Contents
Contents of Printable Articles
1. Forest bosses want union-free industry
2. Democracy passed over in Ontario leaders debate
3. "Yes to MMP" reaching out to voters
4. Debunking Flanagan spin - Editorial
5. War crime against Gaza - Editorial
6. Communists demand action on Alberta housing crisis
7. UN backs indigenous rights: Canada votes "No"
8. Tory cuts aim to silence women
9. Not one more dead! Bring the troops home now
10. Disaster in Afghanistan: a scorecard for the "Mission"
11. Human rights activist kidnapped in Haiti
12. Legal attack resumes on Hungarian Communist leaders
13. The Talibanisation of Pakistan's North West Frontier
14. Communist Party condemns racist campaign around "voting rights"
15. What's Left
16. PV Crossword (previous)
17. Podcast of People's Voice Articles
18. Clarté (en français)
19. The Spark! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada)
20. Introducing Marxism: A Communist Party Study Course
21. Rebel Youth

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 (The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Kimball Cariou

AS the rains of winter loom, thousands of British Columbia forestry workers are now in their third month on the picket lines, battling for decent working conditions under difficult circumstances. Theirs is not just a confrontation with profit-hungry corporations, but with an industry shaped for a century by the powerful forces of big capital and governments. The stakes are enormous: the very existence of unions in the west coast forestry sector.

     In fact, this struggle has broadened into a bigger fight for the future of coastal communities. A Sept. 16 rally at the Legislature in Victoria was typical, involving the Steelworkers-IWA Council and other unions, as well as environmentalists (the Sierra Club and Western Canada Wilderness Committee) and community coalitions - the Youbou Timberless Society and the Save Our Valley Alliance. Despite their mutual hostility, the rally was also backed by the NDP and the Green Party.

     While forestry is no longer the dominant industry on the west coast, it remains one of the lynchpins of the BC economy. But in a trend that saw the axe replaced by handsaws, chainsaws, and now mechanical harvesters, logging has become ever more capital intensive, eliminating thousands of jobs.

     The concentration of capital in the industry has also meant the closure of many pulp and paper mills, devastating communities along the coast. For example, the Catalyst Paper mill at Port Alberni once employed over 1,500 workers. On August 30, Catalyst shut down one of its last two paper machines, laying off 185 workers. The company's third machine was shipped to India last year for re-assembly, to operate as another low-cost competitor.

     Twenty years ago, the last major strike by over 25,000 workers lasted more than four months; today 7,000 are on strike against 34 companies, mostly members of Forest Industrial Relations. Forestry now accounts for some five percent of the provincial workforce.

     Meanwhile, annual exports of raw logs have skyrocketed, from tens of thousands of cubic metres during the '90s to 5 million last year, taking thousands of processing jobs offshore. One of the biggest employers involved in the current strike, Western Forest Products, is also the largest log exporter in the province. Attempts to blockade truckloads of raw logs had some success, but now the companies have switched to loading logs onto barges, which are much more difficult to block.

     The Sept. 16 rally in Victoria was united around this issue, demanding a ban on log exports to help save local jobs and to ensure sustainability in the forests.

     But the strike has been driven by another facet of corporate greed. Imposed in an arbitrated settlement three years ago, the last contract gives the companies "flexible shift language" - unfettered control over shifts - making family life almost impossible for workers who cannot predict their schedules. This has generated solid unity on the picket lines, despite predictions that the strike which began on July 21 may last into 2008. Everywhere along the coast, the workers are desperate to regain some power over their lives.

     Working time is also seen by the Steelworkers as part of a crucial safety battle. At a Sept. 5 rally in the northern Vancouver Island town of Port McNeill, Darryl Wong, president of United Steelworkers local 2171, said "the deaths have to stop," noting the 53 deaths in the industry in BC since December 2005. "The way to do that is to reduce scheduled hours."

     Wong particularly slammed Western Forest Products for its role in the strike. "They keep saying they're the good guys, but the reality of it is your employer is just as bad as every other employer on the Coast, if not worse."

     Other key issues include contracting-out and the union's demand for severance pay during partial mill closures.

     But the roots of this strike go even deeper, back to the changes to the industry introduced by provincial governments over many years.

     Some industry analysts note that coastal towns dependent on forestry are paying the price for the NDP decision fifteen years ago to disconnect corporate access to timber from requirements to invest capital in resource manufacturing plants. As one observer wrote, "this resulted in a neocon goldrush of resource plunder essentially unfettered with domestic manufacturing requirements."

     From this perspective, the Harcourt NDP government seemed to believe that freeing industrial capital from plant obligations would result in capital investment rather than capital flight. Instead, after extracting massive profits, corporations still control the resource but have no obligations to the forest, the communities or the environment. The BC Liberals under Gordon Campbell have accelerated this process since 2001. Campbell's government has allowed forest companies with private lands to remove those lands from tree farm licences and from provincial regulations on sustainable harvesting and log exports.

     Even more than in the past, small towns and cities are at the mercy of corporate decisions and the boom and bust nature of the lumber industry. At a time when US housing starts are down and the rising Canadian dollar makes exports more expensive, the results are catastrophic. Many of the striking forestry workers are already seeking jobs elsewhere, such as the oil and gas sector. That brings in the income they need to survive, but their paycheques are largely spent elsewhere, leaving hometowns suffering from lower consumer spending and a declining tax base.

     One response of small town politicians is predictable: cut taxes to lure industry back. Those hopes are unrealistic as long as huge log exports continue to deprive mills and plants of adequate raw materials. And that trend will undoubtedly hit the forest economy even harder over the long run, thanks to the pine beetle destruction of B.C.'s interior forests.

     Industry spokespersons claim that government policy shifts were necessary to "free companies to meet the challenges of global market forces." As Catalyst Paper's director of human resources recently said about the company's commitment to Port Alberni: "Nobody can predict the future. We can try to make a go of it and deal with the changing marketplace as it evolves."

     Meanwhile, Catalyst is demanding tax cuts from the city, and wants to open discussions with CEP Local 592 over "workplace flexibility" - the same issue which has thousands of forestry workers on the picket line.

     Adding to the pressures from capital, a new "global cost-benchmarking report" rates British Columbia's coastal sawmilling sector as among the least efficient in the world.

     "If you are not going to be competitive, you will not attract capital (and) mills will close," says Russ Taylor, president of the International Wood Markets Group. Praising sawmills in South Africa, Chile and Northwest Russia as top performers, Taylor argues that the "labour climate" must change to achieve lower costs, i.e. lower wages.

     This reveals the essence of the capitalist "solution" to the long-term crisis in the industry: transform B.C.'s forests into fibre-export plantations, shut down forestry towns, and cut wages to the same level as in Russia, Chile and South Africa. To achieve this agenda, the unions which are the number one line of defence for forestry workers and their communities must be crushed.

     A few voices call for retreat, along the lines of "Christian Labour Association of Canada" sellout deals. But even if the Steelworkers-IWA are compelled to surrender, the corporations will not be satisfied until the entire industry is non-union. The ultimate cost in workers' lives and the destruction of communities and forests would be enormous. That's the real issue in this strike, and that's why solidarity is crucial.

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

"There was no discussion - there wasn't even a question - about Ontario's historic referendum on MMP", said provincial Communist Party leader Elizabeth Rowley after the "major parties" debate on Sept. 20.

     "It gave voters a measure of just how important democratic electoral reform is to these parties," she said. "It's certainly consistent with the decision by these parties, and the networks, to only allow the Tories, Liberals and NDP leaders to be heard, shutting out six other registered political parties, including the Greens, who have candidates in every riding, and the Communist Party, which has elected to the Legislature twice. Giving the public access to other political voices and different ideas - which is what MMP is all about - isn't in the cards so long as the Big Business parties run the show and write the rules."

     "The debate would have been sharper had the Greens, Communists, and others been included", said Rowley. "Policy ideas that never came up would have been on the table, including MMP, and the call for a single, secular school system, which the Communist Party has advocated since its inception, and which the Green Party is effectively advocating in this campaign."

     Commenting on the debate, Rowley said John Tory was attacking the Liberals for carrying on with policies initiated by the Harris government. She pointed to the fractured education funding formula, balanced budget legislation that has lead to ER crises and long waits for beds and services in hospitals, supervision over School Boards refusing to make more staff and program cuts, and deep cuts to municipal services, including the Monday closings of community centres and libraries in Toronto. She also stressed that the crisis in manufacturing has become acute with the loss of 141,000 jobs in Ontario since McGuinty took office. Wages and living standards have plunged.

     "McGuinty was elected to reverse the Harris agenda; instead he

delivered more of it, and that's why the Liberals can't get over 40% in the polls. The Liberals are going to pay the price for this. But John Tory's relentless attack on McGuinty was intended to convince voters that he is a real fighter for working people, opposed to the anti-people policies delivered by both Harris and McGuinty. In fact, the Tories' policies are anti-social and extreme. Casting his policy of funding religious schools in Ontario as a `principle' about `inclusion' is just the kind of double talk Tory hopes will swing a few votes his way - enough to elect a Tory minority on October 10th."

     In light of this, Rowley noted, Howard Hampton's repeated comment that Tory is not `scary' or `ugly' was very surprising. In fact the Tory agenda is ugly, the more so since it is largely hidden, and the visible part caters to fundamentalism. She warned that the NDP leadership has made a serious error in focusing their fire solely on the Liberals, when the Tories are even more dangerous to working people today. Right wing populism and demagogy, mixed with religion and fundamentalism is a dangerous concoction.

     "The polls and the debate showed that Ontarians can expect to see a minority government, with the NDP likely holding the balance of power," Rowley noted. "If the scenario is like 1985, the Tories could be benched if the Liberals and NDP combine to govern on a reform platform. The alternative - propping up a Tory government - should be rejected out of hand, starting now."

     A big vote for MMP in the referendum, she concluded, would open the door to new progressive voices and ideas in the Legislature, making it a lot harder to pass over democracy.

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Elizabeth Rowley

Many Ontarians are just now hearing about the historic referendum on mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) that coincides with the October 10 election. Fair Vote Canada, which birthed the "YES to MMP!" campaign, has done its best to reach voters, while the Liberals and Tories have dummied up, never raising the subject in debates. Even the NDP have been loathe to raise PR, which is ostensibly NDP policy.

     Instead, the key issue has been the Tory plan to publicly fund religious schools, which 70% of voters now oppose, according to polls.

     Some of the right-wing fundamentalists have become visible, foreshadowing what a Tory government would do with its aggressive new religious base - such as trying to reopen the question of (religious) sharia law to parallel Ontario's secular legal system, which Muslim clerics attempted to win in 2003.

     The Tories are campaigning for a parallel private health care system; for jailing Aboriginals in negotiations over the Six Nations reclamation site; and for more police powers, more jails and more punishment, all in the name of morality.

     This effort to shift politics to the right - out of sync with most voters - is aimed at the 200,000 voters who, in this very tight race, could swing from the Liberals to elect a minority Tory government. That's what the "principle" of religious school funding is about: not 53,000 students, but 200,000 votes.

     Clearly the Tories are expecting the NDP to support them, in their common effort to dump the Liberals. That would be folly for Ontario, and for the NDP, whom voters would not forgive. But the Liberals are no friends of public education, and have also made funding promises (as recently as 2003) to the religious coalition now campaigning for the Tories.

     The NDP is also campaigning to maintain Catholic school funding, and this too is about votes. Only the Communist Party and the Greens advocate withdrawal of funding from the Catholic system.

     Lost in the dust is the fight for a new funding formula for public education, and for electoral reform that will make Ontario more democratic. "YES for MMP" is distributing lawn signs in Toronto and Ottawa, to make the campaign visible and accessible to voters. Email "Vote for MMP" at info@voteformmp.ca to get a sign for your lawn or window.

     (Communist Party-Ontario leader Elizabeth Rowley is the party's candidate in Brampton-Springdale.)

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial, Oct. 1-15, 2007

Judging from the corporate media's response to Tom Flanagan's new book, Harper's Team, the Conservatives have learned to be moderate Canadians just like the rest of us, so we should all just stop worrying and learn to love the PM.

     Such nonsense is a little hard to take, to say the least. After all, the media is just regurgitating Flanagan-spin, which aims at lulling voters to sleep until Harper wins a majority and starts ramming through his complete far right agenda. Think about it for a moment; even with a minority in Parliament, the Tories pay zero attention to the views of most Canadians. How will they act if they don't even have to count heads in the House of Commons?

     This reality check shows the importance of building up broader resistance against Harper's gang. Instead of watching the "major parties" play games seeking an advantage in the polls, we need to turn up the heat, engaging in stronger extra-parliamentary actions to defeat the Tories.

     In the meantime, Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe's new "ultimatum" threatens to bring down the government, unless this month's Throne Speech includes concrete plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to pull Canadian troops out of Afghanistan by 2009. Duceppe may be bluffing, and some of his other demands are purely Quebec-oriented. But a federal election called on these two issues would allow the labour and people's movements to go on the offensive, demanding policies to tackle the threats of global environment disaster and unending imperialist wars of occupation.

     Yes, the Harper government should be defeated - in Parliament, and more importantly by the peoples of Canada in the streets and at the ballot box - and the sooner the better.

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial, Oct. 1-15, 2007

While media attention in North America is focused on the White House campaign to demonize Iran, a war crime of massive proportions - the illegal collective punishment of an entire people - is being committed by one of Washington's closest allies.

     The Israeli government says that if the firing of Qassam rockets continues from Gaza, it will declare the area a hostile territory and cut off electricity and fuel. The world must act quickly to prevent this genocidal threat. As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned, "Such a step would be contrary to Israel's obligations towards the civilian population under international humanitarian and human rights law."

     Of course, Israel has thumbed its nose at international law and resolutions of the United Nations for decades, with the full support of the United States. While Israeli Prime Minister Olmert accuses Hamas of being "a terrorist organization that has taken control of the Gaza Strip," his own armed forces rain down death and terror on his neighbours, as recently as the savage bombing of Lebanon in 2006, which killed hundreds of innocent civilians. That scenario may be repeated soon; Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told a recent cabinet meeting that the military is moving closer to a large-scale operation in Gaza.

     Astoundingly, given their criminal actions, the Israeli leaders have the nerve to claim (in Olmert's words) that they will take into account "the intention to avoid a humanitarian crisis."

     It's a bit late for that. Israel's policies have already turned Gaza into hell on earth, a massive jail for 1.4 million prisoners suffering almost universal unemployment and deprivation.

     Shamefully, Canada under PM Stephen Harper has turned into one of the biggest cheerleaders for the Olmert/Barak thugs. This shocking stance is one of the key reasons to demand that the Tory government be driven out of office.

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Alberta Communists are demanding action on the provincial housing crisis, including government funding for a major program of publicly built and owned housing to ease the shortage and to keep rents down for working people.

     "Workers pay the price when the economy stalls, but they also pay the price when the economy is booming," says a recent statement from the Edmonton Club of the Communist Party. "Edmontonians are facing a crisis of housing, where thousands are forced into sub-standard or overpriced housing or have none at all. Tent cities have become permanent. Renters face impossible rent increases and the fear that their homes may be converted to high-price condos.  Housing prices are beyond the reach of many. Once again, as in previous oil booms, corporations can make record profits, but neither royalties nor social services keep pace.

     "It is almost beyond belief that in the greatest oil boom ever experienced in Alberta, the provincial government can be so feeble in increasing royalty payments and so lax in providing the social services that are needed, including publicly owned and built housing to ease the shortage and keep rents from sky-rocketing. It is no surprise that workers would flock to Alberta for jobs. It is no surprise that Edmonton would receive a large part of this influx, and it is certainly no surprise that housing would be needed. What were they waiting for?  

     "We see the same pattern that the provincial Tories have followed for decades - reducing royalties, allowing multi-national corporations to maximize profit with no thought for environmental or social consequences, cutting social services, and remaining totally inactive in all the productive sectors of the economy, limiting their subsidies to such activities as horse racing. The inaction on housing is part of the same pattern that sees increases in class sizes in public schools and a continuing shortage of staff in hospitals in the midst of unfathomable wealth being created. And the stinginess of funding for mental health services and below poverty-level AISH payments worsen the problem of homelessness for hundreds of Edmontonians whose struggle for housing is complicated by health issues. 

     "At the same time, the federal Tories under Harper spend billions on armaments and nothing on federal housing.

     "By fighting for better housing, working people are standing up and demanding a share in their own economy, built by their labour. It's past time for the federal and provincial governments to listen.

     We need: higher royalties; better funding for social services: a major program of publicly owned and built housing; rent controls; a moratorium on conversion of rentals to condominiums; implement the National Housing and Homelessness Coalition `one percent solution' (1% of federal budget); restore federal support for new housing cooperatives; long term programs of public land-banking to provide stability of prices and rational land-use; public ownership of energy resource development so that it can be planned to avoid booms and busts, so that profits are publicly owned and controlled, and so that the priority is meeting the needs of working people. 

     (For more information, see www.communistparty-alberta.ca, or call 780-465-7893.)

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

The UN General Assembly has adopted a "non-binding" declaration protecting the human, land and resources rights of the world's 370 million indigenous people. The Sept. 13 vote saw 143 countries in favour, with only four opposed: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Eleven countries, including Russia and Colombia, abstained.

     The declaration, capping more than 20 years of debate at the United Nations, recognizes the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination and sets global human rights standards for them. It states that native people have the right "to the recognition, observance and enforcement of treaties" concluded with states or their successors.

     This is crucial for indigenous peoples today, as their lands are threatened by mineral extraction, logging, environmental contamination, privatization and development projects, classification of lands as protected areas or game reserves and use of genetically modified seeds and technology.

     UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed the vote as "a historic moment when UN member states and indigenous peoples have reconciled with their painful histories and are resolved to move forward together on the path of human rights, justice and development for all."

     But Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S., countries with land bases entirely taken from the original peoples, voiced concerns over provisions on self-determination, land and resources rights, and indigenous right of veto over national legislation and state management of resources.

     For example, one article of the Declaration says "states shall give legal recognition and protection" to lands, territories and resources traditionally "owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired" by indigenous peoples. Another article upholds native peoples' right to "redress by means that can include restitution or when not possible just, fair and equitable compensation, for their lands and resources "which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior ad informed consent".

     The Declaration calls on states "to consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples ...to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources."

     A large part of the world's remaining natural resources - minerals, freshwater, potential energy sources - are found within indigenous peoples' territories.

     "Unfortunately, the provisions in the Declaration on lands, territories and resources are overly broad, unclear, and capable of a wide variety of interpretations, discounting the need to recognize a range of rights over land and possibly putting into question matters that have been settled by treaty," Canada's UN Ambassador John McNee told the assembly.

     Phil Fontaine, the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said "While the Declaration is not perfect, it is a step toward setting minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of Indigenous people everywhere. It's a day to celebrate."

     "The Declaration recognizes our collective histories, traditions, cultures, languages, and spirituality," said Fontaine. "It is an important international instrument that supports the activities and efforts of Indigenous peoples to have their rights fully recognized, respected and implemented by state governments."

     However, Fontaine expressed grave concern that "as part of a small group of like-minded colonial nations, Canada is seeking to prevent the global community from giving recognition to the rights of indigenous citizens." The Harper government lobbied to convince other countries to not support the Declaration.

     "Canada prides itself as a protector of human rights. It is a member of the UN Human Rights Council, yet it is disappointing today to see this government vote against recognizing the basic rights of Canada's First Peoples. This is a stain on the country's international reputation," said Fontaine.

     Speaking for another Aboriginal people recognized by the Canadian constitution, the Métis National Council said it "applauds the historic adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" after more than 20 years of intensive negotiations between nation-states and Indigenous peoples. The MNC pointed out that the UN Declaration "is distinct as the only international instrument in which Indigenous peoples' representatives played a key role in UN standard-setting processes. The Declaration contains both individual and collective rights, recognizes the right of indigenous peoples' right to self-determination, and sets the minimum standards necessary to achieve the wellbeing, dignity and survival of the more than 370 million Indigenous people worldwide."

     Canada's Aboriginal population, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit, totals 1.3 million out of a total population of 32.7 million.

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

The Conservative government's changes in funding policies to women's groups have now forced the National Association of Women and the Law to lay off all staff and shut down its national office. Formed in 1974, NAWL now says that its Board "will keep the organization alive on a volunteer basis, but our capacity to consult with women's groups and advocate for feminist law reform will be greatly diminished."

     At a Sept. 20 news conference on Parliament Hill, the organization was sharply critical of the silencing of women's advocacy and research organizations by the Harper government.

     "The Harper government is trying to silence women's groups who speak out against its right-wing agenda," according to lawyer and NAWL Board member Pamela Cross. "These are ideologically driven cuts that demonstrate a defective concept of women's equality and democracy."

     The new funding guidelines implemented by the Harper government for the Women's Program specifically exclude law reform, advocacy and research from its funding criteria. These are the core functions of NAWL which have yielded many landmark decisions on women's equality over the past three decades.

     NAWL has identified many issues on its law reform agenda that need to be addressed in order to ensure real equality for women. These include working to achieve proactive pay equity legislation, improved maternity and parental benefits, funding for universally accessible child care and early learning initiatives, funding for civil legal aid, reform of the Divorce Act, family reunification for domestic workers, equality rights for lesbian mothers, improved living conditions and respect for the matrimonial property rights of Aboriginal women living on reserves, improvements to the Canadian Human Rights Act and equality in the workplace and in the family.

     Many of these issues have also been identified by the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Committee as areas where the federal government needs to take action.

     "Minister Oda, who was responsible for these changes to Status of Women Canada's funding priorities on behalf of the Harper government, has repeatedly stated that she considers that women in Canada are already equal," said Louise Riendeau of the NAWL Board. "This demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the challenges that continue to confront women, particularly women who are most vulnerable, such as Aboriginal women, immigrant women, poor women, and others from historically disadvantaged groups."

     NAWL has written to the new Minister responsible for Status of Women Canada, Josée Verner, asking her to provide emergency funding for NAWL and to reinstitute the previous funding criteria which acknowledged the need to fund advocacy work on behalf of women.

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Call for October 27 Pan-Canadian Day of Action against war, issued by the Canadian Peace Alliance and Collectif Echec a la Guerre

The war in Afghanistan is getting worse day by day. The Government of Canada and its NATO allies tell us that security and reconstruction are improving and that the battle for the hearts and minds of the Afghan people is being won by the west. In reality the situation is much more dire. Reconstruction has been proven to be a smokescreen and the resistance to the occupation is growing. Violence increases every month that our soldiers remain in Kandahar.

     It is time to stop the bloodshed - not in 2009 as our politicians suggest - but now. The Canadian Peace Alliance and Collectif Echec a la guerre call on the people of Canada and Quebec to demonstrate this October 27, 2007 and call for the troops to be brought home.

     On that day people from Canada and the United States will be marching to end war. Our friends in the US have put out a call for events to end the Iraq war on same date; so we will be jointly marching to end the violence that our governments are intent on continuing.

     The state of reconstruction in Kandahar is a shambles. The Senlis Council recently released a report that investigated the reconstruction claims by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The Senlis Council found little of the promised reconstruction in Kandahar. The Afghan people are starving just outside the gates of the Canadian base. Their local hospitals have no medicine or equipment despite promises of money from CIDA. These failures, coupled with the rise in civilian casualties, have resulted in more people joining the resistance.

     And what has been accomplished? Canadians have once again lost the Panjwai district of Kandahar after fighting four separate battles to hold it and being pushed off of that land again and again. After more than 18 months of fighting in the south which has killed hundreds of civilians and dozens of Canadian soldiers, the fight is still on for the same patch of land that was "secured" more than a year ago.

     How many more will die on both sides to keep taking and retaking a spot of land?

     The poppy trade is booming in Afghanistan with a record crop worth more than $3 billion USD this year. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report showed a 35 per cent increase in opium production from a year ago. This will only get worse the longer NATO stays in Afghanistan. The UNODC argues that more control from the state of Afghanistan will reduce opium production. More than 60 percent of the elected members of the Afghan parliament are connected to warlords and drug barons. To increase the control of the drug warlords in the opium producing areas will not result in a decrease in opium production.

     The irony is that opium production had been eradicated by 2001. This increase in production is a direct result of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.

     The head of the Army in the UK, General Sir Richard Dannatt stated that the war in Afghanistan could go on for a generation. Thousands more civilians and soldiers will die and the resistance to the NATO occupation will grow. It is time to end this war.

     On October 27 people in Canada and the US will be marching to call for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands will march in a pan-Canadian day of action. Join us!

     Out of Afghanistan - out of Iraq! Harper and Bush, bring the troops back!

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Commentary

The official arguments for Canada's mission in Afghanistan are phrased in glowing words about freedom, while headlines warn of "bloody chaos" when the mission ends. It all sounds so simple: our troops help Afghan girls go to school, but if we leave, darkness will descend and waves of terrorists will soon be slaughtering Canadians.

     Even a minimal effort to understand the situation in Afghanistan brings to light a much more complex reality, one in which Canada's military creates new enemies every day while doing virtually nothing to improve the lives of the Afghan people. Grasping this truth, a majority of Canadians want our troops recalled home by the scheduled date of 2009 - or sooner.

     To move public opinion on this issue, the big guns have been called in, from military generals to Don Cherry and other sports personalities who depict the war as a game, with the Canadian military on the side of the "good guys." Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently told journalists that "civil war" will break out if Canadian troops are withdrawn in 2009. Of course, Karzai has a personal stake in keeping NATO troops on hand, since the war is increasingly coming home to Kabul, where suicide bomb attacks are on the rise.

     In service to the Bush Administration, PM Stephen Harper is desperate to maintain the mission. Trying to re-frame this debate during the Sept. 17 by-elections in Quebec, Harper jumped on the "veil voting" controversy, appealing to anti-immigrant sentiments. Sadly, the other parliamentary parties went along with this racist political game, allowing the Tories to avoid debating the war.

     But despite these tactics, even pro-war observers say the mission is stalled. As Globe and Mail reporter Christie Blatchford wrote on Sept. 1, "Canadian soldiers here are trapped in a loop that has the fourth iteration of troops battling for the exactly the same ground their predecessors in southern Afghanistan fought to take."

     Other reporters have pointed out that millions of aid dollars have disappeared while refugees are left to starve. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) spent $39 million last year in Kandahar district, where Canadian troops are stationed, and $100 million in all of Afghanistan. That's not much compared to Canada's $4 billion-plus military spending on the war, but it's not chicken feed. What are the results of this spending?

     On Aug. 29, Norine MacDonald of the Senlis Council, an international think tank working in Afghanistan, said "We were not able to see any substantial impact of CIDA's work in Kandahar and, as a matter of fact, we saw many instances of the extreme suffering of the Afghan people."

     Studying CIDA-funded projects, the Senlis Council found "an overcrowded and filthy hospital in Kandahar city that could provide few services to patients; refugee camps that had gone without food aid for 1 1/2 years; a construction project that employed child labour, and a displaced population struggling to survive."

     The Senlis Council has been on the ground in Afghanistan for some time. In a 186-page report last winter, based on interviews with over 500 people in the south of the country, the Council found that coalition policies such as the bombing of villages, the poppy eradication program and the lack of school and hospital construction, are directly responsible for the rise of the Taliban insurgency.

     For example, NATO carried out 2,000 bombing attacks in southern Afghanistan in 2006, killing an estimated 4,000 civilians. And while coalition forces bring their wounded soldiers to sophisticated army field hospitals, no medical care is given to wounded civilians, a violation of the Geneva Conventions on minimizing the suffering of war victims. Hospitals in the capitals of Kandahar and Helmand provinces remain "dilapidated, barren and filthy," and lack "basic war zone trauma treatment, medical diagnostic equipment, medicines, oxygen, and trained staff."

     Many insurgents are recruited because of grinding poverty, or because of resentment bred by coalition actions. But instead of engaging in serious efforts to develop the economy and to build local infrastructure such as schools and hospitals, Canada is buying heavier tanks and other military hardware.

     No wonder that Globe and Mail correspondent Doug Saunders reported last March 19 that "Afghan civilians are increasingly turning against Canadian troops and their country's government and toward support of the Taliban." Saunders was quoting from a massive survey of 17,000 Afghan men in the southeastern provinces, which found that 27 per cent now openly support the Taliban (probably understated because some respondents are wary of admitting support to a Westerner). When asked, "Are the international troops helping you personally," only 19 per cent answered yes, and 80 per cent said they worry about feeding their families.

     This crisis has left two million Afghani refugees across the border in Pakistan, and another 900,000 in Iran (according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), seeking shelter, safety and food. It's a humanitarian catastrophe ignored by the western mass media, which continues to focus almost exclusively on casualties inflicted on coalition forces.

     One last trump card is played by the pro-war advocates: defending the equality of women. This "accomplishment," however, is highly over-stated.

     Afghanistan's outspoken woman MP, Malalai Joya, faces constant death threats which make it impossible to live and work in her homeland. Her message to Americans during a recent speaking tour was that Afghanistan is still "chained in the fetters of the fundamentalist warlords." As Joya said, "The US government removed the ultra-reactionary and brutal regime of Taliban, but instead of relying on Afghan people, pushed us from the frying pan into the fire and selected its friends from among the most dirty and infamous criminals of the `Northern Alliance'..."

     (Malalai Joya will speak to the October 27 anti-war rally organized by StopWar coalition in Vancouver.)

     So what's the scorecard in this "game" of war? Thousands of Afghans, and hundreds of NATO troops (including 70 Canadians to date) have died. Aid projects are totally inadequate. Three million Afghans are refugees. One group of reactionary warlords has been replaced by "pro-Western" warlords. Gains for women's equality are minimal at best.

     Yet Stephen Harpers's minority Conservative government refuses to yield to public opinion and set a date for the return of Canadian troops. A big turnout to anti-war rallies on October 27 across the country can send a strong message to Harper and all the parties in Parliament: get Canada out of this U.S.-made quagmire, the sooner the better!

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

There is growing concern in Haiti and internationally about the disappearance on August 12 of one of Haiti's best-known advocates of human and social rights, Lovinsky Pierre Antoine.

     Several days later, the Haitian National Police confirmed that Pierre Antoine was kidnapped. There has been no communication with alleged kidnappers for weeks now. As the silence continues, his supporters are increasingly concerned that the disappearance is a political act by the Haitian elite and its foreign backers to silence Pierre Antoine.

     "If his disappearance is political," says Canada Haiti Action Network spokesperson Roger Annis, "the implications for democracy and political rights in Haiti are very disturbing."

     Lovinsky was working as an adviser to a human rights investigative delegation to Haiti when he was kidnapped. On August 15, Annis and one other member of the delegation visited the Canadian embassy in Port au Prince to plead with the staff to issue a statement of concern about the kidnapping. The embassy refused, and has made no statement to date.

     Lovinsky Pierre Antoine is a leader of the September 30 Foundation in Haiti, which campaigns to win the release of the hundreds of political prisoners still detained from the time of the illegal, 2004-06 "interim government." It also campaigns for the rights of the estimated 4,000 common prisoners, many of whom are imprisoned in violation of the country's constitution and legal code. The Foundation issued a stark public challenge to the United Nations in late July at the time of a visit to Haiti by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: help us build a country of prosperity, or you're not welcome in Haiti.

     "I and my colleagues in the Canada Haiti Action Network are concerned that the political space that opened up in Haiti following the February, 2006 presidential election would close if such kidnappings are not vigorously condemned and investigated," says Annis. "The violent overthrow of Haiti's elected government in February, 2004 and the foreign military and police occupation that followed has produced an economic and social calamity. That's what our delegation witnessed throughout the country. The Haitian people want an end to foreign intervention and they want their sovereign rights respected."

     The Canada Haiti Action Network has appealed to Canadians to raise their concerns about Lovinsky Pierre Antoine's disappearance to the federal government and to the UN authorities in Haiti. For more information, phone the Canada Haiti Action Network in Vancouver at 778-858-5179.

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

As reported in the Sept. 16-30 People's Voice, the Hungarian state has launched a new legal assault on the Hungarian Communist Workers' Party (HCWP). The actions come in the wake of the HCWP's 2005 congress, which expelled its former vice-president Attila Vajnai for his support of the government's neoliberal policies. Vajnai challenged his expulsion in a Budapest court, which ordered his reinstatement, in a blatant case of state interference in the HCWP's internal affairs.

     The HCWP leadership characterized the court decision as a political judgement, and a form of revenge against the Party for its role in organizing a public referendum against the privatisation of hospitals.

     The latest step in this legal attack took place on Sept. 21 in Szekesfehervar (68 km from Budapest), where the City Court under judge Ilona Sarkozi convened to discuss the case against Gyula Thurmer (President of the HCWP), Magda Karacs and Janos Vajda (vice-presidents), Peter Szekely, Laszlo Kerezsi, Sandor Urban, and Pal Kollat (current and former members of the HCWP presidium).

     According to the indictment, the members of the HCWP leadership are accused of "public libel" for calling the decision of the Budapest Court a "political sentence."

     Questioned by the judge, the communist leaders declared that the Hungarian Constitution guarantees their right to express their opinion freely. Arguing that they used this right to criticise the previous decision, they asked the Court to finish the legal process and clear them of the charge because no crime was committed. The judge decided to postpone the session of the Court until November 6.

     In front of the City Court, hundreds of communists and residents of Szekesfehervar held a solidarity protest meeting, and the Hungarian media gave considerable coverage to the event.

     "We have fulfilled the mission the party has sent us to the court," Gyula Thurmer declared after the session. "We defended our rights and showed that the ruling capitalist forces are trying to destroy the communist party before the new referendum and parliamentary elections which can take place in the near future."

     Thurmer noted that the second court session will take place on the eve of November 7, the day which will be marked by the international communist movement as the 90th anniversary of the October Revolution.

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Mobeen Ahmed Chughtai, Press Secretary of the CMKP (Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party - Communist Workers and Peasants Party) - abridged from the original

Afghanistan underwent a communist revolution in 1978 and came under the democratic rule of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), led by Noor Muhammad Tarakai, who became the new head of State. This did not sit well with the Western imperialist powers who sought new allies in the region to fight against this growing "threat".

     Pakistan, under the illegitimate and unconstitutional dictatorship of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, proved more than happy to oblige. Gen. Zia-ul-Haq was looking for ways to legitimize his rule and this proved to be a perfect opportunity. Of course, the millions of dollars that the USA was pumping into Pakistan for purposes of training and arming the new army of "Imperialist Mujahids" didn't hurt either.

     These Mujahids fought the USSR for many years. The USSR eventually recalled its forces and stopped its support of the democratically elected PDPA, which was finally ousted from power. In this manner a new theocratic Afghani state came into being.

     Even after two million refugees emigrated back to Afghanistan due to the ongoing repatriation, more than three million Afghans live in Pakistan today - most of them second generation refugees. Herein rest the seeds of contemporary Talibanisation in Pakistan.

     The NWFP is considered to be a conservative society, and this manifests itself in the make-up of the Provincial Government in the province - the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA, a grouping of religious parties). This is no mere coincidence. This same political organisation was responsible for the dissemination of money and material to the Taliban mujahids during the Afghan War, and has always enjoyed political clout in the region. Arguably such good relations with the Taliban continue. Therefore it would not be unfair to say that the Taliban find fertile ground within the MMA-governed NFWP and Baluchistan.

     A very important question that needs to be addressed, according to Ms. Bushra Gohar (director of the Human Resource Management and Development Center in Peshawar), is why the NWFP is suddenly a cauldron of troubles, where once it was as peaceful, at least relatively, as any other province of Pakistan?

     The answer she provides is that Pakistan's military and its intelligence and security agencies have a direct involvement in the instability of the region. The army and the security agencies have been fighting another proxy war against the people of Afghanistan - and by association the people of the NWFP as well.

     Ahmed Rashid, in his book Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia, explains the role of the agencies in the Afghan conflict and the ensuing Talibanisation in NWFP. He says, "The ISI (Inter Services Intelligence agency) became a victim of its own rigidity and inflexibility, even as its power to actually control the Taliban dwindled. The agency's operatives in Afghanistan were all Pashtun officers, while many were also motivated by strong Islamic fundamentalist leanings. Working closely with (Gulbuddin) Hikmetyar (a fundamentalist leader supported by the U.S. against the PDPA government in Afghanistan) and later the Taliban, this Pashtun cadre developed its own agenda, aimed at furthering Pashtun power and radical Islam in Afghanistan at the expense of the ethnic minorities and moderate Islam."

     This new proxy war is politely referred to as the "war on terror," although Ms. Gohar refers to it as the "War of Terror". According to her, a number of factors have contributed to the Talibanisation of the NWFP: the deteriorating law and order situation, social insecurity, inequity, and poverty, coupled with the oppressive environment which characterizes any dictatorship, have taken their toll. The government of Pakistan has been unable to maintain its writ and the direct result of such weakness has been incidents like the Jamia Hafza ("Red Mosque") fiasco.

     Another important indicator is that the Talibanisation has reached the center of Pakistani politics. Islamabad, theoretically the most secure and stable area of Pakistan, has been a theatre to political and social strife in recent months. Be it the hordes of bearded terrorists roaming the streets spreading their version of Islam, or the numerous political activists lining the roads outside the Parliament demanding rights and freedoms, Islamabad has lost its claim to political constancy in a most dramatic of fashions.

     Ms. Gohar says that, in truth, the Pashtun are not the monsters they are made out to be, rather they are very level-headed individuals. However, at the behest of the western imperial powers, the Pakistani government has taken it upon itself to systematically exterminate all hostility against countries like the USA and Britain from within the NWFP.

     It is for this reason that massive military actions in Waziristan have become common occurrences. The instability and loss of life thus caused have affected even the Maliks (tribal leaders) of the region, known to be dependable cronies of the government in the past. The recent refusal of Malik Wazir Masood to attend the Peace Jirgah, when he said "how can we be expected to talk about peace in Afghanistan when we bury nearly 200 bodies everyday in our own back yards," bears testament to this. In short, Ms. Gohar paints a very grim picture of future Pakistani society when she says "NWFP is burning and this fire will not be limited to the NWFP but, in short order, will envelop all of Pakistan."

     There are numerous reports and incidents of Taliban-like individuals coming to various public places and enforcing their will at the point of a gun. Aftab Alexander Mughal, in his article titled Living Under Fear, relates several such incidents. He says,

"... According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, throughout 2006, approximately 163 people were killed in NWFP in more than 84 incidents. Just the first five months of year 2007 (till May 18) have already seen at least 149 people, including 100 civilians and 18 security force (SF) personnel, killed in the province, a clear index of the mounting violence. A significant proportion of these fatalities have occurred in suicide attacks, with at least six of the 10 suicide attacks in Pakistan in 2007 (till May 18) having occurred in the NWFP."

     Not only is the geographical range of operations of such militants astounding, but the sheer number of incidents of violence is staggering. The power and the social impact of such retrogressive and conservative views within NWFP society grow day by day. Today these quasi-talibans are flexing their muscles to secure more "operational space" within the urban populace. There have been incidents, such as those reported on May 16, 2007, in Charsada city, of bearded individuals coming to video shops and distributing pamphlets and individually-named letters to shop owners ordering them to wrap-up shop within 10 days... or else. The "or else" part is very straightforward. Such shops that choose not to close down meet with an unfortunate end.

     Another, and entirely unfortunate, example of the spread of Taliban mentality within the NWFP comes in the form of abstinence of parents from getting their children to drink Polio drops. The reason furnished for such a foolhardy act is that the local religious scholars have declared it a joint conspiracy of the Americans and the Pakistani government who have "mixed" something in the drops. The theory goes that as soon as the child drinks these drops he or she will become sexually impotent.

     Considering the history that Pakistan has with this particular disease, it is extremely unfortunate that the decadent and paranoid approach towards everything, associated with the Taliban mind-set, is creating problems in dealing with Polio cases in our country. If such tendencies are allowed to foster, the day is not far when the NWFP will have a disproportionately high number of Polio cases. The vaccine in question is the same one used the world over, and is the vaccine of choice in over 50 other Muslim countries including Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

     Even more shocking, the Taliban are going around recruiting not just misguided teenagers for "the cause," but also demanding that each school within their influence "donate" ten children each.

     On the eve of Independence we must ask ourselves, is this the Pakistan that Allama Iqbal envisioned? Or is this some heavily distorted and perverse version of that ideal? What happened to Jinnah's dream of a secular and free Pakistan? Did we lose our way someplace or were we deliberately led astray? If so, then who misled us and for what purpose?

     These questions will keep nagging us over the subsequent years which promise to be full of bloodshed and religious intolerance. Another important and extremely relevant question must be added to this list. Where have all the religious moderates gone?

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(The following article is from the October 1-15, 2007 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, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

In a statement released several days before the Sept. 17 byelections in Quebec, the Communist Party of Canada expressed its "deep dismay at the attempts to whip up racism and xenophobia around the rights of veiled Muslim women to vote."

     The statement went on to say, "Unlike the Harper Tories and the other parties represented in Parliament, which have all jumped on this issue in an opportunist manner, the Communist Party condemns the bigots who are waging this campaign, and defends the right of Muslim women who choose to wear the veil to cast their ballots.

     "Having been forced to defend the democratic and electoral rights of our Party and of all Canadians on many occasions since the 1920s, we are acutely aware of the need to protect the voting system. But this issue has the earmarks of a `manufactured' crisis, since there is no indication that significant numbers of women wearing veils will arrive at the polls. The Harper Tories - who have done more to attack women's equality than any government in recent history - are pushing this non-issue in an effort to portray themselves as opponents of gender oppression.

     "In fact, the current rules adopted by Parliament do not require government-issued photo identification. This is important since many eligible voters do not have such photo ID - for example, those who do not have drivers' licenses. For this reason, the Elections Act provides that such voters may receive their ballots by showing two pieces of identification approved by the Chief Electoral Officer, as long as one shows their address, or by having another voter vouch for them if each swears an oath. As the Sept. 12 editorial in the Globe and Mail says, `If the system for verifying a voter's identity with written identification or sworn statements is considered good enough for other Canadians, it should be good enough for those who cover their faces for religious reasons."

     "The decision by Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand to permit veiled women to vote as long as their identity can be confirmed is therefore not a special exception, but simply the application of the current law. Other eligible voters - those living temporarily abroad who vote by mail - do not have to show their faces. Prime Minister Harper and the leaders of the Liberals, the Bloc Québecois and the NDP are all aware of these facts, and we condemn their cowardly statements on this matter.

     "However, the Communist Party of Canada points to a very real and increasingly serious danger to the voting system: the restriction of access to the ballot through the disenfranchisement of many eligible voters, especially tenants, students living away from home, youth who do not yet have photo IDs, and people who are homeless or transient. Instead of addressing the problems with the permanent voters list by going back to door-to-door enumeration (which was far more comprehensive and accurate), Parliament is moving in the opposite direction. Restricting access to the ballot denies the fundamental democratic right to vote, especially for the growing numbers of Canadians who live in poverty.  The Harper government has indicated that it will seize on the `veil' issue to introduce legislation making photo ID mandatory for voting, adding to the hundreds of thousands already excluded from the voters' list - most of whom, of course, do not back right-wing parties.

     "This process will further erode the electoral system, which is already deeply compromised by such flaws as the near-complete media blackout against smaller parties, and the unconstitutional denial of federal funding for parties which do not reach the arbitrary 2% threshold of voter support. The Communist Party has repeatedly raised these issues in recent years, and we will continue to campaign for the expansion of voter rights and electoral democracy.

     "Finally, we warn that the hysterical campaign against Muslim women is part of a wider agenda to restrict the privacy rights of all Canadians, in the name of the so-called `war on terror.' Already, for example, the government is moving towards mandatory retinal scans at airports, which will no doubt be followed by similar `security' measures at government offices and other `sensitive' facilities.

     "The Communist Party of Canada calls on all democratically-minded Canadians to reject the increasing attacks on democracy, electoral rights, and privacy. We urge Parliament to reject the calls by bigots for amendments to the Elections Act which will restrict the voting rights of Muslim women, and instead to take steps to make it easier for all Canadians to take part in the electoral process."

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  What's Left

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People's Voice deadlines: October 16-31 issue: Thursday, October 4 November 1-15 issue: Thursday, October 18 Send submissions to PV Editorial Office, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net

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