Update about Kimberly Rivera & family

By Darrell Rankin

Many of you protested last year to block the Harper Conservatives from deporting Kimberly Rivera and her family to the U.S. We demanded that the family be welcomed as heroes and citizens of Canada, to no avail.

You may have already heard yesterday's sad news: Kimberly Rivera was sentenced to ten months in a military prison. Her four children are ripped from her arms for the "crime" of being brave, noble and just.

Our predictions about a conviction and harsh sentence came true. Once again, the Harper Conservatives have been exposed as supporters of George Bush's war of torture and occupation against Iraq.

We must increase our efforts keep resisters to unjust wars in Canada. We need to change Ottawa's policy, or change Ottawa!

I urge you to write your MP, letters to the editor and raise this issue in groups (anti-war, labour, faith, student, etc) where you are active. The issue cannot be ignored or Canada will be molded in the uncaring image of Stephen Harper. We will be slaves building his pyramid.

Many news outlets have carried the story, so I'll give just one link, here.

Here is a sample letter sent to news outlets in the prairie provinces, as a letter or op-ed:

Dear Editor,
Re: US Deserter Sentenced (April 30). Despite a 19,000-name petition and an appeal by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Harper Conservatives deported Kimberly Rivera last year to face a court martial and certain imprisonment. Kimberly refused to fight a horrifying, unjust and illegal war. The Conservatives labeled this brave mother of four a "bogus" refugee and a common criminal.
        The Conservatives say deserters are unwelcome in Canada because the U.S. now has an all-volunteer army, unlike during the Vietnam War. However, it makes no difference if a soldier volunteers. Any soldier must resist illegal orders according to the Geneva Conventions. To their dismay, Nazis war criminals discovered "following orders" was not a defence. Harper, Obama and Kimberly's judge support Nazi justice.
         Stephen Harper needs to answer: Which side won WW2? And why is he still fighting torture-lover George Bush's bloody war in Iraq? Deserters from illegal wars ought to be welcome in Canada citizens and heroes. Stephen Harper's government should be ashamed of ripping Kimberly's children from her arms.

We are talking in the KRICC executive about having another big war resister tour across Canada by Joshua, Alexina and family this fall. We'd like to hear your suggestions and any offers of help.

For the Keep Resisters in Canada Campaign.

Kimberly was deported today by Harper - shame.

Dear Members of Parliament,

We are writing to request that you reconsider your decision to deport Kimberly Rivera. We do not see how you can justify deporting Kimberly to a U.S. military prison for up to five years and at the same time say that you are for families and against crime? To us, it seems you are still fighting and supporting George Bush's war in Iraq.

Kimberly ought not to serve one second in custody, nor should she experience the pain of losing her four children.

To us, you are trampling on the graves of the 50 million people who died in the Second World War. That war taught us soldiers must feel and be protected if they refuse to participate in war crimes. Let us put it this way. A police officer who is ordered to commit a crime can always resign. A soldier ordered to commit a crime too often has a far more difficult time resigning, and you need to understand that.

Some of you are replying to letters from our supporters saying that Kimberly has broken the law in the U.S. by deserting the army. But in fact she followed international law by refusing to participate in an illegal, unjust war in which the U.S. military committed serious crimes on a monumental scale, killing hundreds of thousands of people and wrecking Iraq's economy, social programs, historical treasures and the environment for tens of thousands of years with depleted uranium.

This fully justifies her decision to desert. She complied with international law. It is the Conservative government that is breaking the law by not upholding Canada's legal obligation to oppose war crimes and to help soldiers who oppose such crimes.

The most important and progressive legacy of fascism's defeat in the Second World War is the United Nations Charter which sets out important laws for the future of humanity, including requirements to avoid war as a way of resolving disputes between nations - ignored in Iraq's case. As the Nuremberg Nazi trials established, soldiers could no longer say they were "just following orders" to avoid responsibility for war crimes.

We are also concerned that you do not care that you would be sending Kimberly to a harsh military prison in an army rife with serious sexual abuse and torture, as Bradley Manning is experiencing according to the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and hundreds of U.S. legal scholars.

We would appreciate a reply to our question: Will you reconsider?


Young Communist League of Canada

Stop the deportation of war resister Kimberly Rivera!

"My biggest fear is being separated from my children and having to sit in a prison for politically being against the war in Iraq."  - Kimberly Rivera, Toronto

Dear Friends,

What kind of government do we have in Canada, elected by less than 40% of people who voted, that intends to send a heroic young mother to jail for up to five years in the U.S. for doing the right thing?

We are appealing for your immediate attention, help and action to stop the thoroughly reactionary, anti-family deportation order of Kimberly Rivera to certain harsh imprisonment in a U.S. military jail for two to five years, away from her young children.

Stephen Harper's government has failed to deal with Kimberly's application to stay for humanitarian reasons, like it does not care she will be unable to care for her four children or that her family will be broken up when she goes to jail.

The deportation can be stopped if enough people and groups speak out. The prairie provinces are critically important for this effort, Harper's key support area.

We can win, and the government must be forced to back down. The immediate support for this campaign from the Canadian Labour Congress and Amnesty International are vital, welcome, and a sign that broad support can grow. We are thankful for opposition party support in Ottawa, but what happens outside parliament matters most.

By now, media has informed most Canadians that the Harper government has issued a Sept. 20 deportation order to Kimberly and her young family, the same way it already deported two other former U.S. soldiers who disagree with the unjust Iraq war.

This is a reactionary move, because everyone knows that these two soldiers served long prison sentences for doing the right thing. Harper expects that Kimberly will be jailed. Her lawyer expects a sentence of 2 to 5 years!

These good soldiers should not be in custody for one second. That is why they came to Canada. So far, Harper has achieved a 100% success rate of sending US war resisters to jail. This must stop now, especially in light of the news Harper is planning to send more U.S. soldiers to face certain imprisonment.

Rivera is "guilty" of the crime of being a hero, a good soldier who deserted from the unjust occupation of Iraq. Here's a comparison. Nazi soldiers who deserted Hitler's army after realizing they were helping commit war crimes were heros, not "bogus refugees" as Jason Kenney calls the U.S. soldiers who came to Canada seeking safe refuge and the welcome of the majority of Canadians.

The Harper government is showing its true face. It is pouring the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iraq's people on Canada's global reputation. It is still supporting George Bush's unjust Iraq war. It is defying international law that never allowed the Iraq war.

Canadians must not stand for that! Canada must be made better!

The Canadian government is sending U.S. soldiers to a harsh military prison in an army rife with sexual abuse and torture, like the abuse Bradley Manning is experiencing, according to the UN special rapporteur on torture and hundreds of legal experts. What is the proper response by Canadians? It must be outrage and the loudest possible outcry. This is totally unjust. It is inhuman.

Help inform Stephen Harper's MPs across the prairies. Ask them to change their minds. We cannot allow them to get their bullying way.

- Talk about this to everyone you know, tell them to contact their MP and to tell other people.
- Put this message up on notice boards.
- Phone, write or visit your MP or Immigration minister Jason Kenney. Ask them why they want to place a young mother of four children who has only obeyed her conscience and the law in jail and possibly destroy her family, why they are still helping the US' unjust occupation of Iraq, why they think US war resisters should be punished for making the right moral and legal decision to desert from the Iraq war, and how they can explain why every war resister they have deported so far has gone to jail for no good reason?
- Have a picket line in support of Kimberly and her family, even if its small.
- Tell the media, write a letter to the editor - From your family, union, faith group or community organization
- Visit your MP's constituency office, even if the MP is not there. Stay as long as you can! Get the staff's time and attention and send a really strong message! Polite but unshakable.

Not doing anything at this critical time of moral degeneracy by the Harper government is the worst option for anyone with an ounce of compassion and humanity. We appeal to you for your immediate action!

The Keep Resisters in Canada Campaign (KRICC) is sending this message to hundreds of supporters across the prairie provinces (where we work) and beyond in total solidarity with the Toronto appeal from the War Resisters Support Campaign there (appended). We in KRICC have been planning an urgent appeal for a U.S. deserter in Saskatchewan, Joshua Key, which will now be slightly changed. Please support the below appeal, and the one we expect to issue shortly.

We would be happy to hear from you by email, phone (204-798-3371) or by mail - KRICC c/o 269 Kitson St., Winnipeg MB R2H 0Z6. Please copy your message to the Harper government to us and the Toronto campaign (address below). We'd very much appreciate it.

Yours truly,
Cheryl-Anne Carr and Darrell Rankin
for the Interim executive, Keeps Resisters in Canada Campaign