6 Burst results for "Asia Pacific Foundation"
Monocle 24: The Briefing
"asia pacific foundation" Discussed on Monocle 24: The Briefing
"China says it's neutral, but it talks to Moscow all the time and won't take cause from zelensky, no conversations with Ukraine. So China has some moral ground to make up here before this proposal I think is going to be given any oxygen at all. Isabel Hilton, thank you very much for joining us today. It's 1209 here in London. Here is Monaco skeletal rebello with the days of a new set lies. Thanks, Marcus. U.S. president Joe Biden has arrived in Kyiv in what is his first visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded almost a year ago. The surprise visit comes as he traveled to neighboring Poland to meet president Andre duda. The visit comes ahead of the one year anniversary of the start of the war. Turkey has ended rescue efforts in all but two provinces, almost two weeks after massive earthquakes killed more than 44,000 people. The country's disaster agency said search and rescue efforts were continuing at around 40 buildings in the two provinces. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced $100 million in humanitarian aid. And Japan's top entertainment academy Okinawa actors school is opening up to a fresh crop of aspiring stars for the first time in years. The school is known for producing some of Japan's biggest celebrities, including the singer Nami yamura. The school received over 50,000 applications from across Japan when it auditioned new students in 1998. Those are the days headlines, back to you, Marcus. Thank you very much, Carlos. The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has announced it will turn some former foreign military bases into special economic zones for businesses. The special business and trade centers would promote economic growth and development in the country that has faced a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis since the Taliban took power in 2021. For more on this, I'm joined by doctor Sachin goho, international security director at the Asia Pacific foundation and visiting teacher at the London school of economics and political science. Welcome to the program. Could you first tell us more about what has been asked? Well, the details of these special economic zones are somewhat limited. They are not very detailed, but what's interesting is that they've been announced by Muller barada, who is the current deputy prime minister, and he's in charge of economic affairs. Now he is the individual that the west assumed would be a more moderate force within the Taliban. And he was key to the Doha deal that the United States signed with the Taliban a few years ago. But he has also been somewhat isolated in the Taliban set up following the return of this militia. So it'll be interesting to see what role he actually can have and whether these special economic zones are just an idea, a pipe dream, or whether they actually have any practical elements to it. But do we know yet at all what might happen in practice? What are these business zones would actually be like? Well, one thing to remember about Afghanistan is that it is estimated to be sitting on natural resources, which includes natural gas, copper, rare Earths, such as lithium, and it's believed that the resources could amount to up to $1 trillion. So there is a very large amount of untapped natural resources within Afghanistan. And that is something that the Taliban potentially are keen to exploit. Keep in mind that the country is going through an economic collapse. You have 90% plus people living below the poverty line, and it's something that the Taliban need to try and address. But how they go about it is the key question. There are still a lot of problems in that. And it seems that they might have some willing partners in countries like China who have been very keen to get a foothold inside Afghanistan. But the thing that we keep going back to is the details remain very sketchy. You mentioned, so you know, over there and I was just going to ask how much interest there would be with countries around the world to for them to make business with Afghanistan. Well, earlier this year, the Taliban planned to sign a deal with a Chinese firm to drill for oil in northern Afghanistan and the deal is supposed to comprise for about 25 years, which just underscores how significant China is in terms of its involvement there. We've already seen significant Chinese investment infrastructure and personnel pour into Afghanistan over the last year and a half China very much wants to make Afghanistan part of its China belt and road initiative. As well as the China Pakistan economic corridor. However, we've seen a lot of attacks also take place on Chinese workers inside Afghanistan by the ISIS affiliate. And the other thing to remember is that even though the Taliban run Afghanistan, there are so many different factions that control different parts of the country. It's not a single monolithic group. The most powerful entity in Afghanistan is the Haqqani network, which also happens to be a prescribed terrorist group, and they do not have a very good relationship with Mueller barada, who is the individual promoting these special economic zones. So we will have to see whether these are just sound bites or whether they actually have any practical implementation in the coming months and years. But do you think do you think it's clear that the Taliban will need to do something to make the country more attractive to do business with considering that it's been going through a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis since the Taliban took power in 2021? Most definitely the Taliban does need to work out ways to enhance and improve Afghanistan's economy because there have been sanctions imposed on the regime, which in turn impacts directly on the people of the country since the return to power. Pakistan, another important entity in all of this has also been encouraging the Taliban to develop its economic interests. When Pakistan has its own vested interest in Afghanistan because of the fact that the other entity in this very complicated situation is known as the Pakistan Taliban, the TTP, who have been growing in the ascendancy and been using Afghanistan as a platform to carry out attacks in Pakistan. This irony there because Pakistan helped the Afghan Taliban come back to power, but they've not necessarily got the rewards for it. Somewhat the notion of buyers remorse comes to mind where Pakistan's hope of using the Taliban for its own strategic interest hasn't quite developed the way it perhaps wanted to. So if Afghanistan develops further economic problems, security challenges, that has a knock on effect inside Pakistan two, the both countries are very much intertwined. Do you think the Taliban understands the economy on what it takes to fix that situation? Well, the Taliban certainly are very skilled when it comes to clandestine activities involving economic dimensions, such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, using a money laundering purposes as well. These type of dynamics they're very skilled in shadow businesses effectively. Using actual departments, economic norms. This is something the Taliban actually have no real skill or background. And there's also a massive brain drain that is taking place inside Afghanistan where skilled entrepreneurs, individuals that were at one time key to Afghanistan's bureaucracy. They have left and also let's not forget one of the most critical components to an economy that is women Afghanistan has banned women from working from being educated and how can one develop a sustainable economy without women. So the Taliban's misogyny, its connections to terrorism, all of this erodes any potential investor confidence and it will also hurt the country's chances of even having a semblance of an effective practical working economic system. Sergeant, just finally, do you have any optimism regarding the future of Afghanistan? Do you think the situation were to get to the point that the Taliban will have to listen to other countries and make concessions and for example look at improving women's rights? One of the mistakes that the west keeps making is thinking that by talking to the Taliban that they can somewhat be moderated. Moderation and the Taliban, that is an oxymoron. The Taliban very much are a rigid dogmatic group for them, they do not mind if they are isolated by the world. They continue to adopt this very dystopian orwellian system which they feel they ultimately benefit from because it gives them a systematic control. So for countries like Pakistan to tell the west that they need to engage more with the Taliban, that's actually not really practical, nor is it going to be beneficial because for the Taliban, they don't mind having a dialog with the west, but they will not change. And it's important that we understand that the Taliban ideology precludes and prevents them from actually moderating of actually trying to become a positive entity in Afghanistan. And until they actually allow women to have greater rights and equal rights, I should say, I don't think that we can see any real positive progress in the country. I'm afraid. Thank you very much for joining us today. You are listening to the briefing on monocle 24. All
Monocle 24: The Briefing
"asia pacific foundation" Discussed on Monocle 24: The Briefing
"On Saturday, at my direction, the United States successfully concluded an air strike in Kabul, Afghanistan that killed the emir of Al-Qaeda. A U.S. drone strike kills the top Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al zawahiri. We ask what this means for the broader counter terrorism effort and the grip of the Al-Qaeda organization in present day Afghanistan. Then as Russian president Vladimir Putin and turkey's Erdoğan get ready to meet in Sochi, we look at what's on the agenda and whether turkey will get what it wants. And later on in the show we'll have a check in from Buenos Aires. I'm monocles Latin America correspondent lucinda Elliott, and today I'll be taking a look at Argentina's new super economy ministry and why Uruguay's biggest football star is coming home. All that plus and latest business headlines right here on the briefing with me, Chris turmeric. U.S. president Joe Biden said that justice had been delivered as he announced last night the death of top Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al zawahiri. The U.S. killed I was our hearing in a precision drone strike in downtown Kabul in the biggest blow to the militant group since the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011. That too was a daring attack when Barack Obama was U.S. president and Joe Biden, then vice president reportedly opposed. Well, sergeant go hell is a visiting teacher at the London school of economics and political science. He's also the international security director for the Asia Pacific foundation. He's also the author of a forthcoming forthcoming book on Al zawahiri and joins us on the line. Now sudden good to have you on the program. Tell us first about Al zawahiri himself. How significant a figure is he what was he is he still today? Well, I'm an old zawari is a significant person because he has been part of the various terrorist networks that have existed since the 1970s. He's not just the head of Al-Qaeda. This was a man who actually created his first terrorist so when he was in his teenage years sewing insurrection against the Egyptian government of unrest of that. That's how far back he goes. And his relationship with Osama bin Laden was forged during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when he was part of the Arab mujahideen and he formed that close bond with some of the modern 1990s helped merge his group the Islamic Jihad with Al-Qaeda and was also then instrumental in shaping Al-Qaeda's strategy in terms of targeting the west, brought in his own Egyptian ideological brand as the blueprint
Monocle 24: The Globalist
"asia pacific foundation" Discussed on Monocle 24: The Globalist
"Website. See you in saint Moritz at the Monaco weekender. It's 1514 in Beijing, 7 14 here in London, you're back with a globalist with me, Emma Nelson. Now to another long running geopolitical crisis, that of the strained relationship between India and China and efforts to mend it. China's foreign minister Wang Yi is in Delhi on the first India visit by a senior leader from Beijing since the two nations armies fought each other on the border last May. Well, I'm joined now by doctor sajan gohel, who's a visiting teacher at the London school of economics and international security director at the Asia Pacific foundation. Good morning, Sir John. Good morning. Let's place this in a bit of context, shall we this visit? Relations are at an all time low between the two nations. The relationship between China and India is unfortunately a problematic right now that is going back to what you mentioned, which is the skirmish that took place back on May 2020 in which both sides actually fought against each other in the gull one valley, which is in the Himalayas. There is a territorial dispute that goes back decades and the belief was that China had effectively broken the arrangement that had existed previously and moved further into territory that is disputed. That standoff still remains to this day, although it's not as precarious as it was before, but unfortunately those tensions remain and they have not been resolved as yet. We saw some, you know, the reports are that at least 20 Indian soldiers died last year and at least four Chinese troops were killed as well, although those numbers were never absolutely verified. So it's in these circumstances that the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has arrived in what the media is saying Well, in fact, the numbers it's believed that China probably lost over 30, which now some reports are suggesting that it could have even been higher than that. So because China doesn't actually reveal its fatalities unlike India. And this trip it's an interesting one because Wang Yi has just come via Afghanistan when he had meetings with the Taliban and then prior to that he was in Pakistan as well and then he's going to Nepal after the India trip. So this seems to be a regional coordinated effort by the Chinese foreign ministry, whether it's going to actually achieve anything remains to be seen, but perhaps the expectation is that by having dialog face to face in this post pandemic era may help to ease tensions, but it's very unlikely that this is going to result in anything significant. It's perhaps just the starting point of a very long journey to try and see if relations can improve. And then we have to put emphasis on the word can. Indeed, so what do people hope can be done? Well, I think with the Indians want there to be a deescalation in the number of troops on the border. They want China to pull back because Chinese troops are very close to where the dispute is taking place. And the other concern is that they are building infrastructure there, which means that it could be permanent. It means that China may want to extend further. And that's also what created the tensions back in May 2020. So India wants China to take steps to deescalate this troop movement that is there on the board and keep in mind China and India share a very long border in three different parts of their respective countries. In the Himalayas, it's also a way you've got place to Kim and Nepal area. And then you've also got the other part, which is in the northeast of India and the southern part of Tibet. So these three areas have often resulted in tensions in the past, and it's not just one area that the two countries are going to have to resolve its three areas. One thing that also complicates issues enormously is Ukraine because India and China as we have been talking about have had huge standoffs on the border. India, many have suggested have said that it needs to court Russia in order to feel as if they are supported and they are bolstered. But both sides both India and China at the moment find themselves being one of the few large nations in the world to not openly support Russia, but not condemning the war. Well, in China's case there is a strategic relationship with Russia. They do support each other significantly. It's worth keeping in mind that president Xi Jinping of China has met Vladimir Putin of Russia 38 times in the last ten years, which is a significant number and think about the fact that two of those years have gone in the pandemic itself. For India, there is this relationship that goes back from the period of the Cold War during the Soviet era where India ended up becoming dependent on Russian military hardware. And as we've been talking about this attention between India and China and also the fact that India has difficult relationships with Pakistan as well and then you have the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. India's big concern is that if there is another war, if there's another crisis, they need to have enough military supplies to protect themselves. So that remains the concern that India has is that they have to tread very carefully in this relationship with Russia. It's also worth mentioning that India does have good relations with Ukraine at a bilateral level. The thing that the U.S. wants from India is to diversify its military hardware equipment, but that's going to take years, the process has begun, but it's not something that can get fixed very quickly. And returning to China's visit to India at the moment. You mentioned just there the issue of Pakistan and you also mentioned the issue of Afghanistan. The Chinese foreign minister's visit to India comes on the back of a trip or a meeting with the Pakistanis in which he said that he supported the he was more in favor of the Pakistanis take on the Kashmir issue, but also he's just visited the Taliban in Kabul. It's very surreal because you have the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi as the guest of honor at a meeting that the Pakistani is held for the organization of Islamic countries in which one of the main issues of concern was islamophobia and yet the dynamic of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs was not mentioned whatsoever. And then as you said when you also made a surprise visit to Afghanistan to meet the Taliban, which is again a very bizarre dynamic because the Taliban are a radical Islamist group and you have the Chinese who are the PRC, which is effectively a communist state. And the two should not actually be working together. It should make zero sense on paper and yet there is this odd collaboration that's beginning, which is based on strategic and economic priorities, the Chinese want to enhance their investments in Afghanistan, but they also want the Taliban to crack down on Uyghur dissidents that operate there. And in turn, the Taliban won recognition from China, how this relationship is going to develop remains to be seen because it just defies all logic, but then this is geopolitics. Sergeant gohil. Thank you so much for joining us on monocle 24 still to come on today's globalist the day's papers are fashion update with Dana Thomas, and then Andrew Muller runs us through his take on the week's events. We learned this week that a divided nation narrowly voting to leave an economic and customs union because an amount of its citizens don't like foreigners very much, and a nation unifying to mount a heroic armed resistance in an existential struggle against a predatory invader a literally exactly the same thing. Stay tuned on the globalist. UBS has over 900 investment analysts from over 100 different countries. Over 900 of the sharpest minds and freshest thinkers in the world of finance today. To find out how we could help you contact us at UBS dot.
The Larry Elder Show
"asia pacific foundation" Discussed on The Larry Elder Show
"We're going to have james mono a foreign policy expert of the heritage foundation is gonna join us at the top of the next hour so stay tuned for that but isis has been blamed for some of the worst atrocities in recent years again. I mentioned they had targeted girls in schools and even shot some shot and killed women in a maternity ward in a hospital and and basically these people want to spread their ideology globally whereas allegedly the taliban wants to confine their powers to the you know the local region Isis are based in the province of mandra har- close to Close to drug and people smuggling routes in and out of pakistan At its height the group numbered at about three thousand fighters but has suffered significant casualties and clashes with both the us and afghan security forces and also With the with the taliban Some of you may be asking. Are they linked to the taliban at all and the answer to that. According to the bbc anyway is peripherally. Yes by a third party and that is the connie network. According to researchers there are strong links between isis k. and the connie network which in turn is closely linked to the taliban So all types of reasons to suspect foul play my opinion by the taliban The man now in charge of security in kabul is khalil. connie who has had a Five million dollar bounty on his head Doctors said jane jane go goal from the asia-pacific foundation has been monitoring the militant networks in afghanistan for years. He says several major attacks between two thousand nineteen twenty twenty one. Involved collaboration between isis k The taliban connie network and other terror groups based in pakistan win the taliban took over a couple on august fifteenth. The group released large numbers of prisoners from police sharkey. Jail reportedly including islamic state and al qaeda militants. These people are now at large. Thank you very much biden harris administration. Honestly guys it is time for biden to resign it every single republican they should line up on the capitol hill steps like acquire. It is time for biden to resign. Camera harris could go right along with them Jen psaki could go right along with them. Lloyd austin secretary of defense joint chiefs of staff. Mark milley these people. You know i i wanna say i was thinking about this earlier is that was was driving in. I feel so embarrassed as an american but that's somewhat selfish because it goes beyond that This is a complete another disgrace. This is a complete and utter disgrace. I feel the shame of this. Maybe again that's selfish. But i feel like this situation needs to be rectified. First and foremost these people are not worthy of the positions that they hold is a complete and utter disgrace to know. I'm looking at This again according to breitbart the general Us general doesn't know taliban isis attackers get to the kabul airport. So we don't know. The taliban could be in cahoots with this group isis k. We absolutely have no idea the commander of us. Central command said said today that he did not know if the taliban whose members the us was relying on to screen individuals getting to the airport let islamic state suicide bombers get through and conduct at least two bombings there. So far has killed. Twelve marines and injure fifteen more. If i'm a parent stay the heck away from my fallen soldier. That's coming home. Dovers air force base. Stay the heck away. Stay tuned for more with guest host. Carl jackson on the larry elder show. If y'all blue you don't know them to go to don't you go. Where fashion sits hodan on the ritz. Dow carl jackson for the sage on the larry elder show. Welcome back to the larry elder show and again. obviously You know you can feel free to call in and triple eight nine seven one. Seven two four three. This is a hard day. Love to hear your thoughts But again just going back to the quotes from this particular general at central central command he's He was expressing. Someone had asked the question Whether or not the taliban whether or not the taliban ran was somehow connected with the islamic state that they let these bombers slipped through and then he says clearly if they were able to get up to the marines at the entry point of the base. there's a failure somewhere i he added of the taliban. Some of those guys scrupulously good. Some of them are not. I just don't know the answer to that question. But you can be assured we're going to continue to look Take a look at it and make sure all of our practices Get better or better going forward here. Here's the problem with that statement. And this isn't i don't fault this general at all. His name is General kenneth mackenzie by the way and we have some audio of of him. So we'll play that in in in a sec for you but the the problem is the leadership. Yeah let's go ahead and played audio. General mackenzie thanks A hard day today as you know to suicide. Bombers assessed to have been isis fighters detonated in the vicinity of the abbey gate at hamid karzai international airport. And into the cindy. The baron hotel which is immediately adjacent. The attack on the abbey gate was followed by a number of isis gunman who opened fire civilians and military forces. At this time we know that twelve. Us servicemembers have been killed in the attack. In fifteen more service members have been injured. A number of afghan civilians were also killed and injured in the attack retreating. Some of them aboard h kaya many other. Afghans civilians have been taken out hospitals in town. We're still working to calculate the total losses. We just don't know it all right. So this is that was general mackenzie actually. Let's go play another audio clip audio clip three please. I'm an afghan played. It for the united states house overheat to going get go today or planning out the fear that it was an explosion. That happened inside. The a lot of people got hurt. And i got a baby girl that she goes sponsor so she provided by hat. I don't know what. Exactly when he i think the most number they.
The Ben Shapiro Show
"asia pacific foundation" Discussed on The Ben Shapiro Show
"Already meanwhile joe biden continues and he talks about the. He makes the case that the united states actually accomplished its goal in afghanistan. Well not really i mean. Here's the thing in order for us to accomplish. Our goal in afghanistan are going. Afghanistan was pretty clear right glenn. Afghanistan was that we were supposed to counter terrorism. In order to do that we have to continued counterterrorism. Been you stop countering terrorism. You've no longer achieved your goal here. Joe biden we want to have against almost twenty years ago with clear goals. Get those who attacked us on september eleventh two thousand and one an make sure al qaeda could not use afghanistan as a base from which to attack is again. We did that. We severely degraded al qaeda in afghanistan. We never gave up the hunt for osama bin laden and we got him. That was a decade ago. Okay now here's the problem. How about the fact. That use reconstituted the possibility of al qaeda afghanistan according to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. General mark milley. He informed congress. Terror groups are likely to reconstitute afghantistan within the next two years high probability according to dr congo of the asia pacific foundation quarterback bbc. There some two hundred fifty to five hundred members qaida in kunar which is a heavily forested valley region afghanistan. Right now we were able to monitor that place and we're able to fight with them no longer. Go home now. Says the number is likely to increase given. The united states is lack of access to any intelligence network and its surrender of all air bases in afghanistan. Also pakistan has now cut it quid-pro-quo with the taliban to never reject us based on pakistani territory. So we can't even use pakistani territory so launch attacks against the taliban or against al-qaeda which means we are back to shooting cameras on the ass of cruise missiles bill clinton style from nineteen ninety eight. So it's pretty likely that terrorist groups are about to reconstitute quickly in afghanistan. And i know that we live in the post nine eleven. I know that that nine eleven was sort of a blip in a lot of people's imaginations it was twenty years ago after all. Let's just remember that things that happened in far off countries can have some rather radical impacts in the united states. Just a reminder. This is why we went in afghanistan. The first place this right. Here.
The Munk Debates
"asia pacific foundation" Discussed on The Munk Debates
"There are options. And that's why we need to take this opportunity seriously. Nobody you can prevent global warming unless china is part of the solution is not normal male behavior this predatory behavior all of that was thrown away in those eight minutes and forty six seconds. And that's the moment that i became an abolitionist. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Welcome to the muck debates every episode we provide you with a civil and substantive debate on the big issue of the day to arm you the listener with enough information to make up your own mind. Today's debate be it resolved. Canada is a systemic racist country. Developing story out of british columbia first nations says the remains of more than two hundred children have been located buried on the side of a former residential school. In fact the lord begin in london ontario tonight to our memorial grows from a muslim family struck and killed in what police say was a targeted crime motivated by hate. Read your griffis. Well as canadians are confronted by racially motivated attacks from the streets of london ontario to the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves of young children at a residential school in british colombia. Many have come to believe that these are not unique or isolated events reality is. Our candidate is a place of racism. Violence genocide of indigenous people and our county is a place where muslims aren't safe. Racism they argue is systemic. It is embedded in canadian culture in canadian institutions and in canadian media and just like in the united states. Racism is woven into the very fabric of daily life in canada. Sweeping reforms must be implemented to make the country eight inclusive place for all of its citizens it. Some canadians are pushing back against this assessment. Thank god that we're different than the united states and we don't have the systemic deep roots they had for years. I'm proud to be canadian. I'm proud to be the premier of ontario and canadians just won't tolerate that's unserious premier. Doug ford opponents of the argument that candidate is a systemic racist country that while the nation has featured institutionalized racism towards different groups in the past and today's remarkable progress is being made on diversity inclusion and multiculturalism one off hate crimes. Do not represent the attitudes of the vast majority of canadians towards marginalized and racialized communities canada. They maintain as a welcoming place for all regardless of race religion gender or sexuality on this installment of the munk debates challenge the essence of these arguments by debating. The motion be it resolved. Canada is a systemically racist country. Arguing for the motion is parameter. She's a race and gender calmest at the toronto star as well as the papers internal ombudsman arguing against the motion is rupa superman yet. She is a national post columnist and distinguished fellow at the asia pacific foundation. Cherie rupa welcome to the munk debates higher very much looking for today's debates our resolution. Today be it. Resolved candidate is a systemically raise. This country has been a feature of national debate over The last period of time. We are in a matter of A week or so going to be celebrating our national holiday canada day as this is a good opportunity to kind of reflect on the state of our nation out as it comes to how we think about canada and whether we are in fact a tolerant society so to have the opportunity to connect with the two of you who have very different views and perspectives on this issue. Informed by your own experiences is really a pleasure indeed. So thank you on. Behalf of the munk debates community For being part of this conversation as i mentioned our resolution simple to the point be resolved. Canada is a systemically racist country. Sri you're going to be arguing in favor of the motion. So i'm going to two minutes on the clock and turn the program over to you. Thanks thanks for having me. I'd like to begin by saying that. There are certain statements that people find soothing. Now that's those who have never experienced racism or those who experience it lightly but still benefit from the system of white supremacy and the statements. Go something like this. Canada is a nation of nice polite. People canada is an epidemic of multiculturalism. And yes we have a few things that we've done that are wrong in the past of that was in the past Essentially force of good and benevolent project. And when these statements come from immigrants and refugees they are doubly soothing in fact gratitude is the only statement that is allowed the only sentiment that's allowed to feed us and immigrants because any critique is viewed ingratitude. So this kind of a box you know one that sectors be. Both lines is an integral feature in all appreciates these exist. All around the world but the oppression that prominent candidates stomach racism and like to divide our understanding of systemic racism into two parts. One does it exist and to what do we do about it. My position that canada is systematically racist is founded on a among evidence anecdotal statistical visual analytical. But i believe that the position that canada's not systemically racist is based on assumptions and feelings such as fear or it's motivated by profit because denial is extremely in something to black and first nations initially maty people who have suffered criminal and genocidal acts of his face. violence committed against them. you know people who've been tortured. They've been terrorized centuries and they continue to suffer today and i think denial of serves invaluable function to the project of white supremacy. You know because every time the gun position seems like it's moving towards. What do we do about it. Denial pulses back to that. I spot doesn't exist and as long as we keep arguing about this point does it really exist than the denial means. We need no change. We need not flexible. We need no accountability. And denial becomes complicity. We were at this point off the last. Summer's protest for black lives. When be boats such as cubic premier. Francois go said that there was no systemic racism and quebec. I'm happy to note that since then. There has been a fundamental shift in canadians understanding off. Systemic racism you friend. Today's discussion as a civic organization. But i want to note that for those who are most impacted by racism. This is not just a conversation or an abstract level discussion. It's a topic about life and death their life there that.