April 28, 2011
THE CAMPAIGN IN QUEBEC - A WORKING CLASS PERSPECTIVE By Johan Boyden, Montreal, in People's Voice
As the federal election campaign wraps up in the area of the country that most effectively denied the Conservatives a majority in 2008, much discussion has been around class and social issues.
At the French-language leaders debate, Madame Muguette Paille, a middle-aged, working-class woman, living in a de-industrialized Québec town asked: "Myself, together with many people in my community, are unemployed. We will soon run out of employment insurance. What will you do?"
By the end of the debate Michael Ignatieff had said her name eleven times. Soon, facebook groups in this previously unknown woman's name sprang up with thousands of members.
One wonders how Madame Paille would respond to the Communist Party's proposal to set EI benefits at 90% of previous earnings for the duration of unemployment.
The Communist Party is also putting up messages for peace which have proved distinctive and popular. In the four Montreal ridings with Communist candidates, over six hundred signs have gone up, calling for voting for people before profits, ending support of Apartheid Israel, and immediate withdrawal of the troops from Afghanistan.
Talking down to workers
The Liberals too have signs - giant billboards showing a silhouette of a fighter-jet to one side, a family on the other, each with a check box. The message is clear. Voters face a question of priorities. And almost everyone understands it - even though the fighter jets will be built here.
Of course, the Liberals are trying to re-write history. They got Canada into the imperialist war in Afghanistan and started this bonanza for the merchants of death by increasing military spending. They shamelessly raided the EI fund to pay off the federal debt.
But with decades of inflation, high unemployment (higher than many other parts of Canada), lower wage levels, and de-industrialization - a situation that has only got worse with the economic crisis - is it any surprise that working class Québécois connect with Muguette Paille?
Nor has the Canadian military ever been very popular here.
Between these sentiments of the people and the solutions offered by the major parties is a wide class gulf. As elsewhere in Canada, when the big business parties propose their solutions they are speaking directly down to - but not for - the working people.
Cheap Québec-bashing
What is different from the rest of the country is the unrecognized and constitutionally denied sovereignty and self-determination of the Québec nation within Canada. This grievance finds its expression in the Bloc Québécois.
The English-language corporate media portrays the Bloc as malicious nation-wreckers. An Angus Reid-Toronto Star poll after the TV debates claimed to reveal high levels of antipathy toward Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe. "Virtually every utterance from Duceppe prompted viewers to press buttons registering their annoyance,'" the Star reported.
The irrational fear-mongering reaches a high-point with the Harper Conservatives' endless rant about the `coalition with the separatists.' Conservative incumbent for Fort McMurray-Athabasca, Brian Jean, even announced Ignatieff would put Duceppe in charge of defense.
The Communist Party's candidates have exposed this cheap Tory fear-mongering as big-nation chauvinism.
"Parlons Québec"
In fact, the Bloc Québécois campaign - "Parlons Québec", based on the idea that they are the only true voice for the nation - is more about jobs.
Accepting GM and the auto industry's departure, the Bloc platform calls federal attention to this industry an example of Ontario bias (`attention' that has forced auto workers and retirees to accept major concessions). Instead, the BQ puts the emphasis on Québec's crisis-afflicted forest sector - proposing loans to the forest industry.
This is the Bloc's vision of Québec as a "market" and they also say the other parties "refuse to fight for Québec's financial sector so as not to offend Toronto." In essence it is a class-collaborationist illusion that the workers and bosses of Québec are in the economic crisis together.
Like the New Democrats, the Bloc voted for the bombing of Libya; nor does their platform call for immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan. But on other issues it is stronger: banning scabs, establishing a guaranteed income supplement, opposing the privatization of Canada Post, eliminating tax havens, and abolishing tax give-aways for oil companies.
A different direction
The BQ will never form a government. Its identity is as a protest vote. This allows it to put forward some progressive policies, even drawing trade union leaders into its ranks as MPs. Yet after some twenty years of protest votes, perhaps the limitations of this tactic are becoming clearer to Québécois.
The "surge" of the New Democrats in the polls in Québec is also "fluffing" NDP support in the rest of Canada, pollsters say. The NDP made their break into Québec with the 2007 byelection victory of a former member of the Québec National Assembly and Charest Liberal, Thomas Mulcair. Now the NDP's Québec lieutenant, Mulcair has also "distinguished" himself as a hard pro-Zionist voice.
Mulcair has given his party new visibility. And at least some of the rise in interest in the New Democrats is also likely connected with growing support for Québec Solidaire, the left-wing party represented by National Assembly member Amir Khadir.
But the NDP's policy history on the national question includes opposition to Québec's right of self-determination (ie. supporting the Clarity Act). In this election they are calling for extension of the language law, Bill 101, to federal workers in Québec. The constitutional implications, however, are unclear. Some opinions suggest it may actually be illegal. Will the NDPs rise in popularity will translate into votes in Quebec? Not necessarily.
Of all the Parties on the ballot, the Communists alone are calling for a new, democratic constitution based on an equal and voluntary partnership of the Aboriginal peoples, Québec, and English-speaking Canada up to and including the right of separation.
While the national question has not been the burning issue this campaign, it would be naive to suggest the long-standing grievance of the unequal union of Canada is about to go away. Nevertheless, the election debate in Québec about social issues shows how this is a campaign taking place in tough times. People are looking for different ideas - and feeling more connection with Madame Paille, perhaps, than any of the big parties.
(The above article is from the May 1-15, 2011, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
April 26, 2011
CANADA'S COMMUNISTS DEMAND "ENVIRONMENT, NOT PROFITS".April 16-30, 2011 Volume 19 - Number 8
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/Pv16ap11.html#JCOMMUNISTSDEMAND
In this election, the Communist Party of Canada has advanced a wide-ranging set of proposals designed to protect the environment. The major opposition parties and the Greens base their policies on "market-based" tinkering with the "real costs" of human economic activities. But the Communist Party argues that capitalism itself, a system based on the extraction of maximum profits, is inherently a threat to human survival. The goal of the Communist Party is public ownership of key industries and resources, which would allow for democratic control and economic planning to protect the interests of working people and the environment.
In recent years, the corporate-backed Harper Tories have made Canada a key opponent of serious measures to tackle the deepening global climate crisis. The Communist Party demands emergency action on this issue, as well as support for reparations to countries affected by capitalist-driven climate change.
The Communist platform calls for legislation to slash greenhouse gas emissions, including a phase-out of coal‑fired plants. Rejecting the claim that such measures will "kill jobs," the Communist platform urges investments to create jobs through renewable energy and conservation programs. This would include more stringent vehicle emission controls, expanded urban mass transit, and the eliminate of fares by subsidizing fare collections. The Communists call for funding high‑speed rail lines, and the development of a fuel-efficient Canadian car.
Radical change is advocated in the Communist platform, aiming to remove the private profit motive as the driving force behind economic decision-making. The platform renews the Party's call to adopt a People's Energy Plan, including public ownership and democratic control of all energy and natural resource extraction, production and distribution.
In the short term, the Communists call for a 100% tax on the windfall profits of the oil monopolies, and to "stop and reverse the privatization, deregulation and break‑up of public energy utilities."
The Communists urge a freeze and reduction of energy exports to the U.S., and instead propose to expand shared power flows among provinces through an East‑West power grid. The Party opposes any new development of the Alberta tar sands, and calls to close these operations within five years. Jobs should be guaranteed for workers in more sustainable industries at equivalent wages, and compensation provided for Aboriginal peoples and communities affected by the tar sands. The Party opposes the Enbridge and Mackenzie Valley pipelines, and oil and gas exploration and shipping on the west coast. It calls for a moratorium on the development of shale gas resources in Quebec.
To protect working people hard-hit by declining incomes, the Communist Party supports restoration of the "two price" system, with higher prices for energy exports, and lower prices for domestic uses, especially home heating.
On other environmental issues, the Communist platform includes a ban on "biofuels" derived from feed grains; heavy fines and jail terms against polluters and destructive corporate practices, such as clear-cutting, in‑ocean fish farming, and deep‑sea draggers; and no industrial development in parks.
The Communist Party also calls for action such as income supports to defend family farms and protect Canada's food sovereignty. The Party's platform urges stronger action to support organic farming: reduce the use of antibiotics, fertilizers, and pesticides, a ban on "terminator" seeds, and mandatory labelling of genetically‑modified food products.
‘Apartheid economy need radical change’ says South African Communist Party, Wednesday, April 27, 2011
http://www.sundaytribune.co.za/apartheid-economy-need-radical-change-1.1061393
Unless something radical is done now about the apartheid economy inherited by government, its achievements will be greatly undermined by the system of capitalism, the SA Communist Party said on Tuesday.
“Our attempts at a gradual economic transformation have only landed us with a failed BEE project which is at the heart of the corruption we see today,” the party said in a statement to mark Freedom Day.
“We have not expanded our industrial and manufacturing base as a country, thus everyone is chasing this or that government tender.”
While millions “swim in poverty and hunger we cannot allow a continued painting of a picture where those who have access to power or those who have access to those with access to power are enriching themselves at the expense of the masses”.
Corruption was theft from the poor and directly undermined democracy.
The SACP called on all in society to join hands, in a principled and non-sectarian way to fight corruption.
“We must honestly and urgently review narrow BEE as it has not addressed the huge economic inequalities and has led to the empowerment of only a small elite instead of the majority.
“Many in the world are now exposed to similar conditions we have spoken about because of the failure of capitalism.”
Humanity faced a serious ecological crisis and as Freedom Day was celebrated, “we must ask ourselves if our future generations will have this opportunity given the speed at which our environment is being destroyed in order for some to become rich”, the SACP said.
The party called on voters to support the ANC is the May 18
local government elections, and reject the “reactionary agenda” of the Democratic Alliance to fragment national unity and treat the three layers of government as isolated islands. “We in the SACP know well that democracy in SA doesn’t come without contradictions and reactionaries who want to exploit them for their own narrow agendas.
“At the heart of this is an attempt by reactionary forces to use our hard won democratic order to further their class interests.
“Only the ANC led alliance victory will lay conditions for the exercise of people’s power,” it said. - Sapa
April 25, 2011
Aida Touma-Sliman named new editor in chief of "Al Ittihad" daily communist newspaper in Israel , CPI site
The head of the International Department of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and well know leading feminist activist, Aida Touma-Sliman, named new editor in chief of "Al Ittihad" daily newspaper.
2011-04-16_205900
Aida Touma-Sliman
http://21stcenturymanifesto.wordpress.com/2011/04/18/aida-touma-sliman-named-new-editor-in-chief-of-al-ittihad-daily-communist-newspaper-in-israel/"Al Ittihad", founded in 1944, is the voice of the CPI in Arabic, and the solely Arabic daily newspaper in Israel. Among the former editors-in-chief of "Al Ittihad": Emil Habibi, Tawfik Toubi, Salem Jubran and Ahmad Sa'ad.
Aida Touma-Sliman is the Director General of Women against Violence in Nazareth, member of the Political Bureau of the CPI and the first women appointed to the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel and member of the Executive Committee of Hadash (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality). She has a BA degree from Haifa University in Arabic Literature and Psychology.
April 19, 2011
Canada's relationship with Castro shaded by U.S., By Jordan Press, For Postmedia News, April 19, 2011
With Castro officially handing over power to his younger brother Tuesday, the U.S. likely will continue to affect the relationship Canada has with Cuba.
Just as American foreign policy is warming up to Cuba, Canadian relations have cooled, which could affect Canada's economic and diplomatic interests in Cuba and Latin America.
Experts say that, unless Canada changes its foreign policy strategy for Cuba, it's unlikely that Canada's influence in the region will improve even with a new Castro in power.
"I don't think you're going to see anybody of a senior cabinet level visiting Cuba and I don't think you're going to see Raul Castro get a visit from Ottawa for an official visit if Stephen Harper is re-elected," said Peter McKenna, chair of the department of political studies at the University of Prince Edward Island.
"We should set ideology to one side and look at the broader interest of Canadian foreign policy."
In the years that Fidel Castro was in power, the relationship with Canada was always "normal," said John Kirk, an expert on Cuban-Canadian relations from Dalhousie University.
"The keyword is 'normal.' It's a normal relationship with ups and downs," he said.
"The low point in government to government relations in the past 30 years has come under Stephen Harper. But people to people, however, it's extremely successful."
On Tuesday, the reins of power were passed officially from Fidel, 84, to brother Raul Castro, 79, after a vote of the Communist Party's congress. The elder Castro had ceded control to his younger brother when he fell ill in 2006.
The vote marked the first time in more than 40 years that Fidel Castro was not first secretary of the Communist Party.
In 1961, Canada announced it would not follow Washington's lead and cut diplomatic ties with Cuba. John Diefenbaker's decision to maintain the status quo was driven in part by personal feelings — he didn't like John F. Kennedy — and in part because he saw an opportunity for Canada.
"Diefenbaker, the original Red Tory, believed that with the U.S. breaking relations . . . Canada could fill the gap," Kirk said.
During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis — when the presence of Soviet missiles on Cuban soil brought the world as close as it's ever been to a full-scale nuclear war — Diefenbaker was hesitant to agree to American requests to put Canadian troops on high alert, widening the gulf between Canada and U.S. policy toward Cuba.
Since the early 1960s, Canada has continually tried to show its independence from the United States on foreign policy, with Cuba being a primary example, McKenna said.
In the years that followed, the Canada-Cuba relationship had more ups than downs. Trudeau visited Cuba in 1976, the first NATO leader to visit the country during the Cold War.
Castro and Trudeau had similar histories — they were Jesuit-educated and held law degrees — and Castro liked that Trudeau worked in the Cuban sugarcane fields in 1949, a fact Castro took as evidence that Trudeau understood the Cuban people.
The relationship continued even after Trudeau cut foreign aid to Cuba in 1978. When Trudeau died in 2000, Castro was an honourary pallbearer at the funeral.
The bilateral relationship cooled under Brian Mulroney, Kirk said, and cooled further under Jean Chretien.
Kirk said the federal government doesn't understand Cuba or how to engage with it properly at a diplomatic level.
Economic ties between Canada and Cuba remained strong over the years. Every year, thousands of Canadians vacation in Cuba. According to Statistics Canada, more than 700,000 Canadians visited Cuba in 2007, injecting $629 million into the Cuban economy.
"Canadian tourists are very important for the Cuban economy," said Jose Azel, a Cuban exile and senior scholar at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.
Azel said Castro never would have wanted to jeopardize that flow of foreign currency into the country and likely maintained good relations with Canada to keep tourists coming to the country.
April 14, 2011
ONTARIO LIBERAL BUDGET ATTACKS PUBLIC SECTOR By Liz Rowley, Peoples Voice
By Liz Rowley
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint77/02%29%20ONTARIO%20LIBERAL.htm Setting the stage for the October 6 provincial election, the Ontario
The budget speech announced that recovery is in full swing, but the world is an unstable place and thus "reforms" are necessary. It slams the "choices we reject" ‑ a reference to Tory leader Tim Hudak's agenda, which includes a promise to cut one or more points from the HST's current rate of 13%.
A 1% cut to the HST is a $3 billion cut to health and education, say the Liberals. "The choices we (Liberals) reject" are slashing social assistance (Mike Harris' first act was a 22% cut); slashing infrastructure spending leading to job losses and disrepair in the post‑secondary sector; laying off 33,000 teachers, 12,000 doctors, 37,000 nurses, and cutting funding for 80% of long term care beds. Each item is equivalent to about $3 billion.
But the Liberals are also preparing voters for new attacks on public sector workers and services. Declaring that "we must live within our means", 1500 jobs will be cut in the next two years, on top of the 3400 in the 2009 budget.
A further $200 million in cuts to major agencies in the next two years will mean a 10% cut to funding for the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs, a $9 million cut to Children Aid, and a 15‑30% increase in child care fees to parents, along with the closure of some child care centres. This is the tip of the iceberg; watch out for what's coming.
The government will also establish the "Commission on Reform of Ontario Ontario
For the election, the government is offering 60,000 new spaces in universities and colleges; many will be filled by international students seen as revenue generators with their extraordinarily high tuition fees.
Full day kindergarten will be extended to cover 200 more schools by September, but it will be 2014 before all schools are covered. For health, there is a paltry $15 million over three years for breast cancer screening; $93 million for mental health services aimed at youth; and increased drug coverage for seniors and others covered under the (means‑tested) Ontario Drug Benefit Program.
For Big Business, massive provincial tax cuts bring the CIT rates down to 10% in Ontario ; much lower than in the Great Lake States which are Ontario 's main US Ontario
Then there is also the HST, which the government dares to claim is being passed on in savings to consumers by 91% of businesses in the form of lower prices. The government also claims that the HST has increased purchasing power, though Statistics Canada figures show that personal debt levels are skyrocketing in Ontario
Not in the budget are the attacks on public sector bargaining rights, and the elimination of the right to strike for municipal transportation workers in Toronto
The message to Big Business is clear: there is no need to switch support to the Tories. The Liberals can do the job, and will deliver.
(Next issue: the outlook for the October provincial election in Ontario
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