Why should the bosses always have the last word? (The following editorial is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Here's an important question on May Day: who should run our society - workers, or the bosses, and the transnationals with their representatives? The Alcan workers in Saguenay recently showed us that they don't need bosses. For several weeks, they controlled their own production. The boss, on the other hand, to stay in control, needs all the support he can get, from the media, and the state with all its legal backup. Wage earners have proved that by going onto the offensive, they can assure a better control of their future. Socialism is the power with which to make radical changes, and to choose the kind of society where workers make the decisions and all old forms of domination are removed. Workers can guarantee themselves jobs and a better life, and through effective exercise of their new power, we can protect ourselves from falling back into the old forms of exploitation by bosses. Right at the very heart of this debate is politics. The fall of the USSR hasn't changed this: who should have the power? Who should have the final word when it comes to making a living - company shareholders or the freely associated producers? All this will happen only when the majority of workers decide for themselves to become consciously involved in mass movements, elections, and other forms of struggle to bring about real change. It is up to us to decide. (Back) (Home) The only way forward - May Day 2004 message CPC (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) May Day 2004 arrives at a critical moment for working people across Canada, and for humanity as a whole. The world is racked by instability and wars, as U.S. imperialism steps up its drive for world domination under the pretence of fighting terrorism. Unemployment, mass poverty, and environmental ruin are spreading like prairie fire abound the globe. Labour's rights and the democratic rights of women, immigrants and minorities and the political right to protest and dissent are all under increasing attack. Meanwhile, employers - in both the public and private sectors - have gone on a rampage against workers' wages and conditions, forcing concession after concession. For non-union workers, company "take-backs" have been even more ruthless. The transnationals "downsize" in a frenzied drive for increased profits, while jobs disappear and workers and communities suffer. In the midst of this deepening capitalist crisis, the age-old question "which way forward?" confronts the working class with ever greater urgency. From jobs and living standards, to the health and education for our families and communities, to the future of Canada and its sovereignty, and even to the vital question of war or peace - hard lines are being drawn. The answer lies in resistance and struggle - to war, oppression and class exploitation. Workers in Quebec are mounting fierce resistance to the reactionary attacks of the Liberal Charest government, and are moving to a general strike. Public sector workers in Newfoundland have fought a month-long battle against cutbacks, while in B.C. health care workers have hit the bricks in defence of wages and against contracting out. And in Hamilton, steelworkers are fighting to defend their jobs and to save their industry. What Policies are Needed Now? Such struggles are leading by example, but they are still primarily defensive in character. In order to defend our economic and political sovereignty, reverse de-industrialization, create jobs and improve living standards and social conditions for working people, we need to step up the struggle for a new direction for Canada, based on policies that put people first, not the profit interests of the banks and monopolies. This new direction must include measures to curb the domination of U.S. and other transnational corporations over vital sectors of the domestic economy, and blocking moves toward "deep integration" of Canada into the U.S. "empire" through NAFTA and the proposed FTAA. And policies that will defend the economic industrial base of the country - starting with a strong steel and automobile industry - and create good jobs for ourselves and our children. Canada also needs a stronger and revitalized public sector. We must reverse the privatizing and contracting-out of health, education, pension programs and other public services such as power utilities. Instead, we need to expand healthcare and public eduction, and establish a universally accessible, non-profit childcare system, and build affordable housing for working people and the homeless. And Canada needs a real job creation strategy, including a 32-hour work week with no loss in take-home pay, and no loss in service to the public. Compulsory overtime must be banned, and statutory paid vacations raised to four weeks. We need to fight for a $12/hour minimum wage to lift the most underpaid workers out of conditions of poverty, and raise wage levels overall. Working people can win such a new direction, but only through a determined struggle, led by the organized working class in unity with youth and students, women's organizations, seniors, environmental and social activists, the peace and anti- globalization movements, Aboriginal peoples, and other progressive forces opposed to neoliberalism corporate "globalization", and imperialist aggression. One part of that struggle will be in the coming federal elections, when we can deliver a blow to both parties of Big Business - the Liberals and Conservatives alike - by electing a large bloc of progressive MPs, including Communists, who could work together with the people's movements in support of policies for jobs, equality, social justice, democratic rights, Canadian sovereignty, and peace. But this battle will not be won in Parliament alone - it needs to be carried into the streets, and into every workplace and community. The class and democratic struggle is never easy. But it is the only way forward! This May Day, the Communist Party gives a militant salute to the international working class and to the ultimate victory of socialism in Canada and around the world! (Back) (Home) Despair and hope on the Mexican border The Children of NAFTA: Labor Wars on the US/Mexico Border, by David Bacon, University of California Press, 2004, 348 pages, ISBN 0-520-23778-1 (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Review by Cheralea Gilbert A union organizer for 20 years, and now a photographer and journalist, David Bacon writes with clarity and compassion about the effects of free-trade policies on Mexican workers. In The Children of NAFTA, his photos document the plight of children and adults whose poverty has been exacerbated by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which promotes the maquiladora industry: foreign-owned factories in Mexico that use low-wage labour to manufacture products for export. Today there are more than a million impoverished workers, earning wages that average $6-8 a day, in 3800 factories along the Mexican- U.S. border. They produce food, televisions, computer equipment, cars, bandages, clothing and a host of other goods for our material well-being, not for the Mexican economy. Bacon, a seasoned journalist and associate editor for Pacific News Service, has written extensively about these issues for the last decade. He draws on his own published articles and contacts with many border workers and organizers to articulate their stories. He begins by describing the extensive use of child labour in the Mexicali Valley, where thousands of children work with their parents (whose low wages aren't enough to support the family) picking onions, radishes and other vegetables for export to U.S. markets. The statistics are sobering: "Some 800,000 children under the age of 14 work in different sectors of the Mexican economy - and more that 2.5. million children between the ages of 6-14 do not attend school," which condemns them to a life of poverty. These are jobs with no future. Bacon examines the deplorable state of housing in cities like Tijuana and Juarez, where thousands of workers live in houses made of cardboard and scrap metal (and scrap) lumber on dirt streets with little access to safe water or electricity. Chemical pollution from the factories is rampant, resulting in many birth defects in children and chronic illnesses in their parents. When workers try to organize for better wages and working conditions they are often brutally repressed, and their leaders blacklisted by the transnational companies. Labour rights guaranteed by Mexican law and environmental protection codes are broken with impunity, while "protection contracts" ensure labour peace. The Mexican government does not support its own people. How did all this happen? Under pressure from an accumulating foreign debt, Mexican economic policy changed to accommodate the maquiladoras, now the second largest source of foreign exchange after oil. Draconian economic reforms were imposed by the IMF, with conditions required by U.S. bank loans and bailouts, which encouraged high unemployment to keep pressure on wages. Mexican state enterprises were privatized and other policies were designed to encourage foreign investment, but U.S. and IMF loans are not available for social benefits. The human cost is staggering - and ignored. Bacon writes that by 1995, a year after NAFTA went into effect, Mexico had lost a million jobs. Thousands of Mexican workers saw a dramatic decline in their standard of living. While Mexican salaries were one-third of those in the U.S. until the 1970's, they are now less than one- eighth. Since the 1981 debt crisis Mexican wages have dropped to as low as one-twelfth or even one-fifteenth of U.S. wages, depending on the industry. The income of Mexican workers has lost 76% of its purchasing power over the past two decades. Foreign lenders have pressured the Mexican government to end subsidies for basic necessities such as gasoline, electricity, bus fares - even tortillas and milk. Some 40 million people live in poverty, with 25 million in extreme poverty, and perhaps 9 million people are unemployed. Yet despite these economic hardships and Mexican workers being treated as throwaway people, Bacon sees some hope. Increased cross- border and international solidarity help blue-collar workers on both sides of the border see that they are involved in the same struggle for rights and justice against corporations and international financial institutions bent solely on the pursuit of profit. The Children of NAFTA is an important book because it details what has actually happened to Mexican workers who were told they would benefit economically from NAFTA. Instead, they have been plunged into poverty and repression. NAFTA's harsh neoliberal economic policy has swept away laws and protections established by and for Mexican workers over many decades. This had great relevance because the Bush administration has tried to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a plan to extend NAFTA through the rest of Latin America. Bacon's hard-hitting book details the many defects of the original treaty, which promotes multinational profit-making at the expense of the security and well-being of most people. As the NAFTA model is extended southward, millions of other workers will be cannibalized in a Goya-esque scenario by stateless corporations bent on profit. Despite this looming possibility, The Children of NAFTA also describes a new social consciousness as workers in Mexico, the US and Canada begin to join forces to fight for mutual economic and social rights. It will be a long struggle. This is investigative journalism at its best, a ground-breaking book which deserves a wide readership. (Back) (Home) Bush cuts overtime (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The Bush administration's drive to take away overtime pay protections for many workers may soon become a new federal regulation. The Office of Management and Budget made the final version of the rule public on April 20, and employers can implement it after 120 days, approximately Aug. 20. Bush used the federal regulatory process, which does not require congressional approval, to make it easier for employers to avoid paying overtime. Last year, the U.S. Senate voted to block any changes in the overtime eligibility regulations. The latest White House move came as Democratic senators prepared to block Bush from taking away overtime pay. Republican leaders rearranged to Senate schedule several times to avoid a vote on legislation to stop the overtime pay cuts. Although the White House says the new overtime pay regulations will increase the number of workers eligible for overtime, pay cuts could be significant. Overtime pay accounts for up to one-quarter of the weekly earnings of workers eligible for overtime, an average $161 a week, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute. "Over the past year, in promoting its plan to eliminate overtime rights for 8 million workers, the Bush Administration has left an appalling trail of misstatements, evasions, half-truths, and outright falsifications that destroy any credibility they might have as defenders of workers' overtime pay," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "The Bush Administration staunchly opposed legislation which would preserve overtime pay for all workers and instead pressed forward with eliminating overtime pay for a huge swath of middle-class workers - many who make as little as $23,600 a year." While the final regulation must be analyzed carefully to determine the precise number of workers whose overtime rights are threatened, it is clear the regulation will restrict eligibility for overtime pay to fewer workers. Since the overtime pay grab was announced in March 2003, more than 1.5 million workers have sent e-mails, letters and faxes calling on Bush to withdraw the overtime take- away. (Back) (Home) Unemployment hits 12-year high in Israel (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Some 292,000 people - 11% of the work force - were unemployed in February, the highest rate in Israel since 1992. Economist predict that unemployment will top 300,000 this year. Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics defines "unemployed" as not having worked for a single hour in the previous week, and having actively sought work in the four preceding weeks. Since the figure does not include people who have given up efforts to find a job, the real unemployment rate is much higher. In February 2003, the unemployment rate was 10.5%, compared to 8.7% in 2000 and 2001. About 70,000 Israelis lost their jobs since the Sharon government was formed in early 2001. Waves of firings have been taking place throughout the economy, including in state enterprises and the public service. This trend is not finished, meaning that more people will join the ranks of the unemployed before things begin to improve. The government says three conditions must be met for job creation to begin to accelerate: steady economic growth locally, steady economic growth globally, and an improvement in the security situation. Ironically, any improvement in the security situation could lead to the firing of thousands of people hired in recent years as security guards. (Back) (Home) Iraq occupation slides deeper into crisis (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)  PV Vancouver Bureau By late April, US troops remained masses outside the Shia holy city of Najaf, while thousands more besieged the city of Fallujah, and the US and its coalition allies continued to take morel casualties across occupied Iraq. Western countries are urging all their citizens to get out of Iraq, and President Bush has vowed to use "decisive force" to crush the Iraqi uprising. He summoned Tony Blair to the White House for a summit designed to boost Bush's popularity at home, while diplomats worked to defuse the crisis that threatens to destroy what credibility the United States and Britain still have in the middle East and beyond. US artillery was pounding Fallujah despite statements by US High Command that a "ceasefire" was in place. US troops have ringed Najaf, the stronghold of rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr. The battle for Fallujah and attacks around the country have led to the deaths of over 110 US troops during April, many of them Marines, with nearly 600 more wounded. Over 80 mercenaries hired by the transnationals and the occupation army have also been killed. Several US helicopter gunships have been shot down, and many armoured vehicles and tanks have been knocked out in the fighting. The resistance claims to hold some 30 US Marines who surrendered at Fallujah. Numerous foreign workers have been taken hostage, but those from countries that opposed the invasion, like Russia and China, have been released. Hundreds of Iraqis have died at the hands of US troops during the rising spiral of violence. Most were civilian victims of indiscriminate US fire or air raids. Al Sadr has vowed to continue the fight to end the US occupation and says he is ready for martyrdom. But the junior Shia cleric has held talks with his superiors in the Iraqi Shia hierarchy who hold seats on the Governing Council. They would largely agree with al Sadr's demand for the US to cease fire, withdraw their troops to barracks outside the cities and release all the detainees. General John Abizaid, the head of US Central Command in Iraq, has called on the Pentagon to send 10,000 more troops to quell the uprising while bitterly complaining at the collapse of the local police and army. Most the police ran away, but others have joined the resistance. A 600-strong unit of Iraqi troops refused to fight, saying that had not joined to fight their countrymen. Although Arab League offers to mediate were ignored, Washington has asked Iran, a member of Bush's "axis of evil" list, to help ease the violence. Confirming this on April 22, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi was less than optimistic about the success of the mission. Responding to these recent developments, Communist Party of Canada leader Miguel Figueroa repeated the CPC's demand that the US and Britain pull out of Iraq immediately, allowing the people of that country to determine their own future. "The peace movement was 100% correct when we predicted that the illegal occupation of Iraq would be a disaster," said Figueroa. "With the June 30 deadline for transferring sovereignty back to Iraqis just weeks away, the US still refuses to pull out and leave, even though the occupation is the source of the violence shaking the country. We call upon Canadians to continue protesting the occupation, to make it clear to Paul Martin and Stephen Harper that we want no part of the US drive for imperial domination. That includes stepping up the demand to bring Canadian troops out of Afghanistan and Haiti immediately." (Back) (Home) Newfoundland strike shows Williams' true colours (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Sean Burton In his bid for election last autumn, Conservative leader Danny Williams promised to give Newfoundlanders something different, to put the province back on the map. And Newfoundlanders have indeed gotten something rather different - the largest strike in the province's history Williams promised to create jobs and expand the economy, but he had barely been sworn in as Premier when he started mumbling about the poor financial state of the province. When the Conservative budget was revealed in March, it certified the fears of provincial public workers' unions. Finance Minister Loyola Sullivan announced a cut of over 4,000 positions over the next four years, including cuts to Newfoundland's already poorly-funded education system. Two hundred and sixty-five teaching positions will be eliminated, the number of school boards will be reduced from eleven to five, and a number of construction projects are being cancelled. Student action in February helped to ensure that tuition would remain frozen, but both the College of the North Atlantic and Memorial University were told to search out $2 million for savings. The situation facing health care is also quite disappointing, with a reduction in the province's health boards and cancellations of a number of healthcare facilities and clinics. With these downright depressing figures, it came as no surprise that Williams would not allow for the desired wage increases for the members of NAPE and CUPE. As a result, over 20,000 of those members are on strike, making this the largest labour action in Newfoundland's history. Over the past few weeks a number of deals have been discussed, all of which have left the unions disgusted. The striking workers are not impressed by Williams' tactics, having been informed that the government's recent offer was worse than the original proposals. Newfoundland and Labrador's workers have long had to deal with sub- standard wages and budget cuts. With their new budget, Danny Williams' Conservatives have unleashed the pent-up anger of thousands of workers. Thus we see the true face of the man who claimed that his plans would benefit Newfoundland. Already, the new government has dug itself into a hole from which it will never climb back out. With the strike nearing the end of its third week, back to work legislation will likely be initiated by the Williams government on the grounds of a strain on health and safety. Ultimately, this strike has shown that the Conservatives once again are incapable of bringing Newfoundland's workers the conditions they deserve. Certainly many of the province's workers and the population in general will never again be fooled by the phoney promises of the right wing. (Back) (Home) Shift possible on GVRD transit policy (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Kimball Cariou As tensions begin to subside in the Coalition of Progressive Electors, it appears that prospects are improving for unity in Vancouver's governing civic party, at least in the short term. While political differences remain among COPE's city council members, there is a growing consensus that splitting the organization would play into the hands of the right-wing NPA. Over the last several months, COPE has seen disputes over issues such as transportation policy, gambling expansion, and policing. Such different approaches will inevitably crop up, given the diversity of COPE's council caucus and the huge range of issues faced by the city. The approach pushed by Mayor Campbell's closest supporters was to implement a protocol outlining sharp limits on the ability of councillors to take positions contrary to what was deemed "official" COPE policy. After three councillors voted differently from the Mayor and his group at a Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) meeting on transit plans, the protocol was invoked in a failed attempt to remove the three from COPE's council caucus. That set off a political firestorm when a CBC news report revealed the episode. The new reality was accepted by the COPE executive at its first meeting following the April 3 AGM, which was postponed when a massive turnout of members exceeded the limits of the rented space. Faced with a membership largely opposed to some positions taken by the Mayor and several councillors, the executive agreed to scrap the protocol. It remains to be seen whether the membership will exercise more control over policy, but already some important shifts have been visible. Most significant, the signals point to a turnabout on RAV, the rapid transit line planned for the airport to downtown route by 2010. Transportation experts and several COPE councillors have long considered RAV an extremely expensive option which will never carry as many riders as predicted by TransLink, the regional transportation authority. But the majority of Vancouver city councillors had backed the project, although some did leave room for a change of position. It is now widely known that the provincial Liberals, who had promised a major financial contribution to RAV, fudged the figures by spreading their share over a 35 year period. Federal politicians have hinted at an increase in their share for the project, but nothing solid has materialized. Even more important, it has been made clear that the project will only proceed on the basis of a "P3" partnership, i.e. turning over a lucrative part of the operation to a private corporation. Suddenly, the trade union movement, which had officially supported TransLink's 10-year plan, including RAV, is campaigning hard against P3 involvement in Lower Mainland urban transit. This switch may be linked to Mayor Campbell's recent waffling on the issue. Since the 10-year plan was backed by just a one-vote margin at the GVRD, a change in Vancouver's position at a crucial May 7 District meeting could spell the end of this white elephant, at least in its current form. Meanwhile, the COPE executive has not set a date for the postponed AGM. At least three weeks notice must be given, at a time when the political calendar for the spring is already very full. It appears that strong pressures for a joint executive slate acceptable to most COPE members will likely bear results at the AGM. (Back) (Home) Quebec workers: angry and united (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Kenneth Higham This will be no ordinary May Day in Montreal. It will be a revolutionary May Day. Estimates are that between 50,000 and 100,000 people will be in attendance at the biggest May Day in Quebec history. Workers, farmers, aboriginal groups, students, the unemployed and oppressed peoples from all Quebec will descend upon Montreal to celebrate International Workers' Day and to flex their collective muscles a bit. Governments will be forced to recognise that their anti-labour arrogance has been a fatal mistake. Quebec workers are feeling the adverse effects of what has turned out to be the most anti-labour government since the dismal days of Maurice Duplessis. Today's international situation is degrading towards a type of fascism, and Quebec's government and businesses are marching along merrily in step. The Quebecois, a proud people, will no longer accept being pushed around, and certainly not by the likes of Jean Charest. The political climate of Quebec is polarized, and there is a storm on the horizon. Quebecois workers are aiming for a fight. There is going to be a general strike soon. The Quebec General Strike will be called when the workers decide and it will be as long as they please. The slogan for this Quebec May First is "Angry and United"; that says it all! Keep up on Quebec with La Voix du Peuple If you can read French you will want to subscribe to La Voix du Peuple, organ of the Communist Party of Quebec, and if you don't you will want to learn it, because Quebec is arguably the biggest revolutionary hotbed north of the Rio Grande. The May Day issue will carry an exclusive interview with Henri Massé, President of the half-million strong Quebec Federation of Labour. Subscriptions can be ordered by sending a cheque for $20 payable to La nouvelle Presse Ouvrière, at 1945, rue Papineau, Montréal, Québec, H2K 4J3. To reserve your May Day issue call 514-522-6815 or e-mail pcq@sympatico.ca (Back) (Home) Sharon and Bush inflame conflict (The following editorial is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Prospects for a just settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict took a direct hit during April, from President Bush's endorsement of Prime Minister Sharon's disengagement" plan, and the assassination of two leaders of the Hamas movement in Gaza. Bush has reversed nearly 40 years of US foreign policy on the question of the occupied territories. At a White House news conference on April 14, he backed Sharon;s plan to evacuate some small settlements in the Gaza Strip and a part of the West Bank, while preserving much larger settlements in the west Bank and permanently blocking Palestinian refugees from resettling in Israel. This is a complete cave-in to the demands of the Likud Party and other Zionist hardliners on the right of return. As many have pointed out, Sharon's withdrawal from Gaza, if it ever takes place, could take years. Gaza will remain a huge concentration camp, guarded by Israeli troops, its airspace and seaports controlled by Israel. Meanwhile, the Israeli government has stepped up its extra-judicial assassination of Palestinians, including Sheihk Ahmed Yassin on March 22, and Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi on April 17. These assassinations are clear attempts to escalate the conflict, to intensify hostilities and thereby weaken efforts to promote non- violent solutions, like the growing movement against Israel's apartheid wall. The fact that the leader of the world's most powerful state openly backs Israel's murderous policies can only mean that new tragedies lie ahead. Bush's support for Sharon's policy of territorial annexation, military unilateralism and political assassination will escalate tensions and violence in the middle East. Only a negotiated solution that allows for two states, based on the 1967 borders and UN resolutions, will begin to bring peace and security to the Jewish and Arab peoples as well as a homeland for the heroic Palestinian people.   (Back) (Home) Predators in the smog (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Sam Hammond, Chair of the Communist Party of Canada's Central Labour Commission On an overcast day in Hamilton, Ontario, if there is a low ceiling the industrial smog has a substance that gives anything viewed from a distance the surreal quality of an impressionist painting. This week in Hamilton there are surreal figures, shadowy movers and shakers, slipping through the gloom and controversy that has surrounded Stelco (Steel Company of Canada) and its successful Bankruptcy Protection Gambit. On Monday, April 19th, the Hamilton Spectator had the following headlines on the font page. "U.S. STEEL GIANT MAY BE WOOING STELCO." The U.S. steel giant referred to is probably not a name you'll recognise because it is only two years old. The "International Steel Group was organised by W.L. Ross & Co. in 2002 to acquire world class steelmaking assets "in full cooperation with the United Steelworkers of America". That is the boast on its webpage. Its first acquisition was LTV in Cleveland, Ohio, which was in Bankruptcy Protection. The $325 million purchase gave it plants in Cleveland & Warren Ohio, Chicago Illinois, Indiana and Maryland. The next purchase was of Acme Metals for $65 million. In 2003 it purchased the assets of the bankrupt Bethlehem Steel Corporation for $1.5 billion. Just this past week ISG bought Weirton Steel out of bankruptcy for $225 million. According to an unnamed Toronto Steel Analyst, quoted in the Hamilton Spectator, Wilbur Ross still has the funds to buy more companies. The ISG on its webpage touts itself as "a leader in the restructuring and consolidation of the North American steel industry." It also talks about its "newly forged relationship" with the United Steelworkers of America. Apparently this relationship is with Leo Gerard, President of the USWA and a former native of Sudbury, Ontario. Gerard has been reported as saying that anyone buying Stelco will have to go through him first, and he likes the way Ross does business. Here we have an American company with an apparently large purse (about two billion in two years) that calls itself international, but so far hasn't left home. The acquisition of Stelco would put the international in perspective. It is reported also that ISG is looking for growth in Eastern Europe, Russia, China and Brazil. The President of Local 1005, Rolph Gerstenberger, has continually and consistently linked the future of his members, the welfare of the community and the future of Canada as a sovereign state to the maintenance and control of steelmaking as a Canadian industry, working for a Canadian agenda. Gerstenberger thinks this is so important (and so do we) that he has called for public control if necessary. Some Canadian Steelworkers feel that the Ross method of capturing and restructuring puts traditional pensions and benefits at risk throughout the industry. Gerstenberger has referred to the type of investors who feed off bankrupt acquisitions as "vulture capitalists". There is a real danger that ISG or a comparable carrion eater will seek control of Canadian Steel to fold it into the global agenda. Control of Canadian Steel not only brings developed technology and a highly trained work force, but also access to Canadian raw materials, power, and support industries. The carrot on the end of the stick might appear juicy to some, but it is still on the end of the stick and the stick is held by foreign hands. There is a very real danger that workers in Hamilton could find themselves folded into a network of wages and working conditions developed in Eastern Europe, Russia, China or Brazil, or living on the good will of "vulture capitalists" like many of our American brothers and sisters. All-out solidarity with Steelworkers is the only moral and sane approach for any Hamilton worker at this time. If they succeed they succeed for all of us. If they fail we all fail. All of us who stand in support are proud of our sisters and brothers in Steel. (Back) (Home) Groups raising alternatives in election (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Darrell Rankin The stakes are high in the looming federal election, as peace, labour, sovereignty and other groups mobilize to influence voters. They are working to block reactionary plans by corporate interests on a range of issues, relying more than ever on the internet as a way to mobilize people and put them in touch with local contacts. With a few exceptions, groups are concentrating on voter education or "questions for candidates",  foregoing protests and other actions, Still, election materials show a growing willingness to call for real change and awareness that Canada is at a crossroads on major issues such as peace, jobs, sovereignty, the environment, medicare and social programs. The Canadian Labour Congress is running pre-election ads in 17 communities, including health care, pension protection, job security, job creation, training and fair trade. "Workers issues are also vote-determining issues," said CLC President Ken Georgetti, announcing the campaign. The CLC invites everyone to use the information for person-to-person contacts in the election fact sheets are available on the web at http://www.betterchoice.ca. The labour movement as a whole, however, is not using the election to stage major independent political actions; many CLC affiliates plan to campaign actively for the election of NDP candidates. One of the best-organized voter education efforts is by the Toronto-based Centre for Social Justice. The CSJ has brought together major labour, religious, peace, student, social justice, refugee, anti-racist and anti-poverty groups, producing superb fact sheets and voter educational materials (downloadable from its website, http://www.voteforachange.ca). The campaign aims to "build support for progressive political leaders" using fact sheets, post cards, billboards and an action kit for local organizers. The campaign covers an impressive range of issues in a way that complements the Communist Party's "People's Alternative" policies. This site is a valuable source of information for any concerned voter, and may be the only non-party group raising Aboriginal rights issues for the election. Student Vote 2004 http://www.studentvote2004.ca is an effort by Elections Canada, the CLC, teachers unions and other groups to involve two million high school students in 5,000 schools, studying party platforms and having a mock vote. Communist, Green and other non-corporate parties traditionally do well in such votes, and results will be published in regional newspapers. The Communist Party together with the young Communist League in B.C. is preparing special materials to participate. Peace groups are organizing "town hall all-candidates" meetings in several communities. The Canadian Peace Alliance has information (on) how to organize and publicize such meetings at http://www.acp- cpa.ca. The CPA is calling for peace-supporting groups (representing labour, Aboriginal peoples, etc.) to work together during the election. The CPA will publish a Party Report Card on the positions of political parties. The Canadian Campaign to Oppose Missile Defence is organizing protests to follow Paul Martin and Stephen Harper as they campaign across Canada, to oppose their parties' support for U.S. military initiatives. The Winnipeg-based Canadian Dimension Magazine editorial lays out "A Radical Election Platform 2004," containing a number of policies similar to the Communist Party's People's Alternative. The same could be said for the policies advanced in Maude Barlow's booklet, The Canada We Want, distributed throughout the 100,000-member Council of Canadians and available on its website http://www.canadians.org. Barlow's paper looks at the corporate "constellation of forces challenging Canadian sovereignty" and advances a comprehensive set of "better ideas." Canadian sovereignty is a crucial issue in the election with pressures by big business groups in both the U.S. and Canada for greater and deeper "integration". The Council of Canadians is developing a voters' guide and ways to mobilize and inform voters. Details will be available on the CoC website. Fair Vote Canada is organizing a grassroots campaign to make this the "LAST unfair election." The group calls to replace the present electoral system with proportional representation, to reflect actual voter intentions. The group is looking for volunteers - see http://www.fairvotecanada.org or phone 416-410-4034. The 2004 election finds Canada at a turning point. People's organizations are making a larger effort to advance positive alternatives to the destructive corporate agenda. The publishing of comprehensive "pro-people platforms" is a welcome development. Rather than saying "throwing the bums out" or defeating reactionary governments with no thought to who gets power, people's movements are preparing for the long struggle to win support for real change, change that will necessarily conflict with corporate rule. (Back) (Home) Hospital workers challenge BC government (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Kimball Cariou Taking the BC government and health sector bosses by surprise, 43,000 hospital and long-term care workers made good on their promise to hit the bricks on April 25, seventy-two hours after giving strike notice. The Hospital Employees Union had served notice that its members would begin with an overtime ban, which could expand to include picketing and other actions. That's just what happened when the walkout began after health employers refused to freeze layoffs during province-wide talks. The employers are also demanding wage concessions worth $900 million over three years. Morale was high at health facilities across the province, as members of unions in the bargaining association were joined by large numbers of other trade unionists and community allies. "Public health care is on the line. So are decent family-supporting jobs in Communities across B.C.," said HEU secretary-business manager Chris Allnutt, chief spokesperson for the multi-union bargaining association, announcing that job action would begin on April 25. HEU represents about 40,000 workers affected by the contract talks. Ten other unions in the bargaining association, including the B.C. Government and service Employees' Union and the Operating Engineers, represent the remaining 3,000 workers. Since taking office in May 2000, the Campbell government has closed thousands of long-term care beds for seniors, and even shut entire hospitals in several communities. Over 6,000 HEU members, mainly women, have been fired as the government contracts out their jobs to transnational corporations. The result, says Allnutt, is that all health care workers and the services they deliver are at risk. "Technicians and tradespeople, LPNs and medical records staff - everyone from the lab to the laundry and patient wards to the emergency room - are targeted for privatization." Union leaders at the local level worked for weeks to ensure that, in the event of a strike, essential services would be in place. Despite this, the Liberal government was talking about back-to- work legislation even before the strike began. Health Minister Colin Hansen said he would ask for legislation if he thinks it's "required." In the early hours of the strike both he and labour minister Graham Bruce indicated that a negotiated settlement was their preferred option, but nearly everyone expects a back to work order within days. Allnutt reiterated HEU's willingness to return to talks, but noted that "health employers have barred the way to productive talks by their continued refusal to put contracting-out and layoffs on hold during collective bargaining." At a Vancouver General Hospital rally on April 25, several community and labour leaders spoke out. Rudy Lawrence, president of the Council of Senior Citizens' Organizations and Phil Lyons, co-chair of the Seniors' Network BC, warned the Campbell Liberals that their attack on health services to seniors and the resulting chaos in home support and residential care won't be forgotten by seniors and their families. BC Health Coalition coordinator Terrie Hendrickson criticized the negative impact of health care restructuring on the women and families providing and receiving services. B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair urged the government to let collective bargaining run its course and stay away from back-to-work legislation. B.C. Nurses' Union president Debra MacPherson said nurses stand with HEU workers and won't do their work while their co-workers walk picket lines. At a rally outside St. Paul's hospital in downtown Vancouver, two visiting Venezuelan National Assembly members were among those voicing support for the strikers. Victoria Mata and Dario Vivas, supporters of President Hugo Chavez, stressed that workers all across the Americas are facing similar attacks by transnational corporations and neoliberal governments. (Back) (Home) Inside Cuba's prisons (The following article is from the May 1-15/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Susan Hurlich, Havana No one likes to be locked up. But in a rare visit to two of Cuba's prisons, several dozen foreign journalists saw a very different reality from the image usually presented in the North American media: dismal filthy gulags, full of prisoners suffering sub-human conditions and inadequate health care. The visit was limited to the hospital complexes of Combinado del Este Men's Prison, located 20 km east of Havana and Cuba's largest correctional facility, and the Western Prison for Women, some 40 km to the southwest. The tours were part of the First Cuban Congress on Penitentiary Medicine, organized by the Ministry of Interior from 29-30 March and also open to national and foreign media. The only sign that one is entering Combinado del Este is the barrier fence, barbed wire and guards at the main entrance. Then comes a huge central field where hundreds of men are playing baseball, volleyball and running around an outside track under the watchful presence of guards and surrounded by sprawling concrete buildings with rectangular openings for circulation of air. One of these buildings is the National Hospital for Prisoners, where 44 foreign journalists from 13 countries are ushered. It has been 14 years since the media was last allowed inside Cuba's prisons. "This hospital provides 16 basic specialties, has three operating rooms and provides both emergency and therapeutic services," says Dr. Aurelio Gonzalez Saldivar, director of the hospital, in his introductory remarks. Journalists - who were allowed to film and photograph what they were shown as well as interview selected inmates - were led by Interior Ministry doctors and nurses through anaesthesiology and operating rooms, post-op wards, intensive care units, laboratories and emergency rooms. High-tech equipment and computers were in evidence everywhere and the few inmates who were being treated had clean uniforms. In wards and down long corridors, the odour of disinfectant and fresh paint was noticeable, part of a recent remodelling and repair program. The only thing to distinguish this from a civilian hospital were the iron grates on all doors and windows. "With true satisfaction, we can affirm that inmates and detainees in Cuba receive adequate and humane treatment," Col. Pablo Hernandez Cruz, Head of Logistics, told the Cuban Congress on Penitentiary Medicine, attended by some 270 Interior Ministry medical professionals and legal specialists from around the country. The 200-bed hospital, built in 1977 and equipped to provide everything from basic medical checkups and dental work to major surgery, seems to confirm this. Among its 222 personnel - 77% of whom are women - are 50 doctors (including twelve surgeons) and 86 nurses. The rest are technicians or work in services. Although the hospital treats mainly inmates from the capital, some come from several other prisons in Cuba. "Inmates are patients for us," insists Dr. Amarylis Hernandez, head of the Intensive Care Unit which is outfitted with air conditioners, freshly starched sheets and four state-of-the-art cardiovascular monitors, "and we use the same norms, criteria and treatment that we use in health care institutions outside the prison." According to Hernandez, the most common problems dealt with in her unit are respiratory and cardiovascular, similar to what one finds in any of Cuba's general hospitals. This assertion was also made in the emergency unit, where it was explained that the main problems are bronchial asthma, diabetes and hypertension, again, just as one finds among the population as a whole. "Prisoners show the same health indices as exist throughout the country as a whole", asserts hospital director Gonzalez Saldivar. This theme, that there is no statistical difference between health indices inside or outside of Cuba's prisons, was strongly underscored during the Congress on Prison Medicine, which included parallel meetings on nursing, dentistry and natural and traditional medicine in Cuban prisons. In his presentation on the history of the Cuban penal system, Lt.- Col. Dr. Terencio Batista Sanchez, head of Interior Ministry Health Services in the province of Holguin, referred to recent Internet data showing that the incidence of HIV-AIDS is ten times higher in US prisons than in the general US population, hepatitis is nine times higher and TB as much as fourteen times higher. In comparison, in Cuba (which recently was ranked the first among six countries which received awards from the World Health Organization in recognition of TB control programs) the same indices for TB, HIV-AIDS and other diseases, as well as the same programs of vigilance, testing and epidemiology, exist among prisoners as among the population as a whole. As well, in 2002, a special Sanatorium was opened just outside Havana for inmates who test positive for HIV. Here, and at two other similar sanatoria for prisoners located in Villa Clara and Holguin, specialized care - including a 3,000 calorie diet - is provided by qualified medical staff. The National Hospital for Prisoners is one of five such hospitals in Cuba, the others located in Holguin, Villa Clara, Granma and Santiago de Cuba. A sixth, under construction in Camaguey, will be ready by the end of the year. There are also special rooms for prisoners in provincial hospitals. Data made available during the Congress indicate that there is one doctor for every 200 inmates, one nurse for every 100 and one dentist for every 900. Throughout the visit as well as during the Congress, Interior Ministry officials repeatedly refused to say how many prisoners there are in Cuba, insisting that the Congress and prison visits were to show tendencies and programs rather than numbers. In chats with inmates, none complained about conditions or food. When asked, most shrugged and said things were "adequate." Off limits to the media at Combinado del Este were the four-story cement housing blocks, libraries, and the conjugal visit rooms. Perhaps most interesting was the glimpse offered of the Cuban penal system's job training programs, particularly for male nurses. This program, one of several intended to "convert prisons into schools", is part of what is known as "Task 500". Beginning in 2000, the aim is to provide educational opportunities and a vocation to inmates, with the long-term goal of social reintegration after their sentences. Courses are also provided in physical education, basic hygiene and epidemiology, and in technical areas such as laboratory, ultrasound of X-ray technicians. The provision of libraries is also part of the program. "Task 500 has changed the entire concept of Cuba's prison system," affirmed Batista Sanchez during the congress. "When you're preparing yourself professionally, you see things differently," says Juan Carlos Romero, 35 years old and serving a 15 year term for battery. Enrolled in the prison's new two-year training course for nurses and snappily uniformed, Juan Carlos asserts that "(nursing) is a very human profession, and the prison has given me an opportunity to study and do something useful." Along with fifteen other students, Juan Carlos studies five days a week, eight hours a day in a small neat classroom, in the prison's first nurses-training pilot program which began last February. As part of their studies, they have access to a lab with five IBM computers. Professors are nurses and doctors from the prison's hospital. "Students in this program must have a 12th grade education," continues Azcamo Gonzalez, "although rapists and murderers are excluded." Graduates receive a nursing diploma, just as nursing students do elsewhere in Cuba, although for the inmates it won't disclose where they studied. Once they are paroled or complete their sentences, they can either get jobs in hospitals on the outside (although it's yet to be seen how the public will accept them) or study for a bachelor's degree in nursing. If they are still incarcerated, they can help staff the National Hospital for Prisoners or transfer to another prison. Inmates who work in prisons receive the same wages as for comparable work outside. A second nursing course is beginning at the Provincial Hospital for Prisoners in Holguin, where 20 student-inmates have already been selected. At first glimpse, the Western Prison for Women appears like a three-star low-slung tourist installation surrounded by thick vegetation and an organic garden just inside the main entrance. Built in 1983, this is the largest of Cuba's nine Women's prisons. Inside it houses the showcase Maternity-Infant Block, created at the end of 2002 for pregnant women inmates and mothers with newborns. Under the Cuban penal code, a female prisoner who gives birth is allowed to keep her baby until one year of age. After that, the child lives on the outside with relatives or is sent to a childcare facility, with weekly visits allowed. Last year, the prison maternity wing attended to 48 pregnancies and 37 births, said medical director Orestes Gonzalez Torres. He also asserts that up to the present, no underweight babies have been born and both infant and maternal mortality are at zero. (All births take place in the Obrero maternity hospital in Havana.) Pregnant and nursing mothers also receive a more specialized diet with higher calories than other inmates, their babies get regular checkups and mothers are encouraged to nurse their newborns for the first six month. "It's for these reasons that in August 2003, the Maternity-Infant Block received the 'Friend of the Mother and Child' award from Cuba's Health Ministry and UNICEF," explains Gonzalez. At the Women's Prison, the Public Health Ministry's standard Program for Mother and Child Care is applied in full, as are all other standard health programs for women such as detection of uterine cancer, breast cancer, etc. Round-the-clock medical attention is provided in the Maternity-Infant Block, with a permanent health worker for every two women. Water is boiled for the babies, clothing of both mothers and babies are washed daily, and a family doctor tends to the babies and ensures that they receive their vaccinations. "The food given to me and my baby is good," says Grisel Varela, sitting in a rocking chair while holding her sleeping infant. "My daughter, Melody, is seven months old. I've learned a lot in prison. Before, I didn't think. Now, I have to think about my child." Having served four years of a five year sentence for robbery, Grisel is up for release soon on conditional parole. Melody's father is an inmate in another prison, serving a 25-year sentence for forced robbery. "We met in a prisoner letter-exchange program," explains Grisel, "and every two months we were able to meet for six hours in the conjugal visit rooms here at this prison. We earned this right through good behaviour and work. This is the first baby for each of us." Grisel lives in the maternity ward in a corridor of cells for mothers and babies, all windowless, sparse but clean. There is one narrow bed for her and a crib - draped with mosquito netting - for her baby. Larger rooms accommodate two mothers and their babies. White walls are decorated with colourful cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and the metal bar doors are often left open. Family members send baby clothes. To date, the women's prison in Matanzas has a smaller Maternity- Infant Block, and there's a plan to eventually have similar wards at Cuba's other women's prisons. Some say that the highly supervised media access to the medical facilities of Havana's two main prisons was orchestrated by the government to deflect criticism about Cuba's prison conditions two weeks before the UN Commission on Human Rights voted on the island's rights record. But in any country, visits to prisons by press and others are controlled. A week ago Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque asserted in a press conference that "Cuba meets the minimum requirements the United Nations requires for detainees." Perez Roque was referring to some 95 laws for the treatment of the penal population, approved by the United Nations and established at the First Conference about Crime Prevention and Delinquent Treatment held in 1955 in Geneva. Under these laws, no prisoner is subject to torture or physical abuse in jail. The International Red Cross has not been allowed inside Cuba's prisons since 1988, and access has also been denied to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This will only change once anti-Cuba ploys cease in such bodies. In the meantime, Cuba's penal system will continue to search for new alternatives in prison health care, rehabilitation programs and social reintegration. In September of this year, study programs in Cuban medical faculties will include a new career of General Integral Medicine in penitentiaries. 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