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The Spark!
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(Contents)
(Home)
1) CANADA MUST
SPEAK OUT AGAINST ISRAELI AGGRESSION IN GAZA
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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.)
Statement of the Central Executive
Committee, Communist Party of Canada, Jan. 9, 2009
Israel's savage and criminal attack
on Gaza, which started on December 26, has exacted a heavy toll in
human suffering. More than 800 Palestinians - mostly civilians - have
been slaughtered to date, and thousands more have been injured or
maimed. The constant bombardment of Gaza City and other centres has
created a humanitarian tragedy of staggering proportions. Israel's
aggression is nothing less than a crime against humanity.
And yet,
despite growing
international condemnation and an explicit UN Security Council
resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of all
Israeli land forces, the Olmert government has declared its intention
to continue the devastation and slaughter. The Zionist leadership in
Israel is thumbing its nose at the world, confident that its
imperialist allies, including Canada, will permit Israel a `free hand'
to continue its aggression.
This
genocidal assault must stop
now! The Communist Party demands that the Harper government reverse its
blatantly pro-Israeli policy and instead take real and immediate action
to force an immediate ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal!
No Justification for this Aggression
The Israeli
propaganda machine,
with the help of its imperialist and corporate backers abroad, peddles
the myth that it is the victim of unprovoked rocket attacks fired by
Hamas militants in Gaza, and therefore claims the right to search out
and destroy the "terrorist" infrastructure in an act of "self-defence".
Nothing
could be further from
the truth. It is the Israeli regime which has been provoking the
Palestinian people over many decades of occupation. It is the Israeli
state that has sealed off the Palestinian population, enclosing them in
a virtual prison and denying them any access to the outside world. In
recent months, Israel has tightened its siege of Gaza, cutting off its
1.5 million residents from essential supplies of food, water,
medicines, fuel and other basic needs.
Ever since
1948, the Israeli
state has oppressed and persecuted the Palestinian people, and stolen
their lands. In recent years, this occupying power built the "apartheid
wall" (ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice), and has
continued to build and expand Jewish settlements inside the Occupied
Territories.
The criminal
strangulation of
Gaza - together with the stifling occupation and oppression in the West
Bank - constitutes an intentional plan by Israel to solve the
`Palestinian problem' by making social and economic conditions
unliveable in the Occupied Territories. The Israeli regime hopes to
break the Intifada and drive the Palestinian people permanently out of
the rest of their homeland - essentially a racist, genocidal policy.
Under such circumstances, the Palestinian people have every right to
resist the occupying power by any means at their disposal.
End
Canada's complicity with Israeli
war crimes
The role of the
Harper government
in this tragedy has been appalling and unacceptable. Its pro-Israeli
position was summed up in the Dec. 28 remarks of the new Foreign
Minister Lawrence Cannon: "Israel has a clear right to defend itself
against the continued rocket attacks by Palestinian militant groups ...
those rocket attacks must stop."
This
statement demonstrates once
again that the foreign policy of the Harper Conservatives is in total
lock-step with U.S. imperialism in fully backing Israel's aggressive
and expansionist strategy in the region. Under pressure from the
well-organized pro-Zionist lobby, the federal government is actually
colluding in this aggression, blatantly indifferent to its impact on
the Palestinian people, or the dangerously destabilizing effect it is
having on peace and security in the Middle East as a whole.
What then
should Canada's
position be? The government should give its complete and unequivocal
support to the demand for an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of
Israeli troops, and the lifting of the siege of Gaza. And it should
warn Israel that failure to comply will be met with swift and
comprehensive action - including the imposition of sanctions and the
severing of diplomatic relations.
For
a Just and Lasting Peace
The roots of the
current tragedy
in Gaza lie in the longstanding colonialist policies of successive
Israeli governments. The state of Israel does not hesitate to trample
on the national rights of the Palestinian people or the sovereignty of
neighbouring Arab states. It has repeatedly violated international law,
and with the help and protection of U.S. imperialism, has rejected
dozens of United Nations resolutions which could form the basis for a
just and lasting political settlement of the Middle East conflict.
The only
just solution that can guarantee genuine and enduring peace in the
Middle East must include:
* ending Israel's illegal occupation
of all territories, including East Jerusalem, seized in the 1967 war;
* establishing a viable and genuinely
independent Palestinian state;
* guaranteeing the right of return
for all Palestinian refugees; and
* recognizing and developing peaceful
and cooperative relations with all states in the Middle East.
There is no
other "road map" to
a just and lasting peace in the region. In order to pressure Israel and
its imperialist allies to accept such a just peace, the time has come
for the world to impose comprehensive economic, political, military and
diplomatic sanctions and a full boycott against the `outlaw' state of
Israel. We urge the labour movement, the anti-war movements, and all
those in Canada who support peace and justice, to unite in a massive
campaign of action for "Peace NOW!" around the demands for an immediate
ceasefire and for the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza and
the rest of the occupied territories.
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2) ISRAELI TROOPS
ATTACK SCHOOLS, CIVILIANS
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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 combined sources
The United Nations' top official in
the Gaza Strip said on Jan. 7 that there were absolutely no armed men
inside the UN school in Jabaliya that was the target of an Israeli
attack that left 45 dead.
"I can tell
you categorically
that there was no militant activity in that school at the time of that
tragedy," said John Ging, the director of operations of UNRWA in Gaza,
speaking to Al-Jazeera.
Ging also
told the Australian
newspaper The Age, "We have
established beyond any doubt that the
school was not being used by any militants."
"They were
innocent people,"
said Ging, adding that around 350 Palestinians had taken shelter in the
school after fleeing invading Israeli forces. The shelling of the
Al-Fakhoura School was deadliest single attack on Gaza since Israel
began its air bombardment.
Ging's
comments contradicted
claims made by the Israeli military that Hamas gunmen had fired a
mortar shell from the school. In a statement released on Jan. 6, the
Israeli military confirmed that it had shelled the school.
Tens of
thousands attended a
funeral procession for the 45 who were killed in Jabaliya, among them
four who died in hospitals overnight.
The United
Nations also says it
provided Israel with the GPS coordinates of all its facilities in the
Gaza Strip long before the current war began. Three other UN
facilities, including schools and a health center, also came under
attack by Israeli forces on Jan. 5 and 6, killing at least three.
According to UN statistics, some 14,000 people have taken refuge in
UNRWA installations across the Gaza Strip.
In another
appalling massacre,
dozens of members of the extended al Samouni clan were killed when the
site in the Gazan community of Zeitoun was shelled by the Israeli army
on Jan. 5.
Mohammed
Shaheen, a volunteer
with Palestinian Red Crescent, was in the first convoy of ambulances to
reach Zeitoun since it was first occupied then shelled by the Israeli
army. His testimony confirmed accounts, first reported in The
Telegraph, from survivors who said they feared between 60 and 70 family
members had been killed.
"Inside the
Samouni house I saw
about ten bodies and outside another sixty," Mr Shaheen said. "I was
not able to count them accurately because there was not much time and
we were looking for wounded people. We found fifteen people still alive
but injured so we took them in the ambulances. I could see an Israeli
army bulldozer knocking down houses nearby but we ran out of time and
the Israeli soldiers started shooting at us. We had to leave about
eight injured people behind because we could not get to them and it was
no longer safe for us to stay."
Shaheen was
in a convoy led by a
jeep from the International Committee of the Red Cross that made its
way down war-damaged tracks past demolished houses to the town.
Concerns had been growing that Zeitoun had witnessed massive civilian
casualties after surviving members of the Samouni clan reached Gaza
City three days earlier. They said that after the Israeli army first
took the town on Jan. 3 soldiers had ordered about 100 members of the
clan to gather in a single house owned by Wael Samouni. At 6.35 am on
Jan. 6 the house was repeatedly shelled. A handful of survivors, some
wounded, others carrying dead or dying infants, made it on foot to
Gaza's main north-south road before they were given lifts to hospital.
Three small children were buried in Gaza City that afternoon.
Convoys of
ambulances twice
headed to the area to look for wounded but they were driven back by
Israeli shooting. During a three hour lull in offensive operations by
Israel, the ICRC led the rescue convoy in although it took a long time
for the convoy to make its way down war-damaged roads.
On Jan. 8,
the United Nations
suspended its aid operations in Gaza safety and security guarantees
could be provided for its staff, who continued to be hit and killed by
Israeli attacks.
The UN
provides food aid to
around 750,000 Gaza residents, and runs dozens of schools and clinics
throughout the territory. They have some 9,000 locally-employed
staffers inside Gaza, and a small team of international staffers who
work there.
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3) QUICK ECONOMIC TURNAROUND NOT IN THE
CARDS
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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 latest figures indicate that the
Canadian economy is becoming more deeply entrenched in recession, with
no recovery in sight.
Another
34,400 jobs were lost in
December, on top of 70,600 in November, for a two-month total of
105,000. The official unemployment rate hit 6.6%, the highest level in
three years.
But the
situation is worse than
these numbers, considering the sharper losses in full-time employment.
A shocking 70,700 full-time jobs disappeared in December, while
part-time jobs rose by 36,200.
The biggest
decline came in the
construction sector, where employment fell by 44,300, reflecting a
sharp decline in new homes and building starts.
Geographically, the December
figures show that the recession has begun to spread well beyond
Ontario, where the staggering loss of manufacturing jobs which began
several years ago has continued.
Looked at
another way, young
workers were hardest hit in December. For youths aged 15-24, net
employment figures fell by 36,600, and the jobless rate zoomed from
12.3% up to 12.9%.
"Today's
dismal data offer
additional strong evidence that the Canadian economy has quickly waded
knee-deep into recession," warned Douglas Porter, deputy chief
economist at BMO Capital Markets. Other "optimistic" mainstream
economists are forecasting that the jobless rate will hit 8% by
mid-year, followed by a recovery. Even this "best case scenario" would
see another 250,000 Canadian workers laid off by the summer, on top of
the 1.2 million already out of work.
Given the
Canadian economy's
tight links with the United States, things could get much worse. Early
figures confirm a sharp drop in US retail sales, as millions of working
people face unemployment. Total retail sales, excluding automobiles,
fell 8 percent in December through Christmas Eve over the same period
last year, according a report in the Globe and Mail. Sales for November
fell 5.5 percent. The sales declines are two to five times more severe
than most analysts expected. It is the first time that holiday sales
have fallen in the US in at least 40 years.
The holiday
numbers come a few
days after a Labor Department report showed that the number of US
workers filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose to a four-week
moving average of 558,000, the highest since November 1982. Wages for
US workers continue to deteriorate, leaving families even deeper in
consumer debt.
The end of
the winter shopping
season is also expected to result in a surge in layoffs. Retail stores
in the US already shed more than 90,000 jobs in November, and several
major firms have declared bankruptcy or begun liquidation (including
Circuit City, Linens `N Things, Steve & Barry's, and Mervyn's). In
another sign of bad news, sales of existing homes fell 8.6 percent in
December.
The top
economist at the
International Monetary Fund, Olivier Blanchard, told the French
newspaper Le Monde in early January that continued declines in consumer
spending would set off a global depression. "Consumer and business
confidence indexes have never fallen so far since they began. The
coming months will be very bad," he said. Echoing the right-wing view
that the crisis is largely psychological in origin, Blanchard said "It
is imperative to stifle this loss of confidence, to restart household
consumption, if we want to prevent this recession developing into a
Great Depression."
But this
"explanation" avoids
the basic reality of declining capitalist production. The US gross
domestic product fell 0.5 percent in the third quarter (July-September)
from the same period of 2007, but the fourth quarter decline is
predicted to hit a staggering 5 percent. Production in the other
advanced capitalist countries is also declining.
For example,
in Japan, the
second largest economy in the world, production fell by 8.1 percent
since October, the biggest such drop since the 1950s. The Japanese
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry says its surveys show
manufacturers expected the decline to continue, with an 8.0 per cent
contracted forecast for January.
Other
countries are facing even
worse situations. In Ukraine, industrial production fell by a massive
28.6 percent in November, following a nearly 20 percent decline the
month before. In other words, nearly half of the country's industrial
production has been eliminated in the space of two months.
These
economies could be the
canaries in the mine shaft, if warnings from some economists are
correct. Foreign Policy magazine
reported on Jan. 5 that "five
prominent economists who correctly predicted the 2008 world economic
meltdown say the crisis is only going to get worse."
New York
University economist
Nouriel Roubini, who correctly forecast the current disaster several
years ago, said the crisis is still in its early stages.
"As the U.S.
economy shrinks,
the entire global economy will go into recession. In Europe, Canada,
Japan and the other advanced economies, it will be severe. Nor will
emerging-market economies - linked to the developed world by trade in
goods, finance, and currency - escape real pain... The bubbles, and
there were many, have only begun to burst."
Roubini
predicted the U.S.
recession will last at least two years and could drag on for a decade.
He said hedge funds are being forced to sell their assets at fire-sale
prices while some financial institutions will go bust, and some
governments in emerging economies could default on their debt.
Morgan
Stanley Asia chairman
Stephen Roach said Asian economies will suffer from being overly
dependent on exports to the U.S. and on their own undervalued
currencies.
"A similar
verdict is likely for
the commodity-producing regions of the world, not just the
oil-dependent Middle East, but also the resource-intensive economies of
Australia, Canada, Brazil, Russia and Africa," Roach wrote. "As global
growth slows, so does the demand for economically sensitive
commodities, resulting in a sharp correction in the bubble-distorted
commodity prices and growth rates of the major commodity producers."
Yale
University economist Robert
J. Shiller, author of the 2008 book The Subprime Solution, was one of
several who cited the example of Japan.
"History
tells us there is some
precedent for a protracted, weak housing market. After the last housing
boom in the United States peaked in 1989, it took a typical city five
years to hit bottom," he wrote. "This time, prices have only been going
down for two years. We might look with caution to Japan, where urban
land prices fell for 15 consecutive years, from 1991 to 2006."
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4) QUEBEC LIBERALS RE-ELECTED, QS MAKES
BREAKTHROUGH
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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 Robert Luxley
As polls indicated, Québec's
Liberal
(minority) government under Jean Charest won a third term on Dec. 8,
managing to gain a narrow majority in the National Assembly. The Parti
Québecois regained the role of official opposition which
it lost
in
2007 at the hands of Mario Dumont's Action Démocratique.
Called
immediately after the
federal election, the Québec vote saw a turnout of 57%, one of
the
lowest participation rates in its history. Compared with the March 2007
election, the number of votes dropped by more than 720,000.
The results
at first glance seem
hardly surprising, when one considers that a majority of people felt a
certain cynicism that Charest's election call was motivated by his lead
in the polls. The campaign itself was dull, the main parties conveying
essentially the same promises. Moreover, the federal political crisis
sidelined the provincial campaign from public attention.
However, the
low participation
rate is mainly due to the ADQ's collapse. Indeed, the ADQ lost nearly
700,000 votes compared to the 2007 election. The Liberals increased
their votes by about 52,000, and the PQ by 16,000.
In 2007,
"surfing" on a racist
campaign conducted by some media outlets around the debate on
"reasonable accommodation," the ADQ surprisingly moved from third party
status to the official opposition. But the poor performance of its
deputies in the National Assembly, and its ultra-conservative policies
in the context of an economic crisis, cost the ADQ much credibility in
the eyes of the electorate. With the resignation of Mario Dumont, the
survival of this extreme right party is seriously threatened.
Despite the
refusal of the QLP
and the PQ allow Québec
Solidaire (QS) to participate in the
leaders'
debate, and limited coverage in the mainstream media, the left-wing
party ran an excellent campaign. The QS spokespersons, Francoise David
and Amir Khadir, made a tour of Quebec, revealing every week the main
aspects of a program which incorporates many demands of the unions and
popular movements: the development of transportation and railway
transport; nationalization of wind energy; poverty reduction by
increasing the minimum wage; investment in social housing; improved
labour standards, such as vacations and holidays; declaration of March
8 and May 1 as statutory holidays; easier access to unionization;
repeal of all anti-union laws adopted by the Charest government in
2003; investment and development of public health services and
education; recognition of indigenous nations and their right to
self-determination; the fight against discrimination; gender equality.
Compared to
2007, the QS
received nearly 22,000 votes less. This is partly explained by the
overall decline in the turnout, but it is likely that some
sovereigntist voters returned to the PQ, especially following the
"Quebec bashing" launched by the Conservatives in English Canada during
the federal political crisis.
With limited
resources, the QS
focused its energies in the Montreal ridings where its chief
spokespersons were candidates. This tactic succeeded, because Francoise
David placed second in Gouin riding, and Amir Khadir was elected in
Mercier. His election will give QS a wider forum and a credibility that
should help the party in the future.
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5) FARMERS WIN BIG AGAINST HARPER BULLYING
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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
In the wake of a huge victory for
prairie farmers over the Harper Tory minority government, the National
Farmers' Union has asked the RCMP to investigate the actions of five
Conservative MPs during the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) elections held
in late 2008.
Held in
early December, the 2008
CWB Director votes resulted in wins for four strong supporters of the
Wheat Board's single desk marketing advantage. The single desk system
brings higher average prices for most farmers, as opposed to an open
market favoured by the Tories and the transnational grain monopolies,
which helps only the largest producers. Of the ten elected farmers on
the Board of Directors, eight now support the single-desk system, while
two are opposed.
"This is a
huge victory for
farmers," said Stewart Wells, President of the National Farmers Union
(NFU). "Farmers have stood up to Harper's vow to `walk over' any
opposition to his plan to demolish the CWB. With 80% of the
farmer-elected Board members supporting the single desk marketing
advantages and a strong role for the CWB, it is time for the
Conservative Party to back away from its attacks on the CWB. Farmers
have spoken, and if the Prime Minister believes in the will of the
majority he must now stop attacking the CWB, and the Prime Minister
must also protect the CWB at the World Trade Organization talks."
The NFU
lists a number of "failed steps" taken to steal the elections from
farmers:
1. July 2008: Stephen Harper vows to
`walk over' CWB supporters.
2. July 23, 2008: Minister of
Agriculture Gerry Ritz sends a secret letter to the CWB instructing the
CWB to remove about one-third of the farmer-voters from the voters'
list. This action is being challenged by the Friends of the CWB in
Federal Court.
3. August 2008: Ritz changes the CWB
regulations and removes the spending limits on third party interveners
during the election period.
4. September 2008: Ritz sends a
letter and ballot application to farmers/ranchers in western Canada
encouraging non-permit book holders to vote. The application will not
work for farmers who hold a CWB permit book but have been removed from
the voters' list.
5. September/October 2008: The ballot
application posted on the election Coordinator's website will not work
for farmer permit book holders who want to get back on the voters' list.
6. November 2008: Several
Conservative MPs directly contravene the Code of Ethics for MPs by
sending campaign-style letters directly to farmers from their offices
in Ottawa.
The final
point is widely seen
as an abuse of the "franking" privileges granted by Parliament, since
the MPs used taxpayers' money to advertise on behalf of individual CWB
director candidates. As well, the MPs refuse to register as third party
interveners as required by the CWB Act. The NFU says the Conservative
MPs have likely contravened the Privacy Act of 1983 and the CWB Act of
1998 by using the confidential information from the election voters
list to directly contact farmers and tell them how to vote.
In a letter
to the RCMP, the NFU
points out that according to the law, the CWB election voters' list is
only supposed to be available to the candidates involved, and there are
strict rules in place to ensure the proper use of the private
information contained in the list.
"There have
been several
conflicting stories coming from the Conservative MPs themselves
regarding the mailing list that they used to promote anti-CWB
candidates during the election," said Wells. "Given that it is an
offence under the CWB Act to break the CWB Act or its regulations, it
seems that the only way to get to the truth is to ask the RCMP to
investigate, and that is what we have done. It seems to us that the
first step of an investigation would be to establish whether or not the
CWB voters' list was actually used by the Conservative MPs. Farmers are
angry about the abuse of democracy by the Conservatives, and farmers
have sent over fifty of the letters to the National Farmers Union. It
appears that in every case the name and address on the MP's letters is
identical to the name and address in the farmer's CWB permit book -
including typos and corporate names. The information in the CWB permit
book is also supposed to be protected by Canada's Privacy Act of 1983."
There are
other problems with
the Conservative actions. For example, according to the MPs' Conflict
of Interest Code, MPs are not supposed to help their friends become
"...a director or officer in a corporation, association or trade
union..."
"Over the
past three years, the
Harper government's actions toward farmers and the CWB have been both
undemocratic and un-Canadian," according to Wells, "but farmers have
not been bullied by the threats from Stephen Harper. The NFU will
continue to work toward a positive outcome for farmers and the
marketing advantages they receive from the Canadian Wheat Board."
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6) GRAND
FALLS-WINDSOR MILL CLOSURE: WHO IS TO BLAME?
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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 Sean Burton
AbitibiBowater announced that it will
close its paper mill in the central Newfoundland town of Grand
Falls-Windsor in March 2009, after its offers were overwhelmingly
rejected by the union. The Newfoundland and Labrador provincial
government, with the opposition's full support, has passed legislation
to expropriate the company's hydro and timber rights.
This
includes a hydroelectric
generating plant at Star Lake that sells power to the provincial grid.
These assets will be run by the provincial energy company Nalcor. It is
still unknown if a potential operator for the mill will be found.
Almost 500 people will lose their well-paid jobs if the mill goes, and
this town of 16,000 will face an uncertain economic future, albeit
cushioned a little by state intervention.
Who is
responsible for this: the
company or the union? Opinion polls split the blame almost fifty-fifty,
but blaming the union in this case is folly. AbitibiBowater was to cut
almost 200 jobs as part of a restructuring plan. The union would not
stand for such radical cuts, and rejected the plan. Instead of going
back to the table, the company simply announced the closure.
AbitibiBowater complained that
the mill had the highest labour cost of all its operations. But the
union regularly pointed out that company made little effort to
modernize the infrastructure of the mill, which has been in operation
for almost 100 years. In short, AbitibiBowater was happy that the union
rejected the offer; it gave the company an excuse to get rid of it. The
union took a principled stand, and the company revealed that it
couldn't care less about such principles.
Those who
blame the unions
usually say that we should just accept job losses because that's the
way the economy works. Following that logic, why bother having a union
in the first place? I was shocked that a CBC viewer actually called the
mill's closure proof that unions have "outlived their usefulness". The
argument was that any job is better than no job, and that the union
should have accepted restructuring to preserve the mill as a source of
employment in the town.
That logic
is frightening:
"Let's just do what the company wants, since they know the market, and
obviously they know best." That would be suicide for labour. It would
also be suicide for stability, since the free market is inherently
unstable. Without unions, companies could do whatever they wanted with
their holdings. They certainly wouldn't bother restructuring an ancient
paper mill in Newfoundland when they could just shut it down. It is sad
indeed to hear some people say that mere workers shouldn't meddle in
the affairs of corporate management.
AbitibiBowater, when it was
still called Abitibi Consolidated, closed a smaller paper mill in the
western Newfoundland town of Stephenville four years ago, and the
company's displeasure with the costs of the Grand Falls mill were also
well-known then. Is the union bad because it would not be bullied by a
bunch of profiters? Of course not. The capitalist free market is to
blame, and we need to advocate a new economic system with workers'
interests at heart.
The only
remaining large paper
mill in a once-vibrant Newfoundland industry is in the city of Corner
Brook, operated by Kruger Inc., which employs nearly one thousand
people. For now, it looks like that mill will stay, but nothing is
certain.
Meanwhile,
AbitibiBowater has
decided to take legal action against the provincial government, most
likely on the grounds that the expropriation of company assets
constitutes a violation of NAFTA. What better time to reopen
discussions on that very agreement? This showdown ought to remind
people of the threat that NAFTA poses to workers.
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7) ANTI-HARPER ANGER RUNS DEEP IN
SMALL-TOWN CANADA
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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.)
Despite the cynical
games being
played by many members of Parliament, anger against the Harper Tories
continues to run deep across the country. This report from Antigonish,
Nova Scotia (pop. 4800) shows that this sentiment is not limited to
major cities.
By Betsy
MacDonald
On December 6, 150 people marched in
Antigonish, Nova Scotia, to oppose Stephen Harper's undemocratic
decision to prorogue Parliament, and to support the Union of Postal
Communications Employees/Public Service Alliance of Canada workers
striking against Canada Post, which is trying to eliminate employees'
sick leave. Workers, community members and representatives of parties
supporting a coalition government gathered downtown next to the Post
Office on a chilly Saturday morning to send a message to Ottawa: Shame
on you, Stephen Harper!
While the
crowd was composed of
people of various political stripes, the overwhelming sentiment was one
of discontent with the current federal government and its anti-worker,
anti-democratic policies. Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament -
and take a several-week holiday while Canadians suffer through the
economic crisis - was a major focus of the rally. Demonstrators also
expressed outrage at recent Conservative attacks on workers' and
women's rights through legislation that would take away the right to
strike and file pay equity complaints. PSAC flags and Coalition Yes!
signs were abundant, and various speakers - including anti-capitalist
activists, NDP and Liberal reps and a UPCE/PSAC rep - spoke about the
economic crisis, and how action in Ottawa is needed to save jobs and
pensions.
After
speeches, the crowd began
singing "Solidarity Forever" and marched past the Canada Post building
down to Conservative MP Peter MacKay's office. There, they continued
chanting slogans like "The workers united can never be defeated!" and
"Harper, Harper, shame on you - Workers need a holiday too!"
People
walking downtown joined
the vigorous rally, which attracted local and provincial media
attention (and rivalled the concurrent pro-Conservative Halifax-based
rally in numbers). At a time when corporations and governments are
attacking basic rights, people in this small Nova Scotia town joined
forces to show the capitalist class that we will settle for nothing
less than real, people's democracy.
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8) VANCOUVER OLYMPIC COSTS KEEP
SKYROCKETING
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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
Controversial from the beginning, the
Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics continues to dominate civic politics as
2009 begins. The latest news about financing of the Millennium Olympic
Athletes village confirms the fears of many that the Games bid will
prove far more expensive than its backers ever admitted.
Last
November's Vancouver civic
election went off the rails for the big business Non Partisan Alliance
when the media revealed that City Council had secretly voted another
$100 million in loans to complete the project. The story was the last
straw for voters tired of the NPA's dismal record, and only one of the
party's candidates made it onto the new Council.
Just weeks
later, full details
of the Millennium project are coming to light. Differences remain about
the future of the project, but essentially it appears that under the
NPA's 2005-2008 majority, the city became the real developer behind the
building of nearly 1000 housing units, 750 of which are to be sold as
high-end condos after the Games.
The original
plan, part of an
overall bid package narrowly backed by Vancouver voters in a 2003
referendum, was to build an athletes' village which would be turned
into a mix of one-third low-income, one-third affordable, and one-third
market housing. Much of the affordable and low-income housing component
was ditched by the NPA, which focused instead on making a killing by
turning the project into luxury condos.
That plan
hit the skids last
year when the North American housing market slumped badly. House and
condo sales have fallen sharply in Vancouver, and most of the project's
units remain unsold. Facing dire financial problems, the project's main
U.S. financier, Wall Street's Fortress Investment Group, is asking the
City to guarantee most of the $750-million loan it has offered to build
the $1.2-billion Olympic Village. Media reports indicate that the city
might have to offer $500 million as security, five times as much as the
$100 million it has already put up to keep construction going.
As Vancouver
Sun columnist Miro
Cernetig recently wrote, "with its own share price in a slump, the
global banking crisis still unwinding and a falling real estate market
in Vancouver, Fortress essentially wants a guarantee from the City of
Vancouver and its taxpayers that it will be paid. It wants the city to
make good on the project's loan and interest costs if the Olympic
Village fails as a real estate venture. In short, the profitability of
the Olympic Village, whose condos were supposed to be sold to the
public at great profit after being used by Olympic athletes, is no
longer viewed as such a sure thing. In fact, those close to the deal -
now watching condo prices drop dramatically - wonder if the deal will
ever make a profit."
One of the
few politicians
looking good in this situation is David Cadman, the sole Coalition of
Progressive Electors councillor during the last term. Finally free to
reveal his record, Cadman voted against the April 2007 deal which
committed the city to the completion of the private development. He did
vote for the October 2008 decision to advance up to $100 million to
ensure that construction continued, since the city was legally obliged
to finish the project or else face severe penalties.
Some NPA
spokespersons claim
that the issue is "overblown", and that the project will make money in
the end. But that prediction seems based on nothing more than hopes
that the economic recession will end quickly, followed by a major
rebound in condo prices.
Meanwhile,
COPE councillors
Cadman and Ellen Woodsworth remain committed to the 225 units of
affordable housing in the development.
"What we are
absolutely clear on
is that those units must remain no matter what," says Woodsworth.
"Maintaining and creating affordable housing must be a priority for
this council."
In another
explosive Olympics
cost over-run, the B.C. government is facing a security budget that has
escalated by hundreds of millions of dollars. Provincial Finance
Minister Colin Hansen is negotiating with Ottawa about the split in
security costs, but so far, the federal government refuses to consider
paying a higher share. The original $175 million security budget is now
pegged at anywhere from $400 million to upwards of $1 billion. If other
Olympic-related projects are any measure, taxpayers can count on the
latter figure as closer to the final number.
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9) NEW SENATORS A
DANGEROUS SIGNAL
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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
Stephen Harper's appointment of 18
new senators is yet another indication that his government will use
every possible trick to cling to power. Lacking the support of a
majority of MPs or the public, the Tories have resorted to
extraordinary steps such as the unwarranted prorogation of Parliament,
a dangerous precedent giving minority governments a way to remain in
office without the support of Parliament.
The record
of attacks on
democratic rights and civil liberties under the Harper Tories includes:
their outrageous moves to deprive thousands of prairie farmers of the
right to vote on proposed changes to the Canadian Wheat Board; the
campaign to portray critics of the Afghan war as treasonous; firings of
public sector employees who dare to speak out against pro-corporate
government policies; police infiltration of opposition movements, such
as the provocateurs who tried to discredit protests against the
"Security and Prosperity Partnership" in Montebello, Quebec.
The Tory
drive for massive new
spending on the military, spy agencies, police, and jails, is combined
with moves to dismantle and privatize social programs. The Harper
government is utterly committed to wiping out the progressive social
gains achieved by generations of people's struggles, in favour of
expansion of the state's repressive functions.
This
far-right agenda runs
completely counter to the view of the majority of Canadians, who want
to bring the troops home from Afghanistan and to invest in social
programs and other measures to protect working people from the impact
of the deepening capitalist crisis. The steady erosion of
constitutional democracy will make it easier to impose drastic
restrictions on the labour movement and all democratic forces. This is
the real reason why the Tories locked the doors on Parliament.
We urge the
labour movement and
all its allies - Aboriginal peoples, social justice and anti-war
movements, students, seniors, women's groups, environmentalists - to
resist this attack on democracy. The period leading up to the return of
Parliament must be used to warn Canadians of the grave dangers posed by
the Harper Tories, and to mobilize support for a genuine People's
Agenda in response to the capitalist crisis.
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10) REJECT HARPER'S CHAUVINIST RANTS
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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
Among the most irresponsible actions
of PM Stephen Harper has been his use of big-nation chauvinism to
undermine the Liberal-NDP coalition in Parliament. According to Harper,
the coalition's agreement with the Bloc Quebecois, in which the latter
would not defeat a new government for 18 months, is a "conspiracy with
separatists" to destroy Canada. This dirty slander ignores the reality
that Mr. Harper himself has often escaped non-confidence motions
through the votes of BQ Members of Parliament. When it suited his
tactical purposes, Mr. Harper knew how to play upon nationalist
sentiments, such as his largely symbolic resolution to "recognize"
Quebec as a nation. Not least, for all his bluster, Mr. Harper has made
a career out of policies to destroy Canadian sovereignty by aligning
this country more closely with US imperialism.
Just as
important, it is
necessary to stress that Harper's attack continues a historic
Conservative policy: denial of the right of self-determination. In the
name of "national unity," The Harper Tories are deliberately inflaming
anti-Quebec sentiments among English-speaking Canadians, a campaign
which can only divide working people and exacerbate conflicts. The
Conservative offensive is in fact a menace to Canadian unity, since it
serves to strengthen the nationalist forces within Quebec.
Fortunately,
many progressive
voices in English-speaking Canada have condemned Harper's chauvinist
rants. We urge the labour and democratic movements to go further, by
defending the rights of the Aboriginal peoples and Quebec, including
reaffirming recognition of the national right to self-determination.
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11) CARIBBEAN IMMIGRANTS JOIN UNITE-HERE!
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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 Norman Faria
Forty years ago when I got a job in
the garage section of the posh Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto,
one of the first things I did was to join the Hotel Employees and
Restaurant Workers Union (HERWU) which represented the staff. I had
been in the country as an immigrant for four years but I knew only
through a collective voice with the longer established Canadian people
could we maintain and increase good working conditions, proper wages
and more extensive benefits.
In those
days, in 1969, there
was a sprinkling of other immigrants at the hotel. Over the last four
decades, with increased immigration predominately from areas such as
South East Asia and the Caribbean and Latin America, more of the
workforce are now "new Canadians". Many are described as ethnic
minorities, meaning they stand out physically because of their colour
or race. This influx of newcomers including from Guyana, with their
diverse skills and cultures, has benefitted Canada.
But, as in
any other country,
there can be shortcomings at the workplace. As Canadian law permits,
the trade unions and other labour based and driven organisations are
there for the workers' interests.
One of these
is the UNITE HERE!
union. I was honoured, during a visit last September to Toronto, to be
briefed on the union's operations by staff organisers Sima Zerehi and
Omar Latif. The Union represents workers in several hotels, clothing
manufacturers, food service and other trades in the Greater Toronto
Area (GTA). The information would greatly assist me as the Guyana
Honourary Consul in Barbados where Guyanese nationals, on work permits
and otherwise, are employed in similar occupations.
The Toronto
operations of UNITE
HERE! is headquartered at the downtown junction of Richmond and
Spadina. The surrounding area was, up until the 1970s, the centre of
the Toronto clothing manufacturing sector. Many immigrants (I still
remember primarily women of Italian and Portuguese descent boarding the
streetcars and buses on their way home at rush hour) worked there.
As Zerehi
and Latif explained,
UNITE HERE! was actually a merger in July 2004 of the Union of
Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Workers Employees (UNITE) and the
HERWU. Of the total 450,000 members, some 50,000 are in Canada with
nearly 7,000 in GTA.
The majority
of UNITE HERE!
members are immigrants and visible ethnic minorities. In Toronto, they
make up a large component, about 70 percent. Some are from Guyana and
the Caribbean, says Zerehi. The majority of members are women.
Presently,
the union is on a
membership drive. This outreach will involve reaching out to employees
in the city's currently unorganised and traditionally low wage hotels
and service industries such as restaurants and cafeterias where maids,
cleaners, cooks and other kitchen staff and even "higher level"
employees may want to join.
Last year,
the union members
staged a successful walkout at three major GTA hotels including the
Royal York (now Fairmont Royal York).
It was a
significant action.
Abdul Husseini, one of the waiters and UNITE HERE! member at the
Radisson Suites Airport Hotel which was struck, noted that the chief
cook at the hotel received $14.76 per hour while at the nearby Hilton a
cook doing similar work was making $18.86.
Chipped in
fellow employee Matti
Singh, as reported in a union news release: "We are the ones who make
tourism work in Toronto. We deserve to be treated with respect."
UNITE HERE!
shop steward Helen
Liu at the Royal York, one of the leaders at last year's strike action,
had been honoured in 2007 by Toronto City Hall for her exemplary work
with the union and the betterment of women in GTA. The union is
involved with a wider movement called "Hotel Workers Rising" which as
union literature noted "brings together hotel workers across North
America in order to raise standards and create well paying, safe and
secure jobs in the service sector".
What is the
relationship with
other unions which may have a majority membership base of longer
established Canadians? Do they see UNITE HERE! as only representing
immigrants who do not wish to integrate into Canadian society, I ask?
Far from it,
says Latif, who
points out that part of the union's logo on literature is "We Belong!".
He said: "I think a significant message of the union is the desire of
the immigrant workers to integrate into Canadian society and make it an
even better place for everybody".
UNITE HERE!
has cordial and
fraternal relations with other labour bodies and community
organisations, he said. There is no division and there is always a
dialogue, says Zerehi. Among those praising the work of UNITE HERE! is
US President-elect Barack Obama.
As with
other unions in Canada,
the labour body has a Health and Welfare Plan for its membership. For
example, the maximum disability benefit for the first six weeks of
disability is Can $435 per week.
Guyanese
with relatives working
in the hotel and other service industries in the GTA are encouraged to
contact UNITE HERE!, if they haven't already done so. The website for
the union in Canada is http://www.unitehere.ca.
I was
grateful for my rewarding
visit with staffers at the UNITE HERE! office and pledged to put the
information they kindly gave me to proper use. As a former hotel worker
union member and immigrant, I wanted to march with them in the annual
labour Day Parade. But because of protocol considerations, I thought
better of it. I nevertheless supported them from the sidewalk wishing
them all the very best.
(Norman
Faria, Guyana's
Honourary Consul in Barbados, recently visited Toronto. This feature is
an abridged version published in the Sunday Chronicle newspaper in
Guyana and is kindly reprinted with permission.)
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12) SURREY RALLY URGES INDO-PAK PEACE
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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
Shahzad Nazir Khan
After the Mumbai terror attacks, the
escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan risks war between the
two nuclear states. In response, the Indo-Pak community of Greater
Vancouver decided to hold a peace rally on New Year's Day.
The purpose
of the Jan. 1 rally
was to show solidarity between the south Asian communities, and to
oppose war hysteria which could devastate a great number of innocent
people and their livelihood. The initiative was taken by Gurpreet Singh
of Radio India, Dr. Saif, Dr. Sadhu Singh and Shahzad Nazir Khan, south
Asian peace activists.
Over 100
members of the south
Asian communities, including women and children, braved the harsh
weather for the cause of peace, gathering in front of the Punjabi
Market on Scott Road in Surrey. Holding placards highlighting their
commitment against war and terrorism, the participants marched along
the main road and chanted slogans in favour of peace.
Later Dr.
Saif addressed the
gathering and expressed the determination of the participants to
prevail upon the governments of India and Pakistan to de-escalate
tensions and resolve their mutual issues through talks.
Ruqayya
Begum, a renowned caller
to local radio talk shows, made a passionate appeal to recognize the
conspiracy of the big powers to promote tensions in south Asia just to
grind their own axe.
Nazir Rizvi
of the Fraser Valley
Peace Council stressed the need to join together the causes of peace in
all corners of the world.
Capt.
Suleman Mehtab, president
of the Canada Urdu Association, recited a poem depicting his sentiments
against hatred among different communities, and appealed to the
participants to stand for peace and harmony. He also narrated his
experience of visiting India and Pakistan recently as an envoy of peace
between the two countries.
Dr. Hari
Sharma of SANSAD (South
Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy) condemned the forces of
hatred that are bent on promoting terrorism and war hysteria.
Renowned
writer Fauzia Rafiq
criticized the trends of terrorism, whether among Muslims, Sikhs,
Hindus or Christians, as acting against humanity.
Sadhu
Binning, a retired UBC
teacher, reiterated that the south Asian communities are together in
defeating the trends of hatred and war-mongering.
Naveed
Warraich of the
Pakistani-Canadian Cultural Association condemned all acts of terrorism
and assured the participants that the Pakistani community will stand
together with their counterparts from other countries in addressing
their concerns.
Naseer
Pirzada of The Miracle
newspaper stressed the need for the media to play a positive role
rather than promoting hatred and hysteria.
Harry Bains
(NDP MLA,
Surrey-Newton) assured the crowd of his endeavours to promote peace and
harmony at all levels among different communities. Rachid Arab, NDP
candidate in Surrey North in the recent federal election, called for
peace and solidarity among different cultural groups. He also condemned
atrocities being committed by Israel in Gaza as state-sponsored
terrorism.
Other
speakers included Avtar Gill of the Tarksheel Society and Darshan
Sekhon of the Security Professionals Association.
At the end,
Shahzad Nazir Khan
referred to the inscription at the Peace Arch between Canada and the
US, that the people living on both sides of a border should be treated
like "children of the same mother." The participants joined in with
chants of "Long live peace", "Down with war hysteria", and "Down with
terrorism."
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13) SOUTH KOREAN
RAILWORKERS FIGHT PRIVATIZATION
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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 Sean Burton,
from South Korea
The threat to the working class
around the world is most pronounced in this time of capitalist crisis.
But the capitalist system is, by its very nature, based on exploitation
for profit. Regardless of the difficult situation the world's economic
powers find themselves in, the majority of people have always been
getting screwed over. One need only look at the massive job losses in
the manufacturing industries of Canada and the U.S. over the last five
years to see that.
Exacerbating
matters is the fact
that many capitalist countries are dominated by neo-conservative and
neo-liberal economic policies. South Korea is one such country. Long a
bastion of capitalism opposed to the socialist-oriented North, South
Korea's right-wing government is eagerly embracing an increasingly
rotten economic order.
The
privatization of state-run
services is a high priority for the government led by President Lee
Myun Bak and his Grand National Party. One immediate target is the
public rail service provider, KORAIL. Ten percent of the workforce
(about 4,000 workers) would lose their jobs in the next four years
under the current plan, and some offices and train stations would be
privatized. In mid-November, unionized KORAIL employees decided to
strike in protest of the upcoming layoffs, and to demand the
reinstatement of 47 workers fired for participating in a strike in 2003.
KORAIL
issued a warning that it
would resist the strike in the name of "law and order". Naturally, the
company referred to its plans as "a more flexible and effective
operation scheme for its workers", in the words of KORAIL's
vice-president, Shim Heok Yoon. Of course such language translates into
"a smaller, cheaper, and profit-oriented operation". Furthermore, the
company's president was recently arrested on bribery charges; why
should the workers have faith in the words of these managers?
The current
global capitalist
crisis is being used as an excuse by KORAIL's executives.
Vice-president Shim essentially stated that the workers' concerns
should not matter in these difficult economic times. What matters,
apparently, is "gaining the public's trust as a public entity".
That sounds
suspiciously like an
argument for "essential services", an issue that decided the fate of
the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) strike in 2007. Ontario's main
political parties all decided that the workers are not what matters,
but rather the convenience (or, as we are led to believe, "need") of
the "public".
KORAIL
prepared an "alternative
workforce" to replace strikers. This workforce amounts to less than
half of the total number of workers. South Korean labour regulations
require a minimum workforce in the event of a strike. What are such
regulations but attacks on workers' rights? After all, they serve to
prevent strikes from being successful. Certainly, South Korean
industries stand to lose out when they cannot ship their goods via
train. That, apparently, is what matters in terms of "law and order",
as opposed to social justice.
Lee Myun Bak
has been using the
same langauge, stating on Nov. 18 that he wants "labour, management and
government to cooperate closely, as law and order is what keeps our
society running. Labour relations must rise to the level of an advanced
country."
Government
branches took steps
to crack down on what they called an "illegal strike." It is perhaps
fitting that Lee made these comments while he was in South American for
the APEC conference, yet another vehicle for imperialism. There, Lee
made it clear that economies should "roll on their own". This can only
mean that more danger awaits South Korean workers.
The KORAIL
strike has not
occurred. Seoul's subway union, which supported KORAIL's strike vote,
reached an agreement with the government, leading the larger union to
rethink its strategy. It remains to be seen how good of a deal can be
made with Lee Myun Bak.
Meanwhile,
the government is
pursuing a number of free trade deals, including with the US. The
opposition Democratic Party is strongly opposed to these deals unless
measures are taken to protect South Korean farmers and other people
expected to suffer from an increase in American imports. The Lee
government has been forcing its legislation through with little concern
for its opponents, and the bill for the trade deal was no exception.
Members of
Lee's Grand National
Party locked themselves in with the parliamentary committee for trade
hours before opposition members arrived. Opposition politicians
attempted to force their way in, fighting GNP security guards, and
using sledgehammers to beat down the doors, only to find a wall of
furniture blocking to way to the chamber. This shameless violation of
democratic procedure led opposition parties to demand that the GNP
apologize to the nation.
I will end
on a historical, and
perhaps sentimental note. The unrest among the railway workers reminds
me of an event not commonly talked about. A People's Republic of Korea
was established at the end of the Japanese occupation of Korea in 1945,
only to be banned by the US Army Military Government in Korea for its
presumed socialist orientation. This, as well as the banning of strikes
and revolutionary people's committees, led to considerable unrest. In
the city of Busan, which I have called home for the last few months,
over eight thousand railway workers broke the strike ban in September
1946. Strikes spread throughout the country, and when a number of
student demonstrators were killed, the civilian population violently
attacked the police, landlords and pro-Japanese officials. Many more
people were killed by US military units once martial law was declared.
This episode flies in the face of South Korean conservatives, who are
trying to change the "leftist" history books. Similar violence is not
likely at present, but given the widespread disgust for Lee Myun Bak,
the demonstrations could grow large and threatening indeed.
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14) FOREIGN TROOPS FLEE
SOMALIA
(The
following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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 Stephen Von Sychowski
In December 2006, Ethiopian troops
entered Somalia and toppled the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) government
which controlled much of the country. A vicious guerilla war ensued
between invading forces and various Somalian forces. The African Union
pledged 8,000 peacekeepers towards the conflict. To this day only
Uganda and Burundi have sent troops, which total just fewer than 3,500.
And now, two years later, Ethiopia has announced its withdrawal.
This war,
which has killed
unknown thousands of civilians and fighters, was hardly mentioned in
the corporate media. When it was, it was portrayed in classic
imperialist style as a war between brutal and uncivilized Third World
peoples. Behind this charade, however, is the blood soaked hand of
imperialism.
The U.S.
sees Somalia much the
way it sees the Third World in general; as a source of natural
resources (oil, iron ore, copper, salt, etc.) and potential cheap
labour. Somalia has also long been considered a strategic base of
operations due to its proximity to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
After
Somalia's central
government collapsed in the early 1990s, it was invaded by U.S. troops
who were driven out in 1993. But attempts at U.S. domination didn't
stop there. The U.S. was quick to prop up tyrannical governments in
neighbouring Ethiopia since the counter-revolution in that country in
1991. The current government of Ethiopia, which was puppeteered into
this disastrous war by U.S. imperialism, is no exception.
In 2001, the
U.S. carried out
military operations inside Somalia, claiming that it was a "failed
state" and a potential breeding ground for Al Qaeda operatives. In
2002, they established a military base at Camp Le Monier in nearby
Djibouti, and proceeded to carry out covert operations in the region
from that base. And finally, in 2004, the U.S. attempted to impose a
"transition government" in Somalia. But the "transitional government"
never took root; instead, the ICU swept through the country
establishing its rule and forcing the "transitional government" into
isolation.
The ICU was
an Islamic
Fundamentalist movement, carrying with it reactionary social policies
and establishing an Islamic theocracy. Despite this they became
exceedingly popular, because they brought order and normalcy to a
country that had endured more than a decade of war and violent chaos.
Furthermore, they opposed the presence of foreign troops in Somalia.
While politically and socially reactionary, the ICU constituted an
objectively anti-imperialist force. Naturally, they were quickly
identified as "terrorist" and enemies of U.S. imperialism.
With troop
shortages, crushing
debt, public opinion turning against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
and "Black Hawk Down" still fresh in the U.S. people's minds, it was
much easier for Bush to have neighbouring Ethiopia fight U.S.
imperialism's war than to conduct it directly with U.S. forces.
But the
fierce resistance of the
Somalian people through the application of guerilla warfare has forced
the Ethiopian troops from the Somalian countryside. While this
constitutes a defeat for imperialism, one can hardly rejoice. Somalia
is now worse off than two years ago, with even less in the way of a
clear central government, and a variety of ideologically opposed
factions looking to take power. We can only hope that this process can
be carried out relatively peacefully. It also remains to be seen what
will come of the remaining foreign forces from Uganda and Burundi.
Today, it
seems only one thing
is certain: in a world of capitalist crisis where imperialism is taking
losses every day, for a moment the eyes of anti-imperialists around the
world will fall on Somalia, reminding us that they can be defeated.
Today in Somalia, tomorrow in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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15) WHAT'S LEFT
(The following
article is from the January 1-31, 2009, 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.)
VICTORIA,
BC
Palestine: land and memory - 8-11 pm, Friday, Jan. 23, 1923 Fernwood Road, hear Theresa Wolfwood on her recent travel to Palestinian communities. Discussion on solidarity will
follow, admission by
donation, proceeds to Gaza
relief, refreshments available.
Sponsors: Central America
Support Committee, Coalition
against Israeli Apartheid,
call Carlos Flores, 250-598-7690
VANCOUVER, BC
Resolving the
Israel-Palestine Conflict, with speaker Dr. Norman
Finkelstein - Wed., Jan. 21, 6:30 pm, UBC Wood 2 Building, presented by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-UBC, $15 for non-students and at the door, to reserve call 778-990-1812.
Annual
Robbie Burns Dinner, Friday - Jan. 23, Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph St., sponsored by Vancouver & District Labour Council, proceeds to Queen Alexandra School’s Morning Program, call 604-254-0703 for tickets and details.
Left Film Night, Sunday - Jan. 25, 7 pm, at the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. Featuring “Innocent Voices,” award-winning drama on the civil war in El Salvador, call 604-255-2041 for details.
Anne
Feeney and Rebel Voices - 8 pm, Tue., Jan. 27, Peretz Centre, 6184 Ash St., tickets $15 from People’s Coop Books, 1391 Commercial Dr., presented by Vancouver & District Labour Council Arts & Culture Committee, 604-254-0703
Celebration of the lives of Rosaleen Ross and
Bill Mozdir - 2 pm, Sunday, Feb. 15, Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. Call BC Committee CPC for information, 604-254-9836.
WINNIPEG, MB
Rally against Israeli
aggression in Gaza - 2 pm each Saturday at Federal Building (Main & Water) until further notice, Peace Alliance Winnipeg.
Public
meetings on Palestinian occupied territories with Dr. Jeff Halper,
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions:
- Sat., Jan. 24, 7:30 pm, at Rocker Centre, 91 Albert.
- Sun., Jan. 25, 4 pm, at Canadian Mennonite Univ.
- Mon., Jan. 26, 12:30 pm, U of Winnipeg, and 3 pm, U of Manitoba.
For
info contact CanPalNet,
947-5093.
TORONTO, ON
Publicly Funded Health
Care and Its Preservation in Canada, presented by U of T Health Studies
Program, with speaker Ralph Nader - 7 pm, Friday, Jan. 30, Convocation Hall, 31 Kings College Circle, advance tickets at Women’s Book Store 73 Harbord St., call 647-501-1954 for info.
A Hot
Cuban Night, celebrate Jose Marti’s birthdate - Sat., Jan.
31, 7 pm, dance to the music
of Pablo Terry and Sol
de Cuba! Cover charge $15,
delicious dinners from $10.99
or appetizers from
$4.99, cash bar, at Cervejaria
Downtown Bar & Grill, 842
College (just west of Ossington).
Sponsored by Canadian- Cuban
Friendship Association, call
Sharon, 905-951-8499, or Liz
Hill, 416-654-7105.
Norman Bethune Day celebration - Sat., Feb. 28, 290 Danforth Ave., door prize one week all-inclusive trip for two to Cuba, for details call PV Ontario Bureau, 416-469-2446.
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