This is true regardless of whether it’s a dictatorship, democracy or a corrupt narco-state, and regardless of the state’s professed commitment to human rights, protecting the environment and combating climate change. What’s clear is that states learn from each other.”

Defenders are adapting to avoid criminalization

Now in 2025, Taylor and Gayle report: “In 2022, MPs [Members of Parliament] passed the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, a direct response to [Extinction Rebellion/ XR’s] mass protests, giving police an armoury of new powers to impose conditions on demonstrations. The following year, in a direct response to the likes of [Just Stop Oil/ JSO], parliament passed the Public Order Act, creating a series of offences targeting direct action, as the government simultaneously lowered the threshold of disruption at which police could intervene in a protest from ‘serious’ to ‘more than minor’.”

They then note: “Some groups, such as Shut the System [STS], have departed from the model of accountability [willingly being arrested] espoused by JSO and XR in favour of a clandestine approach, inspired by counterparts in Europe and the writings of the radical social ecologist Andreas Malm.”

In a separate article about Shut the System, Gayle reports that STS says given the “new laws further criminalising disruptive protests [have] made traditional, accountable methods of activism increasingly unsustainable”, citing the example of “activists from JSO who received sentences of four and five years … for organising road blocks on the M25”, that makes “a clandestine approach increasingly attractive.”

The clear implication is that the increasing criminalization of non-violent disruptive protest in the UK has created a situation in which groups like Shut the System and the Citizens Arrest Network that have subsequently emerged.

Criminalization and escalating tactics against defenders

Gayle, Taylor and Lakhani have also highlighted: “Criminalisation does not happen in isolation. Experts say that deploying the legal system is part of a spectrum or playbook of escalating tactics deployed by corporations and their allies [that includes] online attacks, defamation, police surveillance, security deployments and violence.”

Translocal learning across borders

If criminalization is part of a common playbook used by states and if states learn from each other the spectrum of escalating ways to derail and repress social movements, it follows that it is important for activists in the Global North and defenders in the Global South to learn from each other how to navigate this assault.

Thus, as just one example in a rural context, learning could emerge from a translocal exchange between a campesina being threatened by the AGC paramilitary and a mining company in the Putumayo Amazon region of Colombia and an Indigenous land defender facing the likelihood of an RCMP CRU-BC militarized police raid and a pipeline company on Gitxsan territory in norther British Columbia, Canada.

There may be additional examples found in an urban context, as well as with journalists, lawyers and union members who are at-risk.

How have criminalization and violence informed the tactics of defenders in different parts of the world? What do they see as effective resistance and protest strategies? What role has the state and corporations played in this situation? How have they coped with the mental stress that comes with risk and compounded trauma? How do issues of colonization, impunity and historical injustice contribute to this? What do they see as credible and effective protection strategies to enable them to continue their work?

These are issues and questions that Peace Brigades International-Canada will be delving into over the coming months through discussions, virtual and in-person exchanges, articles, podcasts and other forums.

Peace Brigades International remembers with the Mutual Support Group (GAM) the life of Maria del Rosario Godoy Aldana de Cuevas

By
Brent Patterson
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The Mutual Support Group (GAM) has posted on Facebook:

“We remember the painful loss of Maria del Rosario Godoy Aldana de Cuevas, co-founder of GAM in 1984, in times of the Internal Armed Conflict-CAI.

Like many other people at that time, she was looking for her husband Carlos Ernesto Cuevas Molina, who had disappeared. “… Either they bring me back Carlos alive or they take me too.. “I will never rest until I find my fat one.”

Maria del Rosario Godoy Aldana de Cuevas was killed on April 4, 1985 along with her son Augusto Rafael, two years old, and her brother Maynor René, 21 years old. The three bodies showed signs of polytraumatism.

On this day, we remember Rosario’s tireless struggle to find the missing persons forcibly and we keep the memory of Rosario alive.”

PBI and GAM

Liam Mahony and Luis Enrique Eguren, as well as PBI co-founder Daniel N. Clark, have told the story of how Peace Brigades International (PBI) was founded in Canada in September 1981, placed its first team in Guatemala on March 21, 1983, and subsequently first met the Mutual Support Group (GAM) in early 1984:

“During their first year, PBI team members traveled throughout the highlands, visiting rural farmers, clandestine contacts, and government and military officials, introducing themselves and feeling things out.

Then on March 11, 1984, Nineth Montenegro de Garcia wrote them: “I am pleading for your aid in my anguish. My husband, Edgar Fernando Garcia, was kidnapped, or more accurately, illegally captured on Saturday February 18 this year.” She further explained that it was the Police Special Operations Brigade who had taken him.

Nineth was a young schoolteacher, Fernando was a 25-year-old worker at a glass factory who had become involved in a union. The PBI team asked Nineth if she knew of other people in the same situation and before long the Mutual Support Group (GAM) was formed.

The photo above is a family snapshot of Nineth de García, daughter Alejandra and husband Fernando before his abduction on February 18, 1984.

Given the number of people whose loved ones had been disappeared, GAM grew quickly.

It met weekly (at the PBI house in Guatemala City), organized memorial masses, published advertisements in the newspapers, listed disappearances and asked for support and investigations, met with the Guatemalan president, organized a silent march for peace, held a sit-in at the congress building, and announced their intention to charge elements of the security forces with the disappearances. They even called on the international community to cut off aid to Guatemala. It was that last action that led to a siege on GAM.

Photo of Rosario Godoy de Cuevas addressing a GAM rally in February 1985. The day before her abduction she had attended the funeral of GAM leader Héctor Gómez whose tortured body had been found on March 30, 1985. Amnesty International found several indications that members of security forces had collaborated in her death.

On April 3, 1985, PBI’s Alain Richard warned founder and secretary of GAM Maria Rosario Godoy de Cuevas not to leave her home for any reason because she was also in danger of being killed. The next day she was found dead in her car in a ravine with her brother and her two-year-old son, who had been ill. The cause of their deaths was strangulation, and the child’s fingernails had been pulled out.

According to Alain, the idea of personal accompaniment did not arise until after her death.

Alain notes, “The night before I had to leave [the country to renew my visa], a close diplomatic contact visited me, along with Jean-Marie Simon of Americas Watch, and they told me, ‘Listen, you’ve started to be with these women. That has to continue. How can you make sure you have enough people to do that?’”

This was the beginning of PBI ‘escorting’: providing the surviving GAM leadership with around the clock unarmed bodyguards.”

Photo: PBI volunteer in GAM office in 1993.

We remember Maria Rosario Godoy de Cuevas and our historic and longstanding relationship with the Mutual Support Group (GAM).

We also recently remembered along with the Mutual Support Group the life of David Hartsough who “was with Peace Brigades International, just walking along the street with a little camera, a notepad and some change so we could try to make a phone call” during a GAM march in Guatemala in 1985. Our article is here.

GAM post on Facebook.

Scheduling hearing set for April 25, sentencing of Wet’suwet’en land defenders delayed to September-November

By
Brent Patterson
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Photo: Wet’suwet’en land defender Molly Wickham, Gitxsan land defender Shay Lynn Sampson, Akwesasne Mohawk land defender Teka’tsihasere Corey Jocko.

The Prince George Citizen reports: “In January 2024, [BC Supreme Court Justice Michael] Tammen found Wet’suwet’en Nation’s Molly Wickham (aka Sleydo’), Gitxsan member Shaylynn Sampson and Corey Jocko, a Mohawk from Akwesasne guilty of contempt of court” for disobeying in November 2019 a court injunction that prohibited impeding the construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory.

“[Then] on February 18, Tammen decided they will face reduced sentences for disobeying an injunction, but dismissed their application to stay the charges [despite ruling that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Community-Industry Response Group had] breached the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantee of life, liberty and security of person [during a militarized raid on November 18-19, 2019].”

“[Now after a Thursday] April 3 BC Supreme Court scheduling hearing in Smithers, Tammen said that his schedule and the time needed for pre-sentencing reports have delayed the three-day [sentencing] hearing until fall [at some point in the months of September, October or possibly as late as November].”

“[That’s because] one cannot proceed [with the sentencing of the three land defenders] prior to preparation of Gladue Reports, which analyze the history of an Indigenous defendant and how family and personal suffering contributed to their offence [and] those reports may not be done until July or August.”

The article further notes: “[Justice Tammen] adjourned the matter until April 25 for another scheduling hearing.”

At the time of the February 18 ruling, the Canadian Press reported: “Tammen says that criminal contempt carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, but those convicted typically receive short sentences.”

Photo: The courthouse in Smithers, British Columbia.

Potential prisoners of conscience designation

Ana Piquer, the Mexico City-based Americas director at Amnesty International, has previously commented: “If the Canadian state decides to unjustly criminalize and confine Sleydo’, Shaylynn, and Corey, Amnesty International will not hesitate to designate them as prisoners of conscience. Canada is on the sadly long list of countries in the Americas where land defenders remain at risk for their essential work.”

UN Special Rapporteur following the proceedings

Mary Lawlor, the Dublin-based United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, has posted on social media that these “HRDs continue to be criminalised for the peaceful defence of human rights & the environment [and that she] will be closely following their sentencing.”

Peace Brigades International

Ottawa-based Peace Brigades International-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson was on Wet’suwet’en territory November 19-22, 2019 in response to this video appeal in which Sleydo’ stated: “Whatever clan you are, whatever background you are, we need people to come and witness what’s happening on the yintah.”

We could return to territory to observe and help draw international attention to the three-day sentencing hearing in Smithers, British Columbia when that takes place in September, October or November of this year.

We will be following the hearing on April 25 to set this date.

PBI-Canada continues to encourage contributions to the Wet’suwet’en Yintah Defence Legal Funds.

More militarism is not the answer

PBI-Canada is also collaborating with World BEYOND War on this upcoming webinar in which Cree land defender Clayton Thomas-Muller will discuss the ongoing militarization of Indigenous territories, professor Tyler Shipley will talk about the militarization of foreign policy including through weapons exports that can serve to repress land and water protectors around the world, and author-activist Harsha Walia will provide her analysis of the militarization of the border including by RCMP Black Hawk helicopters.

You can register for this online discussion here.

Understanding Peace Brigades International and unarmed civilian protection as a form of civilian-based defence

By
Brent Patterson
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PBI-Colombia “25 years of solidarity” video still: “The paramilitary took me off a vehicle and there was a moment if two PBI women hadn’t been with me, an Italian and a Norwegian, they probably would have made me disappear.”

The concept of “civilian-based defence” appears to be coming up in multiple spaces in this current political moment of increased tension and concern.

Last month, authors Peter MacLeod and Richard Johnson explained in The Tyee: “Civil defence is the ability of an entire society to withstand crisis.”

They further explain: “In Sweden and Finland, civil defence is built around training, community preparedness and personal responsibility. Every adult is expected to have the knowledge and basic skills to help in an emergency — whether that’s first aid, defending critical infrastructure or organizing local response teams.”

And they comment: “The shift from ally to adversary could happen overnight, as a protectionist United States looks at Canada’s vast energy reserves, fresh water… We must be strong enough to push back, resilient enough to survive cyberwarfare and economic coercion… We must be prepared to defend our sovereignty — not just with military spending, but with a population that is engaged, trained and ready.”

Civil defence not militarism

Then this week the Green Party of Canada pledged if elected later this month: “The provision of universal civil defence training, ensuring all Canadians—regardless of age or background—have access to basic emergency preparedness skills, including first aid, crisis response, and cybersecurity awareness.”

Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May further commented: “This is not a call to militarization [it is a call to] support one another in times of crisis.”

Active nonviolence

And yesterday the Canadian Friends Service of Canada (Quakers) stated: “We are disturbed by the voices we hear within Canada loudly proclaiming the need to strengthen the military as a means of defence against invasion. …As we’ve explained elsewhere, civilian-based defence and related techniques of active nonviolence are viable ways for nations to defend themselves… We urge Canadians to learn more about active nonviolence. …We urge Canada to engage in nonviolent resistance focused on justice and peace.”

Peace Brigades International (PBI) and civilian-based defence

“Work concretely to realize peace”

Shortly before her death in 1992, German ecofeminist peace activist Petra Kelly, a friend of Peace Brigades International co-founder Hans Sinn, wrote in Nonviolent Social Defense: “The ending of the cold war has brought little change in our militaristic outlook. Why not invest in peace studies and peace actions? We need to support groups like Peace Brigades International that intervene nonviolently in situations of conflict. We need to work concretely to realize peace and nonviolence in our time.”

Unarmed civilian protection

The concept of “unarmed civilian protection” or UCP can be situated within the concept of civilian-based defence. It can also be connected to the Gandhian concept of “Shanti Sena” (peace army or peace brigade) that informed the formation of Peace Brigades International (PBI) and our teams of “unarmed bodyguards”.

PBI’s current practice of “accompaniment” of threatened organizations, defenders and communities grew out of and evolved from our founding statement: “We are forming an organization with the capability to mobilize and provide trained units of volunteers.  These units may be assigned to areas of high tension to avert violent outbreaks. If hostile clashes occur, a brigade may establish and monitor a cease-fire, offer mediatory services, or carry on works of reconstruction and reconciliation.”

Just as MacLeod and Johnson wrote last month in The Tyee about civil defence in Sweden and Finland involving “organizing local response teams”, PBI’s founding statement in September 1981 references “individuals and groups enlisting their services in the work of local, regional and international peace brigades.”

For instance, PBI co-founder Daniel N. Clark has written that in late 1981 another PBI co-founder Lee Stern was “working to establish a local brigade in New York City to respond to Ku Klux Klan activities.”

How to fight fascism

While PBI thought about how to respond to the KKK in 1981 with a New York City-based brigade, this week Guardian columnist Zoe Williams wrote a column titled: How to fight a fascist state – what I learned from a second world war briefing for secret agents that references the arrests last weekend of Youth Demand activists at the Westminster Quaker Meeting House in London, United Kingdom.

On “non-state actions” by movements and Youth Demand’s self-description as a “non-violent civil resistance campaign”, Williams comments in her Guardian column: “There’s no point in a narrative that yields nothing concrete, no point in a protest that doesn’t disrupt, no point in disruption without a plan.”

Civilian-based defence defending civilians

The organizations, defenders and communities who Peace Brigades International accompanies fundamentally challenge power. The power of a transnational corporation to impose a megaproject on a territory without consent. The power of an illegal armed group to derive profit from the extraction of resources. The power of the state to impose an order that benefits the few and immiserates the many.

That challenging of power is why more than 2,106 land and environmental defenders have been killed over the past ten years. That is why PBI is in countries including Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, where most of these defenders were killed.

Our form of civilian-based defence is to defend civilians who are challenging the power of transnationals, paramilitaries and the state to enable a vision of a just and sustainable world rooted in rights rather than impunity.

You can stay in touch with us through our daily articles about unarmed accompaniments of defenders here.

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