No time to despair (The following editorial is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)  People's Voice Editorial, Nov. 16-30, 2004 JUST FOUR DAYS before U.S. citizens cast their ballots, The Lancet, a British medical journal, estimated that close to 100,000 Iraqi civilians - the majority women and children - have been killed as a result of the U.S. invasion. Comparing death rates before and after the March 2003 invasion, researchers interviewed a random sampling of 988 households from 33 neighborhoods across Iraq. While the corporate media has attacked the authors, the study was conducted using standard scientific procedures.      Before the invasion, most deaths in Iraq were from heart attack, disease and stroke. Now, the leading cause of death is violence, and coalition forces were responsible for 84 percent of violent deaths, mainly during air strikes. Furthermore, the 100,000 figure excludes deaths in Fallujah, where heavy fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents has taken a huge toll.      On this basis alone, George W. Bush should be in jail, not the White House. The Lancet study is yet more proof that Bush and his closest advisors, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, should be charged with war crimes. Eighteen months after these global gangsters violated international law and kicked down the doors in Iraq, their occupation forces have not even set up a system to measure mortality rates. For all their bluster about rebuilding a prosperous and democratic country, Iraq has been plunged into a vortex of death and destruction.      But we must not surrender to despair. Large sections of U.S. public opinion are deeply opposed to this war, and huge people's movements have been built around this issue. Just as significant, the U.S. economy faces massive debts, rising energy prices, and a falling dollar. Bush may be riding high after Nov. 2, but U.S. imperialism faces a growing crisis, and is increasingly isolated around the world. Despite the Nov. 2 outcome, conditions remain favourable to block further aggressions and ultimately to force the U.S. and Britain out of Iraq. The power is in our hands! (Back) (Home) Peace Movement calls for mobilizations to stop Missile Defence (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Darrell Rankin KEEPING CANADA OUT of U.S. Missile Defense and Washington's global aggressions were key issues at the "Building the Other Superpower" peace conference in Toronto, November 5‑7. The event included meetings or conventions of the Canadian Peace Alliance, the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom-Canada.      With over 150 participants, the meeting reflected the growing size of the peace movement in Canada, and advances in policy positions. The groups adopted a common Declaration against Missile Defence and calling on all people in Canada to mobilize against Canada's participation in the dangerous and expensive program.      Canadian Labour Congress Vice‑President Marie‑Clark Walker told participants that the labour movement and the working class pay a heavy price for the arms race. She explained the need for the labour movement to get more involved in the peace movement, across Canada and internationally. Walker led a well‑attended labour caucus at the conference, the first in several years.      The CPA convention adopted a resolution to support a meeting of the North American peace movements in 2005, with the special invited presence of the Cuban peace movement. A number of delegates volunteered to help organize the conference.      The convention also marked the launch of "Globalizing Peace," the report of the People's Commission on Global Security, a product of cross‑Canada hearings and fours years of writing, interrupted twice by large war crises. The report has comprehensive policy recommendations, and will be useful during the Martin Liberal government's promised review of Canada's foreign policy, now underway.      Other campaigns or activities supported during the CPA convention oppose the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, and support the right of U.S. war resisters to stay in Canada. Delegates agreed that the CPA facilitate cross‑Canada days of action March 19‑21, marking the second anniversary of the U.S.‑led invasion of Iraq and the International Day for the Elimination of Racism.      CPA delegates adopted resolutions urging Ottawa oppose the illegal wall Israel is building in occupied Palestinian territories and for an end to the occupation; for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Haiti; and opposing the U.S.-backed Plan Colombia, which has plunged Colombia into a brutal counter‑insurgency and thwarted a political solution to the crisis in that country.      The outgoing CPA Steering Committee report noted the group's higher profile from the large mobilizations of people in 2003 against a war on Iraq. The mobilizations were crucial in pressuring Ottawa to state its official position of non‑participation in the war. The number of CPA member groups has increased by about 25 per cent in the last two years.      The CPA convention ended with cheering for the 179 to 4 vote against the brutal U.S. blockade of Cuba in the U.N. General Assembly. (Back) (Home) Where's the beef for Ontario workers? (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Liz Rowley BILL 144, the McGuinty government's amendments to the Ontario Labour Relations Act, is being sold as the "restoration of balance," following the alleged tilt towards unions by the Rae government in the early 90s, and then binges of favouritism towards employers by the Harris Tories. The Ontario Executive of the Communist Party has reacted critically to the legislation.      The Liberals, we are told, will restore "balance" and "neutrality," to bring about "long‑term productivity and prosperity," and "reduce labour unrest."      In other words, the amendments are to maintain the status quo for the employers, without the heat and struggle that marked the Harris years. Employers want the Liberals to do the same job on labour, without acting like a bull in a china shop.      While some of the roughest edges are off, the proposed changes are small, and the key things that would have helped labour to level up the playing field are not on the table.       The Bill drops the requirement that directions for de-certification be prominently posted in unionized shops, and the obligation for trade unions to disclose the salaries and benefits of their functionaries earning over $100,000 annually.      But the anti‑scab legislation which the NDP introduced in its first year in office is not restored, nor will it ever be according to Labour Minister Chris Bentley. This key demand is essential for workers and their unions to secure collective agreements free of the violence that is increasingly the norm when employers bring in scabs and strikebreakers. Anti‑scab legislation would have made picket lines safe, and would have forced employers to negotiate instead of hiring thugs and enforcers, who are often also protected by police and dogs.      Otherwise, the legislation will restore some powers to the OLRB, including the power to impose union certification where an employer breaks laws during an organizing drive. The OLRB will also regain the power to refuse to certify a new bargaining unit where it asserts a union has breached the law.      The legislation will allow automatic certification of construction workers where the union has signed cards of 55% of the workforce.       However, the right to strike by building trades unions will be further curtailed in the City of Toronto, and in the regional municipalities of Halton, Peel, York, Durham and Simcoe County, where a residential construction boom is underway. The legislation sets a common expiry date of April 30, 2007 for collective agreements in this sector, a 3 year term for future contracts, and a 46 day window from May 1 to June 15 for strikes and lockouts, after which arbitration would be invoked.       This provision is to prevent a return to 1998, when the trades struck residential home construction companies one after the other, bringing construction to a halt in one of the hottest real estate markets in years. For once the unions had the big builders and developers by the short hairs, a situation this legislation will eliminate in future negotiations.      The Communist Party notes that the real fight for labour lies with changes to the Employment Standards Act still pending on the Legislative agenda. The 60 hour work week, formally abolished by the Liberals last winter, lives on through existing overtime laws which give employers the power to compel workers to stay on the job. This is the flexible work force that the employers want, and the Liberals aim to deliver.      Eliminating mandatory retirement at 65 (and moving the retirement age and benefits back to 67 or 70) is also part of an employer-driven agenda that's moving steadily ahead.      Minimum wages that defy the poverty line continue to increase the ranks of the working poor. Instead of getting shorter under the Liberals, the list of exceptions to the minimum wage is usually longer than the rules themselves.      There's no beef in this legislation, at least not for workers.  The Ontario Federation of Labour's November 27 Day of Action will assuredly include Bill 144 in its list of Liberal crimes and misdemeanours. The assertion that Bill 144 brings "balance" between workers and employers is grotesque. Workers have never been more at the mercy of corporations, and governments have never been more corporate driven than they are now.      To improve wages, living and working conditions, and to achieve job security and full employment, to retire with dignity, good health, and economic and social security, workers and their unions will have to fight at the bargaining table, on the picket lines, in the workplace, in the communities and in the streets. To defeat the corporate agenda, workers must elect new governments with new policies aimed to put people before profits.      Enacting a Labour Bill of Rights guaranteeing the right to strike, picket and organize would be a good start. Raising the minimum wage to $12 and reducing the work week to 32 hours with no loss in take‑home pay would be another good start.       These two measures would bring some fairness to labour relations in Ontario. We shouldn't wait for the Liberals to act. (Back) (Home) Great Lakes up for sale? (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Kimball Cariou THE COUNCIL OF CANADIANS has submitted the first comprehensive legal critique of the Great Lakes Annex 2001 Implementing Agreement to Ottawa and to the Council of Great Lakes Governors.      The agreement, warns the Council, "could irreversibly damage the Great Lakes and jeopardize Canada's sovereignty over these shared waters."      Prepared by attorney Steven Shrybman of Sack, Goldblatt, Mitchell, the legal opinion confirms that the Annex would increase the likelihood of long‑range, high‑volume water diversions from the Great Lakes, challenge Canadian sovereignty by undermining the Boundary Waters Treaty and marginalizing the role of the International Joint Commission (IJC), and lead to the commodification of Great Lakes waters.      "The Annex is fundamentally flawed," says Shrybman. "It puts further at risk the ecological integrity of Great Lakes waters and represents a significant challenge to Canadian sovereignty."      "This legal opinion confirms our worst fears about the Annex," says Sara Ehrhardt, National water campaigner for the Council of Canadians. "It is atrocious that it has been the responsibility of citizens to obtain the only Canadian legal analysis of such a nationally significant issue. Clearly the federal government has shirked its responsibility to Canadians by remaining silent on the Great Lakes Annex."      Canadians have flooded the Prime Minister's office with calls and letters demanding that the federal government stop the Annex. CoC National Chairperson Maude Barlow says that "Canadians have spoken. We now call on the Federal government to act immediately to stop this agreement. The fate of the Great Lakes depends on it." (Back) (Home) Send Klein some "red pepper" (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) PV Alberta Bureau TWO ALBERTA Communists are on the ballot for the Nov. 22 provincial election, asking voters to send some "Red Pepper" to the Legislature.      Edmonton Mill Woods candidate Naomi Rankin, a 52-year-old computer programmer, has been involved in progressive politics since the 1960s. She has been the Alberta Communist leader since 1992. Running in Calgary East is Bonnie Collins, a video rentals manager who has been active in social justice issues for the last three years.      "Put People Before Profits" is the title of the Communist platform, which hammers Ralph Klein's Tories for policies which benefit the wealthy few and destroy social rights.      "Instead of guaranteed low domestic energy prices to heat and light our homes," the Communist platform says, "the Tory government has brought in a weakly regulated `free market' of monopoly gougers. Instead of a stable public health care system the Tory government creates an atmosphere of crisis because they want their corporate backers to take over the services. Instead of a social safety net that helps people break out of poverty, the Conservative government lets inflation erode welfare rates to less than what is necessary for survival.      "For years Conservatives have barked, whelped and whined about federal `interference' in Alberta energy affairs and western alienation. Yet these same right-wing market fundamentalists say nothing about how the large majority of our energy sector is owned by foreign corporations. These same right-wing finger pointers never mention that royalty rates in Alberta are far less than in Alaska or Norway. Royalty rates on oil sands plants are an incredibly low 1% until development costs are paid. Canada is now officially #2 on earth for oil reserves including the oil sands. Alberta has more oil than Iraq! Shouldn't we tax the resource companies and spread the wealth? And how about the Cheviot coalmine on the border of Jasper National Park ‑ is there no limit to resource company greed?"      Ordinary Albertans ‑ members of trade unions, peace and environmental groups, women's organizations, student unions, farm organizations, social justice groups ‑ can band together to win a people's agenda, says the Communist platform. Proposing "regime change through the ballot box," it urges votes for the two Communists, and for progressive candidates in other ridings.      The Communists are calling for a windfall profits tax on high oil and gas returns as part of progressive tax reform; well funded, publicly delivered health care, education and other services; proportional representation; co‑operative federalism - not "Republic of Alberta"; public regulation of utility rates; a 32 hour work week with no loss in take home pay; $12/hour minimum wage; free collective bargaining in the whole public sector; working closely with Ottawa to resolve the BSE crisis; defence of the Canadian Wheat Board; strict environmental protection; and a wide range of other progressive policies.      The full platform and other information can be found on the Web at http://www.communistparty-alberta.ca. (Back) (Home) Campbell Liberals lose Surrey by-election (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell staked his political fortunes heavily on the Oct. 28 by-election in Surrey-Panorama Ridge, only to lose heavily. The Premier and many of his cabinet members campaigned hard in the riding, only to see the Liberals lose badly.      Jagrup Brar won the seat for the NDP, with 6,662 votes (53.5%), defeating Liberal Mary Polak, who received just 4,160, or 33.4%. Polak, who chaired the Surrey School Board which spent about one million dollars in legal fees in an unsuccessul attempt to block children's books depicting same-sex parents, had been seen as a strong candidate.      Another candidate who failed to meet initial expectations was provincial Green Party leader Adriane Carr, whose 1,052 votes were just 8.4% of the total. This signals that the May 2005 election may be a heavily polarized battle between the NDP and the Liberals, with the Greens unlikely to improve on their 2001 gains.      B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair called the outcome a sign that voters have had enough of the government. "The Liberals pumped millions of dollars into this campaign and put a lot of credibility on the line to get their candidate elected," said Sinclair. "But the results show voters weren't fooled by Gordon Campbell's empty promises."      Rejecting any criticism from the voters, Campbell's Liberals immediately blamed "big unions" for their loss. Several major unions put money and organizers into the by-election, for a concentrated effort which could not be duplicated in a province-wide campaign.      But it was clear from the results that Surrey voters saw no reason to add another Liberal to Campbell's huge majority. Instead, they opted to elect a candidate who could strengthen the NDP's role in the Legislature as critics of the government's right-wing agenda. Brar's opportunity to do that may be limited, however, since the government ended the fall sitting of the Legislature in mid-October, weeks ahead of the scheduled shutdown. A new session is expected early in 2005, but it will probably be fairly short.      BC Communist leader George Gidora called the outcome "a well-deserved thrashing for the Liberals." But Gidora also stressed that the NDP failed to stand up consistently for working people during the 1990s. The Communist Party will run several candidates in the May 2005 election, Gidora said, noting that a higher vote for the Communists' "People Before Profits" platform will put stronger pressure on the next government, whether NDP or Liberal.      In related news, a new poll conducted by the Mustel Group for the Hospital Employees' Union shows that two-thirds of British Columbians believe the billion dollar budget surplus forecast by the Campbell Liberals should be used to restore health care and education. Another 25% backed debt reduction, while only 12% wanted the surplus to fund a tax cut.      Conducted Oct. 6 to 17, the phone poll asked 507 British Columbians was: "The provincial government is forecasting a budget surplus of approximately one billion dollars. Which of the following is your priority?      The "gender gap" in BC politics was reinforced by the poll's finding that 73% of women want services like health care and education to be restored. Since their election, the Campbell Liberals have closed hospitals and schools, raised tuition fees, cut funding to women's centres and closed long‑term care beds for seniors. They have fired more than 8,000 health care workers and imposed 15 percent wage rollbacks on tens of thousands more. (Back) (Home) Why do we need food banks (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Dave Gilbert I AM A FULL TIME graduate student at McMaster University, and I have donated one afternoon per week of my time to the food bank for the last two years. There is an important story to be told here.      First, the food bank is a charity, and I think this has to be emphasized. The Good Shepherd has thousands of volunteers who help out across its various enterprises, and they do fantastic work. The food is donated by various grocery stores and private individuals. This charity is the last defense that unemployed people have, and while the food banks may be government subsidized, they are by and large run by people who care for and want to help people in great need.      Let me supply a little background. Mike Harris reduced welfare cheques for single persons from $640 per month to $520 per month in 1995. An attempt was made this summer to increase social assistance rates, but the $100 million computer program which generates the cheques was too poorly designed to accomplish this task. The computer program is supposed to be fixed by January.      If you are a single person on welfare in Hamilton, and if you are lucky enough to have an apartment which costs no more than $420 per month, you are left with $100. Few people know how to survive on $100 a week, let alone $100 a month. If you have other regular costs, for example a telephone, you would not have enough money to feed yourself. This is where the food bank comes in.      Food banks were originally established in 1985 as a short term emergency measure, but in the past 20 years they have grown into a province‑wide institution. In our food bank, clients must wait as long as an hour before they get their orders. The system is simply overburdened. There are too few people to assist in the food distribution and not enough supplies to meet the demand. Our small, over-crowded waiting room is poorly designed and assembled in an ad hoc fashion in one corner of the warehouse. The food stocks are often disorganized since they arrive in the form of odds and ends in donation boxes. We must often sort through donation boxes as we pack the clients' orders.      At our food bank each client is allowed to visit once each month, and we only give out enough groceries for five or six days, because our donation levels are not high enough to give out more. We always have bread, but fresh vegetables and fruits are rare. A typical order for a single person might look like this: three cans of soup, one box of Kraft dinner, one can of spaghetti sauce, one package of pasta, one can of vegetables, one can of pasta, one can of tuna, one sidekick, and some sweets - usually muffins or a small cake.      The total value of this order is usually between $10 and $16. Exactly what a person gets varies from week to week depending on what we have, but the important thing to notice is that this not a recipe for good health. Fresh fruits and vegetables are essential, and any diet should include some protein and some fibre. Canned goods do last for long periods of time, making them easy for us to store, but the canning process often removes part of the nutrients.      We don't let clients choose their own grocery items, simply because the people who come to visit us are often desperate and will from time to time bicker and argue with each other over items. Clients occasionally become angry with the staff when they are refused very simple‑sounding requests. After receiving an order a client might try to trade two cans of soup for a small bottle of oil, but since we never have cooking oil in abundance we must say no. Clients sometimes feel frustrated by this kind of nonsensical response to what seems like a dollar equivalent exchange, and after their long wait they go home frustrated. Generally most of the clients understand that the food bank is a charity, and they are normally very gracious with both the volunteers and the social workers.      Our government has forced new immigrants, people who live on disability, and people who are chronically unemployed to depend for their survival on the charity offered by food banks. To everyone who thinks the unemployed are lazy or cheating the system, I invite them to spend a day with me and meet our clients with cancer, our clients with AIDS, and our clients who suffer from chronic mental illness. Even more sobering are the majority of clients who look no different than the volunteers, reminding us that genuine need and misfortune can befall anyone.      The food bank is not an option for saving a few extra dollars. It is an emergency lifesaver for people on the brink of drowning. The question of who should take responsibility and who should take blame for the situation is a difficult one. Food banks must be applauded for filling a hole in the social net left by the community at large. My question is: why is this hole there at all, and how can we fix the problem? More lifesavers isn't the answer. Steering clear of the iceberg in the first place is what is important.      Why do food banks exist? Why are they growing? Why does the Good Shepherd need three full‑time staff members and ten volunteers per day simply to distribute food? Who are the 1600 clients, including both individuals and families, who come to the Good Shepherd every month? What happens to someone's health and self esteem when they must rely on the food bank for an extended period of time? And perhaps most of all - how is it that just 20 years ago we did not need food banks, which now seem so necessary? (Back) (Home) Needed: real democracy (The following editorial is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) “Democracy” is defined by Webster's Dictionary as “a form of government in which the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by the people.' But in Canada and the United States, supreme power is retained by the wealthy minority, and exercised directly in the narrow interests of the corporations. It's true that every few years, working people have the right to cast a ballot, but only under circumstances which make it extremely difficult to achieve real change. Our power is limited by corporate control of the mass media; massive election advertising which only the wealthy can afford; the “first-past-the-post” system which limits many voters to a choice between greater and lesser evils; restrictions on the right to vote. All these factors played a part in the U.S. Presidential election debacle. Even more fundamental, democracy under capitalism places huge barriers against real change. For example, “trade treaties” bar legislation imposing on the “rights” of corporations, and the entire legal structure makes it difficult to adopt lasting protections for workers and their families. This is not to argue that “democracy” is a sham. If the right to vote was truly meaningless, the ruling class would spend less effort trying to restrict it. But to exercise this right in a way that maximizes our numerical strength, working people need new ways of organizing. We need strategies which combine massive mobilizations between elections with tactics designed to elect Communist candidates and other proven fighters for our class. Such strategies require bold, revolutionary thinking. Given the rapid destruction of our country and our planet by the forces of corporate greed, this must become an urgent priority, not a task for the distant future! (Back) (Home) A Cuban looks at US elections (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) (The following open letter on the U.S. Election has been widely circulated to friends of Cuba.) I imagine anybody of good will is depressed at present. I have gotten up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep and decided to write to all of you. Both as a Cuban and as an American who loves these countries that have both given so much to the world. A proven liar who claims to hear that God tells him to orchestrate the massacre of more than 100,000 people in order to preserve petroleum interests has manipulated the fear of many to sit another four years in the most powerful position in the world. To you, my friends, my sympathy because I am sure that the president re-elected will continue to trample on other peoples' rights and needs and will funnel the riches of our beautiful country into the production of more destruction and the generation of more hatred – all in the name of freedom, but in reality aiming to make the most fortunate richer and the poorer more destitute. All of this, instead of teaching people to read and write, instead of helping economic development for the disenfranchised, instead of diverting the huge amount of resources dedicated to the machinery of death into attacking our real enemies – poverty, disease, ignorance. My heart goes out especially to my brothers the people of the United States. My faith in them is unshakable. But these elections have only shown me that people can be manipulated on a grand scale – as history has shown time and time again with unbearably tragic examples. For us in Cuba we expect only more difficulties. The express declaration of the present administration regards our research as a “facade” for an evil regime that must be torn down. This will not only make our daily work of healing our brothers and helping our economy more difficult. It will make the lives of all Cubans including ourselves and our families more dreary. We expect more wild allegations that Cuban scientists produce instruments of death instead of those of healing. But we are not deterred and this electoral result – not at all unexpected – only will redouble our determination to develop our country – and not lonely that. We will be pledged to help in whatever way we can other nations with what we have been able to create. I am more proud than ever of the more than 20,000 Cuban doctors that toil in the poorest and most destitute parts of the world spreading an alternative message of solidarity and love. I am more proud than ever to participate in research not only for our people but for the world. And to those that do not quail at the triumph of the might, selfish and wealthy I call out to regroup – a battle has been lost but not the whole war. And this war is worth whatever sacrifice is necessary, the war so that the true history of the human race can begin. Yours in peace, Pedro A. Valdes-Sosa, MD., PhD., Neuroscience Center, Havana (Back) (Home) SFL delegates demand action on labour agenda (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) By Darrell Rankin Delegates at the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour convention voted unanimously to demand the provincial government immediately remove the 0-1-1 wage mandate imposed upon government workers. They also rallied at the Legislature to call for action on labour's agenda and on issues important to working people. “We have to hold 9the government's) feet to the fire,” said SFL President Larry Hubich. “The labour movement must act to create the space to allow social democratic governments to govern.” Hubich was re-acclaimed as president by 628 delegates representing 85,000 workers. “It's an inspiration to be with those who have dedicated themselves, not to lining their own pockets, but to bettering the lives of their fellow human beings,” said Hubich in a rousing speech at the start of the convention, which took place Oct. 27-30 in Regina. “At the end of the next half century our ideological descendants will look back on our work and say we hastened th dawn of a far better day for the working class and for humanity.” In comments after the Labour Minister's speech at the convention, delegates expressed dissatisfaction with the government. Several strongly suggested that the government should give workers a reason to vote for the NDP, and they weren't happy working hard for the NDP just as a way to block right wing parties. The government announced its 0-1-1 bargaining position before the a June 28 federal election, reducing enthus8iasm among labour activists to support NDP candidates. Saskatchewan was the only province that saw a drop in the NDP federal vote, and all NDP candidates in Saskatchewan were defeated. Delegates lined up at the mikes in large numbers to oppose a proposal to change the SFL's annual convention to one held every two years. The proposal was unanimously defeated after the mover said the resolution was introduced only to spark debate. Several progressive policy resolutions passed, including opposition to two-tier wages and support for equal marriage legislation. Guest speakers included Osgoode Hall law professor Neil Brooks, who guided delegates through a thick document on the vast shift against workers in the distribution of wealth and income in Canada in recent decades. Delegates dug deep to give money for strike support, after hearing from workers in several labour disputes. The largest is a strike in Wynyard involving 450 poultry workers at Lilydale Foods, the largest poultry processor in the country with 2,500 employees. Lilydale workers, members of RWDSU Local S-95, have been on strike for two months, after rejecting a wage offer of 3 per cent over three years. Another project receiving financial support from delegates is the nearly completed book on Saskatchewan's labour history, which promises to be an interesting read when it is published early next year. Delegates also saw the premiere of a well-produced video called “Saskatchewan Working Women – It's Not Over Yet,” about an organization that influenced the culture and demands of the labour movement well beyond Saskatchewan's borders. The video and an accompanying guide are available from the SFL for $7 plus shipping charges. (Back) (Home) More B.C. Wal-Mart employees join the union (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Wal-Mart employees at seven stores across British Columbia have applied for union representation with UFCW Canada Local 1518 (United Food and Commercial Workers Canada). The employees work at Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express departments in Surrey (Guildford Mall), Terrace, Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Quesnel, Kamloops, and Langford (Victoria). “We're looking forward to the opportunity to represent these Wal-Mart employees across B.C., and are pleased they have decided to join our union,” said Local 1518 President Brooke Sundin. “These Wal-Mart employees have expressed real interest in joining our union, and were brave enough to sign union cards despite their employer's well-documented hostility towards unions.” It is not known yet when the Labour Relations Board will conduct the mandatory vote of the Wal-Mart employees required by B.C. Law regarding joining UFCW Canada, but Sundin is optimistic that the vote will come soon. (Back) (Home) Colombia expels union leaders (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) On Oct. 30-32, Colombian authorities deported Antonio Fritz, regional secretary of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), based in Rio de Janeiro; Cameron Duncan, regional secretary of Public Services International (PSI), based in Washington D.C.; Victor Baez, general secretary of ICFTU/ORIT, based in Caracas; and Rodolfo Benitez, regional secretary of UNI-Americas, based in Panama. The four leaders had travelled to Colombia to attend the co-ordination meeting that the Global Union Federations hold every year in the Americas with ICFTU/ORIT, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and other organisations. According to the police, the union leaders needed a special visa, even though such a requirement has not been necessary for citizens of these countries. On Sept. 15, the four leaders had participated in a mission of solidarity with the Colombian labour movement, holding meetings with top officials of the Colombian government, including President Alvaro Uribe. During that meeting with Uribe, it was pointed out that the international trade union movement would continue to closely monitor developments in Colombia. The events of Oct. 30-31 are seen as the response by the Colombian government to critics of its anti-union attitude. The expelled union leaders have appealed to the international trade union movement to reject such arbitrary and discriminatory conduct against those who offer assistance of their colleagues in Colombia, who face high risks of violence and assassination in their daily struggles. (Back) (Home) COSATU deported from Zimbabwe (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) organized a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe last month, only to have its 13 members deported from the country on Oct. 26. Speaking to a news conference on Oct. 28, COSATU deputy secretary general Bheki Ntshalintshali said the mission was not in Zimbabwe long enough and did not speak to enough people to determine whether free and fair elections are possible next year. He said that if held tomorrow, “it would be a very difficult issue” on which to comment. He and his colleagues said the Zimbabwean government is not at present respecting the rule of law, human rights or Zimbabwe's international obligations. Said Ntshalintshali: “The police invasion of the offices of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the arrest of the COSATU mission and their ill treatment at the hands of the police all proved beyond doubt that the government had no respect for human rights and the freedom of trade unions to function freely within the law.” COSATU national gender coordinator Nkemeleng Mzibomvu explained how police at the airport had mistreated her and a colleague She was pulled by the hair and he was grabbed by the genitals for no apparent reason. Ntshalintshali said COSATU condemns the actions of the Zimbabwe government, “which revealed its utter contempt not only for the principles of respect for human rights and civil liberties, but for the rule of law, when it brushed aside an order of the Harare High Court interdicting them from deporting the members of the COSATU mission”. He pointed out that Zimbabwe is a signatory to several international conventions that guarantee basic human rights, including freedom of movement, assembly and speech. Ntshalintshali recommitted COSATU to campaign publicly in support of the ZCTU and the country's workers. “We will be ready, if called upon by the ZCTU, to take solidarity action in support of their struggle for the right to meet, demonstrate and organise, free of any interference from the state, in line with the International Labour Organisation and United Nations conventions. And we shall also campaign for the restoration of democracy and for free and fair elections.” Mission leader Violet Seboni, COSATU's second deputy president, said it is not for the trade federation to pressure the South African government to adopt a different strategy on the Zimbabwe issue. “We respect the government with regard to 'quiet diplomacy'. COSATU can tell workers what to do, not government,” she said. (Back) (Home) Rollbacks for Korean workers (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) The South Korean cabinet approved bills on “irregular” (casual and part-time) workers and the country's retirement pension program. The bills will be submitted to the National Assembly, despite strong opposition from labour organizations and even some employers. Trade unions argue that the legislation will spread irregular employment. It will take effect at companies with less than 300 employees starting in January 2008, a year later than the original 2007 starting date. Labour organizations argue that the bill does not include the principle of  "equal pay for work of equal value," employment stability and ensuring of basic labor rights of workers involved in atypical employment. (Back) (Home) Alice Walker appeals to support the Cuban Five (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) Excerpts from an introduction by U.S. Author Alice Walker to the book The Sweet Abyss, recently published by Havana's Jose Marti Publishing House. The story of the Cuban Five is one of courage, great sacrifice, and love. It is a story for the ages; especially for those of our people who have suffered under the implacable oppression of white American supremacy; a rule of colour and power the rest of the world appears destined to experience. In September of 1998 five Cuban men: Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, Ramon Labanino Salazar, Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, Fernando Gonzalez Llort, and Rene Gonzalez, were arrested in the state of Florida. Charged with espionage and other “crimes” against the United States, they were convicted in Miami, a place notorious for its hatred of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, and all things relevant to the social, cultural and spiritual aspirations of the Cuban people. The five men were treated atrociously, as Cubans routinely have been and darker skinned Cubans even more so, in prisons in the United States. Although judges were unable to define a specific “crime' the five had done, beyond attempting to discover and alert their country of planned terrorist attacks – which Cuba has suffered for decades from Miami-based Cubans backed by the United States Government – they were treated sadistically. Denied the right to bail, separated from their families, and kept for seventeen months in solitary confinement in an attempt to break their bodies and their spirits. They were given ridiculously long sentences: one of them, Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, was given two life sentences, plus. And there are other horrors that the men in these pages refrain from describing out of compassion for their families and the people of Cuba who suffer intensely from their plight. The treatment they have received is shameful. The silence around this treatment even more so. Where are the Congress members, the Senators and Representatives, we should be able to rely on in cases such as this? People with the courage to insist that prisoners not be subjected to torture. That their children not be denied access to them, that their wives and mothers not be driven to despair by the many failed attempts they make to see their wrongly, in this case, incarcerated kin. Unfortunately, many of our leaders seem to view Florida's Cuban conservatives, including the assassins and terrorists among them, as “People Who Vote”. It appears they will endure any degree of inhumanity against any number of babies, children, old grand-aunts and nursing mothers, grandfathers and soccer players, if they can secure the collective vote from this terrifying electorate. Fortunately, my introduction to this slim volume is not about the painful failings of our leaders. Who never seem to realize how we, who vote for them, also suffer, when they do nothing; as good people, (like the Cuban Five) whose behaviour we can completely understand, are crucified for trying to prevent destruction of human life. What floated up to consciousness for me as I read these letters back and forth between incarcerated fathers, sons, husbands; and wives, children, and mothers attempting desperately to reconnect, was a realization of how old this story really is. When I read these letters and poems and viewed the drawings I was connected to those of our ancestors who first experienced the wrenching devastation of the destruction of their families. I felt in my own body the long centuries of slavery, of the systematic – and to our ancestors, insane – focus of the slave owners on tearing families apart. How courageously so many of our ancestors must have defended, or tried to defend, this precious unit, the family. How many centuries it must have taken to almost conquer familial devotion. For some of our ancestors the voiding of familial feeling was achieved. They became zombies who learned to help their masters subdue and destroy others who were enslaved. Their descendants are those today who sell, within as without their families of birth, crack, cocaine and other addictive drugs. They are also the allies of those in power, aiding and abetting the squashing of all rebellious, “disobedient” life. There are fathers in the hundreds of thousands in jail in the United States, and a huge number of mothers, as well. What is happening to their children, who frequently follow their parents into a lifetime of encounters with police enforcement, humiliation, loss of contact with society, incarceration? How defenceless these children are, and how robbed of the love and guidance that should be every child's birthright.... It was Ricardo Alarcon, head of the National Assembly of People's Power (the Cuban Parliament), who talked to me about the letters and drawings that had been made into a book and asked if I would consider introducing it. Although I support the Cuban revolution, because I also believe in free education, health care, 100 per cent literacy, and other goals and accomplishments it has achieved, I am by nature wary of leaders. Even modest, excellent ones, as Alarcon has the reputation of being. Too many disappointments. And so I was not, at the moment of being asked, overjoyed. Though I was deeply impressed by the intensity of everyone's appreciation of the five. Los Cinco are heroes to their people of the kind usually encountered in myth. However, as I started reading, I began to see how important this book is for our time. The time of so many parents in prison. It is a primer that can be put to use immediately for the teaching of one of the most important lessons of all: how to be a father, how to be a husband, how to be a lover, how to parent, when something as large and compassionless as the United States Government stands between you and everything you love.... This is a book whose beauty sinks in slowly, as the reader gradually comprehends the seriousness of what is being attempted. Nothing less than being fully present to the growth of one's children while being not only absent but locked up, far away, in small prison cells. In a place where there is ice and snow... Like our own beloved Mumia Abu-Jamal, likewise innocent, likewise framed, also a hero by any standard – locked down on death row for so many pitiless years – these men are demonstrating something extraordinary that must not be missed by the rest of us: That continuing to love with depth and tenderness honours revolution at its highest success. (October 2004) (Back) (Home) UN condemns embargo on Cuba (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) For the 13th consecutive year, the United Nations General Assembly has voted against the U.S. economic, financial and commercial embargo against Cuba, imposed by Washington after the defeat of a CIA-backed assault at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. The Oct. 28 vote was 179 in favour of the resolution opposing the embargo, with just the United States, Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands voting against. There was one abstention. Members of the European Union, along with such U.S. Allies as Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, voted for the resolution. They object to the “extra-territorial” effects of U.S. Legislation that punishes non-U.S. firms for commercial dealings with Cuba. Oliver Garza, a U.S. State Department adviser and former ambassador to Nicaragua, claimed that Cuba was not a victim of the embargo, and that the Cuban government “has shown no interest whatsosever in implementing any economic reform that would lead to democratic change or a free market.” But Cuba's Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, whose speech was the only one loudly applauded, told the assembly, “If the U.S. Government is so sure that Cuba uses the blockade as a pretext, why does it not lift the blockade and leave us without a pretext? The U.S. Government has unleashed a world-wide genocidal economic war against Cuba. It is the government of a large and mighty empire, but it is afraid of the example of a small rebellious island.” (Back) (Home) Put the Communist Party on your holiday gift list! (The following article is from the November 16-30/2004 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.) A donation to the Communist Party is the best gift you can give for Peace this holiday season. As the US pounds Fallujah, the Communist Party is campaigning across Canada to stop Star Wars, to stop the US war in Iraq, and to win an independent Canadian foreign policy of peace and disarmament. You can help spread this message far and wide with a tax creditable donation, that will generate a tax rebate of 75% on the first $400 donated, a further 50% on the next $350, and another 33.3% on the next $550 donated. In other words: * Your donation of $400 will cost you just $100, because Revenue Canada will grant you a political tax credit of $300 when you file your taxes next spring. * Your donation of $750 will cost you $2765, with a political tax credit of $475. * Your donation of $100 will cost $441.65, with a political tax credit of $558.35. Your donation can help extend the Communist Party's struggles for peace, jobs, democracy and sovereignty long after you've been reimbursed by Revenue Canada. Tax credits ensure that your donation will stretch to three times its face value! Help us reach young workers and students, women and trade unionists, new Canadians and Aboriginal peoples, with the message of Peace and Disarmament! Another world is possible – and necessary! Any donation you can make, from $50 (costing you just $12.50) to $5,000 (costing you $3,108), will strengthen the Communist Party's current campaigns, and our goal of Peace, Progress and Socialism. Thank you for your generous and vital support! (For more information, call the Communist Party's central office at 416-469-2446) (Back) (Home)

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