Marginal Notes: Security and Prosperity Partnership

The boom in Alberta's oil industry is intimately connected to the imperial project in Iraq. The Alberta tar sands are known as the United States' "security blanket". While the United States invaded Iraq at least in part to secure oil, the blowback from the disastrous decision has forced the U.S. to find "the 'security' it was looking for right next door" (Klein, 2007).

So, while the U.S. seeks to support its energy needs and fund its ongoing imperial project, the Alberta landscape is being torn up; the community exposed to pollutants and possible fallout from the use of nuclear power,...the people who are the casualties of the US empire (Mexicans, Filipinos, etc.) are torn from families and used as cheap disposable labour under the TFWP; Albertans face displacement as CEOs and executives move in and colonize cities, turning rental units into condos...and all Albertans experience the strain of the boom as the government opens the door to capital without thought for infrastructure, health care and community needs...

So, it is time to extend our talks beyond the environment and ask why the tar sands are being developed?

I believe we must rally to STOP THE TAR SANDS. We must also stand up with a resounding NO to First World imperialism that draws on the casualties of its previous projects to perform the labour of the latest-and-greatest, while viciously pursuing more growth, more development and more profit based on the subordination of the majority of the world's people and the pillage of the planet.