A calendar for the year 2008, dedicated to the struggles of the international working class for peace and socialism. Featuring notable dates, short biographical sketches, plus poetry, speeches, and writings by Che Guevara, Clara Zetkin, Norman Bethune, James Connolly, Emiliano Zapata, Nikos Beloyannis, Dolores Ibarruri, V.I. Lenin, Pablo Neruda, Gladys Marin, Tim Buck, Nazim Hikmet, Ho Chi Minh, and Salvador Allende. Available for $10 plus $2 postage from People's Voice, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.

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  DOFASCO: A BREAKTHROUGH FOR STEELWORKERS?

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

By Sam Hammond

In the 1930's a member of Local 105 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers took an electrician's job in the Dominion Foundries and Steel Company (Dofasco). Also a member of the Communist Party of Canada, he organized the first SWOC (Steelworkers Organizing Committee) chartered local in Canada - Local 1004 of the United Steelworkers of America.

     Harry Hunter was eventually fired by Clifton W. Sherman, the head robber baron of Dofasco. Harry became the first employee of the SWOC in Canada and laid the groundwork for the famous Hamilton Local 1005 at Stelco's Hilton works, which is still alive and fighting today.

     Local 1004 fell into oblivion and unfortunately didn't survive long enough for the post-war resurgence of industrial unionism. Harry Hunter was fired in the steel union's anti-communist purges carried out by  Phillip Murray and Charlie Millard, but went to work immediately for the United Electrical Workers Union which organized three large Westinghouse plants in Hamilton. Later he worked full time as a Communist Party organizer and played an important role on Hamilton City Council for many years.

     The first Steel local in Canada at Dofasco is long forgotten, and the courageous efforts of left militant workers like Harry Hunter have been either forgotten or purposely obscured by historical revisionism. Labour legend has it that the implementation of profit-sharing and a carefully nurtured sense of community implemented by the Dofasco corporate brass have made the second largest steel producer in Canada un-organizable.

     But legend is legend, and the truth is there has never been a massive serious attempt to organize Dofasco by the Steelworkers, who were too busy in the 40's and 50's raiding Mine Mill and UE to organize much of anything unless workers came pounding at the door. I have lived in Hamilton since I was born in 1941, and I have been involved in Hamilton labour since 1961; in my opinion, the organizing attempts have been half-hearted.

     Stelco, part of the 1946 Hamilton Labour war, and Dofasco, notoriously unorganized, have both disappeared in the cauldron of Free Trade neo-liberal foreign take-overs. Stelco is now US Steel and Dofasco is now Arcelor-Mittal. The U.S. and Euro-Asian imperialists have divvied up Hamilton's waterfront, eyeing the windfalls of ownership as they compete globally for resources and markets.

     This largest of Canadian industrial cities has felt the effect of globalization and Free Trade like no other. We have lost the manufacturing enterprises of Massey-Ferguson, a Studebaker auto plant, Otis Elevator, Proctor and Gamble, Canadian Porcelain, three Westinghouse plants, Frost Fence and Wire, International Harvester, Hoover appliances, Dominion Glass and the American Can Company, and literally dozens of peripheral secondary plants and suppliers. The products these plants made now arrive in our city on trucks carrying containers from ships and rail, acquired from off shore or other parts of the Americas. Tens of thousands of lost jobs, but still we survive in a sort of industrial twilight zone created by a succession of Liberal and Tory governments that have peddled us as commodities for sale - cheap.

     In this twilight zone we still produce even more and better quality steel with less than 25% of the 1960's work force. The Steelworkers union is still in Stelco, and has fought its way through bankruptcy protection and past bottom-feeding capitalist speculators. Overall, the union has represented Hamilton steelworkers very well.

     The so-called "profit sharing" plan at the now Arcelor-Mittal plant (still called Dofasco in local vernacular), is really an employee investment fund: the company matches employee contributions up to a ceiling and pays dividends on the employee share, according to a corporate controlled percentage supposedly based on annual profits. Employees receive lump sum or other payments on retirement, really based on their own investment.

     In a real profit sharing plan, workers receive a portion of the profits they have created. The Dofasco plan is not this at all. It is a hybrid, and in this writer's opinion, there has never been a thorough and public comparison of this plan with the real benefits of the Steelworkers Union pension and benefits plan. The Dofasco workers are very edgy right now, because in a non-union situation the plan could fall under the axe at any time at the whim of their new owners, and what would they have left?

     The corporate myth is unravelling. The myth of a corporate family where there have been no problems for almost seventy years, no grievances, no health and safety grievances, no unfair dismissals and no need for representation at the Labour Board, is digestible only by those who believe in Bugs Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. The rest of us know better and Dofasco workers are very uneasy.

     Besides this general uneasiness there is a feature at Dofasco that is the direct result of a non-union environment. The amount of "contracting in" of labour not directly employed by Dofasco (cleaning, maintenance and engineering services) is only known to the corporation, but it is a serious quantity.

     On Thursday, March 20, on the front page of Hamilton's only large daily newspaper, The Spectator, is a half page picture of Wayne Fraser with the headline "The Dofasco Choice". Under the picture is this caption: "For Decades, the steel company founded by the Sherman family fought fiercely to keep the union out. Today, United Steelworkers leader Wayne Fraser makes history by walking through Dofasco's gates. He has permission to ask workers if they want a union." Wow! Permission?

     Apparently USW and ArcelorMittal have similar agreements at their US plants. ArcelorMittal purchased outright International Steel Group, which had cornered a majority of US steel manufacturing through the purchase of plants under bankruptcy protection, then re-tooled at the expense of retirees and reduced pension and health benefits. The purchase injected the Euro-Asian interests into US manufacturing in a rather large way.

     Under the USW-Arcelor Mittal Dofasco agreement, the company will issue a letter to 3500 workers from the desk of vice-president Andy Harshaw, where the workers are "strongly encouraged to consider" the union pitch. Union Reps will be escorted by company officials to different work areas to address the workers and make the argument for unionization. If a majority of workers agree, they will elect from amongst themselves members to comprise a negotiating committee which will at some point present a contract for ratification. If the contract is ratified, the plant will automatically be unionized and the Steelworkers will become the certified bargaining agent.

     What is important here, and is shared by the CAW-Magna deal, is that ratification of the first agreement and certification of the union are the same. One vote. What is different, at least with the limited information, is that the first agreement will be hammered out by a committee of elected workers free of management input, instead of being presented by a union-corporate committee as at CAW-Magna. Also the Steelworkers have made a big effort to point out that the right to strike has not been and will not be compromised.

     Is this a legitimate new organizing strategy, or another corporate-union partnership? The jury is still out on this one and will stay out until more than the initial sketchy information is available. There are definitely perks for the corporation, and we must analyze these as well as the union benefits to make a sound judgment. Until this becomes clearer, we must hope for the overall welfare of these workers who have been riding the benefits of  unionized Steelworkers struggles for generations without being in the family.

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BEST CASE/WORST CASE SCENARIOS FOR VANCOUVER CAMPAIGN

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

By Kimball Cariou

The stage is being set for municipal elections across BC on November 15, but nowhere is the scene more crowded than in Vancouver, where half a dozen mayoralty candidates are jockeying for attention. Electoral divisions on the left and centre of the spectrum leave the right-wing Non-Partisan Alliance in the pole position at the moment, but that could still change. If not, the civic left, represented by the Coalition of Progressive Electors for 40 years, could be squeezed out of the race, with disastrous consequences for working people and the poor.

     On the positive side, the NPA also remains divided between supporters of Mayor Sam Sullivan (a federal Conservative) and councillor Peter Ladner (a Liberal). Faced with a mayoralty nomination announcement by Ladner, Sullivan quickly agreed to drop the NPA's rule against challenging incumbents. The move signals Sullivan's confidence that he has the backing of the majority of NPA members, despite widespread voter unhappiness about his autocratic style and his pro-big business stance on key issues.

     Some read Ladner's challenge as a tactical move to keep Liberals inside the NPA's "big tent" in the wake of yet another mayoralty announcement. Cold-shouldered by long-time NPA colleagues for his own independent streak, Parks Commissioner Alan de Genova (also a Liberal) recently bolted to Vision Vancouver, the centrist group formed by ex-Mayor Larry Campbell and several city councillors originally elected as part of the labour-backed COPE majority in 2002.

     After leaving COPE, Vision won four council seats in 2005. But the new party has been an uneasy alliance of mainstream New Democrats, federal Liberals, and independents. Largely dependent on financial backing from "progressive" developers and professionals, Vision has also retained the support of some sections of the trade union movement. But if de Genova wins the mayoralty nomination, it would indicate that Vision's Liberal wing has gained the upper hand, to the dismay of some NDPers who had seen the new party as their surrogate on the municipal scene.

     Two NDP-aligned candidates are also seeking the Vision nomination: Vancouver-Fairview MLA Gregor Robertson, and ex-COPE city councillor Raymond Louie.

     The crowded Vision race has overshadowed a growing public demand for unity of the centre-left forces against the NPA, which had seemed vulnerable after Sullivan dragged out last year's strikes by municipal workers. Appeals to Robertson in particular to run as an independent backed by both Vision and COPE have gone unanswered. Most recently, Vision backroom figure Geoff Meggs threw his hat into the ring for a city council nomination, another sign that Vision insiders are distinctly cool towards any cooperation with COPE.

     From the COPE perspective, a new opinion survey conducted by Ladner brought some encouraging news. The poll of 400 residents shows the three parties virtually neck-and-neck, indicating that COPE's bedrock public support has not been wiped out by the political infighting on city council. However, COPE seems unlikely to receive the levels of labour backing which have been essential for its campaigns over the last few decades.

     There has been a grassroots movement to urge COPE's lone city councillor, David Cadman, to run for mayor, especially if de Genova wins the Vision nomination. In that scenario, Cadman would appeal to a wide range of voters disenchanted with Conservative Sullivan and Liberal de Genova, who share common positions on most issues. Labour backing for Vision would start to shift back towards COPE, giving it the muscle to rebuild across the city. Cadman could become mayor with several COPE councillors at City Hall.

     On the other hand, gambling on an unsuccessful Cadman campaign could leave COPE with nobody on city council. And it remains to be seen how Vision's mid-June nomination meeting will play out. A Robertson nomination could still leave room for Vision-COPE cooperation, such as a deal to limit the numbers of candidates by each party, maximising chances to defeat the NPA on council, school board and park board.

     A Raymond Louie campaign could be more problematic. On one hand, it would be difficult for COPE to play the spoiler in Louie's bid to become the city's first Chinese-Canadian mayor. However, he is still remembered for abandoning important COPE positions during his 2002-05 term on council, for example by voting for higher transit fares.

     In the meantime, social problems continue to mount here in "Shangri-La By The Sea." Homelessness keeps rising as home ownership and rental housing become more expensive, and the NPA-led city council has passed yet another tax shift, moving more of the burden for services away from the corporate sector and onto homeowners and small business. Preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics have shifted valuable resources from more urgent priorities, and Mayor Sullivan's "eco-density" strategy has been widely condemned as a cover for imposing the burden of new growth onto under-serviced east side neighbourhoods.

     This is a recipe for voter anger, but until the three major parties settle their slates (the NPA will start with a partial set of nominations in early June), the electoral picture here remains murky.

     Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, COPE could make a comeback from its 2005 losses. But in a full-blown three-way race, COPE could potentially suffer further defeats, and the NPA could be re-elected with little opposition at City Hall, crippling the movement for progressive civic reform during the pre- and post-Olympics period. Time is running out to forge some measure of unity to avert this worst-case scenario.

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  WINNIPEG'S "KEYSTONE KOPS"

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

PV Manitoba bureau

WINNIPEG - "Hole-eee sh%@!" were the words that escaped from Judy Wasylycia-Leis' lips as the police cars and paddy wagon cut across Main Street towards the crowd, sirens wailing, engines revving, lights flashing. Standing beside her, I could see that the Winnipeg North NDP Member of Parliament was incredulous at how crazy the situation had become.

     An hour earlier on March 15, a peaceful rally calling for the withdrawal of Canadian troops took place in front of the Canadian Grain Commission building. Largely silent, we marched in a circle on the sidewalk with signs and banners. Passing cars, transit buses, and semi-truck air horns honked and blasted in agreement with our modest but resolute picket.

     A few speakers noted the significance of the event: the fifth anniversary of the opening of the Iraq theatre of the on-going war. Another point raised is that Canadians must realize that the Afghanistan theatre is part of the same war, not a separate war as the government spin doctors claim. Calls to defeat Harper were made, and speakers expressed anger that the opposition Liberals do anything but oppose the Tories.

     Across the street, a number of unmarked vans and cars took photographs of all the demonstrators. Indignant, the crowd moved en masse at the next crossing signal and openly questioned the city police about their actions. Wasylycia-Leis, among others, grilled the officers, who remained in the vehicles.

     The rally was about to disperse when a private security guard dressed in a shirt, tie and blazer came out. In an angry and raised voice, he shouted "this is private property!" and "you are loitering."

     A couple of meters away stood a bus stop. Shouts of "how can we be loitering?... why are the police here taking our pictures?... Aren't they loitering?" came from the now irritated crowd.

     The security guard responded that he could let the police on the property and chose to do so. He continued to provoke the assembly, and then came the paddy wagon. People were getting instinctively afraid and angry. This had clearly become a farce.

     It is fitting that this all took place in the Keystone province, on the Ides of March and the Day against Police Brutality. It is a bitter irony that in the war to bring "democracy and freedom" abroad, we felt like we were on the way to a totalitarian state.

     I asked Judy Wasylycia-Leis what the police answered about why they were spying on us. "(They told me) they were doing it to protect us... they do this (surveillance) at every demonstration," she said, not impressed at the answer the cops gave her.

     (According to the book Police Crowd Control, by Capt. Charles Beene, the police take pictures for evidence when they prosecute a protester in court. No mention about protection).

     Another protester exclaimed at the fast police response time and complained to an officer about slow response to violent crimes in the North End (in reference to the 500 missing women in Canada). The police commanded photographers not to take photos. "How come you can take our pictures?!" a woman protested.

     We resumed dispersing. A police officer went into the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange next door. By observing the state's response to the protest, I felt that we were doing the right thing. The powers that be see peace activists as dangerous enough to keep watch over. The Tory government in Ottawa and big business City Hall, what a bunch of control freaks!

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TASER ABUSE STILL UNCHECKED

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

People's Voice Editorial

An RCMP Taser cover-up has renewed the simmering controversy over police abuse of the 50,000-volt stun guns. The Canadian Press and CBC report that the Mounties refuse to release crucial details recorded each time an officer uses a Taser: who is being hit, whether they were armed, why they were fired on and whether they were injured.

     The media obtained forms under the Access to Information Act showing 4,000 RCMP Taser incidents over the past seven years. Incidents have risen to more 1,000 annually in 2006 and 2007, from about 600 in 2005. An estimated three-quarters of Taser victims between 2002 and 2005 were unarmed. As the Globe and Mail reported on March 25, "several of those reports suggested a pattern of stun-gun use to keep suspects in line, rather than to defuse major threats."

     This pattern is confirmed in Vancouver, where a Freedom of Information request recently compelled the police department to post details of about 150 Taser incidents from 2002 to early 2007. In many cases, police fired as soon as someone displayed a "fighting stance," or to get non-violent suspects to follow orders, recalling the Robert Dziekanski death at Vancouver International Airport last October.

     The facts are clear: Canadian police forces increasingly use Tasers as a cheap and easy method to stun civilians into submission. This powerful weapon, so easily abused, is a menace to the public and should be removed from police arsenals.

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GLOBAL PROTESTS MARK IRAQ WAR ANNIVERSARY

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

PV Vancouver Bureau

Five years after imperialist bombs started killing Iraqis, the illegal U.S./UK war against Iraq remains deeply unpopular around the planet. Opposition to continuing the war is a majority sentiment which continues to build in the United States and Britain, giving reason to hope that forcing an end to the occupation is possible.

     The fifth anniversary of the war was marked by protests in dozens of countries, some on the March 15-16 weekend, others on March 19 (the actual date), or on March 22-23. While the turnouts were not as large as during the first two years of the war, the geographic breadth of the demonstrations is a strong indication that billions of people are sick of the carnage and waste created by Bush's aggression.

     Over twenty Canadian cities and towns held rallies, most on March 15, two days after Stephane Dion's Liberals voted with the Harper Conservatives in Parliament to extend Canada's military mission in Kandahar to 2011.

     Several days earlier, Dion was challenged by anti-war protesters as he campaigned with Bob Rae during the Toronto Centre byelection. Demonstrators from the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War entered a room at the St. Lawrence Market where the Liberal campaign event was taking place, pushing toward the stage. A spokesperson for the Coalition urged the Liberals to side with the New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois in the parliamentary vote. Dion's party rejected that advice, turning against the majority of Canadians who want an end to the mission now, or by the originally scheduled February 2009 date at the latest.

      About a thousand people took to the streets on March 15 in Toronto, despite the frigid weather which continued to grip much of Canada. Nearly that number turned out in Vancouver for a rally organized by the StopWar peace coalition.

     Internationally, the biggest anti-war protest took place in London, where tens of thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square before marching through the historic centre of the city, ending up in Parliament Square. Rallies were also held in Glasgow and other cities, organized by the Stop the War UK coalition and its affiliates.

     Thousands of protesters marched in Washington, DC, on March 19, one of many actions held across the United States by United For Peace And Justice and other groups. The Washington demonstration was just one part of a week of UFPJ activities.

     As public opinion in the United States swings increasingly against the war, growing numbers of protesters are engaging in direct actions. UFPJ held some fifteen actions designed to disrupt Washington, including offices of military contractors. One target was the American Petroleum Institute, where demonstrators chanted "No blood for Oil." Others barricaded the national headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service, where 32 were arrested on March 19.

     Another highlight of recent U.S. protests was the Winter Soldier hearings called by Iraq Veterans Against the War to draw attention to atrocities by U.S. forces. The event was deliberately similar to the testimony by Vietnam vets in 1971 which helped blow the lid off the horrors of that war.

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YCL CALLS TO ERADICATE RACISM

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

On March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racism, the Young Communist League of Canada issued a statement joining "with all those demanding an end to
racist wars, environmental destruction, inequality, and attacks on civil and democratic rights." 
     The statement goes on to say:
     March 21 marks the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, when police used low-flying jet fighters and armoured vehicles to attack a non-violent demonstration of over 7,000 South Africans against Apartheid's passbook laws. The attack killed 67 people and wounded 186 protestors.

     Being born non-white is not a crime. But in Canada, it usually means you are sentenced to a lifetime of systemic racial oppression. This cannot be understood as simply a matter of individual prejudice. In the grand sweep of our country's history, genocide, colonization, national oppression, racism, sexual assault and sexism, discrimination against immigrants, homophobia and other forms of oppression have and continue to play a major role in the functioning of Canadian capitalism.

     The ideology of sexism and racism are also used as a rationale and enforcer of the most brutal polices of our government - including Canada's participation in coup and occupation of Haiti, the war in Afghanistan, and Canada's support for the ongoing Israeli occupation and oppression of Palestine.

     There can be no peaceful co-existence with racism and with the violence it invariably spawns. The ideology racism is not abstract. It is used to divide and defeat the working class.

     We demand respect for and call for the defense of civil and democratic rights, including the elimination of racial profiling by the police and the civilian and community control of police and prisons; reform to immigration and refuge laws; strengthening and enforcement of hate laws; support of black-focused schools; and the enacting and enforcing equality in education, employment, healthcare and housing as a priority.

     We express our solidarity with the young anti-racist activists, one of whom was a Communist Party election candidate, whose home was recently fire-bombed by neo-Nazis during the Alberta election.

     We note with alarm the growing racism campaign against immigrants and racialized communities including "anti-Islamic racism" or "Islamophobia," a new label for an old form of racism that is today viciously used to justify oppression and imperialist policy.

     We demand an end to the national oppression and racism Aboriginal peoples (including First Nations Inuit, and Metis peoples) face; immediate action for just and early settlement of Aboriginal land claims; Treaty implementation; solidarity with Aboriginal struggles including Sun Peaks BC, Grassy Narrows Manitoba, and Caledonia, Ontario; recognition of self-determination and self-government; implementation of the Kelowna accord at a minimum and the signing of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by Canada; support of the Native Youth Movement and their opposition to the 2010 BC Olympic games profiteering; removing the current federal cap on core funding to First Nations; and an end to the Canadian government's policies of suicide, genocide and assimilation.

     We demand that everyone should have the right to dignity, life and justice, and access to employment, labour rights, education, health care, sports, culture, and technology.

     To push back racism and sexism will take a mighty and united struggle. Together we can beat it by uniting all races, ages, and genders.

     The capitalists will never end racism on their own because it serves their economic self-interest. For youth & students, the working class and the people as a whole, racism holds back our demands for a better future. Racism is not an advantage to white youth. There are only setbacks when there is no unity.

     Sexism, racism, and class exploitation are inseparably linked and impact all our lives, but through unity and militancy we can defeat this system of oppression. In the longer term, socialism is a historic necessity if humanity is to win that battle and reach the stage of real democracy. The struggle to defeat racism not a distraction from the struggle for socialism, it is part of that struggle, and continues after socialism has been won. Socialism creates conditions to profoundly deepen the anti-racist struggle.

     It is not only possible to bring an end to racial oppression and inequality in our country, it is a dire necessity.

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THE ANTI-CHINA CAMPAIGN

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

People's Voice Editorial

Canada has joined other NATO states in recognizing Kosovo independence, and now a campaign has begun to boycott the Beijing Olympics around the Tibet issue.

     Both cases involve a long history of imperialist efforts to fan separatist forces, with the aim of destabilizing and breaking up countries which are reluctant to submit to western dictates. Similar strategies have been attempted in Nicaragua and South Africa, and can be seen today in Venezuela and Bolivia, among others, often using regional or tribal elites to raise the cry of independence for their own narrow interests. The CIA's intervention in China during the late 1950s backed the Dalai Lama's brutal feudal clique. The point is that some "national liberation movements" are tools of imperialist divide and rule tactics.

     Given the Canadian state's stubborn refusal to accept the right of self-determination for Aboriginal peoples and Quebec, this country should certainly avoid whipping up anti-China sentiments. The underlying motive for such efforts has nothing to do with popular liberation; in fact, many of the most outspoken anti-China voices reject the legitimate demands of Aboriginal peoples and Quebec within Canada. The real goal is to isolate China, which right-wing sections of big capital view as a potential geopolitical rival to the US Empire.

     The economic base of the sabre-rattlers is the U.S. military-industrial complex, represented in the White House by the Bush Republicans and in Canada by the Harper Tories. These forces constantly encourage the most jingoistic and chauvinist views, creating new "enemies" and new reasons to step up profitable military production in preparation for the next war.

     The western imperialist powers which committed genocide against indigenous peoples and which occupy Iraq and Afghanistan and which deny self-determination for the Palestinians have no right to lecture the peoples of China about human rights and democracy. Rather than encouraging the tragic violence in Lhasa, the Harper government should respect demands for social justice and national self-determination in our own country.

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WAS U.S. INVOLVED IN KILLING FARC-EP LEADERS?

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

PV Vancouver Bureau

A March 12 article posted at http://www.venezuelanalysis.com by Acadia University assistant professor and solidarity activist James J. Brittain suggests that there may have been U.S. involvement in recent deadly attacks which killed high-ranking leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army.

     Titled "Was the United States Involved in Recent Attacks Targeting the FARC-EP?", Brittain's article notes that the United States has remained surprisingly silent on these attacks, even though successive U.S. administrations have backed the Colombian state's war against the insurgents.

     On March 1, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez and other officials sanctioned an air and ground assault which resulted in the deaths of Comandante Raul Reyes (a FARC-EP Secretariat member) and other leading members of the rebel army.

     Hours later Defence Minister Santos said that Colombian forces began the operation with an air assault followed by ground combat. Santos claimed that intelligence information related to a satellite phone used by Comandante Reyes had enabled the Colombian military to pin-point the location of the FARC encampment.

     While the U.S. backed the military raid, which was condemned as illegal by most members of the Organization of American States, Washington had little more to say about this military achievement by its principal Latin American ally.

     As Brittain reports, a high ranking official within the Colombian Defence Ministry has leaked that the United States was involved in the March 1 operation. Through satellite intelligence gathering over southern Colombia and northern Ecuador, the U.S. had retrieved signals from the FARC-EP's 48th Front, and handed over this information to the Colombian police. Colombian officials were able to process the data and find the exact location of Comandante Reyes. "The leaked information demonstrated that the US was, at the very least, indirectly involved in the actions of March 1st, 2008," notes Brittain.

     A week later, Ecuador's Defence Minister Wellington Sandoval announced that further investigation of the area targeted during the March 1 attack revealed that the site had been bombarded with incredible precision. Five "smart bombs" were detonated within a 50 metre diameter, a virtually impossible achievement given the military capabilities of the Colombian Air and Armed Forces. The arms used during the incursion, Sandoval said, can only be deployed by aircraft with the capacity to fly at a considerable height and velocity, weaponry that is not found within the Colombian Air Force or any other Latin American nation. In fact, only the U.S. air force has such capabilities.

     Brittain concludes that "it is quite likely that the United States played more than an informal role in the aggression."

     Less well publicized in North America was the murder of FARC-EP Comandante Iván Rios.

     On March 7, Defence Minister Santos again took to the airwaves in Colombia, announcing that Rios, another member of the Secretariat, had been killed on March 4 by a FARC-EP member named Rojas and two other FARC-EP combatants. Santos claimed that the killers had severed Rios' right hand to prove his identity, and then taken his laptop and identification to the Colombian Army and intelligence services. The murder apparently occurred during a Colombian military operation designed to capture Comandante Rios after receiving intelligence that he was located in a high-elevation region in the Department of Caldas.

     Confusion immediately began to circulate around the Santos account, since another state official within the Prosecutor's Office had reported a different version. This anonymous official had prematurely contacted the press to report that Comandante Rios had been killed on March 7th during an attack carried out by an elite wing of the Colombian Army. Adding to the questions, the Colombian state has given no details about the identity of "Rojas."

     Brittain notes the difficulty of believing the Santos account, since "each Comandante associated with the Secretariat has a cadre of more than a dozen immediate personnel which are not only responsible for the Comandante's protection but oversee the ongoings of the guerrilla camp..." All meetings with any Comandante are coordinated each day and formally scheduled, and take place under heavily guarded conditions. Brittain asks, "How is it then that not only one but three armed FARC-EP combatants were able to violently enter into Comandante's Rios' barracks directly in front of an entire FARC-EP Front, which includes two FARC-EP Companies and two FARC-EP Guerrilla Squads which contain, on average, at least twelve combatants per squad?"

     He calls the Santos story "incredibly simplistic," noting further that the tactic of cutting off limbs "has been systemically employed by paramilitaries, privately funded `security forces' and right-wing civilian vigilante groups dating back to the 1940s and increasingly carried out over the past decade."

     Brittain's conclusion is that the details of the Rios murder are "symptomatic of those carried out by Colombia's many far-right paramilitary groups", but that "the Colombian state cannot afford to have a paramilitary group claim responsibility for the murder of Comandante Rios for this would, once again, demonstrate that the state has either failed in their political capacity to demobilize the paramilitary forces and power, or more accurately, that the state has been complicit in covering up the actions of Colombian paramilitarism..."

     Countless researchers and journalists, he notes, "have exposed how reactionary forces dress up in fatigues making themselves appear to be FARC-EP combatants. Paramilitaries have regularly presented themselves as members of the FARC-EP so as to commit atrocities against civilians in the hopes of creating false condemnations aimed at the insurgency."

     Brittain also suggests a plausible motive for these latest developments, and for the possibility of direct U.S. involvement in the killings. The Bush administration has had great difficulty in getting Congress to pass the new Free-Trade Agreement with Colombia, since many Democratic Party politicians are concerned about unpunished atrocities committed by the paramilitaries, and the failure of the Colombian/US military strategies. "If the Bush administration was able to claim even the slightest victory over the FARC-EP then they could argue that their counter-insurgency funding has been successful and that a new FTA should be supported in Congress," writes Brittain.

     US Special Forces and Marines have been illegally engaging in counter-insurgency campaigns in Colombia for years, he adds. Even though the legal number of US troops in the country cannot exceed 800, thousands have been operating in campaigns against the FARC-EP.

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SA TEACHERS OPTIMISTIC, SAYS SALOME SITHOLE

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

People's Voice recently interviewed Salome Sithole, the Vice-President for Sports, Arts and Culture in the 230,000-member South African Democratic Teachers' Union, who was in Toronto for a convention of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF). Sithole, a member of the South African Communist Party, lives in Whitbank, Mpulanga Province, a small city about 106 kilometers from Johannesburg.

People's Voice: What changes have you seen since the end of apartheid in education?

Salome Sithole: That would be integration. I am an elementary school teacher and I began teaching in 1989, until 2006 when I was elected to National office. After the 1994 election, there was an exodus of some black communities into the cities, moving into houses and neighbourhoods we could not before. We could not go to certain schools, we could not organize a teachers union - in 1989 I was brought before a high court [and charged with being a trouble maker] for organizing the union. But I was not arrested, and we had good lawyers. Times were changing and in 1990 we organized SADTU.

     Before democracy, there was a lot of oppression - what the principal said goes. For example, if you started at a school you would be given a job, no questions asked. You would be given the choir, even if you had no experience in teaching music. They also dictated what we could wear...

     I once went to the Principal to inquire about my salary; I wanted to know when I would get a pay increase. This was logged as disobedience. So that does not happen either. The people enforcing this, the principals, were black. We were being oppressed by our own people!

People's Voice: What is your view about the recent changes in ANC leadership?

Sithole: We were involved in the process through COSATU, the trade union central of South Africa. We really pushed for leadership changes. The workers are powerful, they either make you or break you. But I think [the past ANC leaders] forgot. We are thinking the current leadership is a people's leadership. The fact that they come down to the people is important. Jacob Zuma went to the COSATU Central Executive to find out how they are doing, to ask what they are doing right, what they can do better. And we told him. Zuma is a humble person... There are problems, but Zuma's election indicates there will be changes. Education and nurses are a priority. Some of the nurses have recently negotiated raises in their salaries. So they are leaders for the people. We are all optimistic.

People's Voice: What is the perspective of the SACP on these developments?

Sithole: The SACP shares the same perspective, more or less, as COSATU. But South Africa is a capitalist country. We have to deal with that first. It is no more about racism, it is about economic inequality. Now there is economic segregation between have-nots and haves, the business people. We have political power, but not economic power. Maybe we can overcome this, make changes, and move towards socialism.

     In the immediate, the SACP is running a number of campaigns. There is the Red October Campaign, and our SACP demand for a social grant for children was recently implemented. Every child should get grants to be able to go to school, so they don't have to drop out. $180 a month can pay for school fees.

     There is also the Black-list campaign implemented by the SACP. This is not a political black-list, it is a list that prevents you from getting a bond or a house. It prevents you from buying anything. The list is of people who can not pay back loans immediately, they may be missing some months. So business people put them on a black list. We think this should be removed.

     The Red October campaign is also about banks. We have big capitalist banks, and we pay high interest rates. We think we should move away from this. Of course, the SACP can not establish a bank. The people should establish their own national bank.

People's Voice: Tell me about the struggle for accessible education.

Sithole: Before democracy there was a struggle by university students. Every one should have free education - this has been the demand... The new leadership have said finally that they will establish free university education up to the level of undergraduate. After undergraduate you will have to start paying.

     I think the lack of access to education has a larger influence on society, such as the crime rate. Youth drop out, and turn to crime to keep a livelihood. People look up to people who have things, and there are break-ins to homes, and cars, to get things. With more education, and jobs I think the crime rate would go down.

     I don't think that children should pay anything to access sports. But there is an organization, the United School Sports Association of South Africa, which before democracy used to charge extortionate fees. For example, if you have to participate in a local sports tournament, they would charge you 4,000 Rand. But a mother only earns 300 Rand a month. Most students rely on their mothers incomes. The fathers have either died from AIDS or they are working far away from home.

     Well, we fought until the two ministries signed an agreement. We also demanded that the USSASA be disbanded. But it wasn't, and today they are still trying to charge fees. The USSASA also said that teachers should not teach sports. Only USSASA people should. They said we should not teach sports because teachers go on strike.

People's Voice: What about privatization?

Sithole: Privatization is happening. They are privatizing water. We used to get clean running water. Now in Soweto you purchase a coupon and get so much water. Until you can pay, your water system is closed. So if you buy a coupon for 100 Rand, and it is used up on Friday, during the weekends the office is closed so you will go without water until Monday. People do their washing in buckets, saving water. The same is with electricity. You get charged 50 Rand for electricity, it is not as much as you can use.

     They've outsourced responsibility to the companies, and the companies cut corners. They don't use enough cleaner in the water. There are actually worms in the water. Once, we had to resort to bottled water, which is very expensive. But you have a choice: purchase bottled water, or drink the water with worms in it, and be prepared to die.

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PEOPLE'S POETS: NOT JUST A NAME

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

The People's Poets are three young Edmonton artists who make conscious Hip Hop. Active for just over a year, 4Life, Solidario, and Rosouljah grew up in Canada and share Latino roots. The group cites influences from Dead Prez and Common to Silvio Rodriguez, Violeta Parra and even Sting. Earlier this year, People's Voice spoke with the group about Hip Hop and the struggle for a better world.

People's Voice: What is the meaning of People's Poets?

Solidario: "We be the People's Poets and we believe another world is possible." I think it is very important the People's Poets is not just a name belonging to us. It is a name belonging to all of humanity, and poets who have always expressed the masses.

PV: Why Hip Hop?

Rosouljah: We like it, we've been listening to it our whole life. It is music from the marginalized. We grew up listening to folk music from our own homelands, which talked about social change. Today, Hip Hop is an accessible medium internationally. In every corner of the world, people are using it to raise consciousness.

Solidario: Red Hip Hop is a growing movement across Latin American and the Caribbean. We're not so much into Regitonne, which is really sexualized. Our approach is for the people, our perspective is revolutionary.

PV: Do you see connections between your struggles and black youth?

4Life: I've been inspired by the African American civil rights

movement, just like Malcolm X was an inspiration for Dead Prez. Hip Hop tries to also counter gang culture, and people on that level really inspired me as well.

Rosouljah: Most definitely. Racism is a dominant factor in the analysis of society. The reality of colonial history is all one history, and the way our people from the global south have been treated is an oppressive one.

Solidario: These are systems of oppression, racism and class intersect. The level of racism certain groups face in society will be different, but we will all be affected by class - women too.

PV: How did you become becoming politically conscious?

Rosouljah: I can remember going to the library at 13, looking at photographs of Chile and the Presidential Palace. President Salvador Allende at the window. And then - rubble. That made me realize I had to do something. This historical context was always very important. It wasn't until I was an adolescent that it all came together. I heard Sting's song "They Dance Alone." It wasn't until I heard that song that I began being more politically consciousness about what had happened in the past, and what is currently happening.

Solidario: My Dad was a political prisoner from Chile, we came to Canada as refugees. My father was active here in Chilean Communist Party, as well as unions, political and cultural movements. Outside of Latino folk music, I find hip hop artists speak about injustices, they also brought historical events to life in their music.

PV: What do you think about Latin America today?

4Life: Latin America's move toward the left definitely inspiration,

gives hope. I think when you are talking about this you're [talking

about the] youth movement.

Rosouljah: When a country like Venezuela gets over 80 percent of its petroleum back - for us this is a foretelling of a socialist future to come. Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba: they all want more for their people. There is huge inequality in South America. But people are becoming aware of who is responsible.

PV: How do you find Alberta?

Solidario: I've lived here since 1977. I've always met activist people. It is not what you see on the news. People in Alberta rallied against Bill 11, privatizing health care. There is also culture of resistance, and groups working for social change.

4Life: The reality is that there are so many sub-cultures, because of all the cultures here, because of the imbalance between rich and poor, you see radicals. In Edmonton you sometimes can't keep track of how many good things are going on every night.

PV: What are you doing now?

Solidario: Check out Myspace.com/peoplespoets. Our first event was the Day of Action for peace in March, our last event was just recently, during AIDS awareness - people know that we are committed. We also make an effort to be part of the movement, which is really important to us. If you are an artist you should be out there sharing your craft.

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EMPOWERING THE POOR: BENGAL STATE BUDGET

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

By B. Prasant, PV correspondent in India

In sharp contrast to India's central budget (see the March 16-31 PV), the budget for the 2008-09 financial year presented by Bengal's Communist-led Left Front government visibly prioritises the empowerment of the poor, placing emphasis on land development, agriculture, education, literacy, and mass health. In particular, small landholders and small traders will reap the biggest chunk of the financial and infrastructural benefits.

     Expanded opportunities for economic development will increase the growth of production and employment, widening the state's income base. The consequences of development-oriented, pro-people and pro-poor growth of the economy will expand over the comparatively backward societal tiers, and across the urban and rural expanses of Bengal.

     The budget totals Rs 12 billion (Indian rupees, the equivalent of $300 million Cdn), up from Rs 9 billion last year. What is noteworthy is that successive Left Front government budgets have been oriented towards the empowerment of the poor and the downtrodden, the weaker economic groups. Cutting across lines of caste, gender, religion, community, these budgets arch over the World Bank's grave pontifications about the "Third World urban-rural divide."

     The state's domestic product growth rate is expected to be 9%, just under the double-digit figures that could put the economy on the way to overheating. The total number of jobs to be generated makes for hopeful reading for the mass of the people, while throwing into theoretical disarray the right-wing economists of gloom-and-doom (and their so-called "left-leaning" underlings) who desperately seek to prop up the thesis of "economic liberalisation" at every level.

     The employment figures predicted (and here we are speaking of direct employment) are 3 million in agriculture, 25 million in industries, and 3 million in self-help groups and self-employment schemes.

     The Left Front government realises that the scope for employment depends largely on the empowerment of the poor and working masses possess at the ground level. A series of waves must be created through wider mass movements to make such politico-economic empowerment a reality.

     If the tiller is not empowered, employment opportunities in agriculture will go on shrinking, or at least not go up. If there is no empowerment of workers and the small entrepreneur, employment in industries will go down rather than up. Without the masses being empowered in the health and education sectors, there cannot be any increase in productivity and employment.

     The overall allocation for agriculture has been doubled to Rs one billion. The greatest strategy for empowerment of the rural poor in the villages is land reforms. The latest budget increases spending in this area from Rs 300 million to Rs 700 million. The state government will step up the process of purchasing land on the open market, handing it over to small peasants at no cost. A premium of up to 15% is paid to make land sellers find it attractively profitable to sell to the state government.

     Once the land is vested and then transferred, the government provides further support for agriculture, such as a shelter fund for poor peasants. The state's contribution for the provident fund scheme for landless agricultural labourers has been doubled in this year's budget, to bring in 1.5 million new beneficiaries.

     To increase the growth rate of agricultural production from just below 4% to over 4.5%, appropriate agricultural inputs will be made available to the cultivators. Irrigated land mass will be increased from the current 70.5% to 75% of the cultivated and cultivable land plots. The national rural employment guarantee (NREGA) projects are continuously augmented. To cope with the after-effects of the bird flu (4.4 million birds had to be culled), an extra Rs 400 million will be spent. The public distribution system will be further strengthened despite the non-cooperation of the union (central) government.

     With industrial development progressing in Bengal, the budget emphasises the twin processes of rehabilitation-compensation and professional on-the-job training plans for the land losers. An additional fund of Rs one billion has been created for this purpose alone.

     Ninety percent of Bengal's villages and townships have been brought under the electrification scheme, and 85% of the state is equipped with a constant supply of potable water. The health infrastructure of rural areas is undergoing further expansion and upgrades.

     In all, the finance minister of the state Left front government has placed a pro-poor, development oriented budget, with a deficit of just Rs 20 million, which is to be covered through taxing financially able groups of the population.

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CZECH COMMUNIST YOUTH LOSE APPEAL, BUT CONTINUE TO RESIST

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

On March 19, the trial to determine the legal status of the Czech Communist Youth Union (KSM) began. It ended a day later with the courts upholding an October 2006 decision to ban the organization by the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic.

     The KSM had filed an appeal against the Ministry's decision. Coincidentally or otherwise, the trial was finally scheduled to begin just three days before the 8th Congress of the KSM, which opened on March 22 in Prague.

     The Interior Ministry attack on the legal existence of the KSM started in November 2005, under a pretext that the KSM was engaged in activities restricted to political parties. This claim was baseless, since the Czech legal system defines the exclusive area of political parties as participation in parliamentary elections.

     The second line of attack targeted the Marxist character of the KSM. The Ministry demanded that the KSM renounce its political program, communist identity, goals, and theoretical basis in Marx, Engels and Lenin.

     The Interior Ministry later dropped these arguments, in favour of claiming that the KSM's goal to replace private ownership of the means of production with collective ownership was illegal. In response, the KSM organized an information campaign in the Czech Republic and abroad, filed an action against the decision of the Ministry, and intensified its public activities.

     The KSM has since gathered 150,000 names in a petition campaign against a plan to construct a US military base in the Czech Republic. The Communist youth have also kept up their struggle in defence of free education for all (threatened with a plan to introduce fees for university studies), and started a public campaign against the disastrous social and economic policies of the current right wing government.

     The KSM is refusing to submit to the court ruling, and its Congress was held as scheduled. They are calling on all supporters to publicize the growing anti-communism and violations of fundamental democratic rights, which have become state policy in the Czech Republic.

     For more information, visit http://www.solidnet.org.

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IMPERIALIST ORIGINS OF THE KOSOVO ISSUE

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3).

By Darrell Rankin

Kosovo is the site of a bloody battle in 1389, important in the history of the Serbian people's struggle for freedom from the Ottoman empire. Kosovo itself was finally wrested from the Ottoman empire in 1912 by the Kingdom of Serbia; many Albanian people lived in the province at that time, but it is clear that Serbian people had lived there continuously since the 14th century or earlier. (See the reference below to the demographics of Kosovo.) Since 1912, Kosovo has been an ethnically diverse but integral part of Serbia's national territory.

     Since 1999, when the NATO military alliance conquered Kosovo (illegally sanctioned later by the United Nations Security Council), much that marked the long history of the Serbian people in Kosovo has been obliterated. Many centuries-old Serbian churches and other monuments have been destroyed. The Ottoman empire was more tolerant of religious differences than today's NATO/Albanian government.

     Recent tensions in Kosovo have their origins in the Second World War, when Italy occupied Kosovo (later Germany controlled the territory). Italy forcibly united Kosovo with fascist Albania. Albanians accompanying the Italian forces (with the support of local Albanians) carried out a campaign of murder and expulsion against the still-numerous Serbian population. This was the first major 20th century displacement and massacre of Serbs in Kosovo.

     The Albanian fascist puppet president and other fascists made statements in support of genocide against the Serbs and other non-Albanian nationalities in Kosovo. Close to 9,000 collaborationist Albanians served in the German army (the Skanderbeg SS Division), which exterminated Serbs, Jews and Romany ("Gypsies").

     The Serbian people had few collaborators during the Second World War; many died fighting the fascists or were annihilated. Estimates range from 700,000 to 1.2 million out of a population of 10 million - perhaps the highest national death rate after to the Jewish people in that war. In recent years, the Serbian people suffered the most from displacement during the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s; most were internally displaced to Serbia and do not have official status as refugees (see notes below).

     During the Second World War, approximately 10,000 to 30,000 Serbs were murdered in Kosovo; about 100,000 were driven out and replaced with immigrants from Albania. Close to 40 per cent of Jewish people living in Kosovo were murdered - over 200 people. Fascist Albanian forces continued fighting the Yugoslav government for six years following the War.

     It is no secret that many Albanian people who settled in Kosovo during the Second World War opposed Yugoslavia's sovereignty over Kosovo; many refused to take part in censuses carried out by the Yugoslav government. In the 1980s, some extremist elements started a campaign of terrorism and murder against the Yugoslav government, resulting the death of thousands of people in Kosovo, especially after 1993. A leading group in this campaign was the "Kosovo Liberation Army" which targeted Serbs, Romany and unwilling Albanians. Even the United States government recognized the KLA as a terrorist organization until 1997, when it became convenient for the U.S. to change the designation. It is now known that both the U.S. and German governments secretly trained and equipped the KLA in the 1990s.

     An enormous lie was used to "justify" NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999: the need to "save" the Kosovo-Albanians from being massacred by Serbian nationalist forces. For example, the U.S. Secretary of Defence declared that 100,000 Kosovars had perished. The reality was quite different. (See the testimony of Canada's ambassador to Yugoslavia, James Bisset, cited below.)

     NATO fabricated its casus belli, using lies to win support for its illegal aggression against Yugoslavia. The real purpose of the war is contained in NATO's Rambouillet document, which the military alliance used as an ultimatum against Yugoslavia. The Rambouillet accord had terms no sovereign country could agree to, such as abandoning socialism and imposing a "free market" economy on all of Yugoslavia, the presence of NATO military forces throughout all Yugoslavia (not just Kosovo), the immunity of NATO forces from legal action, etc.

     The authors of this ultimatum were not very careful to hide their intentions. Of course, appendix "B" of the Rambouillet accord was not well known in 1999; it was buried by the corporate media. The official story emanating from Washington, taken up by the compliant corporate media and repeated in Canada's Parliament, was that the "murderous" Yugoslav government rejected signing a "humanitarian agreement" with NATO in Rambouillet to protect the Albanian people of Kosovo.

     The Serbian parliament did state its willingness, before the NATO bombing, to "examine the character and extent of an international presence in Kosovo immediately after the signing of an autonomy accord acceptable to all national communities in Kosovo, the local Serb minority included."

     That did not stop NATO from carrying out a barbaric, criminal bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, without seeking the sanction of the United Nations Security Council. The country is now covered with cluster bombs, poisoned with depleted uranium. Thousands of people died in the bombing, in the deliberate targeting of objects indispensable for life (a war crime), and the predictable retaliatory and defensive actions by the KLA and Serb government forces. NATO's 25,000 missile strikes and bombing raids wounded thousands and crippled the Serbian economy, causing an estimated $60 to $100 billion (U.S.) damage.

     Following NATO's occupation of Kosovo, the vast majority of the Serbian population (200,000 to 280,000) left; virtually none have returned. With NATO's blessing, the KLA carried out the second major ethnic cleansing of Serbians, Romas and other groups from Kosovo. The remaining 100,000 or so Serbs and non-Albanian people in Kosovo are forced to live in "protected" areas, virtually imprisoned in small Gaza-like territories.

NOTES: The articles cited below are a good source for further study and independent corroboration:

A demographic history of Kosovo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_Kosovo

Roots of Kosovo Fascism, by George Thompson, at http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/thompson/rootsof.htm

Serbian casualties in the 20th century:  http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/62/315.html

Appendix B of the Rambouillet agreement http://www.swans.com/library/art6/pendixb.html

A study of media coverage leading up to the 1999 NATO aggression: http://www.tenc.net/gilwhite/rambouillet.htm

Why Canada should not recognize Kosovo, by James Bisset (Canada's ambassador to Yugoslavia in 1999)
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8126

See also Ambassador Bisset's testimony before a Parliamentary committee in 2000: http://www.tenc.net/articles/bisset/bisset.htm

A brief survey of the KLA, its terrorist origins, tactics and crimes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_Liberation_Army

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WHAT'S LEFT

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

CROSS-CANADA TOUR

The ethnic cleansing of Palestine - with Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, cross-Canada tour  sponsored by Near East Cultural & Educational Foundation (NECEF - http://www.necef.org) and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR - http://www.sphr.org).

Events include

• Montreal (March 25, 7 pm, Concordia Univ. Rm. H-110),
• Toronto (March 26, 7 pm, Health Sciences Auditorium,6th Floor, 155 College St.),
• London (March 27, 7:30,Labatt Hall, Univ. of Western Ontario),
  
• Calgary (March 28,6:30, ICT 102, Univ. of Calgary), and
  
• Vancouver (March 29, 7pm, Mackay Room, Central Public Library).
  

VICTORIA, BC

Rally to save schools - Monday, April 7, 11:30 am, province-wide rally at the Legislature  to oppose the sell-off of public school lands. Info at bc.lands@gmail.com or call Jessica, 250-598-9272.

Annual Corporate Golden Piggy Awards - Sunday, April 13, 2-4 pm, at new location, St.  Ann’s Auditorium, 835 Humboldt St. (at Blanshard), free admission.

VANCOUVER, BC

People’s Voice Spaghetti Dinner - 5:30 pm, Sun., March 30, dinner $10, at Centre for  Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. Followed at 7 pm by Left Film Night, featuring “Shut Up & Sing,” documentary on the Dixie Chicks, admission free (donations welcome). For information, call 604-255-2041.

April Left Film Night, Sunday - April 27, 7 pm, Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark  Drive. “Harlan County USA,” documentary on Kentucky coal miners’s strike by Academy  Award-winning director Barbara Kopple. Free (donations welcome), call 604-255-2041.

Frank Paul Rally: stop the violence - Wed., May 7, 11 am to 5 pm, Federal Court Building,  701 W. Georgia St., organized by Indigenous Action Movement.

BURNABY, BC

Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast - proceeds to People’s Voice, Sunday, May 11, 10 am  (last call for pancakes 12 noon), 5435 Kincaid St. Admission $10 (or $5 under 12), call Anna, 604-294-6775.

WINNIPEG, MN

Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity Committee, monthly meeting - Mon., Apr. 14, 7 pm, Workers  Organizing Resource Centre, 280 Smith St.

Young Communist League-UW campus club  meets 1st & 4th Wednesday each month, 5:30 pm, U of W buffeteria (4th floor top of escalators). E-mail us at ycl_manitoba@ycl-ljc.ca

YCL movie nights on U of W campus - to get on the notice list for time, room, and films, just e-mail us at yclmovienight@hotmail.com.

EDMONTON, AB

Edmonton Young Communist League - meets regularly at Remedy Cafe, 8631-109 St., 5 pm on the second Friday each month. Discussion topics and suggested readings on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3559215104.

TORONTO, ON

“Sisters’ and Brothers’ Keeper - Cuba and Southern African Liberation” - 45 min. documentary on Cuba’s contribution to South Africa’s struggle for freedom, Friday, March 28, 7:30 pm, at 290 Danforth Ave. (west of Chester subway. Guest speaker film co-producer Prof. Isaac Saney. For info, call Canadian-Cuban Friendship Assoc. Toronto, 416-654-7105.

ST. CATHARINES, ON

People’s Voice Social - Thur., April 24, 7 pm, at 8 1/2 Allan Drive, (off Hillpark Lane),  hosted by Eric Blair Club, with guest speaker Sam Hammond, People’s Voice business manager and CPC-Ontario St. Catharines candidate in 2007 provincial election. For directions/info call 905-646-7274.

MONTREAL, QC

Vigil against occupation of Palestine - Fridays, noon to 1 pm, at Israeli Consulate, corner of Peel and Rene Levesque. For info: Palestinians And Jews United, 961-3928.

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People's Voice deadlines: APRIL 16-30 Thursday, April 3 MAY 1-15 Thursday, April 17 Send submissions to PV Editorial Office, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net

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$50,000 FUND DRIVE
MARITIMES TAKES EARLY LEAD

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

The East coast has taken an early lead in the annual People’s Voice Fund Drive, with $450 arriving at our Hamilton business office by March 20. That’s over one-third of their regional target, less than three weeks into the campaign. British Columbia is running second, with $4637 turned in, or 23.2% of their provincial goal. Look for more details in our next issue.

March saw big distributions of PV bundles across the country on International Women’s Day (March 8), the March 15 “World Against War” rallies, and on March 21, the International  Day for the Elimination of Racism. On these three important dates, thousands of people took part in a wide range of events, many of which were publicized in our pages. In every case, speakers focused on the need to block the right-wing, anti-people agenda of the Harper Tories, with some sharp criticism levelled at Stephane Dion’s Liberals for their refusal to let Canadian voters dump the Conservatives in an election campaign.

People’s Voice will continue to help mobilize stronger extraparliamentary opposition to the Conservative agenda this spring. We’ll be in the streets at Earth Day events around April 22 (be sure to support grassroots actions on this day, not phony corporate “greenwashing” activities!), at the Day of Mourning for Workers Killed and Injured on the Job (April 28), and of course at May Day rallies and meetings wherever these are held.

To keep publishing and building the working class media, we need your support for our annual $50,000 Fund Drive. Keep those donations coming, and please plan to attend our fundraising events!

First off the mark is the monthly Left Film Night on Sunday, March 30, starting at 5:30 pm with a Spaghetti Dinner organized by the Vancouver East Club CPC. For just $10, you’ll get spaghetti, salad and garlic bread, and a short documentary on Venezuela. Then at 7 pm, take in Shut Up & Sing, the story of the Dixie Chicks standing up to the Bush regime and the U.S. ultra-right for their anti-war statements. Our Niagara Peninsula supporters are holding a social with guest speaker Sam Hammond, our PV business manager. It’s happening in St. Catharines on Thursday, April 24, 7 pm, at 8 1/2 Allan Drive (off Hillpark Lane, which is off Vine St. between Scott and Carleton). For information, call 905-646-7274.

The annual PV Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast will be at 5435 Kincaid St. in Burnaby, Sunday, May 11, starting 10 am. For just $10 (or $5 for those under 12) get all you can eat -  pancakes, sausages, and much more - plus the company of old and new friends and supporters. Don’t be late: last call for pancakes will be 12 noon. Remember that this year’s “PV Shopping Bag” includes the following:

• “The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism,” a 112-page booklet by David Lester, full of astounding facts and figures about the exploitative system which threatens our planet;
• a 12-month complimentary PV sub (keep it or give it to a friend);
• People’s Voice 2008 Calendar;
• People’s Voice “Karl Marx” Tshirt (tell us what size);
• a surprise music CD - pick classical, oldies, or folk.
  

For a $100 donation, you get your choice of one of these items. For each additional $100, choose another item from our Shopping Bag. For a donation of $1000 or more, take the entire Shopping Bag, and receive a lifetime subscription for yourself or a friend.

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ON TO CARACAS!

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2008 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Caracas, Venezuela will be the “World capital of peace and antiimperialist struggle” during the World Peace Assembly, from April 8-13. The Canadian Peace Congress has issued a call for anti-war activists to attend, with the aim of strengthening the ties of the Canadian peace movement with the rest of the world.

The World Peace Conference is open to everyone April 11-12, followed by a day of open debates in Caracas’ public squares, concerts, and activities in solidarity with Venezuela, marking the six years since the attempted coup d’etat and the restoration of people’s power.

Founded in 1949, the World Peace Council will hold also its Assembly April 8-13. Once the most prominent peace movement in the world following the Second World War, the WPC has remained strong in countries with anti-imperialist and socialist governments.

The Assembly will be an important opportunity for the peace movements of different regions and countries to overcome Cold War divisions instigated by decades of imperialist propaganda.

For more information or to join the Canadian delegation, contact the Canadian Peace Congress at 250-355-2669 or by email at info@canadianpeacecongress.ca.

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