Challenge B.C. parties on health care  (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 Hanne Gidora Four years ago the BC Liberal Party swept to power on the strength of widespread dissatisfaction with the NDP government, and on their election promises to protect health care and education. Those promises, contained in the "New Era Document" (NED) are now harder to find, but even when the document was still widely available the spin doctors were busy twisting words to match the government's actions.      For example, "NED" promised the creation of 5,000 new long-term care beds. But a recent report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that the government's policies led to a net loss of almost 1,500 beds, even including 1,065 "assisted living" beds, which don't serve the same population as long term care.      Health Minister Shirley Bond claims "we have shovels in the ground on 46 residences" for 1,700 new "or renovated" beds. But even traditional right wingers are getting a bit tired of waiting for those shovels, considering the reality of hundreds of frail seniors in need of residential care lingering on in acute care hospital beds.      This situation, combined with the cuts to acute care (1,279 beds, or 19% of the total, according to the CCPA report) explains the whopping increases in surgical waiting lists over the past four years. Bond also claims that B.C. is one of the top five provinces in Canada when it comes to spending on residential care, but there is no accountability from the health authorities on how any additional monies have been spent. One suspects that significant amounts have been used to convert existing long term care beds into assisted living units.      It should be pointed out that this situation did not start with the Liberal government. The "closer to come" initiative of the '90s began the process of transferring health services from the hospitals into community care, but acute care services were cut faster than community services were built up to replace them. B.C. nurses soon re‑named the initiative "home alone".      In 2001 Gordon Campbell and other members of his caucus also said they had no intention of ripping up public sector contracts. Those statements weren't worth the paper they were written on, as British Columbians soon found out.      Just to recap a few highlights: soon after Campbell and his 76 fellow MLAs took office, the Legislature met for the sole purpose of interfering in collective bargaining in health care. First they legislated a "cooling off period", then they imposed contracts on the nurses' and paramedical bargaining tables. (The facilities' table had settled before the election.) At the same time the government announced a freeze on health care spending, so the money for the raises contained in these contracts had to be found elsewhere.      A few months later the Legislature met again to unilaterally re‑open the contracts. In an act that has been called "legislative vandalism," their hidden agenda became apparent: Bill 29 threw wide the doors to health care privatization. We have witnessed the results over the past three years: housekeeping, laundry and dietary services have been contracted out to a greater or lesser degree to Sodexho, Compass and Aramark. The decline in quality of service is now becoming apparent, as patients come down with serious post‑operative infections. The quality of the food is so poor that the Fraser Health Authority has decided to halt its introduction of "re‑thermed" food until the concerns of patients, residents and families have been addressed.      The three companies in question are transnationals, based in France, the UK, and US respectively. Sodexho presents itself as "the leading provider of food and facilities management in the U.S. and Canada, with $4.9 billion in annual sales". Based in France, Sodexho also caters to the US military "since 1993". It is also a member of the Correctional Corporation of America, a company that runs private prisons in the US. Sodexho's dismal track record can be examined in the 2002 Hospital Employees' Union report, "Who is Sodexho".      These companies are involved in support services, but we have also witnessed increasing privatization in direct patient care. Everybody is familiar by now with private diagnostic centres. This trend did not start with the current government, but now we are also seeing more and more private surgery centres, which many consider a direct violation of the Canada Health Act, which bans extra billing and user fees.      These centres are being touted as a way to reduce the waiting lists in the public sector. The problem with this claim is that there are only so many health care professionals in the system: surgeons, nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists, laboratory and X-ray technologists and others. Professionals hired by the private sector are lost to the public sector (or at least their services to the public sector will be reduced). Severe shortages in some of these professions will get worse over the next decade as more people near retirement age. Any expansion into private surgeries will increase this pressure.      Health care privatization is not a B.C. or Canadian phenomenon. A 2003 report by the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) shows how the World Bank and other international financial institutions are pushing the agenda of private, for‑profit health care, all in the name of "improving services." But are those claims true?      We hear almost daily about the "inefficiencies" in the current system, and how the private sector could run things so much better. An article in the New England Journal of Medicine from 1999 shows that the per capita cost of health care in the US is more than twice as high as in Canada, largely due to administrative costs. The article concludes that US health care would be greatly improved by implementing a Canada-style system. In a 2005 article titled "Critical Conditions," the same journal also criticizes the quality of private health care. A study in Alberta has shown that the waiting list and the cost for cataract surgeries go up when surgeries are either partly or exclusively performed in the private sector. There is concern about increased mortality in private hospitals and dialysis centres. All in all, reality does not bear out the glowing claims made by health care corporations.      What should the B.C. working class expect from the upcoming provincial election? The leadership of organized labour has the panacea for all our woes: re‑elect the NDP. While this would slow down the process of privatization, past history as well as current statements from Premier‑in‑waiting Carole James show that the process would not be reversed or even brought to a full stop.      Furthermore, we have seen that even mildly progressive legislation can be easily reversed by successor governments. What B.C. needs is a genuinely progressive government that would take on the capitalist agenda and replace it with a true People's Alternative. In this election, it will be more important than ever before to challenge candidates and their parties to defend public health care, and to continue to challenge them after the election, no matter what the outcome.      (The author is a union activist working in the B.C. health system.) (Back) (Home) Worsening economic trends - Editorial   (The following editorial is from the April 16-30/2005 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.) Lead Editorial, April 16-30 People's Voice To read the corporate media these days, you'd think the Canadian economy was booming. Unemployment dropped marginally to 6.9% in March, down from 7% in February, but this small improvement still leaves 1,192,700 Canadians out of work. Real unemployment (including those working just a few hours a week, or who have given up looking) is probably well over ten percent, affecting some 1.5 million workers.      That's hardly cause to celebrate a "boom." But it gets worse. As the Canadian Labour Congress reports, the official statistics show that the private sector is still not creating new jobs, and youth unemployment is worsening. Since last December, all of the net job creation has been in precarious, part-time jobs and self-employment. Over the past year almost all of the net new jobs were temporary. This weakness translates into lower wages, since part-time, temporary and self-employment work typically pay less than regular full‑time jobs.      Negative economic trends are firming up, with no federal plan to create a long‑term job strategy and industrial policy for the country. The manufacturing sector now employs 114,000 less workers than in November 2002. There has been a decline of 29,200 jobs since December 2004 in accommodation and food services, and losses are increasing in tourism industries, even before the impending changes in US-Canada border policies.      While the public sector has seen a net job creation of 55,600 since the beginning of the year, this fails to make up for the weakening private sector. Relying on the private sector to carry the ball simply doesn't work. If a spring election is called, the labour movement should demand a new set of economic policies, designed to put the interests of working people ahead of corporate profit, starting with massive public investments in social programs, housing and infrastructure, not more tax cuts for the wealthy and the corporations. (Back) (Home) Behind the Gomery scandals - Editorial   (The following editorial is from the April 16-30/2005 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.) People's Voice Editorial, April 16-30, 2005 As new scandals emerge from the Gomery inquiry, the country teeters on the brink of another federal election. But the real issues at stake have little to do with kickbacks, and much to do with Canada's unresolved constitutional crisis.      The Canadian ruling elite usually prefers to hope that the oppressed peoples within the Canadian state don't get too noisy. When demands do erupt for equality among Aboriginal nations and Quebec, the ruling class response is to make minimal concessions and hope the problem disappears.      Sometimes more drastic action is called for. After nearly losing the 1995 Quebec referendum, the federal Liberals turned to the carrot-and-stick approach, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into Quebec to buy people's loyalty to the Canadian flag, and passing the Clarity Act, which attempts to deny the Quebecois people any right to self-determination.      These tactics are bound to fail, because Quebec's popular sentiment for self-determination cannot be eliminated through bribes or threats. As long as Quebec is not recognized as an equal nation within the Canadian state, its people will demand the right to determine their own future. Progressives in English-speaking Canada must support that right, which extends up to and including the right to secession.      However, it also remains our view that in the current context of capitalist globalisation and neoliberal attacks on working people, separation would create unnecessary hardships and an uncertain future for working people across Canada. The blame for the Gomery scandal rests entirely with corrupt federalist politicians. But the real solution to this crisis is to demand a new constitutional arrangement, a confederation of genuine equals, including the Aboriginal peoples, Quebec, and English-speaking Canada. (Back) (Home) Federal Liberals undermining Kyoto target (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 It seems unusual, but perhaps also significant, that the fate of Paul Martin's Liberal minority government may rest on Canada's commitment to the Kyoto Accord on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Debates in Ottawa have shifted mainly to the sponsorship scandal, but the Conservatives in Parliament are still threatening to bring down the government over so-called "carbon taxes," their code word for regulations on the energy industry. Such regulations are considered completely unaccepatable for the Tories, who receive huge contributions from the oil and gas corporations.      This episode may be a sign of things to come. As the world faces growing ecological dangers, many governments will find it harder to avoid crucial decisions on environmental issues.      The Kyoto Protocol, ratified by Canada in December 2002, came into force on February 16 of this year. A total of 141 countries (with the exception of the United States ‑ the largest single polluter) have pledged to work together to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses. Canada's Kyoto target is to reduce emissions by 6% below our 1992 level by the period 2008-12.      But Canada has not put forward an effective, coherent plan. If emissions in Canada continue as usual, they will rise to 810 million tonnes per year by 2010 ‑ 30% above our legally binding Kyoto target of 570 million tonnes. The government has asked individual citizens to reduce emissions by one tonne per year ‑ 20% of the average individual emissions.      The largest big business polluters have virtually ignored the government's call for voluntary measures. Greenpeace Canada reports that half of greenhouse gas emissions are from large industrial polluters, but the government is reportedly reducing their reduction target from 55 to 45 million tonnes per year ‑ about 10% of expected industrial emissions. The government may also back off on its commitment to improve the fuel efficiency of new vehicles by 25 percent by 2010. Passenger cars and light trucks were responsible for 10 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions in 2002.      A coalition of twelve leading environment groups has issued a warning that the federal government's April 5 agreement with Canadian automakers to make new cars and trucks more fuel efficient will allow emissions to rise by 18% between 1990 and 2010. The groups point out that the last voluntary agreement between Canada and automakers, signed in 1982, failed to improve the average fuel efficiency of Canada's vehicle fleet.      The agreement exempts the automakers from any responsibility for the trend towards larger, more inefficient vehicles. At the same time, it states that federal fiscal measures to encourage consumer purchase of efficient vehicles are not required.      "The main reason why emissions from vehicles are rising in Canada is increased sales of gas‑guzzlers," said Dr. Matthew Bramley, Director, Climate Change with the Pembina Institute. "But this agreement appears to rule out any effective mechanism to address that problem."      "A voluntary agreement will not be effective unless it contains an automatic trigger for regulations to kick in if the industry misses interim targets," said Dale Marshall, a policy analyst with the Suzuki Foundation. "Without this regulatory backstop, the industry has no incentive to comply."      Marshall notes that the auto industry already has the technological expertise to build cars that pollute less and that require fewer raw materials to build. For example, Canada's vehicles are much less efficient than those of the EU, Japan, Australia, and China.      Environmental groups say that limits on greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles are best set by regulations which the government has the power to impose under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. (Back) (Home) Massive student strike shakes Quebec   (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 One of the biggest student actions in Canadian history continues in Quebec, in opposition to replacing student grants with huge tuition hikes. Currently there are no tuition fees for colleges in Québec, and university tuition rates have been frozen for 31 of the past 36 years.      At its peak in mid-March, an estimated 230,000 post-secondary students, over half of the total in Quebec, were on strike against a move by the Liberal provincial government to convert $103 million in grants to low-income students into loans. The demand for restoration of the grants has the backing of more than two-thirds of Quebecers, according to surveys.      The protest began on Feb. 23 with a walkout of 30,000 university and CEGEP (junior college) students, launched by the Coalition de l'association pour une solidarité syndicale Étudiante Élargie (CASSÉÉ). The radical student association is demanding free education at all levels and the elimination of student debt.      By early March, the strike was backed by the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), the largest student organization in Québec, which is affiliated to the Canadian Federation of Students. The Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec also officially endorsed the strike. About 100,000 students took part in huge protest demonstrations on March 16; even groups long considered quite conservative joined the struggle, such as business students at the Université du Québec à Montréal, who voted for a one-week strike.      During the first week of April, over 150,000 students were still out, and militant protests were hitting many prominent economic targets across Quebec. Striking students have blocked access to the port of Montreal, disrupted highway traffic, occupied the offices of the Conseil du patronat (the principal employer association) and briefly taken over the offices of Liberal ministers and members of the provincial legislature.      Until the Charest Liberals began cutting the bursary program, the average low‑income student received $2400 per year in loans and $2600 in bursaries. The proposed changes would mean the average student now receives $4700 in loans and just $300 in bursaries, and the average student debt at graduation is expected to rise from $14,000 to $21,500.      This is just one of many attacks on social benefits by the Charest government, which was elected in 2003. Polls have consistently showed that some two-thirds of the Quebec population disapproves of the government's policies. Huge protests were organized by the trade union movement against the government's plans, including a massive one-day general strike in December 2003.      In this case, the government initially threatened students with the loss of their entire semester if the strike went longer than a few days. Under enormous pressure, the government later announced a restoration of about $40 million of the funds cut from the grants, rising to $100 million by 2009. In the long term, the Liberals said they might expand the grant program, in exchange for scrapping the university tuition freeze.      But this offer was overwhelmingly rejected by students and their associations, effectively challenging the government's entire neoliberal agenda of social cuts and lower taxes on the wealthy and the corporations. At its March 19 assembly, the CASSÉÉ voted for a resolution which states that "the Charest government is attacking practically all the social and labour movements with its anti-social measures." The association called for "a general strike at all levels; in this way, the various social and labour movements will come together to suggest and establish a large, shared platform of demands."      "All students across Canada have a stake in supporting the efforts of students in Québec to fight for affordable post-secondary education," said George Soule, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. "The shift from a system of grants to loans is a regressive turn for the Québec government. Studies repeatedly show that grants, not loans, improve access to education. The cut to the grants program is being felt by those who need the most assistance, students from low‑ and middle‑income backgrounds."      The Quebec students have also gained wide support from unions and the left across Canada. The Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Canada sent the following message: "We are writing in support of the magnificent effort, unity and militancy that you are displaying now to advance the cause of quality and accessible education. Youth and students across Canada and in other countries will be inspired by your example. For too long neoliberal governments have tried to deny working class youth access to education, maintaining post‑secondary education as an elite institution. Canada is a wealthy country and is fully able to eliminate tuition fees. It is able to provide grants ‑ not loans ‑ for all post‑secondary students. We wish you complete success in your struggle." (Back) (Home) Story of a teenage burger slave   (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 Johan Boyden Mandy is 17. This year she graduates from high school. She works at Pita Machine part‑time. On Saturday nights she closes at midnight, and her Mum picks her up after work.      Mum is 43 and used to work in a job like Mandy's. Now she's a full‑time mother and a part time receptionist at a dentist office. She wants her daughter to focus more on school, and less on friends. But Mandy has to pay off her phone bill. Plus she needs a social life. So school's getting the crunch this April.      Mum: "Have you done your homework this weekend, Mandy?"      Mandy: "Yeah. Most of it. Mike [the manager] wants me to work tomorrow."      Mum: "Do you have time to do that!?"      Mandy: "Oh come‑on Mum!"      And so goes the drive home. Mandy doesn't like the reddy-purple burn on her arm she got from the Grill tonight. "Yeah, but that's life," Mandy thinks. This job sucks, but she's no whiner. "There's not much I can do about it, anyway."      Really? This month marks several historic dates for workers, including inspirational victories. And yet few under 30 know anything about them.      Here's an incomplete list. On April 30th (1975) Saigon was liberated. On the 22nd (1870) Lenin came into the world. On the 9th (1898) Paul Robeson was born. And on the 8th (1937) the UAW stuck GM Oshawa. Next month is also the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Hitler fascism.      This is what we under-30s remember: On April 8th (1994) Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain was found dead in the greenhouse of his Lake Washington home, with enough heroin in his blood to kill three people and a 20‑gauge shotgun beside him on the floor.      Cobain's music was Grunge, and his look was the look of Grunge culture. You can still hear bars playing Nirvana albums. Grunge had mass appeal among youth in the early 1990s, a time of high unemployment among young people. Coincidence? We're still headed in that direction today.      Mandy was six when Cobain died. She had only just learnt to walk when Nirvana released their first album. "And now I have my first real job," she jokes.      The last thing on her mind is retirement. But a few weeks ago, the Ontario government made an announcement which could directly affect her. McGuinty's Liberals are preparing legislation to phase out Mandatory Retirement.      The big business line regarding mandatory retirement is this: let it die. So when will Mandy get a better paying job than the Pita Factory? There's obvious reason to worry.      But business also has a message for youth. Robert Brown, a statistics professor at the University of Waterloo, expressed that point of view in the March 29th Toronto Star: because baby boomers will leave the workforce in droves, the mass exodus of expected retirees will be so large that 20-somethings will have no problem getting hired or promoted.      That mass exodus hasn't yet happened. Last month, StatsCan announced that 6,000 jobs had been lost in January. Reading through the lines reveals that higher‑income adult workers employment actually rose 15,100, but jobs for youth fell by 20,800.      Most of the jobs filled by youth in Canada today are not high paying or permanent. Minimum wage in every province is an outrage, putting full‑time workers thousands of dollars below the poverty line. Some provinces (like Ontario) even have a lower minimum wage for high school students.      When Mandy started her first job, she was trained to say "Hi. Welcome to Pita Factory." She might as well add: Welcome to the Future. Welcome to casual jobs. Welcome to juggling two jobs. Welcome to wages so low, you can't pay the bills. Or welcome home. Many parents wind‑up providing what their kids' boss won't - the cost of living - and so you live at home.      Or hit the streets and see the crisis of youth unemployment. Travel from Vancouver to Halifax and you'll see homeless youth.  Over the past decade, Ottawa could have actually created jobs for those kids. Instead Paul Martin has been busy paying off the debt by taking it out of Unemployment Insurance. And so a necessary fund, already difficult for young people to get at, has become harder for all unemployed workers to access.      Martin also sneakily cut budgets. Last week, the International Monetary Fund reported that since 1995 Ottawa's budget forecasts have consistently underestimated its budget surplus. What a strange error to repeat, year after year! But as Don Drummond, chief economist at the Toronto Dominion Bank, says, the problem was serious and had to be addressed. As a result, "Parliament didn't debate it and the public wasn't consulted. It just happened after the fact through the skewing of the forecasts" (Toronto Star, March 30).      So the government's creditors were paid off big time, the serious decisions were made completely outside of Parliament, and Mandy was short changed. After all, her family's personal debt hasn't gone down and minimum wages aren't any higher. At the end of the budget card shuffle, big business came out with a winning hand. But where's the democracy?      We must not forget that the people united are a force to be reckoned with. The Labour movement in Ontario needs to stand up for all workers, including young people, and oppose the ending of Mandatory Retirement.      McGuinty claims "Mandatory Retirement takes the choice away from older Ontarians who want to continue to work." A better agenda for working people would call for a shorter work week with no loss in pay - that would really address employment issues. Let's hear some "consultation papers" about ending overtime.      And remember: we can win. Professor Brown's view doesn't meet today's facts and you shouldn't buy his "its all going to be all right - tomorrow morning" line either.      A few days after presenting Professor Brown's view, the Star published a letter defending the proposed changes. "As a woman who stayed home with her children, then divorced at age 45," the writer stated, "I must work past 65 in order to obtain any kind of a decent pension once I do retire."      That hits the nail on the head. Today in Ontario, most people who continue to work after 65 are at the bottom of the economic pile, continuing to work out of necessity. The solution is substantially increased pensions as well as credit for child-bearing and rearing. Getting people to work after 65 only benefits the employer.      What kind of system leaves our children and our elderly begging for work to support themselves, deprived of dignity? Will Mandy's Mum say the same things in ten years? (Back) (Home) Haida nation recovers logs from Weyerhauser (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 According to reports in the Prince Rupert Daily News, the Haida Nation has seized an estimated $50 million in timber from Weyerhaeuser for alleged breach of contract.      "We hope we can use this money to get hospitals here ... [and] all our schools are in debt because they've been funded like everywhere else in the province," said Guujaaw, president of the Council of the Haida Nation. "We will support language and youth programs and help out recreational programs. After all the years and billions of dollars there's been nothing left by that company. If they want to challenge it, it will tie it up a bit ... but that's how we're going to spend that money."      The March 30 edition of the Daily News says the action was sparked by Weyerhaeuser's violation of five of the six provisions the company agreed to in a 2002 accord with the Haida and forestry workers. The Haida say the company has violated the deal by high grading timber and using mechanical harvesters. At the time of the agreement there was one mechanical harvester on Haida Gwaii, but now there are three despite a promise that no additional harvesters would be introduced without discussions.      "They agreed they would log the profile, harvesting the percentage of cedar in the forest and the percentage of pulp," he said. "They didn't do that."      Instead they've been taking only the best logs, several barges worth of which ‑ including cypress, cedar and hemlock ‑ have now been seized.      Guujaaw disputes the claim by Skeena MLA Roger Harris, Minister of State for Forestry, that the company was not causing harm to the island and that the B.C. Government had made an effort to consult with them.      "Most of the things they've offered are pretty Mickey Mouse," said Guujaaw, referring to the provincial offer of 200,000 hectares of land fee simple.      "They offered us 20 per cent of our land [and] fee simple land is not ownership at all," he said. "You have to realize the people of our villages are buried in every corner of this land and there is no part we can give up." The Haida wouldn't have even been able to afford the taxes on the deal, he said.      A second deal offered $1.8 million and an allocation of 125,000 cubic metres, but this involved harvest areas that the Haida felt should be protected.      "The offer was, we get all the protected areas and if we want money, log them," said Guujaaw. "[But] the real hitch was they wanted us to stand aside and let them do what they want with the rest of it. We had to accept all the decisions they made. The history of their management isn't one that we trust."      Guujaaw also accused the province of neglecting its duties under the Haida Land Use Vision (HLUV) plan, adopted as the basis for land use on Haida Gwaii, by allowing cutblocks in those areas to continue to receive approvals.      The creation of Gwaii Hanaas National Park Reserve was also far from a testament to cooperation between the province and the Haida, he said.      "The province fought us vehemently there," said Guujaaw. "They went along kicking and screaming."      Haida Gwaii does not belong to British Columbia, but to the Haida, says Guujaaw. A major issue in the Haida's forthcoming Supreme Court title case is that the Haida were never conquered, nor have they ever ceded their land to the British, the province or the federal government. While they have never turned anyone away, it doesn't mean they've given their land up.      "In our mind it's Haida country and that will never change," said Guujaaw. "The people that live beside us here have no problem accepting that's the way it is... Just because (the province has) come here and done a lot of damage, it doesn't mean they own it," he said. "We don't have any place to go, this is our planet here." (Back) (Home) Kazemi case must not fan flames of war (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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.) Statement of the Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada, April 10, 2005 Recent revelations about the torture and murder of Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi while in Iranian custody have led to demands for action by the government of Canada, including breaking diplomatic relations and other measures. This is far from the first such case in Iran, whose fundamentalist rulers have killed thousands of political dissenters over the past quarter-century.      The depth of anger over this case is fully understandable, and the Communist Party of Canada joins in condemning the murder of Zahra Kazemi. We extend our deepest sympathy to her family, and we demand a full and fair investigation of her murder, with those responsible to face stern punishment.      But we also stress that this tragedy must not be used to fan the flames of yet another violent war of aggression.      The current campaign against Iran bears dangerous similarities to the period during 2002 and early 2003, when the U.S. was preparing for war against Iraq. That campaign centred on the false claim that Iraq possessed "weapons of mass destruction" capable of inflicting huge losses against other countries, as distant as the United States itself.      But the psychological/political preparations for that war also included arguments that the invasion of Iraq was "necessary" to topple a regime which consistently violated human rights. This public relations crusade had a powerful influence, especially within the U.S. itself.      The Communist Party of Canada rejects the U.S. claim that military intervention by outside forces is necessary to resolve human rights abuses around the world.      First of all, this doctrine requires committing the most serious violation of international law: the prohibition against unprovoked military aggression. The Bush regime has made its opposition to the principles of international law a fundamental keystone of its foreign policy, resulting in a far more dangerous planet. In reality, this policy is a not-so-subtle cover for the U.S. imperialist drive to seize oil reserves and other vital resources.      Secondly, such military aggression, as we have witnessed in Iraq, causes far larger numbers of deaths and injuries than the crimes they are supposedly intended to stop. An estimated half-million Iraqis, including many children and women, died as a result of the US-enforced economic sanctions which followed the first Gulf War, and the occupation of Iraq has cost the lives of over 100,000 more Iraqis during the last two years.      Not least, we absolutely reject the idea that the United States government has any moral standing as the enforcer of human rights in today's world. The record of the past century clearly proves that the United States is the world's number one exporter of terror and violence. Dozens of countries have suffered under U.S. militarism during this period, starting with the occupation of the Philippines at the end of the 19th century. Successive U.S. governments have armed countless far-right, fascist regimes to the teeth, and trained their military and police forces in the latest techniques of torture, murder and repression.      This policy continues to the present, as we have seen during the so-called "war on terror." The U.S. military, acting on the instructions of the White House, have made torture an official instrument of policy, not an "aberration" carried out by "rogue troops."      The U.S. State Department's annual human rights report released recently criticized many countries for a range of interrogation practices labelled as torture, including sleep deprivation, confining prisoners in contorted positions, stripping and blindfolding them and threatening them with dogs.      Yet these methods match those approved by the Bush administration for use on detainees in U.S. custody. In December 2002, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved similar measures, including the stripping of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and using dogs to frighten them. A later list of accepted "exceptional techniques" included 20‑hour interrogations, face slapping, stripping detainees to create "a feeling of helplessness and dependence," and using dogs to increase anxiety. All these techniques and worse are used at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-controlled prisons in Iraq.      Just as the killers of Zahra Kazemi must be brought to justice, so must the killers in Washington and London who have inflicted so much terror and grief upon the people of Iraq and many others during the "war on terror." (Back) (Home)  A new stage of violence  by Colombian regime (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 James Brittain and Jim Sacouman Over the past several weeks the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC‑EP) have demonstrated that their military capacity and social support throughout Colombia has not wavered. Recent FARC‑EP tactical missions have devastated the 17th Brigade of the Colombian army, largely located in Antioquia department.      As part of official Colombian state policy (supported by the United States), state/paramilitary forces do not seek to combat the guerrillas, since the FARC‑EP are larger and more tactically sophisticated than the combined counterinsurgent forces. Instead, state/paramilitary units have engaged in devastating massacres against non‑combatants, the majority of which are rural peasants and civilians.      In this gutless manner, the 17th Brigade responded to their humiliation at the hands of the FARC‑EP not by entering the jungle to confront the guerrillas, but rather by attacking Colombia's first Comunidad de Paz [peace community] de San José de Apartado on February 21. The United Nations Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia stated that some were butchered to death by "machete blows" and "gunshots."      Numerous human rights workers and groups, Catholic church representatives, and even a former mayor of Apartado, Gloria Cuartas (who, on March 2 received a death threat for verifying the bodies) stated that the only armed combatants seen within the region were members of the 17th Brigade. Others specifically reported that they saw members from the 33rd Counter‑Guerrilla Battalion of the 17th Brigade directly enter the peace community.      The atrocities carried out by the 17th Brigade are another example of the counterinsurgent efforts of the Colombian state against social movements struggling for change. The state does not seek to gain support through methods of attraction, but through the direct coercive means of slaughtering innocent unarmed rural civilians, through peasant genocide. These actions of "draining the sea" are nothing new within Colombia; however, the 17th Brigade's actions following the February massacre establish a new stage of silencing justice in rural Colombia.      On March 2, the 17th Brigade allegedly conducted a mortar attack against a commission of investigators from the attorney general's human rights office and NGO officials who were investigating the Feb. 21 massacre. During the attack, two members of the commission were shot (with one dying from the inflicted wounds). The 17th Brigade has been accused of the attack because it "had a strong presence around the urban center of San Jose," and "a permanent 24‑hour checkpoint in the village of La Balsa on the road between San Jose and Apartado, and carries out constant patrols along the road."      Two days later (March 4) the Brigade overconfidently revisited the region and further intimidated the inhabitants, making it clear that action can and will most assuredly be taken against those who divulge information to external sources or authorities.      The activities of the state forces also illustrate the organized restriction of information within Colombia. Such information, if released to the public, could have a two‑way devastating affect on the Colombian ruling class; the first being through an international front being formed, placing pressure on the United States for providing fiscal and political support to human rights abusers; the second on the domestic front, which hampers Uribe's bid for a second shot at the presidency in the ever-closer 2006 elections. The government does not want any news of the massacre in the domestic and international sphere, and has arranged to prevent this information from leaving the community.      The operations of the 17th Brigade establish a new stage in the fascistic policies of the Colombian ruling class. They are no longer only targeting the civilian populace, but now even those within the government itself who can stain the state's ideological and political reactionary agenda. (Back) (Home) Hamilton's PV Festival to celebrate Che's Birthday (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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.) With the annual People's Voice Fund Drive closing in on the halfway point, a number of fundraising events are coming up. But first, here's a look at how the Drive is doing. Since our last issue, we have raised another $4,059 towards our goal of $50,000, bringing us up to the 41% mark. That's a good total five weeks into the Drive, but we do need to pick up the pace, especially since an early federal election might interfere with our efforts. British Colombia supporters continue to lead the way, with $11,370 turned in, or 52.1% of the provincial total. Alberta is second, at 48% ($816), and Quebec third with 41% ($205 out of their $500 target). Manitoba and Ontario have started to move ahead a bit faster over the last two weeks, reaching 36.3% and 31.5% respectively. Thanks to all for your efforts! As reported in our last issue, PV Editor Kimball Cariou will be on the road soon. Winnipeg readers can meet Kimball at a dinner on Friday, April 29, in the Ukrainian Labour Temple (591 Pritchard Ave.) where he will speak on the outlook for Vancouver's experiment in electing a reform-minded civic government. Doors open at 6:30, dinner is at 7 pm, tickets are $10 (low-income $6, children under 12 free). For details, call the Manitoba Communist Party office, 204-586-7824. Kimball will also take part in Winnipeg's Annual May Day banquet and the May Day march. On May 28, Kimball will be in Toronto to speak at a People's Voice Dinner at the AUUC Cultural Centre, 1064 Bloor St. West. The evening also features the Wally Brooker Jazz Band. Doors open at 6 pm, and dinner's at 7 pm. Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30 at the door ($15/20 for youth and students), available from the People's Voice Ontario Bureau, 416-469-2481. Earlier that day, Ontario press directors and builders will meet with Kimball Cariou in Toronto, starting 11 am at 290 Danforth Avenue. Perhaps the most ambitious event during this year's Fund Drive takes place in Hamilton on Saturday, May 15. Readers are invited by People's Voice to a Solidarity Festival to celebrate Che Guevara's birthday, starting 7:30 pm at St. Stephen's Church Hall, 625 Concession Street. The evening will include cultural presentations, good food and refreshments, solidarity displays, and dancing to a Latino band and disc jockey. There will be many door prizes, including a $500 gas barbecue. Tickets are $15, available from Sam Bonilla (905-318-8674j) or Sam Hammond (905-529-4103). Sounds like a great time, comrades! Details of the annual People's Voice Victory Banquet in Vancouver will be announced soon. The event will mark the 70th anniversary of the On to Ottawa Trek, which began just a few blocks from the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Avenue, the location of this year's banquet. Doors open at 6 pm, on Saturday, June 11. PV FUND DRIVE:  April 6 report Area--------------------Target------------Raised-------------Percent BC--------------------$22,000------------11,370---------------52.1% Alberta----------------$1,700----------------816---------------48.0% Saskatchewan----------$800----------------360---------------45.0% Manitoba--------------$3,000-------------1,088---------------36.3% Ontario---------------$20,000-------------6,308---------------31.5% Quebec-------------------$500----------------205---------------41.0% Atlantic Canada------$1,200---------------235---------------19.6% Other----------------------$800---------------100---------------12.5% TOTAL-----------------$50,000----------20,482---------------41.0%   (Back) (Home) Council of Canadians urges "no surrender" (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 Council of Canadians has blown the whistle on the so-called “Independent Task Force on the Future of North America”, which on March 14 released a statement calling for a virtual surrender of Canadian sovereignty to U.S. Interests on a variety of public policy fronts. Among the recommendations coming from the Task Force chairs, which included former Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, are: a North American energy pact that would help meet U.S. Energy needs but put at risk Canadian energy security in the areas of water, oil, natural gas and hydro-electricity; a harmonization of immigration and refugee policies with the U.S. And Mexico that would literally erase our ability to set policy in these areas; the creation of a trilateral threat intelligence centre that would have Canadian policing and intelligence services working in close collaboration with the CIA and the FBI; a common North American external tariff which would imply the (end) of an independent Canadian trade policy and have the U.S., Mexico and Canada speaking as a single bloc at international trade negotiations. The Task Force seeks to have these recommendations in place in less than five years. The full statement can be found on the CoC website, http://www.canadians.org On March 14, a CTV National News story by Tom Clark reported that Prime Minister Paul Martin is “secretly . . . in support of this.” The Council of Canadians is urging public opposition to these plans, by telling Paul Martin to reject this agenda. On March 25, Martin met with President George W. Bush and President Vicente Fox in Waco, Texas, to discuss, in Manley's words, “the architecture of the future.” (Back) (Home) Peace Alliance acts on nukes, Iran (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 Canadian Peace Alliance is sending a bus-load of arms control activists to new York on May 1, for a “No Nukes, No War” rally in Central Park. The rally is organized by the broadly-based United for Peace and Justice (http://www.unitedforpeace.org), and marks the beginning of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference. The NPT is a cornerstone of arms control and disarmament that prevents the spread of nuclear weapons to new states. According to a recent comment by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, “The United States and other nuclear powers seem indifferent to (the NPT's) fate” and “the U.S. Is the major culprit in the erosion of the NPT.” The CPA Steering Committee also agreed to issue a statement opposing aggression against Iran by the United States, which commentators expect could take place as early as June, allegedly in order to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons arsenal. The CPA meeting agenda included decisions to keep up the pressure to end the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, and to support U.S. War resisters coming to Canada. It was reported that the government's decision to stay out of U.S. Missile defense could be temporary, and to remain vigilant. The meeting welcomed three labour councils as new members, and heard a report on a wide range of anti-war and peace resolutions submitted by labour groups to the Canadian Labour Congress convention in June. (Back) (Home) World Peace Forum 2006 (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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.) Vancouver City Council unanimously embraced the World Peace Forum 2006 at a March 31 meeting, following presentations by the organizers of the Forum and numerous supporters. The City approved funding the Forum in three stages of $50,000 each. The World Peace Forum, scheduled for June 23-28, 2006, is anticipated to attract thousands of civic politicians, peace and sustainability activists from around the world under the theme “Cities and Communities: Working Together to End War and Build a Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World.” Council's support gives the World Peace Form 2006 the green light it needs to go forward, to hire staff, develop detailed planning in the weeks and months ahead and invite the world to attend. Jef Keighley of the World Peace Forum Society said "We live in perilous times. Cities and local authorities, acting with community support, can effectively contest global militarism and ballooning military budgets which starve local and regional governments of the resources necessary to provide quality housing, health, education and community services. The challenge is to coordinate the networks of civic and social movements to work towards a peaceful, just and sustainable world, city by city, expanding to nations and internationally.” Already eight national and international organizations have planned their meetings and conferences in Vancouver to around the World Peace Forum 2006 with five other gatherings under consideration. (Back) (Home) B.C. votes on May 17 The Communist Platform: A People's Alternative for B.C. (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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.) People's Democracy or Capitalist Democracy? That is the issue at stake in British Colombia and Canada as a whole! Since the birth of Canada, with few exceptions, two political parties have exchanged the seats of government... the Grits and the Tories... Liberals and Conservatives. From time to time, matters of substance have arisen between these two parties but in the main, they pursued the same policies and danced to the tune of the same drummer: capitalism. Has there been any progress in the last 138 years? Of course there has. But it's owed to the struggle waged by workers, farmers and other democratically-minded Canadians, many of whom gave their lives to these struggles for democratic and social reform. Well – why not carry on that way? Concede political and economic power to the parties of capital – Tweedledee and Tweedledum – and depend on the working class and political movements outside Parliament to regulate the exercise of power. The problem is there's not enough money in the pot to serve the needs of capital in today's technological competitive world and to meet the needs of working people as well. Capitalism has become “out of date.” The “profit motive” is no longer able to rule humankind. A new system is required to manage the world – Socialism! Does this pivotal issue engage this election? Of course it does. First of all, in the debate that runs through the issues; secondly, on the political impact of a strong anti-capitalist vote (not just who is elected). A sharp political debate is essential to shift politics from issues to solutions. The test of the validity of elections lies in their becoming a forum for such a debate. Whether or not communists are elected in this or that constituency, short of becoming a government, we present voters with a cogent message about our future as well as solutions to the most immediate problems. VOTE CHANGE! VOTE COMMUNIST! Create jobs – defend living standards A shorter work week with no loss in pay, and no cuts in public services Raise the minimum wage to $10/hour Expand social and non-profit housing Build a large value-added wood products industry to process forest resources at home Start a massive environmental job creation program, including reforestation, restoration of salmon spawning habitat, and expanded recycling and re-use programs Reverse the privatization and sell-off of publicly-owned assets including BC Rail Ensure that the 2010 Olympic infrastructure is built by BC union labour, and that the legacy from this event will clearly benefit British Colombians in terns of low-cost housing and accessible sports facilities No to capitalist globalization Work to pull Canada out of NAFTA, and to oppose the World Trade Organization, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and all other institutions and treaties which aim to give complete freedom of action for big corporations Rights for workers, not bosses Reverse the privatization of the food services and cleaning of our hospitals No more back-to-work orders or “essential service” legislation Strengthen labour rights, including a ban on rat unions Reverse the Liberals' changes to the Labour Code of BC; full respect for the free collective bargaining process for all workers Expand Labour Code provisions to cover all workers and their organizations, and to force employers to settle first contracts Full pay and employment equity; affirmative action in hiring Defend social programs & education Expand Medicare to include dental care Defend the public health care system; reverse privatization and provide adequate funding End workfare, and raise social assistance rates by 50% Reverse privatization of social programs Guarantee adequate funding for our public schools Shift to grants, not tuition fees, for post-secondary education Support non-profit, affordable and universal child care Stop the “Drug War” - take emergency action to save lives by providing housing, rehabilitation and detox centres, and harm reduction programs including safe injection sites Tax the greedy, not the needy Reject the “balanced budget” attack on social spending Increase taxes on the wealthy and big corporations, and cut taxes for low-income people. Impose a special “windfall profits” tax on corporations making huge profits from the crisis of energy distribution Restore the right of municipalities to collect education tax from corporations Maintain the capital tax, but take the burden off small businesses; eliminate the provincial sales tax No expansion of gambling as a source of government revenue B.C. Resources for British Colombians Put our resources under public, democratic control Stop and reverse the sell-off of B.C. Crown corporations Stop log exports; auction timber to companies which provide local jobs based on manufacturing Raise stumpage fees, and oppose any proposals aimed at private ownership of B.C.'s timber resources Process fish caught in B.C. waters in B.C. fish plants No export of fresh waters Halt integration of BC. Hydro into the U.S. energy grid Defend the environment Protect fisheries, especially the salmon; ensure the protection of spawning streams; expand salmonid enhancement and other programs Strengthen environmental protection laws Reduce the allowable annual forest cut to sustainable levels No logging in watersheds which provide fresh drinking water for communities Expand public transit and other alternatives to private vehicles Keep transit technology unified by expanding SkyTrain instead of adding light rail transit such as the RAV line Work towards making our transit system “people-friendly”, with washroom facilities, more shelters, and affordable fares. Make energy and water conservation top priority issues Human rights and democracy Resolve First nations' land and treaty claims now, based on recognition of inherent aboriginal rights A Constituent Assembly and a democratic solution to Canada's constitutional crisis, including equality for Quebec and First Nations within a new confederation Guarantee access to abortion for all women Reinstate funding for feminist, women-controlled crisis and transition centres Reinstate the office of a BC Human Rights Commissioner Stronger action against hate propaganda and discrimination based on ethnic origin, sexual orientation or gender identity Full equality rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people Introduce proportional representation for provincial elections, and not limit choices only to the STV Legislate a ward system for major cities and campaign spending limits for civic elections Civilian review of all complaints against police forces No municipal amalgamation without full citizen involvement and approval Support pension rights for all seniors Communist Party of BC candidates HARJIT SINGH DAUDHARIA Surrey-Green Timbers Harjit Daudharia, editor of Darshan, the recent book of writings by and about Darshan Singh Sangha, the early IWA organizer who was later en elected Communist in the Punjab, will once again contest the riding of Surrey-Green Timbers. Daudharia is well-known in Surrey as a cultural worker, an anti-war activist and a defender of the rights of senior citizens. PETER MARCUS Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant Retired hospital worker Peter Marcus will run in Vancouver-Mount Pleasant. The community includes part of the left-leaning Commercial Drive neighbourhood, as well as the historic Strathcona community and most of the Downtown Eastside, one of the poorest urban areas in Canada. Marcus was one of many Hospital Employees' Union members forced to take early retirement by the Campbell government's anti-labour policies. He has been active for many years in the Coalition of Progressive Electors and in public transit campaigns. STEVE ROEBUCK Kelowna-Mission At 20, Steve is one of the youngest candidates in BC's May 17 election. He spent his childhood in the Okanagan Valley, before moving to Robson Valley and completing high school in McBride. Steve was raised in a foster home together with two sisters. He came back to Kelowna to attend university at the Okanagan University College, with the objective of becoming a social worker. Steve's election platform includes proposals for “better work for better wages” and for democratic access to post-secondary education. Authorized by the Communist Party of BC. To volunteer for our campaign, or for more information, contact the BC office of the Communist Party, at 604-254-9836, email cpbc@telus.net. The campaign office is at 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1. (Back) (Home) Manitoba low wage hearings (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 Low wage earners in Manitoba will be in the public eye at community hearings from May 2 to 17. The group organizing the hearings, the Just Income Coalition http://www.just-income.ca was founded in 2002 to address the fact that a growing number of families are living in poverty. The 25 member-group coalition is encouraging low-wage workers, businesses that pay low wages and community groups to make a presentation at one of the hearings (details below). Written contributions can also be sent to the coalition at 412 McDermot Ave., Winnipeg, MB, RCA 0A9. After Nova Scotia, Manitoba has the second highest level of workers earning the minimum wage: 7.4 per cent of the work force between July 2003 and June 2004. Manitoba workers earning less than $8/hour make up 15.2 per cent of the labour force and 31.1 per cent of workers earn low wages, defined as less than two-thirds of the national median wage. Pressure is building on the NDP provincial government to improve wages for low income workers in other ways. The Manitoba Government Employees Union turned in over 10,000 post cards to the government on March 15 to support a substantial wage hike for child care workers, who earn between $9.28 and $13.83 an hour. The Communist Party in Manitoba has written to the provincial Labour Minister in support of its demand for a $12 an hour minimum wage, and will be making a presentation at the hearings. (Winnipeg hearings: May 2,3 and 4; Brandon May 10; Thompson May 17. For details or information where to send comments, call 943-2561.) (Back) (Home) U.S. workers reject privatizated Social Security (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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.) Thousands of working families and community activists rallied last month in more than 70 U.S. Cities at the offices of Wall Street firms pushing the privatization of Social Security. “I believe I speak for the majority of American workers when I say, 'Mr. Bush, leave my Social Security alone!'” said Reda Johnson, a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546 who rallied at a Charles Schwab office in Chicago. “Don't give my Social Security benefits away to your friends on Wall Street. I've worked hard for that money for years, and when I'm ready to retire I want it back!” The union movement's March 31 National Day of Action for Retirement Security is the largest grassroots mobilization yet in a campaign to defeat President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security. “American voters know privatization is a flim-flam scheme – they already know that privatization means steep benefit cuts, an exploding deficit, huge bills for our children and grandchildren and more corruption on Wall Street,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told protesters in Washington, D.C. Together with a delegation of activists, Sweeney entered the offices of Charles Schwab and Wachovia to deliver letters demanding they stop supporting Social Security privatization at the expense of working families. The Bush plan would slash guaranteed benefits for today's young workers by as much as $152,000, even for recipients who did not choose private accounts, and saddle their children with $4.9 trillion in new debt, mostly owed to foreign countries, over the first 20 years alone. The plan would also see Social Security would run out of surplus revenues in 2030, eleven years earlier than now projected. Financial firms stand to gain billions of dollars in fees from managing privatized Social Security accounts while working families would be hit with cuts in guaranteed Social Security and greater debt. University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee estimates such companies as Charles Schwab and Wachovia could reap some $940 billion in fees over the next 75 years. (Back) (Home) Israel to cut 4,500 teachers (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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.) Israel's Ministry of Education has instructed district managers to draw up lists of 4,500 teachers slated for dismissal after the Finance Ministry announced a cutback of NIS 700 million) about $200 million Cdn.) in the 2005 education budget. In an April 6 letter from the Ministry, district managers were told to submit lists of teachers slated for dismissal no later than May 7. The dismissal letters will be sent by May 31. The letter names several criteria for dismissal, including teachers of non-essential subjects (such as sewing and farming), teachers working less than a third of a full-time post and teachers “whose contribution to the school is lower compared to others.” In a crude pressure tactic, the letter also says that a breakthrough in wage negotiations could avert the need for mass layoffs. The teachers' union decided in reaction to freeze negotiations, saying that the ministry's dismissal threats were made intentionally to foil any progress in contract talks. (Back) (Home) "No place for neutrality" (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 James J. Brittain and Jim Sacouman The recent massacre of several inhabitants of the Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartado (Peace Community of San José in the Apartado municipality of Antioquia) is a lesson in the limits of pacificism under state terror. The Comunidad de Paz was the first peace community in Colombia. Surrounded by a raging, four-decade old war, San José's goal was to be a progressive community independent from violence, existing apart from the armed activities throughout the country. Luis Eduardo Guerr, a founder of the peace community, was brutally murdered on February 21. His remains were found alongside those of his partner Deyanira Areiza Guzman, his son and half-brother, and four other community members. The murderers, according to several eye-witnesses, belong to the 17th Brigade of the Colombian Army. On March 8, the Comunidad de Paz released a statement that they had been the recipient of “many attacks: such as “harassments, threats, beatings, bombings, murders” and now, “massacres”. Nevertheless, “the will of the community is firm” and they are determined to maintain their “position of pacifist coexistence”. What in actuality does this pacific moral outlook mean? According to Father Javier Giraldo (a devout non-violent liberation theologian who has been struggling on the front lines within Colombia for decades), “there is no place for neutrality” in Colombia. “Peasants who live where there are guerrillas are killed or displaced”. Giraldo says that Colombians live in a black and white world, a society which is not blurred with grey undertones of reality. For him, there are two truths for people living alongside the guerrilla forces: death of displacement. The Comunidad de Paz recently wrote that if the state again imposes its militarized forces against them, they “are determined to move on” with their ideals in hand. Is this all that the people in Colombia seeking social justice can do? Merely run or die” Since 2001, the 2nd Brigade of the Colombian army and members of the paramilitary AUC have also co-organized numerous devastating attacks against members of the Wayuu indigenous nation. Last April 18, paramilitaries and soldiers entered the village of Bahia de Portete where many of the Wayuu people live. The state forces systematically “burned two children alive – and killed others with chain saws”. One Wayuu father stated: “You cannot imagine how it is to have to escape on the run so that they won't kill you, and then hear the cries of the kids, of my two little sons who they burned alive without me being able to do anything.... They burned them alive inside my pick-up. Also, they beheaded my mother and cut my nephews to pieces. They didn't shoot them, they tortured them so we would hear their screams, and they cut them up alive with a chain saw”. Following this monstrous act, Wayuu representatives declared that they “have reached a decision – War has been declared. We are going to respond in such a forceful manner that they will have no desire to return to our lands. We will apply our own law, because the justice of the courts only serves to help the assassins”. Since then an increasing number of Wayuu have become members of the FARC-EP, while others have organized indigenous-based self-defense movements working in a cooperative manner with other social movements. As a result, attacks against the Wayuu have dropped precipitously since the summer of 2004. The Wayuu have demonstrated that material measures of security are a positive response to state expansionism and reaction. The Wayuu's militant response shows another method of responding to state repression. It also brings one to question the Comunidad de Paz strategy of remaining a pacifist-based autonomous society, committed to the principle of one-sided non-violence in response to the state's violence. The Comunidad de Paz is trying courageously to cope with their tremendous loss and regain some sense of peace and positive memory. But are death of displacement the best options for the Colombian people? Or will they recognize instead that “there is no place for neutrality,” by responding to oppression with more than immaterial ideals. Like the Wayuu, they must materially respond to oppression and defend their morality, their humanity, through objective justice. (Back) (Home) Communists killed by Colombian military (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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.) In one of the latest crimes committed by the Colombian military during that country's four-decade civil war, three Communist peasants were killed last month. The FENSUAGRO trade union reports that Javier Alexander Cubillos, Wilder Cubillos, and Heriberto Delgado, activists of the Communist Party of Colombia in the region of San Juan de Sumapaz, near Bogotá, disappeared on March 18 while travelling to inspect their cattle and farming activities.. A few days later, the mass media reported on military confrontations with guerrilla forces in the region of Sumapaz, where 'three guerrillas had been terminated”. On March 27, relatives of the missing farmers found their corpses in the morgue of Fusagasuga, where they were taken and stated to be guerrillas murdered in combat. The Asociacion de Juntas of San Juan de Sumapaz and the Union of Agricultural Workers have stated that the three farmers were communist militants, not guerrillas, and that they did not die in combat. All evidence indicates that they were murdered by the National Army. The Communist party of Colombia has denounced this new crime against its members, and demanded justice against the military. (Back) (Home) US dollar versus Euro: A struggle for global domination (The following article is from the April 16-30/2005 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 Dipak Basu US domination in the world ultimately rests on two pillars – its overwhelming military superiority and the role of the dollar as the world's reserve currency7. Increasingly it is clear that the Iraq war was more about preserving the second pillar – the dollar role – than the first, the military. In the dollar role, oil is a strategic factor. The United States emerged from World War II as the sole superpower, with a strong industrial base and the largest gold reserves of any nation. The role of the dollar was directly tied to that of gold. The gold Exchange Standard began to break down as Europe got on its feet economically and began to become a strong exporter by the mid-1960s. This growing economic strength in Western Europe coincided with soaring US public deficits as the Johnson administration escalated the tragic war in Vietnam. During the 1960s, France, followed by other countries, began to demand gold from the US Federal Reserve. By May 1971 the drain of US Federal Reserve gold had become alarming. Even the Bank of England joined the Central Bank of France in demanding US gold for their dollars. The Nixon Administration opted to abandon gold entirely, going to a system of floating currencies in August 1971. The sudden increase in oil prices by 400 per cent in 1973 by OPEC created enormous demand for the US dollar. Oil importing countries from Germany to Argentina to Japan faced having to export in dollars to pay their expensive new oil import bills. OPEC countries were flooded with new oil dollars. US and UK banks took the OPEC dollars and re-lent them as euro dollar bonds or loans, to countries of the third world desperate to borrow dollars to finance oil imports. Hundreds of billions of dollars were recycled between OPEC, London, and New York banks and back to third world borrowing countries. The Third World debt crisis began when Paul Volcker and the US Federal Reserve unilaterally hiked US interest rates in late 1979 to try to save the failing dollar. After three years of record high US interest rates, the dollar was “saved”, but with the entire developing world suffocating economically under high US interest rates on their petrodollar loans. To enforce debt repayment to the London and New York banks, the banks brought in the IMF to act as “debt policemen” of the world. Public spending for health, education and welfare was slashed on IMF orders to ensure the banks got timely debt service on their petrodollars. The IMF “Washington Consensus” was developed to enforce draconian debt collection on third world countries, to force them to repay dollar debts, prevent any economic independence for the nations of the South, and keep the US banks and the dollar afloat. This phase during the Reagan years was based on ever-worsening economic decline in living standards across the world. IMF policies destroyed national economic growth and broke open markets for globalising multinationals seeking cheap production by outsourcing in the 1980s and especially into the 1990s. Rise of Europe since 1990 The destruction of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a new single Europe and the European Monetary Union in the early 1990s began to present an entirely new challenge to American hegemony. Washington increasingly sees Euroland, especially the “Old Europe” of Germany and France, as the major strategic threat. A hidden war between the dollar and the new euro currency for global domination is at the heart of this new phase. By their firm agreement with Sayudi Arabia, as the largest OPEC oil producer, Washington guaranteed that oil, an essential commodity for every nation's economy and the basis of all transport and much of the industrial economy, could only be purchased in world markets in dollars. In 1975, OPEC officially agreed to sell its oil only for dollars. A secret US military agreement to arm Saudi Arabia was the quid pro quo. Until November 2000, no OPEC country dared to violate the dollar price rule. So long as the dollar was the strongest currency, there was little reason to violate their rule as well. Then French and other Euroland members finally convinced Saddam Hussein to defy the United States by selling Iraq's oil for food not in dollars, only for Euros. If it had continued, it would have created a panic sell-off of dollars by foreign central banks and OPEC oil producers. In the months before the latest Iraq war, hints in this direction were heard from Russia, Iran, Indonesia, and even Venezuela. An Iranian OPEC official, Javad Yarjani, speaking in Spain in April 2002 at the invitation of the EU, delivered a detailed analysis of how OPEC at some future point might sell its oil to the EU for euros, not dollars. The invasion of Iraq was the easiest way to deliver a deadly preemptive warning to OPEC and others, not to flirt with abandoning the petro-dollar system in favour of one based on the euro. So long as almost 70 per cent of world trade is done in dollars, the dollar is the currency which central banks accumulate as reserves. Because oil is an essential commodity for every nation, the petrodollar system, which exists to the present, demands the build up of huge trade surpluses in order to accumulate dollar surpluses. This is the case for every country but one – the United States, which controls the dollar and prints it at will. Because today the majority of all international trade is done in dollars, everyone aims to maximise dollar surpluses from their export trade. US foreign debt The US trade deficits, and net debt or liabilities to foreign accounts were well over 22 per cent of GDP in 2000, and have been climbing rapidly. In 1999, the year of the peak of the dot.com bubble fury, US net debt to foreigners was some 1.4 trillion dollars. Before 1989, the United States had been a net creditor, gaining more from its foreign investments than it paid to them as interest on Treasury bonds of other US assets. Since 1990, the United States has become a net foreign debtor nation to the tune of 3.7 trillion dollars. With an annual current account (mainly trade) deficit of some $500 billion (some five per cent of GDP), the US must import or attract at least $1.4 billion every day, to avoid a dollar collapse and keep its interest rates low enough to support the debt-burdened corporate economy. That net debt is getting worse at a dramatic pace. If France, Germany, Japan, Russia and a number of OPEC oil countries shifted even a small portion of their dollar reserves into euro to buy bonds from Germany of France for example, the United States would face crisis which would destroy its economy. The future of the US's sole superpower status depends on preempting the threat emerging from Europe and Asia and Euroland especially. Thus, the hidden reasons for the decision to have a 'regime change” in Iraq, was to preempt this threat. Iraq was a chess piece in this strategic game of supreme importance, one of the highest stakes. Iraq invasion This fight over petro-dollar versus petro-euros, which started in Iraq, is by no means over. The Euro was created by French geo-political strategists for establishing a multi-polar world after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The aim was to balance the overwhelming dominance of the US in world affairs. An alliance between Paris, Moscow, and Berlin running from the Atlantic to Asia could foreshadow a limit to US power. This emerging threat from a French-led euro policy with Iraq and other countries, led some circles in the US policy establishment to begin thinking of preempting the threat to the petrodollar system well before Bush became president. In September 2000 Project for a new American Century (PNAC) released a major policy study: Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century. This paper is the essential basis for the September 2002 presidential White Paper, “The National Security Strategy of the United States of America.” The PNAC's paper supports a “blueprint for maintaining global US pre-eminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests”. The “American Grand Strategy must be pursued as far as possible in the future.” Further, the US must “discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global roll. The PNAC membership in 2000 included Dick Cheney; his wife Lynne Cheney, neo-conservative Cheney aide, Lewis Libby; Donald Rumsfeld; and Rumsfeld's Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz [Bush nomination to head World Bank]. It also included National Security Council Middle East head, Elliott Abrams; John Bolton of the State Department [US Ambassador to UN designate]; Richard Perle and William Kristol. As well, former Lockheed-Martin vice president, Bruce Jackson, and ex-CIA head James Woolsey were on board, along with Norman Podhoretz, another founder. Woolsey and Podhoretz speak openly about the “World War III”. Most of these people are also members of a US group, the American Committee for Peace in Chechnya (ACPC), which supports the Chechen terrorists against Russia. It is becoming increasingly clear to many that the war in Iraq is about preserving American global dominance, but Iraq is not the end. Exxon and British Petroleum have invested heavily in the former Soviet Republics of Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan to eliminate Russian influence on these countries. Both Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea have some of the biggest oil fields of the world. Russian oil fields are in Tatarstan (a Muslim majority province) and in Siberia. Chechnya has some oil fields, but the importance of Chechnya rests in the fact that the major oil and gas pipelines both Russian and Kazak oil fields pass through Chechnya. Thus, if Chechnya were cut off from Russia, it would affect Russia's ability to export oil and natural gas to the European market. Independence of Chechnya would pave the way for chain reactions in the other Muslim majority provinces in Russia, Tatarstan in particular. Separation of both Chechnya and Tatarstan will reduce Russia's crude oil deposits to a low level as the Siberian oil fields are located in the most inhospitable areas of the world. As a result, Russia would be reduced to a very poor country without any military significance. That is the reason for the Anglo-American support for Chechen terrorism against Russia. Thus, the invasion of Iraq was needed to ensure two objectives. The first is the occupation of the second largest oil fields in the Middle East, thus ensuring both future oil resources of the US and trade of oil in dollars. The second objective is to scare away other countries from even thinking about de-linking the US dollar from oil trading. De-linking oil trading from the dollar will diminish the special statue of the dollar and the ability of the US economy to buy goods and services virtually free from the rest of the world and for it to force countries with a trade surplus with the US to lend money to the US. That would certainly destroy the economy of the US which is built on borrowed money. (From an article by Dipak Basu, published in People's Democracy, paper of the Communist Party of India) (Back) (Home)

sitemap