Activist Yves Engler wants to run for NPD Leadership, but some are trying to block his approval. Show your support here. (lemmy.ca)

submitted 9 hours ago by brianpeiris@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/52502868

I'm still learning more about Yves, but I like what I've seen so far. Apparently some people are calling for him to be blocked from the leadership race because of his pro-palestine, anti-zionist, and anti-genocide views. Contrary to their complaints, he is not antisemitic.

Yves Engler’s campaign for the leadership of the New Democratic Party represents a defining moment in Canadian politics. For too long, the NDP has drifted toward centrism, attempting to appease corporate interests and mainstream media narratives rather than boldly representing the working class. Engler’s vision is different. He stands unapologetically for democratic socialism — a society rooted in economic justice, peace, democracy, and the empowerment of working people.

More info here:
https://yvesengler.com/
https://yvesforndpleader.ca/about-yves/

Send a letter to support his approval:
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/dont-let-genocide-supporters-hijack-ndp-leadership-race

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[-] capt_kafei@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 hours ago

This guy sounds like a fucking tankie to me. From this article on his blog:

Additionally, Ottawa’s unnecessarily aggressive posture has stoked tensions with Russia. Despite knowing that NATO enlargement eastward and into Ukraine threatened Russia and risked a conflict, Canada promoted it. With 100,000 Russian troops amassed on the border, Canada’s then foreign minister Mélanie Joly went to Kyiv in mid-January 2022 reiterating that “We believe that Ukraine should be able to join NATO.”

Blaming the expansion of NATO for Russia's invasion of Ukraine is just parroting Kremlin propaganda. Countries in Eastern Europe want to join NATO due to the extremely justified threat of being attacked by Russia.

In 2014 Canada also backed the ousting of the democratically elected Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, who sought neutrality and good relations with both Europe and Russia. As Owen Schalk and I detail in Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy, Ottawa played a significant role in destabilizing Yanukovich and pushing him out. At the height of the anti-government Maidan protests, opposition forces, including the far-right C14, used the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv, which was immediately adjacent to Maidan square, as a staging ground for a week in their bid to topple Yanukovych.

It's called the Maidan Revolution, and it was the Ukrainian people exercising their collective power to prevent their country from falling back into Russia's orbit. I would recommend reading about the event from people who actually lived through it: EuroMaidan Revolution.

The coup spurred right wing violence, Russia’s intervention in Crimea and a war that left 14,000 dead in the east.

Calling the illegal invasion and occupation of Crimea "Russia’s intervention in Crimea" tells you everything you need to know about this guy. If he cannot call unprovoked invasion of a sovereign country what it is, then he is not fit to run the NDP or have any role in the Canadian government. Having a Kremlin bootlicker lead the NDP would be a complete embarrassment and would ensure their failure in the next election.

I encourage anyone who's interested to read about these events from the perspective of Ukrainians: The 2014 annexation of Crimea — How Russia stole Ukraine's peninsula

[-] brianpeiris@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 hours ago

Hmm, I definitely agree his use of "Russia's intervention" is worrying. Not sure I know enough to say he's a Kremlin bootlicker, but I'll keep reading up on him. Thanks.

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 hours ago

I think most Canadians are more interested in housing and cost of living issues ATM. Sure, cutting back spending on war stuff seems good, but that's not the thing to lead with.

If you want my vote, tell me that he's going to lower the cost of housing, increase the availability of housing, make it easier for my kids to find jobs, make job security more of a thing, and lower the cost of food. What's he gonna do about the gap between rich and poor?

Cutting back on military spending is fine to pay for that, but that isn't going to grab most people's attention.

[-] brianpeiris@lemmy.ca 3 points 7 hours ago

I agree with that. I chose the image here, so don't let that sway you too much. He's going to release his platform in a few days, so we'll see what his plans are.

[-] Binzy_Boi@piefed.ca 5 points 7 hours ago

This guy questions the Rwandan Genocide.

That immediately turned me away from supporting him in any capacity.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 3 points 7 hours ago

The real Rwanda genocide story has no Canadian heroes.

I have no horse in this race, but I mean he calls it a genocide in the first sentence of the article and keeps calling it a genocide. He's questioning the Western (and specifically Canadian) narrative surrounding the genocide, not in any way the genocide itself.

[-] brianpeiris@lemmy.ca 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Thanks for pointing that out. I don't have a good understanding of the Rwandan genocide, so I can't really speak to it, but of course I don't care to diminish the suffering of any group of people.

Here's Engler's article that seems to be the cause of concern. https://yvesengler.com/2017/09/22/statistics-damn-lies-and-the-truth-about-rwanda-genocide/

From what I can tell, he doesn't deny the genocide, but he does claim that the narrative around it was manipulated to benefit western powers.

Praise for Dallaire’s role in Rwanda is based on a highly simplistic account of what transpired in 1994. In their haste to promote a Canadian saviour in Africa, left/liberals have confused international understanding of the Rwandan tragedy, which has propped up Kagame’s dictatorship and enabled his violence in the Congo.

When commentators are claiming more Tutsi were killed than lived in the country it’s time to revaluate popular discussion of Rwanda’s tragedy.

Engler's blog post was from 2017 and it seems, according to Wikipedia, his claims have gained more backing from others: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide#Death_toll_and_timeline

The succeeding RPF government claims that 1,074,017 people were killed in the genocide, 94% of whom were Tutsi. In contrast, Human Rights Watch, following on-the-ground research, estimated the casualties at 507,000 people. According to a 2020 symposium of the Journal of Genocide Research, the official figure is not credible as it overestimates the number of Tutsi in Rwanda prior to the genocide. Using different methodologies, the scholars in the symposium estimated 500,000 to 600,000 deaths—around two-thirds of the Tutsi population in Rwanda at the time.

[-] sbv@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

lolwut

Edit: sorry, I mean that seriously. Questioning the Rwandan genocide seems so random and counterfactual.

[-] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 3 points 6 hours ago

He's not doing that, actually. He's questioning the Canadian narrative surrounding the genocide and how it directly leads to support for the current dictatorship in Rwanda, but he's pretty clear on the fact that it was a genocide.