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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);
- “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.
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People's
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DECEMBER 1-31
Thursday, November 27
JANUARY 16-31
Thursday, January 8
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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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(Contents)
(Home)
1) LABOUR MUST BE THE CATALYST
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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.)
Despite the bland reassurances of the
Harper Tories, upheavals continued in financial markets, along with a
rising tide of layoffs in the USA, Canada and other countries, and
warnings that the capitalist world faces a prolonged economic crisis.
In this commentary, Sam Hammond, chair of the Central Trade Union
Commission of the Communist Party of Canada, analyses these
developments and looks at the way forward for the working class.
The Mulroney/Reagan/Thatcher
resurrection of a "de-regulated capital" - discredited in the 1930's
for its part in causing the suffering of the Great Depression - has
just imploded. Now it threatens to consume the accomplishments of
generations of working people into its cauldron of speculation and
super-profit. The rising dominance of uncontrolled speculation gone
wild, where hedge funds, private equity and mutual funds lever
takeovers and acquisitions of companies, has actually seriously eroded
the manufacturing base of real wealth.
Even though
excesses of greed
and corruption are rampant, they are the normal products of capitalism,
and should not obscure the inherent structural contradictions that
created them. The primary root problem is not speculation, but the very
nature of capital that created it at this level. If the market economy
is viewed as a permanent meeting place between buyers and sellers, it
is inevitable that the speculators would sooner or later make the
medium of exchange - money and bonds - into commodities that inflate or
depress the value of real wealth they are supposed to represent. Left
unchecked, an escalating series of financial crises will inevitably
bring more impoverishment, more unemployment, more under-employment,
more war, more disease and more environmental damage. This is the
historic legacy of capitalism escalating rapidly at its imperialist
stage.
The people
of the world are
living in the vortex of a whirlpool that is sucking up our pension
plans, our savings, our jobs, our sovereignty. The future of our
children, and even the sustainability of life on our planet, are
threatened. In short, all we have won through generations of stubborn
struggle is being stripped from us to replenish the coffers of
financial speculators who have become the dominant movers of unfettered
uncontrolled capital, disguised and peddled to us by their media as the
efficient free market economy. The speculators, even though they are
moored in nations, roam the world and violate borders with their
imposed trade agreements and neo-liberal agenda. To them, the real
production necessary to sustain life and social being is just a
transient financial opportunity from which to extract as much value as
possible, and then dispose of. Acquisition, consumption, disposal. The
result is a decline in wages, the destruction of the ability to
purchase, triggering more market decline, massive layoffs and more
market decline: depression.
Those who
used the state to
attack labour, drive down wages, sell off public property and deliver
to the speculators everything that can generate a profit, now use the
remaining wealth of the state to reward the perpetrators with an
exchange of our real wealth for their worthless paper. Trillions of
real dollars representing our real resources, our real work and
productivity, our pensions and services, are given to the bandits to
help them escape and then rob again.
The labour
movement finds itself
trying to deal with shifting coalitions of investors, who acquire
control only to create the illusion of "balance sheet" value through
cutting costs, reducing employment, outsourcing, concessionary
bargaining and betrayal of any morality. The present climate is
characterized by the actual destruction of the productive forces
(through NAFTA and de-industrialization), the corruption of real
material wealth, the decline in real wages and the disappearance of
domestic markets, leading to more downsizing and unemployment and the
inevitable bankruptcy of our infrastructure.
Even the
most determined and
militant unions are drawn towards an elusive treadmill, trying to
negotiate with phantoms who sit in the background and pull every string
but never come into the daylight. These financial speculators are free
of constraints, shielded behind layers of shadowy investors. They are
protected from legislated labour relations or contractual obligations
by the agreements negotiated with the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank, by our own compliant governments who sell us out.
We are not
"all in this
together." We are in it very separately. The interests of the majority
of the Canadian people and the interests of the Canadian capitalist
class are polarized in opposite directions and rapidly widening. The
differences within the working class - between those who gamble on
riding out the storm and those who favour organizing resistance - are
more and more becoming topics of debate, but this is our debate and
this is our class. This debate does not have to divide us, it can make
us stronger. In central labour conventions and union conventions can be
seen the sometimes contradictory tendencies of compliance and
resistance. This is understandable when working people search for
solutions and debate tactics, especially when many are under extreme
duress. But progressive steps are developing. The voluntary decision of
ten union leaders announced at the last CLC convention to cease
raiding, and the recent historic non-raiding pact between the CSN and
the QFL in Quebec, are symptoms of a desire for unity, for a common
front to the enemies of working people that lays the groundwork for
unified resistance. Already militant resolutions and statements are
flowing from Labour Councils and union head offices.
The
Communist Party calls upon
the most important section of the working people, the labour movement,
to react to the financial crisis which is just beginning. Labour, the
historic shield of the people, can be the catalyst of all the social
institutions that traditionally protect us and fight for us, that
represent the needs of our people. Labour has a long history of doing
this, but necessity demands swift action, because the dangers are as
real as they were in 1930, perhaps greater. Labour has the capacity,
the organization and the ability to seize this moment. To do this would
replenish labour, expand its ranks with the very best of our youth,
stop the decline in sector density, and capture the loyalty of the
majority of working people.
We call upon
all progressive
trade unionists to push for resolutions and actions to activate the
labour movement, to agitate for a rapid response to the attack of
finance, for reclamation of our sovereignty, and for public ownership
and control of our resources.
The
Communist Party is the party
of socialism; we have never forsaken our legacy. We are committed to
another, better world. We believe not only that a better world is
possible, but that the people have the strength and courage to make it
real, to make our country an important part of that struggle for this
goal. But it is not necessary for all of us to agree completely on
ideology and method. The road may be long and difficult, and there will
be ample time for dialogue along the way. The crucial need today is for
the labour movement and its allies to embark upon this road
immediately, moving from condemnation of those who created the present
crisis, into mass action to defend the interests of working people.
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2) INVEST IN JOBS AND
IMPROVE EI, URGES CLC
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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 Vancouver Bureau
The Canadian Labour Congress says
it's time the federal government took steps to ensure that job losses
in the manufacturing and forestry sectors aren't accelerated by the
recent worldwide economic slump.
The latest
Labour Force Survey
from Statistics Canada showed that the only significant new employment
in October was directly tied to hirings for the federal election. That
short-term blip offset losses in accommodation and food services, signs
that the ongoing loss of full-time jobs, combined with bad news from
financial markets, are taking their toll.
The CLC
called on Nov. 6 for
investment in new infrastructure to create badly needed jobs and to
improve skills training for "the new, green economy of tomorrow." Both
the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Canada Mortgage and
Housing Corporation (CMHC) have raised similar ideas since the election.
CLC
President Ken Georgetti said
the federal government needs to fix the Employment Insurance program to
ensure that workers who lose their jobs can still feed their families
and pay their mortgages. This is especially urgent for Ontario, he
said, where jobs continue to be lost and where only half of people who
are unemployed are able to access their EI benefits. Georgetti also
called on the federal government to immediately protect pensions and
RRSP savings the same way bank deposits are protected.
Labour
Congress economist
Sylvain Schetagne noted that in October, 20,400 more Canadians joined
those who are looking for work but unable to find it, bringing to
1,139,700 the number of "official" unemployed. The country's
goods-producing sectors lost a total of 26,800 jobs in October, and
another 8,800 in the construction industry.
The trend
continued with the
Nov. 7 announcement by General Motors of 500 temporary job cuts at its
Oshawa car plant, on the heels of 470 layoffs at the Navistar truck
plant in Chatham, Ontario and another 500 job losses at the CAMI plant
(a joint venture between GM and Suzuki) in Ingersoll, Ontario.
Job losses
keep coming right
across Canada. NorSask Forest Products, for example, has just sent 62
termination notices effective Dec. 19 to its mill workers in the
northern Saskatchewan town of Meadow Lake. United Steelworkers (USW)
Local 1-184 President Paul Hallen said his members are left wondering
whether the "terminations" are temporary or permanent. The notices say
"current economic conditions simply do not allow us to continue
operations at this time... Lumber prices will recover and at that time
Norsask will start up again and at that time we will contact you in the
hope that you can rejoin Norsask as an employee."
"Neither the
provincial nor
federal governments have shown any interest in finding meaningful
solutions to the on-going disintegration of one of our province's most
vital industries," Hallen said. "Governments have tossed up their hands
and turned their backs. Workers, communities and many Canadian forest
companies continue to pay the price."
The collapse
of zinc prices and
the global economic turmoil are cited by Breakwater Resources for its
decision to temporarily close the Myra Falls mine in Strathcona Park on
Vancouver Island. The mine employs about 300 workers. Zinc prices have
dropped 58 per cent since the beginning of the year, most of that
during October, despite production curtailments by companies attempting
to stabilize zinc prices. The Myra Falls workers are represented by the
Canadian Auto Workers.
After
posting a third-quarter
loss of $3.4 billion (US), Nortel Networks Corp. said it will cut 1,300
jobs in an effort to save cash during "an environment of shrinking
customer spending and greater competition."
Those job
cuts did not satisfy Kris Thompson, an analyst with National Bank
Financial, who called the layoffs "shallow."
"We are
disappointed with this
employee reduction program," he wrote in a research note reported by
the Globe and Mail. "We had modelled a reduction of 3,000 employees
based on an employee productivity analysis we had earlier conducted
against Nortel's peer group."
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3) TORONTO LABOUR RESPONDS TO
MANUFACTURING CRISIS
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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
Community, labour, social justice,
youth and environmental organizations across Toronto are coming
together under the banner of the newly formed "Good Jobs Coalition" in
response to the manufacturing jobs crisis.
According to
its website,
http://www.goodjobscoalition.ca,
the alliance was formed "to start a focused
dialogue on how to improve living and working conditions in Canada's
largest urban centre." The coalition is planning a conference with
keynote speakers from the US and Canada, as well as workshops on
precarious work, immigration policy and labour, public services, and
employment equity.
"For many
years, greater Toronto
earned a reputation as a place where most people could enjoy a
reasonable quality of life," the coalition's draft declaration says.
"However, opportunity and prosperity were never fully shared, and the
growth of inequality challenges us all," it adds noting that "The
market-oriented economic model of recent years is leaving many
behind... Despite the pressures of globalization, we know from real
experience that other ways are possible."
The
coalition is calling for
respect for the work done by everyone in our society; the ability to
have full-time, stable employment; the right for everyone to have a
living wage; the enforcement of legal employment standards; the need to
have work that is safe and healthy; the right to have a collective
voice at work through unionization; the recognition of diverse skills,
qualifications, learning and creativity; the provision of benefits for
medical, dental, vision and disability needs; the equitable access to
work, training and advancement; the opportunity to participate in a
greener economy; and the ability to retire with dignity.
The
conference will take place
from 9 am to 5 pm, Saturday, Nov. 22, at the Metro Convention Center
(255 Front Street, St. Patrick TTC).
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4) STUDENT ANTI-FEE
PROTESTS DRAW THOUSANDS
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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.)
Students across Ontario, Manitoba and
Saskatchewan sent a loud message against sky-rocketing tuition fees on
November 5, taking to the streets in thousands.
"Although most Canadians voted
against the Harper Conservatives, especially among youth and students,
the new government is poised to strike hard at social programmes like
post-secondary education, using the capitalist economic crisis as a
pretext," the Young Communist League warned in a statement, demanding
complete elimination of tuition fees and student debt, and a living
stipend for students. "Now's the time to say `education is a right, not
a privilege.'"
"Since [the
McGuinty Liberals]
took office, tuition fees in Ontario have gone from fourth place to
second highest in Canada," said Shelley Melanson, Chairperson of the
Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. "At a time when McGuinty is
announcing an economic downturn in Ontario, he is allowing tuition fee
increases to outpace inflation."
In Manitoba,
the Communist Party
condemned Canada's only social democratic NDP government for hiking
tuition. "The hikes are even more reprehensible because [Premier Gary]
Doer broke his election campaign promise to keep tuition frozen," they
said. This strategy will keep Manitoba "a low-wage racist backwater,"
where "Aboriginal peoples are being shut out of higher education by
tuition fees and racist policies such as the two per cent federal cap
on treaty First Nation education funding and the non-recognition of the
Métis as an Aboriginal people."
Recently, People's Voice spoke
with Jen Hassum, past chairperson of the Canadian Federation of
Students (Ontario), who helped build the November 5th rallies.
PV:
Were the actions successful?
Hassum:
Yes. The demonstrations had
really high energy, and it was great in Toronto, where we occupied an
intersection [at College and University streets] stopping traffic.
Outside of Toronto there were there were rallies in 13 cities - in
Ottawa, Sudbury, Thunder Bay,
Mississauga, Orillia, London, Guelph,
Sault Ste. Marie, Peterborough, Hamilton, Scarborough, Kingston and
Windsor. And it was done by members and non-members of the Federation.
London for example saw support from the undergraduates at Western, as
well as Fanshaw College.
PV:
Why was there such a good turn-out?
Hassum:
I think the turn-out reflects
the pressures students are feeling with tuition and ancillary fees
rising. We collected tens of thousands of signatures as well from
campuses, an unprecedented amount, and we had great organizers on the
ground. We collected over 60,000 signatures. So it's no surprise to see
high turnouts.
The Action
Assembly [a weekend
training meeting of over 400 student activists from across Ontario]
helped build for the day of action, creating a fighting movement that
will continue, I think. We are also now publishing a newspaper, Campus
Action, which is produced by a collective of students with some members
of the CFS Ontario executive and other students. We wanted to create a
paper that offered an alternative perspective, created for and by
students, and I think it is a good outreach tool.
PV:
Why mobilize now?
Hassum:
I think there are
good reasons. It is really a good time to be organized, tuition fees
are increasing as part of the provincial government's four-year plan
called "reaching higher" - and because the government is drafting a new
framework, which opens the door to proposals for real alternatives to
increases, including dropping fees.
PV: I heard the International Union
of Students issued a statement in support.
Hassum: Yes, it is actually better
than that, we called the action and there was also a province-wide day
of action in Manitoba, and they had an activist assembly also. I
understand that from this call-out there were student protests in
London England, France, Germany, and the Philippines - all took action
to fight what the IUS called the "corportization of education."
Here in
Ontario, we are fighting
fees, because we still have them here! But tuition fees are really user
fees for a public service. It forces students and their families to
finance education through institutionalized private, personal debt. We
see a retraction of public funding to education, making it less
accessible. So this is how the system is becoming "corprotized here,"
it is privatization really, from the ground up.
PV:
What's next?
Hassum:
This is a good question for
students. Especially because our first meeting of representatives with
the ministry did not go as well as we had hoped. We need to escalate
and pressure the government, creating forces no politicians can ignore.
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5) CONVENE A PEOPLE'S
CONFERENCE
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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.)
People's Voice
Editorial, Nov. 16-30, 2008
The initial responses of the labour
movement to the deepening economic and financial crisis are to be
welcomed. In recent weeks, the Canadian Labour Congress has forcefully
condemned the "age of deregulated neo-liberal global capitalism," and
called for measures to discourage financial speculation, restrict
capital flight, increase government revenues, create jobs, and invest
in social programs.
Heading into
the BC Federation
of Labour convention this month, the Vancouver and District Labour
Council called for more education of workers and the public on the
crisis, and to "fight any attempt to put the burden of this crisis onto
workers' shoulders."
A
combination of these and other
approaches is urgently necessary to raise the struggle for more
advanced reforms: a shorter work week, public ownership of the banks
and the energy sector, withdrawal from NAFTA, a $15 minimum wage, an
end to Canada's part in the dirty imperialist war in Afghanistan.
Just as
important, the labour
movement must swing into action. We urge the CLC to take the lead in
convening an emergency peoples' conference, bringing together
Aboriginal peoples, women, students, seniors, immigrants, social
justice movements and all other democratic forces to debate our united
response to the crisis and to fight the Harper government's neo-con
agenda. Such a powerful gathering would have the political and
organizational strength to mobilize millions for people's needs,
against corporate greed. As the old advertising jingle asked: why wait
for spring? Do it now!
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6) HISTORIC VICTORY AND
CHALLENGE
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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.)
People's Voice
Editorial, Nov. 16-30, 2008
The defeat of John McCain and the
election of Barack Obama, the first African-American US president, mark
both a truly historic victory, and the start of a monumental challenge.
Around the world, this outcome raises hopes of a shift away from the
imperialist wars and aggressions launched by the Bush regime.
The crucial
distinction between
McCain and Obama does not lie in their personal views, significant as
these may be. The main difference is in the forces behind each
candidate. McCain won the votes of many working people influenced by
right-wing ideology, but essentially he was the favourite of the
military-industrial complex, the energy industry, and the ultra-right,
anti-union, racist, homophobic, fundamentalist bigots who blight U.S.
politics. Obama had the support of sections of capital which reject the
dangerous warmongering of the Republican right, but built his victory
(and the shift in Congress) by forging a broad coalition of workers,
African Americans, Latinos, youth, women, and people's movements.
Millions of
Americans are now in
political motion, at a time when our planet faces enormous dangers. The
challenge is to keep this wheel turning, to mobilize the power of the
U.S. working class and their allies for fundamentally different
policies: peace instead of war, action on climate change, defense of
working people, not bailouts for billionaires. Winning real change will
require a hard struggle, as the President-elect hinted on election
night, but that is no reason to despair at setbacks.
For
Canadians, this historic
election also offers openings and problems. Obama wants to re-open
NAFTA, for example, which gives pro-sovereignty forces a new chance to
demand abrogation of this corporate job-killer deal. Obama opposed the
tragic invasion of Iraq, yet he also wants to increase NATO troop
deployments in Afghanistan. The task of the anti-war movement, in
Canada as elsewhere, will be to demand negotiations leading to the
swift withdrawal of all occupation forces. There will be many twists
and turns ahead, but the terrain of struggle has improved. This is not
a time to wait and see; it's a time to step up our efforts!
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7) VANCOUVER CIVIC CAMPAIGN A FIGHT TO THE
FINISH
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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
Many voters in Vancouver are going to
the polls for the third time in one month: the federal election, two
provincial byelections which resulted in NDP victories on Oct. 29, and
the Nov. 15 civic elections which take place across British Columbia.
Combine this with the heavily-covered US presidential race, and many
people here feel "electioned out."
But the
Vancouver race was
heating up as this issue of People's
Voice went to the printer before
voting day. The latest controversy revolves around a $100 million loan
to the company constructing the Olympic athlete's village in southeast
False Creek, which will be turned into market condos and a small social
housing component after the 2010 Winter Games.
The city
authorised the loan
from its reserves, during a secret in-camera meeting. Apparently under
heavy pressure, councillors voted unanimously to approve the loan,
which city staff claims is guaranteed to be covered. But the decline in
Vancouver housing sales and real estate values, linked to the
world-wide financial crisis, have led many observers to question the
decision.
Given the
long history of
Olympic cost over-runs, there was great scepticism when the deal was
reported. For example, spending on security for the 2010 Games has
skyrocketed from the original estimate of $175 million - widely seen as
off the mark from the beginning - to the $1 billion range.
There is
also considerable
dismay that huge chunks of city resources are being invested without
informing the shareholders - the citizens of Vancouver. Most of the
anger has been directed at the governing NPA, and its de facto leader,
mayoralty candidate Peter Ladner, who for some mysterious reason seems
to be the only outgoing council member with full access to details of
the decision. It remains to be seen whether the uproar will hurt the
NPA's re-election chances on Nov. 15, but early indications are that
the episode has reinforced the pro-business party's image as opposed to
public scrutiny of the city's affairs.
Transportation and housing
remained the big campaign issues as the vote drew near. Vision
Vancouver mayoralty candidate Gregor Robertson has hammered at the
NPA's poor record on the homelessness crisis, and its refusal to work
for creative solutions to the woeful state of public transit.
Meanwhile,
the Coalition of
Progressive Electors, the left-labour party in Vancouver politics,
found a dramatic way to publicize one of its key transit policies. COPE
rented a double-decker tour bus during the final week of the campaign,
hiring unionized bus drivers to take the vehicle on a circular route
around the downtown core. Passengers got free rides, bringing attention
to COPE's campaign for a no-fare downtown bus loop to help ease the
area's traffic problems.
The NPA is
also facing trouble
at the school board level, where its weak stable of candidates has
floundered at public forums, unable to provide any coherent platform or
even to understand some questions from the audience. The NPA skipped
the final school board all-candidate meeting completely on Nov. 6,
leaving the field to the COPE and Vision team of candidates.
See our next
issue for a round-up of the municipal results.
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8) STREET CAMS: A STEP
TOWARDS POLICE STATE
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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 Stephen Von
Sychowski
On Oct. 26, the B.C. Provincial
government announced a startling new plan to install video surveillance
cameras on streets in "high crime" areas of Vancouver and Surrey.
Costing $1 million in taxpayer dollars, the plan will constitute a
violation of privacy rights unprecedented in the history of the two
cities. While Attorney General Wally Oppal admits that "people will be
concerned with some of the issues around privacy rights," he claims
that "it cannot be contradicted that the surveillance aspect of these
cameras enhances police efforts."
But it can
be contradicted, and
has been. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association, for example, condemned
a similar project in Kelowna's Cary Park. They note that a street cam
program has been an utter failure in the United Kingdom, where the top
police officer has referred to it as "a fiasco that doesn't deter
crime, doesn't help solve crime, and yet, costs a billion pounds."
The
Association was quick to
criticize this new plan for the BC Lower Mainland, suggesting that
instead of reducing crime it will simply displace crime as it moves to
the next street to avoid cameras. If the cameras follow, crime will
move again. The final result is no more privacy and still no safety
from crime.
While the
experience of other
cities shows that this new spy program won't work, there is an even
bigger reason to oppose it. It destroys a fundamental right of all
citizens to privacy. It gives unprecedented spying powers to police
forces who have historically been a force of violence and oppression
and who, as an arm of the capitalist state, serve ruling class
interests against the working class and the people. It allows the boys
(and girls) in blue one more chance to abuse their authority by
watching over any given person at any time doing anything in any public
place.
During the
Nov. 15 civic
elections, this should have been an important issue, but it has barely
been mentioned. Vancouver's outgoing NPA mayor Sam Sullivan has stated
that only communities who want the cameras will get them. The only
problem is that the form of "consultation" mentioned by Sullivan is to
"go to community policing centres for suggestions and consultation,"
which hardly constitutes real public consultation. Vision Vancouver
candidate Gregor Robertson similarly stated that he believes only
communities who want cameras should get them; a statement which is
disappointing but not surprising considering Vision's agreement with
the NPA on increasing the size of the police force.
Besides, the
provincial
government has already stated the cameras will be installed in high
crime neighbourhoods. In other words, they have all but made the
decision already, regardless of the reassurances of local politicians.
Public
consultation under
capitalism is notoriously a joke, as any activist who has fought on any
issue from public transit to Olympics to peace or healthcare will know.
Under the caring-sounding veneer, the people of Vancouver and Surrey
are being told that their rights to privacy will be taken away, but not
to worry because they will first be "consulted" through their community
policing office.
This new
program fits in with
the overall slide towards fascist style police state policies, and the
gradual curtailment of rights and freedoms in all the imperialist
countries since September 11, 2001. It can also be seen as part of the
development of "police state 2010" in preparation for the upcoming
Winter Olympics. This new system will no doubt be used in part as a
tool for the oppression of the homeless population who must be "cleaned
up" before the Olympics. Not to mention for the suppression of dissent
while securing "our 2010 legacy" in the form of corporate
super-profits. In the long term it could be used against workers' and
students' struggles, the peace movement and others fighting for a
better world.
Some will
support the cameras
and buy into the heroic and virtuous sounding "crime fighting"
rhetoric. But life is not a comic book and things are not black and
white. Crime is an inherent byproduct of the capitalist system and the
despicable conditions of existence it forces upon so many: poverty,
desperation, addiction, ignorance and so on. Most "visible" crime is
worker-on-worker, or committed by members of the lumpen-proletariat
against more (relatively) well-off workers. We are left shamefully
victimizing and blaming each other while the real criminals are off
scot free.
But rather
than running scared
and giving in to each demand by the ruling class to allow them to
rescind our rights and freedoms in exchange for a bit more phony
security, we should take a stand together to fight for policies that
would really reduce crime. That means housing, jobs, education, and
real help for those suffering from the disease of addiction. It means a
living wage and a guaranteed annual income. It means building a culture
of solidarity and collectivity, not charity and individualism. They
aren't going to hand us this on a silver platter. We have to organize
to take it - and if we can catch them off-camera, maybe the platter too!
In the
meantime, an alternative
to street cameras might be suggested. Since our governments and the
corporations behind them like cameras so much, let's install them in
all of their offices. That way we can all get together and keep an eye
on the real crooks for a change.
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9) WINNIPEG RALLY
SLAMS NDP FEE HIKES
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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.)
About 1,000 students rallied at the
provincial legislature in Winnipeg on Nov. 5 to protest the Manitoba
NDP government's tuition hikes. The rally was part of the campaign by
the Canadian Federation of Students to drop tuition fees and improve
access for Aboriginal youth.
The protest
plans had included a
sit-in at the Legislature, which is normally open around the clock to
the public. But on this occasion, the sit-in was banned, most of the
students were kept out, and 40 students were detained for hours without
having done anything illegal.
A statement
circulated to by
rally by the Manitoba Committees of the Communist Party of Canada and
the Young Communist League said in part that the "rallies and protests
across Manitoba are a severe indictment of Premier Gary Doer's tuition
hikes (which) are even more reprehensible because Doer broke his
election campaign promise to keep tuition frozen.
"Ignoring
the plight of working
class youth and students, Doer is bowing down to the wishes of
Manitoba's wealthy corporate bosses. These people want to keep
education as an elite institution for transferring privilege and wealth
from one generation to the next, for molding a new corporate/management
elite...
"It is
shameful that Canada's
only social democratic NDP government is hiking tuition! Hiking tuition
is a strategy that will prolong the agony of the economic crisis, by
forcing working class youth to leave higher education and fight for a
job in the growing pool of unemployed.
"It is a
strategy that will that
will keep Manitoba a low-wage racist backwater, where working class
youth are far less likely to obtain a higher education than the
Canadian average, where Aboriginal peoples are being shut out of higher
education by tuition fees and racist policies such as the two per cent
federal cap on treaty First Nation education funding and the
non-recognition of the Métis as an Aboriginal people.
"It is a
strategy that will
de-industrialize Manitoba, gutting access to good paying jobs because
without a highly trained and educated workforce these jobs will go
elsewhere!
"It is a
strategy that will deepen global warming and environmental crises,
because a green economy needs educated workers!
"The NDP is
promising to raise
tuition fees exactly like Manitoba's Progressive Conservative party -
by four to five per cent. There is not a whiff of socialism in the
Manitoba NDP's tuition policy.
"Doer is
dealing a serious blow
against the large majority of young people in Manitoba who will have to
work even more part time jobs and longer hours while attending school,
or be completely shut out of higher education. The tuition hike is
another example of the Manitoba NDP betraying and alienating its
supporters.
"In policy
after policy the Doer
government is following the wishes of the corporate bosses - on
Afghanistan, on cutting corporate taxes, on privatizing health care
jobs, and now on education. The Manitoba Chamber of Commerce has a
better policy than the Manitoba NDP on increasing social assistance
benefits.
"This is a
guaranteed strategy
to lose the next election and hand power to the next largest party, the
Manitoba Tories who are even more openly voicing the interests of big
business.
"There is a
way out of this
mess. Students need to unite with their allies outside of the
Legislature, with the organized labour movement and with groups
representing Aboriginal peoples, women and everyone who is being harmed
by the Manitoba NDP's policies. Such a united movement in Manitoba is
needed to pressure the NDP and all parties in the Legislature to adopt
"people's alternative" policies, policies that would curb the corporate
bosses.
"More than
unity is needed, and
the November 5 day of action points the way. Action is needed on a
whole range of issues to block the corporate agenda. These include
defeating the federal minority Harper government, fighting for the full
national rights of Aboriginal peoples and Quebec, ending the occupation
of Afghanistan, improving access to more good paying jobs, fighting
racism, ending poverty, greening the economy, and expanding medicare.
With unity
and action, the
tuition hikes can be stopped. The defensive struggles we are fighting
today must be built up to a point where cuts can be reversed, where
real advances can be made again. It is time to broaden the fightback,
to unite the student movement with all groups suffering from tuition
hikes, caps, cuts, privatizations, and rollbacks...."
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10) B.C. LABOUR MEETS NOV.
24-28
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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.)
From the BC Labour
Committee, Communist Party of Canada
Greetings to our sisters and brothers
attending this convention of the BC Federation of Labour. We wish you
all a very productive convention.
Delegates to
the BC Fed meet at
a time in the history of our province and country that may well
determine the fate of the Canadian working class for many years to
come. The current economic crisis, and the panicked scrambling of
governments to bail out the wealthy corporate elite at the expense of
the working people of the country, is setting the stage for massive
class struggle not seen since the "Dirty Thirties" and the post-war
strike upsurge.
Make no
mistake - there will be
very little suffering experienced by the corporate fat cats sitting
safely in their Bay Street and Howe Street towers. They fully intend on
"solving" this crisis on the backs of the workers as they did during
the Depression, with horrific human and social costs. Even before this
crisis broke out, resource-based communities across British Columbia
have suffered devastating layoffs, and public sector workers have faced
constant attacks from the Campbell government.
However,
this time around the
workers of our country are much better organized than at the beginning
of the Depression. We have stronger networks and greater resources,
which could be utilized to demand that the those whose policies
worsened the crisis in the first place are made to bear the full cost.
The labour movement of BC and Canada have a responsibility to defend
the economic security of all workers. Labour must be prepared work
together with other people's organizations in solidarity to defend
wages, social programs and jobs, all of which will be targets as the
crisis deepens.
One
important element of this
struggle will be the fight to defeat the pro-employer Campbell Liberals
at the polls on May 12, 2009. But the fightback cannot be restricted to
the electoral front alone.
The
Vancouver and District
Labour Council deserves applause for adopting a resolution at their
October meeting calling for a campaign to educate workers and others
about the true causes of the crisis, and to struggle in solidarity with
sister and brother trade unionists whose organizations are hit by
corporate inspired attacks on wages and jobs. The final point in the
VDLC resolution calls for working in solidarity with others to fight
back and organize resistance.
We believe
that this convention
would be well served to debate and adopt a similar resolution in this
emergency situation. The Communist Party pledges its support and active
participation in such a campaign.
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11) CANADIAN PEACE
CONGRESS LAUNCHES ANTI-NATO CAMPAIGN
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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 Darrell Rankin
The Canadian Peace Congress
convention, held Oct. 25 in Winnipeg, marked another strengthening of
the anti-imperialist peace movement in Canada. Delegates approved a
well-prepared resolution assessing the world situation and the tasks
before the peace movement.
Although he
was unable to
attend, Dr. John Hanly Morgan, the past and current honourary president
of the Peace Congress, sent warm greetings to the delegates. "You are
to be commended for the efforts... in making this historic meeting
possible and for coming together at this time of world economic crisis
and burgeoning militarism. The World Peace Council and the Canadian
Peace Congress should be at the forefront of opposition. The great need
is for unity of action among the world peace forces."
The Canadian
Peace Congress is a
member of the World Peace Council, the largest peace organization
consisting of 120 organizations from 81 countries and five continents.
The WPC was established as an anti-imperialist movement in 1949,
playing an important role for many decades in ending colonialism and
opposing the arms race. It has been growing rapidly again in recent
years.
Delegates
also launched a
campaign for Canada to withdraw from NATO and organized hosting the
second trilateral meeting of the peace movements of North America. It
will be held in Toronto, Oct. 2-4, 2009. They also elected a new
executive, approved a new constitution, and elected delegates and
ratified a resolution on military spending for the Canadian Peace
Alliance convention in December (the Congress is a founding member of
the CPA). Quite a bit of work in one day!
The new
president of the
Canadian Peace Congress is David McKee of the Toronto Association for
Peace and Solidarity. Cheryl-Anne Carr, Manitoba Peace Council, was
elected as the Aboriginal representative on the executive. The
executive will also consist of members elected by local Peace Councils.
Since the
2005 Edmonton
convention, when Regina and Edmonton had Peace Councils, three new
Councils have been established or renewed, in Toronto, Fraser Valley
and Manitoba. These local Councils are the Congress' basic
organization. Other groups are eligible to join.
The further
strengthening of the
Canadian Peace Congress will help build support for the WPC, the most
active and dedicated anti-imperialist global movement for peace,
helping unite the peace movements in imperialist countries and the
neo-colonial and socialist countries where the vast majority of
humanity lives.
The
convention and campaign
documents will be posted soon at http://www.canadianpeacecongress.ca
or write
for a copy to: Canadian Peace Congress, Box 168, Slocan BC, V0G 2C0.
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12) ASSAM BLASTS KILL 350,
INJURE THOUSANDS
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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 B. Prasant, PV
correspondent in India
The stench of violent death hung
heavy on October 31 over the busiest part of Guwahati, the bustling
state capital and commercial hub of the eastern Indian province of
Assam as we entered the sprawling urban centre. Bodies lay everywhere.
Blood was splattered on the walls that had happily advertised visual
entertainment and sports events.
Above all,
there was a constant,
unbearably deafening silence, only punctured very, very occasionally by
the barely audible cry or the muffled despairing wail for help
emanating out of the chapped and dry lips of the dying and the injured.
The police
came first. Then
there appeared the army officers. Then materialized, too late, too few,
the para-medical staff in a smattering of siren-silent ambulances. The
sound of stretchers being unfolded was not heard. There were no
stretchers. People - living, dead, no matter - were just lifted by
their hands and arms. Their heads hung and lolled in an eerie fashion
as they were lobbed inside the floor of the vehicles, landing with a
sickeningly audible thud.
The injured
men, women, boys and
girls whimpered in rending piteous tones. The scene was enough to bring
tears welling up in my eyes, battle-hardened in such killing fields as
Kampuchea, sub-Saharan Africa, especially Sierra Leone, and more
recently Abkhazia and south Ossetia.
The communal
divide is now
edging towards a dangerous bent as tribal-nontribal conflicts sweep
Assam. Before going off, the bombs had remained casually heaped in a
canvas tote bag on a motorcycle for more than two days. The local
meatshop owner, Mohammad Gafur, a Muslim, told us in a voice trembling
with raw fear that his complaints about the anonymous bag to the
traffic constable nearby directing vehicles went unheeded. The
policeman, a tribal, had laughed derisively and shoved him away: "mad
old Muslim so-and-so, mind your own such-and-such business, you
bloodsucker."
The bombs
burst with a deafening
roar - a combination of RDX and dynamite. Among those killed was the
old man's seven-year-old great-grand-daughter, looking after the shop
while Gafur went to the nearby Masjid to do his afternoon namaaz. Not a
single part of her could be found. Gafur still searches the area every
afternoon for the colourful faux glass bangles she wore when the
shrapnel tore into her little body.
"The
extremists have done it
again!" "Down with Muslim extremism!" "A New terrorist Muslim group has
claimed responsibility for the blasts!" scream the corporate newspaper
headlines. The TV channels follow suit, all supporting in various
degrees the Hindu fundamentalists. Parliamentary elections are just
around the bend, in January, you must understand, and the Congress
party is getting weaker around the knobbly political knees every month,
perhaps every week.
Has anybody
questioned the role
of the Indian intelligence service in the din of blaming Pakistan? We
are not absolving any "foreign hand" - after all, "baby" Bush is still
a lame-duck President.
US
imperialism and its lackeys
want a fragmented India. It is the smallness of the easily-swamped
market that they want anywhere. Look at what happened in Tibet, and
what is being done to Russia, Turkey, and Iran. Iraq and Afghanistan
are beyond redemption, for the US is going to abandon them. "Bring the
boys home" remains a popular slogan, and they will do it, sooner rather
than later, unsuccessful in their original bid to extract oil from
these subjugated nations.
A fragmented
India, one must
historically understand, which would not dare to squirm under the
intense exploiting pressure of the criminals called the US ruling
classes, is good news for the transnational corporations. The weakening
US economy hopes to get a market here for its surplus stock of
out-of-fashion, out-of-the utility-loop goods and second rate services.
Funding,
training, and
motivating intensely fundamentalist groups - religious, regional, and
ethnically divisive - is a well-honed time-tested instrument. Guwahati
had to pay the price. We shall ask the same question again: what was
the US-trained Indian intelligence service doing? The answer, my
friend, is blowing in the wind.
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13) HERE A BASE, THERE A BASE.....
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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.)
From a presentation by
Chris Shelton
at the Vancouver teach-in on "Ninety Years After the War to End All
Wars," held Nov. 8-11 by the World Peace Forum Society.
Every empire must defend its empire.
At its peak in 117 CE the Roman Empire had 37 foreign military bases.
At its peak in 1898 the British Empire had 36 foreign military bases.
Today the American Empire has, according to the US Defense Department's
2007 Base Status Report, 761 "sites" which may include bases,
hospitals, schools, and depots. These bases occupy 46,566 square miles
of land.
NATO itself
has 30 military
bases, mostly in Europe but also one in Saudi Arabia and another in
Kuwait. There are other countries, like England, France, and Russia,
that have foreign military bases, but the USA has close to 75% of the
estimated foreign military bases in the world today. Given that the USA
has 5% of the world's population and spends 50% of the world's military
budget, then it is truly the American Empire.
These
numbers are estimates
because most military establishments do not release accurate statistics
on their bases. The other problem is that there is no standard
definition of what is a foreign military base.
The 2007
Base Status Report did
not include Iraq or Afghanistan. Iraq alone is estimated to contain 106
US bases. Camp Anaconda is north of Baghdad and occupies 25 square
kilometers and will ultimately house as many as 20,000 troops. It
requires nine internal bus routes for the resident soldiers and
civilian contractors. This mega-base is contrasted with the numerous
forward operation posts that are temporary bare bone bases.
The
definition of a US foreign
military base does not include 13 aircraft carriers and their related
carrier groups. A carrier will have between 5,000 to 6,000 military
staff on board, while their carrier group, with its phalanx of
destroyers, submarines and supply ships will have considerably more.
And what is
the embassy that the
US is building in the Green Zone of Baghdad? It will occupy 104 acres
of land (about the size of the Vatican), cost $750 million to build,
and $1.2 billion a year to operate. Its walls are bomb proof, it has
its own electrical and water systems. Such a fortress will have its own
garrison of military staff. Is this not a base?
Also not
listed are bases too
sensitive to discuss in countries like Israel, Kosovo or Jordan, or
bases too sensitive for "national security" like the CIA secret prisons.
The US
classifies its bases into
three broad categories. The largest are main operating bases or "Little
Americas" which possess family housing, community centres, health care
and other amenities. These resemble small fundamentalist towns in the
Bible Belt of the Midwest, in some case right down to the architecture.
The 100,000 women living on overseas bases, some in service, some as
spouses, and/or relatives of military personnel, are prohibited from
obtaining an abortion at a local military hospital. Some of these bases
have 18-hole golf courses or swimming pools for recreation.
The second
category is forward
operation posts, which are temporary positions at the edge of a
possible or actual conflict. They lack any family amenities.
The third
category are
Cooperative Security locations, or "lily pads", arsenals waiting for
troops to hop onto the base and pick up their gear to hop into a battle.
Any base
will create a local
economic impact merely from the costs to build, maintain and service
the facilities. However the political economy of the bases, the ethical
use of a society's resources in the most economically and
environmentally sustainable fashion, is the best measure of such
impacts. The latter argument allows us to ask what are the alternative
uses of these societal resources.
There are
many logistical
reasons for the military to want foreign military bases. They could
want to encircle their enemy, as the US attempted to do with its Manta
base in Ecuador. This would facilitate command, control, communication
and intelligence for spying in a pending conventional war or nuclear
war with Venezuela. The positioning bases in Iraq, Afghanistan and
Pakistan are to encircle Iran, while those in Central Asia are an
attempt to encircle Russia. Bases can be used to train US forces, to
serve US naval power, or to reinforce the status quo or to influence
the host nation's governments. Most often the strategic goals are the
main reasons for foreign military bases - to secure access to the
resources of the host nation, which in modern times are its oil and gas
resources.
The irony of
these reasons can
be found in the US Declaration of Independence. Thirteen of 15 English
colonies in North America declared their independence because the
British Empire imposed "standing armies" on the colonies during peace
time which committed unacceptable "abuses and usurpations." (The two
colonies that stayed loyal were Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, which
included what is today Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.)
What are the
"abuses and
usurpations" of the US military bases today? Dr. Joseph Gerson of the
American Friends Service Committee lists ten:
1. military bases increase the chance
of war and undermine security
2. bases increase the chance of
nuclear war
3. bases undermine the sovereignty of
host nations
4. bases undermine democracy and
human rights
5. bases are often built on seized
private and communal property
6. bases create a culture of violence
toward women and girls
7. off-duty troops commit great deal
of crime in host communities
8. bases cause environmental
contamination jeopardizing people's health
9. military accidents can kill,
impact communities and people's livelihoods, and permanently poison the
environment
10. military bases are expensive and
divert funding from addressing urgent human needs.
War is never
kind to the
environment. To this day in France and Belgium there exist special bomb
disposal units that go to farms to pick up unexploded World War I
ordinances. The USA mocks its own environmental laws and principles
even in peace time. The 2004 US defense authorization bill for $401.3
billion included the exemption of the military from abiding by the
Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
During WWII
the USA established
several military bases on Greenland, which evolved into surveillance
and missile detection bases during the cold war. In 1968 a B52 crashed
in a fjord near the Thule Air Base. Three of the four hydrogen bombs on
board were recovered; the fourth is still missing, information which
was not made public until 2000. As these bases were scaled back and
closed, fifty years accumulation of garbage and equipment remains. Two
abaondoned DEW line stations are sinking into the Greenland ice cap,
along with their PCBs, heavy metals, spilt fuel and other garbage.
Some of the
worst environmental
destruction is in Guam, which the UN classifies on its colonial states
list, and which the US occupied in 1898. Various US military bases
occupy one-third of the island, from Anderson Air Base in the north to
the Naval Magazine in the south. The pollutants expelled from these
bases has created 19 "Superfund" sites on the island which is only 48
km long and 541 square kilometers.
Some people
assume that both the
USA and the host country are equal partners, but this is never the
case, as the host is always the suppliant. For example, the liberation
forces of Cuba and the Philippines were nearing their objective of
ending Spanish rule when the US planted its flag, replacing the
colonial empire of Spain with the imperial empire of the USA. Both
countries signed treaties allowing the US to maintain military bases in
a master/suppliant relationship.
The process
in the past was for
the US to negotiate a treaty with the host country. Under the US
constitution Congress has the ability to hold hearings and pass laws to
implement a treaty. But a "Visiting Forces Agreement" or a Status
of
Forces Agreement (SOFA) can be used to bypass Congressional oversight.
For
instance, the Philippines
negotiated a second treaty which ended the military bases at Subic,
Clark and various minor support and communication facilities, and the
Filipino Senate voted to confirm the end. The US then tried something
new starting in 1998 with a Visiting Forces Agreement, signed by
Clinton, that allowed the US to re-enter the Philippines with troops,
ships and gear for military training, humanitarian and engineering
projects and the likes. After 2001 US activities increased
dramatically. In 2005 there were 24 exercises and 37 more in 2006.
These exercises, involving from a few dozen to as many as 5000 troops,
were described by former US Ambassador Francis Riccianrdone as a
"semi-continuous" presence.
A February
2008 Washington Post
article by Condoleeza Rice and Robert Gates puts the number of SOFAs at
"more than 115." According to the Pentagon's policy on negotiating a
SOFA, the objective is to protect "personnel who may be subject to
criminal trial by foreign courts and imprisonment in foreign prisons."
These
deployments allow the US
military to improve local infrastructure to meet their needs. For
example in General Santos City (Phillipines) the US constructed a deep
water port, and at Fort Magsaysay the local airport was renovated and
its runway strengthened to handle the weight of C130 planes. The US
Agency for International Development (USAID) also contributed by
building roads and ports that allow huge ships to berth.
"Cooperative
Security Locations"
need only a small corner of a host country's civilian airport.
Nicknamed "lily pads", these are minimally staffed stealth bases which
often contain caches of US weapons and equipment. US troops can "leap
frog" onto the cache and move out into nearby conflicts. There are lily
pads in Australia, Rumania, Mali, Algeria, Sierra Leone and more to
come. This is the process that is currently happening in Georgia.
On the front
page of the New
York Times, April 19, 2003, was the article "Pentagon Expects
Long-Term
Access to Four Key Bases in Iraq." Three days later Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld denied any goal for permanent or long term bases in
Iraq. Rumsfeld is history, but the building of bases continued. Under
discussion now are about 50 permanent bases which the Iraqi people
totally reject. The US is caught between their UN mandate ending on
Jan. 1, 2009, and their lack of treaty bases or SOFA bases. The USA has
announced that it will shut down military and other vital services
throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government does not
accept the suppliant role and provide SOFA bases.
In the
middle of the Indian
Ocean are the Chagos Islands which are British possessions. In 1966 the
British and Americans signed an agreement without any oversight by
Congress. Among the terms is that the US will maintain a base on the
largest atoll known as Diego Garcia for 50 to 70 years. Between 1968
and 1973 the British complied with another term of the agreement and
expelled the last of the 500 Chagossians. They are not even allowed to
work on the bases as civilian employees. The Chagossians were refused
the right for redress in the US courts, but finally got their case
heard by the British Law Lords in October 2008. Even though the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibits the exile of an
individual or a group (Article 9) the Chagossians are still without a
home.
The current
economic crisis is
marked by the collapse of the financial markets, the lack of demand,
and the over-capacity to produce goods and services. It is estimated by
the Center for Economic and Policy Research that the housing bubble is
destroying $8 trillion in wealth and the stock market bubble may
destroy $5 trillion in the US alone. The new political regime in the
USA is faced with next year's defense budget of $611 billion. Pentagon
officials estimate that it will increase by $450 billion over the next
five years. Is this the opening that the peace movement needs to shift
priorities of the USA and the world?
By
developing critical analyses,
presentations and publications, we are putting the spotlight on the
problem in order to alert, educate, and inspire the general public to
become involved. The next step is to mobilize. We could start right
here by reframing the statements of the power elite. It is not
democracy that the USA is defending, but it is the empire that the US
is building and protecting. It is not the War in Iraq but the
Occupation of Iraq. By reframing the argument we start the process of
change.
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14) COMMUNIST
& WORKERS' PARTIES TO MEET IN SAO PAULO
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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.)
Expanding on their tradition of
proletarian internationalism, some 80 Communist and Workers' Parties
will gather Nov. 21-23 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for their tenth annual
meeting since the late 1990s. The meetings were initially hosted by the
Greek Communist Party in Athens, before moving to Portugal and then to
Belorussia last year.
The
Communist Party of Canada
will be represented in Sao Paulo by Kimball Cariou, editor of People's
Voice and a member of the party's Central Executive Committee.
The Sao
Paulo meeting was called
by a Working Group which includes the Workers Party of Belgium,
Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), Communist Party of Bohemia and
Moravia, Communist Party of Cuba, Communist Party of Greece, Communist
Party of India (Marxist), Workers Party (Ireland), Party of the Italian
Communists, Lebanese Communist Party, People's Party of Panama,
Portuguese Communist Party, Communist Party of the Russian Federation,
South African Communist Party, Communist Party of Spain, Communist
Party of the Peoples of Spain, Syrian Communist Party, and Communist
Party of Ukraine.
A statement
from the Working
Group says that this year's topic will be: "New phenomena in the
international framework. Worsening national, social, environmental and
interimperialist contradictions and problems. The struggle for peace,
democracy, sovereignty, progress and socialism and unity of action of
Communist and Workers' Parties."
The Sao
Paulo meeting is the
first of these conferences to be held in Latin America, which has
become the scene of growing revolutionary upsurges in recent years.
Just as significant, it will be the first international communist
meeting held since the latest financial crisis began to rock the global
capitalist system to its very core.
During the
Working Group's
meeting earlier this year, particular attention was given to the
growing instability of the capitalism system, which results in sharper
exploitation of workers. The Working Group also discussed the
increasingly militarist aspect of imperialism's offensive, its intense
ideological campaign against socialism, and the attack on fundamental
rights and freedoms.
All these
topics will be on the
agenda when the parties meet in Sao Paulo. They will be hosted by the
PCdoB, which earned deep respect for its struggle against the brutal
military dictatorship which seized power in Brazil in 1964. The PCdoB
was one of the original forces in the broad coalition which eventually
won the election of Workers' Party candidate Lula da Silva as President
in 2002. In the 2006 elections, the Brazilian Communists elected 13
candidates to the 513-member Chamber of Deputies and one to the Senate.
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15)
WHAT'S
LEFT
(The
following
article is from the November 16-30, 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.)
VANCOUVER,
BC
Bruce -
The Musical, by Bob Sarti, the story of community organizer and city
councillor Bruce Ericksen -
through Nov. 6 at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave., tickets at
Theatre in the Raw box office (604-708-5448), or at the door but arrive
early! $15 general admission, $10 students/seniors, and $5
under/unemployed.
Memory
of the Cactus, Vancouver debut of film on Israel’s “Canada Park” -
Friday, Nov. 21, 7:30 pm, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings,
admission by donation, sponsored by Canada Palestine Association, http://www.cpavancouver.org.
Guest speaker: Dr. Ismail Zayid, 1948 El Nakba survivor and displaced
resident of Beit Nouba, one of the villages destroyed to create “Canada
Park.”
Left
Film Night -
Sunday, Nov. 30, 7 pm, at CSE, 706 Clark Drive, “PERSEPOLIS,” based on
the graphic novel of a young girl growing up in post-1979 Iran. For
info, call 604-255-2041.
Quinteto
Tiempo in Concert, with guests Trio Los Gomez and Son Rebelde -
Friday, Dec. 5, 7:30 pm, Peretz Centre, 6184 Ash St., fundraister for
Cuban relief and the communities of Bajo Lempa in El Salvador.
Presented by Mangle Association of BC and Vancouver & District
Labour Council Arts & Culture Ctee., tickets $30 from People’s
Co-op Books, 1391 Commercial.
Report
from Brazil - Sunday, Dec. 7, 1 pm, People’s Voice
editor Kimball Cariou reports from the Nov. 21--23 international
meeting of Communist & Workers’ Parties in Sao Paulo, call
604-255-2041 for info.
Open
House, at the Centre for Socialist Education - 706 Clark Drive,
Sunday, Dec. 7, 2:30-5 pm. Music, refreshments, door prizes, call
604-254-9836 for details.
EDMONTON, AB
Project Ploughshares award night -
7:30 pm, Tue., Nov. 18, City Hall Heritage Room, presentation of the
2008 Salvos Prelorentzos Peace Award to the Arab/Jewish Women’s Peace
Coalition, for further information see http://www.ploughsharesedmonton.org.
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.
TORONTO,
ON
Good
Jobs Coalition, conference on the manufacturing jobs crisis -
Sat., Nov. 22, 9 am-5 pm, Metro Convention Center (255 Front Street, St
Patrick TTC). For info, see story on page 2, or visit
goodjobscoalition.ca.
Celebrate
50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution -
New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 7:30 pm, live music with Pablo Terry and Sol
de Cuba, dinner, dance, midnight wine toast to the independence of
Cuba, AUUC Cultural Centre, 1604 Bloor St. West. Tickets $45 in
advance, $50 door, ph. Sharon 905-951-8499 or Brien 416-762-5745.
Sponsored by Canadian Cuban Friendship Association Toronto, http://www.ccfatoronto.ca.
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