(The following articles are from the Feb. 1-14/2004 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, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)  Martin caves to U.S. on missile defense PV Commentary Scrapping a long-standing policy of official Canadian opposition to expansion of the arms race into space, Paul Martin's government has told the US that Ottawa is ready to negotiate an agreement on "missile defence." The move was made in mid-January, in the face of a rising storm of protests. A letter to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from his Canadian counterpart, David Pratt, says Ottawa's new objective is to join other participants in the program. The decision surprised few, since Paul Martin has repeatedly called for stronger support for US foreign policy and closer relations with Washington. Key Martin backers in the big business world, in par;;ticular the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, have set out plans for "deep integration" with the United States, including steps to turn the Canadian military into a virtual adjunct of the US armed forces. Also known as "Star Wars 2," the project is touted as a plan to create a "shield" to protect the continental United States from ballistic missile attacks. In reality, no country has the intention or capacity to launch such attacks against North America, and most of the Pentagon's missile interceptor tests have been failures. Despite the "defence" rhetoric from President Bush and other US officials, Star Wars is widely seen as a key element in the "New American Century" drive for total military command of the land, oceans, air and space., An orbiting fleet of satellites with laser and nuclear capabilities would give the US the ultimate military high ground. In essence, "missile defence" is an offensive strategy to give Washington the ability to strike first against any potential opponent or rival. Most independent analysts also point out that this strategy will ratchet up the arms race, providing an incentive to other powers to build more missiles as a deterrent against potential US attacks. Not least, Star Wars, with its ultimate potential cost estimated at $1 trillion, will drain vast amounts of raw materials and human resources away from social programs, infrastructure development, and environmental protection, not just in the United States, but on a global scale. The project will, however, generate enormous profits for major weapons contractors. Responding to the announcement, Communist Party of Canada leader Miguel Figueroa called the Martin government's decision "an outrageous surrender of Canadian sovereignty and a body blow to the struggle to keep the arms race from spreading into outer space." "Defence Minister Pratt talks about a 'growing threat involving the proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction,'" said Figueroa. "But the only expanding military threat on our planet comes from the United States and its allies. It was the US and NATO which bombed Yugoslavia for eleven weeks in 1999, for example, and the US and Britain which invaded and occupied Iraq and killed thousands of civilians. The United States now spends more on military hardware than the rest of the planet combined. It is the United States which has the lion's share of weapons of mass destruction, and which is increasingly arrogant about using these weapons and threatening other countries." Figueroa also rejected the Martin government's argument that participation will give Canada a meaningful role in future deployment decisions. Pratt's news release announcing the decision claimed that participation "will allow Canada to have access to the information about missile defence that we will need to make a decision on participation." "This argument is just a fig lead for corporate interests which hope to win lucrative military contracts,," Figueroa said. "Everyone knows that all the key decisions will be made by the Pentagon and the White House." Former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy - one of many Liberals expressing dissatisfaction with their party's rapid shift further right - says participation in the project sacrifices Canada's reputation as a supporter of arms control. His view was bolstered by the revelation that Canada has agreed to enter into final negotiations on joining Star Wars 2 without guarantees that the project will never lead to placing weapons in space. Instead, the two countries will hold talks on current plans to create a land-and-sea-based system, while agreeing that any decision on weapons in space is more than a decade away. This will allow Canada to remain superficially opposed to weapons in space, while effectively backing the Pentagon's development of a new generation of space-based weapons. The decision on Canadian participation is not yet final, however. According to media reports, to move ahead on the Earth-based project, the federal government will first receive and study "top- secret information on U.S. plans. The government will then have to decide before the fall whether to officially join the project. But statements from Defence Minister Pratt indicate that the Liberals will not boycott the ballistic missile defence system (BMD) even if it led to weapons in space. Arguing that this prospect is at least a decade away, Pratt has shrugged off the potential consequences, saying "This is not an issue that this government will have to deal with, that the next government is going to have to deal with, or even the government after that." NDP leader Jack Layton has made the issue a prominent focus in recent weeks, stressing that U.S. documents and officials are quite open about plans to place missiles and other weapons in space. Layton has made strong efforts to build ties with peace movements, speaking at a range of anti-war events. Many Liberals also remain opposed to Martin's decision. MP Bonnie Brown, for example, said it would be naive to believe that Canada could stay out of BMD after entering into the final phase of talks. In a House of Commons vote last year, 38 Liberal MPs expressed reservations about BMD. "This betrayal of peace and sovereignty should become a key issue in the coming federal election," says Miguel Figueroa. Barring amendments to the Canada Elections Act in the parliamentary session which opens Feb. 2, the CPC will run over 50 candidates to keep its status as a registered party. (The Supreme Court has given the federal government until June 27, 2004, to remove Election Act provisions which require parties to nominate 50 candidates, but the Liberals show little sign of acting on this ruling before going to the polls.) "Our candidates will roast the Liberals and Stephen Harper's Conservatives over Star Wars at every all-candidate meeting," vowed Figueroa. "Paul Martin may think he can push through this grotesque and totally irresponsible surrender to Washington's militarist course without a fight, but the Canadian people oppose Star Wars in any form, and we will work to help ensure it emerges as a big issue in the campaign." (Back) (Home) Paul Robeson honoured on U.S. postage stamp Paul Leroy Robeson was the US working class' greatest voice. His outspoken activism against racism and imperialism made him one of the most beloved heroes of the international working class. His support of socialism, close relations with the Communist Party USA, and friendship with the Soviet Union also earned him the enmity of the U.S. ruling class. During the anti-Communist witch hunts spearheaded by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, Paul Robeson became a target for repression. He went from being arguably the most famous person in the world, to being erased from the history books. Now, after a six-year grassroots campaign, the United States Post Office is issuing a commemorative stamp in his honour, the 27th in its Black Heritage series. The campaign to have a Paul Robeson stamp issued began in 1997, one year before the centennial of his birth. The Chicago-based Paul Robeson 100th Birthday Committee started a petition, which they sent to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee. By the time they agreed to issue the stamp, the Birthday Committee had collected nearly 250,000 signatures. The campaign also did much to educate the American people about Robeson's life. Mark Rogovin, of the Paul Robeson 100th Birthday Committee, stated, "We had this idea about pushing for the stamp and we obtained contact from all over the United States in connection with the 100th birthday celebrations. Many thousands or even tens of thousands of signatures were gathered at Chicago's DuSable Museum of African American History. Every day, busloads of school children would visit the museum on field trips, learn about Robeson, and sign the petition." Paul Robeson was born in 1898 in Princeton, NJ. His father, a preacher, escaped slavery at the age of fifteen. His mother came from a family of Quakers who were involved in the movement to abolish slavery. A Renaissance man in every sense of the word, Paul Robeson excelled in each of the many fields in which he participated. He was only the third African-American to attend New Jersey's Rutgers University, where he received a four-year academic scholarship. Despite the racism that he was forced to endure, including opponents refusing to take the field against a team that included an African-American, he excelled in both academics and athletics. He played baseball, football, basketball and track. He won fifteen varsity letters, and was named to the All-American football team twice. He was the valedictorian of his graduating class in 1919, member of both Phi Beta Kappa and the Cap & Skull Honor Society. Robeson attended graduate school at Columbia Law School in New York City, supporting himself by playing professional football on weekends. However, the racism he encountered in his workplace made it impossible to perform his job. Instead, he turned to the performing arts. In a short time Robeson became a world-renowned singer and actor. he performed in numerous films, including Eugene O'Neill's Emperor Jones. he performed in the musical Showboat, where he first sang his trademark song Old Man River. In later years he would adapt the lyrics, most notable adding the line "I must keep fighting until I'm dying." The militant message Robeson brought to his art reflected his courage and his unwavering defiance in the face of oppression. He also proved his theatric abilities in Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, when he became only the second black actor to portray the character Othello on stage. Robeson also spoke and wrote in twenty different languages. His singing performances included not only spirituals and songs of the American working class, but also folk songs from different cultures around the world. Many people in the U.S. were for the first time exposed to Chinese, Spanish and Russian folk songs through the booming voice of Paul Robeson. He refused to perform in segregated concert halls, and made a point of keeping admission affordable for working people. In a speech given in Spain where Robeson was a volunteer performer during the Spanish Civil War, he asserted, "The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative." (Abridged from an article by Brandon Slattery, a working artist from Brooklyn, NY and a member of the National Council of the US Young Communist League.) (Back) (Home) Union leaders to open up 34th CPC Michel Parent, the president of CUPE Local 301, representing 8,000 Montreal blue collar city workers, will be the first special guest to speak at the 34th Communist Party of Canada Convention. He will speak on behalf of the Local 301 executive at the convention's opening session, on Thursday, Jan. 29. As surprising as it may look to some for a union leader to speak on behalf of his organisation at a Communist Party convention, Local 301 officials say that such participation is part of the mandate from their members to support the fightback movement and the development of left-oriented alternatives. CUPE Local 301 also recently agreed to purchase a regular bundle of 200 copies of La Voix du Peuple, and to buy advertising space. Local 301 has been known for a long time as a major left-oriented trade union. Its first president was a CPC member, Leo Lebrun, and one of the two buildings Local 301 owns is called the "Leo Lebrun Building". The Local was the initiator of the CLC call for a pan- American day of protest against the FTAA, and it was among the first unions to give support to Union of Progressive Forces (UFP) candidates. Right after Parent's speech, an official from the CNTU's Montreal Labour Council, another organisation playing a key role in the battle against the Charest government, will also address the CPC delegates. The CNTU Montreal Labour Council represents 80,000 workers in the greater Montreal area. Then Francois Cyr, the UFP national president, will speak. (Back) (Home)   Communist delegates head to Montreal Special to PV About fifty-five delegates from across Canada, plus alternates and observers, are heading to Montreal for the Communist Party's 34th Central Convention set for Jan. 29-Feb. 1. The event will be historic for several reasons. This will be the first time the CPC has held a central convention east of Ontario. The party's founding meeting was convened illegally in May 1921 in Guelph, and the 32nd Convention (1997) took place in Vancouver;; until now, the rest have been in Toronto. Delegates from outside Quebec are eagerly looking forward to seeing Montreal, a city with proud working class traditions, and home to the statue of Dr. Norman Bethune, who joined the CPC and led the first struggles for free, universal medicare. Just as significant, the 34th Convention will look to the future with optimism. For the first time since the Young Communist League broke up during the internal crisis which wracked the CPC in the early 1990s, YCL clubs are active in several communities. Starting with an initiative in British Columbia, the organization is reaching out to young revolutionaries across the country. Three YCL members are among the 12 delegates elected from B.C., and several others are travelling to the Convention. This development reflects a dramatic shift in the overall composition of the CPC since its 30th Convention in December 1992 put the party back on a revolutionary course. At that time, the largest section of the membership were seniors or near retirement, with only a handful under the age of 25. Since then, the party has seen some modest membership growth, starting in areas such as Manitoba and Quebec, and more recently in Alberta, Saskatchewan and some centres in BC and Ontario. While many veteran communists have since passed away, there has been an influx of youth and new members from the Indo-Canadian and other immigrant communities. The CPC is also gradually starting to rebuild its presence in the trade union movement, especially in Quebec. Two prominent labour activists will bring greetings from union organizations in the Montreal area to the opening session, and the president of the Union of Progressive Forces (Quebec's left political coalition) will also speak. Another positive sign of the Party's presence in key mass struggles is the number of municipal reform movement activists among the delegates, plus three elected school trustees. Several prominent anti-war activists have been elected as delegates, such as Manitoba CPC leader Darrell Rankin, an executive member of the Canadian Peace Alliance. Several international delegates will attend the convention, including representatives from the Communist Party USA, the Greek Communist Party, the Communist Party of Cuba, and the Popular Socialist Party of Mexico. A highlight of the weekend will be a lively Saturday evening banquet. Convention organizer Andre Parizeau, leader of the Parti Communiste du Québec (the CPC's Quebec wing), expects about 200 people at the banquet, which will feature cultural performances. The draft convention resolutions from the outgoing CPC leadership have sparked lively discussions at the club level and at recent provincial conventions which elected the delegates. As well as amending the resolutions and setting priorities in the coming period, delegates will elect a new Central Committee, and consider several changes to the Party's constitution. The previous CPC Convention, held in Toronto early in 2001, amended and adopted the party's new program, Canada's Future is Socialism. That important debate left little time for discussion on the CPC's current priorities and growth, which will be a key emphasis in Montreal. "Our party is on the move," says Figueroa. "We have won our battle to change the Election Act, we are winning young people to our ranks, and our influence in important people's movement is on the rise. This Convention will be a time to celebrate our hard-won gains, but even more, an occasion to plan our work through open, democratic debate. The Communist Party goes into this Convention knowing that we still face enormous challenges, but with a spirit of optimism that we've turned the corner towards a much larger Party and YCL." (Back) (Home)   PV Fund Drive to begin March 1 The annual People's Voice Fund Drive, with a target of $50,000 for 2004, will kick off in just a few weeks. The paper's Editorial Board has set March 1-May 15 as the dates for the Drive, and provincial targets will be announced in our next issue. "We need to get a quick start to this year's campaign," says PV Editor Kimball Cariou. "Everyone expects a federal election during April or May, and many of our readers and supporters will want to donate to the Communist Party or other progressive candidates at that time. So we need to raise as much as possible of our $50,000 target before Paul Martin goes to the polls." The Drive will begin with a direct mail appeal to subscribers, going out near the end of February. As always, early contributions will count towards provincial targets, so readers who can donate now are encouraged to send in your contribution. The value of May Day Greeting ads will also be included in provincial figures. Last year over $2,000 was raised in this way, the biggest amount since People's Voice was launched in March 1993. All organizations which have placed greetings in recent years will soon receive letters appealing for ads in this year's May Day issue,s and we encourage readers to ask union locals, anti-war groups, and other organizations for similar greetings. For more information on the Fund Drive, contact the PV Vancouver Bureau, at 604-255-2041, email pvoice@telus.net. (Back) (Home)   There is such a party With a federal election just around the corner, Canadian politics is going through big shifts. The takeover of the Progressive Conservatives by the hard-right Alliance gang has given big business a useful "alternative" to the Liberals. Some former Tories are now more comfortable in Paul Martin's party, which is rapidly shedding any claim to the political centre. That gives room for Jack Layton's NDP to appeal to Liberals and Tories who reject the neo-con siren song of complete surrender to corporate power and US dictates. These realignments, however, do nothing to give Canadians a genuine electoral alternative to the shift to the right in Parliament. There are many indications - from opinion surveys to the huge Dec. 11 protests by Quebec labour - that millions of Canadians desperately want to preserve and build upon the social gains won in past decades, from Medicare to social assistance to the right to free collective bargaining. The federal NDP has recently tacked a bit to the left, but this welcome development is tempered by the unwillingness of provincial NDP government to challenge the power of capital. It also remains to be seen whether the NDP will water down its platform to entice unhappy Liberals and Tories. However, another political party will campaign hard in the coming election for working class rights, democracy, equality and peace - the Communist Party. CPC candidates will hammer the betrayal of Canadian sovereignty and social programs by the big business parties. Even more important, the Communist Party will project a bold and realistic call for a People's Alternative to corporate rule, and for socialist solutions to the deepening problems of capitalism. A better world - and a better Canada - are possible and necessary. We can't win them without struggle. The Communist Party is committed to that struggle.... and to your future! (Back) (Home)   NFU calls for full BSE testing Testing for BSE would add less than a penny to the cost of a hamburger, says National Farmers' Union President Stewart Wells. In a January statement, Wells said this would restore consumer confidence in Canadian beef, re-open markets, and end the instability and uncertainty that grips Canadian cattle farmers. France and many other European Union countries test all cattle over 30 months of age for BSE. Cost estimates obtained by the NFU from a number of U.S. and European sources range from about 5 cents to 9 cents per pound of dressed meat, or about $30 to $55 per animal. Months before the December 2003 discovery of a BSE-infected cow in Washington state, the NFU had urged Prime Minister Chretien that Canada should learn from the European experience and test all cattle over 30 months of age for BSE. Cattle over 30 months of age represent less than 20% of cattle slaughtered each year in Canada and North America. "Paying even 9 cents per pound on 20% of our cattle works out to just 2 cents per pound overall, less than one penny per burger!" said Wells. "It is inconceivable that we would try to save that penny and put at risk the health of Canadians and the future of our family farms." (Back) (Home)   FARC demands release of Simon Trinidad Colombian guerrilla Commandant Simon Trinidad was arrested on Jan. 2 in Ecuador while finalizing details for a meeting with UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and his envoy James Lemoyne. With the capture of Trinidad, says the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the White House and the presidents of Ecuador and Colombia aimed to sabotage the high level encounter and efforts to liberate war prisoners, among them the former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancur. According to a Jan. 13 FARC-EP communique, "The role in this capture of security organs from United States and Colombia, in addition to constituting an insult to the sovereignty of Ecuador, reveals the existence of an alliance between Lucio Gutierrez, the fascist Uribe and the White House, within the frame of Plan Colombia, against the revolutionary leaders of our countries... "Simon Trinidad is an outstanding political cadre of FARC. In the peace process suspended two years ago he had a solid performance, first in the commission overseeing the agenda and later at the table of dialogue... "We make a call for solidarity with all the political prisoners of Colombia and to demand from the government of uribe to stop building barriers for the signing of an exchange or humanitarian accord with FARC enabling the liberation of war and political prisoners being held by both parties in which we include, of course, the name of Simon Trinidad." (Back) (Home)   Cuban biotechnology produces breakthrough vaccine By Susan Hurlich, Havana A new Cuban vaccine has been announced against the bacteria that causes meningitis and pneumonia primarily in children up to five years of age. The breakthrough vaccine, produces with an innovative technology jointly patented in 1999 by the University of Havana and the University of Ottawa, is also the world's first human vaccine with a synthetic antigen. At a recent international biotechnology conference in Havana, Dr. Vicente Verez Bencomo, head of the University of Havana's Synthetic Antigens Laboratory, said the new vaccine will become part of the country's national vaccination program as of January 1. The Cuban expert explained that the vaccine protects against Haemophilus influenza type b (or Hib), a bacteria that causes nearly 50% of all infections, some of which lead to deafness and mental retardation, in under five-year-olds worldwide. Annually, over 500,000 children die from Hib. "Only 2% of the world's children are currently protected against Hib", says Verez, who studied chemistry in the former Soviet Union and France. Before 1988, when conjugate Hib vaccines were first introduced, Hib disease was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in children in the U.S. By the early 1990s, a drastic reduction of over 95% was seen in the incidence of hib disease. But this vaccine, based on a complex process using fermentation of bacterial culture, was expensive to produce. It was virtually impossible to obtain for poorer countries, where most deaths from Hib are now found. In January 1999, Cuba began its first national Hib vaccination campaign, purchasing the expensive vaccine from overseas at a cost of US $3 per dosage. Partially because of this high cost, Cuba began searching for a low-cost alternative that could be produced on a large scale. But there are other reasons as well. As Verez says: "What could be more precious for society than to have healthy babies." Cuban biotechnology How is a poor, third world nation such as Cuba able to develop such a sophisticated vaccine? The answer is not hard to find. Since the 1959 revolution, the cornerstone of the country's social development has been education and health care. From the 1980s on, the Cuban government has invested well over US $1 billion to develop modern vaccine laboratories and an immense biotechnology complex. The results have been impressive: a meningitis meningococcus groups B and C vaccine, a Hepatitis B vaccine, the famous PPG which significantly reduces cholesterol levels, monoclonal antibodies that prevent the rejection of transplanted organs, recombinant interferon, and now a low-cost synthetic Hib vaccine. Today, Cuba exports pharmaceutical products to over 50 countries. Last year, annual sales totalled about US $30 million. Rather than functioning independently, Cuban biotech and pharmaceutical industries are part of the national health care system. With a focus on developing a national research capacity based on Cuban scientists and professionals, the first priority of biotech research is the domestic market, meaning that the Cuban people themselves directly benefit from the country's medico- scientific expertise. This concern with the well-being of the local population goes hand in hand with developing new medical products for export. The Cuban biotech industry is also an integrated system from research to post-marketing, and includes the development of spin-off companies such as Heber Biotec S.A., responsible for commercializing all pharmaceuticals both nationally and internationally. Finally, Cuba's biotech industry is characterized by national collaboration rather than individual competition. The development of the Hib vaccine is a case in point. "It's a collective achievement of the accumulated intelligence of our country," says Verez, explaining that to produce this vaccine involved over 300 investigators and technicians and several different Cuban biotech institutions. The Synthetic Antigens Lab worked on making the synthetic antigen, the Finlay Institute worked on the protein carrier, the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) joined the two compounds, and the National Centre for Bioproducts bottles the vaccine in dosage-size flasks which will be commercialized under the registered name of Quimi- Hib. Canadian collaboration Canadians played an essential role at a critical moment of the process. What is unique about the new Hib vaccine is that it's made with a chemically produced antigen. An antigen is the smallest substance that antibodies need to recognize so that they can trigger the immune system to take action. A vaccine produced from fermented bacterial cultures always carries the risk, however slight, of infection by the disease. But with a chemically-produced synthetic antigen, the immune system is fooled into thinking it's being hit by the actual bacteria and develops the necessary antibodies. This is the beauty of synthetic vaccines: they're completely safe. So why has it taken so long to produce a synthetic vaccine, especially when Cuba's Synthetic Antigens Lab was only one of about ten labs and companies worldwide which had succeeded in developing the Hib synthetic antigen? (Back) (Home)   Wal-Mart workers organize in Quebec Workers at a Wal-Mart store in Jonquière, Quebec, have chosen UFCW Local 503 to represent them. On Dec. 21, 2003, Local 503, affiliated with the Quebec Federation of Labour, filed an application for certification with the Quebec Labour Relations Commission (QLRC) to represent employees at the store located at 2420 René-Lévesque Blvd. in Jonquière, 200 km north of Quebec City. They are the first employees of the multinational chain to request a union in Quebec. "We are very proud of the determination of the Wal-Mart workers in Jonquiere and are happy that they have chosen UFCW Local 503 to represent them," said Marie-Josée Lemieux, president of the local. "We thank the employees of Wal-Mart who worked courageously to convince their co-workers to get a union so they could have the respect and working conditions they deserve." UFCW Canada's national director, Michael J. Fraser, said, "It's good news. Now we'll wait and see what happens at the Quebec labour commission, knowing that Wal-Mart will challenge the application in any way they can." Certification would make the Jonquière store the only unionized Wal-Mart outlet in North America. (Back) (Home)   The nuclear menace is alive and well Review by Steve Gilbert New Nuclear Danger: George W. Bush's Military-Industrial Complex, by Helen Caldicott, NY: New Press. ISBN 1-56584-740-7 Nuclear Danger? What nuclear danger? The cold war is over. Once in a while, though, I wonder what happened to all those hydrogen bombs the US and the Soviet Union used to make. Are they sitting around somewhere in mothballs? Dr. Helen Caldicott's recent book answers these questions, and her answers are enough to put readers into an acute state of nuclear panic. Caldicott reports that since the end of World War II the US has produced over 70,000 nuclear bombs, 1030 of which have been tested. The US now has about 2,000 intercontinental land-based bombs, 3,500 nuclear weapons in submarines and 1,750 in planes capable of reaching any country in the world. This makes a total of 7,250 functional bombs, some 2,500 of which could be launched at a moment's notice. The combined nuclear weapons of the world contain enough explosive power to kill everyone on earth 32 time. But that couldn't happen, could it? Caldicott thinks it could. It has almost happened several times. The most recent incident occurred on Jan. 25, 1995, when an American missile carrying scientific instruments was launched from Norway. Russian radar technicians thought the missile had been launched from a US submarine and contained a nuclear warhead. For the first time in history, Russian officials activated the secret computer system containing nuclear codes. President Boris Yeltsin had only three minutes in which to make a decision. When, at the last minute, the missile veered off course, Yeltsin recognized the mistake and World War III was once again postponed. Caldicott cites many factors which contribute to the danger of accidental nuclear war. As the result of the economic chaos resulting from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia';s early warning system, missile warning satellites and equipment controlling nuclear weapons are deteriorating and malfunctions are frequent. Comparable US systems are also vulnerable. In 1999 (portion indecipherable)... especially during a serious international crisis, they are likely to err on the side of caution, which could mean that something as benign as the launch of a weather satellite could actually trigger the annihilation of the planet." In the US, scientists continue the maintenance of stockpiled nuclear weapons under a project nicknamed Manhattan II. And, in violation of existing treaties, they also design and construct new nuclear weapons. Manhattan II employs some 25,000; people working in seven states, at a cost of five billion dollars per year, and rising. Who needs all these bombs, and why is the US making them? According to Caldicott, the nuclear arms industry needs the bombs, and they are being produced because weapons manufacturers dictate government policy. They do this by financing right-wing think tanks which produce editorials, TV news items and media releases designed to influence public opinion and guide legislation in directions which serve the interests of the military-industrial complex. These think tanks, in effect, act as advertising agencies to promote the interests of the arms industryu. As a result, billions of dollars are added each year to the military budget to pay for unnecessary weapons systems which benefit only their manufacturers. Caldicott supports her claims with impressive facts and statistics showing how specific individuals and corporations benefit from overproduction of arms. For instance, the most powerful military corporation in the world, Lockheed Martin, was created in 1993 by a series of corporate mergers. This $35 billion operation is the number one contractor for NASA and the pentagon. As a result of the mergers, Lockheed Martin received a taxpayer financed windfall of $1.2 billion, and CEO Norman Augustine personally received $8.2 million. In 2001, the Pentagon awarded Lockheed Martin a $200 billion contract to produce 3,000 F-35 joint strike fighter planes. Caldicott's chapters on Star Wars and National Missile Defense Systems are especially relevant. She points out that no foreign country is capable of reaching the US with an intercontinental ballistic missile. "Any country or person in the world" she writes, "could smuggle a nuclear, chemical, or biological weapon into the United States aboard a ship, in a suitcase, or in a small private plane - I would submit that first-strike winnable nuclear war is the real (secret?) agenda of Star Wars revitalization." She supports this claim with a detailed inventory of bizarre Buck Rogers space hardware now in production. Most of it is designed to be used for offense, rather than defense. For example: space-based killer lasers, hypersonic military space planes, antisatellite weapons, electronic jamming satellites, space-based killer lasers, hypersonic military space planes, antisatellite weapons, electronic jamming satellites, space-based nuclear weapons, orbiting nuclear reactors, nuclear reactors destined for the moon, asteroids and Mars. Dr. Helen Caldicott has been awarded honourary degrees by 19 universities and was named one of the Most Influential Women of the Twentieth Century by the Smithsonian Institute. She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and is the founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Today, with increasing pressure from weapons makers and politicians to resort to military force, her message is particularly timely and urgent. (Back) (Home)   PROFITEERS OF THE MONTH Five hundred channels and nothing to watch? Well, at least your Shaw Cable payments are making a few people happy, i.e. J.R. Shaw, the controlling shareholder of Western Canada's biggest cable empire, and his sons. Just before Christmas, Shaw Communications filed its annual pay disclosure with securities regulators. As executive chairman, J.R. (no relation to a fictional Dallas oil billionaire!) received $7 million in fiscal 2003, including a $6.3 million bonus. His son Jim, the chief executive officer, was paid $5.3 million, including a $4 million bonus. For some reason, senior vice-president Bradley Shaw received just $1.6 million. It's all necessary, of course. As the company states, "Others often seek to entice senior management of the corporation to work for competitors or others in the communications industry, as far afield as the United States and elsewhere." In other words, your cable bill keeps rising so that Shaw can "retain key management personnel." But over at the competition, Rogers Communications, Ted Rogers took home $2 million in fiscal 2002, and John Tory, who ran Rogers' cable division before his losing campaign for mayor or Toronto, earned $1.1 million in his last year on the job. In a perfect world - or even a slightly better one - the overpaid Shaw fat cats would give back a few of their millions to help restore local programming. But we aren't holding our breath waiting for that to happen. (Back) (Home)

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