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January 1-31, 2015
Volume 23 – Number 1 $1
Prolétaires de tous les pays, unissez-vous!
Otatoskewak ota kitaskinahk mamawestotan!
Workers of all lands, unite
1) AFTER THE PARIS ATTACKS: FAR RIGHT ON THE RISE
2) WE ARE NOT CHARLIE HEBDO - Editorial
3) THE RICH GET RICHER - AGAIN - Editorial
4) DENTIST MISOGYNY AT DALHOUSIE
5) BC FEDERATION ELECTS NEW LEADERSHIP
6) COMMUNIST PARTIES HOLD 16TH ANNUAL MEETING IN ECUADOR
7) A WIN-WIN AGREEMENT FOR THE PEOPLES OF CUBA, THE UNITED STATES, AND ALL OF THIS HEMISPHERE!
8) THE ETERNAL REBEL: THE CAMPAIGN TO GET MEWA SINGH RECOGNIZED AS A CANADIAN HERO
9) AFGHANISTAN WAR IS FAR FROM OVER
10) ONTARIO JUDGES DECLARE THAT "HOUSING IS NOT A HUMAN RIGHT"
11) THE INTERVIEW: CHEAP CULTURAL STEREOTYPES
13) ONTARIO COMMUNISTS LAUNCH RECRUITING DRIVE
PEOPLE'S VOICE JANUARY 1-31, 2015 (pdf)
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1) AFTER THE PARIS ATTACKS: FAR RIGHT ON THE RISE
By Adrien Welsh, PV correspondent in Paris
On January 8th, the weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was the target of an armed attack in Paris. The famous cartoonists Jean Cabut ("Cabu"), Georges Wolinsky and Stéphane Charbonnier, who both collaborated with the newspaper L'Humanité (historically linked to the French Communist Party) were among the victims.
This is the deadliest attack in France since 1961 when a bomb ‑ placed by the Secret Army Organization (OAS), an ultra‑right paramilitary group fighting to maintain French colonization over Algeria ‑ exploded under a train, killing 28 people.
It didn't take long for solidarity actions to be organized. Caricaturists around the world drew tributes. On the evening of the tragedy, thousands of people around France gathered to mourn, many holding the placard Je suis Charlie (I am Charlie).
Political declarations also came fast enough. President Francois Hollande called for "national unity", urging people to gather in the streets, and identifying a "direct, savage attempt to attack [France's] dearest republican principles, freedom of speech."
The Socialist Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, invited former President Nicolas Sarkozy and his rightist party UMP as well as other political formations to the "Republican March" on Sunday, January 11. Rallies that day gathered about 3.7 million people in total, of which 2 million in Paris, as most important political forces called people to the streets.
Sarkozy's Party also called for "national unity", saying that everybody "attached to the values of our Civilization, whatever their partisan choices are, have to be united against barbarism."
The ultra‑right and xenophobic Front National declared that jihadism is not only a question of foreign policy, but also "an internal threat". They were the first to use this tragedy as a political manoeuvre, calling for a referendum on the death penalty, stronger border controls, and a fight against the "decadence" of the French nationality. The FN did not participate in the Paris Republican March, which was attended by no less than 40 foreign heads of state, including Mariano Rajoy from Spain, David Cameron (UK), Matteo Renzi (Italy), and Angela Merkel (Germany). Also present were Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary (said by Amnesty International to be the one who killed freedom of the press in his country), Benjamin Netanyahou, who assassinated 17 journalists last summer, and the General Secretary of NATO.
Many countries issued solidarity declarations and demonstrations were held around the world in solidarity with the victims. On January 8, Stephen Harper declared that "the international jihadist movement has declared war", with the clear intention of using this tragedy to justify the latest imperialist war in Iraq. In an election year, this can only be beneficial for his Conservatives.
In France, the general feeling is that freedom of the press was attacked and that the people should therefore unite behind republican values. But a more critical analysis is needed.
Of course, this act needs to be firmly denounced. Islamo-fascist elements certainly have to be defeated through unity, but not through unity behind the ruling class which is, in many respects, responsible for what happened.
This tragedy has a lot to do with France's involvement in different imperialist wars (Mali, Libya, Iraq, Central African Republic, Afghanistan, etc.) and with the austerity policies implemented by governments which contribute to a general mood of social and economic distress, paving the way for the emergence of a more organized ultra‑right.
The Hollande government's role is particularly important in this affair. Since the beginning of its mandate, its goal has been to set the debate so that some fundamental issues are not discussed. This was the case when mobilizations against gay marriage paved the way for the ultra‑right. On the other side, the government attacked the labour movement through austerity measures even stronger than what the right could have accomplished.
This has to be understood in a completely electoral perspective: to win the next national elections in 2017, Hollande and the Socialist Party must ensure that they confront the ultra-right in the second round vote.
If we try to define who will benefit politically from the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Hollande is not in a bad position. With a popularity barely above 10% a few weeks ago, he managed to organize the biggest supportive rally in French history! Internationally, many top EU leaders were claiming that Hollande's "reforms" were going too slow; well, they all marched along with Hollande on Jan. 11!
The crowd marched behind the President and a big chunk of the G8, under the banner of "national unity", for the values of the republic, singing the national anthem, flags in hand and chanting slogans like "vive la France!", "liberté, égalité, fraternité", all of these being symbols generally associated with right‑wing rallies.
It was also shocking to see people with pacifist placards saying "no to arms", while French troops were killing people in Iraq. It will now be much more difficult to oppose the imperialist foreign policy. Also, while everybody keeps talking about these events, the government will have no problem adopting its new budget, which ironically includes extending the workday on Sundays. Had the attacks taken place a few months later, the crowd would probably be reduced, as more people would be working.
The general feeling of the people is that these attacks targetted freedom of the press. Analysing this more deeply, we can understand that the government wanted people to think this, more so than the spontaneous reaction. The first to set this tone was Prime Minister Valls who declared the attacks a stab at the heart of France.
But what happened was not just about a satirical weekly newspaper, which had a nasty editorial line dividing people through its extreme anti‑religious rhetoric. This was actually the fourth attack in about a month, along with others in Joué‑les‑Tours, Dijon and Nantes in the last week of December. Nor was the attack against Charlie Hebdo the only one by the Kouachi brothers and Amedy Coulibaly. It was just an attack perpetrated by a reactionary Islamist group, but the slogan of press freedom was used by the government as a useful propaganda tool.
The truth is that newspaper most often censored, and which suffered repeated attacks from ultra‑right groups, to a point that security militia had to be organized for its distribution in the 1970s-80s, is L'Humanité, the journal of the Communist Party.
Another important point is the strong international support for Charlie Hebdo. Literally thousands of people have rallied in cities around the world. Montréal's mayor, Denis Coderre, took part in one gathering, saying "tonight, we are all French". This certainly means that the tragedy will be replayed worldwide to further justify imperialist aggression.
By comparison, the war in Syria has killed 153 journalists to date, but they didn't get the same treatment as their colleagues from Charlie Hebdo. Probably because they were killed by the allies of imperialism against El‑Assad's government.
Of course, mourning the dead is important, as well as struggling for this to never happen again. But it is equally important to denounce the ruling class and the policies it implements to divide the working class.
What will happen in the next few months? Islamophobic feelings will divide the people, and this mobilization will be used as a pretext to increase the aggressiveness of French imperialism, to attack civil liberties, and to silence opposition. Ultimately, the ultra‑right will benefit.
Actually, this has already started. Valérie Pécresse, former Minister for Higher Education and Research under Sarkozy, has called for a French version of the Patriot Act. One day after the March, MPs voted for an internet censorship law which will allow the government to shut down websites without needing the approval of a judge. Several attacks against the Muslim community of France have already been perpetrated.
Of course, the world is amazed at how many people walked down the streets to Place de la Nation. But what is needed now is unity in action, unity in the struggle, unity against austerity measures and for a people's alternative, not unity behind those responsible for the wars, exploitation, and crises which foster the rise of the ultra‑right, fascism and islamism.
People's Voice Editorial
Sometimes people should just stay off a dangerous bandwagon. After the murders of Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, many politicians and media outlets are whipping up racism and hatred of Muslims. We have no sympathy for the despicable Paris killers. Nobody has the right to execute journalists for the supposed "crime" of mocking religion, let alone slaughter people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. But nor should elected leaders scapegoat entire religions for political advantage.
Unfortunately, the current tendency is to fan outrage over certain deaths, while ignoring others. Dozens of journalists are killed every year, often while exposing right-wing death squads and corrupt officials in countries such as Colombia, or reporting on armed conflicts, including 153 to date in Syria. Such deaths rarely hit the news in Canada. After all, the killings in Syria are mostly carried out by our brave allies, the armed gangs fighting the Assad government. (These brutal thugs are also our mortal enemies, but pay no attention to these sordid details.) Nor has Stephen Harper accused Colombia's fascist killers of "declaring war against civilization," since Canadian corporations have sizable investments in that country.
The truth is that dead journalists are sometimes quite useful as a pretext to scrap civil liberties and democratic rights, and boost spending on the military and police. That is the tragic fate of the Paris cartoonists. So excuse us for not joining the clamor to "defend western values." No, we are not Charlie Hebdo. But we will continue to demand: end NATO's wars, stop Israel's occupation of Palestine, reverse austerity policies and environmental destruction, and establish an independent Canadian foreign policy of peace and disarmament. Not least, we will keep resisting the Harper regime's strategy to suppress dissent through mass surveillance and the politics of fear.
3) THE RICH GET RICHER - AGAIN
People's Voice Editorial
Welcome to 2015. Unless you are Gerry Schwartz or another one of Canada's 100 highest paid CEOs, you actually have to work for a living. Or perhaps you are retired or a student, having worked all your life or hoping to land a decent job. In either case, Mr. Schwartz and his pals earned more before lunchtime on the first working day of January than you will during this entire year... on average, of course. If you have a higher‑paying job than most, it could take one of the top 100 until quitting time to match your 2015 income. On the other hand, a minimum wage earner was left in the dust by morning coffee break.
The annual CEO pay review published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) drives the corporate elite bonkers. It's not fair, whines the Fraser Institute: the CCPA counts stock options and other perks as compensation! Even worse, the CCPA leaves out lower-paid executives, who would drag the CEO average figures down to "reasonable" levels.
Oh, boo hoo. Mr. Schwartz was paid $87.9 million in 2013, but even Number 100 took home $4.14 million, an increase of 30% over the 2008 figure. Working people were smacked hard by the capitalist crisis of 2007‑08. But after an initial drop, pay for the top 100 soon rebounded to pre-crisis glory days, to an average $9.2 million, or 195 times the average Canadian income of $47,358. These big bosses "earned" 237 times the average salary of women employees, showing that some things really never change.
And here's another nugget to consider: 43 of the top 100 CEOs have a defined benefit pension plan worth an average of $1.39 million a year, and 75 received stock options as part of their 2013 pay package, worth an average of $3.16 million.
Yes, it's tough for the ultra‑rich when their wealth is exposed for the world to see. Before long, people will start talking about taxing the greedy, not the needy. Will the horror never end?
4) DENTIST MISOGYNY AT DALHOUSIE
By Nicole Hattie, Halifax
A widespread public outcry has been heard across Nova Scotia following news that 13 male Dalhousie Dentistry students were members of a self‑described "gentlemen's facebook page" used to discuss chauvinistic and misogynistic messages. The men engaged in a poll, which asked who they would like to "hate fuck," and discussed using chloroform to rape women. The results of the poll were posted on Dec. 6 - the 25th anniversary of the Montreal massacre.
The response by some people, like the Globe and Mail's Margaret Wente, has been to say that this was a "joke" and should not be taken as a direct attack on women. But many labour, community and women's groups sharply disagree. A protest of approximately 300 students, faculty and other people on Dalhousie's campus rallied against all forms of sexism and harassment, denouncing the university's approach as unacceptable.
Bowing somewhat to public pressure, Dalhousie president Richard Florizone later suspended the men from clinical duties at the Dalhousie clinic, saying the school is looking at many options and is not ruling out expulsions. Despite this, many continue to be outraged.
These violent sexualized acts of hate speech had reportedly been taking place months prior and the university was well aware. However, nothing was done about the issue until it went "viral" in the media. There had also been reports of a male professor showing sexualized videos in class that objectified women as a way in which to "wake the male students up."
The dentistry programme at Dal is, it appears, basically a sexist "old boys club" for the sons of Nova Scotia's well‑heeled elite.
The university unilaterally decreed a policy of restorative justice, despite objections from some of the women involved. They argued that Dalhousie has to also take into consideration the effect of these events on the broader public. Avalon, the sexual assault centre in Halifax Regional Municipality, called for more than a restorative justice approach to be taken into consideration, stressing that the men involved in the facebook page were still potentially to be given access to sedatives and clinical duties.
As a female student of the Dalhousie social work program, and a person who has worked for a women's centre as an outreach worker for a program that sought to fight back against sexual violence, I am not shocked that this sort of behaviour is alive and well. Furthermore, I am not shocked that the initial response of the president was to cover the school. The University administration had a choice that could have led in a direction that would both facilitate women to have a voice, and to set the precedent that Dalhousie does not and will not tolerate sexualized violence.
The misogyny at Dal comes on top of the federal Harper government continuing to refuse the ongoing call for a cross-anada inquiry into the thousands of missing and murdered Aboriginal women, and while Nova Scotia is still reeling the from the death of Rehtaeh Parsons. Today's "rape culture," sexual violence, the control and objectification of women's bodies, and oppressive patriarchal family structures, are all reinforced by the austerity budgets and neoliberal policies of the McNeil Liberal government.
Nova Scotia needs to make a sharp break with this direction and guarantee the full equality of all women. Taking meaningful action to end misogyny at Dal, as women's groups have proposed, as well as new policies on gender violence that do not re‑victimize women, enacting Jane Doe policies, expanding funding to gender centers and rape crisis support on campus and addressing transphobia would all be steps in the right direction.
So too would be pay equity, affordable student housing for women, affordable child care, getting more women into dentistry and other male-minated programmes, eliminating tuition fees for all students, and replacing loans with grants.
5) BC FEDERATION ELECTS NEW LEADERSHIP
By Peter Marcus, Vancouver
Late November saw the last convention of the B.C. Federation of Labour to be led by Jim Sinclair as President in his tenure of 15 years. The new contest leadership became the prime focus of the attending delegates.
In his final speech as President, Sinclair brought the house to its feet, condemning government attacks on health care, education and social services, tax cuts for big business and the rich, and the assault on workers and unions. He talked of the Federation's legacy over the last fifteen years of supporting workers inside or outside the house of labour, such as IKEA workers, teachers, North Shore Winter Club employees, the mushroom farm workers killed on the job by poison gas, women farmworkers killed in an unsafe van accident and a night gas station attendant murdered trying to stop a thief, leading to Grant's Law which was to protect such workers.
But the tone for the convention was set by the debate over a resolution to reject strategic voting in the next federal election, by supporting only the NDP in order to defeat the Stephen Harper Conservatives. Despite opposition from the majority of unions represented on the Executive Council, delegates narrowly voted in favour after three attempts.
Both NDP leaders, John Horgan (provincial) and Tom Mulcair (federal) spoke to the convention. They supported a child care campaign and the $15 an hour minimum wage (which was the focus of a lunch-hour rally), but neither spoke about more substantive issues, such as the demand for "living wage" jobs.
The convention also endorsed resolutions to oppose the Canadian European Trade Agreement (CETA), without mentioning NDP support of these so‑called trade agreements, which have caused massive job losses to the Canadian working class. The anti-strategic voting resolution gives a blank cheque to the NDP to do as it pleases once in office.
Many progressive resolutions were passed, mostly on social justice and labour issues, including one unanimously opposing Kinder Morgan's application to twin its pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, told delegates he would go to Burnaby Mountain to confront Kinder Morgan's test drilling for the pipeline. Chief Phillip was among those arrested, but the company later ended its drilling and all charges were dropped.
What was missing was any substantive element of class struggle. Most resolutions talked about lobbying, instead of engaging the working class and its allies with extra-parliamentary action. A good example was the Canada Pension Plan, which has not been improved through lobbying on its own. Instead, the Tories raised the age to receive Old Age Security to 67 years.
Another gaping hole was foreign policy issues, such as Canadian Armed Forces involvement in foreign wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Canadian support for the coup regime backed by fascists in Ukraine and for Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, and the "free trade" deals. One reason for the silence may be that the working class are focused on domestic struggles in Canada rather than the situation elsewhere, but the Mulcair NDP is expresses little difference with the government on these issues. Another area missed was the issue of nationalization of resources and banks. The discussions had a defensive tone around fighting privatization, contracting out and deregulation.
Irene Lanzinger, the Federation's Secretary-Treasurer over the past four years, won the presidential vote by just 57 votes over Amber Hochin, 1137 to 1080. Lanzinger was backed by several unions widely considered to be more militant or left-leaning, such as Unifor, Hospital Employees Union, CUPW, the BC Teachers Federation, and local labour councils. She becomes the first woman President of the BCFL, and the first teachers' union activist to lead a provincial labour federation in English-speaking Canada.
Since Lanzinger did not have a running mate, it had been expected that Hochin's fellow candidate Aaron Ekman would win the Secretary-Treasure position by acclamation. However, without campaigning, Howard Huntly of the ILWU (Longshore) union, was nominated from the floor and won a substantial 722 votes to Ekman's 1077.
The Hochin-kman alliance was supported by CUPE, BCGEU, Steelworkers and other unions identified more closely with the NDP rather than independent labour political strategies. They were sharply critical of the loss of union membership during Sinclair's tenure. But unlike Lanzinger, they did not link this trend to mass layoffs, operations closings, and attacks on unions by corporate employers, or to the government cuts, contracting out, and legislative changes which have made it harder for unions to organize.
Perhaps ironically, Hochin and Ekman campaigned as the candidates of change, yet had the support of several unions which backed Ken Georgetti last spring when the long-serving CLC President sought a sixth term. Irene Lanzinger, on the other hand, was backed by unions which supported Hassan Yussuff in his successful bid to become the new CLC President.
6) COMMUNIST PARTIES HOLD 16TH ANNUAL MEETING IN ECUADOR
By Drew Garvie, the Communist Party of Canada's representative at the 16th International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties
The 16th International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties (IMCWP) took place Nov. 13‑15, 2014 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Fifty-three Communist Parties from 44 different countries sent representatives.
The theme of the meeting was declared as "The role of Communist and Workers' Parties in the struggle against imperialism and capitalist exploitation ‑ which causes crises and wars and gives rise to fascist and reactionary forces. For workers' and peoples' rights and for national and social emancipation; for socialism".
The Communist Party of Ecuador was the host of this latest annual meeting of the international Communist movement. Guayaquil holds a special place in the struggles of Ecuador because of its militant history. After an independent revolt by the population of the city, Simon Bolivar and San Martin (the two great liberators of South America from Spanish colonial rule) decided to use the city as their only meeting place in 1822. The historical figure of Bolivar has become a symbol of independence from US imperialism in the 21st century, especially thanks to the "Bolivarian Revolution" in Venezuela.
In 1922, one hundred years after the famous anti‑colonial meeting, Guayaquil became the site of a massive general strike of great importance to the Ecuadorian labour movement. The strike was met with bloody state repression by the army and police, with the wealthy of the city also shooting at workers from their balconies. Thousands of strikers were slaughtered over a few short hours, their bodies thrown into the river. November 15th marked the 92nd anniversary of the "crosses above the water" massacre.
Delegates of the IMCWP accompanied hundreds of militants from the Communist Party of Ecuador in a march to the waterfront. The participating parties denounced ongoing repression against Communists, trade unionists and members of people's movements that is occurring around the world.
The meeting itself was an opportunity to share developments and analysis on the struggles of all the Parties present, and those which were unable to attend but sent greetings. The meeting highlighted the need for unity in action in the face of the capitalist economic crisis, which has led to an increase in imperialist aggression and the rise of fascist and reactionary forces.
to fight the turn by the ruling class of many countries towards war, austerity and the removal of democratic rights, the Communist Parties adopted plans for several joint actions. This includes the immediate need to fight for peace and against the new imperialist aggression in Iraq and Syria and "the manipulation of the so-alled fight against terrorism". The meeting acknowledged that the Islamic State and other "extreme reactionary groups" are "supported by imperialism and reactionary states".
Specifically on the question of militarism, the international Communist movement will denounce imperialist military bases and will also focus on NATO's "Trident Juncture 2015". This will be NATO's largest military exercise in 20 years, set to take place in October and November 2015 in Spain and Portugal. The meeting also highlighted the need for common action against the US and the EU's intervention in Ukraine and their support for fascism and anti-communism in that country, as well as increased aggression on the continent of Africa.
The Parties renewed their pledge to carry out solidarity work with Palestine, by organizing actions on the 29th of November, the United Nation's "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People". A solidarity visit to Palestine will also be organized by international Communist Parties.
With strong participation from Communist and Workers Parties from Latin America, the meeting discussed the struggle for sovereignty and the many victories achieved in this part of the world. Ricardo Patino, Ecuador's Foreign Minister, addressed the meeting and highlighted the government's removal of the US military base, and the renegotiation of the debt, saying that the current government "has the political will to confront imperialism".
In the statement on joint actions, the meeting condemned "imperialist impositions, interferences, and aggressions" in Latin America, and reaffirmed "solidarity with the struggles for the construction of socialism". The Parties present highlighted the important role of Socialist Cuba and planned to continue work to end the US blockade, and to counteract the war against Cuba carried out by the corporate media.
The joint actions planned for 2015 also include the integration of important upcoming anniversaries into the work of the Parties. This includes commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Fascism. The meeting pledged to highlight the role of the USSR and the Communist Parties in defeating Nazism, and to reinforce the struggle against the reactionary rewriting of history and whitewashing of fascism. This holds particular importance for democratic forces in Canada, who are fighting the Harper government's multi‑million dollar commitment to build a "monument to the victims of Communism", and Harper's role in supporting fascism in Ukraine. Last fall, Canada became one of only three countries in the world to vote against a recent UN resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism.
This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the victory of Vietnam against the United States. The meeting recognized the heroic struggle of the Vietnamese people and agreed to integrate the anniversary in the Parties' work for 2015.
Several international anti‑imperialist mass organizations have anniversaries this year that will be used by the Communist Parties to strengthen their work. The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF), and the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) are all commemorating 70 years since their founding, and the World Peace Council is celebrating its 65th anniversary. Parties also committed to mobilizing for May 1st, International Workers' Day, to support struggles "for the labour, social and democratic rights of workers".
There was a frank exchange on the different approaches to building socialism in the Parties' respective countries, which will be continued at future meetings. The "Working Group" consisting of several Communist Parties which coordinate these important meetings, has received an offer from the Communist Party, Turkey to host the upcoming 2015 meeting. It was also agreed that the Working Group and Communist Parties from Eastern Europe, would initiate a review of whether it is possible to host the 2017 meeting in a country from the ex‑USSR, in order to commemorate the centenary of the 1917 October Revolution.
The 16th IMCWP completed its work at a critical juncture for the Communist movement, full of new dangers and opportunities. The meeting was a success in developing unity in action amongst the Parties, and did its part to strengthen the international working class movement against war and reaction, and for socialism.
7) A WIN-WIN AGREEMENT FOR THE PEOPLES OF CUBA, THE UNITED STATES, AND ALL OF THIS HEMISPHERE!
Statement by the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Canada on the historic announcement of December 17, 2014 regarding the thaw in U.S.‑Cuba relations
The simultaneous statements by U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro Ruiz are of great historic significance. The comprehensive package of measures aimed at improving the economic, political and diplomatic relations between these two countries signals the beginning of the end to one of the darkest periods in the history of this hemisphere - the 50‑plus years of U.S. aggression and blockade against socialist Cuba and her people.
The negotiated agreement calls for the immediate mutual release of Alan Gross (convicted and imprisoned on the charge of espionage by a Cuban court in 2011) and the three remaining imprisoned members of the Cuban Five - Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero - who have been unjustly jailed in the U.S. since 1998. It also includes the release of another CIA spy held by Cuban authorities, and some other Cuban "political prisoners" at the request of the U.S.
The agreement also calls for the restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries, including the reopening of embassies in Washington and Havana; the easing of business and travel restrictions, making it easier for Americans to obtain licenses to do business in Cuba and to travel to the island; the removal of certain banking restrictions so that U.S. citizens can use credit and debit cards while in Cuba; and the scrapping of other trade, travel and investment irritants and sanctions imposed by the U.S. over more than a half a century. This settlement is a tremendous victory for the Cuban government and people, and for all those around the world who have fought for the release of the Cuban Five from U.S. jails for over 15 years. But it is also an important victory for the American people who have been prevented from visiting Cuba, from having people‑to‑people social and cultural exchanges, and from conducting trade and other business activities with Cuba due to the hostile and aggressive U.S. policy toward its southern neighbour.
It is also a major victory for the peoples of Latin America, and for progressive and democratic‑minded people around the world who have opposed the economic blockade of Cuba, and championed the cause of the Cuban Five. By opening the door to the full normalization of relations between these two countries, this agreement constitutes a victory for regional and world peace.
While unreservedly welcoming this agreement, the Communist Party of Canada notes that there are still powerful anti‑Cuban forces within U.S. ruling circles who have financed and organized terrorist actions against Cuba in the past, and who pose a serious threat to the normalization of relations today. This danger calls for the utmost vigilance by all those in Canada and around the world who support this historic advance toward peaceful reconciliation between the U.S. and Cuba.
We are also under no illusions that U.S. imperialism will abandon its efforts to overthrow the Cuban Revolution, restore capitalism, and return Cuba to its former neo‑colonial status as an obedient client‑state of Washington. It would be wrong to conclude that the US corporate and political elite - by conceding that the half‑century of economic blockade and subversion have failed to achieve these ends - have abandoned their main objectives of subduing Cuba; it only means that they will now change their tack.
The Communist Party of Canada will continue to stand with the Cuban people in their choice to build socialism on their island, and will oppose any and all threats or actions aimed at undermining the sovereign right of the Cuban people to determine their own future.
8) THE ETERNAL REBEL: THE CAMPAIGN TO GET MEWA SINGH RECOGNIZED AS A CANADIAN HERO
From Radical Desi Magazine, January 2015
When freelance journalist Gurwinder Singh Dhaliwal moved a motion at the BC Punjabi Press to seek support for a campaign to push authorities to recognize Mewa Singh as Canadian hero, he was met by immediate resistance from his own compatriots. After all, Mewa Singh remains a controversial figure in mainstream Canadian history.
Hanged a century ago for murdering Immigration Inspector William Hopkinson, Mewa Singh was a political activist who remains respected within the local South Asian community. For many he was the first South Asian martyr to meet the gallows in Canada, but the nature of the act he committed still bothers many who do not want to upset the establishment with such a demand.
It was in 2009 that Dhaliwal proposed to the press club that a campaign be started by the Punjabi media to get Mewa Singh recognized as Canadian hero. He was told outright by some hostile members that such a move would result in a backlash from the wider community.
However, Dhaliwal remained determined in his mission. As a radio broadcaster, he started holding a moment of silence on air by playing a sad tune at 7:30 am on the mornings of January 11 ‑ the day Mewa Singh was hanged in 1915. The person instrumental behind the initiative is an independent history researcher, Sohan Singh Pooni. It was he researched the exact date and timing of Mewa Singh's execution, and encouraged Punjabi radio stations to start holding the moment of silence. Dhaliwal took the lead, and this year, when the community marks the centenary of Mewa Singh's hanging, the murmurings for recognizing his sacrifice have almost turned into a chorus.
Mewa Singh was born in Amritsar, India in 1880. Like other South Asian immigrants, he moved to Canada for a better livelihood in 1906. He worked at a mill in New Westminster. Most immigrants had come to this part of the world as British subjects, as both India and Canada were British colonies back then. Rampant racism against the immigrants and the anti‑immigration policies of the Canadian government turned people like Mewa Singh into political activists.
He soon came in contact with supporters of the Ghadar Party, established in 1913 by South Asian radicals who saw the British occupation of their home country as the root cause behind their sufferings abroad. They realised that the British government never came to their rescue in any event of racial violence, and they could live with dignity only if their motherland was free. The Indian immigrants were neither allowed to bring in their families, nor allowed to vote. The idea was to discourage them from permanent settlement to "keep Canada white". The Ghadar Party activists resolved to launch an armed rebellion against the British government to liberate India, so that they could be treated with respect in foreign lands.
Mewa Singh helped in raising funds for Vancouver's first Sikh temple, which became a center of political activities in which non‑Sikh activists also freely participated. As the struggle against anti‑immigration laws continued, the Komagata Maru episode became a major turning point. A Japanese vessel carrying over 300 passengers from India were denied entry at Vancouver port under the discriminatory continuous journey law. The ship was forced to return on July 23, 1914. The current Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for the incident in 2008, and Canadian officials generally acknowledge that it was a wrong thing to do.
Mewa Singh and temple president Bhaag Singh tried to arrange arms to be transported to India for a future rebellion through passengers aboard the Komagata Maru. To make this happen they travelled to the US. But the plan did not work. Mewa Singh was arrested along with pistols and ammunition upon entering the Canadian border. Despite pressure from immigration authorities to testify against Bhaag Singh and other prominent Ghadar party leaders, he did not cooperate with the authorities. He was later released.
Following this episode, a fight between the pro‑establishment faction of the South Asian community and the radicals broke out. On September 5, 1914, Bela Singh ‑ who was penetrated into the community by the controversial Immigration Inspector William Hopkinson to spy on the activities of the Ghadar Party ‑ went inside the Sikh temple and shot at Bhaag Singh and many others. Bhaag Singh and Badan Singh succumbed to their injuries. Bhaag Singh had left behind his small daughter. His wife had already died.
This incident had a devastating impact on Mewa Singh. As Bela Singh was facing trial, Mewa Singh went to the courts on October 21 and shot Hopkinson dead. He courted arrest without any confrontation. During his trial, Mewa Singh remained determined and gave a powerful testimony in which he explained how the shooting inside the temple and the subsequent death of Bhaag Singh shook him to the core. He went on to suggest how racism was adversely affecting the lives of the immigrants, and the immigration officers were harassing the community and forcing everyone to bribe the authorities. He had no regrets for his action, and when he was taken to the scaffold on January 11, 1915, being a devout Sikh he chanted prayers. 400 Indians had gathered outside the New Westminster jail where he was hanged and raised slogans in support of Mewa Singh.
Dhaliwal believes that the simple facts of history suggest that Mewa Singh's act was the culmination of Canada's racist immigration policies. "Now when our Prime Minister has also apologized for the Komagata Maru incident, we need to revisit Mewa Singh's story and present the correct history to our kids. He will always remain a martyr for us. All we need to do is that his image should be rehabilitated in the mainstream history."
Dhaliwal has been raising this issue through his writings and public speeches. He points out that Louis Riel, a hero of the Métis resistance, was long viewed as a criminal. "If Riel can now be recognized as a respected figure in Canadian history, why can't Mewa Singh?"
He is not alone to raise this demand. Waryam Singh Sandhu, a renowned scholar and history writer, has been crisscrossing Canada with the same message. Wherever he goes, Sandhu reminds people that the Canada which now guarantees equal rights to immigrants and claims to be a human rights leader in the world was not the same a hundred years ago.
"All these privileges we are enjoying are an outcome of the struggle started by Mewa Singh," says Sandu. "Canada needs to recognize that these values were shared by Mewa Singh who sacrificed his life for a just society."
He points out that the right to vote, which was given back to Indian immigrants in Canada in 1947, and the privilege to bring families, were the result of tireless activism by men like Mewa Singh. "If Canada respects all these rights what is stopping them from recognizing him as a Canadian hero?"
Gurbaksh Singh Sanghera of the Shaheed Bhai Mewa Singh Society is soon going to launch a petition to get Mewa Singh recognized as a Canadian hero. "We plan to present this petition in the House of Commons through elected officials of our community. They must understand that they are in the parliament due to the efforts of Mewa Singh and his associates."
The Society has been organizing special prayers and vigils in memory of Mewa Singh for the past ten years and has produced and distributed T‑shirts bearing his picture to the community. Sanghera is currently trying to mobilize community groups for letters of support for an initiative to construct a memorial at the site of Mewa Singh's hanging in New Westminster. Naveen Girn, a young history researcher, is behind the initiative. He was the main force behind a marker that was installed at the site where the first Sikh temple was established by Mewa Singh and his comrades.
The Shaheed Mewa Singh Sports and Cultural Association is another group that organizes sports events in his memory, where the young winners are rewarded with free T‑Shirts bearing his picture.
"The idea is to generate interest for Mewa Singh and his contribution among the inquisitive members of the younger generation", explains Parminder Swaich, who is close to the group and has written articles for the souvenir brought out by the association. The two groups are unanimous in their demand for rectifying Mewa Singh's image in the history books and accept him as a Canadian hero.
However, independent community activist Parshottam Dosanjh holds a critical view. For him the recognitions and apologies mean nothing as "institutional racism" continues to prevail in Canada. The Harper government has tightened immigration and citizenship rules hitting hard at family reunions over the past several years.
Bill C24, which can be used to take away citizenship, has particularly evoked sharp reaction within the immigrant communities. "What's the point seeking such recognition from a right wing Conservative government which is bringing controversial immigration laws that might strip citizenship of people of foreign origin?," asks Dosanjh. "A government that continues to attack the rights of the immigrants and refugees cannot be expected to accept such a demand in the first place. Even if we assume that it does accept the demand, it becomes meaningless when we see its ongoing onslaught on the immigrants."
He also expects the activists to get over symbolic demands, and rather focus on real issues. "We need to keep Mewa Singh's struggle against oppression alive rather than wasting energy on seeking apologies for the past mistakes and recognition of historical wrongs."
Swaich agrees and says that Mewa Singh will always be known as a hero in the South Asian community, whether or not the Canadian government recognizes his contributions. "His action needs to be situated in a broader context of the history of racism in this country. Unfortunately, racism refuses to die despite the apology for the Komagata Maru incident by this government. It's unfortunate that immigrant communities and refugees continue to bear the brunt of the inhuman laws under a Prime Minister who had apologized for something that happened a century ago."
9) AFGHANISTAN WAR IS FAR FROM OVER
By T.J. Petrowski
After 13 years, the U.S. and NATO are announcing the end to combat missions in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of troops. But despite the symbolic flag‑lowering ceremony, the U.S.‑led war is in fact not ending, and the brutal war is set to continue through 2015. NATO is set to "transition" to a non‑combat, "Resolute Support" mission to assist the Afghan National Army in its operations, with 4,000 NATO troops to remain in Afghanistan into 2015.
President Obama has authorized 10,800 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan in 2015 (an increase of 1,000 from his May 2014 pledge to reduce troop levels), to resume combat operations against Afghan militants (including night raids by Special Operation soldiers, previously banned by former Afghan President Hamid Karzai), and aerial strikes. A senior American military officer was quoted saying that "the Air Force expects to use F‑16 fighters, B‑1B bombers and Predator and Reaper drones to go after the Taliban in 2015."
The continuation of combat operations comes after the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between the U.S. and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, a former U.S. citizen and World Bank employee. The highly controversial agreement allows for thousands of U.S. troops to remain for another decade and grants all U.S. service personnel immunity from prosecution under Afghan laws. Several massacres and unlawful acts were committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, including the murder of 16 civilians in Kandahar and footage of U.S. soldiers urinating on the dead bodies of Afghans and posing for photographs with dead civilians.
Imperialism has a long history of occupations and interference in Afghanistan. In the 1980s, the U.S. and its allies, through Pakistan, funded radical Islamic counterrevolutionaries, including bin Laden and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, fighting to topple the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), then implementing widespread social reforms that benefited millions of Afghans. These "freedom fighters," as former U.S. President Reagan described them, tortured teachers and activists, burnt down schools, poisoned children, and raped women.
After the PDPA was overthrown, the U.S. largely disengaged from Afghanistan, having accomplished its primary objective, and the various counterrevolutionary factions fought amongst themselves in a devastating civil war. The Taliban, an organization of Islamic students led by Mullah Mohammed Omar, defeated these factions and captured Kabul in 1996. The U.S., keen to see Afghanistan under strong central rule to allow a US‑led group to build a multi-billion‑dollar oil and gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to the Arabian Sea, indirectly supported the Taliban's rise to power through Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
The U.S.‑led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9/11 or bin Laden. The invasion was an imperialist war of resource plundering and transferring public wealth into private hands. The media went into a frenzy when the U.S. "discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan" in 2010. The New York Times even declared that Afghanistan could become "the Saudi Arabia of lithium," a mineral used in the manufacture of batteries. It is inconceivable that U.S. authorities weren't aware of Afghanistan's mineral wealth before the invasion; the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s confirmed the existence of enormous mineral reserves and produced "superb geological maps and reports that listed more than 1,400 mineral outcroppings, along with about 70 commercially viable deposits."
Prior to the invasion, opium cultivation was banned by the Taliban in collaboration with the United Nations, and by 2001 the crop had declined by 90% to 185 tonnes. After the U.S. invasion the opium crop skyrocketed under Hamid Karzai. The drug trade was an important source of covert funding for the Afghan counter-revolutionaries during the 1980s and 1990s and has long been under the control of the CIA. Mujahideen counterrevolutionaries forced Afghan peasants to plant opium, turning the Pakistan‑Afghanistan border areas into the world's top heroin producer, with the collaboration of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in Islamabad.
The money from the drug trade is laundered through banks and recycled as covert funds for intelligence agencies. Money laundering, according to the IMF, constitutes 2‑5% of the world's GDP, and a significant share of money laundering is linked to the trade in narcotics. Narcotics represents the third largest commodity after oil and arms, with powerful financial interests behind the trade. "From this standpoint, geopolitical and military control over the drug routes is as strategic as oil and oil pipelines," writes Professor Michel Chossudovsky.
Working people need to reject the various pretences used by Western imperialism to exploit the people and resources of other countries around the world.
10) ONTARIO JUDGES DECLARE THAT "HOUSING IS NOT A HUMAN RIGHT"
By Howard Tessler, Parkdale Club, Toronto
The first week of 2015 was bitterly cold in Toronto. The first week also saw the homeless population of the city decline ‑ not due to the housing policies of newly elected mayor, John Tory, or better affordability of rental housing. It dropped because two of Toronto's homeless froze to death.
Mayor Tory and his Public Health department argued about when an "extreme cold weather alert" should be announced, and by whom. Tory also announced that two additional warming centres would be opened. Activists in the Ontario Coalition against Poverty (OCAP) saw this as a partial victory for their activities and pressure.
Torontonians responded by holding a candle‑light vigil by the bus shelter where the first homeless man was found frozen to death.
And the Toronto Star editorialized that the deaths "seem less a problem of flawed policy and more an error in judgement on the part of public health authorities." (see "More flexibility is needed in issuing extreme cold weather alerts." January 8, 2015)
But it was indeed the policies of the federal, provincial, and municipal governments that killed those two men, as well as the 158 people who died in Toronto's shelters between between 2007 and 2013.
The vacancy rate in Toronto is 1.6%. A "healthy" vacancy rate, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), is 3%. Toronto's official unemployment rate for adults is 8.8% while youth unemployment stands at17.6%. The national average is 7% and 13.4% respectively.
Federal governments over the last 20 years made it harder to receive unemployment insurance. There is still no national housing strategy, drawing the condemnation of United Nations. On any given night, 235,000 people in Canada are homeless. In the next three to five years federal subsidies to non‑profit co‑op housing will end. Thousands of families living in rent‑geared‑to income units will face eviction.
Since the mid‑1990s Ontario has seen the ending of non‑profit co‑op housing, replacement of rent control with rent regulation, welfare rates cut by 22%, and the de‑funding of pro‑tenant housing advocacy groups.
In Toronto, there has been a steady increase in the numbers of people waiting for social housing. At the end of 2013 the waiting list for social housing was 77,109 households, up by 4,413 households over the previous year. Emergency shelter use has increased as well.
In 2010 housing advocates began a Charter challenge to the Supreme Court, arguing that homeless people's rights to equality, life, liberty and security of the person had been violated by a lack of affordable housing and cuts to social programs.
The federal and Ontario governments appealed to Ontario's Superior Court to block the case from going to Canada's highest court. The housing advocates brought experts to testify, and had 10,000 pages of studies and statistics to show exactly how the governments and their policies violated the human rights of hundreds of thousands of Canadians.
On September 8, 2013, a decision was reached. Mr. Justice Thomas Lederer did not disagree with any of the evidence brought forward by the homeless advocates. He acknowledged their facts. But he agreed with the governments lawyers. He said that human rights have nothing to do with economic security: "The Charter does nothing to provide assurance that we all share a right to a minimum standard of living."
It seemed that in Canada, housing is not a human right.
The homeless advocates went to Ontario's Court of Appeals, but on December 1, 2014, the court ruled against the homeless. Justice Gladys Pardu said that the case was political, not legal. The federal and provincial lawyers said "the Charter does not include a general right to housing or oblige governments to provide social assistance and housing support. Economic and social policies are political matters.."
The two men frozen to death on the streets of Toronto attest to the political and economic realities of life in Canada, and not to the weather.
11) THE INTERVIEW: CHEAP CULTURAL STEREOTYPES
By Chevy Phillips (updated from a commentary posted on the Rebel Youth blog, Dec. 21, 2014)
In late December, President Obama admonished Sony for cancelling the release of the Seth Rogen comedy, The Interview, as an "affront to free speech". Sony, for its part, claimed it had no choice since terrorist threats had been made against movie-goers. By January, The Interview had been released in theatres and online.
The government in Pyongyang has denied being behind the cyber-attack, which dumped emails, movie scripts, and other sundry confidential material on‑line and left Sony reeling. It has also denied with equal vehemence making terrorist threats against movie theatres.
Who is responsible?
Despite the FBI's certainty that North Korea was behind this whole affair, it's tough to prove either way. One may also question the likelihood of North Korea preparing to kill US civilians en masse for going to see the movie, since even one such attack would undoubtedly result in an unimaginably severe counter‑attack from the US. Would North Korea really put its very existence at stake over a film, however offensive? Besides, US media is constantly ridiculing the leadership of North Korea, and the North has no track record of either threatening or carrying out attacks against US civilians as a result.
We'll probably never know who the "Guardians of Peace" (GOP) actually are. Some discussion has even suggested it was a revenge attack by former Sony employees. In a recent development, as reported in Business Insider on Dec. 20, the GOP uploaded a video to Youtube (1) mocking the FBI and seeming to suggest the Feds were way off in attributing blame to North Korea. (2)
On Dec. 19, the BBC's Radio 4 news program PM featured a an IT security expert claiming there was "more evidence of Iraq having WMD than there was of North Korea being behind the Sony hack." (3)
Chinese media has also made a point of commenting. Global Times pointed out that, "The vicious mocking of Kim is only a result of senseless cultural arrogance", while also observing that the Chinese themselves were also not so long ago the targets of such mockery and opprobrium. (4)
The situation on the Korean peninsula has been tense for decades, including annual joint military exercises conducted by US forces and their southern Korean allies. The North feels these are little more than "invasion exercises," and fears nuclear annihilation should such an invasion be mounted. Nuclear threats against the North go back to the 1950s and General MacArthur's ravings about creating a "wasteland" in the north, right up to the modern day as seen in the memoirs of former CIA chief and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
The Korean War (1950‑53) was an extraordinarily destructive one, with up to three million Korean casualties, and included threats by the US‑led forces of chemical and nuclear attacks. (5)
Noted North Korea expert Bruce Cummings points out: "Napalm was invented at the end of the second world war. It became a major issue during the Vietnam war, brought to prominence by horrific photos of injured civilians. Yet far more napalm was dropped on Korea and with much more devastating effect, since the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had many more populous cities and urban industrial installations than North Vietnam.
"In a major strike on the industrial city of Hungnam on 31 July 1950, 500 tons of ordnance was delivered through clouds by radar; the flames rose 200‑300 feet into the air. The air force dropped 625 tons of bombs over North Korea on 12 August... By late August B‑29 formations were dropping 800 tons a day on the North. Much of it was pure napalm. From June to late October 1950, B‑29s unloaded 866,914 gallons of napalm. (6)
And this from the notorious USAF general, Curtis LeMay: "We went over there and fought the war and eventually burned down every town in North Korea anyway, someway or another, and some in South Korea too.... Over a period of three years or so, we killed off ‑ what ‑ twenty percent of the population of Korea as direct casualties of war, or from starvation and exposure?" (7)
The extraordinary loss of life and destructiveness of the US‑led campaign against the North has not been forgotten in Pyongyang. The North Koreans are often accused of being paranoid, but perhaps that's not surprising.
Let's imagine that the situation was reversed. Let's imagine a country like Iran, or perhaps the North Koreans themselves, had produced a blockbuster movie, complete with well‑known actors, about the assassination of President Obama. How would the US react? Would they accuse the offending movie (and state) of threatening peace and stability, and promoting terrorism? Such a reaction is not particularly hard to conceive.
We should therefore not be too surprised that North Korea has reacted badly to the prospect of The Interview. But we should also not assume that nation's government to automatically be behind the cyber‑attack on Sony. The latter does not necessarily follow from the former, and just about anyone (nation state or otherwise) with an interest in causing harm to Sony could now be using the North Korean's understandable anger as cover for their own machinations.
In light of all of this, perhaps it's not such a bad thing a movie depicting the assassination of a real life, currently-in-office, national leader in an extremely sensitive and possibly explosive region was pulled. However humorous it was intended to be, we can assume (probably safely) that the last thing the citizens of either the north or south of Korea want is aggravation of a long‑standing, bitter conflict that has cost so many lives. Feelings are likely to be the same in the nations surrounding Korea, particular China and Japan.
The principle of free speech has been invoked in the critical reaction to Sony's cancellation of the release, but this is misplaced. When the long‑standing possibility of war breaking out (again) on the Korean peninsula is concerned, keeping the peace and potentially saving millions of lives is far more important than a few laughs and cheap shots at cultural stereotypes. The world is not a poorer place as a result of one low‑brow comedy being consigned to "straight‑to‑DVD" release.
Endnotes
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiRacdl02w4
2. www.businessinsider.com/the-sony-hackers-just-pranked-the-fbi-2014-12
3. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v5xys
4. www.globaltimes.cn/content/897742.shtml
5. See Stephen Endicott and Edward Hagerman, "First victims of biological warfare," Le Monde diplomatique, English language edition, July 1999.
6. www.japanfocus.org/-Bruce-Cumings/2055
7. US Strategic Air Power 1948‑1962: Excerpts from an interview with Generals Curtis LeMay, Leon W. Johnson, David A. Burchinal, and Jack J. Catton. International Security #12, 1988.
12) MUSIC NOTES, by Wally Brooker
Rise Again: a Rise Up Singing sequel
Peter Blood and Annie Patterson created the popular group‑singing songbook Rise Up Singing in 1988. The compact 1200‑song anthology, originally published by Sing Out! Magazine, has sold more than a million copies, an impressive number considering that it's chock full of songs that express several centuries of peoples' struggles within the USA and around the world. Now, in response to popular demand, Blood and Patterson are releasing a second 1200‑song anthology called, appropriately enough, Rise Again. The new book, scheduled for publication next summer, continues the original concept of providing just words and chords (with illustrations by Patterson). Pete Seeger, who died in January 2014, was active in the project. He encouraged the authors, helped select the songs and contributed a preface. Seeger believed that people need to sing together and that this new edition (with more blues, country, rock & roll, and recent popular and indie songs) would carry on the work of Rise Up Singing. Check out the website. It's a valuable resource where you can listen to recordings of the songs. If you can help out, the authors are still accepting donations. For more info: www.riseupandsing.org.
Solidarity Notes on Burnaby Mountain
Not long ago I received a most inspiring musical video in the mail. It was the Solidarity Notes Labour Choir singing "We Won't Go" at the November 8th rally on Burnaby Mountain, where activists had gathered to defend the Coast Salish Territories. The Texas‑based energy infrastructure giant Kinder Morgan wants to expand its pipelines through this land, to carry oil from the tar sands to markets in the USA and Asia. If the plan goes ahead, every day an oil tanker will sail past Vancouver, Victoria and the Gulf Islands. Solidarity Notes is a group of activist singers founded in 2000 with the support of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, which is seeking to bring community activists and unionists together. Today it has more than 80 members. Its criteria for membership is simply a willingness to sing and a commitment to the principles of the labour and social justice movements. While they have some pretty impressive gigs in their resume, these folks mostly sing on picket lines, peace marches, demonstrations, memorials and social justice benefits. Look for "We Won't Go ‑ Solidarity Choir" on YouTube. Learn more at http://www.solidaritynotes.ca/.
Two new David Rovics releases
The outstanding radical singer‑songwriter David Rovics is so prolific that he's hard to keep up with. He's recorded more than thirty albums over the last eighteen years. His latest release is a double album: When I'm Elected President and Wayfaring Stranger. The former consists of new compositions, while the latter is a collection of covers. It's a fundraiser for what Rovics hopes will be an independent write‑in "David Rovics For President" campaign in 2016. Like all of his work it's both compassionate and militant. Highlights for me include Rovics' response to the glorification of World War I ("Neither King Nor Kaiser"), and his song for Michael Brown ("His Hands Were in the Air"). Another new Rovics album, Falasteen Habibti (roughly "Beloved Palestine"), is actually a compilation of previously released material, but it's more a revelation than a repackaging. The many fine songs Rovics has recorded over the years in tribute to the Palestinian struggle are brought together and carefully ordered to make listening to Falasteen Habibti a deeply engrossing experience. As always, Rovics displays impressive narrative skill, incisive political analysis and a keen sense of history. For more info: http://davidrovics.bandcamp.com/.
Musicians campaign for streaming $$$
A special conference of the International Federation of Musicians (IMF), held Nov. 20‑21 in Budapest, has endorsed a worldwide declaration calling for a more equitable share for musicians of online music service revenues. The motion was presented to the IMF by American Federation of Musicians President Ray Hair and Alan Willaert, AFM Vice‑President from Canada. The Budapest Declaration calls for a 50‑50 sharing of streaming revenues with record producers. The shift away from physical recordings and digital downloads to on‑demand service providers such as Sirius XM, Spotify and Pandora, has led to a drastic drop in royalty revenues for professional musicians. Last year U.S. superstar Taylor Swift withdrew her entire catalogue from streaming giant Spotify. In 2013 Radiohead's Thom Yorke did the same. Former Talking Head singer and music industry critic David Byrne has declared that the company is "not a viable business model for musicians". For more info: www.fim-musicians.org/budapest-declaration.
13) ONTARIO COMMUNISTS LAUNCH RECRUITING DRIVE
Across Ontario, clubs and activists are organizing to build the Communist Party in their cities, on campuses, in workplaces. In fact, Communists are fighting to change the world, and to build a strong revolutionary party, and a powerful labour and people's movement.
According to the CPC's Ontario Committee, change is in the air. There is an urgent demand for jobs, rising wages and living standards, affordable housing, strong universal and comprehensive social programs including Medicare, childcare, accessible post-secondary education, and a Canada Pension Plan that kicks in at age 60 and delivers benefits equivalent to a living wage.
People want action now on climate change. They want action on Aboriginal rights and land claims, and an inquiry into missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.
They want more democracy, not less, and more say over Canada's energy policy (penned by Big Oil), on our foreign policy (dictated by the US State Department, Big Oil and Harper), and national sovereignty (rapidly down the tube thanks to Harper, Big Oil, and free trade deals).
Unemployed workers and youth are tired of waiting for the good jobs, prosperity and opportunities promised by the Big Business parties during elections. The policies of austerity, unemployment, falling living standards and disappearing social and political rights, are universal to the Big Business parties ‑ and to those like the New Labour NDP who would like to join that exclusive club.
Politics are polarizing in Ontario, as the election campaigns in 2014 showed. The capitalist crisis has created openings on the far right for Tea Party politics like the Ford Brothers in Toronto City Hall. Other "mini‑Fords" in Ontario just waiting for an opportunity.
But these right‑wing politics have also created openings for the left, a new urgency for mass action in the labour movement. There is a new receptiveness to the Communist Party and its Prescription for a People's Recovery, its alternative of peace and development, and an anti‑monopoly, anti-imperialist, democratic people's coalition that puts people before profits and curbs corporate power.
The Communist Party's vote doubled in the 2014 provincial election, and recruits also doubled in 2014. Progressives are reaching left, and some are reaching out for the Communist Party and radical, fundamental change.
This winter, Ontario Communists are reaching out to welcome all those interested in finding out more about the Communist Party and socialism. Another world is possible, and this is the best place to fight for it ‑ and win it.
The CPC's new Central Organizer, Johan Boyden, will be in Ontario in January, and again in February for an important weekend.
Saturday, February 21, is a special night in a special weekend for new members who joined in 2014 and 2015, and those who brought them into the Party. This is the night we recognize them and their decision to join and build Canada's Party of Socialism.
This exclusive event is only for new members and for the Party builders who helped them decide to join. Tickets are available at the CPC Provincial Office, at 416‑469‑2446 or through Communist Party clubs in your area.
Come and join the Party! Another world is possible! We have a world to win!