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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 Voice deadlines:
OCTOBER 1-15
Thursday, September 18
OCTOBER 16-31
Thursday, October 2
Send submissions to PV Editorial Office,
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net
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People's Voice finds many "Global Class Struggle" reports at the "Labour Start" website, http://www.labourstart.org. We urge our readers to check it out!
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1) THE MOST CRITICAL VOTE? - Editorial
(The following article is from the September 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.)
Those of us on the Left occasionally poke fun at our tendency to call each federal election "the most important in memory." In reality, while each electoral struggle is important, it often takes years or decades to grasp which campaigns truly marked crucial turning points. The 1935 defeat of R.B. Bennett's Conservatives comes to mind, or the 1988 "free trade election," which saw the Mulroney Tories win a majority even though most voters opposed their sellout of Canadian sovereignty.
The October 14 election may be one such historic campaign, because the stakes have rarely been so high, and the time to tackle humanity's problems is so limited. It's no exaggeration to warn that giving the Harper Tories a majority could quickly take Canada too far down the wrong road to turn back.
Consider some key issues. The full integration of Canada's military into the U.S. war machine has begun, even though nearly two-thirds of Canadians agree that the blood price for the military occupation of Afghanistan has been too high, and even more think a U.S.-led war against Iran would be a catastrophe. Or take the crisis of climate change. Despite overwhelming scientific proof that human economic activities are a key factor in global warming, the Harper Tories stubbornly insist that "what's good for Big Oil is good for the country." The Conservatives scrapped the first steps towards a national child care program, and they refuse to defend the Canada Health Act.
On these and other important issues, the Conservatives are out of step with public opinion. Yet they could win a majority in Parliament with less than 40% of the popular vote. With such a tainted mandate, Harper could spend five years torching Canadian sovereignty, environmental action, and the social safety net. By 2012, Canada could be completely tied to an imperialist power whose most reactionary leaders are willing to destroy the planet to preserve their hegemony.
It doesn't have to be that way. The Tories have vast piles of cash, but their policies stink to the skies. They should be hammered ruthlessly at every opportunity. October 14 will not be the end of the process, but it sets the stage in the next round of struggles for peace, jobs, democracy, social justice, and defence of the environment. Let's get to work!
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2) VOTE FOR A NEW DIRECTION ON OCTOBER 14
(The following article is from the September 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.)
A message from Miguel Figueroa, leader of the Communist Party of Canada
The October 14 federal election will mark a crucial moment in our country's history. This is an opportunity to move Canada in a fundamentally new direction - to create jobs, rebuild our decimated industrial base, and improve living standards for working people; to extricate our country from a disastrous war of occupation in Afghanistan; to save our public health care and education systems from the curse of privatization; to stop and reverse the devastation of our national and global environment; and to prevent Canada's complete absorption into the empire to our south.
Is such a new direction possible? Yes, it is!
The first step is to defeat Harper and his Conservatives, and their pro-corporate, anti-people policies which they have already begun to impose with a vengeance over the past three years.
Harper and his band of neo-cons represent the most right-wing, pro-war, and pro-U.S. government in our history. They are in the pockets of the biggest transnational corporations, oil companies and banks who are amassing obscenely-high profits at the expense of working people and our environment.
The Tories have stood idly by while food and energy prices skyrocket, because that's in the interests of their friends in Big Business. They have sabotaged international efforts to reverse global climate change caused by fossil fuel emissions, because that's what the oil and gas monopolies want.
And they have driven our country further down the road of war and militarization to satisfy the Bush Administration in Washington and the military-industrial complex.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Imagine what's in store if the Conservatives succeed in their bid to gain a majority! That's why their defeat at the polls on October 14th is so crucial.
The Communist Party and its candidates will be campaigning for fundamental change, for real change that will place people's needs first, not the profit interests of the corporate elite.
We need policies to improve the living standards for workers - especially the poorest paid - by increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, by preventing plant shutdowns and runaways, and by reducing the working week to 32 hours without any loss in take-home pay.
We need to stop and reverse the creeping privatization of Medicare, public education, pensions and other vital social services.
We need to tax the windfall profits of the oil monopolies and use those billions upon billions to lower retail prices - especially for home heating. We must launch a massive investment program into renewable energy, to greatly expand urban and inter-city mass transit, and to safeguard our environment. And we need to nationalize the oil and gas industry in Canada as peoples in many other countries have done so successfully.
We need a new, independent foreign policy based on peace and cooperation, and respect for international law, not on war and militarization.
We invite you to find out more about our "people's alternative" for Canada by visiting our website, http://www.communist-party.ca, or by contacting our offices and candidates across the country.
The future of our country is at stake in this election! It's time to dump Harper and the Tories.
For the rights of workers and the unemployed, for women demanding full equality, for youth and students, Aboriginal peoples and national minorities, on October 14th, you can send a powerful message for real change by voting Communist.
Take Canada in a fundamentally new direction - put people before profit!
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3) LABOUR DAY 2008 MARKED IN THE STREETS
(The following article is from the September 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
Labour Day was marked on September 1 by protests and union rallies across Canada.
Hundreds of people marched in Grand Falls-Windsor for the Newfoundland town's 88th annual Labour Day celebrations. But the parade came as workers waited for news of mass layoffs at the local Abitibi-Bowater pulp mill.
Abitibi-Bowater released its restructuring plan to the union and to government officials in August, warning of as many as 160 layoffs.
Gary Healey, national representative for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, which represents the mill workers, was a keynote speaker at the parade. His message was that if Abitibi-Bowater "can't, or won't, or don't want to run our mill, we'll find someone else."
One float in the parade was a replica of the Abitibi-Bowater mill labelled with a "For Sale" sign. Another was designed with a doll, representing a child, with a sign asking if her generation would have to go to Alberta for work. The CEP's five union locals at the mill are holding meetings with members to vote on the proposal.
In Halifax, over 300 workers battled rain and winds to march around the Commons before gathering for a picnic and speeches. Keynote speaker Mary Clarke Walker, executive vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said the federal election would provide an opportunity to push for change.
"Women's wages are still much lower than men's," Walker told the media. "On average it's about 70.5 per cent. If you are university educated ... it's even lower than that."
At the other end of the country, hundreds of trade unionists rallied at the Vancouver Art Gallery to demand an increase in the BC minimum wage and to condemn the provincial Liberal government's huge salary increases to top bureaucrats. Speakers also blasted the government's new "carbon tax" which is deepening the economic hardships faced by working people, and the greed of the big energy monopolies. CEP national union president Dave Coles spoke to the crowd, drawing noisy support with a rousing call for public ownership of the big energy corporations.
Sudbury's annual Labour Day Parade was led by over sixty female bank workers, who have been on strike against the CIBC for eight months. Their strike symbolized the theme of the Sudbury rally - Equality Once and For All.
John Closs, president of the Sudbury and District Labour Council, told the media that the CIBC strike has "a lot of resonance" in Sudbury, as does the equality theme. The gender gap in the workplace is increasing, said Closs, and is larger in Sudbury than in many other communities because the high paying mining industry is largely staffed by men.
Years ago, mining jobs paid poorly and weren't considered good jobs, said Closs. The union movement changed that. "We are trying to make jobs in banking good jobs, too," he said.
"Mobilize to Organize" was the theme of this year's Labour Day parade in Toronto. The largest such event in the country drew thousands of trade unionists, marching from Queen Street West to the Dufferin Gates at the Canadian National Exhibition.
For the third year in a row, Labour for Palestine, a network of rank and file union activists promoting the campaign against Israeli Apartheid, marched in the Toronto parade. The float was part of a contingent from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (Ontario), whose 2006 historic "boycott, divestment and sanctions" resolution was followed this year by a similar Canadian Union of Postal Workers resolution. Three thousand leaflets urging trade unionists to get involved in the struggle against Israeli Apartheid were distributed.
Another Labour Day parade with a long historic tradition continued this year in Sarnia, where 2500 workers and 45 floats took part. Organized by the Sarnia and District Labour Council, the parade was first held in 1902.
Over six hundred workers took part in the second annual Niagara Labour March, rallying at Canadian Niagara Hotels at the base of Clifton Hill.
"This is Canadian Niagara Hotels, famous in Niagara Falls for mistreating its workers," said Alex Dagg, Canadian director of UNITE HERE Canada, which represents many of the hotel workers.
Two years ago, actor Danny Glover and some union members were charged with trespassing after entering one of the hotel lobbies and demanding to speak to an owner. Canadian Niagara has renovated the former Brock Hotel, now called the Crown Plaza, investing millions of dollars on that project, but little for its workers.
Sandra Rebrovich, president of UNITE HERE Local 2347 Niagara, said this year's march focused on the need to fight manufacturing sector job losses that devastated Niagara. The march also highlighted the need to raise workplace standards in the tourism industry.
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4) A "PEOPLE'S ENERGY PLAN FOR CANADA"
(The following article is from the September 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 Commentary
Gathering in Toronto over the August 23-24 weekend, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada held a wide-ranging debate on the energy industry. The meeting adopted a call to make energy nationalization the material basis for a radical overhaul of the Canadian economy, with the goal of dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and rebuilding the country's economic foundations. The "People's Energy Plan for Canada" will be a centrepiece of the Communist Party's federal election campaign.
The Energy Plan warns that "Our world - and our country - are entering a period of grave dangers, an era of potentially devastating climate changes, widespread hunger and chaos, all linked to the unchecked growth of fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and wars to control oil reserves. In response, the Communist Party of Canada proposes far-sighted and radical policy changes, requiring a courageous struggle to take urgent and decisive action."
Skyrocketing energy prices have impacted on Canadian industries and the living standards of working people. But "at the same time, there is growing awareness and concern about the harmful impact of reliance on fossil fuels on our domestic and global environment, particularly with respect to climate change, and about the deadly wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, waged largely to secure U.S. imperialist domination over energy resources. The outcome of this debate is central to the entire future of Canada and its sovereignty, and to the very future of our planet."
Throughout Canadian history, energy policy and development have been unplanned, driven by the anarchy of "market forces" and the interests of giant energy monopolies. The result has been massive profits for Big Oil. In the first half of 2008, the five biggest Canadian-based oil giants (Husky, Petro-Canada, Suncor, Encana and Nexen) raked in more than $12 billion. The global oil monopolies (ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and Total) report staggering profits. ExxonMobil alone made US$40.6 billion in profits in 2007 - about US$1,300 every second of the year!
Canadians are increasingly aware that reliance on the consumption of fossil fuels threatens the planet, and that pro-corporate governments are obstructing every effort to seriously reduce emission levels of greenhouse gases.
For all these reasons, the Plan states, "Canada today requires a comprehensive, integrated energy policy - one which ensures the security of energy supply to meet the needs of our people and promotes the overall economic and social development of our country, while protecting and enhancing our environment."
The cornerstone of such a policy must be the public ownership of energy, "from its primary production/extraction and refinement through to its distribution and sale. Any meaningful transformation of the energy `system' is impossible without wresting control from the private energy monopolies..."
Other policy options fall short, the document states, such as the carbon tax backed by Dion's Liberals and the "cap and trade" favoured by Layton's NDP.
The cap and trade concept allows "dirty" or heavily gas-emitting companies to "pollute and pay," and global monitoring of the "trades" is utterly inadequate. Meanwhile, carbon tax proposals place a disproportionately higher burden on low-wage and poor people than on the wealthy. At best, these concepts are of questionable promise; at worst, they divert attention from far more urgent measures. Both turn the environment into just another commodity, relying on market mechanisms to induce lower emissions, while leaving control in the hands of the same corporations which have degraded the environment in the first place.
Public ownership of energy, on the other hand, has been achieved in many countries, and offers the potential for radical restructuring of humanity's impact on the environment. A massive and complex struggle against the corporate interests will be needed to achieve such a fundamental reform, but it can be won.
Such a move will be a vital step towards restoration of the Canadian sovereignty sold out by Liberal and Conservative governments. Under the terms of the NAFTA agreement, for example, Canada is legally prohibited from restricting the rate of exports of petroleum and other energy to the U.S., even if our energy reserves fall short of future Canadian needs. Left in place, this NAFTA clause will drain Canada's energy to fuel the United States military-industrial complex.
Furthermore, Chapter 11 of NAFTA grants U.S. corporations legal rights to sue Canada if their profits are adversely affected by government policy. This makes it virtually impossible for any federal government, acting upon the democratic will of the people, to nationalize foreign corporate holdings in this country.
The follow-up to NAFTA, the "Security and Prosperity Partnership," calls for a continental energy and natural resources pact which would grant U.S. monopolies even greater guaranteed access by creating an integrated energy marketplace.
For this reason, the Communist Party says that Canada must give immediate notice of intent to withdraw from the NAFTA Treaty, and terminate participation in the SPP negotiations.
A central feature of the "People's Energy Plan" is its firm commitment to fundamentally transform the system of energy production and use, through dramatic overall reductions in greenhouse gas emission, air pollution, and radioactive waste. Such a transformation must include significant public investment in research and expansion of solar energy, wind power and other renewable forms of energy.
The Plan calls for massive investment in low-cost, publicly-subsidized mass transit systems; inter-city, high-speed rail service to reduce reliance on private automobile and air travel; strict enforcement of substantially higher emission-control standards on vehicles sold and used in Canada; and the establishment of a publicly-owned "Canadian car" industry using new, non-polluting technologies.
Other policies in the Plan include an end to coal-fired power generation; a permanent moratorium on new nuclear power generation stations, and the phased closure of existing nuclear facilities; termination of feedgrain-based bio-fuel production; cancellation of the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline, and curtailment of other "North-South" projects in favour of an East-West power grid to serve the energy needs of the entire country.
One critical issue in this debate is the impact of the tar sands projects, which are devastating northeastern Alberta. The Communist proposal calls for cancelling expansion of tar sands projects, and the phased reduction of current facilities as export licences expire and as Canadian domestic reliance on bitumen/refined oil gradually declines. The plan supports a moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration and operations.
The vast profits from public ownership of the oil and gas industry could fund massive programs to environmentally retro-fit small businesses and existing housing stock - especially low-income and public housing - and to set higher energy-conserving standards. Another proposal is for a Canada-wide program of mixed reforestation to replenish depleted forest stands, reduce soil erosion and enhance CO2 absorption.
The Communist Party stresses that "the absence of (an) integrated energy policy, together with other harmful corporate actions and governmental neglect, has contributed in large measure to the decimation of Canada's industrial base over the past two decades. Industrial development is a cornerstone of any country's economic health, of the maintenance and improvement of workers' living standards, and the preservation of its sovereignty."
A People's Energy Plan would strengthen environmentally-sound manufacturing, benefitting industrial workers and creating countless more jobs in services, trades and related sectors across the country. This would raise the wage rates of workers in general, and strengthen the capacity of the working class to defend the economic, social and political rights of all Canadians.
This strategy is also crucial to the struggle to overcome the legacy of centuries of plunder of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, including the ongoing theft of oil, gas and hydro power from their traditional lands and waters.
To achieve genuine equality of Aboriginal peoples and guarantee their national rights, the People's Energy Plan calls for present and future energy development on Aboriginal lands (both surface and sub-surface) to proceed only with their full knowledge and consent, on fairly negotiated terms. The development of a Canada-wide power grid would provide stable and secure supplies of energy to the Aboriginal peoples, especially in rural and Northern communities which currently have poor access to energy, and it would lower the domestic cost of energy to those communities. Finally, it would generate massive revenues to help compensate Aboriginal peoples for the outright thievery of their lands and resources over many generations.
Far-reaching changes to Canada's political structure would be needed to implement a People's Energy Plan. Under current constitutional arrangements, provinces maintain primary control over natural resource development on their territories. The Communist proposal is that crucial decisions over energy development should rest with the Canadian people as a whole, not the provinces. The sole exception should be Québec, which constitutes not just a province but also a nation within Canada. The necessary constitutional changes should be negotiated by governments and the Aboriginal peoples, along with equitable agreements on federal/provincial sharing of the wealth generated through extraction and development of energy resources.
The energy issue is closely connected to Canada's foreign and defence policies. The U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are motivated in large part by the drive of U.S. ruling corporate circles to dominate and control energy resources. The People's Energy Plan calls for Canada to categorically reject the use or threat of military aggression to secure access to natural resources, and to fully respect the sovereign rights of other states and peoples to control their own resources.
The Plan would contribute to the world-wide struggle against militarism, which is incredibly wasteful of energy resources. Canada should immediately end its participation in the occupation of Afghanistan, withdraw from NATO and Norad, and redirect its own bloated military budget to peaceful and socially useful purposes.
The Communist Party advocates "a broad people's movement to launch a political struggle to win and implement a People's Energy Plan, a struggle which will likely involve many pitched battles and partial victories along the way."
The first steps should include the following measures:
* The rollback (and then capping) of retail energy prices, especially for home heating;
* Support for stronger mandatory post-Kyoto emission reduction targets;
* Withdrawal from the NAFTA Treaty and termination of Canada's involvement in the SPP process;
* Imposition of a 100% "Windfall Profit Tax" on the large oil and natural gas corporations;
* Renationalization of Petro-Canada and privatized utility companies such as Ontario Hydro, Nova Scotia Power, and others;
* Re-establishment of a two-price system for oil and gas, with reduced rates for domestic use and world price rates for exported energy;
* A shorter work week with no loss in pay, which would create more jobs and reduce fossil fuel consumption.
The centrepiece of the People's Energy Plan is public ownership through nationalization, and the democratic, popular control of energy resource extraction, production and distribution. It is around this pivotal and decisive question that the most intense battles will be fought. Nationalization and the resulting access to the enormous wealth it generates are necessary to publicly finance the other investments and transformations elaborated in the plan. Just as important, only the sweeping nationalization of Canada's energy resources will make it possible to break the economic and political power of the giant monopolies - the fiercest enemies of energy democratization.
During the current federal election, and at every stage in this unfolding struggle, we must keep our eyes on the prize - Canada's energy for the needs of the people, and under the ownership and control of the people.
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5) COMMUNIST PARTY ENTERS ELECTION CAMPAIGN
(The following article is from the September 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.)
Just as Stephen Harper unleashed his threat to dissolve Parliament, members of the Communist Party of Canada's Central Committee gathered in Toronto for a two day meeting over the August 23-24 weekend. The meeting finalized plans to nominate some two dozen candidates in the October 14 election, running on a platform to defeat the Harper Tories and to fight for policies of peace, Canadian sovereignty, jobs, social justice, and democracy.
The policy centrepiece of the Communist campaign will be a "People's Energy Plan for Canada," based on public ownership of the oil and gas industry as the material basis for a radical shift in economic and environmental priorities for the country.
Communists will be on the ballot in five provinces: BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec. Party leader Miguel Figueroa, a candidate in Toronto, will be on the road during much of the campaign, speaking at public forums and media events in most of the ridings where Communists are on the ballot.
The CC meeting heard a wide-ranging report by Figueroa on the deepening crisis affecting the capitalist world. Despite the Harper government's claims, he stressed, Canada is not immune from this crisis. The catastrophic decline in manufacturing jobs, for example, is a clear signal that deeper economic woes lie ahead, requiring a more powerful fightback movement by the working class and its allies.
Central Committee members from across the country discussed recent developments in the struggles against imperialist war, and against the neoliberal policy agenda here at home.
The meeting adopted a series of special resolutions on urgent topics: support for war resisters; opposition to police violence; solidarity with the women's March for Justice to Ottawa; a call for Stephen Harper's resignation in the wake of the latest Tory corruption scandals; condemnation of NATO's expansionist war drive; and a salute to the Cuban Revolution, which will mark its 50th anniversary on New Year's Day, 2009.
For more information, including the text of the CC resolutions and details of the Communist Party election campaign, visit the Party's website, http://www.communist-party.ca.
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6) JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF POLICE VIOLENCE AND RACISM
(The following article is from the September 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.)
Resolution adopted by the Central Committee, Communist Party of Canada, August 24, 2008
This meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada condemns the ongoing killing of civilians by police officers across Canada, and renews our demand for full civilian oversight of the RCMP, provincial and municipal police forces.
On August 9, 18-year-old Freddy Villanueva was killed and two of his companions were shot by Montreal police officers. This tragic killing is the latest in a long series. The Montreal Coalition Opposed to Police Brutality reports that over the past 22 years, 43 people have died at the hands of the city's police, most of them members of racialized and impoverished communities. But this blatant record of police violence and racism continues unchecked. Only two officers have ever been charged in these Montreal cases, and both were acquitted.
In Winnipeg this summer, two young Aboriginal men have been killed by police - 17-year-old Michael Langan, who died after being Tasered, and 28-year-old Craig McDougall, the nephew of J.J. Harper, who also died at the hands of police.
The investigations into all these killings are always conducted by other police forces, which routinely clear their colleagues of wrong-doing. We give full support to community demands for a full and independent public inquiry into these deaths, and for suspension of the officers involved pending such an inquiries. The shocking pattern of impunity for police racism and violence across Canada, most often committed against Aboriginal people and immigrants, must be broken. Instead of an occasional slap on the wrist, criminal charges must be laid against all police officers who abuse their authority by shooting, tasering and beating people. Investigations of all such cases should be carried out by independent bodies, not other police forces. Justice must be won, for Freddy Villanueva, Michael Langan, Craig McDougall, and for the countless other victims of police brutality across Canada!
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7) SUPPORT WAR RESISTERS - STOP THE DEPORTATIONS!
(The following article is from the September 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.)
Resolution adopted by the Central Committee, Communist Party of Canada, August 24, 2008
Since the start of the illegal U.S.-led war against Iraq, growing numbers of U.S. military personnel have refused to participate in this war of aggression and occupation. Hundreds have crossed the border into Canada, many with their families, just as an earlier generation of soldiers did during U.S. imperialism's dirty war against Vietnam.
These new war resisters base their position on the Nuremberg Tribunal, which established that under international law, soldiers have a moral duty to refuse to carry out illegal orders, such as the massive killings and torture of Iraqis. Yet in December 2004, the Canadian government (then led by Liberal PM Paul Martin) reversed Canada's former position by intervening in the first hearing of a war resister before the Immigration and Refugee Board to argue that the legality of the war had no relevance to his claim.
From the beginning, the war resisters have been welcomed with open arms by Canadians, who have provided shelter, financial assistance, and solidarity. Opinion surveys indicate that most Canadians support the right of the war resisters to stay in Canada; a June 2007 poll conducted in Ontario, for example, found that 64.6% of respondents said that U.S. soldiers who oppose the war should be allowed to stay in Canada. Earlier this year, the House of Commons passed a resolution stating a similar position.
But the Harper minority government continues to defy public opinion and the House of Commons on this issue, choosing instead to support efforts by the Bush administration and the Pentagon to punish the war resisters. This summer, after years of legal and political struggles, the first war resisters are nearing imminent deportation back to the U.S., where they face court martials, years in prison, and even the possibility of the death penalty for "desertion during wartime."
The Communist Party of Canada reiterates our full solidarity with all military personnel (including Americans and Canadians) who oppose the imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and extends our unconditional support for the right of the U.S. war resisters and their families to seek sanctuary in Canada. We condemn the Harper Tories for refusing to reject U.S. demands for the return of the war resisters, yet another sellout of Canadian sovereignty. We urge all Canadians to support the September 13th pan-Canadian Day of Action to support U.S. Iraq war resisters. The members and clubs of the Communist Party will mobilize to take part in the actions, demonstrations, and pickets which will take place in cities and towns across Canada on that day.
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(The following article is from the September 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, Sept. 16-30, 2008
Progressive civic activists in Vancouver heaved a sigh of relief on Sept. 8, with the announcement of electoral cooperation involving Vision Vancouver, the Coalition of Progressive Electors, and the civic Greens. The agreement requires ratification at the COPE policy conference on Sept. 14, after this issue goes to press. As supporters of COPE from its foundation forty years ago, we hope that the cooperation deal will receive overwhelming support from COPE members.
The agreement includes eight City Council nominations for Vision and only two for COPE, which is less than many had hoped for. But COPE's greatest strength today is not at the Council level, but at School Board, where the agreement does give COPE five of nine nominations. Overall, the agreement gives the best possible chances to elect several COPE candidates on Nov. 15, an outcome which is crucial to the survival of Canada's oldest labour-left civic reform alliance.
Most importantly, cooperation allows the left and centre forces in Vancouver to unite against the right-wing NPA. Despite some legitimate criticisms of Vision, the fact is that the NPA is the party of big business and the developers in Vancouver. Only unity can bring victory in November, creating better conditions to fight for social housing, better schools, and all the other reforms desperately desired by working people. It's time to focus on the future, by electing a broad left-centre alliance to City Hall, School Board and Park Board.
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9) VOTE FOR PEACE, THEN MARCH FOR PEACE
(The following article is from the September 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.)
The Canadian Peace Alliance and the Québec-based Collectif Echec a la guerre have announced a pan-Canadian day of action on October 18, to end the war in Afghanistan, and to bring the troops home now.
In an early September call to action, the groups note that "Stephen Harper's government is set to call a federal election for October 14. This is an important moment for the peace movement in Canada.
"Harper has made it clear what his priorities are. On March 13, 2008, his government extended Canada's mission in Afghanistan to 2011, despite opposition from a majority of Canadians. And over the next 20 years, Harper plans to spend $490 billion on the military budget, including the war in Afghanistan. In 2003, Harper was the only political leader in Canada to support the war in Iraq. Today, he is showing his support for Bush's war by deporting Iraq war resisters to the US.
"Most Canadians oppose this agenda. That's why this election is so important. Elections provide us with many opportunities to talk to people who are concerned about the future of the country, and who want the war to end. All-candidates' meetings, fund-raisers, rallies and other campaign events are occasions to meet and engage with people beyond our existing networks, and to build the day of action on October 18.
"Canadian soldiers will still be in Afghanistan the day after the election. NATO bombs will continue to kill Afghan civilians. Billions in aid money will continue to disappear into the pockets of corrupt officials. Warlords and drug lords will still dominate the Afghan parliament. US/NATO strategy will still be guided by the needs of pipeline construction.
"No matter what the outcome of the election, Canada still needs a strong and united peace movement. And it needs to send a clear message to whoever forms the government that a majority of Canadians still want the troops to come home."
The Canadian Peace Alliance is developing special election materials to promote the Oct. 18 day of action, and to broaden the anti-war movement during the campaign. To order materials, phone 416-588-5555 or e-mail cpa@web.ca.
For more information, check the CPA website at http://www.acp-cpa.ca, or visit http://www.echecalaguerre.org.
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10) IMMIGRANTS FACE POOR WORK CONDITIONS
IWH/CALM
(The following article is from the September 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.)
Recent immigrants not only have poorer job situations than Canadian-born workers, but immigrant men are also twice as likely to sustain workplace injuries that require medical care compared with men born in Canada.
The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) has released two new studies comparing work conditions and injury rates between immigrants and workers born in Canada.
"Immigrants with five or fewer years in Canada are more likely to have higher qualifications than their jobs require, to have physically demanding jobs, and to work fewer hours than they want to," says Peter Smith, a scientist at IWH and the lead researcher of both studies. New immigrants are also less likely to have supervisory responsibilities, to be unionized or to have access to employment benefits.
Results from the study were presented at Statistics Canada's socio-economic conference. The findings were based on interviews with more than 76,000 workers, from four waves of Statistics Canada's Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics.
The second study, published in the journal, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, looked at work-related injuries in immigrants. The researchers analyzed information from more than 97,000 workers who took part in the Canadian Community Health Survey in 2003 and 2005.
This study shows that new immigrant men report a high rate of medically treated injuries result from work. One explanation might be that new immigrants have more severe work injuries because they work in more hazardous settings, suggest Smith and co-author Cameron Mustard, IWH president. More information on immigrants' work hazards and injury risks is needed to confirm this explanation.
Both IWH studies highlight work-related issues in immigrants that can also affect their health.
"Being overqualified for your job, for instance, is associated with declines in health," notes Smith. Limited access to non-wage employment benefits, such as disability insurance, may result in financial insecurity if a person is unable to work.
The research also shows that conditions may be worse for certain types of immigrants, and may linger for years. Immigrants who are visible minorities, whose mother tongue is not English, or whose highest degree is from outside Canada are more likely to be overqualified, to lack supervisory responsibilities and to be underemployed. Up to 20 years later, immigrants are still less likely to receive non-wage benefits or be unionized.
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11) HUGE MARCH IN KOLKATA CONDEMNS PRO-IMPERIALIST INDIAN GOVERNMENT
(The following article is from the September 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
KOLKATA, September 1 - A vast sea of people advanced in waves, riding on the strength of anti-imperialist feelings down the streets and lanes of Kolkata, a people's march was organised by the Bengal Left Front. Despite injuries to his right foot, LF chair Biman Basu led the marchers by example, unhindered by the blazing sun above and the molten tar underfoot.
The march commenced amidst rousing anti-imperialist slogans from the Suhrawardi Avenue near the Brabourne College grounds. As the first columns, banners, festoons, buntings, tableaux, and countless Red Fags fluttered in a welcome breeze, Biman Basu released a single white dove into the glittering blue mid-day sky.
Walking along the A.J.C. Bose Road, we were astounded to see another equally long column marching along the opposite footpath in the "wrong" direction. Polite enquiries revealed that these streams of men and women, many carrying children carefully shielded from the sun, were going to Park Circus to join up with the eternally long "tail" of our procession.
Police wireless buzzed to speak of numbers. The "guesstimates" were constantly revised upwards, from "one lakh, sir" (100,000), to finally, with a bit of surprise in the voice, "over five lakhs, sir" (500,000). Did we not note a hint of glee in the voices of at least some of the men in uniform?
The lengthening line of people soon merged into a single wave of humanity, a bit clumsy, a bit boisterous, and a tiny bit belligerent, calling upon the central government to stop kneeling down before US imperialism, the perpetrators of crimes all over the world.
Faces in the crowd we saw aplenty as we dodged in and out of the procession. We saw Sudeshna Paul from Belghoria, a former student who is now a young sociology professor at a college in faraway Nadia. She had come to Kolkata braving the train services that suddenly but not strangely started running well behind schedule on this particular day. Quickly snatching up her shopping bags from a roadside stall, she ran swiftly join the marchers as the wave advanced, soon lost in the sea of faces. We saw garage mechanic Akram-ul Huq - an underpaid helper, actually - forego a day's wage to join in, for the marchers are "talking about meri desh (my country) being sold out to videshis (foreign imperialists) of a faraway land." This is grassroots nationalism in action.
We espied a clutch of budding entrepreneurs, among them Dwijendralal Banerjee, all the way from the far side of the E.M. bypass, braving a fever and a cough. They were soon joined by a couple of thousand young men and women, neatly but unsuitably dressed for the Kolkata summer - ties and jackets and formal trousers - who had left the drudge of seven-days-a-week-work in the secluded comfort of air-conditioned IT offices in sector V of Salt Lake.
Heading towards the Sealdah flyover, the procession was swelled by a very large number of unorganised workers, mostly mutia-mazdoors (headload carriers), auto-rickshaw drivers and "mechanics," shouting slogans, waving the Red Flag, CITU banners held high as always. Khet mazdoor (agricultural worker) Paran Mondol appeared a bit bewildered. "How could these many men and women come, and who called upon them to come out on a holiday, and how, babu?" was his innocent enquiry.
He himself had come with a hundred-odd group of his fellow agricultural labourers from the extreme southern fringe of Kolkata, the unending green stretches of rice paddies from where the metro citizens have their steady supply of seasonal vegetables and rice.
Why have you come, Paran? Well, dada, I understand the Delhiwallah's government is actually engaged in buying rice from videshis and allowing those "nasty" (that was not the colourful Bengali invective he actually used, of course) "blackers" to get away with their "nasty" (ditto) ways.
The march went on and on. School students joined in somewhere, holding up photos of the eternal inspirational Che Guevara, banners emblazoned with the immortal words "egobo, jotokhhon na jitbchhi!" (onwards, until we achieve victory!), and photos of Bush adoring Singh, and the other way around.
The marchers included black-jacketed lawyers, engineers, artists, intellectuals, students from every tier of education, housewives, sports persons, film personalities. Above all, it included the common people, shouting out slogans from the core of their hearts, making the procession a living protest against imperialist forays and the betrayal of the people by the Singh government. On this day, the people had the final say.
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12) PROTESTS GROW OVER AFGHAN CIVILIAN DEATHS
(The following article is from the September 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 Marilyn Bechtel, People's Weekly World
New protests are raging in Afghanistan as the number of civilians dying during U.S. and NATO attacks on insurgents continues to soar. In the capital city, Kabul, hundreds of protesters blocked the highway to Pakistan Sept. 1. They were protesting the killing of a father and two of his sons during a post-midnight raid in eastern Kabul that Afghans said was conducted by foreign troops. The children's mother was wounded in the attack. NATO's U.S.-commanded International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) later claimed no NATO or U.S. forces were involved.
In another incident the same day, the ISAF acknowledged accidentally killing three children in southeastern Paktika province.
Anger is growing among Afghans over the killings of around 700 civilians so far this year during U.S. and NATO military operations targeting Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents.
The biggest single civilian toll occurred Aug. 22 when the Afghan government and the United Nations said as many as 90 civilians, including 60 children, died as a U.S.-led air strike hit a memorial service for a tribal leader in the western Afghan village of Azizabad.
U.S. military forces said this week that only five to seven civilians were killed there, along with 30 to 35 Taliban fighters. But an Afghan government investigating team confirmed the larger civilian toll Sept. 1.
Fox News reporter Oliver North, who was with the U.S. forces during the Azizabad attack, interviewed an unidentified U.S. major who cited reports the Taliban would meet there. But Afghan officials said clan rivals gave false information. North was a central figure in the Reagan administration's Iran-Contra scandal.
Afghanistan's U.S.-installed President Hamid Karzai has strongly criticized the U.S. and NATO forces over the civilian toll, and has said the Taliban uses the deaths to turn people against the government. He is requesting a review of rules governing international military forces in the country.
Seven years after the U.S. invaded the country, conditions remain grim. Some 70,000 NATO troops, the majority from the U.S., have been unable to keep the Taliban from adding conventional military attacks to their longstanding smaller raids. U.S. military deaths are now well over 500, with over 100 killed so far this year. By the beginning of September, 96 Canadian soldiers have died.
As winter approaches, Oxfam International warns that as many as 5 million Afghans face severe food shortages, aggravated by rising food prices, drought and the growing and spreading insecurity.
In a report, "Falling Short," issued earlier this year, Oxfam said reconstruction aid is falling far behind military spending, with much of the aid being allocated to urban areas rather than to rural regions and agriculture, where it is urgently needed.
Though some strides have been made in reducing the amount of land devoted to growing opium poppies, Afghanistan still provides a very large percentage of the world's opium supply.
In a report issued last month, the Rand Corporation called the idea of a "war on terror" counterproductive, and called for intelligence and police cooperation instead. Afghanistan expert Rory Stewart, writing in Time magazine, has warned that "a troop increase is likely to inflame Afghan nationalism because Afghans are more anti-foreign than we acknowledge, and the support for our presence in the insurgency areas is declining."
Nation editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel recently wrote, "We need to think beyond the reflexive response of troop escalation and begin the necessary, tough search for sane alternatives. If Americans are given a clear choice, how many would support bleeding more lives and resources in another failing occupation as an effective strategy of combating terrorism and promoting our national security?"
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13) HUNDREDS KILLED BY NATO IN AFGHANISTAN
(The following article is from the September 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.)
Source: http://www.stopwarblogspot.blogspot.com. This page on the website of the Vancouver anti-war coalition StopWar.ca contains detailed daily news reports on the war in Afghanistan.
Aug. 4: US troops in Ghazni province kill five civilians.
Aug. 7: US troops kill five civilians in Ghazni.
Aug. 9: NATO airstrike kills between 11 and 31 civilians in Kapisa.
Aug. 12: NATO troops kill driver in Helmand.
Aug. 13: NATO airstrike kills 3 children in Logar.
Aug. 16: Local officials say NATO bombing kills 11 civilians in Ghazni.
Aug. 17: NATO rocket attack kills 3 civilians in Helmand.
Aug. 19: German NATO troops in Badakhshan province shoot and kill a man later said to have been a civilian.
Aug. 21: US-led forces call airstrikes that kill between 12 and 20 civilians in Laghman province.
Aug. 22: US special forces accompanying Afghan troops called in an airstrike in Shindand district of Herat. Estimates by Afghan and UN officials, journalists and the AIHRC range from 78 to 95 civilians dead. Locals say no insurgents were present at the time of the attack.
Aug. 27: American-led soldiers kill Afghan national cricket star Rahmat Wali in a raid on his home in Khost.
Aug. 28: In Kunduz, German (or Afghan) troops open fire on a vehicle, killing two children and a woman.
Aug. 30: In Kapisa, an airstrike in support of US-led forces kills five civilians, according to police officials.
August total: 139 to 184 civilians killed.
July 3: Six civilians killed in US-led airstrike in Farah.
July 4: Seventeen civilians killed in US airstrike in Nuristan.
July 6: US airstrike in Nangarhar kills 47 to 52 civilians in wedding party - mostly women and children.
July 9: In Logar province, NATO troops kill a civilian man and injure his wife in a house raid.
July 9: Red Cross says 250 civilians dead in five days (i.e. July 4 - 8). The NGO blames both insurgents and NATO/US forces and their Afghan allies.
Jul 15: NATO airstrike kills eight (perhaps nine) civilians - mostly women and children - in Farah.
July 16: Local officials say over 50 civilians killed by NATO airstrikes in Herat.
July 19: NATO forces kill four (perhaps seven) civilians with mortars in Paktika.
July 20: Airstrike kills nine Afghan police in Farah. Other reports say it was four police and five civilians.
July 26: British NATO troops in Helmand shoot and kill four civilians at checkpoint.
July 26: NATO airstrike kills civilian couple in their home in Kapisa.
July 27: Canadian NATO troops in Kandahar fire on a vehicle and kill two children.
July 29: An ISAF helicopter kills six civilians in Kunar province, according to local officials.
July total: 147 to 161 civilians killed. Totals are based on the author's own tallies of all available reports of Afghan civilians killed by troops of NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom.
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14) FREE LILIANY PATRICIA OBANDO VILOTA!
(The following article is from the September 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 James Brittain
The previous issue of People's Voice reported that Colombian filmmaker, women's rights proponent, labour solidarity activist, and sociologist Liliany Patricia Obando Villota was arrested on August 8 by a special wing of the Anti-Terrorism Unit (Unidad Antiterrorismo) of the Colombian National Police and the Criminal Investigation Directorate, under the direction of the National Prosecutors Office, on charges of "rebellion" and "managing resources related to terrorist Activities". The arrest severs long established relations between the Colombian labour movement and Canadian unions, faith-based communities, Latin American solidarity networks, and social justice organizations.
The primary grounds for Liliany's incarceration is that she allegedly worked to obtain funding earmarked for Colombia's largest rural-based labour organization (FENSUAGRO), but utilized the collected finances for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) - a movement listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. and Canadian governments.
The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia has announced that the reason for the arrest was that Liliany worked for a non-governmental organization entitled FENSUAGRO and indirectly rallied funds for the FARC-EP through said association. In actual fact, FENSUAGRO is not an NGO, but a structured labour organization in its 32nd year of existence, which organizes and consolidates the many unions, labour associations, and voices of those in the countryside. If the state cannot obtain intelligence of this simplistic nature, any information related to the charges against Liliany are likely erroneous.
In addition, no material evidence has been found to support the charge against Liliany. The only "proof" presented by the state is purely speculative, as it was allegedly retrieved from FARC-EP computers captured following an illegal raid at an insurgent encampment on March 1, 2008 in Ecuador. Interpol has confirmed that agents connected to the Anti-Terrorism Unit manipulated tens of thousands of files from the seized FARC-EP databases. In their report, Interpol published that "using their forensic tools, specialists found a total of 48,055 files for which the timestamps indicated that they had either been created, accessed, modified or deleted as a result of the direct access to the eight seized exhibits by Colombian authorities between the time of their seizure on 1 March 2008 and 3 March 2008 at 11:45 am."
Over the past several years, Liliany has visited Canada many times to speak with various civil society groups, development agencies, members of religious organizations, unionists, and university students on issues of human rights abuses and anti-labour activities under the Presidency of Alvaro Uribe Velez. During this period Liliany also worked for FENSUAGRO's international relations commission, and was heavily involved in fundraising in Canada, the European Union, the UK, and Australia.
As a direct result of her efforts, some of Canada's most important unions provided funding to projects across Colombia: the creation of socioeconomic infrastructure for small and medium agricultural producers, human rights education and data collection, and an experimental farming and educational facility called La Esmeralda, which assists displaced rural families in areas of agriculture, gender equity, reading, and writing.
Why has the Colombian state targeted Liliany Obando and FENSUAGRO?
Since its inception, as many as 1500 persons associated with FENSUAGRO have been killed or disappeared by right-wing paramilitaries or state forces, while five thousand members have experienced some form of state-based abuse or human rights violation. In 2007, twenty percent of all known unionists murdered in Colombia belonged to this one labour organization. It is clear that the Colombian state is attempting to silence any and all measures of international solidarity with Colombian labour and social movements.
Liliany was one of FENSUAGRO's most important contacts outside Colombia. Her work as a filmmaker and a scholar within the National University of Colombia has been widely recognized for its insight. Her analysis on Colombia's political economy has been heard and applauded at countless conferences. Her achievements in raising awareness of the trials and tribulations of Colombia have spanned many countries. It is clear that the state is taking steps to silence this important proponent for social justice, and to block the important efforts made by Canadians to support the struggle of Colombia's rural and urban working classes.
Retrieving information related to Liliany's condition and the case at hand has been very difficult. Nevertheless, contact has been made with Liliany's legal counsel, who say that she has received messages of solidarity from all over the world. Her legal counsel has forwarded a statement of how emotionally touched and tremendously encouraged Liliany is by such broad support for her and all Colombians subjugated to such treatment at this troubling time.
It was hoped that Liliany would be able to obtain a reprieve from her formal incarceration at the women's prison (Buen Pastor) in Bogota. Her legal counsel applied for home detention so that she could care for her two children. The Australian-based Peace and Justice for Colombia (PJFC) has argued that Liliany's detention is a negation of her two young children's basic human rights, as she is a single mother and principal provider for the family. However, the court denied this request. The PJFC also reported that during the August 8 raid on Liliany's residence in Modelia, Bogota state forces "seized passports, photos and other personal belongings of her children and Mother". Arguing that such items have nothing to due with the formal allegations, the legal counsel requested that the family's possessions be returned. The courts also refused this request.
Targeting Liliany and other social justice activists is a structured tactic on the part of the Colombian state. Canada is in the final stages of a controversial bilateral free-trade agreement with Colombia, where the administration is embroiled in a scandal involving links between top politicians and the paramilitary forces. Liliany was on the cusp of finalizing a significant solidarity project involving several Canadian unions and FENSUAGRO. In conjunction with labour, agronomists, farmers, and researchers, she was working on an expanded development program to further assist rural workers at La Esmeralda.
It is critical for individuals, unions, community and civil society groups, development agencies, members of faith communities, academics, students, and concerned citizens to show their solidarity for Liliany. We must express our opposition to the unjust detention of this important Colombian activist, scholar, and worker. Please demand that Liliany Patricia Obando Villota be released, have all charges withdrawn, and be treated as a democratic citizen.
Free Liliany Obando! Libre Liliany Obando!
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15) CUBA BESIEGED BY HURRICANES
(The following article is from the September 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 Fidel Castro Ruz, September 7, 2008
We had hardly recovered from the emotional impact and material damage caused by the unexpectedly strong winds of Hurricane Gustav on the Isle of Youth and Pinar del Rio, when news were received of sea floods caused by Hanna. Then, the worst news of all: that the very intense Hurricane Ike, turning southwest under pressure from a strong anti-cyclone located north of its course, would strike over more than 1,000 kilometers throughout the national territory.
This means, in fact, that the entire country will be impacted by three hurricanes; and some places will be hit twice. What will remain of the bananas, fruits and vegetables in the intensive-farming areas? Where will there be any beans and other grains? Where will there be a sugarcane or rice plantation? Where will there be a poultry, pork or dairy production center? The entire nation is now in what in military terms is defined as combat alert.
The problems posed in the reflection that defined Gustav as a nuclear strike have multiplied. The principles guiding our conduct are still the same, just that much greater efforts will be required.
The Civil Defense did not lose a second. Comrades in positions of responsibility in both the Party and the government have been moving everywhere. The cadres must demand discipline, withhold their emotions and exercise their authority. The television, radio and printed press are assuming a great responsibility in exercising their informative tasks.
The world has observed with admiration our people's conduct in the face of the ravages of Gustav. As our enemies were cynically rubbing their hands with glee, our friends who - as has been made evident - are many, are determined to cooperate with our people. The seeds of solidarity planted for many years are growing everywhere. Aircraft from Russia and other countries have been flying in from thousands of kilometers away with products that cannot be measured by their volume or price, but by their significance. We have received donations from small states like Timor Leste, and messages from important and friendly nations like Russia, Vietnam, China and others, have expressed a readiness to cooperate as much as possible with the investment programs that we will have to immediately undertake to reestablish and develop production.
The sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and its President Hugo Chavez, have adopted measures that constitute the most generous gesture of solidarity that our homeland has known.
Despite the intensity of the blows received and those still to come, I think that our country is in a position to save the lives of its citizens, and families will receive material assistance and food for as long as they need, until they recover - in the shortest possible time - the capacity for food production. This assistance cannot be the same in every municipality since the damages are not the same, neither is the time period needed to get back on their feet.
At this moment we are besieged by hurricanes. We should be more rational than ever and fight wastage, parasitism and complacency. We have to act with absolute honesty, avoiding demagoguery or any concession whatsoever to weakness or opportunism. The revolutionary militants should set an example. They should give and receive confidence. They should give everything for the people, even their lives if that should be necessary.
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16) WHAT'S LEFT
(The following article is from the September 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.)
WAR RESISTERS
Pan-Canadian Day of Action - Sat., Sept. 13, to oppose deportations of US war resisters. For full details of local events and planning meetings, visit http://www.resisters.ca.
VANCOUVER, BC
Afghanistan’s Pipelines, VDLC Pizza Educational - Tue., Sept. 16, 6-7 pm, forum on gas pipelines and energy distribution in central Asia, Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph St., co-sponsored by Council of Canadians and Vancouver & District Labour Council.
Canada Post 9/11, forum with speaker Sunera Thobani- Monday, Sept. 22, 7:30 pm, Public Library Main Branch, Alice McKay room, hosted by Siraat Collective.
The state of the media today, discussion on creating alternative media - Friday, Sept. 26, 7 pm, at Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, followed by music & food, for info email bclac1998@gmail.com.
Palestinian political prisoners conference - Sept. 27, 11 am-4 pm, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., for info call Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, 604-220-0451.
COPE Nomination Meeting - Sunday Sept. 28, 2:30 pm, Ukrainian Auditorium, 154 E. 10 Ave. (at Main).
Miguel Figueroa Election Tour, hear the leader of the Communist Party of Canada on the issues in the Oct. 14 election- Monday, Sept. 29, 7:30 pm, at the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive. (For details of other cross-Canada tour dates, call the CPC campaign office, 416-469-2446.)
More Power to You, conference organized by BC Citizens for Public Power - Oct. 4-5, 8 am to 4 pm, at SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings. Call 604-681-5939 for details.
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.
No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!, panel with indigenous speakers on issues related to the tar sands and the 2010 Olympic games - Sat., Sept. 27, location TBA. Action opposing 2010 Olympic Spirit Train, Sept. 29, 1-8 pm at WP Wagner School (6310 Wagner Rd NW). For info, call Macdonald at 780-233-4992.
SASKATOON, SK
Political discussion & beer, all welcome to join Saskatoon CPC members, third Monday of every month, in the tv room at Amigo’s, 632-10 St. East.
WINNIPEG, MB
Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity Committee annual general meeting - Mon., Sept. 22, 7 pm at the Workers Organizing Resource Centre, 280 Smith St., mezzanine level. Info dlzack@shaw.ca.
Manitoba Peace Council meeting - Sat., Sept. 20, 10 am, Workers Organizing Resource Centre, 280 Smith St., mezzanine level. Info 792-3371.
TORONTO, ON
Labour Education Centre course: Globalization, Imperialism and World Inequality, open to all - September 2008, classes at OISE UT. For cost and other information, see http://www.laboureducation.org.
Support public health care - mass protest Sat., Sept. 27 11 am, at Metro Hall Square (Wellington & John St.); for info call Ontario Health Coalition 416-441-2502.
MONTREAL, QC
Anti-military recruitment protest - Thursday, Sept. 18, 5:30-7 pm, 1420 Ste.-Catherine O (Guy-Concordia metro), organized by Operation Objection, see http://www.antirecrutement.info for details.
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