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| Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the
Communist Party of Canada |
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The Spark!
The
latest issue of The Spark! theoretical journal, is now on sale for $5 at Communist Party offices (see p. 8) or People’s Co-op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.
Articles
include
- “Introduction to a General Theory of Culture” (Barry Lord);
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- “Nature of the State Under Bush & Harper” (Stephen Von Sychowski);
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(Contents)
(Home)
1) FORD DEMANDS MORE
CONCESSIONS IN US, CANADA
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
PV
Ontario Bureau
At PV press time,
Ford workers in the US were voting on a tentative agreement between the
UAW and Ford, the only one of the Detroit Three not to go into
bankruptcy last spring.
Ford was able
to secure sufficient credit to avoid bankruptcy. But the company is
demanding the same deep concessions the union gave to Chrysler and
General Motors, arguing that without them, it will be at a cost
disadvantage.
In the US,
the UAW leadership bought the argument, and UAW members are being asked
to accept two-tier wages. That would pit older and younger workers
against one another as they do the same work on the same lines in the
same plants, for vastly different pay. They are also being asked to
accept a six year no-strike deal, which means the company will be able
to dictate the terms of the next collective agreement three years down
the line.
Ford workers
in the US have reacted angrily about these concessions and others
recommended by the union leadership. Some say they will vote down the
agreement, asking what they need a union for if this is the best they
can get.
In Canada,
CAW leader Ken Lewenza has said the union is prepared to negotiate
concessions in exchange for guarantees that the company's production
"footprint" here will not be further reduced. This would secure future
jobs in Canadian plants, as Lewenza sees it.
To date Ford
has not changed its plans to close the St. Thomas plant in 2011. The
plant produces vehicles sold for fleet use to police and taxi
companies. Ford is also publicly mulling about closing its operations
in Oakville.
But some in
the union point to GM's promises to keep open its Oshawa plant (the
most productive in North America) in exchange for concessions. Just
three weeks later, GM announced it would close the plant, sparking huge
protests and a plant occupation that lasted until GM signed a severance
agreement that provided payouts to all its unionized and non-unionized
employees.
In fact the
CAW has been extremely busy over the past two years negotiating
severance packages for its own members, and others in non-union plants,
but has been unsuccessful so far in stopping a closure, though it has
negotiated delays.
What's the
price of a job? In a unionized auto plant, it can be $100,000 plus a
car. But when it's gone, it's gone for good, as happened in Oshawa and
countless other Ontario cities and plants.
People like
retired CAW staffer Herman Rosenfeld are calling on Ford workers in
Canada to reject concessions and set a new pattern for bargaining in
auto, one that can reverse the concessions imposed by GM and Chrysler
Canada in the 2012 negotiations.
It's a good
call, but to be successful workers will need the full support of the
labour movement, especially if Ford workers in the US ratify the
agreement this week.
The CAW needs
to get back into the Ontario Federation of Labour and participate in
building a fightback plan for the whole labour movement, situating its
own fight with Ford, GM and Chrysler within that big picture. And the
OFL needs to lay down the welcome mat to help the CAW come back in. The
OFL and its affiliates need the CAW just as much as the CAW needs the
broad labour movement. The struggle against corporate greed and the
economic and social impact of the global economic crisis requires a
united struggle, and a political struggle. No concessions! An injury to
one is an injury to all! Unity, Solidarity and Struggle! These slogans
say it best.
On the
political front, without the Auto Pact, the only way to secure jobs and
plants is to start building a publicly owned and democratically
controlled Canadian auto industry, producing a Canadian car that's
small, affordable, fuel-efficient, and environmentally sustainable, and
developing a public transportation industry that builds rolling stock
for mass rapid transit and inter-urban rail service across Canada, and
for export.
Nationalization of the Canadian operations of the Detroit Three last
spring, in exchange for assuming legacy costs of workers' pensions and
benefits in Canada, would have set the stage for the development of a
Canadian car, and retooling plants to build public transit and
inter-city rail rolling stock.
That's the
only way to guarantee auto and manufacturing jobs for Canadian workers
and an automobile and transportation industry for Canada in the long
haul. These are the demands over which the union and the Detroit Three
will surely part ways, but that may open new channels for unity and
solidarity with Canadian workers and their unions, as well as US
workers and their unions. And that can't come too soon.
2) ONTARIO'S ECONOMIC
UPDATE: WOULD YOU LIKE WAGE RESTRAINTS WITH THAT TAX CUT?
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By
Liz Rowley, leader, CPC (Ontario)
In his October 22
economic update, Ontario Treasurer Dwight Duncan told us how well the
Liberal government is handling the global economic crisis. Then he got
to the nub of things: 205,200 jobs lost in the first 7 months of the
year, an official unemployment rate projected to rise to 9.9% this
winter, the continuing decline of manufacturing and secondary industry,
forestry, mining, and construction. For working people, that means
falling incomes, more personal bankruptcies, and a huge uptake in
Ontario Works (social assistance). Seriously under-funded social
programs and public services will no longer be paid from the corporate
and personal income taxes which have sustained them for 60 years.
Social programs will now be paid for (or not) out of revenues generated
by the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) which will be introduced in July 2010.
Why is this
happening? Because corporate profits fell 49.7% in the last year, and
corporate tax revenue fell 48.1% in the same period. According to the
Liberals, it's up to the public to bail out those corporate profits by
cutting the Marginal Effective Tax Rate by 50% (from 32.8% to 16.2%),
to make Ontario one of the lowest corporate tax jurisdictions in the
industrialized world for new investment.
How will they
do it? By eliminating the Capital Tax (a tax on capital, not labour),
by reducing the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) by $4.5 billion a year, and
by rebating $4.5 billion in Input Tax Credits to corporations which,
under the HST will pay a fraction of the sales tax they pay today.
That's why corporations support the HST.
The cut to
the provincial CIT from the current 14% to a bargain basement 10%,
combined with Harper's cut to the federal CIT to a new low of 15% by
2012, will result in a combined 25% CIT rate. That's lower than most
corporate tax rates in the industrialized world, and 15 percent lower
than the US Great Lakes states with which Ontario competes.
Who will pay then?
The public of
course. The Liberals have cut a deal with the Harper Tories to
legislate a 13% HST on all goods and services sold in the province,
with a few exceptions. The HST will add another 8% to many necessities
currently taxed at 5%. Like other VAT (value added) taxes levied in
Europe and elsewhere, the initial rate increases over time. The 13% HST
will almost certainly do the same. It's a
shell game that will see
working people take on almost 100% of the tax load, while corporations
see their sales tax shrink to almost nothing. To sweeten the deal, the
Liberals will send three cheques worth up to $900 to each Ontario
household. That shows just how important this tax shift is to Big
Business.
And that's not all.
NEW
PROGRAM/SERVICE CUTS
The update
also states that "The Treasury Board/Management Board of Cabinet will
conduct a rigorous strategic spending review focused on high impact
areas to ensure continued relevance and effectiveness of government
programs and services and the way they are funded."
In other
words, a new round of cuts is on the way, despite the fact that
hospitals, health care, public and post-secondary education,
transportation, housing, social services, and public services are
already grossly under-funded and accumulating big (and illegal)
deficits.
Ontario's
Children's Aid Societies have already gone public to say they cannot
carry out their mandate to protect children without more funding. Same
message from Ontario's hospital boards, school boards, municipalities,
colleges and universities.
When prodded
about how the government will balance the budget and reduce the $24.7
billion deficit, Premier McGuinty again raised the possibility of
"Dalton Days" - a reference to the Rae Days introduced by the NDP
government in the early '90s, which forced public sector workers to
take 12 unpaid days off to reduce payroll costs and the deficit.
Dalton
McGuinty, like his adopted brother Bob Rae, has no trouble
contemplating wage cuts in the public sector. This may be a trial
balloon to gauge reaction to another attack on the public sector in the
midst of a deep recession and in the wake of the 2009 "gun to the head"
negotiations in auto and in the municipal sector.
A RUNAWAY TRAIN
The Liberals
contend (like the Tories) that what's good for Business is good for
Ontario. That couldn't be further from the truth. This government is
actually turning off the lights, delivering a flat tax in the name of
"tax reform", opening up Ontario's industry and resources to
exploitation by the highest foreign and domestic bidders, and
abandoning public services to be paid for by consumption taxes and
subsequent privatization.
It will take
a mighty movement led by labour to stop this runaway train, which many
don't yet see has come unhinged. Some responsibility for this lies with
economists like Hugh Mackenzie, son of former NDP Labour Minister Bob
Mackenzie, whose October 26th Toronto Star column mocks "the left" for
demanding that corporations should pay the freight when it comes to the
delivery of social programs and public services in Canada.
This is the
policy advocated by the labour movement over many decades. So we have
to ask: why is Mackenzie moving away from this position, and advocating
the boss's line in the Toronto Star?
The OFL
Convention meets this month, and could brace the labour movement for a
fight on the HST and corporate tax cuts, linking it with the struggle
for good jobs, wages, pensions, and strong universal public services.
These are gains that workers fought for and won, and that we must
mobilize to defend now.
PROGRESSIVE TAX
REFORM
Progressive
tax reform means scuttling the HST and reversing federal and provincial
corporate income tax cuts. It means raising corporate taxes,
introducing taxes on inheritances over $500,000, eliminating taxes on
incomes under $35,000, eliminating regressive sales taxes, removing
education from the property tax, and more.
Progressive
tax reform also means funding for Medicare, education, social programs,
and affordable housing that Canadians want and need. It means
sustainable economic development, social and cultural investments, job
creation, and action to protect and restore the natural environment.
This fight is about the future, for ourselves, our children, and our
country.
Note: The
Communist Party (Ontario) is campaigning this fall to "Axe the Tax",
rescind corporate tax cuts, and for progressive tax reform based on
ability to pay. Call 416-469-2446 for more information.
3) CUPE DELEGATES PRESS
FOR STRONGER FIGHTBACK
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By
Jim Cameron
Two steps back,
one step forward? This is perhaps the best spin a reporter could give
to the October 2009 CUPE National Convention in Montreal.
As a public
sector union, CUPE has not been hit (as of yet) as hard as
manufacturing and resource unions by recent events. But there have
certainly been harbingers of more difficult times ahead. Most
obviously, the pummelling of private sector unions with closures and
concessions. Just prior to convention, concessions were beginning to
leak into CUPE's territory with very difficult municipal strikes in
Toronto and Windsor, where the cities demanded concessions and received
loud support from the corporate media. Sensing the new situation,
governments in New Brunswick and British Columbia have also indicated
that they would impose wage freezes on public sector workers.
So it was
with some disappointment that the left received the leadership's
Strategic Directions convention policy document. Like the private
sector unions currently being flayed by employers, the draft document
did not lay out new directions to deal with the new realities. Or
rather, what new directions it did lay out, would lead us back into
deeper trouble.
Much like the
CAW with its decidedly unsuccessful attempt to find a kinder, gentler
side of business, the Strategic Directions draft suggested working with
the business class to develop a new economic policy. Delegates were
left scratching their heads - what possible sign is there that business
is willing to help workers? Indeed, with business laying off hundreds
of thousands, reneging on pension promises, pushing privatization,
extending `free trade' with friends of labour like the government of
Colombia, and backing hard right political leaders, the indications are
very much opposite.
The ideology
of tripartism (where labour follows a policy of cooperation with
business and government) has been around for many years, famously being
debated (and sharply criticized) at the Canadian Labour Congress' 1976
convention. The oddity is that such an approach is much more remote
from the actual activities of business and capitalist governments today
than it was in the 1970s. For the private
sector unions in deep,
deep trouble, tripartite or bipartite initiatives are, perhaps, an
understandable, but misguided response. For a union (like CUPE) that is
not in crisis, that is sharply opposed to corporate privatization, and
that has been more progressive, and more fighting than many other
unions, this is a troubling initiative indeed.
Part of the
context for this development is the walk-out of Ontario delegates from
the tail end of the 2007 convention in Toronto over the funding of
illegal, political strikes. Following the convention, an agreement was
eventually reached which allowed better access to funds for illegal
strikes, mollifying Ontario. So at this convention, Ontario delegates
pulled in their horns and subdued their criticisms. Nevertheless, deep
tensions remain. Notably, during the convention a constitutional
resolution from the BC Division was repeatedly put on the order paper
that would, if passed, have changed the rules of quorum and made a
walkout of conventions by Ontario much less effective. In the end, with
peace holding, the resolution (and others like it) was not debated.
As a result,
the responsibility that fell to the Action Caucus, a long-standing
group of left-of-centre trade unionists, was redoubled. They led the
charge to dump the references to tripartism and alliance with business.
They also noted that while the Strategic Directions document criticized
privatization, there was no reference to a strategy for expanding
public services, flagging in particular the extensive section in the
draft document on green jobs, which failed to mention public sector
green jobs.
A key leader
in the Action Caucus, Stephen Seaborn, asked "Is this part of a
strategic alliance with business? If so, I'm thinking we sure don't
need it! How could we rely on corporate Canada to build a green
alternative. Let's not be naive here!"
"As public
sector workers we have no choice but to play the leading role in green
job development if we're to have any hope for a sustainable future.
Focusing on public sector green jobs has got to be central to our
union's economic emergency action plan.
"And as CUPE
members, we've got to move on rebuilding community-union alliances and
then together insist on good green jobs for all. For sure, the urgency
of green job creation is much too important to concede to so-called
`green corporations'. And if the corporations don't like that, well too
bad!"
Even more
troubling was the near silence over the proposed four year public
sector wage freeze in BC and two year public sector wage freeze in New
Brunswick. These proposals would seriously erode public sector working
conditions, and could easily expand into other provinces. Yet the
strategic plan on this matter was missing, as was any sense of urgency.
Also absent
was much discussion of a sectoral approach to bargaining and CUPE's
broader policy work. CUPE locals cannot deal with the rising level of
attacks in isolation; a sectoral approach has the most likelihood of
effectively bringing workers together and putting them in a stronger
position to fend off attacks.
There were
some positive signs, however. The key points of CUPE's fight back
remained even in the draft Strategic Directions document. Moreover,
while there is some doubt as to the actual policy of the union, the
Action Caucus was able to win the removal from the document of explicit
references to alliance with business, and also to add in the idea that
the public sector must play a key role in the expansion of green jobs.
And very
importantly, Helen Kennedy, a left wing feminist and president of the
CUPE Toronto District Council, was recognized with the Grace Hartman
award, giving a stirring speech to the 2,500 delegates on the often
daunting responsibilities and struggles of women trade unionists. She
called for a much bigger struggle for equality and peace. Indeed,
Kennedy single-handedly made peace an issue at the convention:
"One of the
things that I learned from Grace was the need to fight for peace. We
need to oppose war in all its manifestations. We need as a labour
movement to re-commit our fight for peace both as a labour movement and
as individual activists and I urge us all when we go back home to take
up the fight against war."
Kennedy's full speech is available at
You Tube; simply search "Helen Kennedy leftvids" from the You Tube site.
4) ANOTHER FASCIST
ATTACK IN CALGARY
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
PV
Vancouver Bureau
At 5:38 am on the
morning of October 3rd, Calgary Anti-Racist Action (ARA) members Jason
Devine and Bonnie Collins awoke to the sound of glass breaking. A
cinder block had been thrown through the front window of their house,
as well as a smaller projectile through the bedroom window of their
three sleeping children. The front door had been tagged with graffiti:
a red spray-painted "C-18" and a swastika. "C-18" is a reference to
Commando 18, a British-based fascist group.
The attack
occurred just a week before an October 10 rally in the city's
Bridgeland neighbourhood to alert residents about the increasing
neo-Nazi activity in the community.
Jason and
Bonnie have been targeted before, first in February 2008 with a molotov
cocktail thrown at their house, and again last summer on the morning
before a local anti-racist rally. They have also received numerous
insults and threats over the internet. Many Calgarians believe the
attacks are the work of the Aryan Guard, a neo-nazi movement which has
been extremely visible in the city for several years.
Refusing to
be intimidated, the couple issued a statement stressing that "this is a
clearly not a random act of violence but a direct target to us and our
family, other anti-racist activists, and all who are against racism,
with a clear message: neo-Nazis are violent, have no regard for human
life, especially children, and they are clearly a terrorist gang."
ARA members
held their Oct. 10 rally as planned. Speaking to participants, Devine
warned the racists that "You're not wanted here. Nobody wants you here,
nobody wants you in the neighbourhood, nobody wants you in the city....
Racism is wrong. It's horrible. We're not going to accept it. We're
never going to accept it. We're never going to back down."
He urged
those who are worried about protesting publicly to take other forms of
action, such as writing letters to city hall and to the police
department to demand an end to racist violence.
5) HARPER IGNORES THE OBVIOUS
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
People's
Voice Editorial, Nov. 1-15, 2009
When the Canadian
people finally settle scores with Stephen Harper's Tories, his
government's stubborn foot-dragging on climate change will surely be
one of the key factors.
The latest
news on the environmental front is grim. Ice sheets in the Arctic,
Antarctic and Greenland are melting twice as fast as projections from a
couple of years ago, which will lead to a one metre rise in sea levels
by the end of this century, enough to wipe out many islands and coastal
areas. The rapid melting of glaciers threatens to deprive over a
billion people of clean drinking water. Extreme weather events like
severe droughts are on the rise. Scientists warn that even with
greenhouse gas emission cuts currently planned, the world's average
temperature may rise over three degrees Celsius by 2100.
Meanwhile,
the Canadian Press service reports that the Harper "government's push
to abandon much of the Kyoto protocol prompted dozens of developing
countries to walk out on Canada's address during recent climate talks
in Thailand..." Joanne Yawitch, a South African negotiator at the
Bangkok talks, told interviewers that the Canadian position risks
ending up with "something that might be considerably weaker."
"Something
weaker" might well include moves to tilt the board towards the energy
industry's cherished "intensity-based targets", which allow for
continued growth of carbon emissions on the excuse that the industry is
becoming "more efficient."
The world
cannot afford to slide back to such a disastrous strategy.
Congratulations to the tens of thousands of Canadians who rallied on
Oct. 24 to pressure the Harper government to change course immediately.
Let's keep the heat on the Tories!
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
People's
Voice Editorial
The western media
is gearing up for a round of back-slapping and champagne to mark
November 9th, the 20th anniversary of the dismantling of the Berlin
Wall. The cheerleaders of capitalism may be slightly more restrained
this year, given their system's recent near-death experience. But their
bravado still requires a factual reply.
Despite all
the propaganda about "freedom", the historic record shows that the Wall
was built to block the conscious destabilization of the German
Democratic Republic's socialist economy. No expense was spared by the
U.S. and the Federal Republic to lure highly trained professionals to
West Berlin, a "brain drain" with obvious goals. Many Berliners took
advantage of low rents and free social programs in the city's socialist
east while working in the capitalist west, a completely untenable
situation. The open border between the two halves of Berlin gave the
imperialist powers an easy path to meddle in the internal affairs of
socialist eastern Europe.
Conversely,
the removal of the Wall is still resented by millions of people. For
east Germans themselves, the past two decades have been a period of
massive unemployment, destruction of their historic industrial and
social progress, the return of huge gender inequality, and life as
second class citizens within the larger German state. No wonder that
socialist candidates were the biggest winners across much of eastern
Germany in the latest elections. In another sign of changing times, the
three-day festival of Unzere Zeit
[Our Time], the weekly newspaper of
the German Communist Party, was attended by 50,000 people last June.
The Berlin
Wall is part of history, unlikely to be repeated. But 20 years later,
socialism is increasingly seen as humanity's hope for a future, while
capitalism is in serious crisis.
7) SFL CANCELS LABOUR
MINISTER'S INVITATION
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By
Darrell Rankin
In a rare gesture,
the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour's executive withdrew an
invitation for provincial Labour minister Rob Norris to speak at the
Fed's annual convention in Saskatoon, October 21-23.
"Based on his
past performance and posture against the labour movement, there would
be nothing positive (Norris) would provide," said SFL president Larry
Hubich.
Without the
pretence of consultation or public hearings, Premier Brad Wall's
Saskatchewan Party government has been imposing anti-labour laws since
it was elected in November, 2007. The right-wing Fraser Institute
recently called Wall's government the second most anti-union government
in Canada and the U.S. combined.
Citing
serious concerns about Wall's privatization agenda, the SFL is backing
the newly-formed "Save our Saskatchewan Crowns" coalition to educate
people about the importance of keeping hydro, telephone, insurance and
water under public ownership.
Last year,
Wall's government cancelled the right to strike for hundreds of
thousands of workers with an "essential services" law. Bills 5 and 6
"make organizing new unions next to impossible," said Hubich. Unions
are challenging these bills in four Charter cases and an International
Labour Organisation appeal.
Bill 80, now
before the Legislature, will destroy the closed shop in the
construction industry and allow the rump Christian Labour Association
(CLAC) to organize in the province.
United on
stepping up resistance against the right-wing policies of the Wall
government, delegates voted to hold a large rally on May 1 next year at
the Legislature to defend workers' rights, and also to mark May 1 with
rallies and events across the province.
About 300
people rallied at the site of the convention on Oct. 21 to protest
against former U.S. president George Bush, who spoke in the same
building as the SFL meeting.
"We have a
very special opportunity today to raise our voices against the key
architect of the economic meltdown and war criminal in the eyes of
many," said Hubich. Many delegates joined the rally, which was already
underway at the lunch break. SFL executive member Gary Schoenfeldt gave
greetings on behalf of the Federation.
8) 5,000 NORTEL
PENSIONERS CONVERGE ON OTTAWA
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
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PV
Ontario Bureau
Close to 5,000
employees of the bankrupt Nortel Networks arrived on Parliament Hill
October 22, to protest the loss of their pensions and to demand
government action to protect workers' pensions and severance in
bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings.
Specifically,
they wanted the federal government to amend the Bankruptcy and
Insolvency Act and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act to put
employees and pensioners at the top of the list of creditors, instead
of the bottom after banks and corporate creditors have taken out all
the cash and remaining assets.
Supported by
unionized workers, including Local 1005 of the Steelworkers at US Steel
in Hamilton who went through bankruptcy courts when Stelco was first
liquidated, the demonstrators carried signs - many of them home-made -
to demand action. Many had worked for years at Nortel, investing their
pensions in company stocks, leaving them with nothing but anger and
fear of an impoverished future.
"Nobody is
safe, unless you are working in there, I guess," Bob Dowson, who
retired from Nortel's Brampton office after 32 years, told media as he
pointed to the Parliament Buildings behind him.
Unlike
severance, pensions are deferred wages and are a debt the company owes
to its pensioners and employees, along with accrued interest.
Hundreds of
thousands of Ontario workers in workplaces big and small have to fight
to secure their pensions, benefits, and severance, often winning
partial settlements which end dreams of a secure and happy retirement.
The Nortel
demonstration on Parliament Hill followed an earlier demonstration at
Queen's Park. Only the NDP speakers called for a national public
pension plan covering all workers, guaranteed by the government.
This is a
demand which the Communist Party also makes, along with the demands for
an immediate, substantial and across the board increase to pensions,
and to reduce the voluntary pension age to 60. The Communist Party and
People's Voice were also
present at the demo, and the CP banner got a
friendly reception from surprised Nortel workers who hadn't expected
the Communists to support them. For many it was the first time they'd
met the CPC.
On the other
hand, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff was booed when he spoke about
his party's concerns about pensions (but no plans or demands on
Harper), and again when he told demonstrators they'd done their civic
duty and it was now time to go home and leave things to Parliament.
Nortel
workers might have been demonstrating on Parliament Hill for the first
time last month, but it doesn't look like it will be the last -
Ignatieff's patronizing and unwelcome advice notwithstanding.
9) TRILATERAL PEACE
CONFERENCE MEETS IN TORONTO
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice,
Canada's
leading communist
newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited.
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Special
to PV
The Second
Trilateral Peace Conference of the World Peace Council was held in
Toronto from October 2-4. Involving the Canadian Peace Congress, the
United States Peace Council and the Mexican Movement for Peace
(MOMPADE) - representing the peace movements of the three countries in
NAFTA and the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership) - the event was
a continuation of the First Trilateral Conference held in Puebla,
Mexico in 2004.
Special
guests included Socorro Gomes, President of the Brazilian Peace
Committee (CEBRAPAZ) and also President of the World Peace Council, and
Jose Ramon Rodriguez, President of the Cuban Movement for Peace
(MOVPAZ) and regional coordinator for the WPC.
The focus was
an examination of current imperialist developments in the Americas, and
proposals for common action among the peace committees. The opening
session on "Current Realities, Concerns and Challenges for the Peace
Movements" was followed by a series of panels that explored imperialist
economic integration, imperialist wars and anti-war movements, the
current economic crisis, and nuclear disarmament and the arms trade.
The final day
was spent discussing and adopting a Final Declaration from the
conference, which expressly rejected the imperialist vision for the
region and proposed common action in key areas. These will include
building the coalitions to end the wars and occupations in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Haiti and Palestine; opposing threats of military action
against Iran; building the Network to End Foreign Bases and working to
dismantle the US Fourth Fleet; mobilizing for the international Disarm
Now! conference in May 2010 and increasing work to abolish nuclear
weapons; and building anti-imperialist solidarity, including support
for the struggles of Aboriginal peoples. The declaration also expressed
commitments to organizing a Third Trilateral Peace Conference.
10) REALITIES,
CONCERNS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE PEACE MOVEMENT
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
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Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
Excerpts
from the
welcoming remarks to the Trilateral Peace Conference, held Oct. 2-4 in
Toronto, by Canadian Peace Congress President Dave McKee
The theme of this
conference, as outlined in the call jointly prepared by the Canadian
Peace Congress, MOMPADE and the US Peace Council, is "For Unity in
Action of the Peoples of Mexico, Canada and the USA - for Peace,
Sovereignty, Anti-Imperialist Solidarity and the Rights of the Working
People." I will use this theme as a lens through which to examine the
current realities, concerns and challenges for the peace movement in
Canada.
Our
organization, the Canadian Peace Congress, was formed 60 years ago as
an anti-imperialist peace organization and it has, for that same period
of time, been affiliated to the World Peace Council. Our work has been
rooted in the awareness that the struggles for peace, sovereignty and
self-determination, workers' rights and liberation, and international
solidarity and cooperation are all intimately interconnected in the
overall, comprehensive struggle against imperialism. That awareness
continues to guide our work today.
...Through
the years many peace-oriented organizations developed and grew across
the country - in specific economic or professional sectors, within the
faith communities, in the labour movement.
Much of this
growth occurred in direct response to the dangers of nuclear war that
loomed during the Cold War. While many of these groups ascribed equal
culpability for the arms race to the United States and to the Soviet
Union - which could make for a difficult working relationship with the
Congress - these movements represented a rapidly growing voice within
Canada against the nuclear arms race and related policies. So, under
the slogan that "Peace is Everybody's Business" the Canadian Peace
Congress worked with others to unite the many elements of the Canadian
peace movement under the umbrella of the Canadian Peace Alliance. The
Alliance was formed in 1985 and today it remains the largest umbrella
peace organization in Canada....
Through the
1990's, following the "end of the Cold War," the nuclear arms race
which had given so much focus and energy to the Canadian peace movement
fell quickly from public discourse and the movement as a whole declined
in activity and profile, and the strength of the networking among
different groups was severely reduced. During that same period, the
Canadian Peace Congress fell into a period of very low activity and
nearly disappeared altogether, which meant that we were much less able
to promote either a clear political and tactical position for the
broader peace movement, or broad unity in action of the movement as a
whole.
That weakness
became apparent in 1999, during NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia.
As a result of ideological softness - deliberately engineered by
painting the conflict as a humanitarian mission against an aggressor
state (Yugoslavia) that was pursuing a genocidal campaign against a
national minority (Kosovo) - the imperialist camp, including Canada,
was able to play sections of the people's movements against one another
and obscure the real basis of the conflict, which was also the real
basis for mass unity against NATO's aggression. Lost among the public
debate, at least here in Canada, was the fact that the conflict was
about smashing the infrastructure of the last socialist-oriented state
in Europe, about forcibly reorienting the Yugoslavian economy toward
Western neoliberalism, and about the inter-imperialist rivalry over who
would gain the spoils of victory.
When placed
this way, it is easy to recognize the aggressive and expansionist
nature of NATO's campaign, and also the extreme danger that that
inter-imperialist rivalry represented. Unfortunately, and without
diminishing the very real and sustained efforts made by specific
organizations and communities, an awareness of this reality is not what
guided the response of the Canadian peace movement as a whole.
Generally, the outcry was brief and tepid, the mobilizations small and
fractured.
However,
within four years, the situation had changed greatly. The US-led
invasion of Iraq quickly galvanized the peace movement in Canada,
reuniting it with the labour movement and uniting it with much of the
new "anti-globalization" movement. The lead-up to the 2003 invasion was
so blatant in its aggressive focus on control over oil resources that
this cut through much of the ideological weaknesses and ongoing
organizational fractures within the peace movement. The result was some
of the largest peace mobilizations ever achieved in this country - in
February 2003 some 80 communities responded to a united call for
demonstrations against the war, with huge turnouts (over 100,000 in
Montreal; 80,000 in Toronto; 40,000 in Vancouver; 18,000 in Edmonton;
5,000 in Halifax), and this despite -30 Celsius temperatures in many of
these areas.
This level
mobilization was echoed all over the world. Here in Canada, it provided
a sustained period of time during which the profile of the peace
movement was quite high, active networking and cooperation among
various groups resumed, affiliation of progressive movements to the
peace movement was increased, and the formation of new groups against
the war occurred in virtually every community across the country.
And yet, to
be honest, we have to admit that in relative terms, organizing a
mobilization in Canada against an aggressive war led by George W. Bush,
in which Canada played no direct role, was a simple task. The challenge
was (and continues to be) to organize against the invasion and
occupation of Afghanistan, which had begun almost two years prior and
in which Canada has assumed a prominent role from the start.
The war in
Afghanistan represents many developments in Canada's role in the
imperialist camp. Beginning in 1999, if not earlier, serious
discussions occurred within the state structure - involving government,
military, and industrial representatives - that were focused on
Canada's international role and its relation to Canadian trade and
economic interests. One specific area of concern was the Caspian Sea
Basin, which was identified as a region of strategic interest to Canada
economically (first) and, consequently, politically. The emerging
consensus was that for Canada to secure its interests in this region of
the world, it had to exert itself diplomatically and militarily, and
more intimately tie its international policy to that of the United
States. Further, the pursuit of Canadian interests should be done both
unilaterally and through active support for US policy.
So when the
debate arrived in 2001 about invading Afghanistan, under the ruse of
retaliation for the terrorist actions in the US in September of that
year, the Canadian government responded with enthusiasm. The media was
flooded with stories about the Taliban regime, about the direct link
between the government in Afghanistan and terrorism, about the human
rights abuses and the severe repression of women specifically, about
the importance of assuming our humanitarian duty to force regime change
in Afghanistan, about Canada's commitments under NATO's mutual clause
to respond militarily to an attack on a member state (the US).
Very little
was said about oil and gas reserves, about pipeline routes, about the
strategic importance of establishing a Western military presence in the
region, about encirclement of China, about inter-state rivalry over
control of oil resources and supply routes, or about the evolving role
of NATO in the world. In fact, when progressive analysts raised these
questions, they were confronted with an immediate and multi-sided
attack which quickly and effectively marginalized these realities. As a
result, mobilization against the war in Afghanistan was weak for an
extended period.
This is not
to say that the Canadian public supports the war. Despite aggressive
communications campaigns from all sectors of the state apparatus,
opinion polls consistently show that a majority of Canadians are
opposed to the war, and that the opposition is growing.
There have
been demonstrations and education campaigns from 2001 to the present.
But the initial response was sporadic and fractured and has taken a
long time to build: it was very difficult to locate a basis of unity
among the various peace forces, let alone to build a coordinated
response. Some sectors of the peace movement even held up the situation
in Afghanistan as a positive counterposition to the war against Iraq,
pointing to the UN Security Council resolutions on Afghanistan and the
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as examples of the
humanitarian and multilateral justification for the invasion. This view
represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the war in
Afghanistan and of the comprehensive nature of this regional campaign
that also includes the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the role of
Israel in the Middle East.
Nonetheless,
while the level of mobilization of the Canadian population remains
comparatively low, the war in Afghanistan has now come to assume a
central place in the work of most sections of the Canadian peace
movement. Ending Canadian involvement in this war is without question
the number one objective priority for the peace and progressive forces
in this country, and we will push that point until we have achieved
that goal.
Canada made
heavy commitments to ISAF, and Afghanistan became Canada's largest
military deployment, by far. The war has cost Canada over $17 billion
(to March 2009) and extending the war to 2011, Canada's current date
for withdrawal, will cost an additional $11 billion.
In terms of
NATO's role, Canada played a particularly shameful part. The military
alliance had been scrambling to find a new role in the world, to
justify its existence, and it had clearly overstepped its own mandate
by engaging in a conflict that was outside of the North Atlantic
theatre. To its discredit, it was the Canadian government that
suggested and facilitated the takeover of ISAF command by NATO, which
was accomplished in 2003.
As to its
strategic economic interests, in 2002 - shortly after the large
commitment of Canadian troops to the ISAF - a Canadian energy
corporation was invited to join the consortium building a Caspian Basin
pipeline through Kazakhstan. The Canadian Prime Minister who had made
the troop commitment became the foreign relations adviser to this same
corporation a year later.
Canada's role
in Afghanistan has propelled more fundamental changes to Canadian
military and international policy. These shifts are perhaps best
described through an examination of the Conservative government's
foreign policy doctrine, called Canada First Defence Strategy (CFDS),
which was unveiled in 2008. As the Canadian Peace Congress stated in
2008: "CFDS is the manifesto of the most aggressive, chauvinistic and
reactionary circles of Canadian finance capital seeking with a bigger
military budget to strengthen its influence at the imperialist round
tables in Washington and Brussels...
"CFDS is
profoundly undemocratic and was implemented without seeking
Parliamentary approval and commits $492 billion over 20 years on top of
the $5.3 billion already allocated in 2006 approaching 2.2% of GDP all
to guarantee the profits of defence contractors and investors. The
Canadian government policy of the rapid militarization of the economy
is the only job creation project the Government has to offer the youth,
the unemployed and the underemployed. CFDS cannot be implemented
without sacrificing the needs of public health care, pensions, child
care, senior's needs, low cost housing and the peaceful development of
the country."
Virtually all
of the recent developments I have mentioned are an outgrowth of the
intimate link between the economies and policies of Canada and the
United States. We need to consider, that as the current economic crisis
continues, and as the economic and political strength of the US
(specifically) and, perhaps, North America in general, declines
relative to other centres, there is a very real danger of increasing
war due to inter-imperialist and inter-state rivalry. We need to be
aware of the potential responses from the US to this reality, and we
need to ask what will the response from Canada be? Will the Canadian
peace movement achieve the level of unity and organization necessary to
confront the challenges ahead? The answer, of course, is that we must -
through the deliberations this weekend, we expect to make progress on
how that goal can be reached.
11) UK TORIES
LINKED TO LATVIAN FASCISTS
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By
Kimball Cariou
The ties between
the British Conservative party and reactionary political forces in
Europe are coming under new scrutiny. Two leaders of ultra-right
parties spoke at the latest Conservative congress in Britain, and these
parties have formed a grouping in the European Union parliament.
One recent
episode reveals interesting parallels with the proposal by ultra-right
groups in Canada to build an anti-communist monument in Ottawa.
According to
an Oct. 14 commentary by Efraim Zuroff in The Guardian newspaper, "if
anyone needed additional proof of the unsuitability of the Latvian For
Fatherland and Freedom party as a partner for the British
Conservatives, their response to a ceremony held yesterday in Riga to
honour the Soviet soldiers who liberated the city in 1944 should be a
stark reminder of the lack of shared values between the two parties."
For
Fatherland and Freedom condemned Riga mayor Nils Usakovs for placing a
wreath at the Victory Monument which commemorates the liberation of
Riga from Nazi occupation, and for taking part in a rally to mark the
event. The party called Usakovs' presence at these events "an insult to
the victims of Communist terror and a glorification of the Soviet
troops."
However, For
Fatherland and Freedom is well known for honouring Latvia's Waffen-SS
veterans who fought for Third Reich and Nazi domination of Europe. As
Usakovs stated, "had Riga not been liberated from the Nazis in 1944,
there would be no independent Latvia today [and therefore] it is our
duty to thank those who fought against the Nazis."
In Zuroff's
view, the positions taken by the Fatherland and Freedom leader Roberts
Zile and other ultra-right politicians "are hardly exceptional in their
home countries... (In) eastern Europe, numerous local collaborators
volunteered to participate in the mass murder of Jews and played an
integral role in the annihilation process, which in many countries -
especially in the Baltics, Belarus, Ukraine and Croatia - took place
nearby, not in the death camps, all of which were in Poland. Baltic
death squads such as the Latvian Arajs Kommando and Lithuanian
Ypatingas Burys and 12th Auxiliary Police Battalion were among the most
deadly and the Croatian Ustasha earned notoriety for their savagery and
cruelty."
By joining
forces with Fatherland and Freedom and Poland's Law and Justice, says
Zuroff, "the Conservatives are granting important legitimacy to a false
narrative that seeks to whitewash war crimes and erase the heroic
victory of those who saved the world from Hitler and the Nazis."
The UK-Latvia
link is not an isolated phenomenon in Europe, where right-wing forces
in many countries are pressing for bans against Communist political
activity.
Here in
Canada, the federal Conservatives have hitched their wagon to a similar
attempt to falsify history. Stephen Harper and Tory cabinet minister
Jason Kenney have both encouraged the groups which initiated the
proposal for a "monument to the victims of communism" on the grounds of
the National Capital Commission.
Historically,
such efforts have always been part of a much wider effort by the ruling
class and the big monopolies to crush working class resistance. The aim
of the capitalist state and "independent" pro-fascist groups is to
isolate and destroy the most militant fighters for revolutionary change
- the Communists and their allies.
The struggle
to expose such fascist campaigns is vital for the future of the entire
labour and democratic movement. As the Cold War period in North America
showed, the largely successful attempt by the ruling class to remove
Communists and other left-wing activists from the leadership of the
trade unions was a vital step towards blunting the ability of the
working class to fight back against right-wing policies.
Workers in
Canada and the U.S. paid a heavy price for that setback. The Ottawa
monument proposal is part of a present-day campaign to whip up a new
wave of anti-communism at a time when millions of working people are
questioning the crisis-ridden capitalist system and looking for radical
alternatives.
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By
Sean Burton
When considering
the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989-90, many people think of German
"reunification." But it was not a "coming together" between the
capitalism of the Federal Republic of Germany and the socialism of the
German Democratic Republic. The FRG simply absorbed the East and
dismantled its system; to this day there exist significant differences
in living standards.
Now to Korea.
Korean reunification, if it ever happens the way Seoul sees it, is not
likely to be much different. Any visitor to the South or to the
Demilitarized Zone will hear much ado about Koreans' yearning for
reunification. That is both a sentimental statement and a statement of
propaganda. The local news gives a more accurate picture. Always, the
media reports that the government must have some plan or other for
reunification. The powerful right-wing rags often put forward such
plans or make demands of the government, and Seoul is certainly
listening.
One such
demand, elaborated in an editorial some months ago in the Chosun Ilbo,
was that Seoul should be preparing a "new North Korean elite" to run
the region after reunification. It is an obvious "plan"; if the DPRK
ever were absorbed by the South, it certainly will not be regular North
Koreans running affairs. But advocating such a plan is an affront to
anyone familiar with what happened in Eastern Europe. These countries
have come to be dominated by people trained or raised in the west, who
frequently ignore the demands of the majority of their people; consider
the mass opposition to the US missile shield in the Czech Republic or
Poland that both governments eagerly endorse. Now imagine North Korea
being run by a former Hyundai CEO like Lee Myung Bak!
Another
frequent demand is to better integrate North Korean defectors into
South Korean life. Some North Koreans did actually defect in the sense
of betraying their country, but the majority of the handfuls that
trickle in every now and then do so from sheer economic desperation,
not unlike some Cubans during the 1990s. Though Seoul "rewards" people
for moving south, there exist many difficulties in adapting to the new
lifestyle. Problems include a language barrier, since South Korea has
adopted a large number of foreign words, and the social stigma of being
from the North.
Stories
occasionally pop up about how former North Korean citizens are faring
badly in the South. According to a recent Korea Herald article, over
half of all defectors are avoiding employment. A cynic might say that
the DPRK's socialist system made them lazy workers. The hard truth is
that getting a job would mean giving up unemployment benefits. In the
survey, 38% said that doing so would deprive them of a liveable income,
and others did not want to lose their state-provided health care.
Clearly, many
of these people are just getting by, despite often having specialized
skills. The survey was conducted at the behest of Hong Jung-wook, a
member of the ruling Grand National Party, who stated that former North
Koreans should not be the dropouts of society.
One may well
wonder what Hong thinks of the many "normal" South Koreans who cannot
make ends meet. A labour project for the "underprivileged" that started
in June 2009 has employed 255,500 people in social maintenance projects
that will last only into November. These few months will not solve
anything for the poor of South Korea. Furthermore, an inspection has
revealed that over 15,000 participants in the program are not only
unqualified, but also the relatives of government officials. And that
is only in Seoul and the adjacent Gyeonggi province.
The main
opposition Democratic Party elaborated on the numbers. Some 4500
participants were said to possess "excessive wealth". About 46% were
over the age of 60, and numerous accidents and injuries have occurred
because workers were dispatched regardless of labour capacity or age,
according to opposition representative Shin Hak Yong.
Clearly Seoul
has trouble taking care of its own people now, so it takes no stretch
of the imagination to see what awaits the people of the DPRK if their
country is defeated and taken over. Yet the media does not see any
connection between the south's social problems and the system advocated
by the North. It is always discussed in a cynical, hateful way. Much
has been made lately of reports that the DPRK has revised some of its
constitution. In particular, communism has apparently been deleted as
the guiding ideology, replaced with Kim Jong Il's Songun (military
first) policy along with Juche, Kim Il Sung's self-reliance ideology. A
clause was also inserted insisting on "regard for and the protection of
human rights", the Chosun Ilbo reported. The editorial went on the
usual rant against communism, claiming that it never existed in the
DPRK or the USSR, and that it never will exist. It further claimed that
the differences between typical North Koreans and the county's military
elite far outstrip the "imbalances" of capitalism. Adding insult to
injury, the editorial called the North's constitution "useless" and
argued that it was being amended to appease international pressure.
There is
nothing new in this. Juche and Songun have been the DPRK's primary
guiding philosophies for years; direct references to Marxism-Leninism
were removed in a previous constitution. As for condemning communism,
no one has ever claimed that such a social--economic formation existed
anywhere in the last century, and saying it never will exist is typical
propaganda. And to refer to the vast inequalities and injustices of
capitalism as simple "imbalances" is despicable. Data readily available
in the South has demonstrated just how vast the gap is. South Korea
does not need to train a new elite for the North; they have always
existed in the South and they have always been leading the charge. Just
as there was no equality in German unification, there will be no
quarter given in Korea either.
13) CUBAN FIVE MEMBER
RESENTENCED TO 22 YEARS PRISON
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
PV
Vancouver Bureau
Antonio Guerrero,
one of the "Cuban Five" anti-terrorist fighters jailed in the United
States, has been handed a new sentence by Federal Judge Joan Leonard -
21 years and ten months in prison. This is down from a previous life
term, but longer than the 20-year sentence agreed to between Guerrero's
lawyers and U.S. prosecutors.
Judge Leonard
claimed that Guerrero had committed "very serious offences" and showed
no statement of contrition. At the same time, she admitted that "the
government did not present evidence that the defendant obtained top
secret information."
Attorney Leonard Weinglass, who represented Guerrero, said the outcome
was not what he expected.
"I'm
surprised with this decision," said Weinglass. "We negotiated an
agreement with the government in good faith. Hopefully, he will be at
home in seven years."
The Cuban
Five - Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labanino and
Fernando Gonzalez - were arrested in 1998 and convicted three years
later. Guerrero, 50, is an airport construction engineer by training
born in the United States to Cuban parents.
An appeals
court earlier found the original sentences for the Cuban Five were
excessive. Judge Leonard has accepted requests from the lawyers
representing the other prisoners to delay their re-sentencing pending a
probe into the extent of so-called "damage" caused by their activities,
which consisted of working to obtain information about anti-Cuba
terrorist actions planned by US-backed exile groups in Florida.
Last June,
the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal against the convictions,
which were reached in Miami during a period of intense hostility
against Cuba, making a fair trial impossible.
Following the
re-sentencing, a joint declaration was issued by several U.S.
solidarity groups, including the National Committee to Free the Cuban
Five and the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five.
"With our
declaration we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to maintain and
strengthen our efforts to demand the immediate freedom of our Five
brothers: Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando
Gonzalez and René Gonzalez, as they are innocent of the charges
that
the U.S. government has convicted them of...
"Independent
of the court process and the decisions that are issued by the court, we
maintain our steadfast demand for the immediate freedom of the Cuban
Five. The judicial case prosecuted against our Five brothers has
nothing to do with justice. This is, and always has been, a political
case.
"Since the
triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, every administration of the
U.S. government has maintained a policy of permanent aggression against
the Cuban people. A fundamental part of this policy of aggression has
been the use of violence against the Cuban people. For decades the U.S.
administrations have been directly or indirectly involved - through
terrorist organizations of the Cuban American extreme right wing in the
United States - in countless terrorist attacks against the Cuban
people, causing the deaths of 3,478 Cuban men, women and children, and
injuring 2,099 Cubans. The peace, security and well-being of the Cuban
people have been tragically affected.
"In the
interest of defending its people - as any other responsible government
would do--the government of Cuba assigned to the Five the task of
infiltrating the terrorist organizations of the Cuban American extreme
right wing. Everyone in this city knows full well that the terrorist
organizations have carried out campaigns of death and terror against
the Cuban people for decades. Stopping terrorism was the mission of the
Cuban Five.
"Instead of
arresting the terrorists and prosecuting them for their crimes, the
U.S. government, participant of these nefarious campaigns of death and
terror, arrested the Five 11 years ago this past September. Since then
it has kept them arbitrarily imprisoned.
"It is for
these reasons that today in Miami we reaffirm and make known to our
Five brothers, to their families and all our sisters and brothers in
the U.S. and international movement to Free the Five, as well as the
Cuban people, our unalterable decision to continue and strengthen our
struggle for their immediate freedom."
Miami, October 13, 2009
14) BOOK TELLS THE
STORY OF INDIA'S GADAR REVOLUTIONARIES IN CANADA
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By
Gurpreet Singh
A new book on the
Indian revolutionaries who were active in Canada was released in Surrey
on Thanksgiving Day. Authored in Punjabi by Sohan Singh Pooni, Canada
De Gadri Yodhay (The Gadar combatants of Canada) is the
biographies of
41 freedom fighters, mostly associated with the Gadar Party, a
revolutionary group that believed in armed struggle against the British
occupation of India.
The book
release ceremony proved a major crowd puller at the Grand Taj Banquet
Hall. The venue was packed with visitors, and with descendants of the
revolutionaries. The book was released by Dr. Hugh Johnston, retired
professor at Simon Fraser University, who has also authored a book on
the struggle of the Sikhs against racism in Canada. Among those
honoured on the occasion were the relatives of the Gadar heroes.
However, the presence of the politicians belonging to the NDP,
Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties was ironic, as the
Gadarites were anti-establishment.
Though the
Gadar Party was formally established in the U.S. in 1913, the Gadar
movement had its roots in Canada where the Indian immigrants had to
endure racism. It was the discriminatory attitude of the Canadian
establishment that partially made these men politically aware of the
need to fight against foreign rule back home.
Most of these
men came to Canada in the beginning of the twentieth century as British
subjects. Their dreams for better living were shattered as the Canadian
government systematically discriminated against them by restricting
their immigration, family reunions and disfranchising them. As a result
a need for struggle for both social justice and freedom arose. The
Gadar Party was a byproduct of this abusive environment that motivated
about 300 people in Canada alone to become members of this militant
group, according to Pooni, who took nine years to complete his work.
His research
took him to India and across the border, where he visited archives and
other places to lay hands on rare documents and pictures, and to
interview the descendants of these men.
The common
thread between these men was that they were mostly rural Sikhs from
Punjab, some of whom had served in the British army. Most came to
Canada as British subjects and were disillusioned by the fact that the
British Empire was not treating all its subjects fairly. They had to
pay heavily to travel to Canada. Initially, they tried to challenge the
"continuous journey law", the bar on bringing their families and
institutional racism through petitions and appeals. But they soon
realized that their slavery was the root of these problems, and to end
that an armed resistance was necessary. Subsequently, these men became
members of the Gadar Party. Most returned to India in hopes to initiate
a rebellion that was supposed to be the sequel of the Gadar (mutiny) of
1857, only to face the gallows or life imprisonment.
Among them
were prominent ideologues like Bhag Singh, Tarak Nath Dass, Hussein
Rahim, Harnam Singh Sahri, Balwant Singh Khurdpur, Karam Singh
Daulatpur, Bhagwan Singh Dosanjh and Munsha Singh Dukhi. The book
reveals their connection with Canada. Apart from leading the Gadar
movement to set India free from British rule, these men participated in
different struggles for the rights of immigrants in Canada.
Realizing
that the misery of their compatriots in India was to be blamed on the
lack of education, they helped to build schools in Punjab. Despite
challenges from the orthodox and conservative social environment of
India, they resolved to encourage female education. Some of them later
turned into communists.
Bhag Singh
was the first Indo Canadian martyr, shot in 1914 by Bela Singh, the
agent of an infamous immigration officer, William Hopkison. The leader
of the Khalsa Deewan Society that governed the oldest Sikh temple of
Vancouver, Bhag Singh was instrumental in encouraging former Sikh
soldiers to burn their medals and certificates to break loyalties with
the British Empire in 1909. This wasn't an easy task, as the Sikh
preachers in India were pro-British and prayed for the long life of
their English masters. The book begins with his biography, followed by
the profile of Badan Singh, who had also died with Bhag Singh after
being hurt in the shootout. These killings were avenged by Mewa Singh,
who assassinated Hopkinson and was hanged for the murder. His profile
suggests that he may have done this at the instructions of the Gadar
leaders.
The biography of Hari Singh Soond, who killed Bela Singh in India, is
also a part of the book.
The book
gives a detailed account of the activities of Hussein Rahim, who was in
the forefront of the fight for the right to vote and the struggle to
let the passengers of the Komagata Maru set foot on Canadian soil. The
ship was turned back on July 23, 1914, under the racist immigration
law. This incident added fuel to the fire and strengthened the
foundation of the Gadar movement.
Despite
being Sikhs, some devoutly religious Gadar heroes mentioned in the book
were liberal and secular. After all, one of the objectives of the Gadar
Party was to keep apart politics and religion and to promote unity.
Some of these men who returned to India saved Muslims from Hindu and
Sikh fundamentalists during the partition of India and Pakistan on
religious lines in 1947. These men did not buckle under pressure from
the religious zealots and helped Muslims in reaching safe destinations.
These details will help in understanding the secular indoctrination of
the Gadarites.
The book ends
with the biography of Darshan Singh Canadian, a communist leader of
Punjab, who was murdered by the Sikh separatists in 1986. He had spent
several years in Canada before India's independence, taking part in the
struggle for right to vote and the labour movement.
The huge
attendance of Indo Canadians at the event suggests that their interest
in the history of the Gadar movement has largely been overlooked by the
mainstream historians of India and Canada. Book release ceremonies in
the Punjabi community hardly ever generate curiosity of this level.
15) HEALTH CARE IN
THE GREAT WHITE NORTH
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
November
12 will
be the 70th anniversary of the death of the famous Canadian communist
Dr. Norman Bethune in China. To mark this date, we publish the
following commentary by Norman (Otis) Richmond.
The Canadian
health care system is clearly more humane than the US system; however,
all is not well in the Great White North.
A recent
report from Member of Parliament Olivia Chow revealed: "Presently, four
million Canadians are unable to find a family doctor and nurses
continue to be overburdened. In fact, each patient that is added beyond
a nurse's capacity increases patient mortality by 7 per cent while
citizens who are unable to find a general practitioner go undiagnosed
and minor illnesses become life-threatening."
Before coming to Canada in 1967, I honestly knew of only two Canadians
- Harry Jerome and Norman Bethune.
Jerome was an
African born in Canada and a world-class sprinter who competed in the
1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics. One of my schoolmates from Fremont High
School in Los Angeles, Richard Stebbins, competed against Jerome in the
1964 Olympics. At one time in my arrested development I even believed
Jerome was the only Black person in the Great White North.
I knew about
Bethune because Chairman Mao Zedong mentioned him in The Quotations of
Chairman Mao Zedong. I must confess many of my neighbors in South
Central Los Angeles were aware of Mao, Zhou Enlai and Zhu De and other
leaders of the 1949 Chinese revolution.
Bethune
(March 3, 1890-November 12, 1939) was a Euro-Canadian doctor in the
1930s who was a pioneer in socialized healthcare. He also worked in
Spain and China to assist struggles against fascism in those countries.
He was a medical innovator and developed the first mobile
blood-transfusion service in Spain in 1936. Many feel that Bethune is
as important to health care in Canada as Tommy Douglas.
Born in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Bethune was to the left of Douglas.
There is a
wide body of work both in film and books on the life and times of
Bethune. The National Film Board of Canada and Hollywood also have work
about him.
Many
progressives recommend Ted Allan and Sydney Gordon's volume, The
Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune. This
work was
published in 1952, revised in 1971 and reprinted in 1981. A Canadian
film, Bethune: The Making of a Hero,
was made in the 1990s.
Adrienne
Clarkson, a Chinese Canadian and former Governor General of Canada from
1999 to 2005, has attempted to repackage Bethune and present him merely
as a humanitarian in her new book,
Extraordinary Canadians: Norman
Bethune. Bethune was for the total transformation of the
Canadian
society and the world.
I and
millions who have had children born in Canada are in debt to Bethune.
My son was born on November 10, 1987. He wasn't due until March of
1988. I was preparing for a trip to Africa when he was born
prematurely. The child weighed in at one pound, nine ounces or 710
grams. He jumped the gun after only 26-and-a-half weeks. He stayed in
Women's College Hospital until April 4, 1988. I was only $6 dollars out
of pocket for my wife's telephone calls.
The issue of
health care is the most burning question in the United States at the
moment. President Barack Obama is under attack by the right for his
stand on health care. President Obama seems to have taken single payers
off the table in the current debate.
Bruce Dixon,
Managing Editor of BlackAgendaReport.com, has pointed out: "President
Obama seems to have changed his promise from health care to coverage,
not care. He's turned the crusade for health care into a crusade for
universal health insurance."
When
President Obama was a senator from Illinois, he spoke forcefully for a
single payer system and said it should be a human right. Not so in
2009. President Obama has repeatedly said he is not a socialist. The
hard right has repeatedly said that he is a Marxist who follows Karl
and not Groucho, Harpo or Chico.
However,
socialism's obituary was prematurely written. Venezuela and other
nations have joined Cuba and are opting for what they call 21st Century
socialism.
Denzel
Washington gave a splendid performance in the film, John Q, which was
filmed in Toronto. However, Hollywood did not reward him for his role
in this film. Many observers feel that Washington was punished for
playing in a film that points out the contradictions in the health care
system in the United States. He was rewarded for portraying a corrupt
Los Angeles policeman in Training
Day, which garnered Washington an
Academy Award for Best Actor.
Once again a
voice from the left is correct on the health question. Single-payer is
the only way forward for humanity. The Canadian born Bethune hit the
nail on the head when he opined at the "Symposium on Medical Economics"
in 1936: "Twenty-five years ago, it was thought contemptible to be
called a socialist. Medical reforms, such as limited heath insurance
schemes, are not socialized medicine. They are a bastard form of
socialism produced by belated humanitarianism out of necessity". The
good Doctor was right then and he is right now.
Norman (Otis) Richmond can be
contacted Norman.o.richmond@gmail.com
16) MERCHANT MARINERS
ASSISTED IN VICTORY OVER FASCISM
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50
CDN per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By
Norman Faria
Last September 3rd
marked the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II which pitted
the world's liberal-democratic nations (the "Allies") against the
fascist regime of Adolf Hitler and other countries (the "Axis"). It
lasted until August 1945 when Japan's militarist rulers finally
capitulated.
Traditionally, Remembrance Day ceremonies are held world wide in
November to remember the ultimate sacrifice of enlisted Allied
servicemen and women.
In recent
years, the contribution of merchant mariners, including those from
Canada, have also been recognised. Those are the mainly men who served
in freighters (or "cargo boats" as they are sometimes called) bringing
vital war materials and basic necessities like food and medicine across
the oceans.
I was deeply
honoured to be invited to the unveiling of the Seamen's Monument
in
the Military Cemetery on the shores of Carlisle Bay, just outside the
Barbados capital Bridgetown. Among the names of the Barbadian seafarers
inscribed thereon is the father of one of Barbados' national heroes,
Sir Garfield Sobers. Another name is de Wever, who was an immigrant to
the island from then British Guiana.
Among those at the ceremony was Lt.Col. Florence Gittens (now retired)
of the Barbados Defence Force.
"The merchant
marine seafarers during the war faced just as much danger as the
enlisted forces. Indeed, if you compare names of Barbadian seamen with
the enlisted you will find more of them died..." said Lt.Col. Gittens
when I phoned her to be appraised of preparations for this year's
services.
When the war
broke out, Britain had a relatively large merchant marine navy. A total
of 2,524 British registered freighters and tankers were sunk by enemy
action during the war. Some 30,248 seafarers died, 4,654 went missing
and 4,707 were wounded.
The maritime
battlefront was an important one. Noted shipping historian Richard
Woodman in the September 2009 edition of the Telegraph newspaper of the
Nautilus British seaman's trade union: "Victory for the Allies hinged
entirely on command of the seas, and the shipping of supplies either
across the Atlantic to Britain by convoy or across the Pacific to the
Allied battlefield by the Fleet Train."
Tony Lane,
the author of the book The
Merchant's Seaman's War, was also quoted:
"Without an unbroken flow of imported food, raw materials and
armaments, the British government would have been obliged to accept a
humiliating peace settlement of the kind imposed on the French."
Aside from
Britain, this reliance on shipping was also true of other countries
including then British Guiana and colonies in the Caribbean. The
peoples there assisted in the war against German and Italian fascist
dictatorship and Japanese militarism in several ways. One was enlisting
in the Home Guard and the South Caribbean Force, and giving assistance
to servicemen brought in from Allied countries. (There were about
30,000 US servicemen in Trinidad at one time.)
Secondly,
Caribbean men and women enlisted in Allied armies. One of Barbados'
Prime Ministers, Errol Barrow, was a navigator on a Royal Air Force
(RAF) bomber.
Caribbean
(and Guyanese) people also served on some of the merchant ships
carrying vital supplies to North America or Europe. Ship captains or
owners agents must have signed on some local seafarers as crew while
the vessels visited the Caribbean and Guiana, even if it meant they
were hired as stewards or cooks because of the companies'
discriminatory practices at the time. The Allied war effort needed, for
example, large quantities of aluminum to build airplanes and other
items. Among the countries from which the ore was sourced was Guiana
(as was rice and sugar). Tellingly, German submarines (the "U-boats")
were sent to patrol places like the Guyanese coast to sink freighters
leaving the Demerara River with the alumina ore. Tankers bringing oil
and gas from Trinidad and Aruba and Caracao were also targeted. The
actual ships were from several countries. At the time, the US and
Canada also had sizeable merchant marine fleets and their vessels were
also U-boat victims.
Even on the
wider front of ships bringing supplies across the Atlantic, not all had
crews from the country of the ship's registration. In the case of
Britain, by 1939, some 27 per cent of seafarers on British ships
travelling to foreign ports were from other countries. Most non-British
crew were from China or India, then a British colony. Significantly,
five per cent were "Arabs, Indians, Chinese, West Africans or West
Indians domiciled (resident) in such British ports as Cardiff,
Liverpool and South Shields" (quote from Tony Lane in Telegraph
newspaper). Among the shipwrecked sailors in lifeboats drifting onto
Trinidad shores and other islands were Chinese and Indian sailors.
We must also
take into account those who served on the inter-island wooden
schooners. They brought food and other necessities to smaller islands
and hard to reach communities. Some U-boat logs mention the shelling of
such schooners (after crews took to lifeboats).
One of the
schooners which traded in the early part of the war was the Gloria
Colita, a big 178 tonne three-master. Among its tramping routes
was
carrying rice from Guiana to Cuba and then lumber to the US. It was
owned and skippered by the father of Sir James Mitchell, former prime
Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
In May 1941,
the Gloria Colita was found
adrift and abandoned in the Gulf Stream
near New Orleans. Neither Captain Mitchell or any of the crew were ever
found. One theory is that Captain Mitchell was kidnapped and forced
into service on German U-boats as a pilot. This is hardly likely - the
first U-boat didn't come to the Caribbean until the following year.
We must
continue to honour those enlisted servicemen and women who died. The
ceremonies should be taken seriously by all citizenry to remind us of
the necessity of people of all races and religions to always stand up
to those who would try to conquer democratic minded people and impose a
fascist dictatorship.
All glory to
those brave Allied soldiers and air and naval personnel from several
countries (including the Americans and the Soviet Union, without whose
mighty Red Army Hitler's forces would never have been defeated) who
gave their lives so that future generations can continue to deepen our
democratic way of life. Glory too to members of the Resistance
movements such as in France and even in Germany itself under Hitler's
brutal repression. The sacrifice of those from many lands who gave
their lives serving in the merchant marine must also be remembered.
(Norman Faria is Guyana's Honorary
Consul in Barbados, nfaria@caribsurf.com)
(The following
article is from the November 1-15, 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: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for
U.S. readers and overseas readers - $50 per year. Send to:
People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133
Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
BURNABY,
BC
War Resisters Wine and
Cheese Benefit - Fri., Nov. 13, 7 pm, featuring the music of Shari Ulrich, tickets limited by space, $50/person, 390 North Springer Ave., reserve by calling 604-251-3439.
VANCOUVER, BC
You, Me and the SPP - Thursday, Nov. 5, 7 pm at Fifth Avenue Cinema, followed by Q & A with filmmaker Paul Manly. The film’s full tour schedule is online at http://www.youmespp.com.
Revolution Celebration, with guest speaker Miguel
Figueroa, CPC leader - Friday, Nov. 6, 7 pm, Chilean Housing Co-op, 3390 School Ave. (off Kingsway & Tyne). Donations welcome, refreshments and light lunch available. Sponsored by BC Committee, Communist Party of Canada, 604-254-9836.
1929-1939,
From Crash to Catastrophe, World Peace Forum
teach-in - Nov. 7-8-11, Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph St. For full details, visit http://www.worldpeaceforumbc.ca.
Left Film
Night, “The War on Democracy”, dir. by John Pilger - Sunday, Nov. 29, 7 pm, Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. For info, call 604-255-2041.
WINNIPEG, MB
Day of Action for
Poverty-Free Manitoba - Thur., Nov. 5, rally at the Leg 12:30 pm. Marches/rallies begin at Univ. of Manitoba (11:30 am) and Univ. of Winnipeg (Noon). Information: Canadian Federation of Students, 783-0787.
90th
Anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike, dinner, music,
speakers - Sat., Nov. 7, doors open 5:30, Ukrainian Labour Temple, 591 Pritchard Ave. Advance tickets only, for details see ad on page 7, or call Manitoba Committee CPC, 586-7824.
TORONTO, ON
Anniversary of
the Great October Socialist Revolution - Sunday, Nov. 8, 1 pm, Friendship House, 280 Queen St. W. (east of Spadina), speakers, cultural performance, food, raffle. Sponsored by Northstar Compass and Canadian Friends of Soviet People, 416-977-5819.
Stars of
Ballet, featuring dancers from Ballet Nacional de Cuba, with Artistic
Director Alicia Alonso - Tue., Dec. 8, 7 pm, Living Arts Centre, 4141 Living Arts Drive, Mississauga. Tickets $25-90, contact 1-905-306-6000 or 1-888-805-8888.
SASKATOON,
SK
Political discussion & beer, all welcome to join Saskatoon CPC
members - third Monday of
every month, in the tv room at Amigo’s, 632-10 St. East.
*****
Joya
Book Tour Afghan woman MP Malalai Joya, an outspoken critic of the NATO
occupation, is touring Canada to launch her new book, “A Woman
Among Warlords.” Her
itinerary includes:
VANCOUVER: Sat., Nov. 14, 7 pm, book launch at St. Andrew’s Wesley Church, 1022 Nelson St., organized by StopWar.ca.
VICTORIA: Sunday, Nov. 15, 2 pm, book launch at University of Victoria, David Lam Auditorium, MacLaurin Bldg. Hosted by Victoria Peace Coalition.
WINNIPEG: Monday, Nov. 16, 7 pm, University of Winnipeg, Convocation Hall, organized by Peace Alliance Winnipeg.
TORONTO: Nov. 18-20. Details TBA.
HALIFAX: Nov. 21-22. Details TBA.
MONTREAL: Nov. 23-24. Details TBA
OTTAWA: Thursday, Nov. 26, 7 pm, Centretown United Church (507 Bank St), Ottawa Peace Assembly.
