42,000 British Columbia hospital and long term care workers have
voted 75% in favour of a new three-year collective agreement. Most
belong to the Hospital Employees' Union (a CUPE affiliate), others
to the B.C. Government & Service Employees Union and the Operating
Engineers. The early July settlement came surprisingly quick for
many who had expected much longer negotiations and more militant
job action. The HEU had staged one four-hour walkout (but no picket
lines, so other unions could not go to essential service levels),
and begun an overtime refusal.
 
    The settlement includes improvements to health and welfare
benefits as well as stronger occupational health and safety
language. But a 0-0-2 wage increase was not what many members had
been looking for. Voter turnout was low, some sources say,
especially in the larger hospitals.
 
    There have been encouraging developments at the community
services' table, and a settlement may be in place soon. Community
workers, for example in home support services, are struggling with
huge inequities in the system which put them far behind their
counterparts in the facilities for wages and working conditions.
These workers will welcome any move towards fair treatment.
 
    The least movement has been happening at the paramedicals' and
nurses' tables, where the Health Sciences Association and B.C.
Nurses Union are the main players, respectively. While the
facilities' table managed to hold off concessions in their
settlement, concessions are still very much on the table from the
employer side at these negotiations. HEABC is seeking to get rid of
the HSA classification system and to increase employer control over
work schedules and assignment of employees to different work sites,
in the name of "flexibility" and "efficient use of health care
dollars."
 
    At the same time, "levelling" is not concluded. With some
employees having lost their superior benefits, some employers are
trying to deny their right to access provisions of the provincial
collective agreement to which they now belong. As one union
negotiator put it, HEABC's approach to levelling is that of a
bulldozer, and their idea of fairness is to drive everybody down
into the basement of the industry.
 
    Without significant progress in those negotiations, job
action, including a full-scale walkout, remains a very real
possibility. This additional strain on an already stressed health
care system has definite potential to trigger back-to-work
legislation.
 
    Could the NDP survive such action? The Clark government
continues to take labour very much for granted, and organized
labour here has done little to dispel that notion. The example of
the northern doctors has shown that money can be found if care
givers stick to their guns. The view among more militant activists
in the health care unions is that the time has come for actions
more decisive than radio and TV ads.

    There's "one law for the rich and no justice for the poor,"
according to Elwyn Patterson of the Marginalized Workers Action
League, commenting on the July 21 ruling by Mr. Justice Williamson
against MWAL's legal challenge to B.C.'s welfare consent form.
 
    MWAL and other anti-poverty groups argue that the new consent
form gives the provincial Ministry of Human Resources far more new
powers than necessary. The form allows the ministry to seek
personal information on social assistance recipients and applicants
from a wide-ranging list of financial institutions, Revenue Canada,
cheque cashing agencies, credit bureaus and other places.
 
    But Justice Williamson ruled that "the Ministry... must be
permitted to protect the public purse by a reasonable statutorily
supported verification scheme," and that while it may be possible
for MHR employees to illegally misuse their access to personal
information, this does not invalidate the form.
 
    Patterson raised a number of questions in response to the
ruling, such as why the judge did not consult with the provincial
privacy commissioner about the form. He pointed out that while
recipients did not like earlier consent forms, these were far less
intrusive. The new forms, he argued, subject recipients to a "large
data matching experiment." Those who refuse to sign, he stated,
will lose their living space, food money and all possessions.
 
    MWAL says it will still advise those who signed before May
1998 to withdraw their consent. The organization is working on new
plans "to deal with the theft of our privacy."
 
    In a related development, Vancouver's Terminal City newspaper
has printed revealing details of the second stage of BC Benefits,
the NDP's package of "welfare reforms." The July 3-9 issue of
Terminal City contains a lengthy analysis of the "Early
Intervention" program created by MHR and the Ministry of Advanced
Education, Training and Technology.
 
    The $7 million program will assign a "pre-application number"
to anyone (except children and seniors) who tries to apply for
welfare, forcing them to first attend an "orientation session" and
then to register with an employment agency. The departments project
that "Early Intervention" will save taxpayers $34 million by
reducing the number of social assistance applications and the
length of time people are on welfare.
 
    The author of the article, Zoraya Bolando, points out that MHR
estimates that about 33% of all current applicants do not become
recipients. MHR wants to increase this so-called "natural diversion
rate" up to 38%. The draft script of the "orientation session"
video, she says, indicates that Early Intervention is intended to
achieve this goal by making the process more intimidating and
threatening to applicants.
 
    Bolando points out that the job placement and employment
services industry will gain directly from the program, and that
"the government is providing yet another subsidy to capitalists by
sparing business the costs of looking for employees.
 
    The Early Intervention strategy also fits in with B.C.'s
increasing turn towards workfare, subsidizing employers to hire
social assistance recipients, often laying off other workers in the
process. MWAL is considering plans to begin organizing workfare
employees into a new organization to defend their rights.

Over the 20th century, more people have been killed during wars than over the entire previous history of the human race. During this century, humanity had produced mountains of weapons of mass destruction, capable of wiping out all life on this planet.

The elevation to full nuclear-power status by India and Pakistan is deeply alarming - not because they have any less right to possess the bomb than other powers, but because the dreaded next round of nuclear proliferation may have begun. The United States in particular is engaged in pure hypocrisy when it criticizes Indian and Pakistan. For decades Washington has resisted all attempts to reverse the arms race, instead seeking global military domination to maintain its position as the major imperialist power. Now, the planet is tasting the bitter fruit of this "might makes right" approach to international relations.

If nothing else, the nuclear tests in south Asia may have aroused the world to a menace which many had forgotten. The specific danger of a nuclear war between the imperialist USA and the socialist Soviet Union never materialized, but most of their arsenals remain ready for use. For example, if the Russian people rid themselves of Boris Yeltsin and his capitalist regime of gangsters and profiteers, it would be just a matter of days for the White House to crank up a new Cold War, complete with threats of a "first strike" attack against any new socialist government.

More immediately, each expansion of the nuclear club makes the military-political climate more unpredictable, and the use of such weapons more likely. The chance of an "accidental" missile launch also remains as real as ever, perhaps more so. While some obsolete nuclear weapons have been dismantled, more modern versions have taken their place. The world is a more dangerous place now than at any time since the height of the Cold War.

From every corner of the planet, the call is now resounding: Convene a global conference to eliminate weapons of mass destruction! This would be the best way for humanity to begin the new millennium. We hope that this month's commemorations of the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will help make this demand a real political force.

Enclosed you will find material from Citizens Concerned About Free Trade and David Orchard's explanation regarding his running for the Tory leadership. Orchard thinks R.B. Bennett was a great Canadian. Bennett set up slave camps in the 1930's and used massive police state repression on the unemployed - RCMP clubbings and shootings of strikers, deportation of thousands back to Europe, many winding up in Nazi death camps.

Orchard is completely out of touch if he thinks he can change the Conservative Party. The decision as to who will be the next leader has already been made by the corporate elite in the back rooms. The Tories are the party of big business. They are pro- FTA, pro-NAFTA, and pro-MAI. The Conservatives have always voted to legislate postal, longshore and railway workers back to work, in effect union-busting.

Brian Mulroney was just living up to Tory traditions - he was not an aberration as Orchard stated.

- A Vancouver reader

    I have a button that says "Poverty is Violence," which occasionally
causes heated discussions with women involved in the movement
against violence against women. A few of them believe that the
slogan belittles the real physical violence that women experience.
 
    However, I have noticed that women who have experienced
poverty profoundly agree with the button's statement.
 
    How does poverty equal violence?
 
    The health of those living in poverty is much poorer than in
the general population. Poverty is responsible for teeth rotting
out (dental care not covered by Medicare), poor vision (glasses not
covered by Medicare), acute chronic health problems (drugs not
covered by Medicare). There is a significantly higher infant
mortality rate and lower average life expectancy amongst those
living in poverty than for the general population.
 
    Poor housing, inadequate diet, and in some places lack of
clean drinking water, all contribute to serious physical harm to
those living in poverty.
 
    This does not even touch upon the psychological abuse, which
is even more severe when living in poverty within an outwardly
affluent society. (Children experience this quite profoundly). Nor
does it touch upon the discrimination faced by those living in
poverty - in getting housing or jobs, for example.
 
    Yes, this is violence. Violence wielded by the capitalist
system, not by an individual, but violence just the same. Many
women that I have known describe living in poverty as being
repeatedly punched in the gut.
 
    More women live in poverty than men, therefore they live this
violence more than men. Poor women perhaps experience greater
discrimination than poor men. Many of the jobs traditionally
available to women - service sector/retail jobs - depend on
"looking good." To work in these largely minimum wage jobs, women
need nice clothes, good teeth, well cut hair, etc. - all very
difficult without money.
 
    Women living in poverty, particularly here in British
Columbia, also face the threat of having their children apprehended
by the state. The vast majority of apprehended children come from
poor families. Is this because they are more likely to abuse their
children? Poverty certainly produces a lot of stress that can lead
to abuse. But the fact also remains, as Linda Moreau states in the
July 1998 issue of Long Haul (published by End Legislated Poverty),
"People in the middle class can get drunk, fight, and yell at their
kids behind the thick walls of their own home, or in their car.
While impoverished people may live in apartments with thin walls,
and travel on buses so their actions are more public".
 
    Aside from class prejudices and stereotypes, racism also plays
a major role. First Nation children in care in BC comprise at least
30% of all children "in care", while the overall First Nation
population is about 5%. The singling out of First Nation children
has a long history in Canada.
 
    Readers are familiar with the residential school system and
the violence it inflicted upon the First Nation peoples. But they
may be less familiar with the "Big Scoop." This massive removal of
First Nation children from their families and placement into non-native
foster homes occurred in the 1960's. These policies were
violent. They were genocidal. (The forced assimilation of a people
into the greater population is considered genocide).
 
    Progressives must recognize that poverty is indeed violence
caused by our capitalist system. Fighting against poverty, against
poor-bashing, and against racism is an integral part of the
struggle against capitalism and for socialism.

(RedFem Report is a monthly column of the Central Women's
Commission of the Communist Party of Canada.)

Two Canadian corporations busy expanding their overseas operations are on our list for August. First is Cameco Corp., one of many profiteering vultures swooping down on the former USSR. Cameco boasts about overcoming "dauntless obstacles" to open the Kumtor gold mine in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan in May 1997. The mine produced 421,000 ounces of gold last year, for a revenue of about $120 million, leading Cameco to purchase exploration licenses for "several dozen" more sites in Central Asia. The downside? A 1995 helicopter crash killed 15 people, and five more workers have died in workplace accidents. Then on May 20, a truck loaded with sodium cyanide tumbled into a river heading into Kyrgyzstan's largest lake. Of course, Cameco denies that the cyanide spill has affected the health of thousands of people who drink water from the lake.

The second "ugly Canadian" transnational is Abitibi-Consolidated, the world's largest newsprint producer since the merger of Abitibi-Price and Stone Consolidated last year. Workers at Abitibi-Consolidated in Quebec went on strike June 15, and the company quickly threatened to close its "inefficient" mills. Then came news that Ab-Con and Norske Skog of Norway were negotiating to buy Hansol Paper, the largest pulp and paper producer in South Korea, where many companies are "on their knees," to use the words of one stock analyst. That would give Abitibi-Consolidated a beachhead into the Chinese market, rendering its Canadian workers pretty much redundant. Under capitalism, there's always another way to make a bigger buck!

     The June decision by representatives of all major affiliates
of the Quebec Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU) to
withdraw from Les partenaires pour la souveraineté, a PQ-led
sovereignty coalition, has created shock waves within both the
labour movement and the ranks of nationalists.

     One of the most publicized consequences of the decision,
backed by close to 70% of delegates at the CNTU's Confederational
Council, was the resignation by CNTU general secretary Pierre
Paquette. The official reason given by Paquette was that he could
not accept such a decision, and he hopes that his departure will
generate enough pressure to make local affiliates reconsider their
vote.

     The real reason is somewhat different. For some time, there
had been rumours about Paquette quitting the labour movement to
stand in Montreal's civic election this fall. Right after
Paquette's resignation announcement, it was confirmed that he was
joining the team of the main contender for the municipal election -
his old friend, ex-Montreal mayor Jean Doré.

     Paquette's departure is also fuelling back room manoeuvres
around possible candidates for the vacant CNTU position. For one,
CNTU president Gérald Larose will want to revamp his declining
influence. Larose had also opposed the June decision, on the
grounds that good relations with the PQ are crucial to the labour
movement. But he could not rally enough supporters to defend this
strategy. Larose faces criticisms for such views and for not giving
enough importance to building a massive fightback to counter
growing attacks on labour. He and Paquette are associated with the
more class collaborationist forces within the CNTU.

     It is not yet clear if there will be a candidate backed by
more left-wing and militant forces. The next general secretary will
be selected in October at a meeting of the Confederational Council,
the CNTU's highest body between conventions.

     Earlier, the CNTU executive had pledged a $120,000 donation to
the Parténaires coalition. The teachers' unions (CEQ) had already
pulled out of the coalition, and the Quebec Federation of Labour
could make a similar decision.

     Such developments do not mean that most Quebec trade union
activists now oppose the prospect of Quebec independence. They are
still very concerned with the way the federal and other provincial
governments deny the Quebec people's basic rights. They do not
accept "great nation chauvinism" on the part of English Canada, a
stand which should be encouraged.

     Most such activists still consider themselves as
sovereigntists. Yet a growing number feel more and more
uncomfortable with the way the PQ uses their desire for national
equality to disrupt any kind of fightback and to push through a
right wing political agenda. These conflicting trends make the
situation within the Quebec labour movement quite volatile.

     More than ever, it is important for all trade unionists and
progressives in English Canada to understand what is going on in
Quebec, and to disassociate themselves from bourgeois politicians
and their anti-Quebec stand. People in English Canada should come
out strongly and publicly in favour of a truly democratic solution
to the constitutional debate. That attitude can only help
strengthen the unity of the working class in our common fight for
social justice.

     As these events take place, a major labour battle could be
looming. Collective bargaining will soon begin for new contracts
covering 300,000 Quebec public sector workers and teachers.
Contracts for these workers, more than one-third of organized
labour in Quebec, expired in June. Many political analysts now
predict that a provincial election will most likely be called in
Quebec next spring, after these negotiations.

Striking pulp and paper workers at a mill in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, decided by a margin of 45 votes on July 13 not to reconsider their strike vote. The 620 employees of Abitibi - Consolidated's Wayagamack mill will continue their strike, which started June 15 at eleven of the company's mills in Eastern Canada.

A few days earlier, speaking in Grand Falls, Newfoundland, the national president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union said the strike by 5,000 workers could be a long one. "I guess you could say we are in a stalemate situation in this strike," said Fred Pomeroy. "There have been no talks and no talks are planned but we're prepared to meet with the company at a moment's notice." Pomeroy said the union wants an umbrella agreement covering all 11 mills.

In Montreal, the Solidarity Fund backed by Quebec unions said July 10 it was ready to study the possibility of investing in two Abitibi-Consolidated mills, provided the company agrees to a key union demand. The mills, in Trois-Rivieres and Chandler, have been fingered by the company as not meeting its standards of efficiency. Abitibi-Consolidated claims they could close indefinitely if the strike does not end soon.

Education minister Linda McIntosh, who wants students to sing God Save the Queen, is having more stellar ideas. Her latest is to impose standardized testing on Grade 3 students.

Standardized testing is used to stream working class students into dead-end jobs, and rich students into more promising careers. It has no significant bearing on future academic performance or other useful purpose.

In response to a survey of 800 Manitoba teachers who gave the minister a report card full of "F"s, McIntosh merely quoted past MTS president Diane Beresford about how her parents met at a Young Communist meeting in England, selectively leaving out reasons for supporting collective bargaining.

Beresford called McIntosh's reply "a demonstration of her McCarthyistic fear of dissent." At their annual meeting May 30, Manitoba teachers voted to pursue joining the Manitoba Federation of Labour within two years. They also voted 268 to 3 to bargain under the Labour Relations Act, to avoid new rules under the Public Schools Act that tilt bargaining rights towards school boards.

The McIntosh Resignation Coalition, including about 20 CFS university and high school students, submitted a written demand for the minister to resign on June 23.

     On Saturday, July 18, the neo-Nazi, Christian Identity forces
of the Aryan Nations marched through the downtown streets of Coeur
D'Alene, Idaho. This was the first time in its 25-year history that
Aryan Nations had staged such a public event, and the first time
that they had called for like-minded neo-Nazis from across North
America and Europe to join them.
 
    Billed as the "hundred flag march," leader Richard Butler
intended the parade to be a "witness to the world of Aryan Unity."
Early reports indicated that the Aryan contingent included men and
women, about half being youth. Some of the neo-Nazis wore Klan
robes, and each marcher carried either US, European, Confederate,
or swastika flags. There were no Canadian flags since Aryan Nations
members consider both the US and Canada to represent the nation of
Manasseh, one of the tribes of ancient Israel.
 
    Butler rode in a jeep-like vehicle escorted by a police
cruiser. Dozens of police, wearing riot gear, protected the Aryan
Nations throughout the march and arrested 23 of the hundreds of
anti-racist protestors for such infractions as "inciting to riot."
The demonstrators chanted and jeered, frequently drowning out
Butler. Police protection of neo-Nazis and arrests of protestors
is, of course, standard practice in the 1990s. Also quickly
becoming typical is Coeur D'Alene mayor Steven Judy's call for
townspeople to disappear, hide, and stay off the streets, a policy
that reeks of defeatism and appeasement.
 
    Significantly, the aging Butler named Neuman Britton to be his
replacement as Aryan Nations leader after his death. Britton is a
former member of the American Nazi Party, has intimate connections
with the widespread and violent Posse Comitatus, and has been
chaplain of Aryan Nations for many years. The wealthy Britton has
a dangerous talent never possessed by Butler - he is a brilliant
and fiery speaker who is known to criss-cross the US inspiring the
membership.
 
    The impact in Canada of the Aryan Nations march is difficult
to assess. Former Canadian leaders of the neo-Nazi organization -
Dan Wray, Lester Morris, Terry Long, and Charles Scott - have all
faded from prominence, due in part to strong anti-racist
organizing.
 
    In 1997, Aryan Nations went underground in Canada. Its new
leader, known only as Brother John, decided to eliminate any public
phone numbers or postal addresses. Brother John, who may have been
the former associate of Charles Scott known as "Mr. X," is
described as in his early thirties, and possibly operates a tow
truck in the Vancouver area. Brother John first came to light in
1996 following an alleged cross-burning near Merritt, BC, involving
Klan and Aryan Nations members from both Canada and Washington
state.
 
    According to an audiotape obtained by this writer, Brother
John has established "my command, my control, my communications. I
got my intelligence net set up. I got my administration, my action
groups, my security. I have been teaching people how to operate
basically small cell groups, and how to keep themselves out of the
media, out of the limelight." Brother John refuses to reveal the
number of Aryan Nations members, but claims "thousands of
supporters and subscribers." While this figure may be inflated, he
insists that "southeastern BC and southwestern Alberta" should
become part of a whites-only nation.
 
    The Canadian division of Aryan Nations can only be contacted
officially through Aryan Nations headquarters in Idaho. According
to Gerry Gruidl, communications director at HQ, Aryan Nations is
"recruiting in New Brunswick, in Ontario, in Alberta, and in
Saskatchewan." He claims that they are getting a good response to
the organizing drive, and that the Internet has enabled them to
make "terrific inroads" because "they get to know what we say, not
what some Jewish anti-Christ says we said."
 
    Jesse Warfield, state leader of Aryan Nations in Idaho,
contacted by this writer after the hundred flag march, revealed
that the neo-Nazi organization intends to "form a political party
in the near future and downplay the religious angle." Aryan Nations
believes that they now "have the backing" to "unify the white race"
in a single political party. He also said that only 4 or 5
Canadians participated in the march, but refused to comment on the
Canadian leadership. Surprisingly, he stated that Aryan Nations
intends to "throw their adversaries off-guard" by immediately
asking for a parade permit to march in Sandpoint, Idaho, near the
Canadian border. Warfield expects a "stronger Canadian contingent"
at this second rally.

    The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has resolved to launch big
mass movements in August against the BJP-led Union government.
 
    Meeting in Delhi July 16-20, the CPI(M) Central Committee
condemned the federal government for its anti-people policies. The
past month has witnessed a growing economic crisis. Industrial
growth has stagnated, and there has been a shortfall of close to a
million tons of food-grains production. The trade deficit currently
stands at over US $600 million, the highest ever. The price of the
Indian rupee has kept on falling against both the US dollar and the
pound. The first 100 days of BJP federal governance has resulted in
a fall in foreign exchange earnings of US $1,600 million.
 
    Despite its so-called "swadeshi" ("self-reliance") plank, the
BJP-led government has embarked on a policy of selling state-owned
industrial and financial institutions to the transnational
corporations. The handing over of the profitable automobile concern
of Maruti Udyog to the Suzuki corporation is the latest example.
Power corporations and several service sector concerns are being
readied for similar sell-outs to US-based TNCs. The insurance
sector is about to be thrown open to foreign players. Ailing
industrial units are being closed down, their workforces thrown out
of employment with only the promise of some kind of compensation.
 
    Price rises for railway fares and freight, postal rates, and
indirect taxes and duties have pushed the rate of inflation into
double digits, and the real income of the people has started to
fall rapidly. The public distribution system has virtually been
allowed to become non-functional as a sop to the small traders and
shopkeepers whom the BJP count as their "vote bank."
 
    The Left in general, and the two Communist parties in
particular, have issued the call for mass movements. As a first
step, the CPI(M) will launch a month of protest actions,
culminating in a September rally in Delhi. Already a successful
industrial strike has been organized in West Bengal, with all trade
unions taking part, irrespective of their political affiliations.
The recent eight day nationwide strike by postal employees, chiefly
on the demand of regularizing the services of so-called
"extra-departmental" postal workers, brought the nation's postal system to
a standstill. The strike was withdrawn when the BJP-led government
gave a verbal assurance that "all the grievances of the postal
employees would be looked into towards an amicable settlement."
 
    The Left has also condemned the BJP's policy of nuclear
weaponisation, and the CPI(M) has come down heavily against the
BJP's intention to sign the discriminatory Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty. It has called on the federal government to declare that
India would not take part in the nuclear arms race, and to open
bilateral talks with China and Pakistan to improve relations with
these countries.
 
    The CPI(M) has asked all its units to carry out a campaign
until August 6, to explain to the people the innate danger of
"going nuclear." On that day, the Left will join hands with all
peace-loving and democratic forces of India to observe Hiroshima
Day in a big way. West Bengal has formed a preparatory committee
including noted film director Mrinal Sen, the painter Paritosh Sen,
and award-winning essayist Annadasankar Ray, none of whom has ever
had any links with the Communists.
 
    The CC of the CPI(M) again condemned the BJP's communal
agenda. Under the guidance of the neo-fascist Rastriya Swayam Seval
Sangh (RSS), whose "ideologue" Kushabhau Thakre has been elected
president of the BJP's national committee, BJP cadres have prepared
a model of a "temple" to be put up at the site where the Babri
Mosque was demolished in 1992. The BJP has also been engaged in the
dangerous task of forcefully converting Indian Christians to
Hinduism, especially in the sensitive tribal belts. The Viswa Hindu
Parishad, another BJP "mass front," intends to initiate a
conversion drive all over the country. This suicidal policy, the
CPI(M) noted, "needs to be vigorously campaigned against before the
nation's fabric gets torn apart." The BJP-led government has also
announced the formation of a National Reconstruction Youth Corps in
every province, with the aim of indoctrinating youth in its
communal ideology.
 
    The United Front has suffered further fractures as Mulayam
Singh Yadav recently joined hands with former rival Laloo Prasad
Yadav to form yet another Third Front. Tainted by a clear caste-bias,
this "front" has blocked passage of the Women's Reservation
Bill, which seeks to "reserve" 33% of parliamentary seats for
women. The two Yadavs demand "separate reservations" for women
belonging to the various "backward" castes and tribes, and for
Muslim women. Several of the so-called "secular-democratic"
partners of the UF shamelessly joined hands with the Yadav-led
groups to stall proceedings by physically intimidating members who
spoke in favour of the Reservation Bill.
 
    The Congress has also come forward to fish in these troubled
waters. Now formally led by Sonia Gandhi, but orchestrated by
experienced power-brokers, the Congress has taken a self-righteous
stand against the BJP on the Reservation Bill, and is trying to
push the BJP out of office.
 
    Speaking to the media after the CC meeting, CPI(M) general
secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet said that "it was up to the
Congress to first make up its mind in initiating a drive to
dislodge the CJP from office." Surjeet added that perhaps the time
has come for the Congress to realise that "it had but little in the
way of options other than fighting the BJP to keep the party
together." He said that while the CPI(M) may think in terms of
supporting, strictly on the basis of concrete issues, a Congress-run
federal government, the fight against Congress "shall continue
as before." Surjeet also decried the attempts by the BJP to create
small states in provinces like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, for "this
would pose a grave danger to the linguistic principle of
statehood."

According to US and Israeli media, the three German-built Dolphin-class submarines being acquired by the Israeli navy will be fitted with nuclear-armed
cruise missiles.

The subs, among the most technically advanced of their kind i the world, displace 1,700 tonnes when immersed. The first sub is already undergoing operational trials in the North Sea and all three submarines are expected to be delivered before the end of this year.

Israeli defence chiefs want to equip the subs with cruise missiles in order to be able to retaliate against an enemy trying to take out Israel's nuclear weapons with a surprise attack.

The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz said that the German government funded construction of two of the three submarines after the embarrassing disclosure that German companies had allegedly supplied materials for Iraq's chemical weapons program.

Israeli military planners are reported to have already produced hundreds of nuclear weapons. The highly respected Jane's Intelligence Review reported last September that Israel had stored around 150 nuclear warheads and 50 Jericho II intermediate range missiles to carry them at Zachariah air force base southeast of Tel Aviv.

The London-based Jane's also estimated "that the Israeli arsenal may contain as many as 400 nuclear weapons with a total combined yield of 50 megatons." The Jericho missile, with a 4,800 km range and a payload capacity around 1 tonne, would be easily able to carry a hydrogen warhead.

A recent Pentagon study said Israel has also developed an air- launched cruise missile, the Popeye Turbo, that should be operational by 2002.

Israeli spokespersons claim they need the cruise missiles to combat a pre-emptive strike by Iran or any other Middle East nation that may acquire nuclear weapons.

However, Israeli intelligence estimates that it will be at least five to seven years before Iran will develop its own nuclear weapons and missiles with the range to reach Israel. Meanwhile Israel continues to produce and stock-pile nuclear weapons.

KEMEROVO, Russia - (Interfax) A new round of strikes and blockades of the Trans-Siberian railroad by Siberian miners lasted from July 3 to 19. Their unions demanded that a government commission led by Russian deputy prime minister Oleg Sysuyev travel to the Kuzbass region to work out a protocol on financial support for all 20 cities and towns in the region. The strike committee also demanded that overdue wages to all coal miners be paid immediately, as promised by the government after a two-week blockade of three rail lines last May. The miners freed the railway just before a meeting with Sysuyev.

Railroads in Adzhero-Sudzhensk and Yurga were blocked by protesting miners, who had allowed only a few freight trains to pass through the two stations. As of July 11, more than 30 cargo trains were stopped at the stations under the Kemerovo branch of the Western Siberian Railroad. The protest caused the Railroad Ministry losses of more than 15 million rubles.

Up to 100 Canadians are on their way to Havana this month, to take part in the First Cuba-Canada Meeting of Friendship and Solidarity. Participants will come from a wide range of groups such as work brigades and the Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association, with strong representation coming from Quebec.

The three-day gathering will open Aug. 17 with a cultural welcome performed by Cuban children and youth and a presentation on Cuba's current economic situation and perspectives. Working commissions will follow, dealing with topics such as social and political tourism, material aid, and coordination of Cuban solidarity work. Also on the agenda are presentations on the nature of human rights and democracy in Cuba and on the U.S. blockade, and meetings with Cuban families and Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. The final day will include inter- sectoral meetings with Cuban families and Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. The final day will include inter- sectoral meetings with the Federation of Cuban Women, trade unions, the Union of Young Communist, the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, and the ministry for foreign affairs.

Two days of tours will follow, to locations ranging from the Che Guevara memorial in Villa Clara province to the Jose Marti Steel Plant in Antillana de Acero.

The September issue of People's Voice will include a report from this important solidarity gathering.

    1998 has been a year of important victories and ongoing struggles to win
full equality and justice for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered
persons in Canada. The Pride events being organized across the country
are an occasion to celebrate advances in the struggle for social justice, legal
equality and democracy, and to reflect on the struggles that now lie ahead.
The Communist Party of Canada takes this opportunity to join the
celebration of Pride and reaffirm its full commitment to queer liberation.
 
    Long hard years of organizing and mobilization have led to
outstanding and crucial victories in the bourgeois legal system. The
Supreme Court ruling in Vriend versus Alberta forced the reactionary
Klein government to include prohibitions against discrimination based on
sexual orientation in the Individual Rights Protection Act in Alberta, while
the even more recent ruling of the Ontario Court of Appeals, in CUPE
and Rosenberg versus Canada, sets the stage for the extension of pension
benefits long denied to same-sex couples.
 
    Reactionary forces like the Reform Party, the Ontario Tory Party
and the Canada Family Action Coalition are now mobilizing to turn back
the clock, and to push bourgeois political parties even further to the right.
Their homophobic and transphobic agenda is part of a broad attack against
working people and the labour movement, one which serves the interests of
Big Business and transnational corporations who seek the destruction of
democratic rights and the gutting of social programs in their drive for
globalization and intensified exploitation.
 
    Homophobia and transphobia - like racism, sexism, and national
chauvinism - are weapons of hatred used by the ruling classes to divide
working people and to hold back struggles against oppression and
exploitation. The Communist Party dedicates itself wholeheartedly to
fighting homophobia and transphobia in all its manifestations and to the
struggle fe regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
 
    The struggle for queer liberation is entering a new stage. The
Communist Party of Canada believes that the key to advancing this struggle
lies in building a broad People's Coalition to fight for a genuine People's
Alternative to the neo-conservative political agenda of Big Business and the
transnational corporations. Such a movement must be based on unity
between labour and the popular movements among youth and students,
women, seniors, environmentalists, peace activists, farmers, aboriginal
people, immigrants, queers, and many others. With an effective action plan
to win mass support, such a coalition can step up the fight outside and
inside Parliament for a people's agenda.
 
    A People's Alternative should be centred on a policy of full
employment and higher wages, but it also must contain sweeping measures
to achieve greater social equality in Canadian society, especially for women
and seniors, whose gains are increasingly under attack; for young
Canadians who bear the brunt of high unemployment; and for people of
colour, immigrants, aboriginal peoples, queers, and other targets of the
scapegoating ideology of the ruling class and the ultra right.
 
    These and many other vital steps will be impossible without curbing
the transnationals, stopping privatization and deregulation, protecting the
environment, and defending Canadian sovereignty. That means scrapping
the Canada U.S. free trade pact, NAFTA and APEC, and blocking the
Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI). Achieving such a program
requires mobilization and solidarity by organized labour movement and
democratic forces. The Communist Party pledges to continue its efforts to
help build such a broad and powerful People's Coalition.
 
    The Communist Party believes that such a struggle can lead towards
full social emancipation and genuine people's power in a future socialist
Canada, where our economy will be socially owned and democratically
controlled. In such a society, it will finally be possible to eliminate
exploitation and oppression, achieve broader equity, defend our
sovereignty, and protect our environment.

Woodie Guthrie, the giant singer-songwriter figure of the American working class struggles of the 1930s, never lacked for lyrics. When the music ran dry he just poured new wine into old dustbowls. He was bound for glory and if he didn't get to see it himself, followers like Bob Dylan took the chords into Canaan.

Cut down by a debilitating disease, Guthrie faded for 15 years in a hospital as anti-communist hysteria worked full time to obscure and discredit his work and history. Yet as long as he could move a pencil the poems happened, even when the music behind them disappeared with Guthrie's death in 1967. He left behind hundreds of works without musical notation.

Located by Guthrie's daughter, Nora, the manuscripts were passed on to progressive activist Billy Bragg, who resurrected the treasure with researcher Jeff Tweady and his Wilco Band.

Filling in the musical blanks for Guthrie's words was no doubt a challenging endeavour. But Bragg and Wilco carry it off beautifully. Every tune sounds authentic without being hackneyed, old without being dated, especially the Wilco efforts, which have dirt in their finger-nails and a dusty realism that does justice.

    Is there humanity left in "humanity"? On the way over to the
Senator Restaurant I was pondering the question. A block away from
the rendez-vous I noticed two homeless asleep in a small bus
shelter. It had been raining last night. Belongings strewn on the
floor adorned their bodies. They looked like victims in a war after
a battle. Innocence showed on their sleeping faces, no older than
my sons or daughter.
 
    On one side of the bus shelter an ad urges "what good is a
home phone if you are not home?" Well, that is one ludicrous
question the homeless don't have to worry about. They are never
away from home; they just don't have one.
 
    It's hot - 31 degrees Centigrade and climbing. We group at the
old Salvation Army center at Victoria Street and Dundas East. It's
early, only eight protesters so far, enough to start an information
picket line.
 
    We turn the corner and there is the Senator, beside the
Salvation Army shelter they have been instrumental in closing.
Customers who pay $9.50 plus tax for a cheeseburger get upset when
they see hungry street people nearby. Maybe they are afraid they'll
get an irresistible urge to share that expensive cheeseburger? Idle
speculation.
 
    OCAP (the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty) has been
picketing the restaurant for over two weeks. We are having an
effect on the business, but the owner still refuses to contact city
councillor Kyle Rae, an NDPer who under pressure from local
businesses was the driving force behind the closure of the shelter
which threw 50 people back onto the streets.
 
    "Sir, Madam, we are asking you not to go inside. This place of
business has been involved in the closing of the shelter next
door." Some listen and leave. Others, using a variety of creative
excuses, go in anyway. Some, back stiffened with resolve, brush us
aside and march in.
 
    Our numbers have increased. We are now over twenty and more
are coming. The decision is taken to shut the place down completely
for the remaining time. "Nobody in, no one out." The chant grows
louder. A scuffle breaks out when a well dressed man tries to force
his way in. We lock arms and after a few minutes of pushing he
gives up and goes away.
 
    What is it about that $9.50 cheeseburger that provokes such
loyalty? Or are these "customers" members of the business community
who were also responsible for the dastardly deed? Most probably so.
 
    A middle age matron decides to run the line from behind. She
comes the door and whacks one of our people on the back of the
head. She makes it through, then returns a minute later to demand
an apology. Fat chance! They must be lacing that cheeseburger with
drugs, that might explain such unusual behaviour. Either that, or
these are "ringers," people from the business community.
 
    A man we had prevented earlier from entering shows up from
inside the restaurant. He declares that he is leaving, and that if
one of us wants to stop him, "I shall use violence." The brothers
and sisters let him through.
 
    I stopped him from walking away with a few words. "You know,
with my seven years experience in skid row as a bouncer, and also
the fact that I weigh 320 pounds, I don't think you stood a chance
if you had tried any violence." He stops. "Why don't we talk to
each other instead?"
 
    He is from the Islamic center nearby. He says: "You people
(I hate those words which don't acknowledge our common humanity)
had your chance to block this resolution when it was debated in
council." We pointed out that nobody had bothered to inform us
about it.
 
    Whatever. This is beside the point. The shelter has to be
reopened. There are 8,000 homeless in Mel's MegaCity; we do not
need to add to their numbers. This argument does not faze him. "Us
people" had a chance to debate the resolution then, now it is too
late, go home. I wonder: if his son or daughter or father or mother
were homeless out there in the streets, would he feel the same?
After a while he leaves. It is past one o'clock. Our lunch
picket is over. Two policemen appear and around the parking lot
five more were waiting.
 
    We leave, promising to come back if they do not reopen the
shelter. A good action. No arrests, no beatings on demonstrators,
and the message was given loud and clear. All gain, no pain. Boy,
is it ever hot these days in Ontario land!