People's Voice October 1-15, 2008

The Spark!

Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada

The Spark!

The latest issue of The Spark! theoretical journal, is now on sale for $5 at Communist Party offices (see p. 8) or People’s Co-op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive, Vancouver.

Articles include

“Introduction to a General Theory of Culture” (Barry Lord);

“Political & Economic Realities Behind Colombian Labour Relations” (Sacouman, Moore & Brittain);

“Treaty Process & Indian Nationalism” (Ray Bobb);

“Lenin: Heritage of the Socialist Market Economy” (C.J. Atkins);

“Nature of the State Under Bush & Harper” (Stephen Von Sychowski);

plus reviews, editorials, and more.

People's Voice deadlines:
OCTOBER 16-31
Thursday, October 9
NOVEMBER 1-15
Thursday, October 23
Send submissions to PV Editorial Office,
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net

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People's Voice finds many "Global Class Struggle" reports at the "Labour Start" website, http://www.labourstart.org. We urge our readers to check it out!

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People's Voice

Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement #205214
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Editorial Board: Kimball Cariou, Miguel Figueroa,
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1) TWO WEEKS TO E-DAY

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2) 33 EXCELLENT REASONS TO DEFEAT THE HARPER TORIES

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

Yes, we know there are hundreds of excellent reasons to banish the Conservatives to political oblivion. But we only have one page for this list...

1. The Conservatives have expanded Canada's role in the bloody military occupation in Afghanistan, which is now extended until at least 2011. To date, 97 Canadians and thousands of Afghans have died in this tragic war, which has cost Canadian taxpayers an estimated $8 billion.

2. Harper has boosted military spending by $5.3 billion over the next five years, while cutting $1 billion from Canada's frayed social safety net.

3. The federal government's "Green Plan" relies on "intensity targets" that allow total greenhouse gas emissions to rise for years. The plan does not account for the enormous expansion of the tar sands industry, which produces over a million barrels of crude oil ever day, most of it exported to the US.

4. The anti-scab Bill C-257, legislation to ban the use of scabs during labour disputes in the federal sector, was defeated in 2007 when 29 Liberal and 20 Tory MPs who had voted "yes" on Second Reading switched to a "no" vote at Third Reading.

5. Ottawa's "no-fly list" raises serious alarm bells about privacy and individual liberties. The names are shared with Washington, and many are on the list due only to similarities with the names of alleged security risks.

6. On several occasions Harper has made racist remarks about immigrants. In January 2001, he said that ridings held by Liberals west of Winnipeg are comprised of recent Asian immigrants who "live in ghettos, and who are not integrated into western Canadian society."

7. Canada's sovereignty is being jeopardized by NAFTA and by the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, a plan that seeks to "harmonize" some 300 critical areas of legislation and regulation, mostly in accordance with US standards.

8. Stephen Harper supported the U.S.-led Iraq War in 2003. Since becoming PM, he has refused to criticise the disastrous military occupation which has led to one million deaths and millions of refugees.

9. Despite a House of Commons resolution supported by the majority of MPs, the Harper government has begun deporting U.S. war resisters who refuse to fight in the illegal and immoral war in Iraq.

10. Even after Israel's July 2006 bombing of the village of Qana in Lebanon and the Israeli killing of a Canadian military observer, Canada refuses to call on Israel to desist from acts of aggression against neighbouring states, to respect the rights of Palestinians, and to withdraw completely from the territories occupied since 1967, in violation of international law and numerous UN Security Council resolutions.

11. The disinformation campaign against Iran has escalated towards threats of US and Israeli military action, which would spark a catastrophic regional conflict. But the Harper government has refused to criticize this threat of aggression.

12. Corporate pre-tax profits now account for a record-high share of Canada's national income - 14.6% of GDP compared to a 25 year average of 10%. Yet the corporate tax-rate was cut from 28% in 2000, to 21% in 2006.

13. Like the Liberals before them, the Tories refuse to use the Canada Health Act to stop the attack on universal Medicare led by several provincial governments. This is rapidly creating two-tier health care, which allows the rich to buy their way to the front of the line.

14. Rejecting the overwhelming support from the medical community and the public at large for Vancouver's InSite drug users facility, the Tories refuse to grant InSite a long-term federal licence. Closure will result in higher numbers of deaths, and the faster spread of communicable diseases such as AIDS and hepatitis-C.

15. After revelations that prisoners captured by Canadian troops were later tortured by Afghan police, the Conservative government dismissed the reports as "rumours and allegations."

16. Stephen Harper cancelled the Kelowna Accord, negotiated between First Nations and the previous Liberal government. Despite shortcomings, such as its failure to address the urgent needs of off-reserve Aboriginal people, the agreement represented the largest payout to First Nations in Canada's history.

17. The Harper government killed the initial progress towards a national child care system, leaving hundreds of thousands of working people with no access to affordable care for their children.

18. The Harper government's 2007 budget disproportionately rewarded married couples where one partner earns most or all of the income. This policy encourages women to stay out of the workforce, and even rewards partners who work part time for quitting to stay at home.

19. In the fall of 2006, after the Conservatives lost their bid to reopen the same-sex marriage debate, some anti-equality religious leaders called for a Royal Commission On Marriage And The Family, claiming that gay parents are "hazardous to children." This idea may re-surface under a Harper majority as a way to set the stage to reverse same-sex marriage rights.

20. Jean-Guy Fleury, chair of the Immigration and Refugee Board, resigned in March 2007 after the Conservatives stacked the board with Tory partisans. Before Harper took power, IRB members were not appointed by politicians, but now such policy is at the discretion of the Prime Minister's Office.

21. In the last election, dozens of far-right religious fundamentalist Conservative candidates were on the ballot. If Harper wins a majority, the religious right could be in an extremely powerful position.

22. In 2004, Stephen Harper told a CTV interviewer that "A Conservative government in its first term led by me will not be bringing in abortion legislation or sponsoring an abortion referendum." If Harper wins a second term, watch out for reproductive rights.

23. Stephen Harper was conspicuously absent when 20,000 activists, scientists and politicians descended on Toronto on Aug. 13, 2006, for the largest AIDS conference ever held.

24. When Harper made his first billion dollars in cuts, the budget of Status of Women Canada was slashed by $5 million, or 40 percent, and the Conservatives announced that funding would be barred for SWC projects that include advocacy for equality.

25. Health and legal experts warned that Bill C-22, which raised the age of consent from 14 to 16, will create extra barriers to accessing contraceptives, abortions and sexual health information for young people. Judging by Conservative rhetoric, there may eventually be legal efforts to raise the age of consent to 18.

26. The Harper government axed the Court Challenges Program, which allowed cash-strapped organizations to launch language and equality appeals based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

27. The manufacturing sector has shed over 250,000 jobs over the past five years, and the number of Canadians who want to work but do not have a job stands at well over one million. The Tory response? "The economy is strong." Yeah, right.

28. Former child soldier Omar Khadr remains the only citizen of a Western country still imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp, and the Harper government refuses to demand his return to Canada.

29. On May 10, 2007, Conservative MPs shut down parliamentary hearings on the Security and Prosperity Partnership and stormed out of the meeting, after Prof. Gordon Laxer testified that Canadians will be left to "freeze in the dark" under plans to integrate energy supplies across North America.

30. Tory budgets have emphasised the authoritarian side of the capitalist state, with huge spending increases for the military, spy agencies, prisons and police.

31. A Supreme Court ruling ordered Parliament to amend "Security Certificate" provisions which allow the Canadian state to imprison foreign nationals as "suspected terrorists". The changes adopted by Parliament do not eliminate "Security Certificates," and suspects are still not allowed to see the evidence against them.

32. Despite the Supreme Court victory by the Communist Party of Canada in the Figueroa case, which banned discrimination against small parties, Parliament and the courts still refuse to allow parties which receive less than 2% of the vote in federal elections to receive the $1.75 per vote which goes to the larger parties.

33. Despite the parliamentary defeat of a bill that would strip the Canadian Wheat Board of its single-desk authority, the Tories refuse to halt their attack on the CWB.

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3) FIGUEROA WELCOMES MAY'S INCLUSION IN TV DEBATE

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4) AFGHAN WAR WILL COST TAXPAYERS $22 BILLION

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5) CLC CALLS FOR "GOVERNMENT THAT WORKS FOR WORKING FAMILIES"

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6) YOUNG COMMUNISTS IN THE FEDERAL ELECTION

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7) SOCIALISM FOR THE REST OF US

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8) EGALE WARNS OF TORY THREAT

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9) "RELIEF FOR THE GREEDY, NOT FOR THE NEEDY"

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10) A DOSE OF SOCIALISM VS. FINANCIAL DISASTER

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11) WAR RESISTER WINS IMPORTANT REPRIEVE

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12) ABITIBI-BOWATER TO CLOSE ANOTHER MILL

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13) COPE MEMBERS BACK ANTI-NPA AGREEMENT

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

By Kimball Cariou

After a year of difficult negotiations on electoral cooperation between Vision Vancouver and the Coalition of Progressive Electors, a tentative deal was overwhelmingly endorsed by COPE on September 15. Packed into a west side meeting hall on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, some 400 COPE members erupted in cheers when the vote was taken, emerging ready to challenge the right-wing Non-Partisan Alliance, which has controlled Vancouver City Hall for most of the past seventy years.

     Announcing the agreement on Sept. 8, the COPE and Vision Executives called it "an important step to create the kind of campaign that can return progressive government to city hall."

     The agreement, which also includes the Vancouver Civic Greens, includes joint support for Vision mayoralty candidate Gregor Robertson, co-founder of Happy Planet organic juices before he was elected the NDP MLA for Vancouver Fairview.

     Vision, which won four city council seats in the 2005 civic election to one for COPE, will nominate eight council candidates, leaving two COPE nominations. For school board, COPE will nominate five candidates to Vision's four. There will be four Vision candidates for Park Board, plus two for COPE and one Green.

     The agreement calls for Vision/COPE cooperation around specific policy issues, including a strategy on homelessness.

     "It is crucial that we work together to return progressive government to city hall, park and school board," said COPE Councillor David Cadman. "We want to work with Gregor Robertson and Vision to cooperate around areas of common concern. With this agreement we can avoid splitting the progressive vote and create a better Vancouver."

     The agreement does not erase all policy differences, nor does it mean a "merger" of the two groups. But it does reflect the wide understanding that the animosity which broke out several years ago during the breakaway from COPE by those who formed Vision has only benefitted the NPA. During nearly three years in opposition at City Hall, the Vision and COPE councillors have usually voted the same way, and members of both groups have worked closely together on school board issues.

     That understanding was first reflected in the spring of 2007, when a group of young civic activists launched a successful push to win a majority of pro-cooperation supporters to the COPE executive. Later that year, when NPA Mayor Sam Sullivan and his caucus angered city residents by refusing to settle a prolonged civic strike, public sentiment began to swing against the NPA. Vision has benefitted from this trend, growing to over ten thousand members to become the largest civic party in Canada.

     Reporting to the Sept. 14 meeting, COPE bargaining committee member David Ages said that Vision was initially reluctant to engage in serious talks. But that attitude changed over the summer of 2008 when it became clear that anti-NPA unity was vital to achieve victory in November. The Vancouver and District Labour Council, a founding member of COPE forty years ago, exerted pressure by calling on both groups to reach an agreement. Without cooperation, there would be little reason for the city's trade union movement to provide significant campaign support.

     Supporting an agreement which allows just two council candidates is difficult for many COPE members. But most agree that the deal provides the best conditions to elect COPE candidates and then to rebuild the organization over the next three years.

     Even so, debate was heated at the Sept. 14 meeting. Although the final count was about 90% in favour, an opposition group led by former city councillor Tim Louis tried repeatedly to block any membership vote on the deal. Using pseudo-legal arguments, bitter accusations, and long-winded "questions" and "points of order", this faction managed to reduce open debate to a minimum. But the tactic backfired badly, antagonizing COPE members who wanted to hear a full discussion and then to vote on the agreement. This episode, on top of Louis' divisive role in COPE over the past few years, have deepened the doubts about his council nomination bid.

     The agreement will certainly improve chances to win a third term for Cadman, and to elect an anti-NPA majority on Council.

     Just as important, it gives COPE and Vision high hopes to take the Vancouver school board, where the present NPA majority is now divided over policies and reeling from a scandal. It was recently revealed that the Liberal provincial government arbitrarily picked two schools in Premier Campbell's wealthy Vancouver constituency as "Neighbourhoods of Learning," eligible to receive enormous extra funding for seismic upgrading. There are wildly conflicting accounts of the role of some NPA trustees in this secretive process, which ignored the Board's established priorities, and parent and community groups are outraged by the smell of political favouritism.

     The Sept. 14 meeting also adopted a wide-ranging election platform, which will be on the COPE website, http://www.cope.bc.ca. The next step for COPE will be its formal nomination meeting, on Sept. 28, when the cooperation agreement will also be formally ratified.

     Vision held its own nominations on Sept. 20, with some 5,000 members casting ballots. All four Vision city council incumbents were nominated, along with former Green Party school trustee Andrea Reimer, Ross Street temple president Kashmir Dhaliwal, UBC academic Kerry Jang, and Geoff Meggs. Radical lawyer/housing advocate David Eby missed a council nomination by just 17 votes. The Vision school board slate includes highly respected public education defender Patti Bacchus, teacher activist Mike Lombardi, Aboriginal community leader Ken Clement, and incumbent Sharon Gregson.

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14) SUPPORT POLITICAL PRISONER JOHN GRAHAM!

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15) AN ELOQUENT ACCOUNT OF THE HAITIAN STRUGGLE

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

Damning the flood - Haiti, Aristide, and the politics of containment, by Peter Hallward, published by Verso, 2008, 442 pages, reviewed by Tim Pelzer

The tragic tale of contemporary Haiti is one of the most misunderstood and neglected stories in the mainstream media. Peter Hallward's Damning the Flood - Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment provides a concise, sweeping account of recent Haitian history. It reveals how the US, Canada and France undermined two democratically elected governments in that Caribbean nation.

     Haitians elected Jean Betrand Aristide, a priest guided by the principles of liberation theology, as president in 1991. Aristide and his Lavalas ("the flood") party government set out to alleviate the country's grinding poverty. Among other things, it built schools and medical clinics, doubled the minimum wage (one dollar a day at the time), taxed the rich and lowered food prices for the poor. It dismantled the country's repressive police state, set up by the former US-backed Duvalier government.

     Aristide's left wing direction horrified the Clinton administration and local business elite which backed an army coup against the Aristide government eight months later, leading to an avalanche of killings, torture and arrests. Haiti is an important destination for US companies that value the country's supply of cheap labour and minimal taxes. However, the reform measures that Aristide implemented also cemented his popularity among the masses.

     Pressure from the black community forced the US to reluctantly return Aristide to power in 1994 using military force. However, Clinton forced a deal on Aristide designed to tie his hands. Aristide had to agree to reduce tariffs protecting the country's agriculture, privatize state companies, lay off government workers and reduce the wages of remaining public sector workers.

     Once back in power, Aristide did what he could to sabotage the agreement he made with the US. He implemented some of the measures half-heartedly, others not at all. He also abolished the brutal army to protect the country against future coups.

     The US also tried to use its leverage over the country's finances to control Aristide. Seventy percent of the Haitian government's budget depended on foreign aid and loans, and this lifeline could be severed if necessary. Clinton's Deputy of State Strobe Talbot said in 1995, "even after our [military] exit in Feb. 1996 we will remain in charge by means of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the private sector."

     When Aristide's term ended in 1995, former pro-Lavalas Prime Minister Rene Preval succeeded him as president. But US control over the country's finances, and right wing domination of Parliament, ensured that Preval did not disturb the status quo.

     Aristide contested the 2000 elections and won with 90% of the vote. A newly formed Famni Lavalas party won most parliamentary and Senate seats. Right wing parties lost most of their elected positions.

     The US government, now led by George Bush, set out to destroy Aristide. From 2000 to 2003, US government funded groups such as the USAID and International Republican Institute funnelled $68 million per year to opposition media and groups. Canada, France and the European Union also contributed funds. Canada played a key role in coordinating international efforts to replace the Aristide government.

     Secondly, a financial boycott crippled the country economically. "Rather like the Palestinians when they voted for an inappropriate party in 2006, the Haitian people were straight away forced to pay a high price for their failure to elect a suitably moderate and broad based government" writes Hallward.

     Thirdly, the US and Haitian opposition convinced the international media that the 2000 elections were fraudulent and that the opposition was fighting against a dictatorship.

     In this way, the US forced the Aristide government to make concessions to the opposition, which wanted Aristide to resign. While Aristide agreed to include the opposition in his government, he refused to step down.

     Beginning in 2003, former Haitian soldiers, armed with US weapons, began launching raids into Haiti from bases in the Dominican Republic. They burned police stations, killed Lavalas activists and captured towns. Former soldiers would later acknowledge that these acts were sponsored and directed by the US, Canadian and European backed opposition.

     Despite the powerful forces arrayed against it, Aristide's government continued its ambitious development plan, building more schools, medical clinics and housing for the poor. It established the country's first medical school with Cuban help.

     By early 2004 paramilitaries had captured northern Haiti and were threatening to attack the capital, Port-au-Prince. However, Aristide held on.

     Taking advantage of the chaos, US marines seized Aristide on Feb. 29 and flew him to Africa. US, French and Canadian forces invaded the island, installing a new government composed of the un-elected opposition. Unlike the previous Aristide administration that allowed its opposition to operate freely, the new regime ordered the Haitian National Police (HNP) to liquidate Lavalas. The HNP and paramilitaries killed and jailed thousands of Lavalas supporters, members and elected officials. United Nations troops would later back the HNP, conducting its own brutal operations.

     Not mentioned by Hallward, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) deserves blame for the HNP's brutal political cleansing of Lavalas. After the coup against Aristide, the RCMP took charge of the HNP, training and supervising the force.

     In March 2006, the French-US-Canadian hopes of a post-Lavalas future were dashed again. While Lavalas officially boycotted elections because of the political repression directed against it, the movement's supporters and members elected pro-Lavalas candidate Rene Preval as President.

     Damning the Flood is an epic account of the turbulent Aristide years. It is also a reminder that the popular movement that Aristide led is still alive and will never give up its struggle for a better Haiti.

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16) WHAT'S LEFT

BURNABY, BC

Miguel Figueroa - Mon., Oct. 6, 1-3 pm, Quad Building hallway, Simon Fraser University, call 604-377-1364 for details.

VANCOUVER, BC

Defending Our Land, Nlaka’Pamux Nation members speak against proposed Coquihalla Ski Resort - 6 pm, Sat., Sept. 27, 706 Clark Drive, email billiepierre@hotmail.com

COPE Nomination Meeting - Sunday Sept. 28, 2:30 pm, Ukrainian Auditorium, 154 E. 10 Ave. (at Main).

Betty Greenwell memorial, tribute to one of Vancouver’s most outstanding community activists - 1 pm, Sunday, Oct. 5, Hastings Community Centre, 3096 E. Hastings.

Miguel Figueroa election tour, forum & pizza - 5 pm, Sunday, Oct. 5 (note changed time and date), Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive.

More Power to You, conference by BC Citizens for Public Power - Oct. 4-5, 8 am to 4 pm, at SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings. Call 604-681-5939 for details.

Cuban Hurricane Relief, social and concert, Peretz Centre - 6184 Ash St., 7 pm, Sat., Oct. 18, donation $10, organized by Peña Latinoamericana, sponsored by CCFA and Cuba solidarity groups.

Left Film Night - returns Sunday, Oct. 27, 7 pm, at CSE, 706 Clark Drive. Call 604-255-2041.

Communist Party election forum - Oct. 9, 7 pm, Ukrainian Hall, 11018-97 St., 780-465-7893
Palestinian political prisoners conference - Sept. 27, 11 am-4 pm, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., for info call Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, 604-220-0451.

EDMONTON, AB

Election Discussions, hosted by Edmonton YCL - Sundays 7- 9 pm at Steeps Tea House
(11116-82 Ave.). Sept. 28 - Environment; Oct. 5 - Affordable Housing. Discussions followed by brainstorming on questions for candidates, and info on election forums. For details, email ycluofa@ualberta.ca.

Communist Party election forum - Oct. 9, 7 pm, Ukrainian Hall, 11018-97 St., 780-465-7893

CALGARY, AB

Communist Party Election Forum - Oct. 8, 6 pm, Chilean Community Hall, 412-28 St. NE, 403-689-2744.

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.

WINNIPEG, MB

Communist Party election campaign rally - Fri., Oct. 10, 7:30 pm at the Worker’s Organizing Resource Centre, 280 Smith St., mezzanine level. Use buzzer. Info 586-7824.

TORONTO, ON

Communist Party election forum, with leader Miguel Figueroa - Oct. 4, 7 pm, GCDO Hall, 290A Danforth Ave., 416-964-3894.

Havana - A New Master Plan - Thursday, Oct. 9, 6 pm, lecture by Prof. Julio César Pérez Hernandez, on the plan conceived by Cuban architects to preserve Havana’s historic legacy while encouraging future urban and economic development. At the Arts and Letters Club, 14 Elm St., $10 admission, free for students with ID.

HAMILTON, ON

Communist Party election forum - Sun., Sept. 28, 5:30 pm, Solidarity House, 779
Barton St., 905-548-9586.

Giselle, performed by Cuban National Ballet, dir. Alicia Alonso - Oct. 4 (7:30 pm) and Oct. 5 (2 pm), at Hamilton Place.

GUELPH, ON

Communist Party election forum, with CPC leader Miguel Figueroa - Wed., Oct. 1, 7 pm, at University of Guelph, 519-767-8411 for room.

OTTAWA, ON

Communist Party election forum, with CPC leader Miguel Figueroa - Thur., Oct. 2, 4 pm, at Carlton Univ., call 613-261-6735 for room.

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October 1-15, 2008 Volume 16 - Number 17 $1

The Spark!

The Spark!

October 1-15, 2008
Volume 16 - Number 17
$1