Special to Rebel Youth
Sometimes as activists in the youth and
student movement it seems as if the meetings, the demonstrations, the article
writing and news reading blend together, making it difficult to get a clear
perspective on recent history.
This piece aims to synthesize important
events in 2013 through coverage in Rebel Youth. When we look back we can see that 2013 was a year of
sharpening attack on the working-class globally, felt even more sharply by
young workers and students, but it was also a year of growing resistance in
Canada and around the world.
The following events of 2013 outlined below are not an exhaustive list, but a reflection of some of our coverage from the last year. If you think we’ve missed something big please submit a comment or better yet, if you think there’s a hole in our coverage, submit an article.
So let’s take a brief look back on 2013…
Imperialist aggression intensifies
The year opened with direct military intervention
in Mali, lead by the people of Mali’s old colonial oppressors; the French
state.
In the Spring, sabre rattling from the
United States hit a fevered pitch around events in the Korean
peninsula, threatening a war with nuclear potential.
Some of the veil was torn off imperialism’s
true face with the leaks provided by US National Security Agency contractor
Edward Snowden. But the US state
fought back, including trying to intimidate (unsuccessfully) progressive
governments and leaders in Latin America, through the kidnapping
of Bolivian President Evo Morales.
US backed “rebels” in 2013 were unable to
tear apart the Syrian state, despite years of increasing support from
imperialist governments. By late
Summer, a chemical weapons attack was used as a pretext by the Obama
administration to move within a hair of direct military intervention. Mobilizations
against the war in Syria sprouted up around the world, including across
Canada.
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| Communist Party of Turkey activists in "Gezi Park uprising" |
There was very notable resistance
internationally. This includes
mass protest in Brazil over inequality, price hikes and poverty and in Turkey
with the huge popular uprising, which began in Gezi Park. Even just south of our border, strikes
and days of action led by fast-food workers swept the United States
demanding a minimum wage of $15/hr.
In December 2013, the year ended with a
mass meeting of youth and students in Quito, Ecuador. The 18th
World Festival of Youth and Students brought together over 8 000
progressive youth under the banner of anti-imperialism and for peace,
solidarity and social transformation.
The
attack on youth and workers at home
The local face of imperialism has its
current expression in the Harper Tories.
Their attack on workers continued to sharpen in the second year of their
majority government.
This includes anti-democratic attacks on
labour rights, such as trying to get
rid of unions in federally regulated sectors and attempting to deter unions
from political participation under the guise of “transparency”.
The Harper government deepened its agenda
of austerity and has put Canada Post in it’s crosshairs with the proposed
cancellation of rural delivery and other services paving the way for the privatization
of Canada’s mail service.
Changes to Employment
Insurance, with access and benefits tightened further by the Harper Tories,
meant that a large majority of workers no longer qualify to receive benefits.
For students, tuition fees continued to
rise across the country, except for in Newfoundland & Labrador, with debt
loads becoming increasingly heavy.
While increasing numbers of young people are being shut out of
education, it is more important than ever to put forward the case for cross-Canada
unity and action from the student movement. Students across the country continued to put forward the demand
of free, accessible, quality public post-secondary education.
Workers
fight back
These attacks and others did not pass
without a fight and some of these fights were successful in driving the
capitalist class back.
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| Protest in Quebec against Tory changes to EI |
In Quebec and the East Coast there has been
mass
resistance to Harper’s theft of Employment Insurance. In Ontario, migrant workers and their
supporters fought back against the
xenophobic restriction of EI’s parental benefits to seasonal migrant
workers. Students, backed by
unions in Ontario organized against
the racist exploitation of migrant workers by their employers and
government policies that further marginalize them.
With unemployment rates at the same levels
as when the crisis began and youth unemployment through the roof, young workers
got together to begin organizing
for the right to decent work and wages. Campaigns against
poverty wages and for a higher minimum wage sprang up and are ongoing.
At a provincial level, workers resisted
governments that imposed contracts and attacked collective bargaining rights, including
mass mobilization outside the Ontario Liberals’ convention in the Winter of
2013.
Resistance also began in the workplace with
new strategies in organizing. This
includes a successful drive to organize
barista unions in Nova Scotia.
The struggle for democratic culture and
media continued throughout the year.
This included fighting against he militarization
of sports and Rebel Youth’s own campaign to “Fire
Kevin O’Leary” from the CBC, which got a great deal of coverage in other
media and had over 1000 people sign a petition to fire O’Leary.
Aboriginal
peoples rise up
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| Chief Theresa Spence |
As 2013 began, the “Idle No More” movement
ushered it in with demonstrations
and actions across the country.
Chief Theresa Spence was still in the middle of her hunger strike which
forced the Harper government to recognize the movement.
The Sisters in Spirit campaign continued
with calls for an inquiry into the 600 murdered
and missing Aboriginal women with actions on Valentine’s Day 2013.
In early Spring 2013, Métis
people won an important victory with a Supreme Court ruling on the theft of
lands, which took place 140 years ago.
The
fight for a sustainable environment and against climate change
 |
| Resistance at Elsipogtog to fracking |
Aboriginal peoples also played a leading
role in many of the environmental struggles. In Elsipogtog, First Nations’ members and members of
surrounding communities in New Brunswick fought back against the dangerous
practice of fracking, only to be faced with massive
militarized police repression.
In Ontario and Quebec, there was a massive
organized outcry against “Line 9” which is one of the many pipeline projects
stemming from continued expansion of the Tar Sands. Opposition to Line 9 included large
protests outside government “consultation” and physically
stopping construction from going ahead.
Days
of action against Monsanto took place around the world, including in
Canada, which fought against this mega-corporations’ environmental destruction,
control over nature and attacks on the health of the people.
The
struggle against state repression and for democratic rights
In Montreal, the police stepped up their
repressive tactics of demonstrators using
tactics of “kettling” and mass arrests.
In the Summer, police in Toronto murdered a
young man by shooting him 9 times.
The
murder of Sammy Yatim became a rallying cry for Toronto, especially victims
of racialized police violence, and for an end to police impunity, including
calls for civilian democratic control over the police.
In the Fall, a detention centre in Lindsay
Ontario became the home to a lengthy hunger
strike by immigrant detainees demanding better conditions and an end to
indefinite detention. Also in the
fall, federal
inmates went on strike to protest a massive decrease in their wages.
Anniversaries,
“birthdays” and eulogies
In 2013 Rebel Youth marked some important
anniversaries. This included the 130th
anniversary of the death of Karl Marx, the 96th
“birthday” of the Russian Revolution and the 60th
anniversary of Fidel Castro’s attack on the Moncada barracks which sparked
the Cuban Revolution.
We also wrote and posted in the memory of
some important figures and activists.
In the first part of 2013, Hugo
Chavez, President of the Bolivarian Republic and hero of the international
anti-imperialist movement died.
Harper, who never misses an opportunity to condemn progress and trumpet
imperialism, mocked
Chavez’s passing and insulted the Venezuelan people.
At RY, we also commemorated the death of Dr.
Henry Morgentaler, a Canadian hero and fighter for the reproductive rights of
women. 2013 was also the 25th
anniversary of the “Morgentaler” ruling by the Supreme Court, which
legalized abortion in Canada.
In the last month of 2013, Nelson Mandela
died. RY and the World
Federation of Democratic Youth saluted his long life of struggle against
apartheid and imperialism.
The death
of former British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher was celebrated publicly
by many in the UK and by us at Rebel Youth blog, while recognizing that her
ideas remain and urgently need to be defeated.
A
year of scandal, corruption and startling revelations
Some interesting and startling things came
to public light this year, which caught the attention of even the most cynical
anti-capitalists. These included
historical revelations, such as proof that Aboriginal
children had been deliberately starved and used in experiments in Canada in
the 1940’s and 50’s. Also, new
research was released showing the
systematic persecution of LGBTIQ, progressive and Communist Canadian government
workers during the Cold War.
In terms of contemporary international
revelations some of the tactics of Canadian and US imperialism were brought to
light, including Canadian
spying on the Brazilian government in the interests of the oil and mining
industry, and the American NSA’s
phone and email hacking of presidents and prime ministers around the world.
Rightwing politicians at home demonstrated
new levels of contempt for the public.
As the Senate
scandal and the sensationalized Rob
Ford “crack scandal” blew up in the Conservative Party’s face, RY argued
that we need to mobilize against the policies of rightwing governments, as
scandals have a way of replacing people, but not necessarily effecting the
class balance of forces.
On
to 2014!
So there you have it, a brief look at a
year on planet earth through the eyes of Rebel Youth. A year that showed how low the ruling capitalist class can
go to maintain the power to exploit with impunity, but also a year that
demonstrated heroic resistance. As
we move into 2014 we look forward to covering the news and discussions of 2014
with the aim of bringing together these streams of resistance in the youth and
student movement and to build the struggle for socialism!
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