The Canadian Peace Congress stands in solidarity with the demonstrators for justice in cities across the U.S., and here in Canada. The police murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto have touched off longstanding resentment in communities throughout the continent against the systemic racism and repression directed at black people, indigenous peoples, and people of colour by the police, the courts and prison system, and other institutions of the state.

We applaud the organizers and everyone who has put their body on the line to say “Enough!! We will not take this anymore!”

We agree with Dr. Cornel West that what is transpiring is a reflection of the “failed social experiment” of capitalism in the U.S. and elsewhere, a system that does not serve the interests, hopes and aspirations of working people, and especially racialized and other minority communities.

We stand with the bus drivers of New York who have refused to be complicit in oppression. Let us recall that it was on April 4, 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr. went to Memphis to support striking garbage collectors in that city in their fight for justice, that he himself was gunned down by an assassin.

Let us link all the struggles for social justice, peace, equality, and the environment, and unite to win a new society – one based on genuine freedom and equality, and where racial, gender or class discrimination and systemic oppression have no place.

Building such a new society – at home and around the world – will guarantee a better, more just future for all humanity.

Executive,
Canadian Peace Congress
May 31, 2020