Dimitri Lascaris unveils anti-imperialist Foreign Policy Platform
Written by: Daniel Xie
On August 12, 2020, Dimitri Lascaris’ campaign released their foreign policy platform. On a video recording explaining the platform, Lascaris condemns Canada’s current “America first” foreign policy which has been it’s main strategy for decades. He states that all too often, Canada has been a willing accomplice in American-led imperialism and violence, and that it is time for Canada’s foreign policy to embody the better angels of our nature.
On the website, the Lascaris campaign states that in a time of global health crises and ecological disasters, the lack of coordinated international action has prevented any headway being made in resolving the climate and COVID-19 crisis. His campaign website hints that this lack of international coordination is caused by American desires to maintain hegemony in the face of a growing multipolar world order and Canada’s complicity in upholding American imperialism. In response to the global crises caused by the decline of American hegemony and American efforts to maintain said hegemony, Lascaris proposes a new foreign policy approach committed to global peace and cooperation in a multipolar world order. Key positions in his foreign policy platform, described in greater detail in a pdf file, include:
Ending sanctions that harm the innocent. Criticise and end Canada's acquiescence in the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran and endUS sanctions on Iran, Cuba and Venezuela.
Resist the annexation. Impose political, military and economic sanctions on Israel for its illegal occupation and settlement.
For the universal application of international law. Demand that the International Criminal Court (ICC) end its exclusive focus on war crimes committed by the American government’s official enemies and ensure that Americans and other western figures responsible for war crimes are made equally accountable for their crimes.
Stop exporting arms. Cancel the Saudi arms deal and impose a ban on trading in arms with all states that do not comply with UN Human Rights protocols. Eventually, Lascaris seeks to move towards putting defence production into public ownership to ensure that the arms industry and profit motive never again drive war.
Total nuclear disarmament. Accede immediately to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Resume relations with Iran. Restore diplomatic relations with Iran as desired by Iranian-Canadians and end our complicity in US-led efforts to target Iran.
The Lascaris campaign states that in the past Canada has acted as an ally to both British and American imperialism. In doing so, Canada has created and reinforced relations of domination in the world order, leading to ecological damage, human rights violations and war. The Lascaris campaign therefore advocates for the formation of new diplomatic organizations able to advocate for peace, disarmament and sustainability in an increasingly multipolar world. The organisations to be created are:
The Department of Cooperative International Relations, which will promote peace, sustainable development, and a rules-based international order. It will promote the reform of existing international institutions and the development of new ones to reflect a shift to a more multipolar world order. It will foster the creation of international measures to ensure environmental sustainability, as well as prioritize organizing international cooperation to respond to public health and ecological emergencies. It will withdraw Canada from alliances such as NATO and NORAD over a 5-year period and reform international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, and the IMF to make themmore democratic and free from domination by Western countries and corporate bodies.
The Department of Peace and National Defence will reorient Canada’s defence policy away from aggressive wars and towards the defence of Canada, disaster relief and humanitarian aid. It will confine foreign military operations to UN-mandated peacekeeping with transparency and democratic control. It will reduce military spending, disentangle Canada from NATO, and take defence production into public ownership.
The Department of Trade and Development will integrate the above two organizations, acknowledging that established global trade relations are used to enforce inequitable development in the world and as such cannot be separated from development assistance. It will design a new socioeconomic paradigm committed to promoting international equality, as well as sustainability in both development and ecology, while recognizing economic sovereignty for all nations.
A welcome push in the right direction
Lascaris’ foreign policy platform is a welcome change of pace from the uncritically imperialistic and militaristic foreign policy supported by the Canadian establishment. Despite presenting itself as a peace-loving nation under Justin Trudeau, Canada’s actual foreign policy record has been anything but; with Canadian foreign policy being used to further American Imperialism, prop up far-right governments in Latin America, supply arms and equipment to the repressive regime in Saudi Arabia, and provide support to Israel even as it accelerates apartheid and ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
Canada’s imperialistic foreign policy hiding under the facade of peace, as noted by NDP MPP Matthew Green at a workshop discussing Canada’s complicity in the Bolivian coup that overthrew elected president Evo Morales. Canada’s foreign policy in opposing leftist governments in Latin America that defend the ideals of indigenous self-governance being thus a continuation of white supramacist and settler-colonialist policies outside their own borders.
These actions carried out in the service of imperialism, it has been speculated by many, including Green himself during the workshop, to have cost Canada’s seat on the security council to countries such as Norway and Iceland. This defeat was noteworthy given Norway’s continued efforts to foster dialogue between Maduro and the opposition in Venezuela, whereas Canada would have most likely used a seat on the UNSC as a weapon to advance American Imperialism while opposing socialist governments in Latin America under the facade of promoting peace and diplomacy rather than genuinely push for global diplomacy.
While the Liberals are content to continue to weaponize Canada’s foreign policy for the purposes of imperialism, none of the other parties have put up a genuine alternative. This makesLascaris’ push for genuine peace a welcome change of pace regarding foreign policy. The NDP, despite being Canada’s leftist, social-democratic political party, has been reluctant, and even outright resistant, to crafting a new foreign policy for Canada that movesaway from support for imperialism. While there have been various NDP MPs that have pushed for an anti-imperialist foreign policy, or for Canada to take a harsher stance on Israeli apartheid, the party has shifted to the right on the issue, with former leader Thomas Muclair taking measures to expel members for expressing pro-Palestinian worldviews and Jagmeet Singh himself refusing to oppose Israeli plans to annex the West Bank.
On other issues pertaining to foreign policy, the NDP has also been very reluctant to challenge our current imperialist foreign policy. On August 28, 2017, Yves Engler reported in Canadian Dimension that former NDP MP Helene Laverdiere supported measures opposing the Maduro government in Venezuela; she would later express support for western-backed “interim president” Juan Guaido when the latter declared himself to be interim president. Apart from elements of the NDP defending the attempted coup in Venezuela, the NDP has traditionally taken a pro-NATO stance for decades even back when it was the Co-Operative Commonwealth Federation (despite a brief shift in policy from 1969-1987), rather than seeking to disentangle themselves from American-led militarism perpetuated through NATO.
In light of the lack of a commitment to a transformational and anti-imperialist by any of the major political parties, Lascaris’ foreign policy platform is a much needed push in the right direction. For decades Canada’s foreign policy has been used as a tool furthering both American imperialism along with Canada’s own hegemonic interests in the Americas and around the world. It is high time that we take a different approach on foreign policy, and that approach can be found in supporting Dimitri Lascaris’ efforts to become the leader of the Green Party and bring forth a foreign policy paradigm shift from one of imperialism to one genuinely fostering global peace and cooperation.
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