Mark Carney and The Clash

At Davos, Canada's Prime Minister admitted that he knew all along that international law was being violated, yet he chose to say nothing until now.

Prince George, BC, January 29, 2026 - In an April 2025 interview with the infamous Nardwuar, Mark Carney revealed to the world that in 1982, he saw the British punk rock band The Clash play live, and that he was a fan of the band.

This struck me as a very curious statement from a banker and conservative politician. The Clash espoused the ideals of Marxism wrapped within a revolutionary, anti-establishment message of justice for the oppressed. I stated to a friend, “Maybe Mark Carney liked The Clash, but I don’t think he ever really listened to The Clash.”

After Carney’s recent speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, I’m no longer so sure. He stated, “For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order….We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false, that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient, that trade rules were enforced asymmetrically, and we knew that international law applied with varied rigour, depending on the identity of the accused or the victim. This fiction was useful, and American hegemony in particular helped provide public goods, open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security and support for frameworks for resolving disputes.”

Carney gained praise around the world for saying the quiet part out loud. Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has always been recognized for his integrity, said, “This is basically Chomsky’s foreign policy critique laid bare,” referring to Noam Chomsky, the outspoken Jewish-American public intellectual.

Western human rights advocates were called “communists” during the Cold War, and “terrorists” in the 21^st century for pointing out that our countries do not live up to our self-professed image as advocates for human rights. Yet, the former head of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England just revealed to the Davos elite that he knew we were right all along, and they applauded in agreement.

Carney knew that people in the global south were suffering at the hands of politicians and business leaders in the wealthy and powerful countries of the world who were violating international law. From the halls of power, Carney watched this happening, yet he chose to say nothing.

In essence, Donald Trump is calling out the elite of the world for their hypocrisy. Trump is the ultimate bully. He knows that the entire world is terrified by the American military, including the arrogant leaders of the global north. They now recognize that, in the eyes of Trump, they are no different than Nicolas Maduro; their citizens are no more valuable to him than the people of Palestine.

Knowing that Trump has his sights on Canada, Carney chose to admit that he is a hypocrite, and called on his Davos allies to come up with a new strategy to deal with the Americans. Does this, however, have any chance of success?

It has been interesting to watch the response of Canadians to Carney’s speech. Like the Davos elites, opposition leader Pierre Poilievre applauded Carney’s speech, but then, seemingly to save face, launched into a disjointed criticism of Carney’s resource extraction and economic policies, and called for more military spending.

The New Democratic Party is going through a leadership race, and discussion of Carney's speech took centre stage in a recent leadership debate. The consensus among contenders reflects the sentiment of many Canadians, with front-runner Heather McPherson, a Member of Parliament from Alberta, stating, “In order to protect human rights, in order to do what we need to do around the world, we require a government that actually has moral clarity, moral courage, and that’s not the government that we have right now.… There is no protection of human rights unless every single person’s human rights are protected.”

It seems that Mark Carney always knew that The Clash was right about the international world order. The choice today is between living according to the ideals of international law, or being consumed by our own hypocrisy.