February 26, 2007.

"Afghanistan-On Guard For Thee?" Release
Saturday March 17, 2007.
1-4pm
@
The Tranzac Club
292 Brunswick Ave.
Toronto
3 Blocks from Spadina Subway (Bloor Danforth & University lines) 1 Block from Large Municipal Parking Lot (entrance on Lippincott)
416 923-8137
A multi-media event involving music, film, dance, poetry, theatre, town-hall panel and Q&A about the issue of Canada's involvement in armed conflict in Afghanistan.

A CD version is now available, featuring 51 songs by 51 different artists in a 3 CD set.

The music is great and the message is a beauteous thing! We have been busy distributing it to various folks in the media over the last few months, and are currently planning release events in Toronto and Guelph. Luka Symons featured the album on her show "Nightlines" on CKUA in Alberta. Hooray for CKUA!!! Almost 500 of these albums have gone out into the world so far. The album is now available for download at Zunior.com, but you'll have to search for it.

Please Join Us by adding your voice to the chorus. The more diversity of ideas, the better.

The good folks at Zunior have suggested many ways in which we can use the internet to expand "On Guard For Thee?". There are now several homemade videos of the songs linked to YouTube and MySpace. Search for Ken Morris "No Kings in Heaven", Dave Clark's "Load of Doubt", Lewis Melville's "the Lamp is Growing Dim" or Tannis Slimmon's live version of "Edmonton. Any suggestions about new ways to deliver the messge are welcome.

Sadly, the story in Afghanistan continues to unfold in tragic proportion, with no end in sight. Canadians and Afghanis are still being killed. The Conservatives quietly continue to expand Canada's military involvement while publicly focusing on environmental issues. NATO generals continue to try and persuade more countries that escalation and preemptory military action will somehow solve the problem. Charlie Angus, MP, is distributing copies to our representatives in Ottawa. Most of our MPs remain strangely silent on this issue. What do you think? Send your MP a letter expressing your point of view, or better yet, visit their office and deliver it in person.

I would like to remind everyone that this is a non-partisan discussion. We welcome musical and creative contributions that reflect ALL perspectives on this issue. Our goal is to help catalyze a broad discussion amongst the artistic community. Your voice is an important addition to the overall debate.

Accurate information about what Canada is doing in Afghanistan remains hard to find. Here's a perspective on the real cost of keeping the military machine in place relatively to money spent on development and reconstruction.

For those in the Toronto area who want to expand their involvement, check out Artists Against War.

For background information on Canada in Afghanistan, check out CBC's Indepth:Canada in Afghanistan

The Canadian Blog Exchange had some interesting discussions in the Afghanistan section....but they have now been superceded by the Quebec issue and the Liberal leadership race.

Afghanistan in the News: a condensed list of recent news headlines from the Globe and Mail.

Some Contributions:

Hannah Zbitnew's cartoon.

Miracle at the Peace Tower!

Letter from Neil Osborne, music producer and member of 54/40.

Doug Tielli. Toronto new jazz musician

Susan Pitman Reflections of an ESL teacher - Guelph, Ontario

A recent report by the Senlis Council (a French drug policy think-tank) suggests that Canadian soldiers are dying for U.S. ambitions of stomping out the illegal opium trade in Afghanistan. Read CBC news report.

The Guantanamo Project is looking for submissions to post on their new website, www.gproject.org. The web-based project brings together scholarly and creative responses to the erosion of international human rights and civil liberties as a result of the American led "War on Terror".

Results of parliamentary debate on May 17 to extend Canadian Forces mission in Afghanistan. This was not an official vote, as Stephen Harper stated that he would extend the mission regardless of the outcome of the debate. Nonetheless some very interesting and relevent points were raised by some honourable members.

In favour: 149 Against: 145 List of how Members of Parliament

Many good points and issues were raised in the house over three or four hours on Wednesday. Here is a text file of the transcript from Hansard.