February
1-28, 2010
Volume 18 - Number 3
$1
Prolétaires de tous les pays,
unissez-vous!Otatoskewak ota kitaskinahk mamawestotan!
Workers of all lands, unite
Contents
Printer-friendly articles
1) TENS OF THOUSANDS RALLY AGAINST "ROGUE HARPER"
2) 500,000 COULD RUN OUT OF EI BENEFITS
3) SCAFFOLD DEATHS HIGHLIGHT SAFETY CRISIS
4) THE PATH NOT TAKEN: HOW TO SPEND BILLIONS
5) LOG EXPORTS NOT NEEDED FOR B.C., SAY STEELWORKERS
6) "RED TENTS" FOR VANCOUVER HOMELESS
7) THOUGHTS ON THE HAITIAN DISASTER - Editorial
8) GREETINGS TO CPC DELEGATES - Editorial
9) THE LESSON OF HAITI
10) SIKHS REMEMBER JYOTI BASU AS SAVIOUR
11) WHERE SHIPS AND WORKERS GO TO DIE
12) CODIR APPEALS FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS
13) WHAT'S LEFT
14) PODCAST OF PEOPLE'S VOICE ARTICLES
15) CLARTÉ (en français)
16) THE SPARK! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada)
17) INTRODUCING MARX
18) REBEL YOUTH
PEOPLE'S VOICE FEBRUARY 1-28, 2010 (pdf)
WOMEN'S SOCIALIST CALENDAR 2010 (pdf)
Printer-friendly articles
1) TENS OF THOUSANDS RALLY AGAINST "ROGUE HARPER"
2) 500,000 COULD RUN OUT OF EI BENEFITS
3) SCAFFOLD DEATHS HIGHLIGHT SAFETY CRISIS
4) THE PATH NOT TAKEN: HOW TO SPEND BILLIONS
5) LOG EXPORTS NOT NEEDED FOR B.C., SAY STEELWORKERS
6) "RED TENTS" FOR VANCOUVER HOMELESS
7) THOUGHTS ON THE HAITIAN DISASTER - Editorial
8) GREETINGS TO CPC DELEGATES - Editorial
9) THE LESSON OF HAITI
10) SIKHS REMEMBER JYOTI BASU AS SAVIOUR
11) WHERE SHIPS AND WORKERS GO TO DIE
12) CODIR APPEALS FOR POLITICAL PRISONERS
13) WHAT'S LEFT
14) PODCAST OF PEOPLE'S VOICE ARTICLES
15) CLARTÉ (en français)
16) THE SPARK! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada)
17) INTRODUCING MARX
18) REBEL YOUTH
PEOPLE'S VOICE FEBRUARY 1-28, 2010 (pdf)
 |
WOMEN'S SOCIALIST CALENDAR 2010 (pdf)
 |
The Spark! |
| Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada |
The Spark!The
latest issue of The Spark! theoretical journal, is now on sale for $5 at Communist Party offices (see p. 8) or People’s Co-op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
Articles
include
|
| People's
Voice deadlines: MARCH 1-15 Thursday, February 18 MARCH 16-31 Thursday, March 4 Send submissions to PV Editorial Office, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net |
People's
Voice finds many "Global Class Struggle" reports at the "Labour Start"
website, http://www.labourstart.org. We urge our readers to
check it out!
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(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
PV Commentary
In a powerful show of anger against the Harper government's shut-down of Parliament, Canadians rallied in some 60 cities and towns across the country on January 23. Supporters of "Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament" (CAPP) also organized protests in Dallas, Costa Rica, San Francisco, London, and New York.
Preliminary estimates indicated that over 27,000 people took part in 32 of these rallies. The largest was in Toronto, where the turnout was over 6,000. Some 2,000 marched to Victory Square in downtown Vancouver, and the Victoria rally was estimated at 1,500.
While many events in small towns were smaller in size, it appears that the total participation was more than 30,000. That's an impressive figure for a grassroots movement organized in just a couple of weeks in the middle of winter, largely by using Facebook and other social networking sites.
The understandable outpouring of public response to the terrible devastation of the earthquake in Haiti may well have affected the turnout for the Jan. 23 rallies. But the huge geographical range of the CAPP protests was an unmistakable signal that the patience of voters with the Harper Tories is waning fast. Several recent opinion polls found support for the Tories sinking from a late 2009 level of about 40%, down to just over 30% by mid-January.
The Jan. 23 protests also pointed to other difficulties facing the Tories, especially the prominent role of young people among the organizers. At nearly every demonstration, speakers and signs went beyond the immediate topic of anger at Harper's abuse of Parliamentary democracy. Many young participants focused on the Tory government's refusal to take serious action on climate change, and its scandalous attempt to cover up torture of Afghan detainees. The fact that the Parliamentary opposition parties were largely observers at the Jan. 23 events further highlighted the reality that criticism of the Tories is becoming more deeply-rooted among young activists whose attention is usually directed towards the extra-parliamentary arena. That could spell big trouble for Harper whenever circumstances finally lead to another federal election.
Unfortunately, the labour movement was not highly visible at many of the Jan. 23 events, unlike environmental and anti-war groups. This may reflect the challenge of mobilizing trade unions quickly during a sudden upsurge of popular anger. But the result was a missed opportunity to build a broader struggle to block the Harper government's impending attacks on social spending.
Over the next few weeks, the corporate media and the Harper government will try to shift attention away from the prorogation debacle, using the distraction of the Winter Olympics. But the fundamental issues facing working people will not disappear during this circus. The news that 500,000 Canadians are running out of EI benefits proves that if anything, 2010 may be an even worse year for working people. As the March 3 return of Parliament nears, it will be even more crucial to turn up the heat on the Harper Tories and the opposition parties. The Jan. 23 rallies were a good beginning for this movement - but the pressure must keep building!
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
Nearly half a million Canadians may exhaust their Employment Insurance benefits without finding work, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Many of these unemployed will have to deplete their savings, or resort to loans, family members or welfare for financial help, warns the CCPA.
Even before the economic crash in late 2008, about a quarter of EI recipients saw their benefits expire, says the CCPA report, based on 2006/2007 federal government statistics. About two million new claims were filed last year, so the report estimates about half a million people may be running out.
Meanwhile, Statistics Canada reported in mid-January that the number of EI recipients fell to 795,900 in November, from a peak of 829,300 last June. The StatsCan monthly report doesn't say how many ran out of claims without finding work. Canada's official unemployment rate is 8.5 per cent, near an 11-year high.
"As many as 500,000 Canadians who initiated an EI claim in 2009 will exhaust their benefits because new jobs remain very difficult to find," says Andrew Jackson, CCPA research associate and chief economist at the Canadian Labour Congress. "As the number of EI exhaustees increases, so will provincial social assistance caseloads and the number of families living in poverty."
On average, an EI claimant qualifies for about 38 weeks of benefits. But over half of Canada's jobless workers do not even qualify for EI, thanks to stringent eligibility rules which deny benefits to those without enough qualifying hours, or others who quit jobs due to intolerable working conditions.
Last year, the federal government was compelled to adopt a few slight improvements to the EI system, by extending the number of weeks people are eligible, and letting companies adopt work-sharing programs where employees can work fewer hours and still qualify for EI. The CCPA report called on the federal government to extend EI benefits for all unemployed workers by at least 26 weeks.
The federal Finance Department said on Jan. 22 that the deficit has jumped to more than $36 billion for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Stephen Harper has already announced that his minority government plans to cut the deficit by slashing social spending.
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
Special to PV
The tragedy of four immigrant highrise workers in Toronto who fell 13 storeys to their deaths on Christmas Eve has brought the issue of workplace health and safety back to the front pages. According to the men's widows, they were seriously concerned about their balcony repair jobs, but may have been unaware of their rights to refuse unsafe work.
According to interviews with the women conducted through a Russian language interpreter by the Toronto Star, one of the workers said the swing scaffold was very long and looked like it was made from four parts which weren't securely fastened together.
One of the five non-union immigrant workers survived but remains in hospital. The accident was the worst construction tragedy in Toronto in half a century, and is under investigation by Toronto police and the Ministry of Labour.
The president of Metron Construction, the company which employed the workers, would not comment on the makeup of the workforce at the highrise. But one of the widows said she never saw her husband bring safety manuals home or heard him talk about safety training. Her husband had very limited reading ability in English, she told the Star, so even if he had been given a Construction Association of Ontario manual he would have had difficulty understanding it.
However, it is the legal responsibility of a supervisor to ensure that all workers receive safety training and clearly understand their knowledge of this training.
Meanwhile, the Ontario Construction Secretariat has tried to draw attention to the role of independent contractors in the province's construction industry, often undermining health and safety on the job. The secretariat noted in an April 2008 report that about 84,500 workers, or 22 per cent of the province's construction workforce, are part of the "underground economy." Many undocumented workers face unsafe conditions and a poor apprenticeship system.
In total, 405 construction workers have lost their lives in Ontario since 1990, including 21 during the year 2009. The litany of deaths on the job ranges from being struck by falling objects, cut by machinery, electrocuted, or crushed between vehicles.
As the Star reports, "union leaders and labour activists believe a lack of proper safety inspections and oversight on the job, and outdated legislation which no longer reflects the reality of modern construction sites, means workers' lives are hanging in the balance. Poor enforcement combined with the growing use of migrant workers will mean the number of accidents will increase, they say."
"Imagine if 405 paramedics or police officers died on the job over the last 20 years," says Patrick Dillon of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, an umbrella group representing more than 150,000 workers.
The story of immigrant workers killed on the job is not new. On March 17, 1960, five Italian construction workers died when the underground tunnel in which they were working collapsed at Hogg's Hollow near the York Mills subway station. Their deaths led to a royal commission that eventually led to improved safety and labour laws. The 50th anniversary of the Hogg's Hollow tragedy will be marked this spring.
There are now 430 occupational health and safety inspectors in Ontario, and safety blitzes have taken place, but the most recent happened only after the scaffolding deaths. While the Occupational Health and Safety Act has been updated to include the right to refuse unsafe work, the construction industry is turning to "independent contractors" to allow employers to avoid paying benefits or workplace insurance coverage. These bosses take advantage of migrant workers who are desperate to earn an income, without training them adequately. "Independent contractors" operate outside the health and safety act and the Employment Standards Act. While labour ministry officials claim that inspectors watch out for the safety of independent contractors as part of their responsibilities, this is regarded as a wild exaggeration at best.
NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale High Park) has introduced an amendment to the employment standards act, seeking to change the definition of an employee. Calling workers "individual businesses" rather than employees, she says, is the "new out" for employers, who don't have to pay benefits or even minimum wage. DiNovo notes that only one per cent of all workplaces in Ontario ever see an inspector, and that many of the inspectors do not have construction backgrounds.
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 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
Vancouver is about to descend into 17 days of chaos and contradictions: the 2010 Winter Olympics. For a few, the Games will bring a windfall of tourist dollars during the usual slow month of February. Huge profits will be racked up by hotels, developers, security companies, and corporations with exclusive marketing rights. Those fortunate enough to afford tickets to events will enjoy watching the best athletes in the world, and some dazzling cultural performances.
But for most in Vancouver, the Games will be a different experience. Many residents have picked up temporary jobs, doing security, for example. Unlike top Olympic officials who have scored big bonuses, they will have to fight through traffic snarls or transit line-ups for low wages. Those with medical appointments near Olympic venues face big challenges to get there, or else wait until March. Ordinary residents who want to take part in free Olympic celebrations will have to endure lengthy waits, intrusive searches and the scrutiny of closed-circuit TV cameras. Thousands of homeless people in Vancouver remain uncertain about their status during the Olympics.
In the circumstances, even many sports fans question the priorities involved in this spectacle. Was the decision to invest $6 billion in Olympic preparations the wisest choice for Vancouver and Whistler? Or should other priorities have been picked?
That was already a big question in 2003, when 64% of Vancouverites voted "yes" in a referendum on hosting the Games. We were promised that the athletes' village would be turned into social housing, that major transportation improvements would be made, that these would be the "greenest Games ever," and that indigenous peoples would reap huge benefits.
Even then, however, these promises seemed dubious. The referendum was held at the height of spending cuts imposed by the Campbell Liberal provincial government. Members of health care unions largely opposed the Games bid since they were being laid off and hit with wage rollbacks. Teachers, parents and students were angry that the province would open the purse strings for the Games but not for cash-starved public schools. Anti-poverty activists warned that the social housing promises were unlikely to be kept. Civil rights advocates scoffed at the initial low budget estimates for Olympic security. Small wonder that many social justice movements (including People's Voice newspaper and the Communist Party) urged a "no" vote. If the opposition forces had been more tightly focused on the issue of social priorities, the vote might have been just a bit closer, tipping the scales against VANOC's narrowly successful bid.
Seven years later, the so-called "nay-sayers" have largely been vindicated. Many of the promises in the VANOC bid book have gone up in smoke, especially the social housing commitment. Homelessness has skyrocketed in the Vancouver region, and the social housing component of the ritzy athletes' village was eliminated.
As for public transit, the only significant Olympic-related improvement is the Canada Line skytrain between downtown and the airport. Initial ridership levels are higher than transit experts had feared, but the line will require taxpayer subsidies to its private ownership for an indefinite period. At the enormous cost of $2 billion, the Canada Line has improved transit options for a fraction of the population, but construction impacts devastated dozens of businesses along its route. Meanwhile, riders in the rest of the Vancouver region still suffer from poor service thanks to a chronic shortage of buses.
Less than a month before the Feb. 12 opening ceremonies, the full impact of provincial spending cuts is front page news. On Jan. 19, the Vancouver School Board was compelled to send letters to teachers warning that hundreds of jobs may be in danger. The culprit here is the Campbell government. Scrambling to cover a $3 billion deficit, the province has left Vancouver schools with an estimated $17-36 million shortfall heading into consultations for the district's next budget. The story is the same across B.C. Nearly every district faces grim choices to close schools, slash programs, lay off teachers, and expand class sizes. The students who are encouraged to celebrate excellence at the Winter Games will soon see a stark deterioration in their learning conditions.
Staff and patients in B.C.'s health care face a similar outlook. Despite the Campbell government's cheery claims to be protecting core services, regional authorities simply cannot maintain the system with current funding levels.
The government's response to the fiscal decline which followed the 2008 global economic crisis has been two-fold: slash spending on vital public services, and impose the "harmonised sales tax" on British Columbians. The first strategy has meant the problems just described. The latter does not even bring in revenue to government coffers, since the HST will go directly from consumers to businesses. It's true that B.C. is being bribed to impose the HST by the federal Tories, but nowhere near the provincial deficit.
As for indigenous peoples, members of the "Four Host Nations" have picked up some temporary jobs, and native art will appear prominently at many Olympic venues. But aboriginal poverty rates in B.C. have not shifted, and the Campbell government's "treaty process" has been sunk by well-founded fears that this path leads to elimination of inherent aboriginal rights. "No Olympics on stolen Native land" has become the rallying cry of many critics.
That leaves many asking: what if different choices had been made seven years ago?
Consider a few hard numbers, such as the billion-dollar Olympic security budget. If half of this expenditure ($500 million) had gone into tackling homelessness, at an average of $200,000 per unit, about 2500 units of housing could have been built. Most of Vancouver's street people (who are largely Native) would already be living in decent housing. Sounds expensive? Maybe, but the average annual cost of health care, policing, etc. for homeless people in Vancouver is over $50,000. In other words, investing $500 million in housing would save taxpayers about $125 million per year. Such an emergency plan would have required governments to seize a sizable chunk of real estate from private developers, but the only obstacle was lack of political will.
What about the other $500 million? Currently, TransLink limps along with a shortage of 500 buses. Less than a year ago, the "More Buses Now" campaign supported by CAW Local 111 (TransLink drivers) pointed out that 100 used buses could be purchased from California for $35-90,000 each, or less than $10 million. More expensive new buses cost up to $400,000, so 400 of these vehicles would cost $160 million. The crippling shortage of buses across the region could be solved for a fraction of the Olympic security budget.
Then there's public education. Investing another $200 million of the Olympic security funds would have allowed Vancouver to overcome the impacts of 20 years of underfunding and cutbacks, with plenty left over for other school systems in the Lower Mainland.
That leaves another $130 million to build hospitals, hire more health care staff at better pay, raise social assistance rates, etc.
All these options would have created thousands of jobs, some permanent, some short-term, but all more secure and beneficial to society than spending $1 billion to search backpacks, install video cameras, and erect 40 kilometers of fencing. The lives of tens of thousands of people could have been dramatically improved, lowering the annual costs of health care for British Columbians. Thousands of young people would have received a better education.
Far more would have been possible if the rest of the Olympic budget - the $2 billion Canada Line, the billion dollar athletes' village, the $800 million upgrade of the highway to Whistler, hundreds of millions on new Olympic facilities - had been redirected.
When the torch enters B.C. Place on February 12, protesters will be in the streets outside. That demonstration may not be huge, given the relentless media/police attack against anti-Olympic dissent. But growing numbers of British Columbians are wondering about the "path not taken." After all, we'll be paying through the nose for this expensive party for at least another generation.
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 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
British Columbians should strongly reject calls for increased raw-log exports, says the United Steelworkers, responding to the recent Truck Loggers Association convention in Victoria. "Log exports helped create the crisis in the first place," counters Steelworkers Wood Council chair Bob Matters.
The USW has released a chart indicating that over 70 wood-processing facilities have permanently closed in BC since 2000, including 33 in the Coastal region. "These mills were significantly impacted by log exports; some closed as a direct result," notes Matters. "When we lose manufacturing plants, we lose jobs." He especially wants to rebut claims that B.C. needs to export more raw logs because the province supposedly lacks processing capacity.
"Exports caused closures," he says. As exports increase, it becomes harder for domestic mills to get timber. "Exports drove up the domestic price. More logs go south or to Asia, to mills that can pay a premium for a small amount of high-quality wood. Domestic mills don't have that luxury. They're competing with firms that need only a small amount of wood from BC - but they buy all their logs here, competing with the higher export price."
British Columbians have now a choice, adds Matters: "stop the exports or completely lose our domestic industry. If we put what we call an `equivalency tax' on exports - equal to the difference between the domestic and export prices for similar logs - exports would dry up. That would drive down the price of domestic logs. Big exporters like TimberWest and Island Timberlands would howl but domestic sawmills and value-added manufacturers would say `opportunity'. They'd buy up more logs and create more jobs - maybe invest in BC, something the industry hasn't done for almost a decade. The big exporters would have to either sell at the domestic price or leave their trees standing."
"Exports have also killed investment," Matters adds. Recent Industry Canada statistics show declining corporate investment in the Canadian wood manufacturing industry. Between 1999 and 2008 investment actually fell by about 0.1 percent per year, 12 percent in 2008. Investment fell every year from 2005 onward, largely due to log exports, the Canada-US Softwood Lumber Agreement and a rising Canadian dollar. From about $1.3 billion in 2005, machinery and equipment spending in Canada's wood manufacturing plants fell to under $1 billion in 2008. Employment has fallen dramatically, as well.
"By undermining profitability in the sawmilling and wood-manufacturing sectors, log exports have helped kill investment and jobs," says Matters. "If you're thinking of log exports as our saviour, better think again," Matters warns.
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 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
With the Winter Olympics coming to a city where an estimated 3,000 people live on the street, Vancouver's Pivot Legal Society will promote the "Red Tent" campaign to end homelessness.
"Our goal is to persuade the federal government to enact a funded National Housing Strategy that will end homelessness and ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for all persons living in Canada," says the Pivot website. "Our strategy is to use red tents and like items as symbols on the streets and in the media to draw attention to Canada's homelessness crisis, educate the public about the need for a funded national housing strategy and mobilize people across the country to pressure government to take action on homelessness."
Housing and human rights activists hope the bright red tents will attract international attention during the Olympics. The society will distribute 500 tents, featuring slogans such as "housing is a right" and "end homelessness now!"
As Pivot executive director John Richardson points out, one of the key promises made by governments and the Vancouver Organizing Committee to win the 2010 games was an Olympic housing legacy. But little has been achieved since Vancouver was awarded the Games, and in fact homelessness has skyrocketed.
A B.C. Court of Appeal decision on a case launched in Victoria paved the way for the red tent campaign. The court ruled in December that the homeless can set up temporary camps in communities where no shelter space is available. Pivot says it will wait until it hears more about the city's plans for addressing the homeless crisis before distributing the tents, but city council will not meet again until after the Olympics wrap up on Feb. 28.
One councillor from the governing Vision majority told CBC News that the city opposes "tent cities." Kerry Jang even hinted at unnamed "other groups" which supposedly feel that Pivot has ulterior motives for launching "simply a PR campaign that's exploiting homeless people for their own gain."
But Laura Stannard of the City Wide Housing Coalition told CBC that "This is a really important campaign. The federal government has completely dropped the ball."
The debate echoes a similar struggle around free speech rights during the Games. Vision Mayor Gregor Robertson and his fellow councillors argued for months last year that their draconian bylaws regulating free speech and distribution of materials were simply an attempt to protect the legal rights of Olympic sponsors. Only a political and legal campaign by COPE city councillor Ellen Woodsworth and a wide range of civil rights advocates forced the Vision majority to drastically amend the draconian bylaws.
(For more information, see http://www.redtents.org)
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 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
The terrible suffering of the people of Haiti - and their astonishing solidarity and resilience - have moved the entire world since the January 12 earthquake. The catastrophe has led to an outpouring of assistance from people everywhere.
Several observations stand out in the midst of this crisis. Perhaps most important is to note the contrast between the needs of ordinary people, and the shocking burden imposed on our planet by the arms race. Aid to Haiti is measured in a few billions, while the United States alone pours a trillion dollars a year into its pursuit of global military domination. Never has there been a more powerful argument for slashing military waste and investing in the future of humanity.
We also point out the predictable and outrageous refusal of the North American corporate media to report on the enormous contributions of the Cuban people to their sisters and brothers in Haiti. Not only was the isle of socialism the first country to render effective aid after January 12, but Cuba has trained - free of charge! - literally hundreds of Haitian doctors and other medical personnel. The story of Cuban internationalism will be remembered long after U.S. imperialism has suffered its final defeat.
Finally (for now), it must never be forgotten that Canada joined with the U.S. and France to help overthrow the democratically elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in the coup of Feb. 29, 2004. This shameful act placed Canada in the ranks of the neo-colonial thugs who have kept Haitians under the heel of oppression for decades. Apologies and reparations from Canada should be on the agenda, not self-serving praise from politicians.
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 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
A unique gathering will take place this month, bringing together members of the only political party openly dedicated to defending the interests of the working class of Canada. Delegates to the 36th Convention of the Communist Party of Canada will meet at the Steelworkers' Hall in Toronto, across the street from the historic building which was home to the CPC for decades.
Elected at provincial nominating meetings, the delegates are a vivid reflection of activists from across the country, ranging from young students to senior citizens. They come from a wide range of national backgrounds, including Aboriginal, Quebecois, and English-Canadian, as well as from racialised minority communities, speaking a variety of languages. Many are trade union members, and most are involved in various progressive movements - peace coalitions, municipal reform groups, anti-poverty and social equality campaigns. Together with their sisters and brothers in the people's movements, they struggle every day against the impact of the corporate assault, helping to organize fightbacks large and small. A bigger, stronger Communist Party will make an enormous difference in strengthening this fightback.
What's different about these delegates is a shared commitment to go beyond resistance against neoliberal attacks and imperialist war. Their goal is to build a new society, one in which capitalist exploitation and oppression in all its deadly forms are abolished forever. A society in which the wealth created by the working class is our common property, democratically controlled by all to meet our fundamental needs, not to enrich greedy bosses or destroy the natural environment. A socialist Canada, in other words.
No other party has such a bold vision of the future. At a time of unparalleled danger to our planet, that's why growing numbers of people are joining the Communist Party. We send our best wishes to the delegates to the 36th Convention, and we urge all who share this vision to consider joining Canada's party of socialism.
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
Reflections by Fidel Castro, January 14, 2010
Two days ago, at almost six o'clock in the evening Cuban time and when, given its geographical location, night had already fallen in Haiti, television stations began to broadcast the news that a violent earthquake - measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale - had severely struck Port-au-Prince. The seismic phenomenon originated from a tectonic fault located in the sea just 15 kilometers from the Haitian capital, a city where 80% of the population inhabit fragile homes built of adobe and mud.
The news continued almost without interruption for hours. There was no footage, but it was confirmed that many public buildings, hospitals, schools and more solidly-constructed facilities were reported collapsed. I have read that an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.3 is equivalent to the energy released by an explosion of 400,000 tons of TNT....
The tragedy has genuinely moved a significant number of people, particularly those in which that quality is innate. But perhaps very few of them have stopped to consider why Haiti is such a poor country. Why does almost 50% of its population depend on family remittances sent from abroad? Why not analyze the realities that led Haiti to its current situation and this enormous suffering as well?
The most curious aspect of this story is that no one has said a single word to recall the fact that Haiti was the first country in which 400,000 Africans, enslaved and trafficked by Europeans, rose up against 30,000 white slave masters on the sugar and coffee plantations, thus undertaking the first great social revolution in our hemisphere. Pages of insurmountable glory were written there. Napoleon's most eminent general was defeated there. Haiti is the net product of colonialism and imperialism, of more than one century of the employment of its human resources in the toughest forms of work, of military interventions and the extraction of its natural resources.
This historic oversight would not be so serious if it were not for the real fact that Haiti constitutes the disgrace of our era, in a world where the exploitation and pillage of the vast majority of the planet's inhabitants prevails.
Billions of people in Latin American, Africa and Asia are suffering similar shortages although perhaps not to such a degree as in the case of Haiti.
Situations like that of that country should not exist in any part of the planet, where tens of thousands of cities and towns abound in similar or worse conditions, by virtue of an unjust international economic and political order imposed on the world.
The world population is not only threatened by natural disasters such as that of Haiti, which is a just a pallid shadow of what could take place in the planet as a result of climate change, which really was the object of ridicule, derision, and deception in Copenhagen.
It is only just to say to all the countries and institutions that have lost citizens or personnel because of the natural disaster in Haiti: we do not doubt that in this case, the greatest effort will be made to save human lives and alleviate the pain of this long-suffering people. We cannot blame them for the natural phenomenon that has taken place there, even if we do not agree with the policy adopted with Haiti.
But I have to express the opinion that it is now time to look for real and lasting solutions for that sister nation.
In the field of healthcare and other areas, Cuba - despite being a poor and blockaded country - has been cooperating with the Haitian people for many years. Around 400 doctors and healthcare experts are offering their services free of charge to the Haitian people. Our doctors are working every day in 227 of the country's 337 communes. On the other hand, at least 400 young Haitians have trained as doctors in our homeland. They will now work with the reinforcement brigade which travelled there yesterday to save lives in this critical situation. Thus, without any special effort being made, up to 1,000 doctors and healthcare experts can be mobilized, almost all of whom are already there willing to cooperate with any other state that wishes to save the lives of the Haitian people and rehabilitate the injured.
Another significant number of young Haitians are currently studying medicine in Cuba.
We are also cooperating with the Haitian people in other areas within our reach. However, there can be no other form of cooperation worthy of being described as such than fighting in the field of ideas and political action in order to put an end to the limitless tragedy suffered by a large number of nations such as Haiti.
The head of our medical brigade reported: "The situation is difficult, but we have already started saving lives." He made that statement in a succinct message hours after his arrival yesterday in Port-au-Prince with additional medical reinforcements.
Later that night, he reported that Cuban doctors and ELAM's Haitian graduates were being deployed throughout the country. They had already seen more than 1,000 patients in Port-au-Prince, immediately establishing and putting into operation a hospital that had not collapsed and using field hospitals where necessary. They were preparing to swiftly set up other centers for emergency care.
We feel a wholesome pride for the cooperation that, in these tragic instances, Cuba doctors and young Haitian doctors who trained in Cuba are offering our brothers and sisters in Haiti!
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Gurpreet Singh, Surrey, BC
The death of Jyoti Basu, a towering communist leader and the longest serving Chief Minister of West Bengal, has saddened the Sikhs residing in Kolkata. Community leaders remember him as a saviour for not letting Congress-led goons murder Sikhs during the 1984 pogrom. Violence against Sikhs broke out in provinces ruled by the Congress Party following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.
While New Delhi, the national capital and other parts of India witnessed large scale mass murders of Sikhs, Basu ensured that the minority community was protected in his territory.
"He had not only placed Kolkata under curfew, but his party supporters were seen patrolling the Sikh-dominated areas to prevent violence," remembers Surjit Singh Walia, who lives in Dunlop area. Walia, a community activist who remembers how a mob tried to attack him, was able to escape.
The leader of the Sikh coordination committee, Bachan Singh Saral, spearheaded the campaign for justice for Sikhs who were murdered during the violence. He says that only 10 lives were lost in West Bengal compared to several thousand in New Delhi. "The Sikhs were grateful to Basu and always stood behind his government like a rock," says Saral, who also thinks that Bengal should have made a stronger case to the central government for compensation to the Sikhs. He also remembers that Mamata Banerjee, leader of West Bengal's Trinamool Congress, was in the Congress Party back then and incited the mob.
Sohan Singh Aittiana, a staunch communist in Kolkata, says that the Sikhs had always supported Basu and his Communist Party of India (Marxist) since 1984. "It can be described as his legacy. It's a separate matter that many Sikhs of the new generation have also started identifying themselves with other parties". Aittiana had led a delegation of the Sikhs to AMRI hospital, where Basu was under treatment. "They prayed for his well being."
Hardev Singh Grewal, the editor of Navin Parbhat, a Punjabi daily of Kolkata, says that Basu will always be admired and missed by the Sikh community. "Due to his strong political will to protect our community, there was no mass exodus of the Sikhs from West Bengal."
Sarabjit Singh Sohal, a Singh Sabha leader from Chandigarh, feels the same. "Basu was a true communist, who according to his party's secular ideology did not allow the Hindu fundamentalists to shed the blood of the Sikhs."
It is pertinent to mention that the CPI(M) forced the previous Congress-led coalition government to remove Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler as cabinet ministers after the Nanavati Commission looking into the pogrom had indicted these two leaders.
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
From "Shipbreaking in Bangladesh and The Failure of Global Institutions to Protect Worker Rights," report by the U.S.based National Labor Committee (http://www.nlcnet.org), September 2009
Some of the world's largest decommissioned tanker ships - measuring up to 1,000 feet long, twenty stories high and weighing 25 million pounds - have been run up on the beaches of Bangladesh. In July of 2009, 112 tanker ships were strewn over four miles of beach.
Thirty thousand Bangladeshi workers, some of them children just 10, 11, 12 and 13 years of age, toil 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for wages of just 22 to 32 cents an hour, doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
According to estimates by very credible local organizations, 1,000 to 2,000 workers have been killed in Bangladesh's shipbreaking yards over the last 30 years. Currently, a worker is seriously injured every day, and a worker is killed every three to four weeks.
On September 5, 2009, 35-year-old Mr. Hossain was burned to death while breaking apart a South Korean tanker at the Kabir Steel Yard. Twenty-year old Mr. Ashek remains in critical condition, while three other workers were seriously burned. Their blowtorches struck a gas tank which exploded, engulfing them in flames.
It is common for workers to be paralyzed or crushed to death by heavy metal plates falling from the ship. A 13-year old child, Nasiruddin Molla, was killed on July 14, 2008, when a large iron plate struck him in the head at the Sultana shipyard. Accidents and even some deaths are not reported, and there is never an investigation.
Each ship contains an average of 15,000 pounds of asbestos and ten to 100 tons of lead paint. Shipbreaking workers are routinely exposed to asbestos, lead, mercury, arsenic, dioxins, solvents, toxic oil residues and carcinogenic fumes from melting metal and lead paint. Environmental damage to Bangladesh's beaches, ocean and fishing villages has been massive.
Helpers, often children, who go barefoot or wear flip flops, use hammers to break apart the asbestos in the ship, which they shovel into bags to carry outside and dump in the sand.
Workers lack even the must rudimentary protective gear. Cutters, who use blowtorches to cut the giant ships to pieces, wear sunglasses rather than protective goggles, baseball caps rather than hardhats, wrap dirty bandanas around their nose and mouth as they are not provided respiratory masks and wear two sets of shirts rather than a welder's vests, hoping the sparks will not burn through to their skin, which happens every day.
Four to six workers share each small, primitive room, often sleeping right on the dirty concrete floor. No one has a mattress. In some of the hovels, the roof leaks when it rains, so workers have to sit up at night covering themselves with pieces of plastic. Their "shower" is a hand water pump.
Every single labor law in Bangladesh and every one of the International Labor Organization's internationally recognized workers rights standards are blatantly violated on a daily basis. While forced to work overtime, the shipbreaking workers receive no overtime premium. There are no weekly holidays, no paid sick days, no national holidays or vacations. Any worker asking for his proper wages is immediately fired.
The shipbreaking workers are very clear on two points: that they will die early and that there have been no improvements whatsoever over the last thirty years in respect for worker rights laws or health and safety.
The global institutions which direct world trade have miserably failed workers across the developing world who continue to be injured, cheated, maimed, paralyzed and killed on a daily basis. The G-20 countries, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization must be held accountable.
The Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People's Rights (CODIR) is calling for the release of hundreds of people following mass arrests in Iran on December 27-28, 2009. The arrests followed protests during the Shi'a Muslim festival of Ashura which took place on Dec. 27.
Amongst those arrested were Leily Afshar, a 29 year old photographer who was pulled from her car by plainclothes officials near a demonstration; Atieh Yousefi, a women's rights campaigner arrested in the city of Rasht; and Reza al-Basha, a Syrian national studying in Iran who works as a part time reporter for Dubai TV.
Permitted one phone call to her family, Leily Afshar confirmed that she was being held in the notorious Evin Prison section 209. Atieh Yousefi was allowed to meet her family on January 1. It is not known where Reza al-Basha is being held.
The three are amongst hundreds detained without charge or trial by the government of the Islamic Republic, with little or no access to their families, lawyers or appropriate medical treatment. The arrests follow a long pattern of arrest and detention following the disputed election of June 12, 2009 which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad installed as the Iranian president for a second term. Subsequent protests have met with violent responses by the security forces.
The wave of arrests at the end of December was the most extensive yet. Opposition website Jaras suggests that at least 1300 were arrested across Iran, and human rights groups calculate that at least 300 of these prisoners are being held in Evin Prison in Tehran. Jaras also notes that over 180 journalists, human rights activists and members of political parties linked to Mir Hossein Mousavi and former president Khatami have been detained.
Speaking on Behalf of CODIR, Assistant General Secretary, Jamshid Ahmadi said, "It is simply not acceptable that the government of Iran is able to act with impunity and round up opponents in this manner. The regime is adopting a strategy of both silencing opposition activists and arresting the journalists who can tell the real story of what is going on in Iran. Ensuring that word of their actions reaches the international community is vital. We must make it clear that their behaviour is not acceptable and that people around the world will continue to speak out in solidarity with the Iranian campaigners for peace, democracy and social justice."
CODIR has urged supporters around the world to contact Iranian authorities to oppose torture of prisoners, to demand their right to see families and lawyers, and to receive fair legal treatment. Established in 1981, CODIR has consistently campaigned to expose human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic of Iran, working closely with trade unions, Britain's Stop the War Coalition and other peace movements, political parties and other groups.
(The following article is from the February 1-28, 2010, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers and overseas readers - $50 per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
VANCOUVER, BC
Left Film Night - Sunday, Jan. 31, 7 pm, screening “H2OIL”, documentary on the tar sands and climate change, Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. Admission free, donations welcome. Next Film Night: Sunday, Feb. 28. Call 604-255-2041 for information.
Catastrophe in Haiti, public forum with Stuart Hammond, member of human rights delegation to Haiti just before the earthquake - Fri., Feb. 5, 7 pm, Collingwood Neighborhood House, 5288 Joyce St. (Joyce Skytrain). Organized by Haiti Solidarity BC, 778-858-5179.
Call Mr. Robeson, performance on the life and songs of Paul Robeson - Vancouver East Cultural Centre, 1895 Venables St., Feb. 11-14, call 604-251-1363 for times and tickets.
Olympic “Welcome Rally”, family-friendly rally to oppose this massive waste of resources - 3 pm Friday, Feb. 12 (Friday), Vancouver Art Gallery, with parade to BC Place at 4:30 pm.
Anti-war Olympics spectacle, organized by StopWar.ca coalition - gather 6 pm, Monday, Feb. 15, Georgia St. side of Vancouver Art Gallery.
Annual Women’s Memorial March - Sunday, Feb. 14 gather 12 noon, Carnegie Centre, Hastings & Main.
CALGARY, AB
The Oil Sands: Engaging Constructive
Dialogue, annual Kairos event -
Saturday, February 6, 8:45 am-4:30 pm, Our Lady of Grace Church,
1714-14 Ave. NE, to register call 403-243-5478.
WINNIPEG,
MBClimate change teach-in - Convocation Hall, Univ. of Winnipeg, Info 943-4836.
* Monday, February 1, 7:00 pm keynote speech kick-off;
* Tuesday, Feb. 2, 9 am to 4 pm discussions and workshops.
Convocation Hall, Univ. of Winnipeg, Info 943-4836.
Marxism course - classes begin in February. Pre-register at 586-7824 or cpc-mb@mts.net.
TORONTO, ON
Gala Dinner for the Communist Party of Canada’s 36th Central Convention - Sat., Feb. 6, 7 pm, USWA Hall, 25 Cecil Street. Speakers: Miguel Figueroa and Guests. Live music and entertainment, call 416-469-2446 for tickets ($25 advance).
Norman Bethune Day social - Saturday, February 27, 2010, at the GCDO, 290 Danforth Ave. (near Chester subway). Tickets $5, door prize one week all-inclusive trip for two to Cuba. For tickets or further information, call media sponsor People’s Voice, 416-469-2446.