Salute to the Estelle

Rebel Youth reprints this editorial from People's Voice newspaper and sends our continued full support to the campaign to break the blockade on Gaza and in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

     Canadians were relieved to hear that Jim Manly, the former Member of Parliament, had been released from an Israeli prison. We join with others in extending our thanks to all the passengers and crew of the Freedom Flotilla vessel Estelle, for their courageous action against the illegal blockade of Gaza.

     Details are gradually emerging about the brutal conduct of Israeli troops during their seizure of the vessel, which was bringing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. Israel's lie that the Estelle may have been bringing weapons to Gaza is utterly ludicrous; few boats have ever been subjected to such intense and public searches before sailing.

     Several passengers on the Estelle were members of parliament from Norway, Sweden, Greece and Spain. But no current Canadian MPs were on board, and none dared express support for the solidarity mission. This is sad but hardly surprising, since the Harper Tories and the corporate media immediately demonize any public figures who criticize the Israeli state's apartheid policies. One of the worst examples is the National Post's shameful slander of Gaza solidarity activists as "holocaust deniers." Such media could look at Canada's home-grown white supremacists for some real anti-Semitism; perhaps their reluctance stems from embarrassing links between these hate groups and ultra-right activists inside the Conservative Party.

     Fortunately, criticism of Israel's policies is stronger in other countries. As the Flotilla organizers said, "the Estelle's mission was successful in declaring to the world that Israel's blockade of Gaza is inhuman and illegal, and showing to the Palestinians in Gaza that our solidarity is relentless and we will come again." Very true, and the Harper Tories will not silence us here in Canada.

Why Canadians must oppose the war effort

Photo: Protest in Israel against the war

By Darrell Rankin

      The question of war or peace in the Middle East is at a critical moment. The people and sovereignty of Iran and Syria are in grave danger. A small spark could set off a huge war engulfing many countries, including the NATO military alliance.

     Backed by the corporate media and joining other Western powers, the Harper government is imposing sanctions and cutting diplomatic ties as a cover for its own war preparations. Adding to the problem, it is hard to find disagreement on this issue between Harper and the main opposition parties.

     We need millions of Canadians to understand that Harper's war drive must be stopped. We need to explain the reasons behind Harper's role on the world stage, and his government's growing isolation from the world majority on the issue of peace in the Middle East.

     We need to pressure Parliament to make Canada a voice for peace and disarmament in the region. Working people would lose from such a war, as any party that represents workers should know.

     Trade unions and other popular organizations in Canada need to help build the anti‑war movement. This would be the greatest act of solidarity with working people of all nations and religions in the region, because a new war would kill workers of all kinds.

     We need to understand the motivations why the corporate ruling class here and in the Middle East is moving towards war. Only a small handful of people would benefit, especially the arms dealers. To them, a new war is useful as a tool to blind workers and prevent their unity for a better world.

     The Harper Tories have the foolish expectation that a new war would place Syria and Iran under the reactionary control of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and give more time for Israel to tighten its grip over the Palestinian people.

     Like masters at the chess board, Western powers want to alter the Middle East balance. Colonial attitudes that support regime change in Arab countries are alive and well in Ottawa and other Western capitals. But wars do not always reach the desired end.

     For the West, the usual reason for Middle East wars ‑ oil ‑ is receding to the background. There is a growing anti‑popular, reactionary purpose to the latest war drive.

     According to Prime Minister Stephen Harper the "hopeful spring of democracy" has given way to an "angry summer of populism... (R)arely has the free and democratic world been less secure."

     These are convenient words for a true imperialist. They paint the world as full of threatening chaos, a world we must bring under control for the danger to disappear.

     The words are a ruse employed by apologists to justify the drive to dominate other nations. They are used to conceal the danger and chaos created by imperialism in the first place, through sanctions, the arms race and open bellicose threats.

     At first, a war might help the most reactionary circles in the West, who continue to use workers as pawns and cannon fodder. These corporate global overlords intend to crush the democratic, popular character of the Arab Spring and stop it from spreading.

     As emphasized by Harper's own words, hatred of the popular movements is a prominent motivation behind the threats to Iran and Syria. War is a desperate measure by the West and its allies in the region to crush the popular movements and the hopes for global anti-imperialist unity. Even more serious, another Middle East war could easily grow into a world war, pitting the West against China and Russia.

     Intense military preparations in several global hotspots are putting realistic solutions to hunger and climate change on the back burner, where the big oil and grain corporations want them to be. Militarism guarantees that the jobless will continue to go hungry.

     Communist and workers' parties have long stated that another world war can be stopped by a very broad anti‑imperialist alliance. A new Middle East war would complicate building this unity.

     From that perspective, it is vital to block a new war against Iran or Syria. At home and globally, the peace movement has much work ahead to explain the democratic alternatives to war.

     We need to build broad, popular support for comprehensive, mutually agreed and verifiable disarmament in the Middle East, and for the right of the Palestinian people and all nations in the Middle East to decide their future.

     This means ending arms shipments into Syria that violate its sovereignty. Canada must end arms sales to regimes that are violating Syria's sovereignty, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States.

     One thing has not changed about the escalating war threat. The wallets of the Western arms corporations are growing fat off the Middle East.

     This is a war we must stop!

Congradulations to the Venezuelan People

Rebel Youth reprints this People's Voice Editorial and sends our best wishes to the Communist Youth of Venezuela and the youth of the PSUV.

     The October 7 election in Venezuela was a major victory for President Hugo Chavez, for working people and the poor in that country, and for the global movements for democracy, national liberation, social justice, peace, and revolutionary change. The "Great Patriotic Pole" (GPP) coalition which includes Chavez's PSUV, the Communist Party of Venezuela and other left forces won 54.4% of the popular vote, to 45% for the right-wing Democratic Unity candidate Henrique Apriles Radonski.

     This success was achieved under difficult circumstances for the Bolivarian Revolution, which faces complex challenges at a time of global capitalist crisis. The GPP was confronted not only by united domestic capital, but also by Yanqui imperialism and the world-wide corporate media. Absurdly posing as defenders of social justice, this counter-revolutionary alliance also engaged in vicious tactics, predicting that the outcome would be "razor thin" in hopes of provoking post-election violence.

     In the end, there was a record turnout and eight million Venezuelans cast their ballots for President Chavez, giving him a strong mandate for another six-year term. But already, capitalist media pundits in Canada are calling on Chavez to yield to the demands of his opponents. When was the last time these hypocrites ordered the dictatorial Stephen Harper to pay attention to the 61% of Canadians who voted against his destructive far-right policies?

     Despite such background noise, the outcome will strengthen progress towards socialism in Venezuela. The Bolivarian Revolution remains a bulwark of Latin America's rejection of domination by Washington, towards policies which put the interests of the people ahead of the greed of big capital. We congratulate the people of Venezuela for standing firm against the threats of imperialism!

End the aggression against Syria! Stop the drive to war against Iran!

The YCL-LJC Canada is a member of the Canadian Peace Congress, affiliated with the World Peace Council.

     The Canadian Peace Congress condemns the ongoing foreign intervention in Syria and the escalating drive to war against Iran, and calls for the immediate withdrawal of all Canadian, NATO and foreign mercenary forces from the region. We further call upon the Conservative government of Stephen Harper to restore and normalize its diplomatic relations with Syria and Iran, and to re‑orient Canadian foreign policy toward peace, international cooperation and solidarity.

     The Harper government's decision to adopt an international policy of belligerence, and to do so without consulting Parliament, is further evidence of its abandonment of a foreign policy of peace and diplomacy in favour of aggressive and hostile interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries. Syria and Iran are member states of the United Nations and have expressed no hostile intent towards Canada or its people. Prime Minister Harper is actively contributing to the danger of war, through hostile policies that are out of step with the Canadian peoples' longstanding support for peace.

     The Canadian government has allied itself with a minority of Western governments who, along with pro‑war forces within Israel and a few reactionary Arab regimes, are seeking new pretexts for intervention and war. These include the protection of human rights or the prevention of the alleged proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These objectives cannot be achieved by breaking diplomatic relations, imposing economic sanctions, arming foreign mercenaries, or forging international campaigns for regime change and by installing puppet governments favourable to the strategic goals of the major western power.

     Foreign intervention, sanctions and military aggression only weaken the human and democratic rights of the Syrian and Iranian people, and diminish their ability to develop and improve their societies. The aftermath of NATO intervention in Libya last year, in which Canadian armed forces bombed Libyan territory, has been disastrous for the people of Libya who are now plunged into factional warfare. This, plus the catastrophic consequences of the military occupation of Iraq, including the deaths of over one million Iraqis, clearly indicate that the main victim of any war is the civilian population.

     As in the case of Libya last year, the drive to interfere in Syria and Iran is driven by the strategic and economic interests of imperialist powers. These countries - including the United States, Britain, the European Union and Canada - choose militarism and war as their preferred option for expanding their spheres of influence and control over resources and markets. The result is destruction, displacement and despair to the peoples of the developing countries who have been targeted. Far from resolving conflicts, these policies of interference only deepen current crises and escalate the danger to world peace.

     Pro‑war forces have seized upon the many complexities in the situations in Iran and Syria, to promote misinformation and confusion. The threat to peace in the Middle East does not arise from countries who exercise their sovereign right to develop the nuclear energy industries to build their economies. Nor does it originate with countries who oppose Western efforts to re‑colonize the Middle East and control its vast energy resources, through the New Middle East Plan. Rather, the concrete threat to peace is the existing conventional and nuclear weapons that the US, its NATO allies and Israel constantly brandish in their effort to destabilize the region, to demonize governments that oppose imperialist plans, and to justify interference and war.

     The Canadian Peace Congress asserts that the direction of economic, political and social development in any country is the sole right of the people of that country to determine, without foreign interference. We hold this principle to be true for the people of Canada, as we hold it to be true for the people of Syria and Iran. We are completely opposed to any foreign political or military intervention, under any pretext. This includes efforts to interfere with and divert genuine democratic domestic movements.

     The role of the Canadian government in both of these crises has been shameful. Under Stephen Harper's Conservatives, Canada has abandoned its reputation as a country with an independent stance in international relations, and assumed the posture of a vocal NATO aggressor state. In all dimensions - political‑diplomatic, economic and military - Canada's recent policies toward Syria and Iran have been geared toward three goals:

     - Isolate and neutralize sources of information that conflict with imperialist aims, by cutting off communication with the governments and peoples in Syria and Iran;

     - Increase the suffering of the people and generate anti‑government sentiment, by imposing economic sanctions that particularly target energy industries who produce for local consumption;

     - Increase the active military threat in the region, by deploying warships and other military resources to the region.

     These goals all directly serve the overall objective of pro‑Western regime change in Syria and Iran, and the Harper government has campaigned hard internationally, to convince other countries to assume similar policies against both countries.

     In the case of Syria, the Conservatives have also campaigned aggressively to create and promote a political opposition movement to the government. In November 2011, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly received a report that "virtually no one [in Syria] is calling for international military intervention" and that Syria was "without a clearly identifiable opposition with precise political ambitions." Yet, just prior to that report, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird had met with the Syrian National Council and proclaimed them to be the legitimate opposition who has "continuously outlined their appetite for change." It is unclear how Baird identified an organized and "legitimate" opposition when NATO could not, and it suggests that the Syrian National Council is little more than a pro‑Western puppet government‑in‑waiting that has been fashioned by imperialist forces.

     Furthermore, Canada has supported the arming of an estimated 40‑60,000 foreign mercenaries to fight inside Syria. These mercenaries form the backbone of the Free Syrian Army, and indicate the degree of armed foreign intervention already underway in Syria. The recent elections in Syria had a higher voter turnout than in Canada, and a number of independents and government opponents were elected and have been included in the cabinet. The Syrian people have spoken, yet Canada and other interventionist forces continue to pick sides in an internal matter.

     In the case of Iran, the frenzied drive to war has obscured certain significant facts from the public eye:

     Iran is a non‑nuclear state and a signatory to the Nuclear Non‑Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and is under the supervision of the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran has repeatedly stated that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and not for military ends. The fact of the matter is that neither the IAEA nor the U.S. administration has been able to show any substantiated evidence about the weaponization of Iran's nuclear energy program. The U.S. Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta, has publicly conceded, "there is no evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapon."

     Israel is a nuclear weapons state with an estimated 200‑400 nuclear weapons, who has refused to join the NPT. There is no UN supervision over Israel's nuclear activities. It has pre‑emptively attacked other neighbouring states, and has threatened Iran with military attack many times.

     United States is a nuclear weapons state with more than 10,000 nuclear weapons, and it has not allowed any inspection of its nuclear facilities by the IAEA. The U.S. has used nuclear weapons against other countries, when it exploded two nuclear bombs on Japan and when it used uranium‑enriched weapons in Iraq. The U.S. also has repeatedly threatened Iran with military attack, and has nuclear‑equipped forces currently stationed in the region.

     The Canadian Peace Congress supports the October 6 Day of Protest Against War, initiated by the Canadian Peace Alliance. After more than a year of conflict and violent foreign intervention, thousands of Syrian people have died. If governments like Canada are allowed to continue their current policies of aggression, interference and colonization, thousands more will die. All peace‑supporting groups in Canada - including trade unions, faith communities and student groups - need to speak out and mobilize against intervention in Syria and Iran and the threat of a far broader war in the region.

     The Canadian Peace Congress demands that the Canadian government:

* Immediately withdraw Canadian military forces from the region, and oppose military intervention in Syria and Iran, under any pretext;

* Restore diplomatic relations with Syria and Iran, remove sanctions, and support the peace initiatives of those states and organizations advocating a cease fire and negotiated end to the war;

* Withdraw from NATO, which has a nuclear first‑strike policy and complimentary sea‑ and land‑based ballistic missile systems, and all other military alliances;

* Promote full nuclear disarmament, beginning with the nuclear stockpiles of the United States, Israel and NATO;

* Adopt a new independent Canadian foreign policy of peace, non-intervention and diplomacy in international relations.

CPC Ontario: The Attack on the Accepting Schools Act Threatens our Youth and Democratic Rights

Phil  Lees’ campaign of disinformation is a deliberate attempt to frighten and confuse parents and students in Thorncliffe and to foment hatred against LGBT youth in our schools and community.

Acceptance of LGBT youth in schools and acceptance of differences in sexual orientation and gender are well understood in Canada to mean protection of students from harm, and to promote acceptance and understanding of differences.  Acceptance of others includes acceptance and protection of all students, including those of different religions, different dress, and who come to Canada from different places of origin.