A calendar for the year 2008, dedicated to the struggles of the international working class for peace and socialism.
Featuring notable dates, short biographical sketches, plus poetry, speeches, and writings by
Che Guevara, Clara Zetkin, Norman Bethune, James Connolly, Emiliano Zapata, Nikos Beloyannis, Dolores Ibarruri, V.I. Lenin, Pablo Neruda, Gladys Marin, Tim Buck, Nazim Hikmet, Ho Chi Minh, and Salvador Allende.

Available for $10 plus $2 postage from People's Voice, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.

The Spark!

Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada

New issue of Rebel Youth hits the street

The summer 2007 edition of Rebel Youth, magazine of the Young Communist League of Canada, is now on sale.
To order your copy by mail send $3 to YCL c/o 290 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON, M4K 1N6, or c/o 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, B.C., V5L 3J1.

People's Voice deadlines:

MARCH 1-15
Thursday, February 21
MARCH 16-31
Thursday, March 6
Send submissions to PV Editorial Office,
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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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NFU CONDEMNS "REIGN OF TERROR" IN OTTAWA

(The following article is from the February 16-29, 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).

PV Manitoba Bureau, with files from the National Farmers Union

National Farmers Union president Stewart Wells says the Harper regime has launched a series of ideologically-driven firings of senior officials in regulatory, crown and even shared-governance commercial agencies. The firings include: Adrian Measner, former President and CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB); Jean-Pierre Kingsley, former Chief Electoral Officer; Johanne Gelinas, former Environment Commissioner; and John Reid, former Information Commissioner.

     Harper has also clashed with Marc Maynard, current Chief Electoral Officer, and Graham Fraser, Commissioner of Official Languages. The latest is Linda Keen at the Nuclear Safety Commission, who, like Measner, was fired precisely because she was doing her job.

     "Farmers and all Canadians are getting fed up with the Conservatives' politicizing of federal agencies and regulatory boards," stated Wells on Jan. 21. "The Conservatives get indignant

when references are raised about jackboot tactics, but the Prime Minister is deliberately cultivating a climate of fear. If you are a regulator, a CEO, or a President, job number one for you is pleasing the Prime Minister - any other duties seem to be optional."

     In the summer and fall of 2006, the NFU was asking all Canadians to learn from the Harper government's assault on farmers and the CWB. When Adrian Measner was fired, Wells issued a statement saying, "For the first time in my life I am genuinely concerned about the future of this country. Watching the Harper Conservatives engage in what amounts to a reign of terror against the CWB has shattered my notion of Canada as a safe country that is based on democracy."

     The latest development was a command issued by Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz that the CWB attend a Jan. 29 meeting with anti-CWB forces in Ottawa. The NFU argues that this shows again that the Harper Conservatives have no respect for farmer democracy and the "one-farmer, one-vote" rule that elected the majority of the Board of Directors of the CWB.

     "The summons of the CWB to Ottawa is strangely reminiscent of Chuck Strahl's anti-CWB taxpayer-funded meeting in Saskatoon in July 2006. I'm sure that the Western Barley Growers, with less than 130 farmer members, will also be invited to the Ottawa meeting at taxpayers' expense," said Wells, noting that there were twice as many farmers supporting the CWB in one room at a recent meeting in Saskatoon as the Barley Growers have in their whole "organization".

     As the Jan. 29 meeting convened, NFU Board member Glen Tait, who raises barley and wheat near North Battleford, told an Ottawa news conference that "It's shameful to see Canada's Minister of Agriculture allying himself with the world's biggest grain companies against this country's farm families."

     The majority of seats at Ritz's hand-picked meeting were filled by representatives of transnational grain, malting, and brewing corporations. According to media reports, invitees included representatives of the Western Grain Elevators Association (4), the Malting Industry Association of Canada (4), the Brewers Association of Canada (1), and GrainVision (1). These ten industry representatives took more than half of the 19 non-governmental seats at the meeting.

     The Western Grain Elevator Association is an organization of Western Canada's largest grain companies, including Cargill, James Richardson International, and Viterra. The Malting Industry Association represents the owners of Canada's major malting plants: Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, Rahr Malting, Viterra, and others. The Brewers Association represents brewing companies which account for more than 98 per cent of domestic beer production: Labatt, Molson Coors, and Sleeman (Sapporo).

     GrainVision is a murky industry organization which appears to represent several agribusiness and anti-CWB organizations, including Cargill, Rahr Malting, James Richardson International, Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited, and the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange.

     "The government is now working openly with the dominant grain and malting corporations to dismantle CWB barley marketing. This represents a very real shift, and a disturbing one, compared to Conservative government tactics of just a year-and-a-half ago," said Tait.

     In July 2006, then-Minister Chuck Strahl convened a similar meeting of handpicked anti-CWB organizations, but without agribusiness corporations. At the time, Strahl said "the two groups of people that we didn't invite were those who said that they'd never consider anything but the single-desk option, and people who would be potentially in competition with the Wheat Board. So, we didn't invite Cargill, for example, or grain companies." Eighteen months later, the grain companies and other corporate representatives occupy most of the seats.

     Tait commented: "Today's meeting has helped farmers in one way: It has lifted the veil. It is now clear that some of the world's biggest grain, malt, and brewing corporations are behind and beside Gerry Ritz. Ritz has made himself a tool of those who seek to profit at farmers' expense. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has teamed up with Cargill, ADM, and Rahr Malting against farmers and their Wheat Board. Farmers should ask: Do these huge corporations want the CWB out of barley marketing so that these companies can pay barley farmers more? Or are they working for the end of the CWB so they can pay less?"

     Tait concluded: "Today, farmers, through their collective marketing agency the CWB, control malt-barley marketing. And farmers capture the profits. Cargill, Rahr, ADM, and Viterra want that control, and they want those profits. It's a `no brainer.' That's why they're pushing the government. That's why company representatives are in Ottawa today."

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BLACK-FOCUSED SCHOOL GOES AHEAD IN TORONTO

(The following article is from the February 16-29, 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).

PV Ontario Bureau

After more than a year of debate, discussion and pressure from Black parents, the Toronto District School Board has voted to open an Africentric Alternative School in the fall of 2009.

     Like many of the TDSB's other Alternative school programs, the Black-focused school will be housed inside a regular school building and will be open to all TDSB students. It will teach to the Ontario government's standard curriculum, giving particular focus to Black history and experience in Canada and globally.

     The school has been fought for by Black parents and others deeply concerned that 40% of Black students do not graduate from high school. They argue that Black students have become alienated from the school system as a result of systemic racism, a Eurocentric curriculum that is devoid of Black history and experience, and the zero tolerance policies and funding cuts that fuelled drop out rates for a generation. Emergency action, they say, is called for to reverse the situation.

     But there is also concern in the Black community that the school could become a lightning rod for racism, opening a debate about segregation; or that the fight against systemic racism could be limited to a debate on education.

     In fact, Premier Dalton McGuinty immediately waded into the issue, refusing to fund the school. He called on public school supporters to pressure the TDSB to reverse itself, labelling the school "segregation" and equated the plan to the funding of religious schools proposed by the Tories and defeated in the 2007 provincial election campaign.

     Liberal school trustee Josh Mattlow immediately demanded a special meeting and a vote to reconsider. Picking up on the segregation charge, Mattlow accused the Board of putting itself into deficit with the estimated $800,000 cost of the new program, and demanded the Board open its books to show what existing programs would be cut to balance the budget.

     The sensational and divisive charges were left hanging as none of the other 21 Trustees supported Mattlow's call to reconsider the vote. The issue is not over, however, as the School Board will have to pass implementing motions later this spring on curricula, staffing, and other specifics of the school.

     Since the Board's vote at the end of January, a growing list of organizations has endorsed its decision. Among them are the Jane-Finch Concerned Citizens, the Jamaican-Canadian Association, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, African Canadian Heritage Association, the Canadian Alliance of Black Educators, the Ontario Parents of Black Children, the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, the Ontario Federation of Labour, the Black Action Defence League, the Canadian Arab Federation, and the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario).

     Communist Party leader Liz Rowley said the Ontario Executive had decided a year ago after consultations with activists in the Party and community, to support the concept of a Black-focused school.

     "We recognize that a single school in Toronto will not end systemic racism, but is it a step in the right direction? Will it help some students succeed? Is it something that the community wants? Well, the answer is yes," said Rowley. "An alternative Black-focused school, housed in a regular school, open to all students and qualified staff, with a curriculum that meets provincial requirements, and that also includes a focus on Black history, culture, and experience is valuable and will undoubtedly help some students succeed. The Board was quite right to establish the school. This is not about segregation, it's about choice and providing students and their families alternative ways to succeed in school.

     "Is this the only thing the School Board should be required to do to address the needs of Black students and other students of Colour? No, it isn't. The Toronto School Board, and school boards across the province need to address systemic racism in schools and in society, with a range of actions including overhauling curricula and textbooks in every course to eliminate racial and other stereotyping, and to include Black, Aboriginal, women's, and labour history and experience.

     "There must be real progress in employment equity so that staff in school boards are much more inclusive and reflective of the students they serve from elementary to high school (and beyond). There have to be more people of colour, more women and more Aboriginals teaching, supervising and in school administrations.

     "Zero tolerance policies and their vestiges, including pushing students out of school in order to keep school test scores high, must be eliminated. Students must be encouraged to stay in school, and the program and staffing supports have to be put in place to do this.

     "This means substantially increased public investment in public education, and a new funding formula based on student needs - a promise the Liberals made in 2003 and again in 2007, but which has now been put off until 2010. At the end of the day, the Liberals are failing all students in the province, and Black and Aboriginal students in the very first place.

     "We also have to point out that it's not the school system, but capitalism that's the source of racism, which permeates our entire society. The alienation, exploitation and violence of racism are daily reality for a majority of young people in Toronto, who today are not white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants or their descendants. Police violence, racial profiling, harassment; violence, racism and stereotyping in the media; and the grind of discriminatory hiring and housing policies, immigration and refugee policies, low wages, poverty, and insecurity - this is the reality of life in Canada, this is capitalism in Canada.

     "Supporting the establishment of a Black-focused school in Toronto does not eliminate the fight to eradicate racism on all fronts. It's one among many points of engagement in the struggle for full and complete equality."

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TORONTO CABBIES: LONG HOURS, LOW PAY

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MANITOBA NDP TARGETS CHILDREN TO GLORIFY AFGHAN MISSION

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"TORONTO 18" STUCK IN LEGAL LIMBO

(The following article is from the February 16-29, 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 Johan Boyden

A week ago, a man moved into the cell beneath Fahim Ahmad. "I hear him singing, you know, out loud," Fahim says. Fahim is talking to me on a poor-quality telephone line from the Don Valley Jail in Toronto. This twenty-minute conversation is Fahim's only connection with the outside world for the day.

     "The man sings like this, I'll sing it to you: `I'm going crazy, F*ing F*ing crazy, I'm going crazy, F*ing F*ing crazy, get me outta here, I'm going crazy...' He is banging and screaming and puts faeces on the walls. I hear him all the time now, and that is after only one week."

     One week in special solitary confinement must seem a very short time when you've been living in 24 hours isolation, in a 6 by 7 by 10 foot room, for over 600 days. But for Fahim and the other young men in their early twenties who have had their lives turned upside down after being accused of participating in a supposed terrorist cell, this is their daily existence.

     "These conditions are designed to make you go crazy," Fahim says.

     In June 2006, eighteen Muslim men and boys - all Canadian citizens, and all but one between 15 and 25 - were arrested in a highly publicized scoop. Within hours of their arrest the police had held a press conference. But at the same time, a publication ban on court proceedings silenced the defendants. As a result, the trial of the men who would become known as the Toronto 18 was done by the newspapers and networks, the young men guilty were found guilt as charged by the media.

     All this years before their trial, which has yet to occur. No date is currently set. "We've been told it is going to take a least a year for the trial to actually start," Saima Mohammad says.

     Saima Mohammad is one the family members of the Toronto 18 and active with the solidarity committee called the Presumption of Innocence Project. Their immediate goal is to get Fahim Ahmad, Zakaria Amara and Ali Dirie out of solitary and organize public events and bail solidarity. Four of the 18 have been granted bail with extreme limitations. The other thirteen remain in jail. "We do have hope," she adds.

     Shortly after the arrest of the Toronto 18, People's Voice wrote that the case seemed to amount to entrapment. Since then, the facts appear to have borne this out.

     The Toronto Star has said the allegations "are so bizarre as to be almost unbelievable." Two of the two star witnesses of the crown have turned out to be police informants - paid to the tune of four million dollars.

     One informer, who allegedly sold fertilizer to make explosives, has disappeared and his name cannot be printed. The other informer, Mubin Shaikh, has become a media star, repeatedly breaking the publication ban and doing interviews CBC, CTV, even the BBC.

     More shocking is Shaikh's own revelation that he is a drug addict, struggling with a cocaine habit. Less than three hours into his testimony in court at the preliminary hearings, and reportedly after successful attacks on his evidence by the defence, the crown took uncommon act of stopping proceedings through a Direct Indictment. This has further undermined the crown's case, according to the solidarity committee, and now the trial is in limbo.

     "I think there is a broader political agenda associated with this issue," says James Clark, a leader of the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War who has also been helping with the Presumption of Innocence Project. "Canada has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan and like other countries has clamped down on civil liberties, using scaremongering, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab racism."

     James points to the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War; "this will be a huge blot on our collective history" he says.

     "The only thing I can say on a personal level is that I knew Fahim, I went to school with some of the Toronto 18, and they were normal Canadian Muslims playing video games, going to school and doing normal things Canadians do," Saima says. "Now they are behind bars based on accusations. They have been made out to look like monsters, which of course is not true."

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STOP THE SECRET TRIALS! - Editorial

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FEAR AND LOATHING IN OTTAWA - Editorial

People's Voice Editorial, Feb. 16-29, 2008

Yet again, a federal election seems imminent, just two years after Canada's last trip to the polls. Unable to gain traction in recent opinion surveys, the Harper Tories hope to engineer their own parliamentary defeat on "favourable" issues - perhaps the so-called "law and order" legislation (despite the reality of falling crime rates), or their appalling claim to be the only party which "supports the troops" (condemning more to die in the interests of US imperialism in Afghanistan).

     A Tory victory would be a nightmare for working people, and for all who defend peace, equality, democracy and sovereignty. With a majority in Parliament - which he could win with less than 40% of the popular vote, thanks to Canada's antiquated "first past the post" system - Stephen Harper would be free to impose his ultra right agenda, heedless of public opinion.

     For example, consider the latest statements from the National Farmers Union (see page 7), condemning the Harper government's "reign of terror" over the public service; under a Conservative majority, all voices of opposition within the structures of the state would be silenced.

     And then think about the consequences of a Harper majority for every key area of public policy: faster integration with the US empire, utter disregard for international law, four more years of stalling on climate change, rollbacks for equality rights, full support for Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine, new attacks on Medicare, ever-higher military spending, Aboriginal rights completely ignored, elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board.   But as we have said before, this scenario can be prevented by mass action. The Tories remain unpopular because their corporate agenda is opposed by most Canadians. North America is sliding into recession, compounding Harper's problems. We urge every people's movement to jump into the coming campaign, aiming to defeat the Tories and to elect MPs who support a genuine people's agenda.

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NPA FACES PUBLIC UPROAR OVER SCHOOL CLOSURE

PV Vancouver Bureau

After two years of ducking under the radar, the right-wing Non-Partisan Alliance majority on the Vancouver school board is facing major public opposition. The NPA's plan to close Queen Elizabeth Annex K-3 public school on Vancouver's west side has sparked an uproar, as parents demand answers to important questions about the closure's impact on 129 students.

     More broadly, the NPA is facing challenges to its entire facilities review, which could ultimately mean dozens of school closures. With their close links to the Liberal government of Gordon Campbell, the NPA trustees shrink from any public criticism of provincial funding guidelines, the source of perennial budget headaches for the Vancouver board. Instead, the NPA risks taking the full brunt of voter anger at the polls next November.

     Some three hundred people took part in the final public forum on the planned Queen Elizabeth Annex closure. Parents have circulated thousands of flyers in the Dunbar community, and have taken their case directly to the trustees, MLAs, and officials at the University of British Columbia.

     As one news release from parents pointed out, "there are now rumours from some insiders that the VSB and the privately owned St. George's (a boy's school) have made a deal under the table, and that the VSB has made a plan to sell QE Annex, a public school, to St. George's. St. George's will use this good deal for their own kindergarten to grade 3 ... or to build an ice rink for fun. St. George's is for boys only. Right now QEA is a well-known outstanding dual-track school for both boys and girls - the only public English and French elementary school in the middle of the Dunbar area."

     Meanwhile, the three Coalition of Progressive Electors trustees on the nine-member board have condemned plans to sell the Annex.

     "The current approach to school reorganization in the UBC- Dunbar area by Vancouver NPA School Board Trustees is right off the wall," said COPE Trustee Al Blakey.

     The NPA plan for reorganization of schools on the west side is based on a yet-to-be-negotiated agreement between the Vancouver School Board and UBC for lease of a vacant National Research Council building to accommodate overcrowded University Hill Secondary School students. Only recently have parents become aware of the full implications of the plan.

     "This is a troubling and precedent-setting change for the funding of new schools by the provincial government," said COPE Trustee Allan Wong. "Previously, Victoria fully funded new schools, as in the recent construction of Elsie Roy and Collingwood Neighbourhood schools in Vancouver. Now Victoria is abdicating its responsibility with an all too willing NPA School Board that is complicit in the closure and sale of a valuable public asset at Queen Elizabeth Annex."

     The VSB's 19-day "consultation schedule" has been described as "shocking" by COPE trustee Sharon Gregson, who says the closure will be "an enormous and unwarranted loss to this community."

     "The UBC-Dunbar plan has so many drawbacks, based as it is on an absurd 95 per cent school occupancy requirement from the province. The plan is a fragmented and skewed approach that has caused so much community grief that the entire plan should be dumped," said Gregson. "One has to ask when and where the next For Sale sign is going to appear on another Vancouver school. The UBC/Dunbar plan should be redrawn with meaningful and extended input from the community."

     Blakey has called the NPA's UBC/Dunbar Street Study of school closures "utter stupidity." The study reviews only one part of the entire district in isolation, resulting in a fragmented approach to a city-wide problem.

     "There is an urgent need for proper facilities for U Hill students, as their current school is cramped and inadequate," said Blakey, "but this rushed plan skews the entire proposal and could impact negatively on other schools in the Dunbar area."

     The VSB has also announced the possible closure of another annex school, Garibaldi, on the Eastside, without considering the district-wide implications. With an average of 100 students each, the district's 16 small, closely knit annexes have provided services for children from kindergarten to Grades 3 and 4 for over 45 years. So far there has been no district-wide consultation with parents and teachers about the continued existence of annexes.

     In a related issue, not a single Vancouver school has been approved for seismic upgrading since the NPA regained a majority in 2005. Trustee Wong notes that the UBC/Dunbar Study schedules U Hill Secondary and Queen Elizabeth Main Elementary for seismic upgrading, bumping other schools that were previously accorded a higher priority. Wong calls this an example of how the current isolated approach is distorting district-wide planning.

     Concerns are also increasing about the impact of the provincial funding squeeze on seismic upgrades. Thousands of students and staff remain at risk in dozens of schools built long before modern building codes. But provincial guidelines call for much smaller new replacement schools, which will inevitably create a more cramped learning environment. The rules will have a sharper negative impact on the lower-income east side, where parents have far more limited scope for fundraising to improve new facilities. But the problem extends right across the district, putting a new spotlight on the Liberal under-funding of public education.

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LETTERS EXPOSE ROOTS OF FTT DIVISIONS

By Kimball Cariou

For more than five years, the diverse political left in the Vancouver area has grappled with difficulties arising from the "Fire This Time" organization (FTT) and its complex set of sub-groups, such as Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO). Now, the appalling impact of this group has been exposed by Ivan Drury, one of FTT's original five founders.

     In two letters published in early February, Drury outlines his reasons for leaving FTT, painting a devastating picture of the group's sectarian and divisive role. Two other original members quit in 2005, but Drury's is the first comprehensive analysis published by an insider.

     From the moment FTT emerged in December 2002, it sparked constant sectarian disputes. The founders were expelled at that time from the Anti-Poverty Committee, the anarchist-oriented grassroots movement which organizes in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

     From there, FTT moved into StopWar, the Vancouver anti-war coalition established in the fall of 2002 to build protests against the U.S. drive for war in Iraq. The biggest StopWar rally drew about 40,000 on the historic Feb. 15, 2003 day of global peace actions. But within the coalition, FTT made a determined push for total control, intent on transforming StopWar into a tool to strengthen their own organization. By the fall of 2003, a special meeting of StopWar affiliates voted 24-2 in favour of expelling FTT.

     FTT went on to alienate a wide range of movements: anarchists, Communists, independent left-wingers, social democrats, anti-poverty and anti-war activists, Palestinian solidarity groups, trade unions. For many, the ultimate shock was FTT's support for the shameful extradition of aboriginal activist John Graham, who faces trumped-up murder charges in a U.S. jail.

     But despite such isolation, FTT and its sub-groups kept plastering the city with colourful posters advertising a constant stream of pickets, conferences, film showings, and public forums. Unlike most left groups, they receive regular media attention, especially from the local free dailies.

     The FTT monopolized control of a few important areas of political activity, such as the local campaign to win freedom for the Cuban Five. But their divisive and bullying actions have driven increasing numbers of progressives to simply avoid FTT-sponsored events.

     The natural question has been, "if this group is so destructive, how can they maintain such a high level of activity?"

     Now, Drury's letters help answer this question. Drury played a major role in all FTT efforts for four years, until deciding in early 2007 to break away, a process which took months. Now, he hopes "to stand accountable for the many irresponsible and destructive things I am responsible for having done when I was a member of these groups."

     In a letter to the public, he outlines his reasons for leaving FTT, apologizes for the damage he helped inflict, and presents his current beliefs.

     "From my feeling that the activist community was too insular and too much of it self-satisfied, I was able to draw conclusions that I now see as bitterly sectarian," he writes, discussing the FTT's sweeping condemnation of the so-called "Status Quo Left", which in their view includes all other left forces.

     "From this program," he writes, "flowed an endless string of justifications on the part of FTT - from ultra-centralist, abusive internal dynamics to petty disrespectful conduct towards other leftists, to profoundly sectarian sabotage acts... FTT has never involved itself in a coalition or founded a committee or worked on a project or written an article or taken on a campaign or done anything for any reason other than for the purpose of cadre building."

     The public letter concludes that "sectarianism and hollow sloganeering is a cancer in our movement." He calls for the "complete dissolution of FTT ... and for the freeing of the membership to do important work within the left as it exists in Canada."

     A second letter addresses the Youth Third World Alliance, a key FTT sub-group, whose members are not allowed any contact with Drury. This letter explains the FTT methods of recruiting and manipulating young members, and urges them to reject the absolute control exercised by leader Ali Yerevani, one of the two remaining founders. The shocking details of this control are nauseating, to say the least.

     Two points in Drury's lengthy analysis are worth noting in this publication. At one point, he argues that "Stalinized Communist Parties" no longer "command the support of hundreds of thousands and millions of workers in imperialist countries." From an avowed Trotskyist, this is not a surprising statement, but unfortunately such phrases play into the hands of anti-Communists. Given his admitted destructive past, Drury would do well to steer clear of sectarian criticisms; in fact, he is in no position to hand out any advice to others on the left.

     Second, after describing the bizarre inner workings of FTT, Drury argues that "merely dismissing their work as simply the machinations of a cult is unfair." It's true that dismissing FTT as a cult explains little, and such attacks may indeed only tighten Yerevani's grip on the remaining members. On the other hand, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck... maybe it's a duck.

     Drury's letters have been widely circulated by email, and can be found on the internet at http://ivandrury.wordpress.com. They make illuminating reading for anyone who has ever asked: "why are there two different anti-war groups in Vancouver these days?"

     (PV editor Kimball Cariou, a founding member of StopWar, lived through the FTT attack on the anti-war coalition.)

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MEXICAN FARMERS PROTEST NAFTA HARDSHIPS

By Emile Schepers, People's Weekly World Newspaper

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon is moving to implement a new wave of "neoliberal" policies which are being repudiated by numerous other Latin American countries.

     Calderon, of the conservative National Action Party, PAN, was elected in 2006 by a tiny margin, in a vote that the opposition claims was fraudulent. Backed by the Bush administration, he has pushed boldly to implement a more radical program of "free" trade, privatization and union-busting.

     Mexican farmers are angry about Calderon's refusal to heed their demand to renegotiate agricultural clauses of the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA. On Jan. 1, all import tariffs on U.S. corn, beans, sugar and powdered milk were eliminated, and the Mexican farmers claim that this is going to wipe out the livelihoods of perhaps a million more rural Mexicans.

     Farmers from across the country made their way to the capital city for Feb. 1 protests, some walking for 1,000 miles, Bloomberg News reported. As tractors led a huge parade of protesters, a herd of cows, tended by dairy farmers angry over low milk prices, waited in a makeshift pen in a traffic circle.

     Farmers and farm activists chanted, "Without corn, the country doesn't exist!" as they marched. Protesters want Mexico to keep its "food sovereignty," the International Herald Tribune reported.

     Corn in particular has terrific dietary and symbolic value for the Mexican people, having been first domesticated in prehistoric Mexico, associated with religious belief systems of indigenous Mexicans, and the subject of struggles for land reforms and rural justice throughout modern Mexican history.

     On Jan. 11, 1,000 members of the Sonora State Police and the Federal Protective Police pounced on mine gate pickets at the Grupo Mexico Corporation's enormous Cananea copper mine. The mine and steel workers' union has been on strike for several months against the Grupo Mexico management over safety conditions. On the same day, a government labour arbitration board declared the strike to be illegal. The union responded with work stoppages in more than 80 places, and also went to court and got the "illegal" ruling of the labour board reversed. But the company has brought in scabs and claims it is getting ready to resume production.

     The Cananea mine has huge symbolic value for the Mexican people. In 1906, there was a violent conflict at the same mine when Mexican miners went on strike against the U.S. owners, an incident which was considered a precursor of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920. Furthermore, to use government police forces to stop a strike flies in the face of Mexican labour law, and is a sharp escalation of "class struggle from above."

     Now comes an announcement by the Halliburton corporation that it had signed a $683 million contract with the Mexican national oil company, PEMEX, to drill 58 new test holes, and to take over maintenance of pipelines. This is the latest of $2 billion in contracts that Halliburton has received from PEMEX during Calderon's administration and that of his predecessor, Vicente Fox.    The Mexican press was not slow to make the connection among the Halliburton-PEMEX deal, former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney, and the many corruption scandals with which Halliburton is associated. The opposition complained that if PEMEX now contracts out such basic functions as drilling wells and maintaining pipelines, it will become the "public" front for international monopoly capital - privatization by the back door. It would also undercut the powerful oil workers union, which several successive Mexican governments have been trying to weaken.

     PEMEX also has very high symbolic value. It was created starting in 1938, when the revered left wing Mexican president, Lazaro Cardenas del Rio, nationalized foreign-owned petroleum operations, after those companies refused to obey progressive Mexican labour laws. European countries broke off diplomatic relations and threatened armed intervention. Compensation money was raised by a massive national effort. Cardenas' wife contributed her jewelry, and millions of Mexicans contributed coins and even farm produce. So "privatizing PEMEX" has been seen as the "third rail" of Mexican politics.

     But recently there have been dire warnings that PEMEX is functioning poorly, and that private corporate investment in the entity is needed to get it up to shape. Indeed PEMEX has had many problems. But the opposition claims that there is enough public money available for modifications needed.

     How soon the protests generated by these and other blows against the Mexican people can combine into a massive national movement of repudiation of Calderon's policies remains to be seen. Meanwhile, labour and social justice activists here in the United States are getting together to organize solidarity for the beleaguered Mexican workers and farmers.

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INSURGENCE RECORDS: WORKING CLASS CULTURE

By Stephen Von Sychowski

As the class struggle begins to sharpen internationally under the pressure of imperialist war and globalization, so too must the culture struggle, one of its key component parts. In the culture struggle we find many forms of expression, ranging from poetry and literature to film to music, including folk, hip hop and, of course, punk.

     And, despite the potential groans of a few of our beloved elder comrades, punk continues to be one of the primary artistic outlets for revolutionary youth. Yes, punk rock, a genre that continues to grow and diversify in form, also has within it a strong progressive and revolutionary trend growing and diversifying in its own right. This trend is struggling for its part in the contradictions within the punk scene, between its ideological camps and the class interests they objectively serve.

     There's an old saying that class consciousness is knowing what side of the fence you're on while class analysis is knowing who is there with you. That's why while other people are no doubt reading in the bourgeois press today about Britney Spears and other "artists" with empty brains and empty underpants drawers, you are reading in People's Voice about Insurgence Records.

     Insurgence Records is a punk rock record label based out of Toronto, with numerous bands from around North America and Europe, including Canadian bands Union Made, Fate 2 Hate, The Fallout, Final Four and The Prowlers.

     The interesting thing about Insurgence Records, however, is that they are a specifically anti-racist, anti-fascist and class conscious label composed of groups that Randy Smith of their promotions department describes as "politically and socially conscious bands ...good music and good lyrics that follow in the tradition of protest music going all the way back to Woody Guthrie and The Almanac Singers, etc."

     It doesn't take long to figure this out after one look at their website. Insurgence's logo is taken from a Spanish Civil War poster which shows a Republican soldier smashing a fascist. The explanation of their logo includes a link the website of the Abraham-Lincoln Brigades. Some of the bands are connected to R.A.S.H. (Red and Anarchist Skin Heads).

     Insurgence has also released a series of albums titled "Class Pride Worldwide" which feature anti-racist, anti-fascist groups from around the world. The third instalment of this series was recently released under the slogan "15 Countries. 22 Bands. 1 Voice". It includes tracks from Montreal's Union Made as well as two other Canadian bands, Esclaves Salaries and Borderguards.

      Insurgence is strongly recommended for anyone interested in left-wing political rock, punk, hardcore or Skinhead music. Check it out even if you don't think this is you, you might be surprised. To get a sampling of what Insurgence Records is all about, download their label sampler "Project Boneyard", released in 2004 in response to "Project Schoolyard," a sampler released by fascist scum Panzerfaust Records, which sought to target youth as recruits for the white-power movement. "Project Boneyard" is available in full for free download at http://www.insurgence.net.

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WHAT'S LEFT

VANCOUVER, BC

$10 Minimum Wage Now! - rally Sat., Feb. 16, 1 pm, Gordon Campbell’s constituency office, 3615 W. 4th Ave. Organized by Vancouver & District Labour Council Young Workers Committee, for info call Stephen, 778-231-4635, email vs.stephen@gmail.com.

Hunger March - 2 pm, Sun., Feb. 17, march from Victory Square (Hastings & Cambie) to soup kitchen at Olympic Clock (Art Gallery), organized by Anti-Poverty Committee.

The Security and Prosperity Partnership, public forum - 7 pm, Tue., Feb. 19, Heritage Hall, 3102 Main St., speakers include MP Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster), political commentator Murray Dobbin, and others. Co-hosted by Van East MP Libby Davies, call 604-775-5800 for details.

Indoor Yard Sale, furniture, household items, homemade foods - 12 noon, Sunday, Feb. 24, at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave.

Celebrate the life of Bill Stewart - 1 pm, Sat., March 1, Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. For info, call BC Committee CPC, 604-254-9836.

Left Film Night, “Five Ring Circus”, documentary on the Vancouver 2010 Olympics - 7 pm, Sunday, Feb. 24, Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, call 604-255-2041 for details.

Anti-war rally, marking 5th anniversary of US/UK war against Iraq - organized by StopWar peace coalition, gather 12 noon, Sat., March 15, Vancouver Art Gallery, for info visit http://www.stopwar.ca.

WINNIPEG, MN

Winnipeg is our City, public meetings to discuss proposed cuts and privatizations by City Council.

Feb. 23, Melrose Pk CC 1-3 pm;
Feb. 25, Silver Hts CC 7-9 pm;
Feb. 27, Sinclair Pk CC 7-9 pm;
Feb. 27, River Osborne CC 7-9 pm;
Feb. 28, Northwood CC 7-9 pm;
Feb. 28, Orioles CC 7-9 pm;
March 1m Oxford Hts CC 1-3 pm;
March 3, Winakwa CC 7-9 pm.

Info Winnipeg Labour Council 942-0522

The Trial: The Untold Story of the Cuban Five - film showing Thurs., Feb. 28, 7 pm, free admission, Lockhart Hall (first floor), U of Winnipeg. Sponsored by Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity Committee, info 783-9380.

Young Communist League-UW campus club meets 1st & 4th Wednesday each month, 5:30 pm, U of W buffeteria (4th floor top of escalators). Next meetings Feb. 27, March 5. E-mail us at ycl_manitoba@ycl-ljc.ca

YCL movie nights on U of W campus - to get on the notice list for time, room, and films, just e-mail us at yclmovienight@hotmail.com.

EDMONTON, AB

Edmonton Young Communist League - meets regularly at Remedy Cafe, 8631-109 St., 5 pm on the second Friday each month. Discussion topics and suggested readings on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3559215104.

TORONTO, ON

People’s Voice Forum on Black Focused Schools - Thursday, Feb. 28, 7:30 pm, GCDO Hall, 290 Danforth Ave. (one block west of Chester Subway). Call 416-469-2446 for info.

Norman Bethune Day celebration - 7 pm, Sat., March 1, 290 Danforth Ave, media sponsor People’s Voice. Tickets $5, door prize one-week all-inclusive trip for two to Cuba. Info: 416-469-2446, or see story on page 2.

World Against War rally, troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq - Sat., March 15, 1 pm, location TBA, conctact Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, 416-795-5863.

For listings of March 15 anti-war actions - see www.acp-cpa.ca.

MONTREAL, QC

Vigil against occupation of Palestine - Fridays, noon to 1 pm, at Israeli Consulate, corner of Peel and Rene Levesque. For info: Palestinians And Jews United, 961-3928.

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People's Voice deadlines:
MARCH 1-15
Thursday, February 21
MARCH 16-31
Thursday, March 6
Send submissions to PV Editorial Office,
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net

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February 16-29, 2008 Volume 16 - Number 4 $1

The Spark!

New issue of Rebel Youth hits the street

February 16-29, 2008
Volume 16 - Number 4
$1