CN workers - bent but far from broken
(The
following article is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
By Sam Hammond
The 80% rejection of the proposed one year settlement at CN Rail by
members of the embattled United Transit Union was an act of courage
under extreme duress. That is obvious, a given.
What is unknown is how it will express itself
in the present
melee. Will it be marshalled by any of the suitors? Are there forces
within the ranks who have the ability to nurture and protect this
militancy, who have a larger view of what a union is, what leadership
responsibility must be, and where a collective agreement or a strike
fits into the present and the future?
The UTU members are like a stag surrounded by
snarling dogs while
facing an armed hunter in the person of CN Rail. Make no mistake about
it. The main antagonists in this mess are CN Rail (the corporate
expropriator-plunderer) and the UTU running trades workers, fighting up
from ground zero for working conditions and wages that will allow them
a small piece of the life that every human deserves as a minimum
condition of survival, as a bequest from our ancestors. These two
antagonists, capital and labour, are surrounded by a pack of hounds,
each with a similar agenda but different tactics. The hounds could
attack the hunter, the stag, or both.
The stage for this struggle was set in
Canadian history, when past
governments formed a publicly owned corporation from the manors of the
warring and failed Railroad Barons. In order to resist the booming
republic to the south, the new Dominion of Canada had to intervene with
public funds and take possession. After years of trampling on the
rights of First Nations people from coast to coast, stealing land and
resources, grinding the bone and flesh of immigrant workers into the
railbeds, the CN developed as a Canadian icon.
Then it was given back to private capital. As
a private
enterprise, CN still enjoys the benefits of past plunder and government
subsidy. It has broadened its operations through the heart of middle
America as far as Texas, acquiring an American management who express
almost complete disdain for Canadian needs, Canadian Labour Codes, and
most of all Canadian health and safety legislation.
The present CN Rail strike is the result of
this backdrop. The
shameful activity of rival unions is a complicating factor that may
lose this strike, or give it away. But that is not the main issue, no
matter how the corporation or the Canadian Government try to portray
the matter as they prepare to crush the hopes of railroaders families
under their corporate greed and their neo-liberal agenda.
This is a class struggle, with all the
complicating factors of
capitalism in Canada: our escalating foreign takeover,
de-industrialization, deep integration into US imperialism and
involvement in global imperialist military ventures. It represents the
lap-dog acquiescence led by the Tories, and the dilemma of Canadian
workers - how to resist, and with what kind of ideological and
political weaponry.
At the moment of writing, the CN workers are
being called upon by
a discredited UTU leadership to carry out rotating strikes, by the
Teamsters to ignore their union and join the International Brotherhood
of Teamsters (where almost 3000 of their brothers and sisters went last
year at CP Rail), and by CN Rail to go back to work and sign regional
agreements.
The Harper cabinet's back to work legislation
was passed by the
House of Commons (with the Liberals in favour and the NDP opposed),
then quickly approved by the Senate and given immediate royal assent.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Industrial Relations
Board is considering
a request by the Teamsters to legalize their raid and declare an open
period. The leadership of the UTU has lost touch with the membership
and therefore lost control, the Teamsters are salivating for new
members, the CIRB is considering legalizing back-stabbing, and the Tory
cabinet will probably impose "Final Offer Settlement" or something with
a similar moniker.
Unfortunately, sisters and brothers, this may
be a sign of things
to come. The real splits here, the major contradictions, are
ideological. First and foremost is the antagonistic relationship
between two classes, complicated by the ideological gerrymandering of
the trade union movement - the modern face of reformism and social
democracy, with its business unionism and corporate structural model.
Instead of organizing, the growing tendency is to raid, capture dues
bases, consolidate, compete and merge. For some, a fraternal
organization weakened in the struggle is a good opportunity for a raid.
All these conditions make unity in action very difficult to achieve.
But these conditions and this corrupt ideology
are not yet
dominant. There is still plenty of morality and class consciousness in
the trade union movement. There are still plenty of leadership elements
who will fight for unity. The lower "non-commissioned officers" of the
movement are still by and large selfless volunteers who fight the good
fight on a day to day basis. The shop stewards, local union executives
and officers of unions are really the catalyst, the heart and soul of
resistance.
There is a growing tendency for every major
strike to evolve into
a political struggle that cannot be won on the shop floor, by the
simple withdrawal of labour. The anti-labour, anti-worker agenda of the
corporate political hacks at every level of government will move in
this direction.
In response, labour unity and labour
independent political
campaigning are absolutely necessary. The option of "whether or not" is
fast disappearing. This demands a resurgence of left ideology armed
with a program of labour unity, extra-parliamentary resistance, unity
with the social justice movements, and unity between the working class
in all the Canadian nations. The realization of these needs is in
itself the beginning of the solution, of left ideology. We must talk
more of this.
Good luck to the brave workers at CN Rail. No
matter what you end
up wearing, no matter what legislation is forced on you, please don't
lose heart. In the words of Muhammad Ali, "float like a butterfly,
sting like a bee." Your road is uphill today, and it seems hard to see
the trees for the forest, but the good green healthy trees are there.
Your troubles are transient. You may be bent but you will never be
broken.
May Day 2007: What kind of fightback is needed?
(The
following article is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
Excerpts from the Political
Resolution adopted by delegates at the
recent 35th Central Convention of the Communist Party of Canada
What kind of fightback is needed? As the neoliberal agenda unfolds at
both the federal and provincial levels, more and more sections of the
people are coming under fire, giving rise to protests, demonstrations,
strikes, and other forms of resistance. The powerful two-week strike in
October 2005 by the BC Teachers showed that with militant leadership
and broad public support, labour can take on right-wing governments.
The near-general strike in Quebec, the Six Nations occupation in
Caledonia, the recent mass demonstrations by farmers, and the growing
mobilization to defend women's programs, show that the mood of popular
resistance remains widespread.
Perhaps most significant is the "Troops Out
Now" campaign, which
includes anti-war coalitions in both Quebec and English-speaking
Canada, the Canadian Labour Congress, key sections of the Muslim
community, environmentalists, the Council of Canadians, student groups,
and many other organizations. The majority of Canadians support the
call to withdraw the troops, compelling the NDP to call for removal of
troops engaged in military operations...
It is imperative that these threads of
resistance be drawn
together into a united, coordinated fightback. This will not happen
spontaneously; it will require the conscious efforts of all those
involved in the struggle, based on recognition that the only way to
block and defeat a single, comprehensive right-wing agenda is through
"unity-in-action", through the building of the broadest possible,
comprehensive and united fightback. Only by moving thousands and
hundreds of thousands of people into the streets and onto picket lines
will it be possible to force the Tories into retreat, to stiffen
opposition in Parliament, and lay the basis to defeat this government
and then to press for progressive change.
Broad unity does not imply, and should not
entail, setting aside
specific concerns and interests of respective movements and
constituencies. On the contrary, all these concerns and demands need to
find expression in a united fightback. We should not settle for "lowest
common denominator" unity, but rather strive for unity based on our
shared common interests in defeating this right-wing threat, and
informed by that classic labour slogan: "An injury to one is an injury
to all!" Experiences in many other countries around the globe and in
Canada itself convincingly show that "in unity there is strength."
All of the social movements and organizations,
from all sectors -
labour, aboriginal peoples, peace groups and coalitions, women's
organizations, seniors, youth and student organizations, visible and
national minorities, anti-poverty groups, environmentalists, LGBT
activists, political organizations - must have both the opportunity and
the shared responsibility to help build a united fightback movement.
Indeed, its very success depends on the inclusion and active
participation of all these forces to achieve the "critical mass" needed
to block the Tories.
In order to build such a strong and united
fightback movement,
each of its many component parts must in turn be strengthened, and our
Party and its members should work without fail to support and help
build each of these movements. This includes (among others) our work
among Aboriginal peoples against their racist oppression, police/state
harassment, and in defence of their national rights; among immigrants
and national monitories in the fight against racism and "anti-terror"
victimization; in the women's movement and in particular the efforts to
rebuild a labour-backed pan-Canadian women's organization; among youth
and students in the high schools, post-secondary institutions and the
workplace; in the environmental movement; in struggles at the civic
level, including support for municipal reform candidates and movements;
and not least, in the crucial anti-war and anti-imperialist
movements.....
Heading into the next federal election, Canada
is truly at a
crucial moment, even more significant than the "free trade" campaign of
1988. There may be some new elements in this campaign, such as the
possibility that the new leadership of the Greens will make that party
a bigger factor in the struggle for votes. The fight for democratic
electoral reform remains crucial to efforts to break the monopoly of
the "big parties" in Parliament; in this regard, it will be important
to conduct a major battle for proportional representation in the
upcoming review of electoral reform in Ontario. A breakthrough for PR
in Canada's most populous province would be a major victory for
democracy.
The goal of the Communist Party will be to
help defeat the
ultra-right Harper Tories - who are now the preferred party of finance
capital - and in the process to shift the balance of political forces
within Parliament and in the country as a whole. This struggle can
become an important step towards initiating a broader campaign for a
progressive agenda.
For this reason, Communists will be on the
ballot in as many
cities as possible, to expose the right-wing agenda and to win support
for the policies outlined in our People's Alternative. The Communist
Party will campaign to put people's needs before corporate greed,
presenting a strategy to defeat imperialism and block the threat of
fascism and war. Our candidates will link the battles around immediate
issues with the perspective of a People's Coalition government, which
can open the door to a socialist transformation of Canada. This is the
special contribution of Communists as we campaign shoulder to shoulder
with the people's movements to defeat the Tories.
ALCAN ruling: a move to privatize resources
(The
following article is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
By George Gidora
The privatization of Canada's energy resources has taken a big leap
forward with a BC Supreme Court ruling that awards multinational
aluminum giant Alcan the right to sell electricity to BC Hydro.
In the 1950s, the BC government allowed Alcan
to divert massive
amounts of water from the Nechako River, drilling massive tunnels
through entire mountains. Water from the "Kemano Project" could be used
to generate electricity only for the purposes of smelting aluminum and
creating jobs at Kitimat. But in the early 1990s, Alcan revealed plans
for the "Kemano Completion Project" (KCP) to divert even more water
from the Nechako and expand the electrical generating facilities.
The original project flooded much of the
traditional territory of
the Cheslatta aboriginal nation and severely damaged salmon spawning
habitat. Environmental groups, the United Fisherman and Allied Workers
Union, and the Cheslatta fought the KCP, which was halted by the NDP
provincial government in 1995. In return, Alcan was awarded a monthly
payment of $1 million from BC Hydro to compensate for "lost revenues"
which would have been realized through selling electricity.
The purpose of KCP was to generate electricity
to sell for profit,
since Alcan had sufficient existing generating capacity for its Kitimat
smelter. Alcan is now more brazen than ever; since the BC Liberals have
passed legislation forbidding BC Hydro to develop new sources of
electrical generation, the utility must now buy power from privately
owned concerns.
The town of Kitimat took Alcan to court to
stop an upgrade to
Alcan's smelter which would cost 500 jobs. The company plans to shift
its main emphasis to electrical production which will further reduce
the number employed at the smelter, from 5500 jobs at the peak, to 1500
today. Kitimat has the fastest shrinking population in BC, falling from
14,000 to 8900 in about 20 years.
The BC Supreme Court ruling is interesting,
because the plan to
sell electricity to BC Hydro was nixed recently by the BC Utilities
Commission as too expensive for the province. At that time it was
revealed that Premier Gordon Campbell owned shares in Alcan, of which
he claimed to be unaware.
Alcan has now dropped its appeal of the
Commission's decision, in
favour of "revamping" its proposal. BC Hydro and Alcan both say
discussions on a new deal are "going well" and agreement is expected
soon. In other words, the details are being tweaked, and Alcan will
soon be able to sell its "surplus" electricity for a windfall profit.
The incessant drive for more and more profit
is fueling the
government-approved process of using public resources to generate
private wealth. Nothing is permitted to get in the way; aboriginal
rights, environment protection, people's jobs and security - all fall
aside in the wake of this drive.
In the upcoming federal election, people need
to remember these
things and cast their votes appropriately. A vote for candidates of the
Communist Party of Canada would send a strong message that we are fed
up with the mayhem and destruction that occurs when private profit is
constantly put ahead of public need.
(George
Gidora is the British Columbia leader of the Communist
Party, and the Communist candidate in the riding of Port
Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam.)
Communists campaign in Manitoba election
(The
following article is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
Statement of the Manitoba
Committee, Communist Party of Canada, April 24, 2007
Seeking a third mandate and with the slogan "Forward, not back",
Manitoba NDP Premier Gary Doer has called an election for May 22. Most
commentators expect that the NDP will be re-elected, although with a
reduced majority.
The Communist Party is nominating five to six
candidates and will
campaign on a solid working class approach and platform, seeking to
elect genuinely progressive candidates and to unite working people to
block the election of an even more pro-Big Business party, the
Progressive Conservatives.
The CPC will campaign for every vote we can
get, advancing
policies to put people and nature before profit. A communist in the
legislature would make a real difference, and we have every intention
of improving our share of the vote.
Like the official opposition PCs led by Hugh
McFadyen, the NDP is
campaigning to represent Manitoba's corporate ruling class. The
platforms of the two parties are remarkably similar. The Doer
governmentÆs budget in April included tax cuts for the
corporations and
was silent on how to end Manitoba's "low wage" economy.
The NDP has worked hard to win the support of
Manitoba's corporate
elite, such as Doer's endorsement of the federal Conservative budget
and his public defiance of the federal NDP's position of ending
Canada's occupation of Afghanistan.
The NDP's accommodation with capitalism is
hurting workers and the
needy, especially Aboriginal people, women and youth who often face a
desperate struggle to survive. For example, Winnipeg's food banks
distribute emergency food to 18,126 children each month, up from 5,512
ten years ago.
A McFadyen PC government would be an even
greater threat. Bitter
experience has shown that the PCs cannot be trusted to keep their
election promises, such as not to privatize Manitoba Telephone System
(MTS) in the 1990s. A PC government would deepen social inequalities,
impose harsh anti-labour measures to crush efforts by unions to raise
wages, and do nothing to change the racist unemployment and poverty of
Aboriginal peoples in Manitoba.
The stakes in this election are high. Hunger
and poverty must end.
More and better jobs are needed. Genuine action to prevent the death of
Lake Winnipeg must take place. Real change on all of these issues would
benefit all working people and the needy, but particularly Aboriginal
peoples in Manitoba.
(For more information on the
Communist candidates and platform, contact the party's Winnipeg office,
204-586-7824.)
May Day and class struggle - Editorial
(The
following editorial is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
People's Voice Editorial, May
1-15, 2007
Communists are sometimes accused of (or applauded for!) "inciting class
struggle." May Day is a useful occasion to think about this concept.
Suppose the supporters of a particular
political philosophy were
said to be responsible for "inciting the weather." That would be absurd
- winds, rain, clouds, and sunlight are natural phenomena which occur
regardless of any ideology.
Class struggle is also a natural component of
all class-divided
societies. Throughout recorded history, conflicts have been a constant
feature of the relationship between master and slave, lord and serf,
boss and worker. Slave revolts, peasant uprisings, and working class
rebellions came long before the Communists emerged as an organized
political force in the 19th century. On a less visible scale,
resistance against the bosses is an everyday reality, a shop-floor
combat over every minute of working time, every nickel on the
paycheque, every measure to protect the lives and limbs of those who
produce the profits.
But the most effective forms of class struggle
are those which
unite large numbers of workers and their allies around immediate goals
and long-range aims. The eight-hour day, for example, was won by the
collective efforts of millions of workers, using strikes,
demonstrations, and other tactics over a period of decades. This
victory had nothing to do with appealing to the consciences of
capitalists, and everything to do with a conscious struggle led by the
trade unions, and by the Communists and other left forces.
On May Day 2007, we salute the workers of all
countries who are
carrying forward the struggle for better pay and working conditions,
for defence of social programs and equality, for peace and disarmament
- and for a socialist future in which the guiding principle is the
collective interest of the planet, not the greed of transnational
corporations.
The Dion/May agreement - Editorial
(The
following editorial is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
People's Voice
Editorial, May 1-15, 2007
The federal election kaleidoscope shifted again in mid-April. Anything
could still happen, such as new parliamentary eruptions around the
Afghanistan fiasco and environmental policies. But the revelations
about Stephen Harper's psychic "image consultant" (paid for by the
public) make a spring campaign less likely.
The recent deal between Stephane Dion and
Elizabeth May is also
worthy of consideration. Their agreement not to field candidates in
each other's ridings has outraged media pundits and some members of
their parties, as well as the federal NDP, who argue that all voters
must enjoy the full range of electoral options. In reality, the only
way to allow every Canadian the right to vote for all options
(including the Communist Party) is proportional representation. We hope
Ontario voters will support PR this fall, despite the unfair 3%
threshold being proposed. This would help to thwart the perpetual
strategy of big business for right-wing majority governments elected by
a minority of voters.
In the Dion/May case, widespread public
cynicism about the
electoral process may benefit their parties. While the media calls the
deal a "sign of weakness," most Canadians agree that the electoral
playing field is unbalanced and undemocratic. Many voters may welcome
this agreement as a rare signal of willingness to put the interests of
the country ahead of partisan politics.
On the other hand, Jack Layton's NDP, who
rejected a similar Green
offer, may come across as opportunist partisans. That will be more
likely if the NDP continues to direct much of its fire on the Liberals
and Greens. While there is much to criticise in the platforms and
records of those parties, the NDP would do well to put the main focus
on the extreme danger posed by the Harper Conservatives.
John Graham back in court May 17
(The
following article is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
By Kimball
Cariou
The next step in John Graham's battle against extradition to the United
States is set for Thursday, May 17. The John Graham Defense Committee
is urging supporters to be at the Vancouver courthouse (800 Smithe
Street) at 9 am that day for the legal hearing.
Graham, a 48-year-old Tuchone Indian from
Whitehorse, Yukon, was
arrested in Vancouver in December 2003, on a U.S. indictment, accused
of the murder of Anna Mae Aquash, a fellow activist in the American
Indian Movement.
Aquash was last seen alive in late 1975, at an
AIM safe house near
the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. During that period of time,
dozens of AIM members and supporters were killed by the FBI and goon
squads linked to the corrupt tribal leadership. Not long before her
disappearance, Anna Mae said that she had been detained and threatened
by FBI agent David Price, who told her she would not live out the year
if she did not become an informer.
Early in 1976, Anna Mae's body was found on
the reservation. The
initial cause of death was listed as "exposure", by a coroner who
"missed" the bullet hole in the back of her head.
There has been speculation for years,
encouraged by the FBI, that
Anna Mae was killed as a suspected informer, allegedly by John Graham.
But those who have looked into the matter in depth conclude that there
is no evidence of such an execution.
In fact, as Vancouver journalist and
researcher Rex Weyler states
"There is no evidence of which I am aware that AIM ever dealt with
informers by `executing' them. It is unheard of. In the cases of
Douglas Durham, Bernie Morning Gun, Virginia `Blue Dove' DeLuce and
dozens of other informers, when AIM discovered them, they simply
exposed them. AIM leaders even supported Norman Brown, a teenager at
the time, whose mother begged him to cooperate with in fabricating
evidence. There exists zero public evidence that AIM ever executed any
informer: ever, anywhere.
"There is evidence that the FBI snitchjacketed
activists and
framed people for bogus crimes. The `snitchjacket' technique is to make
movement insiders believe one of their own is an informant."
At the time of Graham's arrest, AIM leader
Leonard Peltier warned
that "I fear that John will not receive a fair trial in the U.S.
anymore than I did. I must remind you, it is court record that the FBI
lied to extradite me back to the U.S." Peltier, who was arrested in
Canada and charged with the murder of two FBI agents, has remained in
U.S. jails for over thirty years after a trial riddled with errors and
lies.
On Feb. 21, 2005, BC Supreme Court Justice
Bennett ruled that
Graham should be extradited to the United States to stand trial for the
murder. No real evidence presented by U.S. authorities to indicate that
John Graham committed the crime for which he stands accused. Justice
Bennett was critical of the weaknesses and inadequacies of the case
against Graham, but she ultimately decided she could not rule against
the extradition request, which relied largely on hearsay testimony.
Since then, Graham and his lawyers have been
working on an appeal,
and he has been living under house arrest in east Vancouver. Last year,
the legal team made a formal appeal to federal Minister of Justice Vic
Toews, urging him to intervene based on a number of legal arguments.
While Toews ruled that he would not intervene, the lawyers plan to
appeal the minster's decision.
The Justice Minister's explanation does refer
to the fact that
"hundreds of people have written in support of Mr. Graham. It is
commendable that Mr. Graham is so highly regarded and enjoys the
support of so many." Knowing that such pressure is making an
impression, the Defense Committee has continued to gather letters of
support in Canada and abroad.
As the Defense Committee points out, "The
worldwide forceful
confiscation of native lands for mineral and other resources has a long
and bloody history - as is reflected in the matter facing John and its
connection to the uranium-rich native lands of South Dakota - a
struggle which continues to this day. Around the world, aboriginal
people are striving to retain their heritage and their connection to
the land; be it on the shores of eastern Taiwan where the Amis tribe is
working to reclaim their age-old ceremonial site under the threat of
tourism development, or on the shores of arctic Alaska where the
Gwich'in people are striving to protect the sacred caribou calving
grounds in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and gas
development. The case against John Graham reflects all such struggles
and the atrocities which are often committed in such confiscation of
sacred lands.
"In recent years, the United States government
has shown itself to
be largely unconcerned with the sovereignty of foreign countries and
has demonstrated grave human rights abuses. It is therefore alarming
that the Canadian government implemented an Extradition Act in 1999
which allows extradition of Canadian citizens to the US with merely a
summary of evidence, while disallowing any examination of that evidence
to ensure it is sufficient, accurate, and not fabricated.
"In John's case, it has already been shown
that key witnesses and
evidence are not available (or never were), bringing a cloud of
suspicion over the United States' entire case and judicial process - it
seems the US government would prefer the Canadian justice system were
blind, deaf and mute to their true intentions."
For more information on the case, visit the
Defense Committee's
website,
http://www.grahamdefense.org.
Excerpts from Rex Weyler's 1981 book on
the war against indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere,
Blood of
the Land, are available online. Other excellent source books are
Peter
Matthiessen's
In the Spirit of Crazy
Horse and Johanna Brand's
The
Life
and Death of Anna Mae Aquash.
Salute Asian-Canadian labour pioneers in B.C.
(The
following article is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
By Kimball Cariou
Relatively little has been published about the history of union
organizing among the Chinese-Canadian community in British Columbia,
but a
People's Voice reader
recently brought some interesting items to
our Vancouver editorial office.
Several faded clippings and photos give some
insight into the work
of pioneer Chinese-Canadian activists, including Chan Kwan and Roy Mah.
The clippings are from
The People, the weekly communist
paper
published in Vancouver during the Second World War, later renamed the
Pacific Tribune. Both men are
featured in the June 17, 1944 edition of
The People, in an article
headlined "Two Unions Appoint Chinese
Organizers."
Roy Quock Quon Mah later became famous as the
founder, editor and
publisher of the Chinatown News, the first English-language publication
aimed at Canadian-born Chinese, and as an early organizer of Chinese
New Year celebrations in Vancouver.
But in 1944, as a 22-year-old former
university student, he was
appointed by the International Woodworkers of America as a special
organizer to bring Chinese-speaking workers into the IWA. The article
noted that Mah had already signed up over 200 sawmill workers, and that
in every camp he visited, almost every Chinese-speaking worker joined
the union. Thanks in part to Mah's work, 1200 of the estimated 2000
Chinese-Canadian workers in the industry had been organized into the
IWA. Among his other responsibilities, Roy Mah was the editor of a
Chinese edition of the IWA's paper, the B.C. Lumberworker.
Chan Kwan is a lesser-known figure, but one
who was directly
associated with the left in the labour movement, with a background in
progressive groups and union struggles. One undated photo shows Kwan
seated on top of a boxcar at the front of a group of about twenty men,
riding through what appears to be the Fraser Valley or perhaps the area
around Kamloops. This was probably taken on June 4, 1935, the first
full day of the On to Ottawa Trek organized by the Relief Camp Workers
Union. (As a side note, Chinese-Canadian cafe owners showed solidarity
with the Trekkers along their route, helping to feed them in towns such
as Moose Jaw.)
Kwan took an active part in the famous 1938
Blubber Bay strike by
Chinese quarry workers and other members of the IWA. Later that year,
he was among the unemployed workers who occupied the Vancouver Post
Office to demand jobs. During the war, he found employment in a
Vancouver shipyard, becoming a shop steward with the Dock and Shipyard
Workers' Union.
The April 10, 1943 edition of
The People reported on
contributions
for the newspaper's press drive within the local Chinese community.
"Chan Kwan, Chinese shipyard worker, was being acclaimed this week as a
one-man press drive committee," begins the story. Within a few days,
Chan Kwan had collected $114.75 in donations towards the paper's annual
fund drive. "Every cent of that money has been collected from among
Chinese workers and small merchants in Vancouver's Chinatown, most of
it in 25 and 50-cent pieces."
Chan Kwan had prepared a small
Chinese-language poster for this
effort, explaining that "
The People
defends the rights of all minority
groups in BC; supports the fight of the Chinese people against Japanese
fascist aggression, and calls for greater unity between China, the
Soviet Union and the other United Nations."
Speaking to staff at
The People, Kwan said, "It was not
hard when
I explained to them what the paper stands for. Many Chinese workers are
now in trade unions and know how the labour press helps get them better
conditions."
By the following spring, Kwan was appointed as
an organizer for
the Fish Cannery, Reduction Plant and Allied Workers Union. During his
first month on the job, he as responsible for organizing 200 Chinese
cannery workers who had never before held union cards.
Such campaigns, like similar efforts by
Indian-born Darshan Singh
Sangha, did much to help break down the racism fanned by employers to
divide west coast workers.
A fascinating feature ny Cynthia Carter in the
May 15, 1943
edition of
The People, "Vancouver's
Chinese Seek Unity in Labour,"
traces the record of efforts by the employers to turn white and Chinese
workers against each other in British Columbia. As soon as Chinese
immigrants began to join unions and other organizations, she reports,
the "yellow peril" cry was raised.
"It was a huge campaign, partly planned,
partly unconscious, to
slander the oriental workers, and for a while it worked," continues the
article. "Now it is beginning to fail, for two obvious reasons," Carter
writes: the "magnificent fight" against Japanese fascism by the people
of China, and the growing economic role of Chinese-Canadian workers.
"Of the 8,000 Chinese in Vancouver, more than 3,000 work in sawmills,
pulp and shingle mills. Four hundred work in the shipyards, a number
are in the army, and hundreds more have small farms of their own."
Carter pointed to important signs of growing
working class unity.
At Vancouver's huge May Day parade earlier that month, a shop steward
read a message from all Chinese shipyard workers, stating in part that
"On this May Day, the great anniversary holiday of labour, workers from
every branch of industry have come to show their solidarity with their
fellow workers in all lands. We Chinese workers of the city are also
pleased that we are taking part in this great celebration. Today the
working people fight a common enemy, fascism, whether it be German,
Italian or Japanese.... Long live the workers of the world!"
Stronger unity among all British Columbia
workers paid off in the
post-war years with major gains, ranging from pay increases to
establishing the 40-hour work week as the standard in most industries.
To mark Asian Heritage Month during May, we pay tribute to the heroic
contributions of Asian-Canadian labour pioneers, who played a crucial
role in achieving these gains.
Extradite Posada to Venezuela, says CNC
(The
following article is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
On April 17, the U.S. 5th Circuit
Court of Appeals in New Orleans
ruled that former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles can be released on
bail and will not have to wait in jail for his trial on immigration
fraud charges in May.
Those charges are really a smokescreen for
Posada's actual crimes,
which include his role in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba
(exactly 46 years earlier to the day) and, more tragically, plotting
from Venezuela the bombing of flight 455 of Cubana de Aviacion on
October 6, 1976 that killed the 73 people on board.
The Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC), an
umbrella organization of 25
member groups representing more than 55,000 people across Canada, has
been following and documenting Posada's career and finds his release
and trial a "complete miscarriage of justice". "It is disturbing that
Mr. Posada is on trial for illegally entering the U.S. when he should
be on trial for terrorist activities", said Nino Pagliccia, the CNC
Campaigns co-chair.
Venezuela is joined by Cuba in demanding that
Posada Carriles be
extradited to that country to continue his trial interrupted 20 years
ago when Posada fled the country. "There is no evidence
whatsoever
that Posada will be tortured there as the U.S. government claims,"
Pagliccia said. "This is just a case of protection of an ex-CIA agent
that might reveal the agency's involvement in terrorist
activities."
Posada Carriles' career spans four decades
until the year 2000
when he was arrested and later pardoned in Panama for the attempt to
assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro. His name is connected to
several controversial activities including the Iran-Contra Affair in
the 1980s.
His activities have also impacted Canada. An
Italian tourist
resident in Montreal, Fabio Di Celmo, was killed when a bomb went off
in a hotel in Havana in 1997. In an interview to the New York Times in
1998, Posada "proudly admitted authorship of the hotel bomb attacks."
"It is sad that someone is dead, but we can't
stop," he added.
"That Italian was sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The CNC has launched a campaign that seeks the
extradition of
Posada Carriles to Venezuela where there is now an order for his arrest
for 73 murder charges; he is also a fugitive from justice.
"President Bush has to live up to his famous
statement `if you
harbor a terrorist, you are as guilty as the terrorist'," said
Pagliccia.
(The
following article is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
Special to PV
One of the most famous Latin American
revolutionary
singer-songwriters, Daniel Viglietti is performing across Canada this
month, with concerts scheduled in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Calgary.
Born in 1939, in Montevideo, the capital of
Uruguay, Daniel
Viglietti comes from a family with a strong musical tradition. His
mother, Lyda Indart, played piano; his father, Cédar Viglietti,
was a
guitarist and student of folklore; and his uncle played piano at night
clubs and hotels. From an early age he came into contact with classical
and popular music, forming a duet called Los Serranos and later joining
a group known as Lavalleja. In the 1960s, Daniel Viglietti was a
student at the Uruguayan National Music Conservatory, studying guitar
with masters Atilio Rapat and Abel Carlevaro.
He soon became one of the most powerful
figures in the
Nueva
Cancion (New Song) movement which swept Latin America during the
Sixties, reflecting influences such as the Cuban Revolution and the
rise of the Popular Unity coalition which won power in Chile in 1970.
In 1968, Viglietti's record
Canciones
para el hombre Nuevo (Songs for
the New Man) won the grand prize at the Charles Cros Academy in France.
During the 1972 fascist coup d'etat in
Uruguay, Daniel Viglietti
was incarcerated by the military, and then exiled to Argentina and
later France. Daniel Viglietti en vivo, a recording of one of the first
shows after his imprisonment, shows the depth of his commitment and
talents. Alone with his guitar, Viglietti performed
Por todo Chile,
(described by one reviewer as "the voice of a generation"),
Nuestra
bandera ("a veritable national anthem of unbridled anger"), and
Cielito
del calabozo ("a luminously elegant poem that begins in an
unaccompanied whisper and thickens into a ferocious stampede").
In 1984 Viglietti returned to Uruguay, and in
1995 the government
gave him an award for his contribution to popular music. During his
long career, his records have sold large numbers across the world, and
his has given concerts in many countries.
On October 6, 2005, Daniel Viglietti shared
his music and his
thoughts about current events in Uruguay with an audience of students,
professors and community members at York University in Toronto. The
event included social and political analysis, anecdotes, and a
sing-along.
Viglietti delighted the audience with classics
such as
Bandera
nuestra, Cielito, América latina esta gritando, and his
most famous
song,
A desalambrar (Tear
Down the Fences), which became an anthem
throughout the region for social forces struggling for land reform. He
spoke about the origins of his music, and about the challenges that
face Uruguay following the November 2004 election of the Frente Amplio,
a centre-left coalition government which prioritizes measures to tackle
poverty, unemployment, and marginalization.
Many struggles led to the Frente Amplio
victory, including a
successful campaign for a constitutional amendment to declare access to
water and sanitation as a fundamental human right. "A drop is too
little, but when it joins with other drops it turns into rain," said
Viglietti, closing the final public event for the "YES to Water
Constitutional Reform" campaign in October of 2004.
Viglietti was among the prominent artists,
musicians and
intellectuals invited to Fidel Castro's 80th birthday celebration, held
last December while the Cuban leader was recovering from health
problems. A gala concert at Havana's Karl Marx Theater featured South
African Miriam Makeba, Chile's Pancho Villa, Argentinean Piero,
Uruguayan Daniel Viglietti, Puerto Rican Danny Rivera, Dominican Victor
Victor and Cubans Silvio Rodriguez and Pablo Milanes, among others.
Most recently, Viglietti was the headline
performer at the massive
March 9 rally in Montevideo to protest George Bush's trip to Uruguay
and other Latin American countries.
At the age of 68, Daniel Viglietti is still a
powerful force in
the culture and politics of Latin America. Readers are urged not to
miss this unique opportunity to hear him live in concert.
Violent anti-union repression continues
in Iran
(The
following article is from
the May 1-15,
2007
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, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton,
ON, L8L 5C7.)
PV Combined
Sources
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) condemned the
Iranian authorities on April 18 for their intensified attacks on
independent trade unions in the country. Hundreds of leaders and
members of teachers' organisations have been arrested, along with
bakery workers' leader Mahmoud Salehi from the city of Saqez in Iran
Kurdistan. The crackdown was believed to be linked to government
attempts to prevent this year's May Day activities.
The intensified repression of the teachers'
organisations began on
March 7, when protests around the country took place against the
failure by the Parliament to pass a much-anticipated Pay Parity Bill
which would have improved the dire economic situation of the education
workforce. Security and Intelligence Ministry agents raided the homes
of over 20 union leaders in a coordinated action around midnight on
March 7, detaining several of them and removing them to secret
locations. While some were released the following day, many were
re-arrested.
At a conciliation meeting set for March 13,
the Education Minister
failed to appear as planned. Instead, Intelligence Ministry and armed
forces agents turned up and threatened the teacher representatives,
three of whom were unable to attend the meeting due to their arrest and
detention the night before.
On March 14, some 300 teachers were arrested
at a demonstration
outside the Parliament. Fifty were taken to the notorious Evin Prison,
where 14 were kept in jail for two weeks despite a ruling from the head
of Iran's judiciary that they had simply been exercising their
legitimate rights and ordering their immediate release. The government
also ordered all schools in Tehran to close early before Norouz, the
most important holiday in Iran's calendar.
The renewed attacks on the "Saquez Seven"
bakery workers' leaders
focused on Mahmoud Salehi, who has spent more than five years in prison
since the mid-1980s due to his union activities, having been detained
in 1986, 1995, 1999, 2000 and 2001. On May Day 2004, Salehi and six
others were arrested and charged with organising trade union
activities, including holding a May Day rally. The arrests took place
just two days after they met with a visiting delegation of the ICFTU,
and the prosecutor in court referred repeatedly to their contacts with
the international trade union group.
Sentenced to five years' jail and three years
internal exile in
2005, Salehi and others sentenced with him successfully appealed
against the verdicts. Then in 2006 further charges were brought in the
Saqez Revolutionary Court against him and his colleagues. At their next
appeal, on March 11 of this year, the Presiding Judge was replaced at
the last minute with the prosecutor who had led the original case
against them. No official verdict was issued from this appeal, but on
April 9 Salehi was again detained by security forces and is now being
held in prison in the heavily militarised city of Sanandaj. A
demonstration on April 16 against the repression of the Saqez Seven met
with violent repression by the authorities, with several participants
injured as a result of attacks with batons and gas sprays.
"These latest attacks by the Iranian
authorities are of the
deepest concern," said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. "Any
government which conducts a campaign of judicial subjugation and
violent repression against workers who are simply trying to get decent
treatment and a living wage should be utterly condemned for betraying
the interests of its own people,"
