March 16-31, 2007
Volume 15 - Number 5
$1

Prolétaires de tous les pays, unissez-vous!
Otatoskewak ota kitaskinahk mamawestotan!
Workers of all lands, unite!

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CONTENTS
1. Canada waging "A Losing War" in Afghanistan
2. Cancel the Afghan "Mission' - Get the troops out now - Editorial
3. B.C. Budget continues attack on the poor
4. CCPA report documents "Canada's Growing Gap"
5. Supreme Court rules Security Certificate procedures unconstitutional
6. "Keep working to abolish secret trials"
7. BCTF president issues challenge
8. Anti-scab legislation vote on March 21
9. Farm co-ops get co-opted
10. Reporters without borders: Misinformers
 11. Colombia rocked by scandals
12. No to War Against Iran
13. Canada, U.S. and NATO out of Afghanistan! U.S. out of Iraq!
14. YCL holds 24th Central Convention
15. Minimum wage debates in UK
16. Widening pay gap in Australia
 17. Anti-War Calendar
18. What's Left
19. Introducing Marxism: A Communist Party Study Course
20. May Day 2007 Greeting Ads
21. People's Voice: Our Fund Appeal for $50,000

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Canada waging "A Losing War" in Afghanistan
(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

By Kimball Cariou

When Canadians went to the polls in January 2006, foreign policy issues were ignored by the corporate press and the big business political parties. Just a few months later, Parliament narrowly authorised extension of the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan.

     This spring, another federal election is expected, but anti-war groups are determined to raise awareness of Canada's role in the occupations of Afghanistan and Haiti, the bloody U.S. war in Iraq, the threat of attacks against Iran, and the brutal oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel.

     In each case, the Harper government has tilted Canada even more firmly into the camp of U.S. imperialism, running counter to the desires of most Canadians for a foreign policy based on peace and global disarmament.

     On March 17, peace supporters around the world will mark the fourth anniversary of the illegal US aggression against Iraq. The March 17 actions here will not be as large as the enormous protests of 2003, but they do reflect a powerful grassroots determination to pull Canada out of the U.S. war machine. Details of actions in thirty cities and towns are posted on the Canadian Peace Alliance website www.acp-cpa, ranging from demonstrations in every major city, to a townhall meeting in Thunder Bay and a "potluck for peace" in Whistler, BC.

     These actions will focus particularly on our country's role in the NATO occupation of Afghanistan, where Canadian troops have been on the ground for over five years. Claims by politicians and generals that foreign troops are there to "liberate Afghan women" are repeated without question in the corporate media, which also accepts bland military assurances that every atrocity against Afghan civilians is just another "mistake."

     This propaganda campaign may have temporarily blunted the rising tide of opposition to the Afghan occupation seen in 2006, when Canadian troops suffered startling casualties - over 40 killed out of some 2,300 soldiers. If the U.S. forces in Iraq faced the same casualty rate, over 2,000 American soldiers would have died there in 2006, 2.5 times more than their actual death toll of 821. Little wonder that President Bush and his advisors are happy to let Canadian troops take much of the brunt of the fighting in Afghanistan.

     After a relatively quiet winter, the bloodshed is about to begin again in earnest this spring, and the unpopularity of the Afghan mission is likely to rise again, one factor in Harper's election planning.

     The Harper government, and other pro-war MPs in parliament, claim that Canadian troops are helping to establish democracy and protect human rights against the Taliban. But our "allies" - the Northern Alliance and other warlord groups in the present Afghan government - have committed widespread human rights abuses including rape, public executions, bombing of civilians and the massacre of prisoners. Reports by Amnesty International and other groups, based on the real situation inside the country, indicate that gains for women's rights since 2001 are minimal.

     Rarely is it mentioned that the greatest support for women's equality in Afghanistan came from the post-1978 government supported by the Soviet Union - or that the U.S. and reactionary Arab regimes armed the counter-revolutionaries who eventually destroyed that government and later turned their guns against the U.S. itself.

     Like the Martin Liberals earlier, the Harper Tories say the Afghan mission has two sides: the military struggle and civilian reconstruction aid. Yet ninety percent of the over $4 billion spent by Canada in Afghanistan has been on the military effort, and just ten percent on reconstruction.

     Nor is Canada's mission simply plagued by "neglect" or "poor planning." The military has now been forced to investigate allegations of detainee abuse by our soldiers. It appears that in April 2006, several Afghans captured by the Canadian Forces were beaten while being detained and interrogated. The accusation comes from Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa law professor, based on documents he obtained under the Access to Information Act.

     So far, the military has rejected requests for detailed accounting of the fate of detainees, claiming "operational security requirements" make such information "not releasable to the public."     The Senlis Council think tank recently reported that "The international community's military actions, particularly its bombing campaigns, are causing injury and death to innocent Afghan civilians... Despite five years of international military operations in Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, the hospitals remain in a state of complete decay and are seen as a glaring symbol of the international community's lack of concern for the Afghan people. This disregard for the welfare of Afghan people is resulting in anger and frustration, and as a direct consequence, support for international efforts is being lost, and receptivity for insurgent propaganda in increasing."

     Based on interviews by Senlis Council researchers with 500 ordinary citizens in the south of the country, the report (Countering the Insurgency in Afghanistan: Losing Friends and Making Enemies) describes hospitals in the provincial capitals of Kandahar and Helmand as "dilapidated, barren, and filthy," lacking basic war zone trauma treatment, medical diagnostic and treatment equipment, medicines, oxygen, and trained staff. The report notes that "Just a fraction of the money spent on military activities in Afghanistan could significantly improve the quality of Afghan people's lives, through the introduction of simple, inexpensive, low-technology health infrastructure."

     The Globe and Mail called the 186-page report "an indictment of the war's conduct by NATO governments, especially through 2006, the first year of Canada's mission in the volatile province of Kandahar." During 2006, NATO carried out more than 2,000 bombing attacks in southern Afghanistan, leading to the deaths of an estimated 4,000 civilians.

     The conclusion of the Senlis Council is that Canada and its allies are waging a losing war which has killed thousands of innocent civilians. It warns that policies such as the bombing of villages, the poppy eradication program and the lack of school or hospital construction are directly responsible for turning southern Afghanistan into "a recruitment camp for the Taliban."

     Canada is far from the only country where anti-war sentiments are widespread. Opposition to sending troops to Afghanistan and to expanding a U.S. military base led to the collapse of Italy's centre-left government on Feb. 21.

     Will the Harper government face a similar fate? If the Tory lies about the situation in Afghanistan are exposed, their grip on power can certainly be weakened. Much will depend on the ability of Canadian Peace Alliance affiliates and other groups to bring the facts about the Afghan disaster to millions of voters. For that reason, it is vital for the peace movement to keep the heat on the politicians, building on the March 17 actions and using the federal election to demand a full and rapid withdrawal of Canadian troops.



Cancel the Afghan "Mission' -
Get the troops out now - Editorial

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

People's Voice editorial, March 16-31, 2007

Thousands of angry demonstrators took to the streets of Afghanistan earlier this month, shouting "death to America" and "death to Karzai" after US forces killed and wounded dozens of civilians in Nangarhar province. Ordinary citizens and Afghan officials said Marines opened fire at anyone near their convoy after a March 3 suicide bomb attack injured one US soldier. Mohammad Khan Katawazi, the district chief of Shinwar district, said the Marines "treated every car and person along the highway as a potential attacker" as they sped away from the scene of the explosion, even civilians desperately trying to get out of the way. At least 16 people were killed and another 23 injured by the Marines.

     On the same weekend, US forces bombed a house in a nearby village, killing nine members of one family, including three women and five children.

     These episodes are among the latest of many tragedies in the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan, now in its sixth year. The independent Senlis Council think tank reports that US-led NATO forces killed an estimated 4,000 civilians in the course of 2,000 bombing raids in southern Afghanistan during 2006.

     Canada's hands are not clean in this catastrophe. While the Harper government talks about "building democracy", over 90% of the Canadian "investment" in Afghanistan is in the form of military spending. Canadian troops are just as heavy-handed as those of other NATO countries when it comes to intimidating Afghan civilians, and recently reports have come to light of abuse of captured insurgents by Canadian forces.

     This "mission" cannot be "fixed"; it is fatally flawed. The role of Canadian troops is not to liberate Afghan women; it is to offer strategic assistance to the U.S. drive for domination of central Asia and the oil wealth of the region.

     In May 2006, the Tory minority government won a narrow 149 to 145 vote in Parliament to extend the Afghanistan mission until 2009. Despite intense public pressure, the motion passed with the support of 30 Liberal MPs (including Michael Ignatieff, now the Liberal deputy leader), over the objections of the NDP, the Bloc Quebecois, and the majority of Liberals.

     Since then, the Tories, the corporate media and the Canadian military brass have been in high gear pushing the pro-war line. But the opposition parties have wobbled, regrettably including the NDP, which speaks about re-deploying Canadian troops in Afghanistan for "peaceful" reconstruction. The Bloc Quebecois threatened to bring down the government over this issue, but later backed off.

     To Jack Layton's credit, he recently condemned Liberal and Conservative governments for leading Canada "down a new and dangerous path... in favour of the aggressive unilateralism of George Bush." He correctly pointed out that "civilian victims in Afghanistan receive practically no attention... Mr. Harper and his ministers seem to think that we can go on seek and kill missions one day and build schools in the same village on the next."

     Make no mistake - a Conservative election victory would be a disaster, since Stephen Harper is one of the few world leaders to give full support to U.S. imperialism and its dirty wars of occupation and aggression.

     But all parties should be pressed to take a clear stand for withdrawal of Canadian troops. We hope that Layton's NDP will campaign for withdrawal without "fuzzying" the issue, along with other parties (including the Greens, who so far fail to take any consistent position). Finally, we note that the election of even one Communist would add a reliable and powerful voice against war and imperialism in the next Parliament.



B.C. Budget continues attack on the poor

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

Statement from the BC Provincial Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada

It's "The Housing Budget." That was the claim by BC Finance Minister Carole Taylor as she introduced the 2007-08 provincial budget. After all, $2.1 billion was allocated for housing, she said.

     But this claim evaporates when one looks at the numbers. Many budget analysts, including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) in Vancouver, point out that in fact, only $150 million is earmarked for housing. The province forecasts a $2.3 billion surplus (the result of skyrocketing oil and gas prices, the sale of public assets, and cutting public services). Since their election in 2001, the Campbell Liberals have consistently underestimated provincial revenues, to justify further service cuts and privatizations. The CCPA, using government sources and figures, estimates that the surplus will be a billion dollars more than the budget forecast.

     But Taylor's budget tossed only a few pennies at B.C.'s thousands of homeless and under-housed. The budget allocates funds to assist first-time home buyers, and to lower the age where seniors are able to defer their property taxes from 60 to 55. But helping communities to develop 250 more social housing units is a far cry from Taylor's rhetoric about "the most aggressive housing strategy BC has ever seen." In the 1980s, social housing was built at a rate of 1500 to 2000 units per year. The budget does not even mention cooperative housing. It does commit to funding for 300 more emergency shelter beds, a tiny fraction of the real need across BC.

     The budget's $50 increase in the monthly housing allowance for people on social assistance is long overdue, but without a freeze on rents, this will simply help slumlords take advantage of the shortage of low-cost housing.

     Taylor promised to establish 700 more units for assisted living, but these units will come from existing social housing, actually resulting in a net loss of social housing. Nothing was said to address the growing crisis of homelessness in Vancouver and Victoria, and in particular the evictions in the downtown eastside of Vancouver in advance of the 2010 Olympics.

     The $800 million increase in healthcare spending is a classic case of smoke and mirrors. This government choked off health care spending when they were first elected. Bigger cuts to other public services and government programs then artificially created the impression that health care is a rising percentage of the overall budget. Now they are increasing health funding, but only going part way to repair the damage. In a shrewd move of deception, this amount includes wage increases already agreed to; because there is no accountability for monies allocated to health care, the lion's share of the remainder will go towards capital projects, diagnostic equipment, and hiring more bureaucrats for already top-heavy health care management.

     What is really needed is to free up acute care beds by finally providing the 5000 long term beds that the Liberals promised in 2001 would be in place by the end of 2005. (Remember that one?) In reality, there are now 700 fewer beds because of the forced closure of facilities around the province.

     Another way to quickly address hospital overcrowding would be to increase home nursing care and home support. These services can prevent senior citizens' health from deteriorating to the point that they need hospitalization, they support early discharge, and they are dirt cheap compared with acute care.

     But there is no budget commitment to alleviate the critical shortages leading to understaffing and overwork of nurses and other health care professionals.

     Despite the "booming" economy, education funding in relation to the province's GDP continues to decline. The budget focuses on funds for bureaucrats and data collection, and ignores the classroom. Refusing to address the needs of students who require additional support to succeed, the government instead cynically proposes a return to segregated schools. Not surprisingly, after many years of utterly inadequate support for special needs children, some parents see a segregated model as the only hope, but many are fighting back against this reactionary move.

     Across the province, parents, teachers and support staff do fundraising and spend money from their own pockets to keep schools afloat. In the overheated construction market, school boards are desperately short of the funds necessary for seismic improvements and new schools. The Liberal response is to encourage school boards to enter into P3s.

     Just as in healthcare, the government's pattern is to under-fund and destabilize, and then present privatization as the "solution." This must be challenged as vigorously as it has been in healthcare. British Columbia needs a free, quality, inclusive and diverse public education system that meets the needs of all our students.

     The Liberals are doing nothing to address the wrongs they have inflicted against women over the past six years. Nothing to help women's re-open their doors, no commitment to re-establish the human rights commissioner, no action on pay equity issues.

     The most cynical and opportunistic item in this budget is the 10% cut in income tax. While tax relief is welcome for many low income people, most of the benefits will go directly into the pockets of the wealthy.

     In the over 8,000 submissions received by the Legislative Finance Committee, around 90% called for increased spending for programs and services, while fewer than 5% called for tax cuts. The Committee reported that the public wanted faster access to health care, more help for mental health and addiction issues, more money for education, affordable housing, childcare and the environment. Yet Carole Taylor and Gordon Campbell criticized the Committee for not identifying areas to make cuts!

     The environment was the centrepiece of the throne speech, and many were hopeful that the budget would tackle this huge problem. Instead, $1.6 million was allocated over four years to fund a "climate change team" - likely made up of patronage and business appointments with a couple of environmentalists for "balance." Actual funding for future programs will apparently come from a special levy on BC Hydro, but nothing was allocated for any meaningful environmental programs.

     So what is the net result? In a phrase often used to describe this government, the rich will get richer and the poor get poorer. This budget will continue the decline of our health care system, paving the way for more private sector profiteering. This budget will keep chipping away at our educational system, with no help for post-secondary or special needs students. This budget ignores women, people with disabilities, the homeless and the poor. This budget takes another step towards turning our public assets over to private interests.

     The Liberals are only doing what is expected of them by their Howe Street corporate masters. The main program since their election has been to find as many ways as possible to shift public monies into the private pockets of big business. Anything less would prompt the business community to look for a more reliable servant. This is a clear and urgent reason that the workers of British Columbia must prepare to defeat this rotten government in May 2009.

     Mass protests over this budget, particularly over the housing, health and education issues, can play a big role in raising public awareness and building significant pressure to dip into the surplus and put money where it is needed. The labour movement should not be content with their latest round of settlements, which were designed to bring about "labour peace" for the 2010 Olympics. There is nothing preventing trade unions from initiating and participating in such protest actions. To simply issue news releases would be to submit to this outrageous miscarriage of responsible governance. It's time for the labour movement to actively build stronger cooperation and joint struggles with anti-poverty groups, women, public education supporters, and other forces which are valiantly fighting back against the Campbell government's attacks.




CCPA report documents "Canada's Growing Gap"

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

If you and your family seem to be putting in longer work hours with less results, it's not an illusion. A new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that Canadian families are spending more time on the job for a smaller share of the economy.

     Most of us (76%, according to an Environics poll) also think Canada's gap between the rich and poor is growing. That's true, says the CCPA, largely because most of Canada's economic growth is going to the richest 10% of families, not to the 80% of families earning under $100,000.

     Authored by Armine Yalnizyan, The Rich and the Rest of Us: The Changing Face of Canada's Growing Gap, looks at the earnings and after-tax incomes of families raising children under 18, comparing the late 1970s and the early 2000s. The study finds:

     * In 2004, the richest 10% of families earned 82 times more than the poorest 10% - almost triple the ratio of 1976, when they earned 31 times more. In after-tax terms the gap is at a 30-year high.

     * Between 1976-79 the bottom half earned 27% of total earnings. Between 2001-04 that dropped to 20.5%, though they worked more. Up to 80% of families lost ground or stayed put compared to the previous generation, in both earnings and after-tax terms. The poorest saw real incomes drop.

     * Between 1976-79, the bottom half of Canada's families earned 27% of total earnings. Between 2001-04, the bottom half's share dropped to 20.5% of total earnings, even though they were working more.

     * The poorest 20% of Canadian families saw their share of the earnings pie drop from 4.5% from the late 1970s, to 2.6% in the early 2000s.

     * The richest 10% of Canadian families saw their share of total earnings rise from less than a quarter of the earnings pie (23%) in the late 1970s to almost 30% (29.5%), on average, between 2001-04.

     * The average annual hours worked for those in the poorest 10% of families has risen to about 1,500 hours a year in 2004, higher than in any year since 1996. Families in the second poorest decile have added a staggering 800 hours a year since 1996 - from about 1,500 hours to about 2,300 hours a year. Families in the middle of the spectrum (deciles 4 to 8), were putting in roughly 200-250 more hours than in 1996, the equivalent of between five and six additional weeks of full-time work per household. The richest 10% of families, on average, put in 10 more hours in 2004 than 1996, but 110 hours less than in 2001.

     * Median earnings for the richest 10% of families raising children averaged around $122,000 between 1976 and 1986. Between 1987 and 1997 they averaged $133,000. Since 1998, median incomes for the richest 10% have grown much more rapidly, averaging $161,000 between 2001-04. Meanwhile their average weeks of work have held steady at around 114 weeks a year per household, about six weeks a year less compared to a generation ago. Despite working slightly less, the richest 10% of families are earning $40,000 more (up 30%) compared to a generation ago in inflation-adjusted terms.

     * Since 1998 Canada's top 100 CEOs saw a 262% increase in compensation, pocketing an average of $9.1 million in 2005 compared to $3.5 million in 1998. Meanwhile, the average Canadian worker made just over $38,000 in a year, a 15% increase over the average earnings of 1998 (just over $33,000). Since CPI increased by 17.85% in that same period, after adjusting earnings for inflation, the average worker actually lost purchasing power.

     (To read the full study, visit http://www.policyalternatives.ca, and click on "The Rich and the Rest of Us".)



Supreme Court rules Security Certificate procedures unconstitutional

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

By Stuart Ryan, Ottawa

On Feb. 23, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled against the current "Security Certificate" provisions which allow the Canadian state to imprison foreign nationals as "suspected terrorists" - without being able to hear the case against them.

     In the case of Charkaoui v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), the Court found that the procedures under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) violate Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states that "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice."

     Under the current procedure, a judge rules on the appropriateness of the Security Certificate based on secret evidence provided by state security forces. As Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote, this "denies the named person the opportunity to know the case put against him or her, and hence to challenge the government's case. This, in turn, undermines the judge's ability to come to a decision based on all the relevant facts and law... it fails to assure the fair hearing that s. 7 of the Charter requires..."

     The Court gave Parliament a year to come up with a procedure which does not violate the Charter. In the meantime the current process remains in place.

     The Court reviewed other possible options, including Amicus Curae, the appointment of an independent security-cleared legal counsel to review security evidence, as in the Maher Arar case; the Special Advocate employed by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in the United Kingdom; allowing review of the secret evidence by the accused's lawyer, since as an officer of the court the lawyer would be obligated not to reveal such evidence; or a return to the procedure established under the 1974 legislation which set up the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service.

     The Court also ruled that the provision in the IRPA which denies a foreign national the right to apply for bail until 120 days after confirmation of the certificate violates Section 9 of the Charter, which guarantees freedom from arbitrary decision, and Section 10.c, which states that "Everyone has the right on arrest or detention ... to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful."

     Chief Justice McLachlin noted that permanent residents of Canada can only be detained for 48 hours under the IRPA. She wrote:

"Permanent residents who pose a danger to national security are also meant to be removed expeditiously. If this objective can be pursued while providing permanent residents with a mandatory detention review within 48 hours, then how can a denial of review for foreign nationals for 120 days after the certificate is confirmed be considered a minimum impairment."

     The ruling did not give Parliament a year to change this procedure, since this violation of the Charter can be remedied by giving foreign nationals the right to apply for habeas corpus after 48 hours.

     Barbara Jackman, one of the lawyers for Hassan Almrei, said the decision switches the onus for proving the need for continued detention back to the state. Under the IRPA, the person named in a Security Certificate had to prove that she or he was not a treat to the security of Canada.

     But the Supreme Court did not abolish Security Certificates, which allow the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to sign a certificate that a permanent resident of foreign national is "inadmissible on grounds of security, violating human or international rights, serious criminality or organized criminality."

     The lawyers for Adil Charkaoui argued that the procedure was unconstitutional, since judges who rule on the fairness of the Government's case are not independent of the state. The Court rejected the argument, saying the IRPA gives a judge sufficient independence to review the appropriateness of a certificate.

     Nor did the Court accept the argument that detention under Security Certificates constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, contrary to s.12 of the Charter. While it recognized that lengthy detentions have occurred because the appellants would be subject to torture or death if returned to their home countries, the Court said the IRPA provides for periodic review of the circumstances that may lead to continuous detention. The decision outlines factors that a judge should consider in deciding whether detention should continue, or that the person should be released on bail.

     The Court also rejected the argument that the IRPA discriminates against non-nationals in that it could be used not for the purpose of deportation, which is constitutional, but to retain the person for security purposes.

     The Court ruled that: "Even though the detentions of some of the appellants has been long ... the record on which we rely does not establish that the detentions at issue have become unhinged from the state's purpose of deportation. More generally, the answer to these concerned lies in an effective review process that permits the judge to consider all matters relevant to the detention."



"Keep working to abolish secret trials"

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

By Stuart Ryan, Ottawa

Human rights advocates are urging that Canadians not become complacent, thinking that the recent Supreme Court decision against security certificates has solved the problems of secret trials.

     Campaign to End Secret Trials activist Matthew Behrens wrote: "The challenge for opponents of secret trials will be to remain vigilant, because we still have a long way to go, though the road has certainly been made easier with the positive court decision. We need to continue the struggle to fully free those subject to the process and to clear their names, and to end the process of deportation to torture (an issue yet to be settled by the country's highest court)."

     Behrens says Parliament should not write a "new and improved" Security procedure process that it thinks will pass the Charter test. He warns that "A process now found to be fundamentally flawed and unfair by Canada's highest court cannot be fixed with a few fancy sounding additions like `security-cleared lawyers' and `special advocates'."

     Alex Neve, head of Amnesty International in Canada, told a Feb. 23 press conference in Ottawa that the ruling will reverberate throughout Canada and around the world. "Security is all about human rights. Counter-terrorism that violates civil rights is not acceptable."

     Kevin Skerrett, a spokesperson for the Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee, spoke of its four-year public campaign to end the secret trials and to release Mohamed, who was arrested in Ottawa on December 10 (International Human Rights Day) 2002, on suspicion of being in a secret cell for Al Qaeda in Canada. Skerrett called on the government to immediately release on bail the men still being held in "Guantanamo North" (the $3.2 million Kingston Immigration Holding Centre at Millhaven Penitentiary) and to end the threat to deport them to countries that practice torture.

     Harkat's lawyer, Matthew Webber, called the whole process Kafkaesque. "To this day we do not have a clue what the State has on Mohamed Harkat. The process is a violation of fundamental justice, the affected party must know the case against him."

     Sophie Harkat, Mohamed Harkat's wife, expressed both joy and tears at the press conference. "It has been four years of hell for us. He has been my source of motivation and inspiration, and unfortunately he can not be here to share this with me today." The Canadian Border Security Service refused Harkat's request to attend the release of the Court's decision.

     Lawyers for the three appellants, Adil Charkaoui, Hassan Almrei, and Mohamed Harkat, told the press conference that they doubted that the government would move to depart their clients under a procedure which has been ruled unconstitutional.

     Diana Ralph, an activist with the Campaign to End Secret Trials who is prepared to adopt Hassan Almrei, praised the courage and determination of the five Muslim men being held under Security Certificates. "By defeating this law they have done so much for Canadians," she said, adding that it was unfortunate that the "viciousness of their detention" was not addressed by the Supreme Court.

     Guantanamo North detainee Mohammad Mahjoub has been granted bail pending the determination of his conditions. Then, on Feb. 6, Federal Court Judge Carolyn Leydon-Stevenson recommended the release of detainee Mahmoud Jaballah under "stringent" and "restrictive" house arrest conditions. A March 22 court date has been set to discuss conditions prior to his release. That will leave Hassan Almrei, held since October 2001, as the lone detainee in the facility, guarded by 23 staff. Lawyers for Almrei are going to court to get him released on bail.

     Mohamed Harkat went to court Feb. 28 and March 1 to have his bail conditions altered. He currently must have an escort at all times, either his wife or his mother-in-law. He told the court that "now there are three people in jail."



BCTF president issues challenge

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

On Feb. 17 , British Columbia Teachers' Federation President Jinny Sims spoke to a fundraiser for the Coalition of Progressive Electors in Vancouver. Sims focused on the struggle to defend public education, including the heroic October 2005 BC teachers' strike, and on the wider topic of building unity against the right-wing enemies of working people. Her comments are seen by many as an important call for unity among the city's fractured civic reform forces. We reprint excerpts of the speech, which can be seen in full at www.workingtv.com.

I want to start off by thanking you, the citizens of BC, both unionized and non-unionized, who stood side by side with teachers as we engaged in a struggle that I believed was a fight for public education and for the rights of ordinary people to organize, and I salute you for that.

     When I talk about public education, I want to put it in a context that is international. What we are seeing isn't just happening in BC. There is an international trend to underfund, destabilize and privatize. I call it the corporatization of our social services.

     ... The cornerstone of any democratic society is a public education system where every child, whether they are a new immigrant or born in Canada, whether they are special needs or ESL or need learning assistance, whether they live in the Stikhine or in Vancouver, every child has the right to a publicly funded, quality public education system, because that's our future.

     Education is only one component of a civil society. When I'm talking about education, I'm also talking about our health care system, about our social safety net. I'm talking about the eradication of poverty and homelessness. All of those things are interconnected to form the basis of a civil society.

     So look at what's been happening to our public education system. We know that there is an agenda that belongs to the neo-cons, or the neo-liberals - to privatize and to make education a commodity. They are well on their way, and we have to stop them in their tracks.

     You know, when we took a stand, what I call our civil disobedience or at least our practise for civil disobedience, this (Campbell Liberal) government stripped our collective bargaining agreements. We as teachers took a deep breath and everybody kept on working. They narrowed our bargaining rights, and we still took a deep breath, and we carried on working. But then, even the few rights we had, when we were winning on those - and by the way we won five victories in the International Labour Organization against this government - did they change one iota? No. When we won in the Supreme Court, it didn't change anything, they just passed new legislation.

     So when we took a stand, it was to keep our voice, because we were being told that we didn't have the right to exercise our voice, to speak out about the damage that was happening to public education. We took a stand for our students' learning conditions - and I never apologize for this - and for a fair and reasonable salary for teachers. Working people have to stop apologizing for wanting a share of the goods of this province.

     Out of that the government had to take a step back. They had to come to the table, and we were able to negotiate an agreement which wasn't perfect, but it was much better than anything we've been able to do since 1993. That was a step in the right direction. They brought in legislation that was supposed to address class size, class composition, and support for special needs kids. Let me tell you, it's had this much influence (fingers held very close) - very, very tiny. But we still praised the government for taking a baby step.

     But they never funded that Bill. Because Boards had to look within their present budgets to implement Bill 33 with all its many warts, other services had to be cut.

     I want to explain what it means to special needs kids. I get quite passionate about this. Before Bill 33, we had approximately 10,500 classrooms around this province with four or more special needs kids. Remember Bill 33 talks about three special needs kids in a class. After the successful implementation of Bill 33, we have 9,500 classrooms with four or more special needs kids. This tells you where we are.

     ... Now I'm going to get to the hard bit. It's always so much easier to ask somebody else what we want them to do. For those of us who are on the progressive left, it's so easy to stand on our principles. And we have wonderful principles, and we love them all. It's easy for us sometimes to confuse strategy with principles. Within our own ranks - and I've seen this happen since I was 17 - it's so easy to think when we have disagreements on how to do things, that suddenly the people who disagree with us must be the enemy, when our goals are the same.

     I challenge everyone of us in this room, if we believe that education is the cornerstone of democracy, if we believe in the eradication of poverty, if we believe in a social safety net, if we believe in a publicly funded health care system for one and all, if we believe in reasonably priced housing, and if we believe in dignity for all working people, not just big profits for the corporations, then we have to find a way to do politics that brings us together. We have to, folks...

     We also have to find a new way of doing politics. Sometimes we throw our lot behind a political party and we elect them, and then we think that they should just deliver, and then we abandon that party too. We've got to continue to work with the politicians that we elect, and we have to make sure that we hold their feet to the fire. They've got to feel that if we work hard to elect them, we're willing to work just as hard to keep them true to the principles that they had when we voted for them.

     We have a habit that when we have a conservative government, then we think we should bide our time, we can't be too confrontational, we have to be getting along. Then we wait until a progressive government is elected - let's go for the jugular, they've got to deliver everything tomorrow.

     ... So the challenge to us today is collectively, are we ready to take on this agenda to fight for BC, and for Canada? And are we ready to hold hands with others who may want to take us roughly in the same direction, maybe not exactly where we want to go, but definitely towards that path?

     One thing we learned in the BCTF is you have to take time to build coalitions, both within the labour movement, outside the labour movement, in our communities, go to church groups, go to grocery stores, every venue you can find a space in, you have to take that venue.

     ... I believe with everything that's in me, that it's not too late when British Columbians stand side by side and say enough is enough, we're not going to take this, we're going to unite and we're going to speak with one voice. Yes, that one voice may not look exactly the way we would like it, but that one voice is a voice for our future. That's my challenge to you.



Anti-scab legislation vote on March 21

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

The Canadian Labour Congress reports that on March 21, Members of Parliament give third reading on Bill C-257, which would make it illegal for employers to hire scabs while their own employees are locked out or on strike. Four months ago, a strong majority of MPs supported the Bill (167 to 101) in second reading.

     A statement from CLC president Ken Georgetti says that "notwithstanding the public positions taken by Stephen Harper and Stéphane Dion, we still expect this to be a free vote. We anticipate that a majority of MPs will vote in favour of this legislation because they will listen to the voices of the majority of their constituents who are people who work for wages.

     "The media reports reflect the results of big business' intense campaign of fear mongering about C-257 and focus on the continuation of `essential services' during labour disputes. Essential services are already protected by both the Canada Labour Code and other statutes that deal specifically with federal public services.

     "Passing C-257 will do nothing to diminish these existing protections which are contained in section 87.4 of the Canada Labour Code. They are in effect and will remain in effect. The Canadian Industrial Relations Board has confirmed seven times in the last six years that section 87.4 is an essential services clause.

     "The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities of the House of Commons (HUMA), heard from many witnesses while reviewing the Bill: 13 representing working people, 32 representing employers, and various technical experts. What stood out from those hearings were the irrational arguments big business put forward to confuse and scare MPs."

     The CLC has urged a last minute push to lobby MPs on Bill C-257. As Georgetti says, MPs "will be asked to decide whose side are they on - their working family constituents or federal employers who use scabs."



Farm co-ops get co-opted

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

By David Tymoshchuk, Winnipeg

In the boardrooms of the big city, changes are in the works for rural folk.

     First the government wants to get rid of the Wheat Board. Now Saskatchewan Wheat Pool wants to buy out Agricore United. Then James Richardson International (JRI) wants a piece of the action.

     Where did all the Co-ops go? They merged and went public on the stock exchange. Once a proud farmers' cooperative movement, Manitoba Pool Elevators, Alberta Wheat Pool, United Grain Growers, and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool have become publicly traded.

     The boards of directors are in the ivory towers (most in the Richardson Building) at Winnipeg's Portage and Main, while the wooden towers of the prairies crash and burn. As local elevators close, farmers have to haul farther to sell their crops, spending more time away from the field. Many can't afford new trucks, and then there are the fuel costs. Small town businesses also suffer with less traffic from the grain hauling. There are other parties to share the blame, including the railways for line closures, and the Liberals for removing the Crow Rate.

     With Monsanto pushing their seeds and chemicals, one asks: are farmers just customers to sell to and profit from, instead of the producers and co-op shareholders they once aspired to be?

     Massive consolidation in the grain industry is occurring, here and now. Rural Canada is a sign of what will happen to the rest of the country. Take the banking industry, which is heading for big mergers. Just imagine what would happen if all the shares in credit unions went onto the stock market: branch closures, higher service fees, dividends to wealthy stockholders. There would be an uproar in the cities.

     Huge transnational grain corporations like Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) and Cargill dominate the United States. So in Canada, there is a drive to "keep up" and modernize. It requires capital to build the new high throughput terminals (still elevators, just way bigger).

     So the co-ops parted ways and went down two roads: UGG and SaskPool sold stock on the open market, and Manitoba Pool and Alberta Wheat Pool merged to create Agricore, still a farmer co-op. But Agricore merged again with UGG into Agricore United, with 28% of limited voting common shares owned by ADM. So much for staying "farmer owned."

     Save the co-op? Nope. Now merger talk is on again, with SaskPool. But ADM will have none of it, refusing to give up its portion of the shares to SaskPool. So the deal is off with SaskPool and on with JRI, owners of Pioneer Grain Co. If they were to merge, the new entity would have the lion's share of the grain market. Sort of like a private wheat board but with Bay street interests in mind. How did a group of farmer co-operatives become owned by a billionaire? Welcome to the new millennium, which looks a lot like the 1920's. Maybe it's time to start another co-op again!



Reporters without borders: Misinformers

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

By Salim Lamrani, Université Denis-Diderot de Paris (abridged)

Since the election of Hugo Chavez in 1998, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has redoubled its attacks on the Venezuelan government, accusing it of curtailing freedom of the press. Nonetheless, since 1999 nearly 600 new local and national media outlets (newspapers, radio and television stations) have started up in the country.

     Lately, the Paris-based RSF protested the decision of the authorities not to renew the license of the private media group Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), which expires May 28, 2007. RSF has transformed this quite legal decision, since the electromagnetic spectrum belongs to the state, into an "attack on editorial pluralism."

     ... The non-renewal does not amount to a complete censorship as RSF claims, because RCTV can continue to function through cable and by satellite with no impediment. It simply cannot broadcast on state-controlled frequencies.

     ... RSF claims to be an apolitical organization interested only in defending freedom of the press. It claims that its role is not to intervene in the internal affairs of Venezuela. The reality is quite different. RSF has never condemned the participation of privately owned media in the failed coup of 2002, limiting itself only to admitting that "certain owners of the press went so far as to support the coup d'Etat".

     In reality, over 90% or the private media, including the four principal television networks, openly and actively supported the putschist junta. The main directors of the private media even met with the dictator of 47 hours, Pedro Carmona Estanga, on April 13, 2002, to receive instructions. For RSF, participation in a violent coup by the media did not constitute a monstrous crime. It was just a "lack of elementary rules of ethics", nothing more. In its annual report of 2003, the RSF never condemned the role of the media in the overthrow of president Chavez.

     Worse yet, on April 12, 2002, RSF published an article repeating without any reservations the version of the putschists, and tried to convince international public opinion that Chavez had resigned.

     "Alone in the presidential palace, Hugo Chavez signed his resignation during the night, under pressure from the army. He was then taken to the fort of Tiuna, the main military base in Caracas, where he is detained. Immediately afterwards, Pedro Carmona, president of Fedecamaras, announced that he would lead a new transition government. He asserted that his selection was a `consensus' of Venezuelan civil society and of the command of the armed forces".

     Amazing as it may seem, this communiqué was issued not by Washington, which had orchestrated the coup d'état, but by RSF.

     "The other-worldists have every indulgence for the ex-putschist Hugo Chavez, this comic-opera caudillo who is ruining his country but - for the moment - is content to make speeches a la Castro without many real consequences for the freedoms of his fellow citizens." This sentence is the work of Robert Ménard, the general secretary of RSF, and was published in Médias, the official magazine of the organization.

     "The government of Hugo Chavez is a set-back, an economic catastrophe of broken promises." These remarks come not from the Venezuelan oligarchy, but from Robert Ménard, during his visit to the Cuban and Venezuelan extreme right in Miami, January 2004.

     But is any of this surprising when we know that the main correspondent of RSF in Venezuela is political pundit Maria Sol Perez Schael, a prominent member of the opposition who supported the coup d'état. In the newspaper El Universal, she expressed her support for the military putschists who occupied the Plaza Francia and characterized them as "dignified men who acted with restraint and valorous men who set an example of civic duty to other countries and to the continent". Their message of "civic duty" consisted in fact of launching appeals for a general strike and for sabotage to overthrow Hugo Chavez.

     Is it surprising when we know that the RSF is financed by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an entity created by Ronal Reagan and financed by the U.S. Congress with the goal of promoting U.S. foreign policy objectives around the world?

     In March 1997, the New York Times noted: "The National Endowment for Democracy was created 15 years ago to carry out openly what the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) did surreptitiously for decades... It spends 30 million dollars a year to support political parties, unions, dissident movements and information media in dozens of countries."

     In September 1991, Allen Weinstein, who had participated in having the legislation adopted to create the NED, stated to the Washington Post: "A good deal of what we do today was done by the CIA 25 years ago in a clandestine way." Can RSF, financed by a front group of the CIA, according to Weinstein and the New York Times, continue much longer to mislead public opinion?

     RSF doesn't defend freedom of the press in Venezuela. It defends the elitist and narrow interests of the U.S. and the oligarchy. It promotes a partisan ideological treatment of Venezuelan reality, and the financing it receives from Washington leave no room for doubt. Its objective is to portray a democratic and popular government as an authoritarian enemy of freedom of the press, to discredit it in the eyes of international public opinion, to justify an eventual coup d'état or U.S. military intervention.

Ménard on the CIA payroll

On April 18, 2005, in a forum of the Paris publication Le Nouvel Observateur, Robert Ménard made his first confession regarding what he had always denied, after a March 11 article by US journalist Diana Barahona reported that Reporters Sans Frontieres was receiving money from the National Endowment for Democracy. “Absolutely,” Ménard answered, “We receive money from the NED and this does not create any problems for us whatsoever.”

The NED was created by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, as one part of the U.S. dirty war against Central America. During Barahona’s investigation, a NED representative personally confirmed that $39,900 was delivered to Reporters Sans Frontieres on January 14, 2005. At the same time, RSF’s representative in Washington, Lucie Morillon, confirmed that RSF received $125,000 from the Cuba Solidarity Center, a CIA front group officially financed by USAID US Agency for International Development.



 
Colombia rocked by scandals

 (The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

Right-wing politicians in Colombia are caught in a massive scandal that threatens to further weaken U.S. influence across Latin America.

     For many years, human rights activists and progressive movements have accused Colombia's political and military leaders of having close ties to death squads and drug traffickers. But in North America, the corporate media has painted a reverse picture, blaming the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and other guerrilla forces for the violence which has devastated the country for decades.

     Now, dozens of political allies of Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, have been linked to the paramilitaries and narco-traffickers, eroding support in Washington for Colombia, the biggest recipient of US aid outside the Middle East and Afghanistan.

     A Feb. 25 report in the Boston Globe says "the scandal burst open last fall, when a computer seized from paramilitary leader `Jorge 40' revealed the names of dozens of politicians who supposedly collaborated with paramilitaries in intimidating voters, seizing land, and kidnapping or killing labour unionists and political rivals. Other revelations followed, including secret documents signed by officials pledging moral support or kickbacks to the illegal militias...

     "Eight pro-Uribe congressmen have been arrested for collaborating with paramilitaries, and dozens of national and regional politicians, some who have apparently fled the country, are under investigation."

     On Feb. 19, foreign minister Maria Consuelo Arajo resigned over her family's ties to paramilitary militias. Then on Feb. 23, Jorge Noguera, who served as Uribe's campaign manager and later as head of Colombia's secret police, was arrested on charges of giving a hit list of trade unionists and activists to paramilitaries, who then killed them.

     US Representative William Delahunt (Dem.-Massachusetts), active in Latin American affairs, said evidence of the government's links to death squads "evokes memories of the 1980s in Central America. I think you're going to see hearings on these issues."



No to War Against Iran

 (The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

A call to the peace-loving and progressive forces of the world, from the Tudeh Party of Iran

     The rapid developments of recent weeks in the Middle East region, and more importantly with regards to the widespread political frictions between the United States and Islamic Republic of Iran, have created a complex and dangerous situation. While bloody military conflicts and terrorist attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan have risen to new dimensions, the US has expanded its widespread propaganda assault and threats against Iran. George Bush's remarks on February 14 alleging Iran's direct support of terrorist attacks in Iraq - after his Secretary of Defense presented "evidence" with regards to the Iranian Leaders' support of terrorist forces through supply of weaponry - has profoundly concerned all the patriotic, progressive and democratic forces of Iran.

     The threatening tone of George Bush in alleging that Iranian authorities have been involved in killing of 170 American personnel and military troops in Iraq in the recent years, and in addition stating that the US administration is responsible to protect the lives and security of American troops, has a clear and threatening sense. These allegations could be formulated to convince public opinion in the US and EU and to prepare grounds for retaliation and dangerous actions against Iran. One could not help taking notice of the similarities between the events in the recent months and what happened between September 2002 and March 2003 with regards to Iraq, prior to military interventions and occupation of this county.

     The "New Strategy" of the US, including expanding military operations in Iraq to overcome the full-scale crisis in this country, means that the Bush administration has ignored the proposed solutions of "Iraq Study Group". Instead of relying on a constructive approach in dealing with Iran and Syria, as the Iraq Study Group had suggested, this Strategy has taken the avenue of putting strenuous pressures in order to impose US hegemony on these countries. Imposing sanctions by the Security Council of the UN in December 2006, frequent visits of the US authorities to Arab nations in order to organize an anti-Iranian alliance, and the recent threatening remarks of the US authorities, all mean that if a solution is not found to quickly reverse this process, the region will face an irreparable disaster.

     In recent months Tudeh Party of Iran has repeatedly stated that no matter what the excuse, it strongly opposes any military action against Iran. We believe that any military approach is against the interests of the working people of the nation, and detrimental to the peace and stability of the region and the world. The crisis in relations between the US and Iran cannot be resolved through expanding the crisis. While we have strongly criticized the pernicious and provocative policies of the (Iranian) regime in the arena of international politics and in securing the development of nuclear technology, we have also pointed out that the goal of the US allegations is in fact to secure and justify its hegemony in this vulnerable region.

     The current dangerous situation calls for a coordinated, responsible and united action of all the supporters of peace and democracy and progress in Iran and the world. This action must target the goals of warmonger circles in the US and its European allies while it expresses its opposition to reactionary and irresponsible policies of the ruling regime in Iran. We call upon the global movement of peace and progress to vigilantly tie their slogans and positions against militarization of warmongering of the US and its allies with regards to Iran, to fundamental opposition to oppressive and reactionary policies of the ruling regime in Iran.

     The only way out of the present dangerous crisis is through peaceful negotiations and respect for the sovereignty and independence of nations and to observe the Charter of the United Nations.

     The Tudeh Party of Iran calls upon all the peace-loving forces of the world to turn the peaceful avenue of resolving the crisis into the only alternative, through raising their voices and divulging the truth, before the warmongers and reactionaries once again impose war and terror on another country in the region.

     - The Central Committee of Tudeh Party of Iran, http://www.tudehpartyiran.org
     
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 What's Left

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

VANCOUVER, BC

FIESTA LATINA! - Spring Latin Party celebrating the Rebel soul, Friday, March 16, 7 pm, Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive, entrance by donation, organized by La Surda Latino- American Collective.

Out of Afghanistan, into Kyoto! - Sat., March 17, gather 12:30 pm at English Bay  (Denman & Davie), march starts 1 pm, rally 2 pm at Art Gallery. Organized by StopWar.ca.

 Building alternatives in Mexico's south - Building alternatives in Mexico’s south, report from Chiapas activist Onesimo Hidalgo, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings, Room 2270, 3:30 pm, Sat., March 17. Cosponsors include BC Teachers Federation, BC Govt. Employees Union, Canadian Labour Congress, Co-Development Canada and CUPE BC.

Anti-war social and dinner - fundraiser to help send delegates to Young Communist League convention, 6 pm, Sat., March 17, Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive. Traditional Chilean food, live music, DJ and dancing, $15 donation.

 Spring Concert & Dinner -  featuring Federation of Russian Canadians Druzhba Choir and guest performers, and buffet dinner, at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave., 2 pm, Sunday, March 18, admission $20.

 StopWar.ca -  coalition meetings on 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 5;30 pm, Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph St., see http://www.stopwar.ca for updates.

 The Road to Torture in Guantanamo - public forum, film, and debate, Sat., March 24, 2  pm, SFU Harbour Centre Room 1700, 515 W. Hastings, $5 donation. Organized by Amigos de Cuba, FMLN, Vancouver Bolivarian Society, and Peña Latina. For more info, 604-432-7400.

 Better Pay for Low-Wage workers - public forum,6:30 pm, Sunday, April 1, Library main branch, see story on page 2 for full information.

 Annual Spring Bazaar - Sat., April 21, 11-3, at the Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave., donations welcome.
Winnipeg, MB
WINNIPEG, MB

Honouring Pablo Neruda and Ivan Franko - with the Winnipeg Mandolin Orchestra, Chile Lucha y Canta, Festival Choir, AUUC School of Folk Dance. Sun., March 18, 2 pm, Ukrainian Labour Temple, 591 Pritchard Ave., tickets $10. Info: Winnipeg Chilean Association and Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, 582-9269.
TORONTO, ON

Troops Out Now! - rally Sat., March 17, 1 pm, at United States Consulate, 360 University Ave., Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, 416-795-5863.

 Surviving Global Climate Change - Monday, March 19, 7-10 pm, 720 Bathurst St. (South of Bloor), interactive media event, for reservations, see http://www.boilingfrog.ca.

 "Whose Water?" - film and discussion, Tue., March 20, 7 pm, Innis Town Hall, Innis College, U of T (south of Bloor St. West), speakers from KAIROS, Council of Canadians, Sierra Club.

 Aristide and the Endless Revolution - Science for Peace film showing, Tue., March 20, 7 pm,  Room 179, University College, U of T.

 Fundraiser and Roast - help clear campaign debts of former school trustees Liz Hill and Stan Nemiroff, Friday, March 23, from 5 pm, 1482 Bathurst (north of St. Clair), donation $10. See ad on page 4 for details.

 Our Future, Our Fight - Sat., March 24, a night of music, speakers, poetry and revolutionary  culture. Meet Young Communist League convention delegates, and hear Miguel Madeira, president of World Federation of Democratic Youth, 290 Danforth Ave. (GCDO Hall), sliding scale $10/PWYC, call 416-469-2446.

 What Can We Learn From Cuba? - Tue., March 27, 7 pm, report from Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom delegation to Cuba, Green Room, Performing Arts Lounge, 110 The Esplanade (south of Front, west of Church).

 People's Voice Forums - Thursday, March 29, 7:30 pm, on “Security Certificates”; Thursday, April 26, 7:30 pm, on Venezuela, both at the GCDO Hall, 290 Danforth, call 416-469-2446 for info on speakers.

 People's Voice evening - Sat., April 14, 6 pm to midnight, 290ADanforth Ave., with music by Wally Brooker Saxawoogie Jazz, food, kool beverages - help raise $20,000 in Ontario for  People’s Voice Drive, for info call 416-469-2446.
Ottawa, ON

 Integrate This! - teach-in challenging the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, March 30-April 1, Ottawa Technical High School, 440 Albert St., organized by Council of Canadians, CCPA, Canadian Labour Congress, and others. For info visit http://www.integratethis.ca or call 1-800-387-7177.

 Women Resisting Poverty & Exclusion - May 4-6, conference organized by Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, website:
http://w w w.criaw-icref.ca/indexFrame_e.htm
MONTREAL, QC

 Vigil against occupation of Palestine - every Friday, noon to 1 pm, at Israeli Consulate, corner of Peel and Rene Levesque. For info: Palestinians And Jews United, 961-3928.

CROSS-CANADA: MARCH 17
March 17 Day of Action - against occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan marking 4th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Help is needed to mobilize powerful actions in every community. Find your local peace group through the Canadian Peace Alliance website, http://www.acp-cpa.ca or call 416-588-5555.

People's Voice deadlines:
APRIL 1-15 issue: Thursday, March 22
APRIL 16-30 issue: Thursday, April 5
Send submissions to PV Editorial Office, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, V5L 3J1, pvoice@telus.net

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YCL holds 24th Central Convention

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

 After more than three years of grassroots organizing across Canada, members of the Young  Communist League-Ligue de la Jeunesse Communiste will hold their 24th Central Convention over the March 23-25 weekend in Toronto. This will be the first YCL-LJC convention since the organization was dissolved during the early 1990s. The draft  documents for the 24th Convention have been the subject of discussion among YCL members and clubs in recent months. We reprint here part of one convention document, the  “Declaration of Unity and Resistance”:

 Youth of Canada - our future is under attack! Today, our generation confronts war and imperialist aggression, poverty wages and dead-end jobs, and the burden of debt from education. Everywhere, youth and students confront racism, sexism, homophobia, and other oppressions.

 Canada is a democracy - but for who? Everywhere, big business, not the people, call the shots. It is urgent: we must confront and defeat the rule of powerful monopoly corporations!

 Youth and students - join the fight! The history of Canada shows we are a radical and progressive force. Now is the time for youth and students to unite with the working people! Now is the time to build resistance against the corporate agenda, demanding a people’s alternative. We demand democracy. We demand rights. Peace! Jobs! Education! Equality! We are rebel youth who declare solidarity and join the fight of all those who want to build a stronger youth and student movement, to fight for real change leading to a better Canada, and a better world.

 We come together in the YCL-LJC because a capitalist Canada cannot build that better  Canada. We come together because imperialism cannot build that better world. We agree a  revolutionary movement is necessary to win stronger democracy, and a socialist Canada.

 Socialism is our long-term agenda, and it is a Communist agenda. We proudly call ourselves  Communists and stand as an autonomous organization, politically and ideologically united with the Communist Party of Canada.

 Our unity is founded on the recognition of Canada as a country of many nations, unequally  together, Aboriginal (including first nations and Métis), Quebecois and the dominant  English-speaking nation. Overcoming national chauvinism and recognizing national self-determination and sovereignty must be a keystone of any truly pan-Canadian movement. Our unity is anti-racist, anti-sexist, antihomophobic and anti-ageist. We are open to all who share our political aims, regardless of background. Our unity is founded on education and mobilization, on the need to learn to struggle, and to struggle to learn.

 Our goals are clear - short term, to build the youth resistance. Long term, to build socialism.  We want to contribute a Marxist-Leninist and internationalist viewpoint to the youth movement, to help lead by building unity and militancy for policies that benefit the working people.

For more information: www.ycl-ljc.ca

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Minimum wage debates in UK

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

Over a million workers, two-thirds of them women, will see a rise in the UK’s National Minimum Wage from £5.35 to £5.52 an hour next October.(The British pound is worth about $2.27 Canadian.) There will also be increases in the so-called “interim rates” for young workers, from £4.45 to £4.60 for 18-21 year olds, and from £3.30 to £3.40 for 16-17 year olds.

Britain’s minimum wage has gone up by almost 30% more than inflation since it was introduced at £3.60 in 1999. Tougher enforcement measures have recently been implemented. Employers who fail to pay the minimum wage now risk a criminal record and a £5,000 fine.

But sharp debates continue over the issue. The Trade Union Congress wants the interim rates for 18 to 21-year-olds to be phased out so workers receive the full adult rate at 18.

The Transport and General Workers Union has called for the London Living Wage of £7.30  to become the new national minimum wage. “Having a minimum wage is a good thing  and it certainly hasn’t caused the job losses the Tories and the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) sirens of gloom and others predicted,” said Tony Woodley, T&G General Secretary. “But the latest rise is 1% below the inflation rate so can hardly be called generous.”

For the first time in several years, the Low Pay Commission recommended that annual  minimum wage increase should not outstrip general rises in average earnings. Lord Turner,  the commission’s retiring chairman, warned last year: “Looking forward, the commission will start with no presumption that further increases above average earnings are required.”

The CBI employers’ group has warned that minimum wage increases over the inflation rate would “damage business and boost the black economy.” CBI deputy director-general John Cridland said: “With recent rises in inflation and interest rates, this is the year for restraint in the national minimum wage, just as we have seen in the public sector pay awards. Any further heavy increases in the wage would also harm many businesses struggling with high energy and pensions costs.”

The CBI has not called for “restraints” on corporate profits in Britain, which have risen an average of 7% annually during the years 2003-2006.

People's Voice finds many "Global Class Struggle" reports at the "Labour Start" website, http://www.labourstart.org. We urge our readers to check it out!

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Widening pay gap in Australia

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

A new Australian Council of Trade Unions analysis shows that women in full time jobs now earn $100 a week less than men, and that the gap is getting wider. Full time women now earn on average 10% less than men - the same pay gap as 1978, almost 30 years ago. Statistics also show the real wages of female workers have fallen 2 per cent over the last 12 months.

Commenting on the worsening situation for women workers, ACTU President Sharan Burrow called on International Women's Day for a renewed focus on women's pay and working rights in Australia.

Burrow said, “The Federal Government is presiding over a significant worsening of women’s right to equal pay and the right to family-flexible working conditions.... It is a disgrace that Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey has denied there is a problem with unequal pay, instead he has expressed pride in women re-entering the labour force into low paid jobs in the retail and hospitality sectors. The Minister should not be proud of a system where mothers returning from parental leave are expected to work in the lowest paid jobs in our country and have the least job security and least control over their hours of work. He should be ashamed.”

People's Voice finds many "Global Class Struggle" reports at the "Labour Start" website, http://www.labourstart.org. We urge our readers to check it out!


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Canada, U.S. and NATO out of Afghanistan! U.S. out of Iraq!

(The following article is from the March 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)

Excerpts from a resolution endorsing the March 17 day of anti-war actions, adopted unanimously by delegates to the 35th Central Convention of the Communist Party of  Canada, held in Toronto, Feb. 2-4, 2007.

The protests that will take place across Canada on Saturday, March 17 are crucial efforts  to mobilize opposition against the imperialist U.S.-led occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.  Particularly, they will be important to unite Canadians against our country’s bloody role in Afghanistan’s occupation and as a step towards defeating the Harper Tory government’s entire far-right pro-war agenda.

This 35th Convention of the Communist Party of Canada commits every member to work heart and soul to create the largest and broadest possible mobilization on that day. The day of action is being called by the Canadian Peace Alliance and Collectif Echec a la guerre;  respectively, the largest umbrella organizations of peace-supporting  groups in Canada and  Québec. The day of action has the support of a broad range of organizations and movements.

 .... Concerned about the growing opposition to Afghanistan’s occupation, the Harper Tories are carrying on an expensive propaganda campaign of their own. Using crude and deceptive propaganda, the pro-war campaign includes staged rallies, planted opinions in the media, and speechmaking by military officers.

.... Larger, more powerful and broader protests are needed to demand Parliamentary parties adopt deadlines for bringing Canadian troops home. Mass protests will help to raise the occupation as a key issue and spark more meaningful differences among the federal opposition parties. Most importantly, mass protests will help to isolate and defeat the servile, far-right, prowar Harper Tories.
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