Winnipeggers
Oppose Honourary Degree for War Criminal Madeleine Albright
On October 16,
Lloyd Axworthy, the Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg, bestowed an honourary Doctor of
Laws degree on former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. This act,
which Axworthy managed to keep secret until just days
before the ceremony, was protested by many students and faculty members from
both the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba,
who objected to bestowing anhonourary
degree on a known war criminal.
During the past
few years, Axworthy has made a name for himself as a
vocal opponent of the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush. However, by honouring Madeleine Albright he is demonstrating that his
opposition to Bush is not opposition to the crimes of U.S.
imperialism, but merely a matter of the spin that is put on those crimes. Axworthy is one of those supporters of the U.S. Democratic
Party who attempts to portray the Democrats in general,
and the administration of Bill Clinton in particular, as being enlightened and
humanitarian in their foreign policy.
Even during her
acceptance speech Albright unintentionally refuted Axworthy’s
claims. She stated that, despite her objections to the Bush invasion of Iraq, she believes that Canada should actively participate in the
efforts of the Bush regime to bring “democracy” and “reconstruction” to Iraq. She also
agreed with Axworthy that the Bush administration’s
ignoring of the NAFTA dispute mechanism was deplorable, despite the fact that the
current trade war was actually initiated by the Clinton administration, which
similarly ignored every decision of the NAFTA dispute resolution panel which
went against the U.S. government. Honouring such a
person does a disservice to the students and alumni of the University of Winnipeg
and to the Canadian people as a whole.