I recently discovered that the Lind Institute is hosting the former US ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Thursday, February 15 at UBC. I posted my utter shock and disagreement on the Facebook event page, but it is likely my post will be deleted. I invite you to read the following piece outlining the war crimes of Susan Rice. In my opinion she should be forbidden from entering the UBC campus, lest she truly represent UBC values. We must keep in mind, primarily, that UBC is on the ancestral, traditional, and unceded lands of the Coast Salish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, and the oppression of Indigenous peoples worldwide must always be considered when inviting anyone to this place of knowledge.
The United States of America is the main imperialist force of the entire world and the most genocidal state in human history. They have vetoed, countless times, United Nations Security Council resolutions dishonouring the very notion of international law. The US representative to the UN is irretrievably an anti-human force, unless she is pressured to acquiesce to human justice. This has never ever occurred in the history of geopolitical diplomacy. Susan Rice, who served for President Obama, is no exception. In fact, she is exceptional as a foremost genocidaire of this millenium. Below, is a bucket list of some of her formidable fascist feats:
On Palestine
Susan Rice has actively contributed to the apartheid, occupation, and genocide of Indigenous peoples globally—particularly in Canada, the United States (that is, Turtle Island) and in occupied Palestine. Susan Rice served as UN ambassador during the US-Israeli assault on Gaza in 2012. During Operation Pillar of Defense, the Israeli government along with the Israeli army (which receives support from Hillel House on UBC campus) murdered 167 of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. On November 14th, the UN Security Council met to discuss these war crimes on Palestine. The United States shamefully defended Israel and Susan Rice blamed the Palestinians for their own dispossession. “Israel, like any nation,” she said, “has the right to defend itself against such vicious attacks,” all but dismissing the veritable apartheid state which the US had created to the negligence of the indigenous Palestinian people. Israel, with the aid of the US, has repeatedly violated UN resolutions and the Geneva Convention—consistently building settlements and ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their homes. Rice strangled any possibility of a vote to end settlements or the bombings during the assault on Gaza. She watched Palestinian children bombed to death and then blamed their parents for teaching them to be violent.
On Libya
In 2011, Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, orchestrated a brutal war on the wealthiest nation in Africa: Libya. The war on Libya represented a paradigm shift from the previous wars of aggression, such as Bush’s occupation of Iraq, to a colour revolution-style war wherein the US lied to the public that the Libyan people wanted US intervention to overthrow their government. Keep in mind, this is a government that provided free healthcare and education to its people, something that Susan Rice would be hard-pressed to ever care about for ordinary Americans. This war was illegal—was not fully supported by the UN Security Council—but was instead justified by the Responsibility to Protect, a doctrine pioneered by a genocide apologist himself, Canadian Roméo Dallaire. This doctrine gave the ‘absolute right’ to Western nations, essentially, to bomb and plunder imperialized nations and decide what kind of life these people should lead. It comes as no surprise that that life is total slavery—which is what black Libyans are currently experiencing in their brand-new ‘failed state’ complete with lynchings and an open market slave trade.
On Yemen
Susan Rice led the illegal war on Yemen, one of the oldest nations on earth. This war, facilitated through Saudi Arabian arms and opposed by the UN, has left the Yemeni people blockaded from food and aid, utterly devastated and starved, and suffering with an incredibly high internal displacement rate. Nobody shows the images of malnourished Yemenis, since the US is responsible. Yemeni mothers try desperately to breastfeed their dying babies while Susan Rice claims to be an advocate for working women and women’s rights. Her faux feminist ethos is so extraordinarily apparent when looking at the Yemeni women whose children are killed by US weaponry every single day.
On Iran
Obama and Susan Rice have consistently denied Iran its rights to self-determination, including the right to self-defense, by placing countless sanctions on the country and surrounding its borders with US military bases. Recent reports have indicated that Iranians suffer lack of access to cancer medication and even contraceptives. The cars in Iran are so outdated and run on unrefined oil, despite the oil wealth of the nation, and schools are often closed for weeks at a time due to air pollution. Children sneeze blood in the streets. Susan Rice does not even honour the Iran Deal despiteclaiming it will save Iranians and condemning Trump for his mismanagement. Needless to say, it is clear Susan Rice does not see Iranians as human.
In Conclusion
In my opinion, it is evident from her foreign policy that Susan Rice is a genocidaire. She had many opportunities to defend oppressed people, but instead was the perpetuator of oppression. She does not deserve to step foot on these sacred lands and, if she does, she should be met with utter condemnation. To the organizers of this event, the President of UBC Santa Ono, the Liu Institute: if you invite Susan Rice onto these unceded lands, you have made your position clear. You support genocide and war. This is indisputable. You do not support the principles of the university, which are truth and self-actualization. I strongly urge you to reconsider. Until then, I do not support you and will continue to speak the truth to those you have misled.
