Contents
Contents of Printable Articles
1. Make your vote count - support MMP!
2. USW 1005 exposes "Big Score"
3. Liberals and Tories fail to fight for jobs & sovereignty
4. Stop the extradition of John Graham!
5. Vancouver civic strike: NPA facing stronger pressure
6. Carleton support staff on picket line
7. Labour Day solidarity with hotel workers
8. A slap at Indigenous rights - Editorial
9. The quagmire deepens - Editorial
10. Tory positions reminiscent of Scopes Trial
11. The story of Germany's anti-fascist fighters
12. Montreal lawyer reports on "Free the Five" hearing
13. No to anti-Communist repression in Europe and internationally!
14. Figueroa blasts Montebello cover-up
15. What's Left
16. PV Crossword (previous)
17. Podcast of People's Voice Articles
18. Clarté (en français)
19. The Spark! (Theoretical and Discussion Bulletin of the Communist Party of Canada)
20. Introducing Marxism: A Communist Party Study Course
21. Rebel Youth

Make your vote count - support MMP!

    (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Election Message from the Communist Party (Ontario)

The October 10 Ontario election includes an historic referendum on democratic electoral reform. Called Mixed Member Proportional, it will, if passed, be the first vital step to ensure that every vote counts in future elections, and that the composition of future Legislatures more closely reflects the popular vote, instead of the deep pockets of Big Business.

     Legislating MMP would ensure that the Big Business parties would see fewer of their members elected, while progressive parties, women and minorities would secure more representation and more seats on balance. Coalition governments, including left and left-centre coalitions, are also possible and likely, once the 3% threshold is withdrawn. While the full value of MMP will only be realized when the 3% threshold is eliminated, and when more list seats are added to the mix, the importance of changing to MMP - a much more democratic electoral system - can't be underestimated. Without it, the Big Business parties will continue to dominate politics in Ontario, and working people's votes and opinions will continue to be discounted.

     The Communist Party was the first in Canada to call for a system of proportional representation more than 50 years ago. For 50 years, Liberal and Tory governments have opposed it, and continue to oppose it today. That's why they voted together to require a super-majority of 60% for MMP to pass. They don't want to be seen to be opposing a very popular voting reform. If electors turn out in the large numbers required for MMP to pass, the Communist Party will continue to work with Fair Vote Canada and others who feel strongly about a democratic electoral system in Ontario, to demand legislation be enacted to put the new voting system into effect without any delay.

     A breakthrough in Ontario will put PR on the federal agenda, opening the door to democratic electoral reform across Canada.

This election, we stand at a crossroads. We can move forward towards political, social and economic reforms, desperately needed after more than a decade of right-wing governments. Or we can go back to the reactionary prescriptions of the Tories and the broken Liberal remedies that will erode democracy, privatize health care and education, shrivel social programs, destroy jobs and futures, and make civil, democratic and labour rights disappear.

     The best outcome of this election would be a minority government, where the public could hold the government's feet to the fire, forcing it to enact essential legislation benefiting working people. The last minority government in Ontario - a coalition government of NDP and Liberal - ended 50 years of Tory government, and forced the delivery of some very progressive legislation.

     To move in a new direction, Ontario needs a new balance of forces inside the Legislature. We need a strong progressive block of MPPs, including Communists, left-wing Greens and NDPers, and others, who can work together to break up the neo-liberal grip on the Legislature, and fight to implement a People's Agenda - policies aimed to meet people's needs, not corporate greed.

     The passage of MMP will open the door to real progress in Ontario, creating the opportunity for progressive coalitions such as currently exist outside the legislature, to form inside the legislature. This is the way to secure real and progressive change in the Legislature in Ontario.

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USW 1005 exposes "Big Score"

  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Labour Day Message to workers of Hamilton and all of Canada from Rolf Gerstenberger, President of Local 1005 USW, September 3, 2007

Local 1005 on this Labour Day 2007 alerts the workers of Hamilton that Stelco steelworkers are well aware of the dangers to us and Canadian sovereignty with the sell out of Stelco to U.S. Steel (USX). We are making full preparations to defend the well-being and economic security of our active and retired members in the face of the takeover by this giant U.S. monopoly. Just as before, steelworkers will rely on their unity and determination to defend their dignity and economic security. We are under no illusions that USX is going to guarantee jobs, pensions or anything of value in the community that comes in conflict with its primary mission to make profit for its U.S. owners.

     We would like to retell some facts of the Stelco bankruptcy fraud that has now ended up in this sell out of the last remaining major Canadian steel company. Local 1005 is not going to let these facts disappear from our collective memory and will be pursuing a just accounting of this case in any way we can, which includes compensation for all shareholders who lost money and for all suppliers in the Hamilton area who were not paid in full when Brookfield/Tricap seized control during the Stelco bankruptcy. Our sense of justice as Canadian workers will not allow a small gang of rich people to walk away from this sell out fattened by a billion dollars while so many others lost money, not to speak of the terrible blow to Canadian sovereignty, which upsets us all.

     The Stelco Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) Plan of Arrangement March 31, 2006 sealed the loss of millions of dollars in shares and money owed to suppliers and set the stage for the sell out to USX. That Plan of Arrangement handed over Stelco's material and human assets to Brookfield/Tricap and others. It was completely unnecessary and a fraud concocted by those in control of the CCAA process and aided and abetted by the Ontario government and the Ontario Superior Court. To grease the wheels of the Plan of Arrangement the Ontario government gave the conspirators a $150 million loan at 1 per cent interest rate, with $100 million to be forgiven if the deficiency in Stelco's pensions was fully paid in 10 years. Those in the Ontario Legislature and Parliament did not explain and could not properly say why the provincial government did not simply buy up all the outstanding shares for about the same amount as their loan, assume the outstanding debt, which is now being fully paid off, and turn Stelco into a Crown corporation. Instead the financial speculators from Brookfield/Tricap, Appaloosa and Sunrise were handed over 70 per cent ownership in the "new" Stelco at $5.50 a share, with the entire share offering amounting to around $140 million. After barely seventeen months that $140 million has magically ballooned to a payoff of $1.1 billion or $38.50 a share.

     In our view the CCAA Plan of Arrangement facilitated by the Ontario government and Superior Court and the provincial loan were simply to allow these financial speculators to make a big score at the expense of "old" shareholders, suppliers and Canada's sovereignty. Who valued Stelco at $5.50 a share under CCAA? Apparently the Stelco Board of Directors. Who gave them the right to do so and then watch them trade the shares for $16 per share as soon as they hit the floor of the TSX and now explode to $38.50, when Stelco was supposedly bankrupt and the old shares were worthless? Who gave them the right to give the U.S. CEO Rodney Mott over 2 million shares at a cost of $5.50 per share, which are now worth almost $70 million? Apparently the same Board of Directors controlled by those with vested interests in the outcome. And no one in government said boo. If it smells and looks rotten, it most probably is rotten.

     It did not have to happen that way. In a media release dated November 2, 2005 Local 1005 proposed that "various governments could lend Stelco enough capital to pay off the secured and unsecured creditors, current shareholders, the Brascan Group (Brookfield/Tricap), the insolvency in the pension plans, upgrading of Lake Erie and Hilton Works and construction of the co generation plants. The same interest rates and fee structure proposed in the Brascan plan could be applied to the government loan with one proviso: all interest and fees paid to the government should be invested in social programs, acting as new social funding." Local 1005 estimated that about "$1 billion would be necessary. This would include an amount that could function in replacement of the proposed $600 million asset based loan."

     When Local 1005 made its proposal public, the local media labelled and dismissed it as "ridiculous" and refused to have serious discussion. Why did they do so? We believe the mass media wanted to stifle any discussion that could prevent the financial speculators from making their big score, which is exactly what happened. Not only have the speculators made their big score in the sell out but they have made further millions through fat fees and interest payments that have gone into their pockets rather than to spending on social programmes as proposed by Local 1005, and they are now to have the principal of all loans fully repaid. We also note that the local mass media have led the cheerleading for the sell out to USX to the extent that once again no serious public discussion has been allowed.

     The gross profiteering and injustice to our city and people during the Stelco CCAA fraud, the Plan of Arrangement and big score cannot be allowed to pass without a just reckoning. Local 1005 is investigating the possibility of mounting a challenge to this billion dollar payoff to the speculators and have it returned to the people who lost money, especially those Hamiltonians who bought Stelco shares in the nineties upon the insistence of the company that it was broke, and to those suppliers who have been left with unpaid Stelco bills. We call upon everyone who has a grievance in this affair to contact Local 1005 at our address below.

     With regard to the new U.S. ownership group, how could the perspective of steelworkers be any different than before? We are acutely aware of the pressure on us from various political parties and individuals who have suggested cautious optimism in spite of the sellout and want steelworkers to adopt a "wait and see" position with regard to the company's intentions.

     There is no need to examine the fine print before commenting on the implications of the sell out.

     Just look at Stelco after the Plan of Arrangement. We heard the same fine words now spouted by USX from Stelco's current CEO Rodney Mott who expects to walk away from Hamilton with almost $70 million in his pocket after his less than two-year stint. Mott's pledges of great plans and proposals collapsed in less than a year when suddenly he announced the closing of the hot strip mill, the closing of the pickle line and the closing of our shops. He then reduced the work force by retirements or layoffs. He also threatened to close the coke ovens, shut down the galvanize lines and even reduce Hamilton Steel to a slab producer with only Z-line steel as a finished product.

     We could also repeat how Stelco under bankruptcy had record- breaking profits yet continued the CCAA fraud plotting the big score. So whatever USX says now, one year from now it could be a completely different story with all kinds of fine reasons that stem from "global competition" or some other difficulty. Besides, everyone knows how difficult it has been to have any influence, control or say so over Stelco when the head office was right here on Wilcox Street in Hamilton. What control will steelworkers or any other worker in Hamilton have when the headquarters is in Pittsburgh? And very importantly, all the claims by U.S. owners on Stelco wealth we create here in Hamilton will flow to the U.S. and to who knows where after that. How will this wealth from Stelco steel production be put to use to serve the Canadian people? Also, USX is not an unknown quantity. They have a long and sometimes violent history with regard to U.S. steelworkers. They were the first billion-dollar corporation way back at the beginning of the 20th Century. This anti-working class history of the last 100 years is matched by our own history here in Hamilton especially since 1946 in defense of the dignity of labour where we have clearly learned that our security lies in our fight, not fine print. Local 1005 will face the current developments on the basis of the same working class perspective of preparing to defend all active and retired steelworkers and the community. On this Labour Day 2007, we pledge to our fellow workers in Hamilton and across Canada that USW Local 1005 will fulfill its duty in defending the rights of all.

     On this Labour Day we send our greetings to all workers across the country who are in one way or another facing a situation similar to our own. Let us together all pledge to Uphold the Dignity of Labour as never before!

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Liberals and Tories fail to fight for jobs & sovereignty

  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

     "The sale of the last Canadian owned steel plant to US Steel should be blocked by the federal and provincial governments in the interests of Canada and Canadian workers", the Ontario Communist Party said on Sept. 7.

     "If McGuinty and Tory had made half the fuss over the ownership of Stelco that other Premiers have made over ownership of provincial natural resources, we'd still have a Canadian owned steel industry in Ontario.

     "The Canadian auto industry is 100% foreign owned, and the record over 40 years shows that foreign control of this industry, widely recognized as the engine of the provincial and the national economy, has been disastrous for Canadian workers and for Canada. In case the Liberals and Tories haven't noticed, Canadian sovereignty matters; manufacturing matters; working people matter. "They have nothing to say because the federal and provincial governments are in collusion on free trade, and are busy midwives in the delivery of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the latest evolution in the continental free trade deals. The essence of these deals is to give free rein to the transnational corporations to redesign the continental economy so that Ontario hands over its natural and energy resources and loses its industrial and manufacturing sector, and its nation building capacity and sovereignty. We're watching this happen now."

     "The Communist Party is fighting to stop the SPP deal, and abrogate NAFTA and the Canada-US FTA, and so should the next Legislature; although these are international agreements, the province can and should lead the fight in the absence of political will in Ottawa.

     "Ontario should have moved to block the Stelco sale, as well as the sale of Algoma and Dofasco, also sold to foreign owners this year. In the public interest, they should have sought an injunction to stop the sale. Failing that, they should have taken it over, running it as a crown corporation, or as a joint venture with majority public ownership and control.

     "The lay-offs in the auto industry, including 1200 in Oshawa slated to come into effect in the third week of December, should be blocked with plant closure legislation backed with big penalties.

     "These plants are productive and profitable. There's only one reason to move, and that's to increase already obscene corporate profits. That may be justification for the Big Three - but it's not justifiable to the people of this province who depend on those jobs and on those corporate taxes to pay the province's bills. And it's not justification for stripping the Ontario economy of its engine - or its parts.

     "All the foreign automakers selling cars in Canada must build them in Canada and export them as well - or else Ontario should initiate plans to build a Canadian car. This could include re-tooling existing plants, slated for closure or significant layoffs. It is time the provincial legislature put up a fight for Canadian manufacturing and jobs."

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Stop the extradition of John Graham!

  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

     The Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Canada and the Aboriginal Peoples' Commission of the CPC join with many other organizations across North America in opposing the impending extradition of John Graham to South Dakota, and in demanding that his appeal against the extradition be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

     John Graham, an Aboriginal man from Yukon, was a member of the American Indian Movement during the 1970s when AIM was resisting deadly attacks by the FBI and goon squads controlled by corrupt Pine Ridge Reservation tribal officials. Over the past thirty years, he has been involved in community organizing against uranium mining and other forms of corporate exploitation of the planet. Several years ago, he was accused by the FBI and U.S. prosecutors of the murder of AIM activist Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, born in Nova Scotia, whose body was discovered in South Dakota in 1976.

     Dozens of Native American defenders of Aboriginal rights were murdered at Pine Ridge in the 1970s, the period of the FBI's infamous covert war against voices of dissent such as the Black Panthers, AIM, the anti-war movements, the Communist Party USA and other socialist groups. For decades, questions have been raised about the FBI's role in the murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. The Bureau is known to have spread disinformation that certain AIM members were informants, with the goal of inciting suspicions and splits within AIM; it is the view of many that Anna Mae was the victim of this police tactic known as "snitch-jacketing."

     There has never been any effort by the FBI and the U.S. legal system to bring the perpetrators of this reign of terror to justice, no doubt because the guilty parties are connected with the forces of state repression. The FBI's interest in the case of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash is an attempt to deflect attention from the persistent allegations of their own culpability in the murder. The FBI also aims to make an example of John Graham, in hopes of dividing and weakening the growing Aboriginal peoples movements fighting for their rights which are springing up across North America.

     In our view, these are the unjust aims behind the charges against John Graham, who was arrested in Vancouver in December 2003. Since then, Graham and his supporters have courageously resisted the extradition demand by the U.S. state. Unfortunately, this campaign has been complicated enormously by Parliament's 1999 Extradition Act, which virtually removes the sovereign power of Canada to refuse such requests by the United States. In February 2005, BC Supreme Court justice Bennett ruled that Graham should be extradited to stand trial, even though she was sharply critical of the weaknesses of the case, which is based on hearsay rather than any substantial evidence. Then in June 2007, a three-member panel of the BC Supreme Court rejected an appeal of the Bennett ruling, despite the efforts of John Graham's lawyers, who completely shredded the "evidence" presented by U.S. prosecutors. In the view of British Columbia judges, there is seemingly no leeway to refuse an extradition demand from the United States, even when crucial "witnesses" have died, or have completely recanted statements made to the police under coercion.

     Our hearts go out to all those deeply wounded by this tragedy - to the family of John Graham, who has been incarcerated since June 26 after years of house arrest, and to the daughters, family and friends of Anna Mae Aquash, who desire justice. But sending John Graham to stand trial in the United States will not bring such justice. It is clear that there are no solid grounds for the U.S. state's accusations against John Graham, and no reason to believe that he would receive a fair trial in South Dakota. The cases of AIM leader Leonard Peltier, jailed for over thirty years on trumped-up charges in the 1975 deaths of two FBI agents, and of Graham's co-accused Arlo Looking Cloud, who was convicted in 2004 of Aquash's murder after a shoddy three day trial marked by revelations of police payoffs for testimony and violations of Cloud's fundamental legal rights, are stark reminders that justice is not a feature of the U.S. legal system, which is deeply marked by racism and corruption.

     This case also reveals the trampling of the sovereignty of Canada and the First Nations by U.S. imperialism, which consistently violates the sovereignty of countries across the world in its pursuit of global hegemony. By relying on hearsay and other forms of "evidence" which do not meet the legal standards necessary to bring a person to trial in Canadian courts, this case would set a precedent for any Canadian to be extradited despite the lack of evidence of guilt. This is much more than another appalling example of the centuries of racist injustice against Aboriginal peoples; it reveals that the current Extradition Act is being used to override Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is part of the process of "deep integration" with the United States, which is leading to the elimination of Canadian sovereignty.

     For all these reasons, we express our solidarity with John Graham and his family, and condemn the violation of his rights by the governments of the United States and the Canada.

     Thirty years ago, Leonard Peltier was extradited to the United States from Canada, a decision for which then-Solicitor General Warren Allmand later apologized. We must not allow another such miscarriage of justice to happen today. But time is running short; the extradition could take place any day, unless the Supreme Court grants leave to appeal. We urge all Canadians concerned with social justice and democracy to write letters opposing John Graham's extradition to the Supreme Court of Canada, to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, and to all members of Parliament.

     - Central Executive Committee and Aboriginal Peoples' Commission, Communist Party of Canada, Sept. 7, 2007

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Vancouver civic strike: NPA facing stronger pressure

  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Kimball Cariou

     Nearly two months after Vancouver's civic employees hit the bricks in July, the city management may finally be willing to enter into serious bargaining. As this issue went to press on Sept. 10, talks were scheduled to begin between the city and the three striking locals: CUPE 1004 (outside workers), CUPE 15 (inside workers), and CUPE 391 (library workers).

     Similar contracts have been settled for weeks in almost every other municipality in the Lower Mainland region, but until now, Vancouver's right-wing NPA mayor and councillors have dragged their heels, relying on public relations gimmicks and buck-passing to delay a settlement.

     But as Labour Day came and went, the attempts by Mayor Sam Sullivan to shrug off the strike as virtually a non-issue were wearing thin. Recent surveys indicate that Sullivan's personal popularity is taking a huge hit, just a year before the next civic election. And while the corporate media has done little to explain the key issues behind the strikes, awareness is gradually growing that civic workers have good reasons to stay strong and united on the picket lines.

     One example is the issue of "whistle-blower protection," which is a key item for CUPE. There have been increasing revelations of employees disciplined or fired for challenging corruption and mismanagement at higher levels, forcing the city brass to acknowledge the problem. But their solution is to rewrite policy guidelines rather than to include whistle-blower protection in the collective bargaining agreements. Since other local municipalities have begun writing protections into contracts, Vancouver's bureaucrats and politicians are widely perceived to be protecting their own behinds at the expense of taxpayers and employees.

     Then there's the issue of job security for civic employees, many of whom remain in precarious situations for years or even decades, hired on as temporary, part-time or contract workers, often without benefits or protections. The contradiction between the city's mean-spirited penny-pinching and its claims of "world class" status are glaringly obvious.

     For library workers, on strike for the first time since their union was formed 77 years ago, the matter of pay equity is crucial. The largely female library staff, most of whom are skilled professionals, still get lower pay rates than other categories of civic workers which are mainly male. Their struggle for equity is finally winning wider public attention and support.

     The recent militancy of the library workers may have been sparked inadvertently last spring by management, which scrapped the library's unique bindery operation over strong public objections. The city claimed the cut was a necessary "cost-saving measure" but was not able to back up its assertion. Seeing the move as an attack on their union, the library workers became more determined than ever to fight for their rights, and their picket lines and website have become powerful and creative tools for mobilizing public support.

     Some of that support was evident on Sept. 8, when the library workers organized a benefit concert for their "hardship fund" at the Maritime Labour Centre. The hall was jammed with hundreds of Local 391 members and supporters, and the mood was cautiously optimistic at news that negotiations might soon be back on track.

     A week earlier, nearly 2,000 union members rallied at City Hall to back their local leaderships, in response to a clumsy attempt by management to bypass negotiations with two "offers" mailed by courier to the unions.

     Looking at the strike from another angle, the city's claims of poverty are in sharp contrast to its real financial situation. City spokesperson Jerry Dobrovolny, for example, has claimed that the unions "need to reduce their expectations to be more in line with the fiscal realities of Vancouver taxpayers."

     But to quote the 2007 Vancouver Budget, "2007 assessment values have broken all previous records... Not only is growth in the assessment base a good indicator of the City's economic health, it also brings in new property taxes to the City, which reduces the tax burden on existing taxpayers."

     Building permit values were up 552% in November 2006 over a year earlier. Total city revenues increased 5.5% in 2006, and net taxation revenue increased 5.2%. Actual revenues turned out to be $24 million higher than budgeted for 2006. Between 2005 and 2006, total operating revenue increased $47.3 million while operating expenditures increased only $32.6 million. The 2007 Budget forecast total revenues to increase 4.3%, thanks to a whopping 8% rise in residential property taxes to allow a freeze on business tax rates.   According to information posted on the CUPE BC website, "Vancouver's economy and finances have never been healthier. City revenues are up, the operating budget is in surplus, business tax rates have been frozen, costs for contracting are up 47%, administration costs are up, Vancouver managers are very highly paid, the portion of property taxes paid to Vancouver is higher than in municipalities that have already settled with their civic workers this year and City of Vancouver has huge financial reserves.

     "The `fiscal reality' is that the City of Vancouver is in as good or better a financial position than Richmond, Surrey, Burnaby, Delta, District of North Vancouver or White Rock to put an end to the strikes now by negotiating fair collective agreements with Vancouver civic workers."

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Carleton support staff on picket line

  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Ontario Bureau

As Ottawa Centre Communist candidate Stuart Ryan's provincial election campaign kicked off in the first week of September, he was walking the picket line in solidarity with 750 administrative, clerical, technical and professional employees. Represented by CUPE 2424, the workers were forced out on strike by their employer, Carleton University.

     "It is not our desire or intention to disrupt our students' programs; it is a consequence of the University's lack of respect for our services, and lack of movement on management's position in bargaining," the union said in a statement on its website.

     According to Carleton's own Office Institutional Research, in 1987 there were 426 academic support staff to support 17,939 students. Today there are only 411 academic support staff to support 24,085 students.

     The workers walked off the job on Sept. 5, the first day of classes, mainly over wages and benefits such as union leave. They have been without a contract since June. Ryan, who works for CUPE Local 4600 at Carleton, encouraged People's Voice readers to visit www.2424.cupe.ca to send a message to the Board of Governors in support of the strike.

     In an alarming development, the Board of Governors has told student representative Shelley Melanson that if she continues to speak in support of the striking workers, she would be in a "conflict of interest" and would have to quit the Board. Melanson, who is also the president of the Carleton University Students Association, was elected representative for the undergraduate students on the Board until June 2008.

     Condemning this move by the University as a "new low" and an attack on freedom of speech, Ryan told People's Voice that this was another way that University funding cuts are negatively impacting students: "People are also coming out of school with debts that are unbelievable," he said on a recent You Tube clip, noting that only the Communist Party is calling for the roll-back and elimination of tuition fees.

       Stuart Ryan's comments about post secondary education funding can be seen at youtube.com/CPCupdates.

(printable article)

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Labour Day solidarity with hotel workers

  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Asad Ali

Niagara Falls saw its first ever Labour Day march on Sept. 3, led by UNITE-HERE Local 2347 whose members at Canadian Niagara Hotels (CNH) have been fighting management to abide by its arbitrated contract. Union leaders and members from CAW, CUPE, USW (including a bus from Hamilton's local 1005), as well as other unions and local residents joined the hotel workers in marching on the Sheraton at the Falls.

     Since CNH bought the hotel in 1993, Local 2347 has had to fight management to maintain the basic employee rights and contract.

     "Now I join the long line of many union supporters who lost their jobs," said Mira, a fired labour activist. "It's very hard for us. We need our jobs, we need to support our families. Since February I don't work. I don't feel the Niagara Hotels even thinks about that. The only thing they have in their minds is to take union out. We need our jobs, we need our families same as they do." The management threatened marchers with arrest if they came onto the sidewalk, which is also owned by the hotel.

     Earlier in the day there was a Labour Day parade in nearby St. Catharines, whose Labour Council voted to stay out because the organizers would not withdraw an invitation to Conservative MP Rick Dykstra, who participated but was not allowed to speak.

     Dykstra voted against Bill C-257, which would have made it illegal to hire replacements for striking workers in the federal sector. Betraying his promise to the labour movement, Dykstra initially supported the bill but then voted against it on third reading in Parliament.

(printable article)

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  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial, Sept. 16-30, 2007

Stephen Harper has indicated that his government will not sign the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People when it comes up for a vote at the United Nations. Interestingly, he broke the news, not in Canada, but in Australia during the recent APEC conference. The PM's main concern, he claims, is "whether or not the government of Canada can implement the content" of the Declaration.

     Yes, Mr. Harper, we all understand that after centuries of stealing Aboriginal lands and breaking nation-to-nation treaties, it can be a little strange to contemplate signing a declaration to implement indigenous rights. It's a bit like passing laws against wife-beating, when the guy committing the abuse begs for sympathy as he struggles to read the fine print, searching for loopholes.

     Maybe it's no coincidence that Harper spoke about the topic in Australia. After all, both countries were founded on the colonial theft of indigenous territories and the destruction of their inhabitants. Perhaps more to the point, both countries are currently led by far-right parties which favour extending the rights of corporations and limiting the rights and powers of citizens. In fact, Canada was officially in support of the Declaration until Australian PM John Howard visited here to explain his "strong reservations" to Mr. Harper.

     The Conservative government's position has nothing to do with fine-tuning or improving the Declaration, and everything to do with restricting the ability of Aboriginal peoples to resist the corporate plundering of their traditional territories. This shameful episode is just one more reason to drive the Harper Tories out of office, as soon as possible.

(printable article)

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  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial, Sept. 16-30, 2007

Even cheerleaders for the war in Afghanistan admit that the mission is going nowhere. As Globe and Mail reporter Christie Blatchford wrote on Sept. 1, "Canadian soldiers here are trapped in a loop that has the fourth iteration of troops battling for the exactly the same ground their predecessors in southern Afghanistan fought to take."

     Another Globe and Mail reporter recently pointed out that millions of aid dollars have disappeared while thousands of refugees are left to starve. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) says it transferred $39 million last year to Kandahar district, where Canadian troops are stationed, and another $100 million to the country at large. That's a tiny percentage of Canada's military spending on the mission, but still a sizable amount. However, Norine MacDonald of the Senlis Council, the international think tank which has been working in Afghanistan for two years, said on Aug. 29, "We were not able to see any substantial impact of CIDA's work in Kandahar and, as a matter of fact, we saw many instances of the extreme suffering of the Afghan people."

     Examining projects funded by CIDA, the Senlis Council found "an overcrowded and filthy hospital in Kandahar city that could provide few services to patients; refugee camps that had gone without food aid for 1 1/2 years; a construction project that employed child labour, and a displaced population struggling to survive."

     Let's sum things up. Thousands of Afghans, and dozens of Canadians and other NATO troops, are dying in this vicious cycle of killing. The aid projects which are supposed to justify the occupation are a total fiasco. All that has been accomplished in six years is to replace one group of reactionary warlords with a different group of "pro-Western" warlords.

     Yet the minority Conservative government stubbornly refuses to yield to public opinion and set a date for withdrawal of Canadian troops. We urge a big turnout to anti-war rallies planned for Oct. 27 across the country; let's send Harper a strong message - get Canada out of this U.S.-made quagmire!

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  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Elizabeth Rowley, leader, Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)

In an election that looks increasingly like a horse race, the Tories under aptly named leader John Tory, are plugging wedge issues that they think will catapult them ahead of the Liberals and into a minority government, in the mode of the Harper Tories federally.

     As a result, their key issues are crime, taxes, and funding religious schools across the province, which John Tory says is "a principle" for Conservatives. Playing on wide‑spread feelings of bitterness and discrimination at the 1985 decision of another Tory Premier, Bill Davis, to fully fund the Roman Catholic separate school system, John Tory is claiming the support of the United Nations. 

     Following a complaint lodged in the 1990s, the United Nations found Ontario was discriminating by funding the Catholic school system. However only one of the remedies proposed was to fund all religious schools. The other was to separate religion from the state funded school system, and to fund a single secular public system open to all.

     This remedy, to separate church and schools, is the policy long advanced by the Communist Party and many others in Ontario. The sticky wicket is the withdrawal of funding from the Catholic system that the adoption of this position would entail, and the enmity of Catholic Bishops across the board. But many Catholics support the notion of a single public school system, which is well funded and can deliver quality education to every student. 

     The gradual withdrawal of funding from the Catholic system would see the transitioning of schools (including staff and students) into the public system and the withdrawal of the church from the education system.

     A debate that has been loaded since Premier Bill Davis tried to buy time and votes for his beleaguered Conservatives in 1985, was blown wide open just after Labour Day when John Tory told reporters that creationism could be taught in Ontario schools since "the theory of evolution is still a `theory'"

     A firestorm of criticism and opposition has ignited across the province and the editorial pages are full of denunciations of Tory's statements. Ever since, he has been trying to "clarify" and downplay his comments, while his staff are spinning it as fast as they can. The statement may well have cost them the election.

     Yet the Liberals' position on publicly funding religious schools is not significantly different. The coalition of Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and fundamentalist Christian groups was active in the 2003 election, and was successful in generating support from McGuinty with the caveat that funding of the public school system had to first be stabilized.

     In 2007, the Liberals' opposition to funding religious schools is that it's too expensive; not that it's bad policy and not that it reflects a dangerous departure from a secular state.

     In their last term, the Liberals played with the idea of allowing religious sharia law to parallel the secular legal system in Ontario, assisted regrettably by former NDP Attorney General Marion Boyd, who somehow equated sharia law with affirmative action for Muslim women. Then too, a coalition of religious groups pressed the government to allow a parallel religious system to exist, in the name of "choice" and under cover of "multi‑culturalism", "democracy", and even "equality."

     Once again, a firestorm of public opposition forced the government to rebuff proponents of sharia law, and Ontario retains its single, secular and universal legal system. At least, for today.

     But clearly, the attack on the secular state, including our legal and education systems, is not going to stop with this election. Further, there is no strong, principled opposition to this attack in Queen's Park. Both Liberals and Tories regard it as a risky vote‑getter; while the NDP is divided in its own ranks, mainly but not only on the issue of Catholic school funding. It's no wonder the religious coalitions are growing in size and in determination; they can see what we can see, and it's dangerous for working people, for children and youth, and for Canada. 

     The descent into a non‑secular state is not wholesale, but piecemeal. Conservative efforts to re‑open the debate on same‑sex marriage, and reproductive rights last year is not coincidental, and it's not dead though Harper has moved mountains to try to bury it.

     Not incidentally, while the newspapers were filled with John Tory's incredible proposal to allow the teaching of creationism in the 21st century (bringing to mind the arguments made in the Scopes trial almost a hundred years ago), there is ongoing media coverage of Grenville Christian College and the accusations of students and admissions by some staff of physical and sexual abuse, torture, and cult activities that took place over two decades until 1997. The school was run by the Anglican Church of Canada. 

     Margaret Atwood's book The Handmaid's Tale should be on the reading list for all students - and their parents - this fall, preferably before the October 10th election.

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  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

By Hanne Gidora

On my recent trip to Berlin, Germany, I had the opportunity to attend a meeting organized by the Rotfuchs, a progressive magazine. Retired general (and last Minister of Defense of the socialist German Democratic Republic, GDR) Heinz Kessler gave the keynote address on "German Anti‑Fascists at the Side of the Red Army". It was a most interesting speech about a little known aspect of German resistance against Nazism.

     Comrade Kessler described how he, as a young soldier in the German Wehrmacht, learned about the planned attack on the Soviet Union the night before it took place. His regiment was stationed in occupied Poland, about 20 km from the Soviet‑Polish border. A high-ranking officer came to their camp and informed them that they were to pick up their weapons and gear to cross the border river Bug that night. Everything was prepared well in advance, and they encountered little resistance until they had entered quite deeply into Soviet territory.

     This was the first time Kessler had seen dead and wounded people, and it had a lasting effect on him. He had been raised in a communist family. In 1941 his father had already spent seven years in fascist jails and concentration camps, and his mother was living in hiding. On the same day Kessler chose to cross the line, defect, as some might say, to the Soviet army, his mother was captured and taken to the women's concentration camp Ravensbrueck.

     Kessler spoke about several groups of Germans who chose to work with the Red Army. One group consisted of people like him, who were drafted into the fascist army and escaped at the earliest opportunity. There were also the children of exiled Germans in the Soviet Union who volunteered for the Red Army. Then there were Soviet Germans who joined the partisans behind the Nazi fronts.

     The German anti‑fascists worked mainly in two areas: POW camps, and directly at several fronts. At the fronts they would often be in the foremost trench, speaking to the German troops through megaphones. There were also loudspeaker trucks, and double-decker planes equipped with loudspeakers and bundles of leaflets to be dropped. In some select circumstances the anti‑fascists would even leave the trenches and approach the German troops directly. The message was "end this war", by surrendering or rising up against the Nazis. Kessler admitted those actions were not entirely successful as they did not lead to mass capitulations, but for many German soldiers it started a thought process that in some cases led them to join the progressive movement at some later time.

     The work in the POW camps was also very important. Nazi soldiers had been told by their superiors that the Soviets would torture and shoot their prisoners, or at the very least send them to Siberia. The first eye‑opener for many German POWs came when these threats failed to materialize. One of the methods employed by the Soviets and their anti‑fascist allies was to speak to captured soldiers and officers, urging them to use their influence to put an end to the war, and then send them back to their troops.

     Another revelation, especially for higher ranking officers, was to witness the "scorched earth" policy employed by retreating Nazi troops. Kessler told a personal story about a captured officer who refused to believe that "German officers could give such orders." Kessler invited him to a drive to the front to see for himself. During the drive the officer kept muttering to himself "this is impossible; this can't be". When they arrived at the front, it turned out that the commander on the other side was this officer's brother. The officer asked for a megaphone and spoke at length to his brother and his troops, asking them to surrender and put an end to this war.

     The work in the camps led to the establishment of anti‑fascist schools which helped to consolidate the work among the anti-fascists. In 1943 it was decided to form one organization, the National Komitee Freies Deutschland (NKFD), or "National Committee Free Germany". A few months later this was followed by the founding of a special organization for German officers. This may be difficult to understand, but German militarism was such that it divided the troops and officers sharply along class lines. Officers and "common men" were not prepared to work together as equals, but in this way they were able to work towards the common goal of ending the war.

     The committee began to publish a paper, Freies Deutschland (Free Germany), that was distributed along the front. It also had a radio station that could broadcast deep into Germany. The assassination attempt against Hitler of July 20, 1944, has taken on an almost mythical character in German historiology. It is commemorated each year, as it should be, but there is no mention of the many other resistance actions, including and especially those of anti‑fascists at the fronts.

     Kessler read an article he had written for Freies Deutschland on August 20, 1944. In it, he acknowledged the courage of the officers who tried to kill Hitler, and the fact that their success could likely have ended the war, although he did point out that they were only interested in achieving this aim along the Western front. He also thought a successful assassination could have been the signal for a national uprising against Nazi rule. This is in sharp contrast to official German historians who commonly accuse communists of a lack of respect and appreciation for the July 20 action.

     All in all, the activities of the German anti‑fascists may not have had significant influence on the course of WWII, but they served to convince some people of the anti‑fascist cause, as well as to unite anti‑fascists in an organization that played an important role in the Soviet occupied part of Germany after the war. Many of the members became high‑ranking functionaries in Eastern Germany and later the GDR. The committee's slogan "Never again shall war erupt from German soil" became official GDR policy. But most of all to Kessler, the work of the German anti‑fascists served to preserve the pride and dignity of the German working class in the face of Nazi rule and war.

     (Note: During the discussion after the talk, a woman asked Kessler why as defense minister he didn't use the army to prevent the counter-revolution which destroyed the GDR in 1990. His answer was quite revealing. Earlier on he said that when the Nazi army invaded the USSR, the sight of dead bodies was an experience that stayed with him his whole life. At no time, he said, was it ever considered to use the army against GDR citizens, a clear relation to the slogan that never will there be war starting in Germany. The GDR government allowed the system to collapse rather than use force against their own people. Contrast this to Boris Yeltsin, who used brutal military force against the Russian Parliament in October 1993 to kill Communists and other elected MPs for resisting his capitalist policies.)

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  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

(This report by Montreal human rights lawyer Bill Sloan is an update on the legal situation faced by the Cuban Five, prisoners in US jails for defending their homeland against terrorist attacks.)

     What would you do if a neighbouring country tolerated terrorist groups using its territory as a base of operations, to plan, train, finance and launch attacks against your people and your country? Since 1960, hundreds of terrorist actions have killed almost 3,500 Cubans, injured and maimed thousands more.    In response, Cuba did not attack the US. It sent five men to infiltrate terrorist groups based in Florida to try get advance notice as a preventive measure. In June 1998, the FBI was called to Havana to receive a 20,000 page file, with video and audio tapes, on activities of anti‑Castro groups which are illegal under US law. None were arrested. Instead, the infiltrators were arrested and treated as spies and terrorists.

     The Cuban Five have been treated in ways which are contrary to the UN Convention Against Torture, and indeed, contrary to US law. This began with seventeen months in "THE HOLE," a concrete box with a 24 hour light bulb, used as a punishment cell in SuperMAX prisons for hard‑case offenders who refuse to abide by prison rules. The maximum time allowed in "the hole" is 60 days.

     Their trial in Miami was the longest in US history, yet outside the rabid Florida media, it received little network coverage. All five were found guilty of all charges and sentenced to long prison terms. Three have a life term, which means they will die in jail.

     In 2005, a three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta unanimously ordered a new trial because Miami could not be the scene of a fair unbiased jury trial. In 2006, the full Court of Appeals (twelve judges) reversed that decision by a 10-2 vote and sent the case back to another three judges to hear the defence's other arguments. That hearing was held in Atlanta on August 20. I rode the Greyhound down to attend as an observer.

     I was in good company, with Judge Juan Guzman of Chile, who prosecuted Pinochet; Ramsay Clark, Attorney‑General for JFK; Paolo Lins e Silva, president of the Union Internationale des Avocats; Cezar Britto Aragao, President of the Bar of Brazil; Paul Bekaert, Batonnier of Bruges for the Belgian Bar; Cynthia McKinney, ex‑US Congresswoman; Dr. Norman Peach, German member of Parliament; Eddy Boutmans, ex‑Senator and Minister from Belgium; and Vanessa Ramos, Continental President of the American Association of Jurists.

     The judges began by rejecting a technical argument that the government had insisted on in its written brief. Then they ordered the prosecutors to submit a copy of the transcript of their secret hearing with the Miami trial judge, where they explained why about 80% of the evidence was secret and could not be seen by the defense.

     There were three main points argued orally. First, the prosecutors broke the rules dozens of times when addressing the jury - for example, stating three times that the Five had come to Miami to destroy the USA. That should be worth a new trial.

     Second, the "espionage conspiracy" charge does not involve a single classified or secret US government document, yet three of the Five have life sentences. And what kind of a spy gives the results of his work to the FBI?

     Last, Gerardo Hernandez was convicted of conspiring to murder the pilots of the "Brothers to the Rescue" planes shot down by Cuban MIGs on February 24, 1996, as they approached Cuba. The evidence on this charge was so bad that the prosecutors made an emergency motion during the Miami Trial asking that the judge's legal instruction to the jury be changed, arguing that it made their case impossible to prove. The emergency motion was rejected, but the Miami jury convicted anyway, without even asking the judge for clarifications.

     From the appeal judges' comments during the hearing, and the nature of the arguments, there is hope. But we, and the Cuban Five, will have to be patient as the first Appeal Court judgment took over a year. In the meantime, terrorists such as Luis Posada Carriles, Orlando Bosch and other murderers and hijackers walk the streets of Miami as free men. Nasty things happen more easily in the dark, and we must break the US media's wall of silence around this case, to bathe it in the light that can shame the courts into righting this injustice.

     You can organize local seminars, download and distribute material from the Free The Five website http://www.freethefive.org, show movies, and bring in speakers. This case is about exposing the USA's hypocritical, phoney War on Terror, and sending the Five home to their families.

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  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

(Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada, September 7, 2007)

The Communist Party of Canada notes with grave concern the stepped up assault on the Communist and revolutionary forces across Europe in recent weeks. In Hungary, a state court is threatening to imprison the entire leadership of the Hungarian Communist Workers' Party (HCWP) for having committed "libel in a public place," while in The Netherlands, an exiled leading member of the Filipino Communist movement, José Maria Sison, has just been arrested on trumped up murder charges.

     The actions against the HCWP are the most specious imaginable. In 2005, the 21st Congress of that party, following an inner‑party dispute, decided to expel its former vice‑president Attila Vajnai. Following the Congress, Mr. Vajnai challenged his expulsion in a Budapest court and won his reinstatement - a most bizarre and unacceptable form of state interference in the affairs of any political party.

     The leading body of the HCWP publicly characterized the court decision as a political judgement, one which had no precedent in the legal history of the last two decades. The HCWP called the judgment a form of revenge against the Hungarian Communist Workers' Party, which had initiated a public referendum against the privatisation of hospitals.

     The Budapest Court demanded that the HCWP officially retract its criticism of the decision and declare the judgement had nothing to do with politics. The leadership of the party refused.

     Now the Hungarian state is attempting to use these fallacious grounds to cripple and potentially liquidate the HCWP precisely at a time when the left and Communist movement is growing once again in Hungary.

     The Communist Party of Canada condemns this transparent manoeuvre of the Hungarian authorities as a vengeful assault against the Hungarian Communists, and calls for international solidarity in defence of the legal and political rights of the HWCP.

     Meanwhile, in The Netherlands, national police arrested National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) chief political consultant José Maria Sison in Utrecht on August 28, broke down the front door of his home and carted away computers, documents, CDs, and other files. Sison was later charged with "incitement to murder" in the Philippines of Arturo Kintanar and Romulo Tabara. He is currently being held in solitary confinement at the National Penitentiary in The Hague.

     The arrest and confinement of Sison, who has lived in Holland since 1987 and is a former professor of English literature and accomplished poet, is a blatant act of anti‑communist repression, undertaken by the Dutch authorities at the behest of both the Arroyo regime in The Philippines, and the CIA in Langley, Virginia.

     This is not the first repressive act against Sison while in exile. In August 2002, then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell declared Sison an "international terrorist." The very next month, the Dutch government informed him that in accordance with The Netherlands' "sanction regulation against terrorism" his benefits had been terminated and his bank account frozen.

     The arrest of Professor Sison, the chief political consultant of the NDFP, which has been involved in negotiations with the Filipino regime, is a crude attempt to derail all efforts for a peaceful, political settlement of the lengthy conflict in The Philippines.

     The Communist Party of Canada denounces this reactionary act, and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Professor Sison.

     We note that these most recent attacks come on the heels of other acts of state repression against Communist and left forces elsewhere in Europe - the actions of the Czech Republic to ban the Communist Youth Union (KSM) in that country, and legal attacks on the Ukrainian, Lithuanian and other Communist Parties in the former socialist countries.

     These actions are far from coincidental. They reflect a growing alarm in bourgeois government circles that the left forces are once again gaining in strength in direct proportion to the abject failures of the capitalist policies of neoliberalism, militarization and war. It is vital that all progressive and democratic opinion around the world speak out against such crude anti‑communism and fascist‑like behaviour.

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Figueroa blasts Montebello cover-up

  (The following article is from the September 16-30, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

Communist Party leader Miguel Figueroa has denounced the "cover up" of police infiltration of the anti-Summit protests in Montebello. He is demanding a full and independent public inquiry, and the criminal prosecution of all those responsible for this "dangerous, anti-democratic action."

     For several days after the August 21 events at Montebello, the Quebec Provincial Police refused to admit their use of agents provocateurs to foment violence and provide a pretext for police to attack and break up the protests. Yet even after the QPP recanted and admitted their use of provocateurs, federal Public Security Minister Stockwell Day continued to downplay the incident and brush off demands for a public inquiry.

     "This was not just a localized assault on the labour and social activists protesting in Montebello," Figueroa said. "It was a crude attempt to discredit the entire opposition movement against the Security and Prosperity Partnership pact promoted by the big business and their pro-corporate governments in Canada, the USA and Mexico, and to manipulate public opinion to accept this sell-out agreement. There is absolutely no way that this dangerous provocation could have been undertaken without the prior knowledge and approval of the RCMP, CSIS and the Prime Minister's Office itself."

     Right-wing governments have repeated used agents provocateurs to subvert people's resistance to the neoliberal and so-called "globalization" agenda of the transnational corporations and banks, and the governments and states they control. Strong evidence of such tactics surfaced in the APEC protests in Vancouver, at the Seattle mobilizations against the WTO, and in Genoa where the Italian police were caught red-handed.

     "Canada is not a fascist police-state, and the Canadian people cannot allow such grave violations to be perpetrated without a full investigation and punishment of those found responsible," Figueroa said. "At stake are not only the right to peaceful dissent and protest, but also the very future of sovereignty and democracy in Canada itself."

(printable article)

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