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People’s Voice June 1-15, 2015
Volume 23 – Number 10 $1
1) ONTARIO LIBERALS SCHEME TO PRIVATIZE HYDRO ONE
3) STRIKING ONTARIO TEACHERS ORDERED BACK TO WORK
4) DELIVER A NEEDS-BASED FUNDING FORMULA FOR QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION
5) CORONER RULES SAWMILL DEATHS “ACCIDENTAL”
6) WHOPPER OF THE MONTH AWARD - Editorial
7) APARTHEID IS THE REAL HATE CRIME - Editorial
8) CONSERVATIVES PUSHING TO CRIMINALIZE ISRAELI BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN
9) IRAN: NUCLEAR “DEAL” A TIMID, IMPERFECT STEP IN A BETTER DIRECTION
10) CANADIAN TROOPS HAVE NO PLACE IN UKRAINE CONFLICT
11) FIGHTING CHEVRON IN WASHINGTON, DC
12) REAL, EXISTING CAPITALISM AND THE CHALLENGE FOR AN ALTERNATIVE
PEOPLE'S VOICE JUNE 1-15, 2015 (pdf)
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(The following articles are from the June 1-15, 2015, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
1) ONTARIO LIBERALS SCHEME TO PRIVATIZE HYDRO ONE
By Liz Rowley
The battle against privatization in Ontario is gathering steam as the Liberal government moves to sell Hydro One – the largest supplier of publicly owned and controlled electricity in North America. The privatization was hidden in the budget presented in April with little fanfare. The government knew the move would be unpopular, as the Harris Tories had tried to do the same thing in 2002, only to be forced to back off by an irate public.
So Premier Wynne proposed to sell off 60%, and “keep” 40%, claiming this would allow for public control of the utility, while “unlocking the value” tied up in Hydro One to pay for the government’s unfunded 10 year, $130 billion infrastructure program.
Indeed this is a valuable asset: debt-free, unencumbered with Ontario’s nuclear plants, and generating a tidy profit of $1 billion a year for the provincial treasury. It also produces a reliable stream of relatively cheap and reliable electricity for residents, industry, and business. So why sell it off?
The bankers - Don Drummond and Ed Clark - recommended the sell-off, in answer to Wynne’s request for proposals to restructure public services and assets, to pay for the infrastructure plan which was the centerpiece of the Liberals’ 2014 election platform. The plan could have been paid for by increasing the corporate tax rate, which is the lowest in the industrialized world, and much lower than the Great Lake states around Ontario. But the Liberals have committed to further reduce corporate taxes, while also eliminating the provincial deficit.
Just one thing is left to do: liquidate public services and assets, and reduce public sector jobs, wages, benefits and pensions. This fits with the government’s “big picture” austerity plans and the overarching goal to make government smaller.
The Liberals are currently attacking unionized public sector workers (and non-union workers as well), and have already sold off land and buildings in Toronto and other big cities. The privatized Service Ontario is now operating out of Canadian Tire stores. Public hospitals are being closed and replaced with P3 hospitals and private clinics. School closures ordered by the Liberals are also part of the picture, as School Boards are expected to use those assets in lieu of capital funding from the province, to repair and rebuild aging schools.
The sell-off of Hydro One is being described as the cornerstone of the Liberals’ privatization agenda. There are so many things wrong with this plan, it’s hard to know where to start. First is the loss of $1 billion a year in income to fund social programs and public services.
Second is the hand-over of a highly profitable crown corporation to the private sector, which will immediately turn it into a profitable cash cow and raise residential and industrial rates.
Third is the loss of control of electricity production in Ontario. The 2004 blackout due to private ownership and control of the US electrical grids, and Ontario’s reliance on those grids, should be enough reason by itself to keep Hydro public. Add in provincial Ombudsman Andre Marin’s report exposing massive over-billing problems, compounded by a massive cover-up in 2014, and the facts speak for themselves.
The issue of the public interest and control, which the Premier says are assured with 40% control, is another ruse by the Liberals. In fact, the public’s “representatives” need not be accountable to the government or the public. They could easily end up being bankers or corporate hedge fund managers whose interests are diametrically opposed to the public interest.
This is a very bad deal for Ontario. And the government knows it, so they are hurrying to push the budget Bill through the Legislature as quickly as possible.
The Electricity Coalition, which led the fight against the Harris Tories, is reconvening to fight this deal. The labour movement, Council of Canadians, the NDP and Communist Party, among many others, are mobilizing public opinion. These were the forces that stopped the Tories in 2002, and they can stop the Liberals in 2015.
One immediate battle is to force the government to hold public hearings, which will provide the opportunity to widely expose the folly of the privatization of Hydro, and provide more time to mobilize opposition.
For more information, contact the Communist Party (Ontario) at 416-469-2446 or www.communistpartyontario.ca.
By Johan Boyden, Montreal
In the early 1950s, Pierre Peladeau obtained a $1,500 loan from his mother – no small amount in those days – and turned around a failing publishing company. The son of a big timber capitalist who went broke in the ‘30s, Peladeau was a domineering businessman who brought British tabloid journalism to Quebec with its four S’s – Sexe, Sang, Sport et Spectacles (sex, blood, sport and superficial entertainment) – and built an empire controlling 40 per cent of Quebec media. Peladeau was politically a right-wing nationalist but kept in the shadows.
Not so for his son. Pierre Peladeau junior joined a Maoist outfit in Quebec during the 1970s, when added “Karl” with a K to his name. But the young Peladeau’s life as a class traitor was not for long.
The multi-millionaire, now known as “PKP,” was elected in May as the eighth leader of the Parti Québécois, winning the first round of voting with almost 60 per cent. PKP’s leadership signals more continuity than change but, of course, is somewhat divisive. While his wealth is by luck of birth, PKP is known as a successful capitalist, adding “respectability” to the nationalist project.
But to workers he is a hard boss. Since joining daddy at Quebecor, “Citizen Peladeau” (i.e. Citizen Kane) broke the record for lockouts in labour disputes and union busting. He also once owned the Sun media chain, thoroughly reactionary in content but also staunchly Canadian chauvinist.
If he has a more hands-on relationship with the editors of his Quebec publications, then he is directing through his Montreal and Quebec City tabloids a racist media campaign that for years has been trying to fuel hostility in the “reasonable accommodation” debate and inflame islamophobia. Their diatribes developed into the proposal for a “Quebec Charter of Values” – which would have effectively banned practising Muslim women from public sector employment.
The Charter backfired for the PQ in the last election, contributing to their defeat, along with the adoption of austerity policies.
These elements were not prominent in Peladeau’s prudent leadership campaign. A very “domesticated” PKP only committed to a softer charter. But showing his real face, he refused to change the labour code to restore anti-scab provisions requested by the trade unions.
In fact, PKP made the grand tour from right to left – “Pelagaugauche” – of the PQ’s broad nationalist tent. He rallied his party, demoralized after the 2014 Liberal landslide, with a bold call beyond just “sovereignty” and instead clearly championed independence. Unity of all forces to win independence - first above all other causes - a project “neither right, nor left, but now.”
It was a call that convinced singer Paul Piché and writer Jacques Lanctôt, whose leftist credentials date from the 1970s. The Steelworkers, while not supporting PKP, called on its members to support the PQ. André Parizeau`s group, ten years after acrimoniously parting from the Communist Party of Canada, also chose this moment to ditch Quebec Solidaire and demand “all-out for PKP.”
But the more class or socially-oriented voices like the Parti Communiste du Quebec and, generally, the vast majority of Quebec Solidaire, are critical of this approach. For the Parti Communiste, Quebec sovereignty is best realized through an equal and voluntary confederal republic enshrined in a new constitution with English-speaking Canada, which must also guarantee Aboriginal national rights, and includes the right of separation. But supporting PKP shows how the independentiste project is, just like Canadian nationalism, a form of class collaboration says the PCQ.
Polls show that some on the left will likely now vote QS and not PQ. But PKP`s victory has created a wave of renewed interest and support, mainly rushing out of the right-wing populist Coalition Avenir Québec of François Legault (who pioneered the Charter concept), and not Philippe Couillard’s ruling Liberals.
That party continues its calculated pro-austerity attack. The student movement is licking its wounds after this spring’s defeat, which continues with expulsions, injunctions and the threat of heavy-handed cops. Labour is planning strike action which will likely begin in the fall.
The Liberals are sly, and trying to isolate labour. They just negotiated a package deal with the province’s doctors. Pharmacists may be next, leaving only the workers without an agreement and vulnerable to a government decree.
But certainly all is not quiet on the united front. The tenant rights group FRAPRU recently hounded PM Harper and Couillard around town, and set up two tent occupations in Montreal for social housing. While quickly shut down, they pushed the issue into public debate. Mass public action with labour at the core is still the way forward.
Johan Boyden is the central organizer of the Communist Party of Canada, and a member of the National Committee of the Parti Communiste du Quebec. Pierre Fontaine helped with this article.
3) STRIKING ONTARIO TEACHERS ORDERED BACK TO WORK
PV Ontario Bureau
As People’s Voice went to press, the Ontario Liberals introduced back to work legislation on May 25, ordering striking secondary school teachers in three districts back into their classrooms. Education Minister Liz Sandals told media the government was responding to the declaration by the Education Relations Commission (E.C.) that the school year was at risk for students in the Durham, Rainbow and Peel Boards who have been out of school from 3 to 5 weeks. These Boards had jointly asked the Labour Board to rule the strikes “illegal”.
But teachers in the three districts are only some of the 180,000 secondary and elementary teachers and educational workers around the province who have been without a contract since August 2014. This was the contract imposed by the Liberals’ Bill 115 that cut $2 billion from wages and benefits – something no-one has forgotten.
In the 2015 budget, the Liberals proposed to remove another $500 million from education and to impose a wage freeze on teachers and educational workers. That’s the real reason why negotiations are going nowhere fast.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, the first of the education unions to strike, pointed a finger directly at the Liberal government, stating the employers are attempting to strip contracts with demands to increase class sizes and increase workloads. The government’s “net zero” bargaining strategy means cuts, and cuts mean poorer working conditions for educators - and poorer learning conditions for students.
Bigger class size also fits with the government’s orders to School Boards to close 600 schools across the province, and to limit public discussion and consultation with parents, students and communities. Larger class sizes and fewer schools also mean fewer teachers, and an altogether poorer quality education for students.
The NDP refused to give all-party support to the back-to-work Bill, noting the Liberals have a majority and can pass the Bill into law without NDP support. The Liberals responded with a dig, noting the NDP’s all-party support for legislation against striking TAC workers in 2009.
The Liberals may think they have outmaneuvered the teachers in bargaining so far, but this is only the first round. With the collapse of talks at the provincial level, the OSSTF will be in a position to initiate province-wide strike action which could start in early June, and re-start in September if serious bargaining doesn’t get underway shortly.
In the fall, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation will also be in a strike position, along with the French language teachers, Catholic Teachers, and support staff unions like CUPS and others.
Other unions in the Broader Public Sector who are covered by the wage freeze legislation will also be fighting contract strips and cuts, as the year rolls on. The Liberals may find the odds building against them, as McGuinty did, when he rolled the dice with teachers and educational workers.
The struggle for decent contracts, free collective bargaining and the right to strike in Ontario’s public sector is becoming increasingly broad-based and political. This is a struggle against austerity and for decent wages and living standards, and quality education, healthcare and services for all.
Teachers demonstrated at Queen's Park on May 14th, linking their fight for a fair contract with the fight for quality education for their students. "40 is a speed limit - not a class size" their signs read. The Premier might have carried such a sign herself when she protested Tory attacks on teachers and education in the 1990s.
4) DELIVER A NEEDS-BASED FUNDING FORMULA FOR QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION
Statement by Communist Party of Canada (Ontario), May 14, 2015
Premier Wynne promised to treat teachers and educators fairly when she cleaned up the mess from McGuinty’s despised Bill 115 in 2013. She promised to fight for students while a Trustee during the Mike Harris years, and in 2003 she was part of a Liberal government elected on a promise to deliver a needs-based funding formula for education. Since then a whole student cohort has passed through school on the Liberals’ watch with no new funding formula. She should have kept her word.
Instead, the Wynne government is sacrificing public education – students, staff and schools, to eliminate the $8.5 billion deficit they created with corporate tax cuts worth $19 billion and catastrophic reductions in the corporate tax rate. The Wynne government is also sacrificing hospitals, healthcare, cities, post-secondary education, jobs and services, because it refuses to raise corporate taxes to pay for its $130 billion infrastructure program. In fact the Liberals plan to drop the corporate tax rate even more.
The Liberal prescription for Ontario is austerity, privatization and attacks on labour and democratic rights as needed.
But Wynne had a choice. Instead of cuts and privatization, school closures and asset sales, she could have raised corporate income tax rates, restored the capital tax, repealed corporate tax cuts, collected deferred and unpaid corporate taxes, expanded the wealth tax, introduced an inheritance tax, and established a progressive tax system based on ability to pay.
Instead of attacking teachers and education workers, the Premier could have negotiated a fair provincial agreement, achieved settlements across the province, and kept schools open and operating through June, free of provincial pressure to close and/or sell upwards of 600 schools.
The whole public sector is affected by the Liberals’ wage freeze and “net zero” bargaining. Last month, workers at York University won a breakthrough agreement after a strike supported by many York students. U of T workers who struck at the same time, over the same issues are likely to get a similar settlement in arbitration. Today, secondary and elementary teachers and education workers are leading the fight to maintain quality public education in schools across the province.
The public will not support government attempts to increase class sizes and close schools to cut costs. Students are not widgets on a production line, and schools are not factories. With unity and solidarity, this is a struggle that can be won.
We call on the labour and democratic movements and all those who support free collective bargaining and universal, quality public education to condemn back to work legislation and demand the provincial government and School Boards negotiate in good faith. We demand the Wynne government stop the cuts and school closures and deliver the needs-based funding formula for public education promised in 2003. It’s the Liberals’ failure to deliver this funding formula that is at the heart of this made-in-Queen’s-Park crisis.
We salute teachers and education workers on the line to protect and enhance public education today. We will do everything we can to mobilize solidarity and support across Ontario.
5) CORONER RULES SAWMILL DEATHS “ACCIDENTAL”
PV Vancouver Bureau
A coroner's inquest has ruled the April 2012 deaths of two men at the Lakeland Mills explosion in Prince George, B.C, as accidental. The May 14 ruling includes 33 recommendations aimed at improving workplace safety.
In April 2012, Glenn Roche and Allan Little died when the Lakeland Mills exploded. Another 24 workers were injured. The inquest recommended a review of emergency response and ambulance procedures, penalties for non-compliance with the B.C. fire code, and improvements to the way in which workplace deaths are investigated and prosecuted.
Stephen Hunt, Director of the United Steelworkers District 3, released the following statement: "We are pleased with a number of recommendations that affirm actions that our union has been calling for, specifically an emphasis on the rights of workers - including the right to refuse unsafe work - and training for police on investigations of criminal negligence in workplace deaths. The recommendations also underscore the need for a public inquiry into the sawmill explosions to deliver on the promised accountability and justice for victims and their families. The Premier made that commitment; despite the fact that by its very nature an inquest is unable to provide it. A glaring example is the failure of the Inquest to assess the flawed investigation by WorkSafeBC and why the agency did not enforce safety regulations. There are now even more outstanding questions that need to be answered... This has been very hard on the families who lost loved ones, and at the very least, they deserve to see the Premier to live up to her government's commitment of justice for victims."
Irene Lanzinger, President of the BC Federation of Labour, said that she was “pleased to see some strong directives regarding strengthening joint health and safety committees and reinforcing workers’ rights, including full and meaningful participation in incident investigations. In addition, recommendations regarding enhanced capacity to pursue criminal negligence charges in cases of workplace serious injury and death are essential. The BC Federation of Labour, along with the United Steelworkers, has long demanded that negligent employers be held accountable.
“However, there remain some glaring holes in the recommendations coming from this inquest. The BC Federation of Labour continues to insist that the systemic issues within WCB and the need for more prescriptive regulations must be fully examined, and that requires a full public inquiry. The mandate of the Coroner’s Inquest, as a strictly fact-finding process, is too restrictive to achieve this.”
Commenting at the time on the sawmill explosions at Lakeland and Burns Lake (where two more workers died) People’s Voice pointed to broader concerns about the potentially deadly impacts of over-cutting and climate change.
That article said, “Faced with a drastic shortage of fibre to supply mills, the provincial government has encouraged companies to harvest beetle-infected trees before they crumble into stumps. Workers and industry analysts say that processing these trees creates a finer form of sawdust, with far more potential for the type of explosions which destroyed mills in Burns Lake and Prince George. In other words, the scramble for corporate profits which began over a century ago probably set in motion a series of policy decisions which are killing today's millworkers. Several immediate measures must be taken to end this slaughter, starting with the installation of more effective technology to remove sawdust from the workplace. An end to the shocking export of high-quality logs from British Columbia would save jobs and make the mills safer. There are also unanswered questions about the effect of speed-up on the type of dust created in sawmills.”
People’s Voice Editorial
As a working class publication, we were intrigued to receive an email with the subject line “Release from Working Canadians”, announcing the launch of radio ads highlighting Justin Trudeau’s “inability to relate to and stand up for ordinary working Canadians.” Suffice it to say that the “evidence” for this charge is that the Liberal leader fails to support Stephen Harper’s tax breaks designed mainly to benefit upper-income families where one parent (guess who?) stays at home.
Justin Trudeau is indeed a third-generation multi-millionaire, and his party certainly won’t be endorsed here. But the real story behind “Working Canadians” should be known to every activist in the labour and democratic movements as we head towards the Oct. 19 federal election.
Oddly enough, this new organization is fronted by a spokesperson named Catherine Swift, who can be interviewed by contacting Gisele Lumsden. According to the website, “Working Canadians” are “ volunteer individuals concerned that union leaders have too much influence over government... they drive up taxes, debt and deficits and make it harder for people and businesses to get ahead and create jobs.” Those who sort through hundreds of emails every day may recognize these names as current or former staffers for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, a prominent anti-union lobby group. To give just one example, the CFIB recently urged the federal government to slash wages and benefits for public sector employees by $20 billion per year, an average pay cut of $8,150. Enough said.
A phone call to “Working Canadians” confirms that Lumsden is still on the CFIB payroll (part-time), while Swift has retired from the CFIB. But this new organization, they say, is run by volunteers. That may well be so at the moment. However, while they masquerade as “working folk,” this group actually speaks for a very different category of the population: right-wing business owners, not “ordinary working Canadians.” Don’t be fooled!
7) APARTHEID IS THE REAL HATE CRIME
People’s Voice Editorial
The Conservative government keeps escalating its threats to criminalize solidarity with the Palestinian people, such as by classifying support for the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid as “hate speech” or even potentially as terrorism under the terms of police state Bill C-51. It remains to be seen whether these threats will result in specific legislation or perhaps criminal charges under current Canadian laws, but the immediate effect is to create a “free speech chill,” discouraging participation in the BDS movements. The unfortunate fact that the NDP, Liberal and Green parties all to varying degrees oppose the boycott campaign reinforces the attempt by the Tories to impose a so-called “zero tolerance” strategy.
But what is the real hate crime in this situation? A new World Bank economic update notes that Israeli blockades and wars have strangled Gaza's economy, creating an unemployment rate of 43% (the highest in the world), and over 60% among youth. The Israeli blockade in place since 2007 has shaved around 50 percent off Gaza’s GDP. Exports have virtually disappeared and the manufacturing sector has shrunk by 60 percent. Gaza’s population of 1.8 million suffers from poor access and quality of basic services such as electricity, water, and sewerage. Most are confined to an area of 160 square kilometres, unable to travel outside without Israeli permits. Well over one-third of Gaza’s children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The conclusion is inescapable. Israel’s official policies constitute a new form of apartheid, as veterans of the South African liberation struggle have pointed out for many years. The true criminals are those who impose this racist system on the Palestinian people - and their backers who justify such appalling racism, including politicians in Canada.
8) CONSERVATIVES PUSHING TO CRIMINALIZE ISRAELI BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN
By Kimball Cariou, Vancouver
The Harper government is signalling its intent to crack down against the movement for Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. But it remains to be seen whether criminal penalties will be imposed against BDS activists before the October 19 federal election.
This controversy has been building up for several years, as the Conservatives make Canada the most vocal international supporter for Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands. PM Harper and his cabinet ministers have become increasingly shrill in their backing for the policies of the Netanyahu government. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is moving in the opposite direction, in support of full Palestinian statehood, and recognizing that Israel’s racist policies resemble the apartheid system created by the minority white South African regime which held power until 1993. Last month, 16 European foreign ministers denounced the "expansion of Israeli illegal settlements in the Occupied Territories," demanding that any imported goods originating in the settlements be distinctly labelled.
Here in Canada, there is rising support for the Palestinian cause, particularly in the wake of Israel’s bloody military assaults against Gaza, the growth of settler communities on expropriated Palestinian areas, and the “apartheid wall” which slices the shrinking Palestinian areas of the West Bank into ever tinier, unsustainable chunks.
The Harper Tories have condemned public opposition to these racist policies as “hate speech.” The Conservatives and their allies (and many leading Liberals and NDPers) have spoken out strongly against campus events to mark the annual Anti-Israeli Apartheid week, and in particular against the BDS campaign which was begun in 2006 at the request of Palestinian non-governmental organizations.
Last January, in one of his final actions before jumping Harper’s ship to begin a new life in the corporate sector, Canada's previous foreign affairs minister, John Baird, signed a "memorandum of understanding" with Israeli authorities in Jerusalem. The MOU pledged to combat the BDS movement, which it calls "the new face of anti-Semitism."
Speaking a few days later at the United Nations, Canada’s Public Security Minister, Steven Blaney (the official cabinet point person on Bill C-51), claimed that boycotts of Israel were the same as anti-Jewish hate speech and violence, such as the terrorist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket in Paris. Blaney said the Harper government was taking a "zero tolerance" approach to BDS.
Not surprisingly, since Blaney is responsible for federal law enforcement, his speech set off alarm bells among groups that support the BDS campaign or specific boycotts as a tactic to oppose Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Many pointed out a change last year to the Criminal Code definition of hate speech, adding the criterion of "national origin" to race and religion.
Micheal Vonn, a lawyer for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, says the expanded definition is clearly "a tool to go after critics of Israel." Civil liberties groups argue that boycotts are a long-recognized type of political expression, and therefore a constitutionally protected form of free speech.
Bill C-51 added to the tensions, with its extremely broad definition of terrorism, including “undermining” the national security of another country - a term which in the current political context many activists understood as a reference to Israel.
On May 11, senior CBC News Washington correspondent Neil Macdonald reported that the Conservatives were preparing to use hate crime laws against advocacy groups that encourage boycotts of Israel. While the government has disputed Macdonald’s report, a clear pattern has been emerging.
The federal government does have the authority to assign priorities to the RCMP, such as pursuing certain types of hate speech. Blaney’s aide Josee Sirois wrote to CBC News, pointing out that provisions in the Criminal Code criminalize the promotion of hatred against an identifiable group, including any section of the public distinguished by "among other characteristics, religion or national or ethnic origin."
However, any resulting prosecution would require an assent from a provincial attorney general, and would undoubtedly face a legal challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Moreover, Parliament will soon break for the summer and the fall election campaign, making it difficult to bring in specific legislation on this topic.
Still, this does not mean BDS supporters (including this newspaper) have nothing to fear in future, especially since the federal Liberal and NDP leaders also oppose BDS. Even Andrew Weaver, the BC Green Party MLA, recently denounced a pro-boycott billboard on Vancouver Island as “hate speech.” (See the May 16-31 PV for details, including a photo.)
Speaking to the media, Tyler Levitan, a spokesman for Independent Jewish Voices, one of the most prominent pro-BDS organizations in Canada, rejected the “hate propaganda” label, and pointed out that BDS is a passive and non-violent movement against complicity in Israeli policies.
At this point, it appears that none of the major parties will oppose the Conservative push to criminalize support for the BDS campaign. It will be up to the Communist Party’s candidates and those of some other smaller parties to stand up for free speech, including the right to criticize the racist policies of the zionist Israeli state.
9) IRAN: NUCLEAR “DEAL” A TIMID, IMPERFECT STEP IN A BETTER DIRECTION
By Dave McKee
The recently-concluded Joint Plan of Action (JPA) nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 countries (US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany) represents a positive step on a number of levels. At the same time, however, the agreement is extremely limited and fails to address many key issues. It is crucial that the peace movement renew its longstanding effort to achieve global, comprehensive nuclear disarmament and the abolition of all nuclear weapons, as a key factor in building genuine and lasting peace.
The Iran/P5+1 deal demonstrates that an effort based on diplomacy and transparency can achieve positive results. This stands in obvious contrast to the longstanding approach taken by the US and its allies in NATO and Israel – military buildup, provocation, interference and outright aggression – which have only yielded death, destruction and instability.
The JPA helps to defuse regional tensions and relieve Iran’s isolation within much of the international community. Of immediate importance for the Iranian people, the deal promises to eliminate many of the harsh, decade-long economic sanctions that have helped cripple their country’s economy.
Significantly, the negotiations and outcome have drawn increased international attention to the question of nuclear disarmament. This is an important, and hopefully lasting, development. Since the end of the Cold War, the focus on disarmament has severely diminished. Furthermore, much of the ongoing discussion has been dominated by a sweeping mish mash of analysis that lumps all states as having equal responsibility with the US and NATO for nuclear proliferation. As the JPA continues to be analyzed, it is possible – even likely – that clearer, anti-imperialist positions will attract more attention, and this will help the broad peace movement to develop strategies for stronger disarmament campaigning.
With all of this in mind, it is critical to note that the Joint Plan of Action remains a timid and imperfect step that will quickly fail to live up to its promise if it is left to its own devices. The deal is scheduled to be in effect for six months, while the parties negotiate a “comprehensive agreement” on Iran’s nuclear program. However, there is no guaranteed timeline for the elimination of sanctions, nor a clear agreement on which sanctions will be lifted and which may be continued. The fact that officials from Iran and the US are referencing and circulating different versions of the agreement indicates that they remain far apart on what the JPA allows and requires.
Far from setting the stage for a comprehensive agreement, the JPA avoids the key issues that drive instability, militarization and nuclear proliferation in the Middle East region. There is no discussion of the role of Israel, an aggressive ally of the US that possesses nuclear weapons but has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. This is rather perverse, given that the JPA’s focus – Iran – is a signatory to the NPT and does not, in fact, possess a nuclear weapon.
Similarly, the JPA does not discuss the issues of military buildup in the region by the US and its allies, foreign interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign states, or any of the main aspects of imperialism’s New Middle East strategy. As a result, the JPA avoids engaging the fundamentals of the overall confrontation between the US and Iran. In so doing, the agreement actually allows these key issues to continue to build and become a greater threat to Iran, the region and beyond.
To emphasize this point, only one month after inking the Joint Plan of Action the US unveiled a Missile Defence Strategy for the Gulf Cooperation Council. Under this agreement, the Gulf monarchies would receive a flood of missile defence (MD) technology from the US, as well as streamlined weapon sales and increased joint military exercises, with the express purpose of protecting them against Iran. Deploying MD, which is a vital aspect of the US first-strike strategy, is an enormously provocative action that immediately undermines the JPA and risks escalating tensions further.
The pretext used by the US and its allies to justify the sanctions against Iran was that the country’s program for the peaceful development of nuclear technology was cover for a nuclear weapons program. Many countries all over the world, including Canada, have nuclear energy and nuclear medicine programs; but only a few of these countries are identified as targets for sanctions. There is more clear evidence, for example, to argue the case that Canada’s nuclear industry is linked to the nuclear arms industry (of the United States), than there is for the case of Iran. Recently, the Harper government agreed to sell uranium to India, a nuclear weapons state that has not signed the NPT. Furthermore, by virtue of its NATO membership, Canada is unquestioningly part of a military organization that possesses nuclear weapons and maintains a first-use strategy. Yet, Iran is singled out for sanctions and harassment, while Canada continues to participate in nuclear arms development.
This selective treatment must end. A truly comprehensive agreement would explicitly defend a country’s right to develop peaceful nuclear technology. It would also clearly enforce a prohibition on nuclear weapons development and use by all countries, regardless of economic or political status.
Nuclear disarmament – indeed, all disarmament – is a critical issue that must be achieved if humanity is to survive. To effectively pursue this goal, the countries of the world must commit to comprehensive, universal disarmament – of nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons – not single, one-off agreements that are tentative, fluid and fleeting.
In March 1950, following the end of World War II, the international peace movement founded the World Peace Council and launched the Stockholm Appeal for Peace. The Appeal was signed by over 270 million people around the world, and called for nuclear weapons to be abolished
Now, 65 years later, the text of the Stockholm Appeal still points the way forward for nuclear disarmament:
“We demand the outlawing of atomic weapons as instruments of intimidation and mass murder of peoples. We demand strict international control to enforce this measure. We believe that any government which first uses atomic weapons against any other country whatsoever will be committing a crime against humanity and should be dealt with as a war criminal. We call on all men and women of good will throughout the world to sign this appeal.”
In the spirit of Stockholm, peace activists and groups in Canada need to call on the government to reorient its foreign policy away from provocation, interference, aggression and war. Canada needs a new, independent foreign policy based on peace. This country can and should disengage from the imperialist camp, including withdrawing from NATO and halting its military trade with the United States and NATO countries. Canada should normalize relations with Iran and end all sanctions. The Canadian government should become a voice promoting comprehensive disarmament.
Dave McKee is President of the Canadian Peace Congress. This article first appeared in Canadian Peace Bulletin, quarterly publication of the Peace Congress.
10) CANADIAN TROOPS HAVE NO PLACE IN UKRAINE CONFLICT
Speech by organizers of the Victory Day commemoration held in Vancouver, BC, on May 9, 2015
Dear friends.
On May 9, 2015 and the days surrounding it, progressive humanity celebrates the 70th Anniversary of the end of the World War II. It was the bloodiest war in history; 46 million people perished, among them 30 million were unarmed civilians. In May 1945, the Nazi regime of Germany capitulated, conceding defeat by the Allied Forces. These forces were made up of the armies of 53 countries, notably the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States of America and Great Britain. Canadian military were part of the Allied Forces, too.
World War II began on September 1, 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Meeting weak resistance, the Third Reich in a short time occupied most of continental Europe. It established there its “new order” and took control of the human and material resources. Hitler and his clique were getting ready for their main task – to destroy the Soviet Union, to enslave and eliminate its peoples.
On June 22, 1941, without declaring war and in violation of the Treaty of Non-aggression signed by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939, the armed forces of Nazi Germany attacked the territory of the Soviet Union all along its western borders. Along with the military actions against the Red Army, German air forces carried out massive air raids on Soviet cities, industrial facilities and transportation hubs. It marked the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union against the German-fascist occupants. This bloody and merciless fight with the enemy continued for almost four years, resulting in the defeat of the Third Reich. In May 1945, the Red Army hoisted the red banner of Victory on the top of the Reichstag in Berlin. May 9 was declared the great national holiday.
This great and long awaited victory was achieved by the peoples of the Soviet Union at a cost that is today impossible to measure. As a result of the German aggression and occupation, over 26 million Soviet people died. That includes 8 million Red Army soldiers who fell in the battlefields. The German command carried out a scorched-earth policy in the war against the USSR. Cities and villages as well as industrial, scientific and transportation infrastructure were subjected to the total destruction. Nazi Germany caused staggering damage to the Soviet Union and its peoples – some 30% of the national wealth was destroyed; in the occupied regions the number was about 67%.
Today, we celebrate the great contribution the Allied Forces made to defeat Nazi Germany and its allies. At the same time, we should not forget that the main burden of war against German Nazism and fascism in Europe fell on the shoulders of the peoples of the Soviet Union and its Red Army. For three years until the Anti-Hitler Coalition opened the Second Front, the Soviet Union had been fighting the Wehrmacht’s military might practically alone. In four years of war, the Soviet Red Army destroyed over 80% of the German’s military machine. Not only did the Red Army push the invaders off the Soviet territory, but, at the cost of the Soviet soldiers’ lives, it liberated the major part of Eastern and Central Europe from the German occupation. Here are the numbers of the Soviet worriers fallen for the freedom in Europe:
Poland - 600,212, Romania - 68,993, Czechoslovakia - 139,918, Austria - 26,006, Hungary - 140,004, Germany - 101,961, Norway - 3,436, Yugoslavia - 7,995, Bulgaria - 977.
We will never forget the soldiers-liberators of the Red Army and the Allied Forces!
Yet, along with joy and sorrow, the celebration of today’s Victory Day brings a feeling of bitterness and alarm. There are relentless attempts to rewrite the history of World War II, to whitewash and rehabilitate fascism and Nazism. Last year, the USA and the Harper government along with NATO installed in Ukraine a neo-Nazi junta. Presently, this country is reigned in lawlessness and terror. People are arrested on the slightest suspicion of disloyalty to the “new” authorities. Many disappear without a trace. The open opponents of the regime are murdered demonstratively. Tens of prominent public activists and journalists have become targets of the political terror in Ukraine. The Kiev regime has launched a ruthless military offensive against the regions which declared their independence from the “New Order” in Ukraine. As a result, over 6,000 have died, tens of thousands have been wounded and over one million have been displaced.
Currently, a ceasefire is being observed in Ukraine. However, the Poroshenko government is not keeping secret that it is preparing for revenge. Its plans they are being pushed by the United States and NATO. The Harper government alone has already given Kiev over half a billion dollars to continue the war and has announced that it will deploy to Ukraine 200 Canadian troops. These actions do not help at all to normalize the situation in Ukraine, and a smallest spark is enough to turn this local conflict in eastern Ukraine into a regional war.
In World War II, Canada was fighting Nazism and fascism along with the Allied Forces. The sons and daughters of Canada were giving their lives for peace and freedom. However, today, the Canadian government is on the wrong side of history. The Harper government, is supporting the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine in every possible way. In November 2014, out of all countries on the globe, it was only Canada, the United States and Ukraine which voted against a United Nations resolution combatting the glorification of Nazism.
On this 70th Anniversary of the Great Victory, in the memory of the Canadians who died fighting Nazism and fascism, in the memory of all the victims of World War II, we demand that the government of Canada in no uncertain terms condemn any forms of neo-Nazism and neo-fascism, including those that are happening in Ukraine. We also strongly declare:
NO Canadian money, NO Canadian weapons for the war criminals in Kiev! Canadian troops have no place in the conflict in Ukraine!
Dear friends. In conclusion, please allow us to congratulate you on the Day of the Great Victory. Long live the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition in World War II! Our eternal gratitude goes to the soldiers-liberators of the Red Army and the Allied Forces! The memory and the glory of their feat will live for ages! Long live world peace!
11) FIGHTING CHEVRON IN WASHINGTON, DC
By Drew Garvie & Peter Miller, May 19, 2015, http://rebelyouth-magazine.blogspot.ca
In late April, we, along with three other members of the Young Communist League of Canada, had the honour of attending a historic event in Washington DC. We were part of a caravan of buses leaving from Ontario to attend a rally and conference in solidarity with indigenous peoples in Ecuador fighting the oil giant Chevron.
The place and time of the solidarity events were chosen by Chevron. The corporation has been trying to avoid paying for one of the worst environmental disasters in history, that it created by dumping billions of gallons of toxic sludge in the Ecuadorean Amazon. In 2011, it was ordered to pay $9.5 billion dollars to clean up the mess. Chevron has yet to pay up. There is an ongoing case in Canada where the indigenous plaintiffs could receive justice through assets in Canada. What brought us to Washington, the heart of the leading imperialist power, was the result one of Chevron’s latest dirty tricks it is using to avoid cleaning up its mess. It has decided to take Ecuador to court through the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Chevron is trying to use this closed tribunal, built on imperialist principles, to wiggle out of paying its debt. To combat this maneuver the "Committee in Solidarity with the Affected Communities by Chevron in Canada" joined activists from the U.S. outside the World Bank headquarters on April 21st.
What made this solidarity action historic was the meeting of indigenous peoples from North, Central and South America. From the North, over 100 people from the Haudenosaunee communities located in Ontario travelled for more than 12 hours to stand in solidarity with their sisters and brothers from the South.
From Central America, Dr. Rigoberta Menchú, the renowned Mayan leader from Guatemala and Nobel Peace Prize winner, spoke strongly at both the rally and the conference. Over a thousand other people, many of whom are South American, including indigenous peoples, also made long journeys to add their voices to the chants of “Justice for Ecuador!”.
The events were very powerful to the participants due to both the justness of the cause and because of the existence of the Eagle and the Condor Prophecy. This is a shared prophecy that foretells the coming together of indigenous peoples from North and South America. The indigenous speakers stressed the importance of unity in the face of a common enemy; corporations and their governments.
In her keynote address Menchú outlined the goals of the campaign:
“…I want to greet the indigenous people from the Amazon that have suffered from the ecocide committed by Chevron. Greetings to the First Nations of Canada. They know what destruction means, and I want to give a big hug, to the brothers and sisters of the First Nations of Canada. We want to greet all the indigenous cultures that are here. We have to say that we have to protect our mother, our mother earth, and that any offence against our mother means that we are affecting life. The offence made against mother earth, is an offense against all life, including each one of our lives. That is why we are here.
“We are witnesses of the destruction made to the Amazon in Ecuador. Chevron during many years has polluted the rivers, the waters, the plants, and taken many lives. This is a struggle against Chevron, and Chevron has to compensate, or pay back the people who have been affected in the Amazon. We are witnesses to the damages caused to the Amazon region in Ecuador. We are witness that there are many people that are sick, that have many illnesses. We know that we have seen the `dirty hand’. You can see it and you can prove for yourself what happens in the Amazon. You go to the Amazon and you put your hand into the land, into the earth, your hand will come out black with oil, with all the toxic waste that is found in the Amazon. That’s why we have come here to demand justice. We speak on behalf of the peoples that are the real victims.
“Now Chevron wants to become the victim after it destroyed mother earth and took out all the resources. It’s not possible for humanity to be deceived by this double standard for a company. That is why we demand justice. We cannot let Chevron go unpunished, also for the acts that it has [committed] against the sovereignty of Ecuador. This is not the first time I have heard about the crimes that Chevron has committed. I have heard the same story in many indigenous communities all around the world. And so that’s why we are here: so there can never again be ecocide crimes going unpunished. I’m sure that all of you have the same information that I have. And I am sure that we are here because we are convinced, that Chevron must compensate and pay for the damages caused. And also because we are convinced that they want to turn justice around. And we are not going to allow that.”
12) REAL, EXISTING CAPITALISM AND THE CHALLENGE FOR AN ALTERNATIVE
By Eoghan O’Neill, Socialist Voice (Ireland)
There are times and certain processes in the production of human needs that have become the catalyst for change in society, a change in which the old order of doing things - whether it is ruling, governing, trading, building, creating, destroying, or a myriad of different complexities that steer human development - are incapable of satisfying, or can no longer satisfy, the new social and productive forces in society.
Over time, what once was the exception to the rule becomes the rule, and those that once dominated and steered the functions of society have, because of the development of society, been overtaken by new and more advanced forms of social and economic relations.
Primitive communal societies, slave societies, feudal societies, capitalist societies and socialist societies, and the transition from one type of society to another, have been the constant and turbulent advancement of mankind. Masterful inventions and ingenuities, such as the wheel, the printing press, the steam engine and internal combustion engine, the harnessing of electricity, natural resources and the elements, exploration in the fields of science, mathematics, engineering and computing, all of which and many more have to one degree or another been developed to satisfy our basic human needs, are based upon the stage of development within a given society.
It is very easy to settle into the notion that what is shall for ever be, and that what has gone before must remain as it was, a relic of its time irrelevant to today’s world. But humankind is not a victim of its own self-importance: there has been and continues to be a dynamic relationship between ourselves and the world into which we are born. The time and the age in which one lives is just a chance, a lottery of sporadic consciousness, untamed and uncontrollable.
Those who have been before us and those who will come after us, just as we are now, are conditioned by the environment in which they are brought up. The social and productive forces evolve and develop as we master and manipulate the material world around us. But there are limits to what can be achieved by any given society, and that limit is set by its productive forces. This is the key to understanding the history and lineage of mankind, which Karl Marx and Frederick Engels correctly observed and first presented to the world in the Communist Manifesto of 1848.
To understand where we place ourselves now, in 2015, in the grand scheme of things, and how we may seek to shape and improve our future and that of our children, we must bring Marxist theory to the fore, as it alone can guide the majority of people, the working masses, away from the abyss of exploitation, poverty, and environmental destruction. Engels in his oration at Marx’s funeral said: “Just as Darwin discovered the law and development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history.” And it is these laws that we must study and develop to get a real understanding of our place within society at this time. Without this guiding theory to direct our practice we will continue to walk blindly into a struggle without knowing who or what we are struggling against.
To understand the development of human history we must first of all go back to the basics: human needs. These needs at the primary level are food, water, and shelter, and then we have more advanced needs, such as education, health, services, work, pastimes, relationships, etc. These needs are provided to sustain life physically and culturally, and they are both individual and collective needs.
Human needs are “conditioned by the stage of development” of society and are satisfied by goods and services, which are the material means by which we satisfy those needs. The ability, for example, to call an ambulance in case of a medical emergency is relatively new and is possible only because an array of different fields have been sufficiently developed and have merged to give us this one vital service.
All the small links form this one chain for one particular service, and this chain is woven into countless other links and chains to form a social fabric, all servicing our human needs. This whole process, then, can only be thought of as social in both fabric and delivery and is a product of thousands of years of human development.
We are at a particular historical stage of development - capitalism, and, as Lenin critically observed more than a hundred years ago, the highest stage of capitalism - imperialism, where the competitiveness of industry has been replaced by the dominance of monopoly corporations. This has seen the merger of industry and finance, national and international business. The governments, groups or institutions that have a vested interest in the monopolies will ensure their dominance in the economy. The stage of development we are at now really is a dictatorship of the monopolies.
Being aware of this class divide brings us to one of the fundamental aspects of Marxism: class-consciousness. To be class-conscious is to know which class you belong to and, to that end, where your class interests lie. This raises the question, Why aren’t people more class-conscious? Just as there is class-consciousness, there is also a social consciousness, and people in their daily lives are not made conscious of the social relations that have been formed—the class nature of society. They are aware of the distribution relations, in that they deal with this every day of their working lives: wages, rent, interest, etc.
From social relations (class division) emerge legal and political, moral and religious, philosophical, scientific and artistic ideas, which form a social consciousness. This, taken as a whole, forms an ideology. This ideology is an expression of the whole or a part of society, and in a class society the ideology of the dominant class, the class that owns the means of production, will reproduce its ideology and repress any alternative ideology, because it solely has the means of doing so.
The struggles of today, which may vary from country to country and place to place, all come back to a class struggle, a struggle over the control, ownership and command of the means of production, i.e. the economy. Capitalism as a historically developed stage, and its adherents create and reproduce their ideology to maintain and to proliferate their privileged position in society.
The real existing conditions of poverty, hunger, homelessness, exploitation etc. can only be eliminated by depriving the possessing class of their privilege in our society. This has been and will continue to be the goal of communists, here in Ireland and around the world. We need a strong revolutionary party of working people that will challenge the dominant ideology of the 1 per cent and their lackeys, challenge for political power and economic power by setting about the dismantling of the capitalist system of private ownership of the means of production and its institutions and replacing them with the only viable alternative: social ownership of the means of production, i.e. socialism.
Some facts about real, existing capitalism
1. 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day.
2. 500 people have more than $3 billion each in wealth.
3. The richest 1 per cent have 46 per cent of the world’s wealth; the bottom 50 per cent have just 1 per cent.
4. Half of all children in the world live in poverty
5. 13 per cent of birds, 25 per cent of mammals and 41 per cent of amphibians face extinction
6. Arctic temperatures have increased by 5°C over the last 100 years. There will be almost no summer sea ice left in the Arctic by 2020.
7. Five monopolies (ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Glencore and Louis Dreyfus) control 90 per cent of the global grain trade.
8. 21 per cent of land on earth is owned by a mere fifteen people, leaving the rest to all 7 billion of us.
11. The United States has militarily intervened in seventy-five sovereign countries since the Second World War—the most war-hungry state on earth.
13) MUSIC NOTES, by Wally Brooker
Musicians boycott Crown
Like all good trade unionists, organized musicians can be counted upon to act in solidarity with fellow workers. Case in point: the response of the Canadian Federation of Musicians (CFM) to the boycott of Crown Holdings, the multinational that makes beer and pop cans and reports annual sales in excess of $8.7 billion. United Steelworkers Local 9176 in Toronto has been on strike for 18 months against this union-busting outfit that hires scab labour, demands wage cuts of 33%, and seeks to impose a two-tier wage structure. Last month CFM President Alan Willaert called upon musicians to look for the Crown logo on beer and pop cans. Crown's main Canadian customers are Molson Coors, Labatt, Creemore, Steam Whistle, Cott, and President's Choice. Beer and pop drinkers are urged to visit http://bottlesnotcans.ca/ and sign the boycott pledge.
Pianist Lisitsa won't be silenced
In April, two sold-out concerts by Ukrainian-American pianist Valentina Lisitsa were cancelled by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra because she dared to criticize the brutal campaign the U.S.-backed regime in Kiev is carrying out against Russian-speaking peoples in East Ukraine. Just weeks later, Lisitsa demonstrated that she will not be intimidated. On May 2, the pianist spoke at a rally in Paris. The occasion was the first anniversary of the notorious Odessa Massacre, where 46 peaceful anti-Maidan protesters were murdered by fascist gangs. Here's part of what Lisitsa said: “In Ukraine people are being groomed to hate. That’s the biggest humanitarian disaster of all. That’s the biggest war crime, a crime against humanity. That is what the current government of Ukraine is perpetrating, unfortunately with the help, or at least with the ignorance, of Western governments.” Watch the full interview at http://newcoldwar.org/
Lauryn Hill cancels Israel concert
Last month American R&B singer Lauryn Hill became the latest prominent musician to join the cultural boycott of Israel. The former lead singer of The Fugees cancelled her scheduled May 7 concert in Tel Aviv after more than 11,000 fans signed a petition urging her to honour the boycott. In a statement on her Facebook page Hill expressed hopes for “healing, equanimity, and the openness necessary for lasting resolution and reconciliation”. The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation praised Hill's decision, and advised her fans that “now is the time to thank her for taking a stand for peace, justice, and equality.” The Hip Hop superstar is not shy about speaking out. In August 2014, as reported here last October, the singer released the single “Black Rage”, a powerful expression of anger after the police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Check her out at http://www.lauryn-hill.com/.
Oakland's ILWU Drill Team
Oakland's dock workers celebrated May Day this year with a work stoppage in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the protests against police brutality in Baltimore. One highlight of the day was the International Longshore Workers Union Drill Team, a remarkable cultural group that combines militant call-and-response chants with percussive marching and a unique sense of humour (they execute manoeuvres with names like “double to the rear with a fake” and “contract negotiation”). The Drill Team has been around long enough to have performed for Martin Luther King Jr and César Chávez and it still performs regularly at union affairs, picket lines, and civic events. It's worth noting that the Bay Area ILWU, one of the most inspiring union locals in North America, does not strike on May Day. It takes the day off. For a sample of these brothers and sisters in action look for “ILWU Drill Team Oscar Grant Rally” on YouTube.
Guy Carawan: 1927-2015
Folksinger and musicologist Guy Carawan, who died on May 2nd, is best known for his association with the song “We Shall Overcome”. The earliest version of “We Shall Overcome” is the slave song “I'll Be Alright Someday”. In 1901 it was published as the hymn “I'll Overcome Someday”. Years later, in 1947, it was adapted and brought to the Highlander Center (an interracial training center for grassroots activists in rural Tennessee) by striking agricultural workers from South Carolina. Zilphia Horton of the Center heard it and taught it to Pete Seeger, who changed the name to its present title. Carawan, who had become musical director at Highlander in 1959, heard it from Seeger, sped it up a little, changed a few words, and added the chords that are used today. He subsequently passed it on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The rest, as they say, is history. Guy Carawan spent the rest of his life working with his wife Candie at the Highlander Center (http://highlandercenter.org/). They researched and recorded a vast trove of Southern folk music and oral history. It's safe to assume that he would've been pleased to be remembered as a “link in the chain”.