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(The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) By Kimball Cariou AS THE casualties and devastation mount in Afghanistan, more Canadians are asking tough questions. Dozens of organizations representing millions of people have endorsed the October 28 Day of Action to demand the immediate withdrawal of Canadian troops. This October will mark the 5th anniversary of the occupation of Afghanistan. In the wake of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Prime Minister Chretien quickly agreed to commit troops to the U.S.-led coalition which drove the Taliban government out of Kabul. At the time, Chretien's move was widely understood as a shrewd political tactic to avoid Canadian entanglement in the deeply unpopular build-up towards a US invasion of Iraq. Since then, other factors have become better known, such as the interest of Canadian-based oil companies in plans to build pipelines in the region. For example, since his retirement, Chretien has become a top advisor to energy corporations, including PetroKazakhstan Inc., a Calgary-based firm with major interests in Central Asia. The Liberal government initially promoted the position that Canadian troops were in Afghanistan primarily to build schools and clinics, not to fight a war. But as the US-led coalition forces killed and jailed growing numbers of Afghan civilians, opposition to the occupation grew stronger. The Canadian mission became more military in its approach, and critics warned that any positive impact of development and aid groups was endangered. In 2005, Canada was assigned the leading military role in a campaign to "pacify" the Kandahar area in southern Afghanistan. The chief of defense staff, Gen. Rick Hillier, welcomed this role with the statement that Canadian troops were in Afghanistan to "kill scumbags." His view fit in well with new PM Stephen Harper, who has used the military mission as a photo opportunity to bolster his hopes of winning a majority in the next federal election. Over the past year, the 2,500-strong Canadian contingent has become increasingly aggressive, and the military has launched an unprecedented public relations campaign to gain support and new recruits. When one soldier was killed by an axe-wielding villager, the media portrayed the case as a tragic murder of a heroic Canadian by a crazed Taliban supporter. What went unreported was that Canadian troops had been engaged in a sweep of the area, smashing down doors and brutally interrogating "suspects." In recent months, Canadian troops have shot and killed a number of Afghan civilians, ranging from elders to young boys. At the same time, Canadian casualties have risen quickly, both in battles against opposition forces and from U.S. "friendly fire." Not surprisingly, the bad news has strengthened public opposition to the mission. As the Canadian Peace Alliance says, the people of Afghanistan "are still suffering from the ravages of war. Reconstruction is at a standstill and the security situation is deteriorating rapidly. This increasing violence is the result of the heavy-handed approach of Canada and its allies in supporting a corrupt and violent US imposed government which cares nothing for the needs of the Afghan people. As with Iraq, the occupation forces have lost the fight for hearts and minds and will never be seen as anything but violent supporters an imposed regime." The Harper government and some Liberal leadership contenders are playing what they consider their "trump card" in the struggle for public opinion - the claim that Canadian troops are in Afghanistan to liberate women. This argument is particularly cynical coming from Tories who oppose the reproductive rights of Canadian women, but it has had some impact. But the reality is that little progress towards equality has been gained since 2001. The more independent British press has reported, for example, that officials in the Afghan province of Nangahar have banned women from performing on television and radio, and that some Afghan farmers prevented from growing poppies have been forced to hand over their daughters to drug traffickers to settle their debts. Amnesty International stated in 2005 that "Violence against women and girls in Afghanistan is pervasive; few women are exempt from the reality or threat of violence. Afghan women and girls live with the risk of: abduction and rape by armed individuals; forced marriage; being traded for settling disputes and debts; and face daily discrimination from all segments of society as well as by state officials. Strict societal codes, invoked in the name of tradition and religion, are used as justification for denying women the ability to enjoy their fundamental rights, and have led to the imprisonment of some women, and even to killings. Should they protest by running away, the authorities may imprison them." One guest at the recent federal NDP convention was Malalai Joya, a 27-year-old Afghan woman MP and a critic of the warlords. After several assassination attempts, Joya travels with a large contingent of security guards, and is always seen in public wearing a burqa. Under growing public pressures, leaders of the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois have recently taken a stronger position against the Canadian military role. This is a welcome development, since only the Communist Party and some other small parties (and now the Greens) had been calling for withdrawal. When Parliament reconvenes this month, there will be stronger opposition to the mission, and particularly to demands that Canada send more troops into the deepening quagmire. But the critical struggle will be in the streets as the country heads toward yet another election campaign. As the CPA says, "On October 28th we have an unprecedented opportunity to change Canadian foreign policy and to end Stephen Harper's support for this brutal war. There will be thousands of people marching on the day from coast to coast. Each new group that signs on to the call brings more and more people into the movement for peace and justice." The Oct. 28 actions have been endorsed by the Canadian Labour Congress, Canadian Islamic Congress, Le Collectif Échec a la guerre, Council of Canadians, Canadian Arab Federation, and unions ranging from the Steelworkers to CUPE, CUPE, and NUPGE. Organizations can call the CPA at 416-588-5555 to add their names to the list of endorsers. The Call to Action, details of local events, and other information on Oct. 28 is available at the CPA website, http://www.acp-cpa.ca. (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) By Kimball Cariou THE ONTARIO HEALTH COALITION (OHC) has reacted with disappointment to the election of Dr. Brian Day as president elect for the Canadian Medical Association. "The choice of the delegates is an unfortunate one for the majority of patients in Canada," noted Natalie Mehra, director of the OHC. "Brian Day has spent years advocating for the dismantling of the public health system through privatization and the de-listing of health services. These are not innovative ideas. They are old ones relentlessly pushed by the small but well-heeled group who have personal business interests in promoting privatization. We are deeply disappointed. "The pretense that two tier advocates are concerned about wait lists is stunningly disingenuous. In fact, the two-tier proposal would quickly turn a doctor and health professional shortage situation into a crisis as physicians and health professionals would be siphoned out of the public health system to serve queue-jumpers in the private system. Two-tiering encourages wealthy people to purchase unnecessary procedures while those in real need languish on longer wait lists in the public system. Two tiering means that regional disparities in access to care intensify as more health professionals move into private businesses in larger cities where they can make money. "While the greediest physician-turned-businesspeople make more money, patients suffer," Mehra added. "No one with an accurate understanding of the demand and supply of health resources and the well-being of the majority of Canadians in mind could advocate for destroying the gains and efficiency of the public health system through this type of privatization." "In response to Dr. Day's election, we need to reach out to physicians with the world-wide evidence that for-profit health care costs more for less care. We will use this opportunity to remind people that those who are pushing privatization almost inevitably are those who stand to profit directly from the higher costs of private health businesses. With redoubled urgency, we will communicate a clear message that the creation of a parallel system for those who buy private health insurance or pay out-of-pocket for procedures are actually advocating for dismantling public health care - not improving it. We need to remind physicians and Canadians alike that the values that underlie our public health system are sound and critically important for our communities and our economy. "Dr. Day's election will no doubt embolden those that want to profit from privatization. For advocates of public health care, it will be a catalyst for us to re-dedicate ourselves to the fight to protect the economic and social gains made when Canadians adopted our public health system," she concluded. Meanwhile, in Day's home province of British Columbia, a new queue-jumping scandal has erupted. It turns out that fears of private health corporations using public facilities have been completely justified. In early September, provincial NDP health critic Adrian Dix charged that patients were paying to get to the head of the line for MRI scans at St. Paul's Hospital in downtown Vancouver. The ministry of health denied the accusation, and Liberal Health Minister George Abbott said that "if it has been happening, it has been happening contrary to the rules." Then on Sept. 12, the Vancouver Sun reported details of the situation. It turns out that as many as 100 such cases have taken place at St. Paul's, involving patients paying "two or three private health providers" some $1300 to get an MRI scan at the hospital. One patient told the media that he had waited nine months for a scan before turning to a private clinic which profits from its access to the MRI at St. Paul's. Abbott claims that the practice "appears" to have been confined to St. Paul's, but given the Liberal track record of denial and cover-ups in the area of privatization, many are skeptical. The minister himself said that "we are not enjoying great cooperation" from the private operators. Is this indeed an isolated case? Not likely, judging from the private sector profiteers themselves. Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer reports that one such provider, Timely Medical Alternatives, has rated B.C. the friendliest jurisdiction in the country in terms of "acceptance of private alternatives." The company's website reports that "B.C. residents have more options for private medical care than other provinces. Everything from primary medical care, to diagnostic procedures, to surgical procedures is available privately within B.C." The company gives the B.C. Ministry of Health a rating of six out of ten for its acceptance of private alternatives. That rating is the highest in Canada, beating out Ralph Klein's Alberta (3), and all other provinces which rate a mere 1 out of 10. "Not surprisingly," writes Palmer, "Timely and other leading private operators in the health care field are making this province their home." (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) Special to PV FACING OVER $84 million in budget cuts to Toronto public schools as the fall term begins, the staff, students, parents, and trustees are engaged in a major political struggle with the Ontario Liberal government. Nearly every school board in Ontario is wrestling with similar deficits. The crisis may get worse, because the province's flawed funding formula will almost double next year's deficit. Despite a first quarter financial windfall in revenues, the province apparently remains uncommitted to fixing the formula. Many Ontarians had hoped that things would change after the defeat of the former Tory government, which imposed huge funding shortfalls and attacked unions and trustees. Instead, the fight has continued under Dalton McGuinty's Liberals. The Toronto and District School Board (TDSB) - the largest in Canada - had been given a deadline of August 31 to balance its budget. But as the massive scope of the cutbacks facing the board was realized, anger began to mount over the summer. At the last moment, the province appointed special advisory teams to meet with the TDSB and the city's Catholic school board during September. The process includes consultations with parents, which public education supporters are using to make it clear that the funding formula is the problem. The issue has also turned into a hot potato in the Parkdale-High Park byelection, set for Sept. 14, one day after this issue of PV went to press. A close race was predicted as the McGuinty Liberals sent eleven cabinet ministers into the fray just days before the vote. The campaign has also been marred by dirty tricks against NDP candidate Rev. Cheri DiNovo. Liberal candidate Sylvia Watson's team recently circulated a piece of material excerpted from a sermon by DiNovo, which was deliberately misleading. "It is bad enough that Sylvia Watson's team selectively edited candidate Cheri DiNovo's sermon to give a wrong impression of what was said, but then Premier Dalton McGuinty shrugged off this blatant lie with the comment about this being `a tough election' for them," said John Weatherup, President of CUPE Local 4400, Toronto education workers. "It reminds me of Al Franken's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. This is the Premier who lied about adding taxes (unless it is about protecting his corporate friends), fixing the funding formula, and a host of other election promises." Katie McGovern, also an officer with Local 4400, asked "How many voters know that the Liberals continue to hold individual trustees liable for any deficit that a School Board might incur, unlike any other politician from any other level of government? This government, which tries so hard to look like it is respectful, has no problem with bullying lower levels of government when it needs to. No wonder trustees all over the province are cutting schools, programs and staff to make their budgets work! If that's not bullying, I don't know what is". Speaking to People's Voice, Toronto trustee Liz Hill said that the Liberals claim to act differently than the Tories, but are still pressuring school boards. Hill and other trustees are meeting with the special advisory team to present their concerns, but she hopes that public pressure will continue to expose the flaws in the funding model, and to force the Liberals to change the disastrous formula now rather than at some point in the future. (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) PV Vancouver Bureau RECENT MAINSTREAM media reports have claimed that workers in Canada and the U.S. are reaping the benefits of an economic "boom." But statistics indicate that the real winners are the corporate fat cats. Profits are at record levels, yet wages are falling as a share of the overall economy, and inequality is growing wider. * Over the past fifteen years, productivity in Canada has advanced by close to 2% per year, while the real wages of the bottom half of the workforce have barely increased. Even unionized workers with some bargaining power have received only very modest real wage increases. * Corporate pre-tax profits now take a record-high share of Canada's national income - 14.6% of GDP compared to a twenty-five year average of 10%. Pre-tax corporate profits in the second quarter of 2006 were $196.1 billion, compared to $183.7 billion in the same quarter of 2005. * The corporate tax-rate was cut from 28% in 2000, to 21% in 2006. * Between 2001 and 2005, annual pre-tax corporate profits rose by 53%, while business investment in buildings, machinery and equipment rose by just 15%. * Statistics Canada says that an extra year of education for the average worker can boost real income per person by more than 7%. * Almost half of younger adults in Canada's workforce have not completed any form of post-secondary qualification. Just one in ten of these workers in the private sector will participate in formal employer-sponsored training. One in three adults have very limited literacy and numeracy skills. * Canada's 2001 Census showed that incomes for the richest 10% of the population grew by 14% over the previous decade, while the bottom 10% saw an increase of less than 1%. Incomes among the 20% of Canadians just below the median bracket - low-income working Canadians - actually fell. * The 10% of families with the highest incomes in 2000 received $18 for every $1 of income for families with the lowest 10% of incomes. These ratios are even more dramatic in the big cities where inequalities are greatest: in Toronto that ratio is $27 to $1, in Vancouver it is $23.50 to $1. * In the United States, the median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation. * Wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of the U.S. gross domestic product since the government began recording the data in 1947, while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the 1960s. * In the first quarter of 2006, wages and salaries represented 45 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, down from almost 50 percent in the first quarter of 2001 and a record 53.6 percent in the first quarter of 1970. Each percentage point equals about $132 billion. * U.S. worker productivity rose 16.6 percent from 2000 to 2005, while total compensation for the median worker rose 7.2 percent. Benefits accounted for most of the increase. * In Europe and Japan, the profit share of economic output is also at or near record levels. (Sources: Statistics Canada, Canadian Labour Congress, New York Times) (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) People's Voice Editorial, Sept. 16-30, 2006 IN THE WAKE of the Second World War, labour movements led by Communists and other left-wingers were a powerful sector of the organized working class of North America. Struggles carried out by these unions won important gains such as shorter working hours and much more. The bosses and their politicians launched the Cold War largely to divide and weaken the ability of labour to fight for such reforms and to press for deeper fundamental change. The main weapon used in this effort was anti-Communism, such as the slanderous claim that communism and Hitler fascism were somehow similar. Since millions of Communists had just sacrificed their lives for democracy in the war against fascism, this lie was only partially successful, but it did result in the notorious clauses in some union constitutions banning membership in both Communist and Nazi organizations. Today this slander is being revived by President Bush and his ultra-right clique. During his Sept. 5 speech, Bush spoke of "missed opportunities" to eliminate Lenin and Hitler, for which the world paid "a terrible price." In the case of Hitler, it was the Communists who led the heroic struggle first to block and then to defeat fascism, even as the pillars of U.S. and European capitalism worked hand in hand with the barbaric Nazi regime for the sake of corporate profits. And Lenin? He led a revolution which brought wide social equality, eradicated illiteracy, industrialized Russia, and gave powerful support to peoples resisting colonial rule. These are the facts of history. The liar in the White House is also the beleaguered and desperate head of a state which launches illegal wars of aggression and tortures thousands of prisoners. Class-conscious workers rejected the propaganda of the bosses during the Cold War, and we should condemn the same lies today. (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) People's Voice Editorial, Sept. 16-30, 2006 IN A RECENT documentary on the high-elevation train linking China and Tibet, an engineer spoke of the new technology needed to build rail lines on permafrost. What will happen, he was asked, if global warming melts the ground on which the rails rest? In such a case, he replied, China would face much more serious problems, since its coastal cities would be underwater. Just when it seems that humanity is grasping the full scope of the dangers to our planet, scientists have found a new aspect of global warming. Greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide once stuck in Siberian permafrost soil are bubbling into the atmosphere at a rate five time faster than previously anticipated, according to a study in the journal Nature. These gases help trap heat, which in turn thaws more permafrost, and so on. At the 1992 Earth Summit, Cuban President Fidel Castro warned that "For the first time in history, humanity is capable of altering the equilibrium of the principal vital systems and breaking the natural laws that have governed evolution on the planet." He pointed to the dangers of capitalist "eagerness to obtain the greatest profit margin of natural resources and industrial capacities" and "lifestyles that encourage irrational consumption and encourage waste and destruction of nonrenewable resources." Humanity faces a critical choice. We can gamble that profit-hungry corporations will solve looming environmental crises. But these are the very forces which let the genie out of the bottle. Or we can rein in imperialism before it wreaks total devastation upon the environment and the people of our planet. Time is running out - possible quicker than we had feared. (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) By Stephen Von Sychowski, Vancouver ON AUGUST 20, the fourteenth contingent of the Canada-Cuba Ernesto Ché Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade returned home to Canada after three weeks of volunteer work, learning, adventure and solidarity in socialist Cuba. This contingent represented the continuation of a program that has existed since 1993, with the aim of building and strengthening Canada-Cuba solidarity and friendship. The brigade's participants (brigadistas) came from many age groups and many ethnic, cultural and national backgrounds. But we were united by our solidarity with the Cuban people and the Cuban revolution, and by the desire to expand our knowledge and understanding of the country, its socialist system and its history of resistance to imperialism. The brigadistas arrived in three groups between July 28 and August 1, along with several suitcases full of donations from Not Just Tourists which would later be distributed to places where they could be best used throughout the country. The donations consisted mainly of medical supplies, which are often very difficult and expensive for Cuba to attain due to the cruel blockade imposed by United States imperialism. For the first section of the stay, we were accommodated at the School of Arts in Bayamo, Granma Province. It was here that the brigadistas engaged in our volunteer work, mostly agricultural tasks such as the harvesting, planting and weeding of crops. We worked alongside Cuban farmers and students from the school, and on one day even received a visit from a group of veterans from the revolution who fought alongside Che Guevara. It was a real experience in learning about how Cubans work and live. When not hard at work, we could be found participating in a number of other learning experiences, such as lectures on topics like the Cuban Economy, Democracy and Human Rights, Co-operative Farming or the Cuban Healthcare System. The group also met with several of the organizations which make up Cuban society such as the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), the Union of Young Communists (UJC), the Confederation of Trade Unions (CTC) and a Committee for Defense of the Revolution (CDR). Brigadistas took part in all sorts of cultural activities from dance lessons to musical concerts, as well as breathtaking performances organized by the students of the school. Perhaps one of the most exciting activities of this year's brigade was a hike through the Sierra Maestra. We followed the path of the rebel army during the revolution up to their base in the mountains, where Fidel and his comrades lived, planned, and directed their operations. A day trip to Santa Clara provided brigadistas with an exciting and emotional visit to the Ernesto Ché Guevara Memorial. This site is the final resting place of the revolutionary hero who is the namesake of the Canadian Brigade - the same revolutionary hero who once said that volunteer work is the builder of revolutionary consciousness. The memorial is also the final resting place of several other heroes of the Cuban revolution. One monument read "Volunteer Work is the Builder of Revolutionary Consciousness," a suitable quote from Che for our brigade. Some of the other notable events included a meeting with family members of the Cuban 5, a visit to the Granma landing site, a visit to the Jose Marti memorial at the spot where he was killed, and a party at a local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution. There was also plenty of time at the beaches, free time in cities and so forth. Due to the increased interest in the brigade, the next contingents will be in February and then August instead of just once a year. At this time in history it is ever more important to continue and to expand our solidarity work with socialist Cuba, which is continuously under threat and attack by U.S. imperialism, and to support their struggles to free the Cuban 5. The brigade provides the best opportunity to show that solidarity, to experience Cuba from all angles, to experience Cuban life, work and leisure. It gives participants a chance to see the amazing advances made by the Cuban revolution, as well as the effects of the illegal and inhumane blockade imposed by U.S. imperialism. If you want to see and learn about Cuba, and show your solidarity, this is the trip for you! If you would like to find out more, visit the Canada-Cuba Ernesto Ché Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade's official web site at www.canadiannetworkoncuba.ca/brigade/ for more information, or contact Brigade Co-Ordinator Nino Pagliccia at 604-831-9821. (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) By Ken Georgetti IN RECENT MONTHS, Canadians have been the recipients of a fierce selling-job on our military's role in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has claimed our mission is both honourable and just, and I have no doubt this echoes the sentiments of our troops. Prime Minister Harper has said Canada won't "cut and run" in Afghanistan, and suggested other "weak-kneed" parliamentarians fall in line. Hordes of pundits have agreed, and suggested dissenters are damaging our troops' morale and Canada's role in the "War on Terrorism." Canadians have seen this movie before. It went something like: "you're either with us, or you're with the terrorists." Currently, that view of foreign policy earns about 36% support of the US electorate. Surely Canadians deserve a better explanation about why we've committed to our largest military deployment in 50 years. Simply put, Prime Minister, whose interests are we defending in Afghanistan? I am told it is a democratically-elected government engaged in a war with "brutal insurgents." Many human rights groups have begged to differ, however, and it is time Canadians got a fuller appreciation of this story. Human Rights Watch authored a chilling report called Blood Stained Hands: Past Atrocities in Kabul and Afghanistan's Legacy of Impunity. The Senalis Council in Britain followed with its own study, Canada in Kandahar: No Peace to Keep. Carol Off produced a thought-provoking documentary on CBC's The National in March 2006 entitled The Warlords Take Office. All of these studies reveal disturbing information most Afghanis know well, and when the lives of Canadian soldiers are on the line, it's best not to mince words. At the moment, Canada is sending its troops to support a parliament that is already half-dominated by drug-trafficking warlords, many of whom have committed atrocities against their own people during Afghanistan's civil war in the early 1990s. These warlords - like Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is now Afghanistan's Deputy Minister of Defence - killed thousands of innocent Afghanis, and now drape themselves in the language of democracy. Making matters worse, billions of dollars in development funds pledged by nations worldwide have gone missing, while palatial homes and posh developments are under construction in Kabul, many of which are connected to warlords in parliament. The US military strategy adopted by NATO hasn't brought peace, reduced poverty, stopped heroin production, or helped reconstruct Afghanistan. Over 1,600 Afghanis have died in the last four months alone. The heroin trade is fielding a bumper crop. Afghanis are mired in terrible poverty, while brothels have sprung up in abundance to service foreign contractors in Kabul. In these conditions, it is hardly surprising that an Afghan resistance movement has emerged. These forces, which include Taliban elements, refer to Hamid Karzai as "the mayor of Kabul", or "assistant to the American ambassador." They are increasingly supported by Afghanis grown weary from NATO and Karzai's broken promises. That's right Prime Minister. At the moment, our military isn't fighting the forces of corruption, violence and the heroin trade. We're supporting them, and this is never told to the thousands of Canadian soldiers sent to the battlegrounds of Kandahar. But don't take my word for it. Talk to Malalai Joya, the Afghan parliamentarian who has faced death threats for daring to spotlight the abuses perpetrated daily by warlords in the Karzai regime. Prime Minister, I fully support our troops, that's why I don't want them engaged in a fight that only benefits a government chock full of despots and heroin-runners. I urge you again to heed the words of Malalai Joya, who had this to say about the prospects for peace in her country: "The situation in Afghanistan and conditions for women will not change positively until the warlords have been disarmed and both the pro-US and anti-US terrorists are removed from the political scene in Afghanistan. And it is the responsibility of the Afghan people to accomplish this goal." (Ken Georgetti is president of the Canadian Labour Congress.) (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) By Federico Fuentes A GROWING CONSPIRACY to destabilise the government of Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, appears to be reaching a climax. On September 1 right-wing opposition deputies withdrew from the country's constituent assembly, returning to their traditional trenches in the east, in order to move from a war of words to one of actions. The crisis came after Morales's Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), which has 135 of the 255 assembly's delegates, pushed for the assembly to make decisions on the basis of a simple majority. The original law of convocation for the assembly, the result of a pact between MAS and the opposition, spoke of a two-thirds majority, but MAS argues that in order that a minority not be given complete veto rights, only the final draft should be decided by a special majority. If after three attempts a two-thirds majority cannot be reached, the draft will go directly to a referendum. Shouting "dictators, dictators", opposition delegates walked out after MAS delegates voted to accept a simple majority for decisions other than adopting the draft and to declare the constituent assembly originario, extending its power beyond rewriting the constitution to actually being the space for the "refoundation" of Bolivia. Three days later, an emergency meeting was convened involving representatives from the pro-business civic committees of four eastern states, along with opposition prefects (governors), mayors, parliamentarians and assembly delegates from PODEMOS and the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR). The meeting formed the National Alliance and announced a 24-hour strike on September 8 in the states of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija. None of the delegates from these parties have returned to the assembly, although the delegates from National Unity (UN), a centre-right force led by millionaire businessperson Samuel Doria Medina, returned to the assembly, arguing that its collapse could lead to civil war. Explaining the strike's aims, a Santa Cruz PODEMOS delegate was quoted in the September 5 La Razon as saying that they want to demonstrate their "deep rejection of a dictatorship and the coup that the governing party wants to impose" by pushing for decisions to be taken by simple majority. The National Alliance, following PODEMOS leader Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga's lead, called on the United Nations and the Organization of American States to send observers to monitor the constituent assembly. MAS and National Unity rejected the call as an attack on the sovereignty of the assembly and Bolivia. Behind the cries for democracy, at stake here for the representatives of Bolivia's oligarchies is their hold on power. Carlos Anton noted in an August 29 Argenpress report, "the confrontation within the constituent assembly has pushed aside the out-of-date Bolivia that was ruled by the oligarchies and remained on its knees in front of imperialism; at the same time the other, ancestral, and new Bolivia is beginning to rise up, one which could be revolutionary if it dares to go to the finish line". Since mid-2004, following the referendum on the question of gas, Bolivia's elites have been stoking the flames of "autonomy" for the eastern states, to pressure the national government and mobilise their support base against Bolivia's popular movements. Santa Cruz is less indigenous and more wealthy than the Andean west. Racism and fears of "indigenous revenge" have been whipped up to justify calls for autonomy, which would give the state governments greater control over natural resources - including 80% of Bolivia's gas. Bolivia's social polarisation has occurred along class, ethnic and regional lines: the strong indigenous, workers' and campesino movements dominate in the west and centre, while the elite maintain a social base amongst the white middle classes of the east. This was reflected in the 2005 elections. The bulk of Morales's 54% vote was from the west - particularly areas like the militant city of El Alto, where it was over 80%, and the coca-growing regions of the Chapare - while the opposition won six of the nine prefect positions, predominantly in the east and south. During the constituent assembly election, a referendum was held on whether the assembly should deal with regional autonomy. The "no" vote won with 55%, but in the four eastern states the "yes" vote got a majority. However, this time MAS came first in six of the nine departments, including Santa Cruz. In a September 7 Mercosur Press Agency article, Victor Ego Ducrot reported that a plan to destabilise the government through an "autonomy" push was put in place following the May 1 nationalisation of Bolivia's gas. "The general coordination is in the hands of shady functionaries in the US embassies in Bolivia and Argentina. The visible face is the leadership of the politico-business organization civic committee of Santa Cruz, lead by German Antelo. The petroleum companies, Petrobras and Repsol, are supplying a large part of the funds being utilised by these coup plotters." Nationalisation was a central plank of Morales's election campaign and a key demand that led Bolivia's powerful social movements to topple one government after another and bring Morales to power. The nationalisation has over 80% approval among Bolivians. The nationalisation was quickly followed by Morales's push for an "agrarian revolution" in order to redistribute land to those indigenous peoples without any. At the same time, Bolivia has deepened its relationship with Venezuela and Cuba. All these moves have seen reactions by the opposition, which has called for armed "self defence groups" to be formed to defend property, campaigned against the presence of Cuban doctors and "intervention" by Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, and attempted to revoke the nationalisation decree. The talk of dividing the country has grown in the corporate media, with Camba Nation, representing the more reactionary elements of the opposition, rearing its head. Camba Nation talks of Santa Cruz as "a nation without a state" and has demanded independence within the framework of a "free association with Bolivia". Daniel Castro, spokesperson for the civic committee, said, "if the national government violates the constitution and a scenario is created where they stand above the law, then we could decide to separate". Responding to the situation, Bolivia's social movements, from east to west, have rejected the "strike". The Chaco region, which is predominately indigenous and located in the east, right on top of the two biggest gas fields, declared it would not be part of the strike. Leaders from the MAS-aligned campesino federation CSUTCB signalled that they would not be responsible for the eventual response from their members against the opposition. General secretary of the Federation of Campesinos of Los Yungas (COFECAY) Fabio Perez went further, declaring that "history has demonstrated to us that sometimes arms are needed". At a September 4 emergency meeting COFECAY decided to defend the constituent assembly by mobilising to Sucre. In response, Alex Contreras, spokesperson for the presidential palace, said: "This type of threat no matter were it comes from, be it from our comrade coca growers and militants of MAS, has no veracity and, even less so, the support of the government." He called for there to be no mobilisations from either side in order to avoid major conflicts. Lino Villca, a MAS senator from La Paz, stated at a press conference with COFECAY that he supported the Los Yungas cocaleros. Vice-president Alvaro Garcia Linera declared, "What is necessary in this definitive battle is mobilisations. We came to government through mobilisation and we will govern with mobilisations." The September 6 edition of El Diario quoted Morales calling for "the people to defend democracy and fundamentally the unity, national territorial integrity. We are calling on the Armed Forces to defend the sovereignty and the national territory ... we hope that the people can respond to this level." (From Green Left Weekly, Sept. 13, 2006) (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) Book review by Steve Gilbert The White Man's Burden: Why the West's efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good, by William Easterly, The Penguin Press, New York, 2006, ISBN 1-59420-037-8, 436 pages. FOR OVER 16 years, William Easterly was a senior research economist at the World Bank. In recent years he has written for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and other periodicals. With his extensive experience in Africa and Latin America, Easterly concludes that foreign aid is a racket designed to steal from the poor and give to the rich. In White Man's Burden, Easterly is harshly critical of the process by which foreign aid is administered. He focuses on the "twin tragedies of global poverty" - a large part of earth's population lives in poverty and disease, yet after half a century of aid from the West, conditions in most poor countries have not improved. Easterly begins by citing a speech given by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in January 2005. Brown called for a doubling of foreign aid and cited figures to show how little money it takes to combat certain widespread diseases. For instance, medicine capable of curing half of all deaths from malaria costs only twelve cents per dose. A mosquito net which could prevent a child from getting malaria costs four dollars. At a cost of just three dollars per mother over the next ten years, the deaths of five million children could be prevented. An aid program which would enable children to go to elementary school would cost little. But none of these seemingly easy and desirable goals has been realized. Why not? How long does it take? What happened to the money? These are the questions which Easterly, with only partial success, attempts to answer. Foreign aid began with President Harry Truman's Point Four Program in January 1949. Truman said: "We must embark on a bold new program for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas. More than half the people in the world are living in conditions approaching misery... For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge and the skill to relieve the suffering of these people." Easterly adds: "Soon was born the development expert, the heir to the missionary and the colonial officer." Truman-era economists estimated that the task of saving the poor half of the world would be relatively easy and inexpensive: three to four billion dollars per year. Even as late as 2005 in his influential book The End of Poverty, economist Jeffrey Sachs wrote: "Success in ending the poverty trap will be much easier than it appears." And yet, half a century after Truman's initial foreign aid announcement, the West has spent 2.3 trillion dollars with little or no tangible results. Very little of that money has trickled down to the poverty-stricken individuals who need it most. Where, then, did it go? To begin with, it takes money to finance the operation of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the dozen or so other agencies created to administer foreign aid. These top-heavy, inefficient bureaucracies are staffed by highly paid Ivy League economists who stick to their desks and seldom see the impoverished countries whose economic problems they are "solving." Easterly argues that the poorest countries, which are most in need of aid, are often poorly governed (although it could be more truthfully stated that the imperialist states which dominate the globe are not better governed, simply far more powerful). He asks: "Could aid make government worse? High aid revenues benefit political insiders, often corrupt insiders, who will vigorously oppose democracy that would lead to more equal distribution of aid." For example, in 2002 The World Bank and the IMF awarded two rounds of debt relief to Burkina Faso. Some of this aid went to support rebel warlords who committed atrocities in Angola, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. In this case, aid money intended to stimulate economic development was used to finance internecine wars. Foreign aid is often simply a tool to buy the political allegiance of poor countries. An egregious example is Pakistan, which, in 2002, was the world's largest recipient of foreign aid: over two billion U.S. dollars. Easterly writes, "The Americans tactfully overlooked unpleasant things such as suppression of democracy, intelligence agencies linked to terrorists, and nuclear proliferation." (Once again, of course, the truth is that the United States itself is the main source of state terrorism, nuclear threats and assaults on democracy.) Another way to make money disappear is with a pencil. While auditing financial records of the central bank of Gambia on a trip for the World Bank, Easterly found that all of the bank's records were written in pencil. They had apparently been erased and rewritten several times. Some of the figures were illegible, and there were mistakes in addition. An entry called "other items, net" was arbitrarily inserted to compensate for errors. Foreign aid is given not as cash, but as a loan. If the recipient cannot repay the loan, the IMF will often make another loan which enables the country to repay the interest on the first loan. In 2001, heavily indebted loan recipients accounted for about half of all IMF lending. Easterly writes: "Far from helping the poor countries achieve a reasonable debt load, the IMF and the World Bank were themselves contributing to the excessive debt of the heavily indebted poor countries." It's free money for IMF and the World Bank, because the poor countries keep on paying interest indefinitely, and never touch the principal. One influential study, published in 1996 by London School of Economics economist Peter Boone, found that foreign aid spurred neither investment nor growth. Easterly reproduces one of Boone's graphs showing that in Africa, from 1970 to 1999, per capita income decreased as aid increased. Easterly's book is not an easy read. His style is murky and burdened with technical terms. However, the reader who persists will be rewarded. While Easterly does not present a Marxist analysis of imperialist economic relations as the source of global poverty, he makes his critique of foreign aid forcefully and supports it with convincing evidence. (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.)
OKANAGAN-KOOTENAY REGION, BC
World Peace Forum report back meetings: GRAND FORKS - 6 pm, Sept.23, Selkirk College, 486-72nd Ave.; NELSON - 1-4 pm, Oct. 7, Nelson United Church, 602 Silica; CASTLEGAR - 6 pm, Oct. 15, Brilliant Cultural Centre; KELOWNA - 1 pm, Oct. 22, Mission Creek Country Inn, 3652 Spiers Rd. VANCOUVER, BC In Honour of President Fidel Castro's Health - panel forum and documentary film, 1:30 pm, Sunday, Sept. 17, Room 1900. SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings. Organized by Amigos de Cuba. Peña Latino-americana, and Vancouver Bolivarian Society. Admission $5 by donation. Left Film Night - 7 pm, Sunday, Sept. 24 at the Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive, "Voices of a People's History of the United States." Free admission, donations welcome, call 604-255-2041 for details. StopWar.ca meetings - to plan Oct. 28 rally to demand troops out of Afghanistan, 5:30 pm, Sept. 27 & Oct. 12, Maritime Labour Centre, 111 Victoria Drive. See http://www.stopwar.ca for info. See stopwar.ca for info. Iran: the situation today and the threat of war - forum with Mohammed Omidvar, member of Political Bureau, Tudeh Party of Iran, Oct. 5, 7:30 pm, Dogwood Centre, 706 Clark Drive. For info call 604-254-9836.
DUNCAN, BC
Haiti to Afghanistan - forum on Canada's foreign policy, with journalists Jon Elmer and Anthony Fenton, Oct. 1, 2 pm, Mercury Theatre, 331 Brae Road. Call Community Alliance for Public Education, 709-0527, CALGARY, AB
Calgary Workers' Resource Centre Open House - Tue., Oct. 3, 10 am to 8 pm, 2002 -1st Ave. NW. Call 264-8100 for further information. WINNIPEG MB
Take Back the Night march - Thur., Sept. 21, 7 pm, from North End Women's Centre (394 Selkirk Ave.). Info: Canadian Federation of Students 783-0787.
Free the Cuban Five Rally - at U.S. consulate, Portage & Notre Dame, Sat., Sept. 23, 1 pm. Info Manitoba-Cuba Solidarity Committee 783-9390. Profit is not the cure - Council of Canadians update on public health care, Tue., Sept. 26, 7:30 pm with speaker Robert Chernomas, at 222 Furby St. The Middle East Cauldron - panel on war, resistance and Canadian foreign policy, 7 pm, Fri., Sept. 29, Winnipeg Press Club, Ramada Marlborough Hotel, 331 Smith St. Contact Canada-Palestine Support Network-Winnipeg, 942-1588 ext. 1.
Campaign for Public Education Summit - Sept. 24, 10 am-2 pm, North York Civic Centre, 5100 Yonge St. Meet CPE-endorsed school trustee candidates. For information, visit http://www.campaignforpubliceducation.ca. Celebrate the Communist Party's 85th anniversary - social evening, Sat., Sept. 30, cocktails 6:30, dinner 7:30, at 300 Bloor St. W. Guest speakers, four-course meal with vegetarian option, cultural program, displays, cash bar, live music & dancing. For info & tickets, call CPC Ontario at 416-469-2446. Iran, the situation today and threat of war - PV forum with Mohammad Omidvar, member of the Political Bureau, Tudeh Party of Iran, Monday, Oct. 2, 7:30 pm, Room 2-233 OISE, 252 Bloor St. West. For info, contact inter@cpc-pcc.ca.
St. CATHERINES, ON
CCFA-Niagara AGM - Sept. 21, 7 pm, at CAW Local 199 Hall, 124 Bunting Road. Special guest Laureano Cardoso, Cuban Consul General. For info call 905-732-2657. REDS ON THE WEB http://www.communist-party.ca (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) At 6:30 pm on August 25, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez announced that he will wind up the National Postal Administration (ADPOSTAL), a public service institution created over a century ago. At the same time, the police arrived at ADPOSTAL facilities and forced the workers to leave. All ADPOSTAL offices throughout the country were sealed off, and all 935 employees were left jobless. Until 1994, the company handled 80% of the correspondence market but at present, as a consequence of privatization and competition in public services, it only has 20%. Only half of Colombia's 800 postal service companies seem to be operating legally. ADPOSTAL used to be the exclusive correspondence operator for state companies and institutions, but as time went by, contracts were awarded to private operators under different excuses. The Colombian government justified its decision by claiming that Adpostal has pension liabilities totalling 700 billion pesos and that since 2001 it has posted a negative net worth. The same argument had been used to privatize Telecom, Caja Agraria, ECOPETROL and other state-run institutions that today are privately owned. ADPOSTAL's workload will be taken over by Servicios Postales Nacionales (SPN), an Adpostal subsidiary which, curiously enough, was created last year with the purpose of doing complementary activities to those of the mother company. The Sintrapostal union, affiliated to Union Network International (UNI), issued a statement saying that "It is clear that in Colombia, just like in other countries in the region, government policies are aimed at transferring the basic responsibilities of the State to private individuals through various mechanisms, such as restructuring, company name changes, mergers, winding-up and divestiture, which in the long run are nothing but camouflaged privatizations used to justify the layoff of workers while destroying trade unions and collective bargaining agreements." CUT-Colombia, the Colombian unified trade union centre, has publicly stated that "Only by uniting to build a strong front of people affected by neoliberal policies will Colombians be able to prevent the approval of the FTA and reaffirm sovereignty and democracy." (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) A study in a British medical journal The Lancet backs up allegations by independent journalists and solidarity groups that thousands of Haitians have been killed since the US-Canada-France coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004. Film footage of killings and human rights violations by the Haitian police and U.N. peacekeepers have been widely screened in North America, but the corporate media has said little about the situation. The latest study has been carried by some media, such as an article by Jeff Heinrich in the Montreal Gazette. The study estimates that as many as 8,000 people have been killed and 35,000 women and girls have been raped during the regime of Gerard Latortue, the country's U.S.-appointed prime minister until last June. Haiti Action Montreal, an advocacy group, has condemned the violence and Canada's role in perpetuating the situation. "Canada helped overthrow the elected government (of Mr. Aristide), provided significant aid to the installed regime (of Mr. Latortue) and led the UN police contingent, yet refuses to take any responsibility for the vast human rights abuses in Haiti over the past two years," the group said in a news release. Two researchers at Wayne State University's School of Social Work in Detroit, Athena Kolbe and Royce Hutson, interviewed 5,720 people in 1,270 households across Haiti during December 2005. Of the 1,260 households, 23 had lost family members in killings since February 2004, and 94 had experienced sexual assault - in some cases, multiple sexual assault. Extrapolated to the entire country, the survey findings suggest 8,000 Haitians were killed in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, almost half of them killed by government forces or "outside political actors" - mostly armed gangs opposed to Aristide and his Lavalas party. As well, the study estimated 35,000 women and girls were sexually assaulted, more than half of them younger than 18 years old, mostly by criminals, but also by the Haitian National Police (14 per cent) and armed anti-Lavalas groups (11 per cent). Many of the victims were unpaid child domestic servants from rural areas who work and live in the city. Kidnappings and extrajudicial detentions, physical assaults, death threats, physical threats, and threats of sexual violence were also common, the study found. Fourteen per cent of the people interviewed accused foreign soldiers and police, including UN personnel, of all three types of threats. The UN threats were direct and verbal; simply pointing a weapon in someone's direction in the course of duty was not considered a threat. Of the UN soldiers blamed, half were identified as being from Brazil or Jordan; the study did not indicate whether Canadian personnel were involved. "Our results indicate that crime and systematic abuse of human rights were common in Port-au-Prince," concluded the researchers. "Although criminals were the most identified perpetrators of violations, political actors and UN soldiers were also frequently identified. These findings suggest the need for a systematic response from the newly elected Haitian government, the UN, and social service organizations to address the legal, medical, psychological, and economic consequences of widespread human rights abuses and crime." (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) For the first time, an official committee has found that asbestos is taking its toll on the ship-breakers in Alang, in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The committee recommends sweeping reforms in working conditions and detailed guidelines for dismantling ships and handling the waste. Alang is a 10-km ship-breaking yard in the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat. At its peak in the late 1990s, the yard had 35,000 workers, mainly migrants from Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Today there is a decline in ship-breaking activity, largely because of heightened environmental scrutiny, and employment is down to about 5,000 workers, but the yard provides indirect employment to about 100,000 people. Set up by India's Supreme Court last February, the 12-member Committee of Technical Experts says that ship-breaking should be conducted in an "environmentally sound" manner, and presents a detailed plan for upgrading the shipyard operations. The 200-page report says that 16% of the workforce that handles asbestos could be suffering from an early stage of asbestosis, an irreversible lung condition that can lead to lung cancer. In ships brought for breaking, free asbestos is usually present as thermal insulation of boilers and floor tiles. When this asbestos is removed, particles become air-borne and attack the lungs. In another finding, the fatal accident rate in Alang is almost six times that in the mining industry, considered to be the most unsafe. (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) The Sept. 5 announcement by the federal government of the creation of an advisory committee on child care "has been done before, and will probably generate the same recommendations that we have seen for the past twenty years or more," said CUPE's national President Paul Moist. "We cannot fathom why this so-called new government would appoint a panel that at first and second glance is so top-heavy with business interests," added Moist. "There are so many names appointed to this advisory committee that represent the for-profit business side of child care that it makes one wonder whether the priority is about business, or taking care of our growing children." Diane Finley, the federal Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, appears not to have consulted with child care advocacy groups, unions or parents about the makeup of the advisory committee prior to the announcement. "At the very least," Moist said, "the Minister might have spoken first to the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada (CCAAC), perhaps the most representative group of child care advocates in the country today. Its exclusion sends a very clear - and not too welcome - signal that this government is less interested in listening to parents than to the business people who see profit in the child care industry." (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2006 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 173 West Ave. North, Hamilton, ON, L8L 5C7.) Five Cuban men are in U.S. prison after being wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami in 2001. They are Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and René Gonzalez. The Five were falsely accused of committing espionage conspiracy against the United States, and other related charges. But the Five were involved in monitoring the actions of Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent terrorist attacks on their country of Cuba. For more than 40 years, anti-Cuba terrorist organizations based in Miami have engaged in countless terrorist activities against Cuba, and against anyone who advocates a normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. More than 3,000 Cubans have died as a result of these terrorists' attacks. Terrorist groups like Comandos F4 and Brothers to the Rescue operate with complete impunity from within the United States to attack Cuba - with the knowledge and support of the FBI and CIA. Therefore, Cuba made the careful and necessary decision to send the five Cubans to Miami to monitor the terrorists. The Cuban Five infiltrated the terrorist organizations to inform Cuba of imminent attacks, and thus protect the lives of Cubans and other people. But instead of arresting the terrorists, the FBI arrested the Cuban Five anti-terrorists on September 12, 1998. The Five were illegally held in solitary confinement for 17 months in Miami jail. During the seven-month trial based in Miami, a virtual witchhunt atmosphere existed. Defense attorneys' motions for a change of venue were denied five times by the judge, although it was obvious that a fair trial was impossible in that city. In a blow to justice, the Cuban Five were convicted June 8, 2001 and sentenced to four life terms and 75 years in December, 2001. On August 9, 2005, after seven years of unjust imprisonment of the Cuban Five, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned their convictions and ordered a new trial outside of Miami. However, in an unexpected reversal on Oct. 31, the 11th Circuit Court agreed to hear the U.S. prosecutors' appeal. Therefore the opinion overturning the Cuban Five's convictions has been set aside while a new appeal is heard.
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