People's Voice April 16-30, 2006

Dying for profits: the deadly truth `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 The Quebec Federation of Labour says the death toll on the job has spiked by 20 per cent, and it wants action to reverse this deadly trend. According to statistics released in March by the QFL, 175 people died at work in 2003, and another 176 in 2004, but the figures jumped to 225 last year. In January and February of 2006, 34 workplace deaths occurred, a 52 percent increase over the same months of 2004 and 2005. Henri Massé, president of the QFL, says that falls, toxic chemicals and other hazards are to blame, and that at least half of the deaths could have been prevented. The QFL is demanding that the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST, or Workplace Health and Safety Commission) to double the number of workplace inspectors from 200 to 400. As Massé pointed out, shooting a deer without a license in Quebec could result in a fine up to $25,000, but the maximum penalty for risking the security of a worker is only $20,000. That compares to $1 million at the federal level, $500,000 in Ontario and British Columbia, and $250,000 in most other provinces. Meanwhile, in British Colombia, the ongoing toll among forestry workers has sparked rising outrage. There were 43 deaths and 106 serious injuries reported in the BC forest sector last year. The United Steelworkers (into which the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers merged two years ago) is campaigning for changes in provincial legislation to reduce the slaughter. The union points to changes in provincial forest policies which have led to more contracting-out over the last two years. The shift has meant that more workers are directly employed by smaller operations which cut corners on safety. After the deaths of 26 Nova Scotia miners at the Westray mine in 1993, the Steelworkers' lobbied for changes to the federal Criminal Code to make corporate board members liable for criminal negligence of workers' health and safety. That bill was finally introduced in 2003. Such tragedies raise a crucial question: under a capitalist economic system, what comes first - the private profits of owners, or the health and safety of working people? The answer is that all too often, those who produce the profits are killed and maimed on the job. It is estimated that every year, one Canadian worker out of 16 suffers an injury at the workplace. More than 800,000 such injuries are reported annually in Canada, of which up to 1,000 are fatal. In 2003, Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board reported 359,353 workers suffered injuries and occupational diseases; another 552 died, of whom two-thirds suffered a fatal disease. In total, more than 16 million days of work are lost each year in Canada - the equivalent of the average annual work of 67,000 people. Young, inexperienced workers are particularly at risk. Between 1993 and 1998 about 30% of all accident victims compensated for time lost were aged 15 to 29. During 2001, 57 Canadian workers between the ages of 15 and 24 were killed at work. No other age group faces a higher risk on the job. Other workers are similarly vulnerable. Pregnant or nursing mothers may be exposed to harmful chemicals that impact their health and that of their unborn or newborn child. Part time, contract, temporary and non-union workers often find that raising concerns about health and safety concerns costs them their employment. Many new immigrants enter workplaces with little or no training as well as encountering language barriers. Every year, workers' compensation boards across Canada pay out about over $5 billion in benefits. With the addition of the indirect costs, the annual cost of occupational injuries to the Canadian economy is in the range of $10 billion. Many workers are killed, injured or made sick one at a time, in situations where most people would not expect danger. For example, some 6,000 Canadian Union of Postal Workers members are injured on the job annually, and nearly half of these injuries are at least temporarily disabling. From the very beginning of the "Industrial Revolution," workers have struggled to achieve a less dangerous job environment. Many labour battles have been fought for the goal of workplace safety, both at the jobsite and using wider political strategies. Workers have organized into trade unions to achieve safer working conditions, and to press for legislation holding corporations and bosses accountable for preventable deaths and injuries on the job. The idea of an annual day of remembrance for workers killed on the job emerged in the northern Ontario community of Sudbury, a dangerous place for miners and smelter workers. The annual Day of Mourning was fixed as April 28 to commemorate the date of Canada's first comprehensive Workers' Compensation Act, adopted in Ontario in 1914. In 1984, the Canadian Labour Congress declared a National Day of Mourning for workers killed and injured on the job. Observances of April 28 have become widespread in Canada, led by unions and labour councils, often with the participation of municipalities, social action groups, and other non-government organizations. In 1987 a national monument to workers killed or injured on the job was placed in Ottawa's Vincent Massey Park. Facing similar dangers, union organizations in other countries quickly followed suit. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions estimates that about 1.2 million workers a year are killed on the job, about a third from injury, a third from disease and another third unaccounted for. (Contents) (Home) A tale of two stolen lives `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)` By Sam Hammond TORONTO - "It is with deep sorrow that the members of the Public Service Employees Union learned of the death today of John Stammers, 62." CFB TRENTON - "On Saturday, Chrissey Costall braced against chill winds on the tarmac of this eastern Ontario military base in the embrace of Private Robert Costall's parents." Two press quotes from two very different fatalities. Two very deceased Canadian citizens, one more of a non-story and the other spread over every paper in the country with graphic description, pictures of grieving relatives, editorial summaries and analyses of what the deceased would be thinking and saying if he was still alive. One was a 22 year old Canadian soldier in Afghanistan, and the other a 62 year old trade-unionist, a professor of Accounting on strike against the colleges in Ontario. Leo Gerard, President of the United Steel Workers Union, in one of his many speeches on the subject of workplace casualties, made the point that there is hardly any mention of the death of a worker unless it was a police officer. This is so true. In the macabre pecking order of sorrow and death the class nature of destruction is the dominant factor. With the professor we are informed that he was injured, he died and the police do not see any reason to lay charges. No negligence, no intent, no unsafe operation. Crashing a car through a picket line is apparently quite an acceptable and unhostile objective phenomenon. On the other hand, a young Canadian volunteers for military service, not knowing in advance what the purpose will be when orders arrive. He travels across the globe to police a poor foreign country where the former allies of the oil companies and the CIA are fighting a rear-guard action against their ex-bosses. Loudly lamented as a hero, it emerges also that he might have been a victim of "friendly fire." So what is the difference? The expendable academic professor of accounting, without combat training of any kind, was involved in a skirmish to protect himself and his students from the ravages of a neo-liberal agenda in education. In the broadest sense of the word, wittingly or unwittingly, he was fighting for the working class. We haven't been introduced to his family, grandchildren, survivors or lovers and friends. We haven't been told about how he was equipped, whether he should have been armed. No, he was here and now he is gone, and it must have been fate, because no one is responsible and apparently it is quite normal for accounting academics to throw themselves in front of cars. Not even a traffic ticket. On the other hand, trite media jingoism (that probably hasn't changed much since Julius Caesar, after all, journalism is one of the oldest professions, isn't it?) can describe in minute detail every thought this young soldier had in his final moments. "He was proud to be a soldier", "he was proud to do his job", and the very worst of Kiplingesque flap, "he gave his life for his country". Really. I wonder if he had the choice to live or die. I thought that if someone puts a bullet through you, they were taking your life against your will. I can just bet he was fighting with every resource he had to live. He was proud to be a soldier, of course. That could be said of most soldiers in most armies until they smarten up like the U.S. war resisters at present seeking asylum in Canada. The Canadians who tortured a Somali teenager to death took turns and recorded their actions on film. They were proud to be soldiers too, weren't they? By the way, has anyone figured out why they were in Somalia, and why we are in Afghanistan? Under closer inspection, this country resembles a charnel house. Since the official Day of Mourning Act was passed in 1991, there have been 11,000 fatal workplace casualties. In the last forty years, workplace fatalities equal all the Canadian dead in World War Two. Over 1000 every year. Where are the tears of the media wordsmiths? How many broken dreams, single parents and orphans are left behind? If we don't know, it is because we are not told. It is because our society doesn't place value on the lives of workers. What would be the reaction if 1,000 police or 1,000 soldiers perished every year? Why do some lives have more value than others? (Make no mistake about it; if I had my way there would be no Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, because they wouldn't be there.) Some will say that I am mixing up apples and oranges. Well, consider this for a moment. Is it possible that even those of us who should know better have been so benumbed to our own class interests, so bombarded with the interests of another class, so conveniently trained to keep the apples and oranges in different baskets, that we don't even flinch when members of our own class, fighters for our own interests are disposed of with indifference? Private Robert Costall and Professor of Accounting John Stammers were both Canadian citizens. Why were they treated differently by the law and the media? Figure it out. One was fighting for the interests of the working people, and the other was fighting for the interests of the ruling elite and their imperial world order. Hallelujah for the difference between apples and oranges. (Contents) (Home) "No deal, no diamonds" `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 Workers at Canada's first diamond mine went on strike April 7 after BHP Billiton refused to negotiate a fair first collective agreement. The 400 workers at the Ekati mine, who produce six percent of the world's diamond supply by value (3 to 5 million carats annually), are represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada. The mine is located 300 km northeast of Yellowknife and 200 km south of the Arctic Circle. BHP Billiton is a multinational corporation based in Australia with worldwide profits of $7.5 billion in 2005. Jean-Francois Des Lauriers, Regional Executive Vice-President for PSAC-North, warned BHP Billiton against the use of replacement workers, saying such tactics are unacceptable to northern Canadians. "BHP Billiton has refused to offer its diamond workers a fair first collective agreement and forced them to go on strike," said Des Lauriers. "If BHP Billiton adds insult to injury by using replacement workers to operate the mine, the Canadian labour movement will react strongly to denounce the employer's actions." Federally mediated talks in Edmonton failed on April 6 after the company offered a salary increase of one percent, and a one-day floating holiday in exchange for members giving up three days of paid sick leave. The offer did not address key issues of layoffs by seniority, nor job security, and the employer is demanding a two-tier pension plan, which would give some members a defined benefit while others pay for their future retirement out of their own pockets. Des Lauriers said the offer was an insult to workers. "BHP Billiton is showing contempt for the very workers who are making millions of dollars in profits for them," said Todd Parsons, president of the Union of Northern Workers, a PSAC component "Ekati workers are now saying `No deal, No diamonds' and we will not go back until there is a fair contract." (Contents) (Home) New working class struggles - Editorial `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 Looking at the forest from right behind a particularly large tree can sometimes give a false impression. Here in Canada, the difficulties faced by militant labour activists can appear immense. Several times in recent years - the "Days of Action" in Ontario, the strikes by hospital workers and teachers in British Columbia, the move to launch widespread strikes against the Quebec government - the desire for stronger resistance against the bosses has run up against some union leaders who seem more concerned about "exit strategies." But it would be wrong to conclude that capitalism has somehow snuffed out labour militancy. Workers and their unions are still capable of conducting powerful battles against the ruling class, even forcing the state and the corporations to retreat. In Britain, over one million local government workers walked out on March 28 to defend their pension rights. The biggest strike in that country since 1926 shut down town halls, schools, colleges, fire stations, police stations, toll bridges and airports. Across the channel in France, protests and strikes involving millions of workers and students forced the Chirac government to withdraw its hated legislation allowing bosses to fire young workers without cause. Nor is this a European phenomenon. Check out the news on the general strike in Guinea (see page 8) for one example. In the United States, trade unions have been strong supporters of the massive rallies against racist, anti-immigrant legislation. Life itself will prove that the Canadian working class also has the strength to lead the struggle for social programs, jobs, democracy and equality. Our task is to "educate, agitate and organize" to bring that day nearer, and the events in other countries give us confidence that bigger class battles are coming soon. (Contents) (Home) Mobilize against Harper's Tories `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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, 2006 The progressive citizens of Winnipeg have it right - when Stephen Harper comes to town for a luncheon with the rich and powerful, get in his face with loud, angry protests (see page 5 for their response to the PM's upcoming Chamber of Commerce event). If a grassroots, ad hoc committee of ordinary people can organize such a demonstration on short notice, why can't large and powerful mass movements do the same on a much bigger scale? Some are trying to push for wider action - child care advocates are a good example - but the labour movement in particular needs to move beyond issuing news releases. Responding to the Throne Speech on April 4, Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti pointed out that while campaigning, the Prime Minister promised that "a new Conservative government will get on with addressing the real priorities of ordinary working people and their families," but that these promises have now been forgotten. As Georgetti stressed, working people want the government to honour the agreements signed with the provinces to create high-quality, safe child care spaces; to strengthen our public health care system by reversing the trend towards private, for-profit clinics and hospitals; to announce a jobs strategy to help working families cope with a major job market crisis; and to protect workers' retirement security. Calling these "the real priorities on the kitchen table," Georgetti pledged to "continue to press the Conservative government to act in the best interest of working Canadians." It's time to get tough with Stephen Harper. We urge the CLC to take the lead, by initiating a broad meeting of all major people's movements to plan a comprehensive fightback on these and other crucial issues. There's no time to lose! (Contents) (Home) Manitoba Metis launch Land Claims court case `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 and C.E. Carr After twenty-five years of preparations and legal groundwork, the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) launched a landmark court case to claim vast tracts of stolen land in a Winnipeg court room on April 3. At 7:30 am, over 300 people, almost entirely Métis, gathered at Louis Riel's statue by the Manitoba Legislature. A moving rendition of Riel's Lament, a song composed by Riel in prison just prior to his execution, opened the program. Elder Ted Chartrand noted that the flags of other provincial Métis federations were present, as was the flag of the provisional government of Louis Riel from 1870. A procession to the Law Courts followed a short program. The claim covers land through much of Winnipeg and along the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Thousands of Métis people lost their land through the deliberate efforts of the federal government, replacing the older river lots with lands allotted according to the measurements used in the rest of Canada. Given "scrip" in exchange for land, often before harvest time, Métis families were forced to sell the scrip for food rather than redeem it for land. The issuing of scrip moved the Métis off productive farms long-held and worked and displaced them to useless lands or "road allowances" where they squatted. Even today, Métis settlements are not considered towns, but Crown lands that can be demolished on a whim. Other devices such as delays in issuing new land and preventing proximate settlements will be examined in the lengthy trial, expected to continue for a month. Lawyers and the judge will examine fifty-five boxes of evidence. "The Métis are a homeless, landless people," said MMF president David Chartrand. "We are seeking justice, something that must be done." The Métis are an Aboriginal nation, formed as a result of the inter-marrying of European fur traders and First Nations people during the early years of the fur trade. Riel led a successful resistance to the encroaching colonial takeover by Canada in 1869 to 1870, leading to the creation of the province of Manitoba and soon-to-be violated legislation guaranteeing access to land. Great-grandchildren of the displaced Métis families are among the largest and fastest growing modern Aboriginal nations. Part of the Manitoba government's position is that the MMF has no status to speak for the redress of wrongs to these families. The MMF is the largest political organization of Métis in Manitoba. The Union nationale métisse Saint-Joseph du Manitoba and the Half-breed Nation are also organizations. (Contents) (Home) Six Nations occupation of Douglas Creek continues `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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.)`' Commentary by Sam Hammond Six Nations protesters have occupied a Caledonia, Ontario, subdivision building site known as the Douglas Creek Estates since February 28. The land is part of the original Haldimand Deed of 1784 ceded to them by the British Crown for their support as allies in the U.S. War of Independence. The Haldimand Tract, originally six miles on either side of the Grand River from the mouth to the source, comprised 950,000 acres and contained some of the richest land in Ontario. In typical fashion, the British Crown waited only eleven years until Lord Simcoe arbitrarily reduced the tract to 275,000 acres. The distribution, theft, illegal seizure and phony sales carried out in the last 322 years have reduced the reserve to less than 5% of the original tract. Years ago when the colonial administration built a plank road from Hamilton to Port Dover (from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie), Six Nations land was confiscated where the road crosses the Grand River at Caledonia. In 1987 this Plank Road Tract was officially placed as a land claim by the Six Nations. It must have been a bitter pill to swallow when this disputed land was sold in 1991 to John and Don Henning, frustrated developers and current deed holders who own Henco Industries. This in itself is witness to the ambivalent attitude of government to serious claims of redress by Aboriginal peoples. The situation is somewhat complicated by the existence of two authorities on the reserve, because of historical, cultural and traditional differences with the imposition of elected band councils which are alien to the traditional governance of the Six Nations. In the current struggle, the elected council does not support the occupation but does support the Plank Road Land Claim and opposes any use of force against the occupiers. The traditional leaders, including the Clan Mothers, support the occupation and the land claim. On March 9th superior court justice David Marshall, addressing an application by Henco Industries, granted an injunction against native occupiers of the entrance to the disputed site. This injunction went back to court on March 16-17, partly at request of the Ontario Provincial Police for more clarity. The Crown Counsel, John Pearson, asked a peeved Judge Marshall for more clarity to allow proper enforcement so the protesters could be charged with contempt of court. Judge Marshall stressed that the original order had been drafted with help of lawyers for the attorney general, the OPP and Henco Industries. (That must have been a nice party - everyone welcome but native people. So much for the neutral court. If contempt could really be enforced, the entire native population and most of the working class would have to be incarcerated.) The injunction was rehashed and honed and March 22 was set for enforcement. On March 23, about 100 Six Nations women, including the Clan Mothers, formed a human chain across the entrance to the site, locking arms together and waiting for the OPP. They were joined by about 200 native and non-native supporters. The police, still smarting from the Ipperwash Enquiry into the murder of Dudley George, and perhaps remembering the humiliation of the Canadian Army by Mohawk women defending their reserve in Quebec in 1992, did not show up. To everyone's credit, it was a non-event. The OPP are in the area but have not sought a confrontation. On Sunday, April 9, about 200 people attended a rally held at the site. It was a good show, with Local 1005 United Steelworkers and their banners most evident among labour supporters. There were also signs from peace groups. The Six Nations came to this area, not as defeated people, but as allies of the British because they thought they could get a better deal. They were mindful that the new American Republic was a slave state with no love for native rights. It is doubtful if the British in 1784 or again in 1812 could have held Canada without the military strength of the native people. In 1812 the native people, who did most of the fighting under Tecumseh, took heavy casualties and probably saved the country despite British bungling and deceit. The Six Nations Confederacy (the Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Tuscarora, Cayuga and Mohawks) is a tradition of one of the oldest participatory democracies in the world. It is a tradition of a courageous and unconquered people, a parallel nation who have been allies and supporters in the formation of Canada. In the last 300 years they have been robbed of 95% of their original land - one hell of a rotten way to treat allies and friends. This ongoing struggle will continue to boil over everywhere in this country until justice is done with the Aboriginal Nations. (Contents) (Home) Skip corporate events on Earth Day `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 With each passing year, Earth Day takes on new significance, as dangers to the global environment continue to mount. The past twelve months have seen a record-breaking series of hurricanes in the Caribbean and the southern USA, amid mounting evidence that global warming is accelerating. UN reports indicate that half of the world's rivers are badly polluted or drying up, and that many coastal areas across the planet may be engulfed by the ocean within a few decades. Here in Canada, the Conservative government's Throne Speech promised a review of the Canada Environment Act and made a token statement about reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. A day or two later came the admission that the government will not live up to Canada's Kyoto Accord goals - not a surprise given the direct links between Harper's Tories and the transnational oil monopolies. Already, the government has ended support for the "One-Tonne Challenge," which encouraged Canadians to reduce energy consumption. This small program never did place the responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions on "Big Oil," but it was a recognition that global warming must be tackled. Instead, PM Harper seems determined to follow the lead of George W. Bush and his "advisors," whose approach is simply to deny any environmental problem. Is there really a problem? Just consider the effects of climate change across Canada. Summer melting of glaciers may lead to wide-scale flooding. If the Greenland Ice Sheet melts, it contains enough ice to raise the global sea level by six to seven metres (almost to the doorstep of the People's Voice editorial office in Vancouver!). Thawing of permafrost in the North is already impacting buildings and roads constructed for those solid conditions. Seasonal forest fire danger levels are predicted to increase in the Yukon and Northwest Territories. In British Columbia, "debris flows" of mud, gravel, and boulders that slide down steep mountains during heavy rains are an increasing danger. Warmer winters have allowed the pine beetle to ravage huge swaths of forest, while wetter springs may delay planting. On the Prairies, hotter and longer summers are resulting in increased evaporation and less surface water for agriculture and personal use. Forty percent of the rural population of Saskatchewan relies on groundwater. In Central Canada, a warmer climate and longer frost-free seasons are expected to help spread new diseases from warmer climates, such as Lyme disease, malaria, and West Nile virus. The freshwater portion of the St. Lawrence River may see declining water quality, loss of wetland habitats and reduction in biodiversity. Droughts would mean less water available for consumption, agriculture, and recreation and more conflicts over use. Rising sea-levels will have a particularly devastating impact on the Maritimes, including increased erosion of beaches, and flooding of coastal freshwater marshes. But the dangers to our planet's biosphere are much broader than the effects of climate change seen in our own country. Most of the earth's surface consists of oceans, which face a deepening combination of pollution, rising temperatures, and corporate-driven over-fishing. Despite the occasional success story, increasing numbers of aquatic species, such as the northern Cod off Atlantic Canada, are being wiped out. Throughout the world, old-growth forests are in crisis, along with the plants and animals that live there, and the people and cultures who depend on these forests for their way of life. Food production is under increasing pressure from the capitalist drive for profits. While the "terminator seed" technology has been placed under a moratorium thanks to world-wide protests (see page 7), there is still a huge push by commercial interests to turn agriculture and the environment into a giant genetic experiment. Toxic chemicals in our environment not only threaten our freshwater, air, land, and oceans, but enter into the food chain with negative impacts on human health. Hundreds of millions of people desperately need dependable sources of fresh water, cooking fuel, homes, schools, and medical help, yet governments now waste almost one trillion dollars a year on arms production and other military activities. The Bush regime's use of shells and bullets made using depleted uranium has poisoned the land and people of Iraq - and its own troops which occupy that country - with deadly effects. There are over 30,000 nuclear weapons in the world, with more than a thousand ready to launch at a moment's notice, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. One would think that Earth Day events and activities in Canada would recognize these dangers, and pin the blame where it belongs: squarely on the capitalist system which plunders the earth in search of maximum profits. And some grassroots-organized events, such as the annual Earth Walk in Victoria, do indeed recognize this reality and give people's movements an opportunity to raise alternatives. But Earth Day is also an occasion for the profit-makers to paint themselves green. A quick Google search, for example, brings up "Earth Day Canada" near the top. The sponsors of this website and related activities include a wide range of corporate destroyers of the environment. Alphabetically, Alcan heads this list. Yes, that's the same Alcan which dammed the Nechako River in British Columbia, which results in warmer temperatures in that river and the Fraser, leading to the deaths of untold salmon. The big banks are proud sponsors of Earth Day Canada, including the Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Royal Bank, Scotia Bank, and TD Bank. We all know that banks put the needs of the global environment ahead of the interests of their shareholders, right? Beside the Discovery Channel is CTV, a network which promotes the glories of the capitalist consumer lifestyle and gives respectful news coverage to the leaders of imperialist war-making countries. Environment Canada is on the list, fresh from its recent participation in Canada's shameful attempt to impose terminator seed technology on the world's farmers. "Earth Day Canada" corporate sponsors range from apparel companies which at least try to follow ethical purchasing standards, such as Lululemon Athletica and Mountain Equipment Co-op, to corporate electronics giants such as Panasonic, Sears, and Sony. Even Sunoco Inc. qualifies, taking part in tree-planting ceremonies on Earth Day. The website doesn't mention that as a key player in the Alberta oil sands, Sunoco uses technology which requires three barrels of fresh water for every barrel of oil produced, a process which diverts and pollutes badly needed water from the Athabasca River. When Earth Day is celebrated in your community this April 22, skip the feel-good corporate events. Take some time to participate in actions which help to check the imperialist war machine and the corporate agenda. Someday, your children and grandchildren will thank you for helping to end the capitalist nightmare in favour of a globally-planned, ecologically sustainable socialist economy. (Contents) (Home) UN upholds Terminator Seed moratorium `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 Thanks to pressure from citizens, farmers, and the governments of many developing countries, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has strengthened a moratorium on "terminator seed" technology at a meeting in Curitiba, Brazil. "Terminator" technology involves the genetic engineering of plants to produce sterile seeds, so that crops can only be produced by purchasing new seeds from corporations such as Monsanto. The CBD enacted a de facto moratorium on Terminator technology in 2000, recognizing the threats that this technology poses to the environment, to global food security, and to the livelihoods of more than 1.4 billion people who depend on farm-saved seed around the world. The six-year moratorium was under serious threat at the CBD meetings, due to pressure from industry and a few OECD country governments, including Canada. "The voice of the people has been heard," said an elated Karen Pedersen of the National Farmers Union of Canada, who was at the Curitiba meetings. "Keeping Terminator out will mean that Canadian farmers, and the world's farmers, will be spared this dangerous technology with enormous environmental and social costs." As farmers from Brazil and across the world protested outside, the Convention uphold the moratorium on March 24. Inside, civil society organizations presented the Canadian delegation with a "Captain Hook Award," given annually to "Biopirates" (having improperly profited from Indigenous knowledge) or for failing to protect biological diversity. "The CBD has soundly rejected the efforts of Canada, Australia and New Zealand - supported by the US government and the biotechnology industry - to undermine the moratorium on suicide seeds," said Maria Jose Guazzelli of Centro Ecologico, a Brazil-based agro-ecological organization. The three governments had been calling for a "case-by-case risk assessment" of the technology. The call for a ban on sterile-seed technology took center stage during the meeting in Brazil. Thousands of peasant farmers, including those from Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (Movimento Sem Terra) protested daily to demand a ban, and the women of the international Via Campesina movement of peasant farmers staged a powerful silent protest inside the meeting on March 23. "Terminator seeds are genocide seeds," said Francisca Rodriguez from Via Campesina, "We have pride in being one more step forward in our struggle but we will not stop until Terminator is banned from the face of the earth." On March 23, Malaysia, speaking on behalf of the G77 and China (together a group of 130 developing nations), said that the reference to case-by-case risk assessment was "clearly unacceptable" because it would potentially allow field tests. Instead, the CBD strengthened its previous policy by making it clear that any future research would only be conducted within the bounds of the moratorium - meaning no field trials. Leading up to the UN meeting, civil society groups and social movements across the globe had intensified their campaigns against Terminator. In India, farmers collected over a half million signatures calling on the Prime Minister to remain strong in defending the national ban on Terminator and upholding the international moratorium. On March 16, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on European governments to uphold the CBD moratorium and reject text on "case by case." Indigenous community leaders in Peru called on multinational company Syngenta to abandon its Terminator-like patent on potatoes. Anti-Terminator protesters in Madrid planted local varieties of organic vegetable seeds outside Monsanto's offices. Opponents did not let down their guard as the meeting continued, until the results were official on March 31. "There is so much at stake with Terminator that anything can happen," said Lucy Sharratt, Coordinator of the Canadian Ban Terminator Campaign, which was led by the Ottawa-based ETC Group, Inter Pares, the National Farmers Union and USC Canada. "The bottom line for industry is billions of dollars in profit, so you can bet they will try to attack this moratorium some other way." "The international moratorium on Terminator has been upheld -but the battle isn't over yet," warned Sharratt afterwards. "Terminator will be commercialized unless national governments take action to ban it - as Brazil and India have done." Pat Mooney, Executive Director of the ETC Group, said "Each government needs to translate the moratorium into a national legislative ban on Terminator. We will be working on this as soon as we get back from Brazil. Clearly a ban something that the majority of Canadians want." Percy Schmeiser, the Saskatchewan farmer who fought Monsanto all the way to the Supreme Court, expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the UN meetings. "I'm heartened to see the Canadian government listening to its people rather than to industry," he said. The former Liberal federal government first attempted to overturn the CBD moratorium on Terminator in February 2005 at a UN meeting in Bangkok, without even consulting with farmers on defining their position on Terminator. "The government of Canada saw how angry Canadians were at proposed legislation to take away Canadian farmers' ability to save, reuse, and exchange seeds; this is nothing compared to the reaction you will get if you try and impose sterile seeds on us" said Colleen Ross, Women's President of the National Farmers Union. "These plants are engineered to grow dead seeds. This technology has zero benefit to farmers. It only serves one purpose: to force farmers to buy seeds every year from seed companies who will increase their profits at our expense." The 44,000 farmers of Quebec's Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), the National Farmers Union, and the Canadian Organic Growers have all declared themselves opposed to Terminator. In March, the 200,000 member Canadian Federation of Agriculture passed a resolution requesting an assessment of Terminator's impacts on farmers. It is estimated that the introduction of Terminator wheat alone would cost Canadian farmers an additional $100 million per year. According to the ETC Group, "Brazilian soybean farmers would see their seed costs increase by approximately $515 million each year. Argentina's soybean farmers would pay an extra US$276 million. Wheat farmers in Pakistan would face a price rise of US$191 million. Rice farmers in the Philippines will pay another US$172 million." Faced with massive opposition, the three largest seed multinationals - Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred (DuPont) and Syngenta - have all pledged not to pursue the technology. At this point, only Delta and Pine Land (D&PL), joint owner of three US patents on terminator, has declared its intention of commercializing the technology. As researcher Murray Dobbin pointed out in The Tyee (April 3), "That Canada would continue to pursue the commercialization of terminator technology is inexplicable from any practical standpoint. Not a single company in Canada has a stated interest in using this technology and virtually every farm organization in the country opposes it." Dobbin reports that Canada sent an official delegation of 48 people to the Brazil meeting, compared to just two or three from most countries of the south. While Environment Canada was supposed to be the lead department in Canada's delegation, officials from industry, trade and agriculture ensured that Canada's position was to allow for case-by-case testing. Apparently there were sharp differences within the huge Canadian contingent. In Dobbin's analysis, Canada's policy position is largely driven more by free trade ideologues within the federal bureaucracy than by politicians or even industry. He quotes Agriculture Canada senior policy analyst Giuliano Tolusso, who told the Ottawa Citizen that "We haven't necessarily actively consulted farmers." But, Tolusso said, terminator seeds should go ahead anyway, because "There's always a risk with any technology. The brakes on your car are not 100 percent effective either. They can fail." (Contents) (Home) Haiti election results condemn Canada's policy `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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.)` Former Haitian cabinet minister Patrick Elie has been on a cross-Canada tour speaking on the struggle for democracy in his homeland. People's Voice correspondent Johan Boyden conducted the following interview with Elie on April 8. People's Voice: It is a great pleasure to do this interview. What has been the response of the Canadian people as you travel across the country? Patrick Elie: Yes, I think I went to seven provinces and I don't know how many cities. The response has been quite positive. Before, when I used to live in Canada where I spent 15 years, solidarity with Haiti was confined to Quebec. I never heard of any kind of Canadian solidarity with Haiti. This time the tour was initiated by the Canadian-Haiti Action Network. They asked me to tell the Canadian people the truth about what was really happening in Haiti, and the Canadian government's role in the tragedy of the last two years. People were attentive to what was being said and I think understand better. I hope they will be able to spread the truth about Haiti and I hope they will change Canada's policy towards Haiti, which has been frankly egregious and disastrous. PV: In the recent Canadian election campaign, Haiti became an issue and it was one reason for the defeat of Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal foreign affairs minister. Now with the new Conservative government, we've seen Steven Harper visit Afghanistan. Have you seen any indication of the government's approach towards Haiti? Elie: No, unfortunately, I have not. When I started the tour, I had great hopes that, the Canadian government having changed and the disastrous nature of Canada's involvement in Haiti being so evident, that Steven Harper would take the opportunity to change the policies since he didn't initiate it. But while I was here, Mr. Harper invited and met with the de facto prime minister who has been a scourge on Haiti, and who has been rejected by the Haitian people. He could, and should, have invited the President-elect, Mr. Preval, and his political team. So I think this is a very bad sign, and has to be linked to Mr. Harper's very gung-ho attitude on Afghanistan. I think it is part of a whole where it is aligning itself more with the US. Canadians had better take a hard look at that, because it will impact on them. First, the image of Canada, which has been very good in Haiti, has been completely marred and the same in the whole region. But second, this alignment with the US is going to impact on Canadians themselves directly. You will find yourselves involved in some military adventure that is going to be more costly than Haiti. Internally you will see the same things happening in Canada that are happening the US, including a more police state and including a state where your hard-won healthcare system, your childcare system, your social security system is being chipped away, and before you know it nothing will be left... PV: You've commented that the recent elections were a double victory for the Haitian people. Could you expand upon that? Elie: First, we have to remember that the whole "regime change" - this whole Canada-France-US meddling in Haitian affairs - has been precisely to get rid of the Lavalas political movement, and for that they needed to take the Haitian people out of the equation. You know, they want a people-less democracy. But, even though they had waged a very hard repression campaign on the popular movement, even though they had won control of the electoral process, in fact rigging it, the Haitian people successfully avoided that trap and forced the election to be a reflection of their own political will. That was the first victory. By electing President Preval, who belongs to the same movement as President Aristide, they have not only voted for who they wanted, but they have also condemned what Canada has been doing in Haiti for the last two years. PV: You've commented that you prefer to work from the outside, although you're friends and you've known Mr. Preval for some time. Do you have any indication on his policy priorities at this point? Elie: He has indicated that his policy priorities are, first of all, stability and security. We've got to bring back some security in Haiti, it has deteriorated terribly as a direct result of the foreign countries meddling in our affairs. Education has been a top priority for him, and I think that this is exactly what the Haitian people want. The Haitian people place high values on education, yet the state does not provide them with this opportunity. Health care is also crucial, and Mr. Preval during his first term had started a cooperation with Cuba in that field, both having Cuban doctors helping Haitians, but also having many young Haitians studying in medicine and veterinary medicine in Cuba. So health care is a priority. I've known Mr. Preval for something like 30-plus years, and we've been very close. So the reason we've not taken up any post in the government is not because I disagree with his political agenda, but because I think we should use his time in power to build upon the grassroots movements, to strengthen it, to organize it so that it becomes the major political force in the country, whether it is inside the government or outside. The only way we are going to have a real democracy and not the mock democracy as you have in the US and Canada, is to have the people permanently engaged in writing up their own agenda and pushing for its realization. It is not enough to elect people you trust. You have to be, all the time, vigilant and active. Otherwise you don't have democracy. PV: You said there was a deterioration of security as a direct result of the UN presence. In your interview with Seven Oaks magazine (reprinted in the March 16-31PV), you mentioned the Jordanian troops. Some of our readers wondered what exactly you were referring to. Elie: In Haiti, a lot of the resistance to the coup is coming from the shanty towns, especially Cité Soleil. They are the ones disenfranchised by the coup d'etat, and who paid the highest price in the preceding coup in 1991. Well, of course, they were ready to resist this oppression. There has been a lot of pressure, from the US, France, Canada and the local elites, to have the UN conduct "search and destroy" military-type operations in Cité Soleil. The Brazilian commanders and troops have been reluctant to do this because they see the potential for massacre in such operations, that are not called for at all. However, the more numerous troops consist of a special Jordanian battalion put in charge of Cité Soleil. I think they have a very bad background, considering that the Jordanian army is very repressive. I think they are scared. They don't speak half a word of creole. So their first answer to any kind of challenge is to blast away with heavy calibre machine gun. They stay in their armoured person carrier and fire at anything that moves, and even things that don't move. Some of these rapid fire cannon can go through five or six houses and kill a lot of people. Sometimes if the cannon ball doesn't kill you then the shrapnel does. This Jordanian battalion has no place in Haiti. It should be the first to leave, as rapidly as possible. Cité Soleil should be addressed as an urgent problem with social measures, including re-insertion for the youth who have had to defend their hard-won rights. They have indicated that they are willing to lay down their weapons if they can be re-inserted to society, through jobs, training programmes. For that, we hope that Canada, which wasted at least $33 million of the Canadian taxpayers money on an election that was to be rigged, will now come forward financially to help, so that the government of Haiti can tackle very rapidly the problems in Cité Soleil and other poor neighbourhoods. PV: What is the extent of schooling, and university, in Haiti right now? Elie: It is one of the worst situations you could describe, because - and this is so crazy - they've been pushing for less state in Haiti. The same trio that have been so much involved in the regime change have been pushing for less state and more privatization. Not only do we have insufficient schools for the population but 80% of the schools are private. It costs the poor Haitian parent sometimes 50% of their budget to send their kids to school. Very often they just cannot, especially after that regime change, when the first thing the de facto government did was to fire four to five thousand people who had found jobs under President Aristide. Of course, these people could no longer send their kids to school. They could no longer feed them. On top of that the whole school year, after the coup, was completely disturbed by the spiralling violence caused by the coup d'etat. For all purposes this generation of school children has been sacrificed. They might create some programmes where they have to pick up the slack during those two years. PV: Is there any indication about the release of prisoners? Elie: Mr. Preval has indicated that this is an urgent issue. But I, personally, and many of the political prisoners themselves, think that they should be released before Mr. Preval's inauguration. It is not a problem for Mr. Preval to solve. This de facto government has already land-mined the landscape for Mr. Preval to step on. This issue must be resolved before his inauguration, and those who have illegally arrested and detained these prisoners must be forced to release them. That is one thing the Canadian people will take up with their own government, because unfortunately, even our friends in Canada think that with Mr. Preval's election we are in smooth sailing mode. It is far from that. As a matter of fact, Mr. Preval has not yet been sworn in. PV: When does that take place? Elie: This supposedly takes place on May 14th. But nothing is sure. The run-offs to the parliamentary election were supposed to be on April 21. There was the distinct possibility that these run offs will be rigged, to put Mr. Preval in front of a hostile parliament, as happened during his first term, and that would be a real tragedy. The first elections were both presidential and parliamentary. The president was elected in the first round because he got more than fifty percent of the vote. For parliament, you also need an absolute majority. If you don't get it, then the two highest candidates face off. Almost all of both the deputies and senators have to go to the run off, and that is where new possibilities exist for treachery, for tricks to be played. A lot of vigilance is called for. PV: What about Aristide's return? That is a question a lot of people are asking. Elie: It is a question that has a very easy answer. President Aristide, as an elected president, was illegally overthrown. But on top of that, as a Haitian citizen, he has every right to be in his country. The Haitian constitution is very clear on that, exile is a crime. That said, President Aristide's return has to be prepared. He is a historic figure, one who has tremendous following in Haiti but who is, as you know, detested both by the powerful in Haiti and by the powerful in the world. So this has to be prepared. But as for the fact that President Aristide will return to Haiti, I have absolutely no doubt about it. PV: Could you speak about the Citizen's Monitoring Centre? Are there labour and trade union organizations in Haiti and are they a player in this group? Elie: They have suffered a lot of setbacks during the last twenty years because they were directly involved in the political struggle. They are in the process of re-building in very difficult conditions. Trying to set up labour unions when you have 70% unemployment, it is quite a task really. But coming back to the citizen's watchdog group; What we want is not only to help develop the grassroots movement, but tie it into a national citizens' network precisely because of some of the issues we have been alluding to, because Mr. Preval might find himself facing a hostile parliament. So, what do you do then? Do you wait for the elections, or do you organize as an extra-parliamentary political force that might influence the course of events? That is what I think we need to do. We should not count only on our representatives. We should have a truly participatory democracy. And for that, you need a truly grass roots movement. (Contents) (Home) Huge protests condemn U.S. immigration "reform" `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 Matt Skoggstad-Stubbs Immigration "reform" has become the most prominent issue on Capitol Hill in recent weeks. Last December, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation criminalizing the country's 11-12 million undocumented workers, as well as anyone who helped them. Since then there has been intense public pressure to defeat or amend this legislation, showcasing the outrage among many ethnic groups, most prominently the Latino population. The debate has proven that when people take to the streets they can have an impact. As Republican Senator John McCain put it, "this issue has gotten the attention of Hispanics like no other in history." U.S.-wide protests began on March 25, continuing into early April, taking the battle from the streets and into the halls of Congress. The most impressive rally took place in Los Angeles, where massive coverage from the Spanish-language media helped bring out between one and two million people on March 25 to protest the Sensenbrenner bill. Duplicating the House bill passed in December, Sensenbrenner adds measures to create a 700 mile wall along the U.S./Mexico border. Without a guest worker or legalization provisions, it is the harshest bill currently before the Senate. Javier Rodriguez, an organizer of the March 25th Coalition Against HR 4437, has said that the strategy for organizing started with the development of the California infrastructure, or network of organizations, followed by a political and media strategy. The political strategy, he says, was to send the "message of hope" and stand against the "macabre" and "fascist clauses" of the Sensenbrenner Bill. "We knew the cultural psychology of our people," he says, "and we went after the strong, large media that exists in the L.A County area" to promote the protest. Other pro-immigrant rallies place that weekend in Denver, where 50,000 people demonstrated; Phoenix, where 20,000 took to the streets; and in Atlanta, where 70,000 immigrant workers took part in a work stoppage. In New York on April 1, an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people marched through the streets. Back in L.A., where the upsurge began, massive demonstrations have been held by high-school and post-secondary students, perhaps inspired by the recent HBO special called Walk-Out which documents the 1968 protests by 20,000 Chicano high school students against academic prejudice and poor school conditions. On March 27, 50,000 students marched out of their classes, condemning the proposed legislation and demanding equal rights for their parents, friends and relatives. The next day, despite school lockdowns and threats from administrators, 11,000 students took to the streets a second time. Defying growing threats to their academic standing, members of the Chicano youth also walked out on March 31, the birthday of the late farmworker leader Cesar Chavez. Under this mass pressure, the Senate Judiciary Committee has instead approved the McCain-Kennedy bill. This legislation reflects the perspective of employers who rely on immigrants for much of their workforce, and to some extent the views of labour and democratic movements opposed to racist immigrant-bashing. The bill would theoretically allow undocumented workers the opportunity to work legally in the U.S. for six years, after which they would be given the chance to obtain permanent status as American citizens. To be considered for temporary work permits, immigrants would have to pay $2,000 in fines and all back taxes. They would need to have criminal background checks performed and show proficiency in English and civics. Hailed as the most liberal bill that is likely to come before the Senate, it contains provisions which might prevent the vast majority of currently undocumented workers from actually obtaining the rights granted by the bill. Aarti Shahani, co-founder of Families for Freedom, explains one of the main problems: "The current bill has provisions around fraud, so that if you are an undocumented worker that admits to committing certain types of fraud to obtain employment, you can't actually legalize." If, for example, an undocumented worker who fills out an employment form with a false Social Security number (an obvious way to obtain employment) is not eligible for consideration either as a guest worker or as a potential U.S. citizen and would be deported. "The mobilization in the streets is actually a mobilization where people are coming out thinking that it's going to be legalization the way it was imagined from 1986, the type of legalization where you actually get your green card because you've already been working here for decades, you've already been paying taxes, and that's not what's actually up for grabs," says Shahani. Unlike Sensenbrenner, McCain-Kennedy (also known as the Specter bill) offers a slight chance to obtain a green card, but only after years of waiting "in line" as a guest worker. Both Senate options denigrate the rights and efforts of workers who have already been toiling at undesirable jobs, contributing through their labour and their taxes to the U.S. economy. Another piece of more progressive legislation is not even being considered by the Senate. Sheila Jackson Lee, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, put forward a bill that allows for all undocumenteds who have been in the country for five years to receive immediate citizenship. Fees paid by the newly documented would be put towards job training and job creation programs in communities with high unemployment. Labour commentator David Bacon puts the dismissal of the Jackson Lee bill in context. "I think it's kind of a scandal that there is no media coverage of this bill and that we are sort of reduced to debating between what essentially are two very negative alternatives: either criminalizing everybody who is here without papers or turning everybody into an exploited guest worker labour force." Demonstrations planned for late April will attempt to make clear the impact of non-documented workers on the economy. Organizers are asking all undocumented workers to not work, buy or sell for a whole day, but it is not clear how many will be able to go through with this plan. It is not clear whether the Senate will choose the slightly more moderate bipartisan bill presented by McCain-Kennedy or the highly repressive Sensenbrenner legislation, neither one promotes the rights of immigrants, either as workers or as people. At PV press time, the Senate was considering delaying further debates on the issue. Regardless of which bill gets passed, the Senate and House bills will have to be reconciled before being sent to the President for approval. (Contents) (Home) What's Left `(The following article is from the April 16-30, 2006 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, BC StopWar meetings - 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 5:30 pm, Maritime Labour Centre, 111 Victoria Ave. See http://www.stopwar.ca for info. World Peace Forum Benefit - with Shari Ulrich & Nota Bene Choir and other performers, Unitarian Church (49th & Oak), Sat. April 22, 6 pm auction viewing, 7-10:30 pm Concert. Tickets $50 at People's Co-op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive. Annual Spring Bazaar - at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave., Sat., April 29, 11 am to 3 pm. Plants, white elephant, books, hallmade products, delicious lunch at reasonable prices. Donations of cash or kind are welcome. Call 604-298-1513 for details. Cafe Rebelde - Friday, April 28, 7 pm, Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive May Day Rally - Sat., April 29, march from Art Gallery to Public Library. For details call Vancouver & District Labour Council, 604-254-0703. International Workers' Day Celebration - tribute to workers of the world, 6:30 pm, Sat., April 29, Peretz Centre, 6184 Ash St. Music, Latin American food, presentation, speakers. Donation $5. Sponsored by CPC, FMLN, Amigos de Cuba, Pena LatinoAmericana, call 604-460-0891 or 604-436-5599 for information, or see ad on page 3. Left Film Night - 7 pm, Sunday, April 30, at the Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive. "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" and "Black Tuesday" (documentary on 1931 Estevan strike). Free admission, donations welcome, co-sponsored by Vancouver East Club CPC, YCL, and Centre for Socialist Education, call 604-255-2041 for details. Celebrate the life of Robert "Doc" Savage - evening of Saturday, May 6, Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive. See next issue for details, or call George Gidora, 604-254-0936. BURNABY, PC War Resister Benefit - Vancouver War Resisters Support Campaign wine and cheese benefit party, 8 pm, Friday, April 21, at 390 N. Springer Ave., Burnaby, minimum charitable donation of $50 to attend, receipt issued to all donors. Mother's Day Pancake Breakfast - 10 am - 1 pm, Sunday, May 14 (last call for pancakes 12 noon), at 5435 Kincaid St. Proceeds to PV Fund Drive, $8 adults, $6/under 12, organized by Burnaby Club CPC. WINNIPEG, MB Stop Charging Bison - meetings to plan opposition to urban warfare training in Winnipeg, every Monday, 7 pm, Room 2C06, University of Winnipeg. Rally against Tory Agenda - Wed., April 19, Noon at Convention Centre - everyone welcome as PM Stephen Harper speaks at Chamber of Commerce lunch. Organized by Ad Hoc Committee to Block the Harper Tory Agenda. Peace Alliance Winnipeg meeting - Wed., April 19, 7 pm at Workers Organizing Resource Centre, 280 Smith St. Annual United May Day Banquet - Kismat Banquet Hall, 280 Fort St., East Indian cuisine, variety show and dance, cash bar, tickets $25/adults, $12.50 children, at 479-8089. TORONTO, ON Social Justice Awards - Sat., April 22, 2 pm, City Hall Chambers, with Mayor David Miller. Awards for Youth, Young Adult, Neighbourhood Organizing, Outstanding Achievement. Sponsors include Centre for Social Justice, Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Community Social Planning Council, and Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. China in 2006 - People's Voice Forum with Stephen Endicott, author and specialist on 20th Century China, 7:30 pm, Thursday, April 27, at 290 Danforth Ave. For info, call 416-469-2481. PV May Day Social - Buffet dinner, speakers, music, 7 pm, Monday, May 1, Greek Hall, 290 Danforth Ave. For info call PV Ontario Bureau, 416-469-2481. Rally against occupation of Palestine - every Friday, 5-6 pm, picket at the Israeli Consulate at Avenue Road/Bloor West. Organized by Jewish Women Against the Occupation and Coalition for Just Peace in Palestine. REDS ON THE WEB http://www.communist-party.ca (Contents) (Home) Communist Manifesto 2006 Calendar (Contents) (Home) PV Drive at 43% and rising fast `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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.)` We've made excellent progress on the 2006 PV Fund Drive since our last issue, raising over $9,500 during the past two weeks. That brings our total to $21,598, or 43.2% of our $50,000 target as of April 7, five weeks into the campaign. The race for top spot in the Fund Drive is getting tighter. Alberta got off to a quick start, and remains in first place with $950 raised, or 55.9% of their goal. But British Columbia is now nipping at their heels, having turned in $10,347, or 47.0% of the west coast's $22,000 target. and Ontario has jumped to third place with 43.9%, based on $8,775 of its $20,000 goal turned in. Our struggle for socialism and our support for that aim are international, of course. Several friends in the United States and overseas have shown wonderful solidarity with donations totalling $346 Canadian to date (many thanks to Lilo Heller from California!). May Day is coming up quickly, the biggest day on the calendar for the working class movement. We urge readers in the BC Lower Mainland to get to the concert and social being organized by all our Latin American comrades to mark May Day. This special event is being held at the Peretz Centre (6184 Ash St., Vancouver), starting 6:30 pm, Saturday, April 29. It will feature an historical visual presentation on the struggles of the working class, latin American food and music, and special performers: the Solidarity Notes Labour Choir. Admission is just $5 - don't miss it! On Monday, May 1, our Toronto supporters will mark the International Workers' Day with a social starting 7 pm at the Greek Hall, 290 Danforth Ave. There will be music, a buffet, speakers, and more - for details, call our Toronto office, at 416-469-4681. As mentioned last time, there are two important fundraisers for Lower Mainland readers to take in this spring. On Sunday, May 14, the Burnaby Club will hold its eagerly-awaited annual Mother's Day Pancake Breakfast for PV, at 5435 Kincaid Street. Food is served from 10 am to 1 pm, with last call for pancakes at noon. It's more than you can eat, all for just $8 (adults) or $6 (under 12). This year's Vancouver PV Banquet is set for Saturday, June 3, with doors opening 6 pm at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Avenue. Our guest speaker will be the new PV Business and Circulation manager, Sam Hammond, who puts his trade union experience and Marxist insight to good use with regular articles and columns in our pages. Tickets will be available at our Vancouver office by the time this issue appears ($18 regular, or $8 for low income readers), or make reservations by calling 604-255-2041. More details of the program and performers will be in our next issue. PV 2006 FUND DRIVE Area Target Raised % British Colombia $22,000 $10,347 47.0% Alberta $1,700 $950 55.9% Saskatchewan $800 $245 30.3% Manitoba $3,000 $625 20.8% Ontario $20,000 $8,775 43.9% Quebec $500 $85 17.0% Atlantic Canada $1,200 $225 18.8% Other $800 $346 43.2% Total $50,000 $21,598 43.1% (Contents) (Home) East to west: new signs of deepening health care crisis `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 From east to west, there are new warning signs that the health care system is in a crisis created by government underfunding. Paramedics demonstrated on April 10 outside the largest hospital in St. John's, Newfoundland, complaining that understaffing is risking the lives of patients. The paramedics want Eastern Health, the regional health authority, to hire more dispatchers and ambulance attendants. About 30 paramedics stood on traffic islands on the Prince Philip Parkway, near the entrance to the Health Sciences Centre. "For a long, long time now, these people have been overworked. They are very severely stressed," said Chris Henley, a senior negotiator with NAPE. "They don't have enough ambulances. They don't have enough operators." At night, Henley said, there is only one dispatcher and two ambulance crews to serve an area stretching from Witless Bay to Pouch Cove. He cited an instance where a mother called a dispatcher asking for help to revive her child, who later dies. "The dispatcher was trying to give her assistance through CPR, and at the same time the phone was ringing on a continuous basis," Henley said. "They had to make decisions relative to whether they should hang up the phone [and] go answer other calls." Meanwhile, emergency room doctors at the Vancouver General Hospital have been circulating a letter stating non-confidence in the department's ability to provide safe, timely and appropriate emergency care. The letter reads in part: "Like many hospitals VGH is overcrowded with patients, so most days the number of patients who require hospital admission exceeds the number of regular hospital beds and 'overcapacity beds' available." The letter notes that "the approach to deal with hospital overcrowding continues to involve an excessive, inappropriate, and unsafe use of the Emergency Department to house admitted patients. Patients who are admitted to the hospital are kept in the Emergency Department for unacceptably long times, sometimes for days. Admitted patients in the Emergency Department take away vital resources such as stretchers and nursing time from new patients such as yourself...." (Contents) (Home) Anti-communism and the truth `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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.)` Guest Editorial from The Guardian, weekly newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia, March 29, 2006 The wave of anti-communism that is being promoted by the ruling circles of some European governments spilled into Australia in recent days. Last year the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had before it a resolution which aimed to condemn the alleged "crimes of communism". The resolution failed to get the necessary two-thirds vote but those treading the anti-communist fascist path have no intention of giving up. As is the practice these days anti-communism is accompanied with attempts to equate communism with fascism completely disregarding the fact that it was the communists who were the first to warn of the fascist danger in Europe in the 1930s and were the staunchest opponents of Nazism. It was the Soviet Union, led by communists, that bore the brunt of the struggle against Nazism in WW II. In the contest to prove who is the most rabid in championing "Australian values" and "Australian laws", Labour Party leader Kim Beazley said recently that, "they [meaning migrants] are welcome to participate in democratic life and express their views. They're not welcome to express them violently. But if somebody has a revolutionary view, I don't care whether it's a revolutionary view for the Nazis, for Muslims, for Christians, for Communists, they should not be permitted into this country." Here we have "violence" and "revolutionary" being equated and "Nazis" and "Communists" being presented as similar or even the same. It seems that "Christians" and "Muslims" are thrown in for good measure or is it sheer ignorance and muddled thinking on Beazley's part? Another suggestion inherent in Beazley's remarks is that these ideologies are imports into Australia "and should not be permitted into this country". The fact is that ideologies and views about society grow inevitably within society itself and arise from the material conditions of that society. It is impossible to put a wall around any country and keep out certain ideas not favoured by the ruling authorities. There is another muddle. Nazism is not revolutionary but counter-revolutionary in that fascists uphold the system of corporate capitalism and do not change it. Hitler and Mussolini were the terrorist representatives of the corporations in Germany and Italy in the 1920s and 30s when capitalism was facing a working class revolutionary wave. They were violently anti-communist and anti-democratic. Georgi Dimitrov the courageous leader of the Bulgarian people and the international communist movement, described fascism in the 1930s as "the open terroristic dictatorship of finance capital". This definition remains valid today and a number of the developed capitalist countries are heading in that direction now with their savage attacks on the democratic rights of trade unions, migrants and progressive organisations. They are also conducting and promoting war against a number of countries. War and violence is another characteristic of fascism when capitalism is in trouble. It is very unfortunate that just as the trade union movement in Australia is facing its most severe challenge, some trade union leaders have fallen for the anti-communism of the extreme right wing. One trade union leader accused the Federal Government of "communist-style control" and another spoke of a government Minister becoming a "commissar". Once again the fact is that communists and the Communist Party of Australia are vigorously opposed to the IR legislation and have exposed and opposed it from the very beginning. Furthermore, this is a time for maximum trade union unity and agreement on common action against the real danger to the rights of workers and trade unions. Communists are for government by the majority who are the working class in Australia, for an end to exploitation so that the working people gain the benefits from the work that they do and for a society based on a collective good not individual greed and advantage. Communists are for equal opportunity for all and not advantage based on wealth. They are for peace and security between all countries and for war to be outlawed. Can these ideas be equated with fascism? Are such ideas to be "kept out of the country" as some sort of evil? Well, of course, the capitalist class fears such ideas because they threaten their power and privileges. Hence the renewed anti-communism. (Contents) (Home) Shenzhen says no to sweatshops `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 civic government of Shenzhen might soon refuse to give contracts to sweatshops, or employers that do not respect their workers' rights, the municipal labour bureau told a news conference on March 30. "The city government's annual procurement reaches more than 2 billion yuan (US$241 million). It should make full use of its economic influence to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR)," said Zhang Guojiu, a bureau official. The city government is expected to issue its first CSR guidelines by the end of this year, which could include refusing to give contracts to companies that do not shoulder social responsibility, or refusing to subsidize such firms. While attracting investment has been the top priority of many Chinese cities, the Shenzhen government made CSR research one of its main tasks for 2006. Zhang's bureau is doing research on CSR in Shenzhen and the influence of global CSR on the city. A survey in 2004 involving 187 employers and 513 workers found that only ten percent of respondents said Shenzhen companies fulfilled their social responsibility, while 24 percent said the companies had a "low" sense of CSR. Of the 45,200 people who filed complaints with the government, 53.9 percent said they were angry with their employers. In one example, the Shenzhen company, Qianxi Clothing, forced its workers to work an additional five hours a day and paid only 1.4 yuan per hour for the overtime. A report from the bureau says that lack of corporate responsibility has become a major source of social unrest. The report recommends the government set up a CSR standard, launch regular inspections on possible government contractors, and give tax breaks to companies that meet the standards. It notes that many western countries forbid importing goods from labour law violators. (Contents) (Home) "I am not the one who sets the country on fire" `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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.)` Rabiatou Sera Diallo, Secretary General of the Confédération nationale des travailleurs de Guinea, was recently accused of "setting the country on fire" by calling a general strike which completely shut down the nation. In an address to the National Parliament, she responded with these comments: "When I kindle a fire, it's under a pot to cook for my family. Now then, I don't kindle a fire anymore because the pot's empty. And why is it empty? Because, like the population, I can't buy anything anymore. Everything has become too expensive. Inflation is galloping, the franc is sliding away. You need three times more Guinean money for one euro. This is the fault of neither the workers nor the people, nor the trade unions. This is your fault, ministers and MPs. Corruption, that's you. Money laundering, that's you. Bad governance, that's you. It's not the workers! "World Bank and International Monetary Fund experts are on mission in our capital, Conakry. Why are they here? To continue to colonise us. Oh sure, it's true, our country was indebted. Who indebted the country? Your predecessors. The debt was partially cancelled: where did that money go? This debt was paid several times already. Who benefits from this? You. Who pays? We. Ministers have wanted to give me money to keep my mouth shut. I said no. What can be the use of millions if I lose the trust of the workers? "My eyes are moist while I'm speaking to you. This is because I'm a woman. Yes I'm a woman and a mother. I breast-fed six children. I'm proud of that. it's rage that makes me cry. A country as rich as ours, the water castle of West Africa, can't even provide us with drinking water! Electricity is supplied only two hours every two nights: the fridges serve no purpose at all. Rice has become three times, bread two times, fish four times more expensive. We're in poor health and die in the hospital for lack of care. Our children don't go to school anymore because the teachers can't afford the transport expenses to go to work. Youths are turning into rascals. Is this the fault of the people, of the trade unions? "Our Labour Exchange, our headquarters, were destroyed by a tornado and an earthquake. It's our Belgian friends who understand the situation and come to help us. This building is a historic symbol of our country as it is the cradle of our independence. You, you don't even have the pride to help us rebuild it. "You've known our demands since 1 May 2005. Three times we called for a dialogue and knocked on your door. You close your eyes and cover your ears. We were patient because the government had not drawn up its budget, ministers were abroad, there were municipal elections. The Interministerial Committee is in shambles. The ministers don't even succeed in agreeing on a date. Moreover, you threatened to throw us in jail during this strike. "The National Trade Union Council, with its one hundred grass-roots delegates, was convened in January. Too much is too much: the strike that started four days ago was inevitable!" (Contents) (Home) France: CPE employment law defeated `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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.)` Bowing to weeks of protests, the French government announced on April 10 it was scrapping a controversial employment law, the "first job contract" (CPE). In the wake of the biggest street demonstrations for almost 40 years, the office of the president, Jacques Chirac, said a new plan focusing on youths from troubled backgrounds would replace the CPE. The announcement was made following a meeting with the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, and other senior members of the ruling UMP party. De Villepin - whose presidential hopes have been dented by the crisis - was expected to announce further details. In a television appearance, de Villepin said his original legislation "was not understood by everyone, I'm sorry to say." Union leaders, who feared the job contract would erode coveted employment security, were triumphant after the announcement. Jean-Claude Mailly, of the Workers Force union, said the job contract was "dead and buried" and "the goal has been achieved". The secretary-general of the UNSA union, Alain Olive, said that workers, university and high school students had "won a great victory". French newspapers suggested the government's new proposals would probably include subsidising employers to hire young people with the aim of giving the worst-off access to the labour market. The measure has become a political battlefield for potential candidates in next year's presidential election. De Villepin, Chirac's favoured successor, had told the national assembly that he would no "throw in the towel". However, a poll published in L'Express showed his approval rating had slumped to 28% - one of the steepest monthly falls on record, according to the polling company BVA. His approval rating stood at 48% in January. Chirac had enacted the law earlier, only to immediately suspend it to give the government the chance to meet with unions and seek a way out of the turmoil. In early April, after more than three million demonstrators marched on the streets, French unions and student leaders gave the government 10 days to scrap the CPE or face renewed strikes and protests. In a joint statement, the leaders of 12 unions said that if the law was not revoked by April 17, they would step up the protests which have seen hundreds of universities and high schools blockaded for weeks. The government had claimed its new "easy-hire, easy-fire" contract would curb the country's 22% youth unemployment - a rate that rises to 50% in deprived suburbs. The law, pushed through parliament without a debate in March, would have allowed businesses to fire workers under 26 without cause. (Information from the UK Guardian) (Contents) (Home) A convincing case for public health care `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 Health Care Mess: How we got into it and what it will take to get out, by Julius B. Richmond and Rashi Fein, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-01924-5, 307 pages, $24 Can. Reviewed by Steve Gilbert The U.S. is the only industrialized country which does not have universal state-financed health insurance. Instead, it has a hodgepodge of expensive and inefficient health care plans which cover some of the people some of the time but none of the people all of the time. In The Health Care Mess, authors Richmond and Fein trace the history of health care in the U.S. and propose a series of reforms designed to shift to a universal single-payer system like that of Canada. Even though U.S. health care depends heavily on private for-profit insurance and hospitals, some fifty percent of health care spending comes from the government in the form of Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare was created by President Lyndon Johnson to cover medical costs of those over 65. When AMA lobbyists tried to block so-called "socialized medicine" by saying it would do nothing to help the poor, Johnson countered them by creating a second government program, Medicaid, which is specifically designed to help the near-poor and the destitute. In 2004, Medicare and Medicaid covered almost 80 million Americans. Some who are not covered by Medicare or Medicaid have private health insurance provided by their employers. But there are still some 45 million Americans who have no medical insurance at all. The reason: they can't afford it. According to a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the annual cost of medical insurance for a family of four is more than $10,000 - the amount a minimum wage worker earns in a year. The uninsured, according to Richmond and Fein, are cared for in emergency rooms and other ad hoc arrangements: "They receive less preventive care, are diagnosed at more advanced disease states, and, once diagnosed, tend to receive less therapeutic care and have higher mortality rates." A recent study showed that over a three year period, patients diagnosed with cancer of the colon were 70% more likely to die if they did not have insurance. Richmond and Fein argue that the additional cost of providing the uninsured with comprehensive health care would increase total national health spending by only three percent. They write: "Since it is reasonable to assume that providing preventive services and earlier interventions will in the long run be cost-saving, public economic interests, as well as human considerations argue that collectively we would all benefit if everyone had health insurance that provided for regular, comprehensive health care." Why does health care in the U.S. cost so much? One reason is that U.S. doctors are paid more than in other countries. Other factors include the high cost of drugs, free market ideology, and expensive new medical technology. But the principal cause, according to Richmond and Fein, is the notorious inefficiency of the many competing for-profit private insurance schemes and hospitals. This inefficiency is reflected in epidemiological studies. The U.S. spends over twice as much on health care (14% of GDP) as most other industrialized countries, but has a higher infant mortality rate (7.7 deaths per 1,000 live births) and lower life expectancy (77.1 years). Citing numerous studies, Richmond and Fein document a likely reduction of mortality by 5-15% through continuous health coverage, a startling 10,000 annual excess deaths among uninsured adults aged 25-64, and an estimated $65 to $130 billion in annual economic value of foregone health among the 40 million uninsured in 2000. "It is clear," they conclude, "that America's failure to enact universal health insurance is not one of economics, but of politics. We can afford it, but we choose other priorities (including lower taxes). We have the dollars - what we lack is the political will." Although Richmond and Fein concentrate on the U.S., their book has an urgent message for Canadians. They identify the principal cause of health care problems in the U.S. as the proliferation of profit-making hospitals and health care insurance schemes. This is exactly what Canadian proponents of privatized health care are advocating. This process is proceeding much faster than most of us realize. According to Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council for Canadians, "There are now at least 240 health care corporations, many of them American, operating in Canada. There are also 140 private health insurance companies operating here. At least 37 of them are American." The Health Care Mess is well researched and eminently readable. The style is low-key but convincingly based on solid research. it should do much to discredit the arguments of right wing ideologues and advocates of privatized health care. (Contents) (Home) New arrests in Nepal `(The following article is from the` `April 16-30``, 2006 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 Vice-Chair of the General Federation of Nepal Trade Unions (GEFONT), Lalit Basnet, who is also a member of Parliament, was among those arrested in Kathmandu on April 6, the first day of a four-day general strike called by the country's seven-party opposition coalition. Others arrested included leaders of the Federation of Agriculture Workers (FAWN), the Nepal Street Vendors' Union (NEST), and the Nepal Independent Chemical and Iron Workers' Union ( NICIWU). GEFONT leaders and activists in Kathmandu as well as outside the capital were participating in the movement for democracy along with the seven-party alliance, human rights groups and civil society organizations. An estimated 244 people were arrested nationwide, after the royal regime banned protests once again on the eve of the general strike. (Contents) (Home)

Dying for profits: the deadly truth

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A tale of two stolen lives

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"No deal, no diamonds"

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New working class struggles - Editorial

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Mobilize against Harper's Tories

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Manitoba Metis launch Land Claims court case

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Six Nations occupation of Douglas Creek continues

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Haiti election results condemn Canada's policy

(The following article is from the April 16-30, 2006 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.)

Former Haitian cabinet minister Patrick Elie has been on a cross-Canada tour speaking on the struggle for democracy in his homeland. People's Voice correspondent Johan Boyden conducted the following interview with Elie on April 8.

People's Voice: It is a great pleasure to do this interview. What has been the response of the Canadian people as you travel across the country?
Patrick Elie: Yes, I think I went to seven provinces and I don't know how many cities. The response has been quite positive. Before, when I used to live in Canada where I spent 15 years, solidarity with Haiti was confined to Quebec. I never heard of any kind of Canadian solidarity with Haiti. This time the tour was initiated by the Canadian-Haiti Action Network. They asked me to tell the Canadian people the truth about what was really happening in Haiti, and the Canadian government's role in the tragedy of the last two years.

     People were attentive to what was being said and I think understand better. I hope they will be able to spread the truth about Haiti and I hope they will change Canada's policy towards Haiti, which has been frankly egregious and disastrous.

PV: In the recent Canadian election campaign, Haiti became an issue and it was one reason for the defeat of Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal foreign affairs minister. Now with the new Conservative government, we've seen Steven Harper visit Afghanistan. Have you seen any indication of the government's approach towards Haiti?

Elie: No, unfortunately, I have not. When I started the tour, I had great hopes that, the Canadian government having changed and the disastrous nature of Canada's involvement in Haiti being so evident, that Steven Harper would take the opportunity to change the policies since he didn't initiate it.

     But while I was here, Mr. Harper invited and met with the de facto prime minister who has been a scourge on Haiti, and who has been rejected by the Haitian people. He could, and should, have invited the President-elect, Mr. Preval, and his political team. So I think this is a very bad sign, and has to be linked to Mr. Harper's very gung-ho attitude on Afghanistan. I think it is part of a whole where it is aligning itself more with the US. Canadians had better take a hard look at that, because it will impact on them.

     First, the image of Canada, which has been very good in Haiti, has been completely marred and the same in the whole region. But second, this alignment with the US is going to impact on Canadians themselves directly. You will find yourselves involved in some military adventure that is going to be more costly than Haiti. Internally you will see the same things happening in Canada that are happening the US, including a more police state and including a state where your hard-won healthcare system, your childcare system, your social security system is being chipped away, and before you know it nothing will be left...

PV: You've commented that the recent elections were a double victory for the Haitian people. Could you expand upon that?

Elie: First, we have to remember that the whole "regime change" - this whole Canada-France-US meddling in Haitian affairs - has been precisely to get rid of the Lavalas political movement, and for that they needed to take the Haitian people out of the equation. You know, they want a people-less democracy. But, even though they had waged a very hard repression campaign on the popular movement, even though they had won control of the electoral process, in fact rigging it, the Haitian people successfully avoided that trap and forced the election to be a reflection of their own political will.      That was the first victory. By electing President Preval, who belongs to the same movement as President Aristide, they have not only voted for who they wanted, but they have also condemned what Canada has been doing in Haiti for the last two years.

PV: You've commented that you prefer to work from the outside, although you're friends and you've known Mr. Preval for some time. Do you have any indication on his policy priorities at this point?

Elie: He has indicated that his policy priorities are, first of all, stability and security. We've got to bring back some security in Haiti, it has deteriorated terribly as a direct result of the foreign countries meddling in our affairs.

     Education has been a top priority for him, and I think that this is exactly what the Haitian people want. The Haitian people place high values on education, yet the state does not provide them with this opportunity. Health care is also crucial, and Mr. Preval during his first term had started a cooperation with Cuba in that field, both having Cuban doctors helping Haitians, but also having many young Haitians studying in medicine and veterinary medicine in Cuba. So health care is a priority.

     I've known Mr. Preval for something like 30-plus years, and we've been very close. So the reason we've not taken up any post in the government is not because I disagree with his political agenda, but because I think we should use his time in power to build upon the grassroots movements, to strengthen it, to organize it so that it becomes the major political force in the country, whether it is inside the government or outside.

     The only way we are going to have a real democracy and not the mock democracy as you have in the US and Canada, is to have the people permanently engaged in writing up their own agenda and pushing for its realization. It is not enough to elect people you trust. You have to be, all the time, vigilant and active. Otherwise you don't have democracy.

PV: You said there was a deterioration of security as a direct result of the UN presence. In your interview with Seven Oaks magazine (reprinted in the March 16-31PV), you mentioned the Jordanian troops. Some of our readers wondered what exactly you were referring to.

Elie: In Haiti, a lot of the resistance to the coup is coming from the shanty towns, especially Cité Soleil. They are the ones disenfranchised by the coup d'etat, and who paid the highest price in the preceding coup in 1991. Well, of course, they were ready to resist this oppression. There has been a lot of pressure, from the US, France, Canada and the local elites, to have the UN conduct "search and destroy" military-type operations in Cité Soleil.

     The Brazilian commanders and troops have been reluctant to do this because they see the potential for massacre in such operations, that are not called for at all.

     However, the more numerous troops consist of a special Jordanian battalion put in charge of Cité Soleil. I think they have a very bad background, considering that the Jordanian army is very repressive. I think they are scared. They don't speak half a word of creole. So their first answer to any kind of challenge is to blast away with heavy calibre machine gun. They stay in their armoured person carrier and fire at anything that moves, and even things that don't move. Some of these rapid fire cannon can go through five or six houses and kill a lot of people. Sometimes if the cannon ball doesn't kill you then the shrapnel does. This Jordanian battalion has no place in Haiti. It should be the first to leave, as rapidly as possible.

     Cité Soleil should be addressed as an urgent problem with social measures, including re-insertion for the youth who have had to defend their hard-won rights. They have indicated that they are willing to lay down their weapons if they can be re-inserted to society, through jobs, training programmes. For that, we hope that Canada, which wasted at least $33 million of the Canadian taxpayers money on an election that was to be rigged, will now come forward financially to help, so that the government of Haiti can tackle very rapidly the problems in Cité Soleil and other poor neighbourhoods.

PV: What is the extent of schooling, and university, in Haiti right now?

Elie: It is one of the worst situations you could describe, because - and this is so crazy - they've been pushing for less state in Haiti. The same trio that have been so much involved in the regime change have been pushing for less state and more privatization.

     Not only do we have insufficient schools for the population but 80% of the schools are private. It costs the poor Haitian parent sometimes 50% of their budget to send their kids to school. Very often they just cannot, especially after that regime change, when the first thing the de facto government did was to fire four to five thousand people who had found jobs under President Aristide. Of course, these people could no longer send their kids to school. They could no longer feed them.

     On top of that the whole school year, after the coup, was completely disturbed by the spiralling violence caused by the coup d'etat. For all purposes this generation of school children has been sacrificed. They might create some programmes where they have to pick up the slack during those two years.

PV: Is there any indication about the release of prisoners?

Elie: Mr. Preval has indicated that this is an urgent issue. But I, personally, and many of the political prisoners themselves, think that they should be released before Mr. Preval's inauguration. It is not a problem for Mr. Preval to solve. This de facto government has already land-mined the landscape for Mr. Preval to step on. This issue must be resolved before his inauguration, and those who have illegally arrested and detained these prisoners must be forced to release them. That is one thing the Canadian people will take up with their own government, because unfortunately, even our friends in Canada think that with Mr. Preval's election we are in smooth sailing mode. It is far from that. As a matter of fact, Mr. Preval has not yet been sworn in.

PV: When does that take place?

Elie: This supposedly takes place on May 14th. But nothing is sure. The run-offs to the parliamentary election were supposed to be on April 21. There was the distinct possibility that these run offs will be rigged, to put Mr. Preval in front of a hostile parliament, as happened during his first term, and that would be a real tragedy.

     The first elections were both presidential and parliamentary. The president was elected in the first round because he got more than fifty percent of the vote. For parliament, you also need an absolute majority. If you don't get it, then the two highest candidates face off. Almost all of both the deputies and senators have to go to the run off, and that is where new possibilities exist for treachery, for tricks to be played. A lot of vigilance is called for.

PV: What about Aristide's return? That is a question a lot of people are asking.

Elie: It is a question that has a very easy answer. President Aristide, as an elected president, was illegally overthrown. But on top of that, as a Haitian citizen, he has every right to be in his country. The Haitian constitution is very clear on that, exile is a crime.

     That said, President Aristide's return has to be prepared. He is a historic figure, one who has tremendous following in Haiti but who is, as you know, detested both by the powerful in Haiti and by the powerful in the world. So this has to be prepared. But as for the fact that President Aristide will return to Haiti, I have absolutely no doubt about it.

PV: Could you speak about the Citizen's Monitoring Centre? Are there labour and trade union organizations in Haiti and are they a player in this group?

Elie: They have suffered a lot of setbacks during the last twenty years because they were directly involved in the political struggle. They are in the process of re-building in very difficult conditions. Trying to set up labour unions when you have 70% unemployment, it is quite a task really.

     But coming back to the citizen's watchdog group; What we want is not only to help develop the grassroots movement, but tie it into a national citizens' network precisely because of some of the issues we have been alluding to, because Mr. Preval might find himself facing a hostile parliament. So, what do you do then? Do you wait for the elections, or do you organize as an extra-parliamentary political force that might influence the course of events? That is what I think we need to do. We should not count only on our representatives. We should have a truly participatory democracy. And for that, you need a truly grass roots movement.

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Huge protests condemn U.S. immigration "reform"

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What's Left

(The following article is from the April 16-30, 2006 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, BC

StopWar meetings - 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 5:30 pm, Maritime Labour Centre, 111 Victoria Ave. See http://www.stopwar.ca for info.

World Peace Forum Benefit - with Shari Ulrich & Nota Bene Choir and other performers, Unitarian Church (49th & Oak), Sat. April 22, 6 pm auction viewing, 7-10:30 pm Concert. Tickets $50 at People's Co-op Books, 1391 Commercial Drive.

Annual Spring Bazaar - at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave., Sat., April 29, 11 am to 3 pm. Plants, white elephant, books, hallmade products, delicious lunch at reasonable prices. Donations of cash or kind are welcome. Call 604-298-1513 for details.

Cafe Rebelde - Friday, April 28, 7 pm, Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive

May Day Rally - Sat., April 29, march from Art Gallery to Public Library. For details call Vancouver & District Labour Council, 604-254-0703.

International Workers' Day Celebration - tribute to workers of the world, 6:30 pm, Sat., April 29, Peretz Centre, 6184 Ash St. Music, Latin American food, presentation, speakers. Donation $5. Sponsored by CPC, FMLN, Amigos de Cuba, Pena LatinoAmericana, call 604-460-0891 or 604-436-5599 for information, or see ad on page 3.

Left Film Night - 7 pm, Sunday, April 30, at the Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive. "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" and "Black Tuesday" (documentary on 1931 Estevan strike). Free admission, donations welcome, co-sponsored by Vancouver East Club CPC, YCL, and Centre for Socialist Education, call 604-255-2041 for details.

Celebrate the life of Robert "Doc" Savage - evening of Saturday, May 6, Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive. See next issue for details, or call George Gidora, 604-254-0936.

BURNABY, PC

War Resister Benefit - Vancouver War Resisters Support Campaign wine and cheese benefit party, 8 pm, Friday, April 21, at 390 N. Springer Ave., Burnaby, minimum charitable donation of $50 to attend, receipt issued to all donors.

Mother's Day Pancake Breakfast - 10 am - 1 pm, Sunday, May 14 (last call for pancakes 12 noon), at 5435 Kincaid St. Proceeds to PV Fund Drive, $8 adults, $6/under 12, organized by Burnaby Club CPC.

WINNIPEG, MB

Stop Charging Bison - meetings to plan opposition to urban warfare training in Winnipeg, every Monday, 7 pm, Room 2C06, University of Winnipeg.

Rally against Tory Agenda - Wed., April 19, Noon at Convention Centre - everyone welcome as PM Stephen Harper speaks at Chamber of Commerce lunch. Organized by Ad Hoc Committee to Block the Harper Tory Agenda.

Peace Alliance Winnipeg meeting - Wed., April 19, 7 pm at Workers Organizing Resource Centre, 280 Smith St.

Annual United May Day Banquet - Kismat Banquet Hall, 280 Fort St., East Indian cuisine, variety show and dance, cash bar, tickets $25/adults, $12.50 children, at 479-8089.

TORONTO, ON

Social Justice Awards - Sat., April 22, 2 pm, City Hall Chambers, with Mayor David Miller. Awards for Youth, Young Adult, Neighbourhood Organizing, Outstanding Achievement. Sponsors include Centre for Social Justice, Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Community Social Planning Council, and Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants.

China in 2006 - People's Voice Forum with Stephen Endicott, author and specialist on 20th Century China, 7:30 pm, Thursday, April 27, at 290 Danforth Ave. For info, call 416-469-2481.

PV May Day Social - Buffet dinner, speakers, music, 7 pm, Monday, May 1, Greek Hall, 290 Danforth Ave. For info call PV Ontario Bureau, 416-469-2481.

Rally against occupation of Palestine - every Friday, 5-6 pm, picket at the Israeli Consulate at Avenue Road/Bloor West. Organized by Jewish Women Against the Occupation and Coalition for Just Peace in Palestine.

REDS ON THE WEB
http://www.communist-party.ca

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Communist Manifesto 2006 Calendar

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PV Drive at 43% and rising fast

PV 2006 FUND DRIVE

Area                              Target               Raised                   %

British Colombia         $22,000           $10,347             47.0%
Alberta                         $1,700                 $950               55.9%
Saskatchewan                   $800                 $245               30.3%
Manitoba                  $3,000                 $625                20.8%
Ontario                          $20,000              $8,775                43.9%
Quebec                       $500                   $85                17.0%
Atlantic Canada            $1,200                 $225                18.8%
Other                 $800                 $346                43.2%

Total                 $50,000            $21,598                43.1%

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East to west: new signs of deepening health care crisis

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Anti-communism and the truth

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Shenzhen says no to sweatshops

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"I am not the one who sets the country on fire"

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France: CPE employment law defeated

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A convincing case for public health care

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New arrests in Nepal

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April 16-30, 2006 Volume 14 - Number 8 $1

April 16-30, 2006
Volume 14 - Number 8
$1