ACTIVIST CALENDAR:
- Socialist Action/U.S. National Convention, July 14-16 in Minneapolis, MN.
- Protest Canada's Occupation of Afghanistan on October 8! To read the call click here
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Below are two articles containing a debate on how Marxist view what is happening in Bolivia.
1. World Solidarity Needed for Bolivian People, Government by Barry Weisleder and John Riddell.
2.A Response to Comrades Riddell and Weisleder: Which Road for the Bolivian Revolution? by Gerry Foley and Jeff Mackler.
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| What the vote to extend Canada's Afghanistan intervention reveals |
The narrow, non-binding House of Commons vote of 149 to 145 to extend until 2009 Canada's war mission in Afghanistan was rushed for good reason.
The vote on May 17 occurred in the wake of the death of Captain Nichola Goddard, the sixteenth Canadian soldier and the first Canadian female to die in Afghanistan since Ottawa joined the imperialist occupation of that country in 2002.
Public opinion continues to run in opposition to the 2,200 strong troop intervention, with 54 per cent of those polled across the country against it, and 70 per cent opposed in Quebec.
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper knows the military and political circumstances will get worse before they get any better. More soldiers returning home in body bags and more 'collateral' civilian casualties will likely increase hostility to the mission in which Canadian forces are upholding a regime of drug lords and war lords in Kabul. (On June 22, at least sixteen Afghani civilians were killed in an air strike called in to sustain Canadian military operations in Kandahar province.)
The hasty vote in Parliament also enabled Harper to expose the division in Liberal ranks, while sharing the responsibility for an intervention that is sure to go sour. Twenty-four Liberal MP s voted in favour of the Conservative motion and 66 against it.
The most salutary political effect of this exercise was to expose MP Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal leadership candidate favoured by key elements of the Canadian corporate elite who bank-roll the party and dominate the economy. Ignatieff, a former Harvard professor who spent much of the past thirty years outside Canada, was already on the defensive over his support for the United States invasion of Iraq, and for supporting 'humane' torture interrogation methods.
Thus, two things are revealed. His protestations aside, Ignatieff is exposed as a hard core imperialist. Secondly, the difference between the Liberals and the Conservatives is shown to be tactical at best, and minimal in practice. Let's not forget that it was Paul Martin's Liberal government that began Canada's Afghanistan adventure, sent warships to patrol the Persian Gulf in support of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and helped arrange the overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and joined the foreign occupation which continues in Haiti today.
The good news is that the bourgeois nationalist Bloc Quebecois and the English Canada labour-based New Democratic Party voted solidly against the two year war extension. Unfortunately, at least in the case of the NDP parliamentary caucus, opposition to the Tory motion was expressed for many of the wrong reasons.
As NDP federal leader Jack Layton put it, "This is the wrong military mission for Canada." After quibbling for weeks over how often the flag should be lowered at government buildings to honour dead soldiers, NDP MPs criticized the chain of command (is it U.S. or NATO-led?), the lack of any definition of mission "success", and the lack of an "exit strategy". Most telling was the argument that the large commitment in Afghanistan would preclude deployments to places like Darfur (in Sudan) or Haiti.
The major flaw in this line of reasoning is that it ignores what these interventions, past, present and future, have in common. They are all about corporate control of Third World energy resources, future pipelines, pools of cheap labour and militarism for profit. Increasingly, they also pose deep integration into U.S. military strategy and operations worldwide.
The NDP vote against the war extension is a good step. But to be 'Canada’s anti-war party' the NDP must oppose the current military build up, oppose the deployment of troops abroad, and propose to send doctors, teachers and engineers in place of tanks, gunners and bombers where humanitarian aid is needed.
As millions prepare to celebrate May Day around the world, let's consider the general health and stability of capitalist rule.
The central fact of world politics is the US defeat in Iraq. As Hugo Chavez says, 'Mr. Danger in the White House won't admit it, but this is the reality'. (Sometimes he calls him Mr. Donkey.) Furthermore, the US dollar is in crisis. US debt is staggering. Its annual deficit is unprecedented. U.S. war casualties mount and war resistors multiply. 4,000 US soldiers have gone AWOL in Iraq. America's Iraqi collaborators seem unable to form a government, 15 months after the election. The "coalition of the willing" continues to shrink. Italy will be next to quit as right wing P.M. Berlusconi lost to the centre-left coalition of Romano Prodi. Ironically, Bush's threat to use nuclear weapons against Iran is another expression of Washington's exasperation and political weakness on the ground across the Middle East. continued . . .
| Socialists to take anti-war fight to NDP convention, Quebec City, Sept. 8-10 |
Over thirty activists, based in fifteen different NDP constituency associations spread across southern Ontario, gathered in Toronto on May 20 -- their goal: to take the fight for anti-war, anti-imperialist policies, and for greater democracy and socialism, to the New Democratic Party federal convention in Quebec City, September 8-10, 2006.
The NDP Socialist Caucus Conference adopted a package of thirty-three bold policies, designating sixteen of them as priority resolutions. The latter feature calls for: removal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan and Haiti, solidarity with Palestine, social ownership and economic democracy, abrogation of the global corporate trade deals (FTA, NAFTA, etc.), elimination of university tuition fees, repeal of the federal Clarity Act, a massive increase in social housing construction, along with measures to enforce leadership accountability and to strengthen democracy in the NDP. (See the full package below. The deadline for submission of resolutions to Federal NDP office in Ottawa is July 10.)
In a separate discussion on plans by NDP officials to change the party's federal constitution, SC conference participants approved a structural proposal that would increase local riding and union representation on the NDP Federal Council, the highest party body between conventions which meets twice a year.
Decisions on policies and perspectives were influenced by two informative panel discussions held during the day. The first was titled "Canadian imperialism in Afghanistan and Haiti: Where does the NDP stand?" with speakers Ali Mallah, a CUPE Toronto district V.P. and human rights activist; Mazen Jaafar, Alternate V.P. - Workers of Colour, Canadian Labour Congress; and Kabir Joshi-Vijayan, a young member of the Toronto Haiti Action Committee. The second panel addressed "The Future of the NDP", and included Jean Smith, long time NDP and anti-war activist; Simon Black, past NDP candidate in Mississauga-Erindale; and Willie Lambert, President of the Oakville Labour Council and currently a candidate for president of the Canadian Auto Workers' Union.
The conference set in motion plans to publish the SC newspaper "Turn Left", to convene SC meetings at the site of the federal convention in Quebec City, to field SC candidates for NDP federal executive, and to staff a literature display table and a caucus room at the major party gathering.
The following persons were elected to serve on the Ontario component of the Socialist Caucus steering committee charged with implementing the decisions of the conference and working in conjunction with other sections of the SC across the country: Peter Cassidy and Jeff Dickhout (Hamilton Stoney Creek), Betty-Jane Antanavicius (Guelph), Raychyl Whyte, Tony Crawford and Sean Cain (Oakville), Ross Ashley (Toronto St. Paul's), Judy Koch (Toronto Danforth), Elizabeth Byce and Barry Weisleder (Toronto Trinity-Spadina).
The Ontario committee will meet on June 25 in Toronto to firm up federal convention travel, accommodation, publishing and campaigning plans. The participation of all friends and supporters of the Socialist Caucus in the work ahead is welcome. For more information, please contact Sean at 905 - 849-8585 or Barry at 416 - 535-8779.
| Poverty in Canada - "A National Emergency" |
Welfare benefits in most Canadian provinces have shrunk in value over the past decade and often fail to cover half of basic living costs, says the United Nations' Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. "Minimum wages in all provinces are insufficient to enable workers and their families to enjoy a decent standard of living." About 51 per cent of people using food banks, it also said, are receiving inadequate social benefits.
Concerning employment insurance, the U.N. body reported "In 2001, only 39 per cent of unemployed Canadians were eligible for benefits."
In a separate report, the Toronto City Summit Alliance, a coalition of business, labour and community groups, stated that employment insurance eligibility in Toronto stands at 22 per cent. That means 78 per cent don't even qualify.
In the same vein, the Toronto task force said hundreds of thousands of Ontario workers are living in poverty and it would take $4.6 billion a year to overhaul government programmes to lift them out of it.
The U.N. body also scored the Canadian state's discrimination against aboriginal women, and the fact that poverty rates remain disproportionately high among aboriginal peoples, African-Canadians, immigrants, persons with disabilities, youth, low income women and single mothers. The same gap exists when it comes to access to water, health, housing and education.
In London, England on May 22, Amnesty International reported that the focus on 'counter-terrorism' and public security in developed countries is draining attention from crises afflicting the poor and underprivileged.
Not to mention draining funds.
| Women at Bell Win $104 Million in Equity Suit |
It took 14 years, but almost 5,000 mostly female telephone operators at Bell Canada won a pay equity settlement worth $104 million. The deal is almost double the $60 million offered by Bell nearly seven years ago, which the workers rejected. Officials with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers' Union of Canada report that former and current workers, who are now between the ages of 35 and 70, will receive between $25,000 and $30,000 each.
The battle started back in 1992, when the union filed its pay equity claim with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. A joint union-management study showed that operators had consistently been earning up to $4 an hour less than workers in male-dominated jobs assessed the same value. The union won its case at a labour relations tribunal, but the claim has been the subject of extensive legal challenges funded by Bell's deep pockets, including one challenge that went all the way to the Supreme Court.
The mostly women workers' victory is bitter sweet, not only due to the lengthy ordeal, but the fact that the work force has changed dramatically. Today there are only 300 operators in Quebec and Ontario, as Bell cut the jobs of most operators in 2001. But imagine getting this settlement without a union, and without the vision and stamina needed to dare to struggle and win.
526 Roxton Road, Toronto, Ontario M6G 3R4
Phone: (416)535-8779 - Fax: (416)535-9079
barryaw@look.ca
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