tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-220560532024-03-14T03:00:00.017-04:00Rebel Youth Archive 2005-2020hay-gente-patohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089694946919833684noreply@blogger.comBlogger1603125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-29445258727935817532020-06-16T12:00:00.000-04:002020-06-16T12:00:05.413-04:00Rebel Youth has moved!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome to the old Rebel Youth website. This website houses the archives of Rebel Youth magazine from 2005 to early 2020.<br />
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<b>To keep up to date with Rebel Youth magazine, please visit our new website at <a href="http://ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca/">ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca</a>!</b><br />
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We are also active on <a href="https://twitter.com/RebelYouthMag">Twitter</a> and on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rebelyouthmag">Facebook</a>.bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-17652276018019654252020-06-15T17:47:00.002-04:002020-06-15T17:58:39.469-04:00From Canada to Bolivia: Indigenous Resistance to Militarism + Imperialism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Young Communist League of Canada - Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada is pleased to announce From Canada to Bolivia: Indigenous Resistance to Militarism + Imperialism, an upcoming webinar featuring special guest <a href="https://twitter.com/evoespueblo"><b>Evo Morales</b></a>, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.<br />
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This event is co-hosted by <a href="http://peoplesvoice.ca/">People's Voice</a>, Canada's leading socialist newspaper, as well as the <a href="https://www.canadianpeacecongress.ca/">Canadian Peace Congress</a> and the <a href="http://communist-party.ca/">Communist Party of Canada</a>. <br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #191e23; font-family: "Noto Serif"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Guest speakers also include </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191e23; font-family: "Noto Serif"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kolin Sutherland-Wilson</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #191e23; font-family: "Noto Serif"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a Fireweed clan Gitxsan land defender featured in the upcoming print issue of Rebel Youth, as well as </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #191e23; font-family: "Noto Serif"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gina Mowatt,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #191e23; font-family: "Noto Serif"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a doctoral student at the University of Victoria and Gitxsan (Frog Clan) land protector. The event will be MCed by YCLer Tyson Riel Strandlund and former editor of People's Voice Kimball Cariou.</span><br />
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Join us at 11am PT/2pm ET on June 21st, National Indigenous Peoples Day, to celebrate Indigenous resistance against militarization and imperialism.<br />
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For more details, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/263343124976803">please see our Facebook event here.</a> This event will be livestreamed on YouTube.</div>
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<i>We are migrating to a new space! Keep up with us at <a href="http://ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca/">ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca</a></i></div>
bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-69653625691060573412020-06-15T12:36:00.000-04:002020-06-15T12:36:12.657-04:00Canada has no Place on the U.N.S.C<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /><i>Central Executive Committee, June 2020</i><br /><br />The YCL-LJC condemns the Canadian States bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. As a Pan-Canadian and working class internationalist organisation we will always remain committed to building the movement for peace and solidarity. Since our 27th Central Convention unmasking the Canadian States growing role in NATO Imperialism and helping build Solidarity movements have been prioritized. <br /><a name='more'></a><br />The simple fact that Canada is an active member of NATO, committed to reach the Organisation’s expectancies by increasing the military budget by 73% is enough to discredit Canada’s bid to the Security Council. NATO is a criminal cartel in the eyes of International Law and constantly violates the UN Charter’s most fundamental principle: the inalienable right to self-determination and sovereignty of the countries. <br /><br />The increasing hostility of the Trudeau-Freeland government and their lockstep march with Donald Trump’s NATO agenda have pushed the world closer to the brink. Competition among imperialist states to seize resources and markets, and appropriate the wealth of other people have led the Canadian state to interfere in the affairs of other sovereign states notably Bolivia, Haiti, Haudenosaunee, Honduras, Mali, Syria, Ukraine, <a href="https://www.wetsuweten.com/">Wet’suwet’en</a>, and Venezuela. We reject military interference, illegal blockades and the mobilization of economic sanctions that harms the people and intensifies international tension.<br /><br />Canada remains one of the largest exporters of armaments globally. Canada refused to join 122 countries<a href="https://www.un.org/disarmament/ptnw/"> represented</a> at the 2017 UN Conference to negotiate a legally binding covenant for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. Canada continues to oppose the<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/05/10/canada-opposes-ban-on-indefensible-practice-of-shipping-hazardous-waste-to-developing-countries.html"> Basel Ban Amendment</a> on the export of waste from rich to poor countries, which became binding in late 2019. Trudeau failed to ratify the United Nations’ Convention against Torture. Ottawa has<a href="https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:11210:0::NO::P11210_COUNTRY_ID:102582"> refused to ratify</a> more than 50 International Labour Organization conventions. In November 2019, Canada once<a href="https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/roger-annis/2015/11/canada-votes-no-on-un-resolution-condemning-racism-and-neo-nazism"> again refused</a> to back a widely supported UN resolution on “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Canada is also currently imposing sanctions on 20 countries, asphyxiating them in a particularly difficult period of global pandemic, a time when international collaboration and cooperation should be the main goal.<br /><br /> The Trudeau government has continued the shameful Harper era policy of unconditional support for the zionist project. Canada has voted against more than fifty UN resolutions upholding Palestinian rights backed by the overwhelming majority of member states since 2015. The Canadian government has refused to abide by 2016 UN Security Council Resolution 2334, calling on member states to “distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied in 1967.”<br /><br />Canada, under Trudeau and Freeland has also taken part in regime change operations in Latin America, especially in Venezuela. Their government has not only been an active partner in the coup d’État attempts against the Maduro government: it has been at the vanguard of all imperialist attacks against Venezuela through its leadership role within the Group of Lima, and by being one of the first countries of the world to recognise the putschist and fascist Juan Guaidó as President. Even in Cuba, where Canada has a track record of respecting the country’s sovereignty, Canada has started to follow the US’ lead by closing the Visa application centre at Havana’s Embassy, by buying into the US’ crafted conspiracy theory around sonic attacks and by refusing to denounce the extension of the Chapter 3 of the Helms-Burton Law. <br /><br />More recently, Trudeau’s refusal to denounce Trump’s murderous response to the current anti-racist demonstrations shows once more that allowing Canada to have a seat at the UN’s Security Council would be to reinforce the voice of US and NATO imperialism, which is the biggest threat to peace and to the sovereignty of the peoples over the world. <br /><br />Therefore, we strongly endorse the Canadian Foreign Policy Institutes <a href="https://www.foreignpolicy.ca/petition">petition</a> ‘CANADA DOES NOT DESERVE A SEAT ON THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL’. <br /><br />As young communists, we need to bring binding action resolutions to student and trade unions. We will continue our work of bringing internationalist perspectives to the struggle of the youth and building the Peace and Solidarity Movements. <b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>We're migrating to a new website! Keep up to date at <a href="http://ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca/">ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca</a></i></b>bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-61553722575517223032020-06-12T12:00:00.000-04:002020-06-12T12:00:08.417-04:00Indian youth movement blazes a trail with COVID-19 mitigation initiatives rooted in solidarity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>By Muhammed Shabeer<br /><br />This article was originally published at <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2020/05/25/indian-youth-movement-blazes-a-trail-with-covid-19-mitigation-initiatives-rooted-in-solidarity/">peoplesdispatch.org</a> on May 25, 2020. We thank Muhammed Shabeer for allowing us to reprint it.</i><br />
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Millions of people across the globe are in distress due to the COVD-19 pandemic and lockdowns imposed to contain its spread. Progressive sections, including youth and farmers and workers’ organization have been in the forefront of providing relief and assistance to the people. In places where strong socialist governments are pursuing pro-people policies to tackle the COVID-19 emergency, progressive youth and volunteers are powerfully facilitating social solidarity. Youth from the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Young Communist League-Cuba and Communist Youth League of China have played such a role in countries like Vietnam, Cuba, China.<br />
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Even in countries with repressive regimes like Bolivia and Chile, initiatives like #TropicoSolidario by Cochabamba farmers and #OrganicemosDignidad by a coalition of progressive Chilean groups have become a beacon of hope. In another such example, the Lenin Komsomol, through its #SVOIKH NE BROSAYEM! campaign, has helped the elderly. Socialist and communist youth groups in Bulgaria, Laos, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and in several other countries are similarly engaged in providing social assistance and solidarity to those in need during this lockdown. The initiatives by progressive youth groups in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon (despite their limited resources) have been a heartening sight for humanists around the world. <br />
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Youth organizations have also been key in the battle against COVID-19 in the south Indian State of Kerala. The initiatives of the communist-led southern government have been <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2020/03/25/how-is-kerala-tackling-the-coronavirus-pandemic/">hailed</a> across the globe as a fine example of fighting COVID-19. For a relatively smaller Indian State with limited resources and relatively higher population density, and with millions of expats across the world, the government has won praise for the way it has contained the pandemic. The major factors that have helped the State to achieve such a feat are the 1) The focused approach guided by scientific temper from the political leadership running the government, 2) streamlined, efficient and dedicated work by medical/health workers, police and other bureaucracy 3) pro-people policies by the government to ensure food/health/economic security of the people during the lockdown 4) co-operation and sacrifices made by civil society with a strong element of social solidarity. As of now, the State has resisted two waves of COVID-19 with only a few fatalities. It now braves a new wave resulting from the return of expats in large numbers from COVID -19 hotspots within India and abroad.<br />
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In this context, the initiatives of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) in the State have <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2020/03/24/communist-youth-in-kerala-are-in-the-forefront-of-the-battle-against-covid-19/">drawn</a> significant attention due to their comprehensive and scientific approach towards social solidarity. <br />
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DYFI <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1783208281814384/?type=3&theater">initiated</a> its anti-COVID campaign in the first week of March by publishing and widely circulating guidelines and protocols on physical distancing and personal hygiene. Kerala was the first State to be affected by the pandemic in India. DYFI followed their awareness campaign with a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1784289445039601/?type=3&theater">drive</a> for cleaning and sanitizing hundreds of large and small buildings throughout the State as special COVID-19 care centers.<br />
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The group also volunteered <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1784587448343134/?type=3&theater">help</a> to those confined to home quarantine. Members <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1795216207280258/?type=3&theater">ensured</a> provision of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1794525417349337/?type=3&theater">food</a>, essentials, medicines and other requirements to the elderly and those in need. By the second week of March, DYFI called for the mass manufacturing of protective masks and sanitizers by its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1786071574861388/?type=3&theater">cadre.</a> This was distributed to medical staff, health workers, police and government officials and common people across the State. As of now, hundreds of thousands of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1790266614441884/?type=3&theater">masks</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1794080147393864/?type=3&theater">bottles</a> of hand sanitizers have been distributed for free by the DYFI in Kerala. <br />
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A mass hand washing campaign initiated by the State government to combat COVID-19 in the third week of March – ‘Break The Chain’ – was also supported by the DYFI, which <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1789074051227807/?type=3&theater">set up</a> hand washing stations with sanitizers and water dispensers at public places across its 27,252 unit localities in the State. Meanwhile, DYFI also <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1787157054752840/?type=3&theater">called </a>for a massive blood donation<a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1787157054752840/?type=3&theater"> drive</a> to replenish the blood banks in medical facilities in the State.<br />
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The lockdown to contain COVID-19 was declared by Kerala and the union government only in March last week. Following this, DYFI launched a State-wide voluntary local online <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1798308823637663/?type=3&theater">helpline</a> service to provide essential food, grocery and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.1215311228604095/1797556263712919/?type=3&theater">medical</a> deliveries to families confined at home, supplies for pets and domestic animals, and even for feeding street dogs and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1800972473371298/?type=3&theater">monkeys</a>. As the lockdown progressed, these initiatives have proven to be of significant help for tens of thousands of families across the State. DYFI also initiated <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.1215311228604095/1796326210502591/?type=3&theater">online</a> counseling for people in distress and those facing mental problems due to the lockdown. DYFI cadre also started delivering food to homeless people stranded in different cities. These cadre <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1799899443478601/?type=3&theater">form</a> a large chunk of the official youth volunteer force registered by the Kerala government to facilitate help for people during the lockdown.<br />
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When the State government initiated the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.1215311228604095/1798816173586928/?type=3&theater">opening</a> up of more than 1,000 community kitchens at the local level to deliver cooked free/subsidized food to vulnerable families, DYFI mobilized its volunteers to help in the running of these facilities. In the second week of April, on Vishu Day – a festival in Kerala – DYFI <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1818401544961724/?type=3&theater">donated</a> a large quantities of rice and other groceries to all community kitchens across the State. On the same day, the group also donated a significant number of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1818869551581590/?type=3&theater">PPE kits</a> to health workers in the State. <br />
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To help migrant laborers stranded across the country due to lockdown, the DYFI Central Committee started a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1802691556532723/?type=3&theater">helpline</a> through its different State committees, in which DYFI-Kerala made significant contributions.<br />
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As the government extended the lockdown, DYFI, in addition to their other campaigns, started online entertainment programs by live streaming performances by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.1215311228604095/1799738010161411/?type=3&theater">celebrities</a>, artists and music bands. It also took part in governments’ initiative for the mass <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1801703526631526/?type=3&theater">distribution</a> of vegetable seeds across the State to boost household farming during the lockdown. When the union government raised petrol prices, DYFI organized protests in different places while <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1788148427987036/?type=3&theater">adhering</a> to physical distancing protocols. <br />
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After the lockdown entered its third phase by the first week of May, sensing the need of the hour to ensure food security in the State, DYFI launched a unique <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.1215311228604095/1843224329146112/?type=3&theater">campaign</a> calling all its units in the State to organize local community farms and help other farming initiatives. <br />
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As the lockdown led to significant reduction in the import of food grains and other foodstuff into the largely consumer State, the government had taken special interest in facilitating the paddy harvest in major agricultural areas. With the lockdown extending, the production of food grains and vegetables in the supplier States is likely to be further reduced, and imminent food scarcity is on the horizon if Kerala does not act accordingly in this phase. <br />
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It is at such a juncture that DYFI launched the campaign to help farmers across the state harvest food grains and also to organize local community farms for the cultivation especially of high-yielding local food varieties. Such a campaign has been also initiated by the youth groups in Cuba (YCL-Cuba) by starting community farming, and in Russia (Leninist Komsomol) by building new gardens, orchards and farms in honor of the fallen heroes of the resistance during World War II. Such examples illustrate the similarities in the patterns of initiatives led by progressive youth groups across the world.<br />
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With the lockdown entering the fourth phase in mid-May, another important task identified by the youth of Kerala is for facilitating maximum contributions to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF-Kerala). For this purpose, along with coordinating individual and group donations, DYFI has launched a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dyfikeralastatecommittee/photos/a.656853137783243/1849057425229469/?type=3&theater">Recycle Kerala</a> campaign to collect used, secondary materials from households for recycling. The recycled products will be sold by DYFI and the proceeds would be donated to the CMDRF.<br />
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With the return of expats from COVID-19 hotspots, Kerala is now braving a third wave of the pandemic. In order to organize quarantine centers for those who are returning, DYFI cadres, along with State officials, have returned to work setting up facilities and disinfecting and sanitizing existing ones for the more than 250,000 people returning home. <br />
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Meanwhile, the threat of a heavy monsoon looms. Excessive rain in previous years has led to two heavy floods, inflicting serious damage to lives and livelihoods in the State. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in his daily media briefing on May 14 that the government is making pre-monsoon arrangements necessary. In the wake of this, all the volunteer groups, especially of DYFI, are gearing up for a massive drive for (1) statewide pre-monsoon cleaning (2) widening and deepening culverts, sewers, drains and watercourses to ensure the smooth flow of rainwater, (3) precaution against monsoon-related diseases, and (4) organizing accommodation facilities as camps to relocate families in case of floods.<br />
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Other youth organizations, volunteer groups and charities are also involved in relief work in the State. In the same line as the DYFI, the leftist All India Youth Federation (AIYF) has also carried out significant relief efforts in their strongholds in the State during this time. <br />
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What makes the progressive initiatives pursued by DYFI and similar organizations unique is the comprehensive approach adopted to cater to the diverse problems emerging from the pandemic and the lockdown. Step-by-step, these organizations have carried out a systematic and scientific outreach program and continue to provide social solidarity to people in all walks of lives in the entire State. In light of the unprecedented crisis, DYFI did not act on a pre-planned module but evolved its strategy as a spontaneous response to the need of the hour. It is also important to note that the nature and pattern of DYFI’s initiatives have also grown in tandem with the proactive policies of the State government, which has become a model for other Indian States and the nation itself.<br />
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Citing reports by experts, Kerala’s chief minister also stated on May 14 that COVID-19 may stay with us for a long period of time. To survive such times, there is a need to adapt, reorient and re-configure our lives. Neo-liberal governments, tokenism and random acts of charity will not help in such a situation, nor sustain us. Only pro-people governments and a humane civil society with a scientific temper will take us forward. As of today, there is only one remedy for COVID-19 – social solidarity.<br />
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<i>We have a new website - check out <a href="http://ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca/">ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca</a> to keep up to date!</i>bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-51020555608593366972020-06-08T19:20:00.000-04:002020-06-08T19:20:21.538-04:00Say his name: George Floyd<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<em>Central Executive Committee, June 2020</em><br />
<i>This post was originally published as a statement at <a href="http://ycl-ljc.ca/2020/06/08/say-his-name-george-floyd">ycl-ljc.ca</a></i><br />
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The YCL-LJC expresses full and unwavering support for those fighting for justice for George Floyd, Regis Korchinsky-Paquet, and all others murdered by police in white-supremacist violence. Alongside their communities, we mourn the lives of George Floyd, a black man murdered by police in Minneapolis and Regis Korchinsky-Paquet, an Afro-Indigenous woman murdered by police in Toronto. Solidarity actions continue to take place across North America, with thousands taking to the streets to demand justice. The corporate media continues to call it looting, violence and disorder, however those who fight on the side of justice call it an uprising, a rebellion, and class-struggle.<br />
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Both Canada and the United States are founded on the agonizing forced labour of chattel slavery and colonial violence. Police forces were created to both capture escaped black people who resisted enslavement and to enact the genocidal removal of Indigenous peoples from their land with brutal force. Since this time, as Bryan Stevenson said, “slavery was never abolished, it only evolved”. As a result police forces have never ceased their violence against black and Indigenous people in North America, with the justice system designed to continue to protect the interests of the wealthy and maintain class divisions at all cost. Those incarcerated often become a source of very cheap labour for the capitalist class, as many are forced to work for only a few cents an hour in order to produce commodities for big corporations that profit immensely from prison labour. Therefore, there are clearly parallels between these hyper-exploitative working conditions and slave labour, particularly since many of these prison labourers are Black.<br />
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While Canada prides itself on being more peaceful and inclusive than its neighbor, black and Indigenous people are subject to routine state violence and systemic overpolicing. The number of racialized inmates in Canada increased by around 75% in the last decade.The rate of incarceration of indigenous women increased by 80 per cent in the past decade.Through a special inquiry in Toronto it was found that while 9 percent of the population is black, 70 percent of those killed by police gunfire are black people. Police harassment has become a daily threat for racialized Canadians, especially young people: ‘carding’ data from Toronto showed in every patrol zone the number of young black males ‘documented’ by police outnumbered the population of young black men living there. After 40 years of advocacy, the police only began last year to systematically collect race-based data. However, this violence occurs across Canada, with massively inflated police budgets that prioritize weaponry, incarceration and violence over the health of communities. Take for example when in 2016 a 6 year old black girl who weighed 48 pounds was held down on her stomach by two white male Peel police officers who cuffed her with standard issue metal cuffs at the wrists behind her back and her ankles, she was then kept in that position for 28 minutes until paramedics arrived. Take also for example the gratuitous and unpunished shooting of Freddy Villanueva by a Montréal Police officer in 2008.<br />
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Indigenous people make up 4 percent of the population, yet 30 percent of incarcerated people are Indigenous. Between 2016 to 2019 during the Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls there were more than 130 Indigenous women and girls reported as victims of a homicide, whose death was deemed suspicious, or who died while in institutional care, according to two databases. Both databases showed a rate of at least three deaths of Indigenous women and girls per month during that time span. There are countless reports of racist and genocidal violence, humiliation, harassment, sexual assault and murder at the hands of police. The working class is crying out from the streets and the voices are clear; ‘Black Lives Matter!’ ‘No More Stolen Sisters!’.<br />
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Government, police and military have responded with increased repression and indiscriminate violence, targeting not only resisters but journalists, bystanders and even children. As this movement shows, black people continue to be the main target, with reports of police shootings of black resisters such as in Louisville and countless injuries and arbitrary arrest. This is the face of the capitalist class system, that as working-class people fight back in self-defense against continued violence, inequality, poverty, and indignity, the response will be empty words at best, or as we see now, vicious violence.<br />
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The ongoing history of the Canadian state is a story of systemic racism: Residential Schools, the expulsion of Acadians, the Komagata Maru massacre, the Chinese Head Tax and exclusion, the internment and forced labour of Japanese-Canadians, the neglection and destruction of Africville, the 1992 Younge st. Uprising. This is the violence Capitalism requires. This is “democracy” under capitalism, this is the kind of “democracy” imperialists are defending all over the world.<br />
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As Marx wrote in <em>Capital </em>this system relies on racist violence: <br />
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<em>The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the indigenous population of that continent, the beginnings of the conquest and plunder of India, and the conversion of Africa into a preserve for the commercial hunting of black skins are all things that characterize the dawn of the era of capitalist production. . . . Capital comes dripping from head to toe, from every pore, with blood and dirt.</em><br />
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Solidarity marches and demonstrations are taking place across the globe. United States Embassies around the world have become memorials for victims of senseless and brutal class violence. Police in every capitalist state are instruments of bourgeois repression. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been on Imperialist missions to Sudan, Kosovo, the West Bank, and Haiti. Canadian municipal police forces have travelled to Israel for training by the notorious Ministry of Public Security. Police intelligence units in post-coup Honduras received training from RCMP. Violating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Trudeau government sent militarized police into sovereign Wet’suwet’en Nation territory to push through a pipeline.<br />
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The militarisation of police in every capitalist state has been part of the global flow of capital. Between 1988 and 2012 police expenditures in Canada increased by nearly $100 dollars per citizen in constant dollars. In 2017/2018, police in Canada spent over $666 million in capital expenditures on items such as vehicle and equipment purchases, new buildings, and information technology (IT) operations.<br />
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Moreover, it’s important to mention that police brutality and repression against racialized peoples, particularly Black and Indigenous people, has historically occurred because the capitalist state has been threatened by resistance movements initiated by these oppressed communities, who were not passively accepting the injustices they faced but were actively organizing themselves and fighting for liberation. In the US, the infamous COINTELPRO documents shed light on how the FBI heavily monitored civil rights and black power activists, falsely imprisoned and even assassinated forces that strongly stood against racism, particularly those who started to make further connections between racism, war and capitalism. Eventually, the US government used the War on Drugs to further police, surveillance, and disproportionately imprison communities of colour. <br />
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Overall, Canada and the United States rely on the prison system and the militarization of the police as both tools of repression, particularly against resistance, and as alternatives to public services that can enhance society, such as education, health care, housing and community programs. These social services have seen massive cuts while there have been large budget increases to policing, prisons and the military. As a result of all this, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 10,000 of those incarcerated with life sentences being children. Therefore, we support initiatives that call for defunding the police, as well as spending less of the budget on prisons and the military to therefore have more money go into public services. Two weeks since George Floyd’s murder the people will not backdown. The widespread relentless, indiscriminate, and escalating violence of the police against resistors across the united states has only led more people to the streets in more cities. As young Communists our work is in building class unity against monopoly capital and NATO imperialism. Only working class power can bring an end to the attack on the masses. As Angela Davis once said, “Only under socialism could the fight against racism be successfully executed.”bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-90944324604490649012020-06-08T11:02:00.000-04:002020-06-08T11:02:02.280-04:00Grocery Workers Talk Poverty Wages and Pandemic Profits<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>By Michelle Paquette and Doug Yearwood</i>, YCL-LJC members in Ottawa<br />
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<i>This article was originally published in <a href="https://www.rankandfile.ca/grocery-workers-talk-poverty-wages/">Rank and File</a> </i><br />
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After large private sector grocery retailers introduced pay increases for frontline workers, Herb & Spice—a locally owned and operated grocery store in Ottawa— announced that its employees would receive a $1.50/hour hazard pay increase. Unlike other grocery stores who have committed to maintaining the pay increase until the pandemic subsides, this employer is only delivering hazard pay for a single pay period.<br />
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The one-time pay bump came after UFCW Local 175 & 633—which represent Herb & Spice workers—called on other employers to follow the lead of the big corporate grocers. <br />
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“This premium is well deserved for these current frontline employees. It’s an important recognition for the essential work of our grocery and pharmacy workers during this crisis,” said UFCW Local 175 President Shawn Haggerty. <br />
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Unionized and precarious</h3>
Herb & Spice workers joined UFCW Local 175 in April 2015, in part because of “legitimate health and safety concerns.” In January 2016, Herb & Spice workers ratified their first collective agreement, which included a $0.25/hour wage increase, paid sick leave, and a safety boot allowance. According to the collective agreement signed in December 2018, new hires start at the minimum wage of $14/h. <br />
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Speaking to RankandFile.ca, Herb & Spice workers acknowledged that, even while they appreciate being unionized, low pay and other difficulties remain. <br />
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“The reality is that we make less than $15 an hour, our work conditions are pretty terrible in a lot of ways, and I feel stressed all the time as a worker living paycheque-to-paycheque,” said Danielle Fearnely, a newly-elected shop steward for Herb & Spice. <br />
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“Before the pandemic, working at a grocery store was an incredibly demanding job that required a lot of focus and patience,” said another worker, who chose to remain anonymous. “Often, I would feel pulled from all ends, with demands from not only customers but also management being hurled at me at all times.”<br />
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Working in the pandemic</h3>
Speaking to these workers, it is obvious that stress has only increased, and concerns around health and safety have amplified. <br />
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“The first week was terrible, and our management didn’t respond well. I remember running around sanitizing surfaces while doing various other tasks at the same time, which stretched me too thin and stressed me out completely. It felt bad that our management didn’t seem to care and put us in harm’s way due to lack of preparedness,” said the anonymous Herb & Spice worker. <br />
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It’s not all gloom and doom, however. Fearnley pointed out that, despite the increased stress, solidarity among co-workers has not only provided personal support, but motivated her to try and fix problems at the workplace.<br />
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“The pandemic has made my job 100 times more stressful and has made relationships with my co-workers more strained, but also much stronger in a lot of ways,” Says Fearnley, “Speaking with coworkers about our dangerous conditions and low wages has really helped me feel less alone.”<br />
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Fearnley notes that rather than feeling disempowered and helpless, this crisis has motivated her to organize and build a stronger union.<br />
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Hero pay, poverty wages</h3>
Despite the incredibly dangerous environment these front-line workers are currently facing, the fact remains that they’re not receiving a living wage, even with a temporary hazard pay increase. For example, researcher David MacDonald of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has concluded $26/h is the Ottawa wage required to afford a two bedroom apartment and pay less than 30 percent of their income in rent.<br />
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“I’m happy to see my coworkers working together to demand fairer treatment. However, it [hazard pay] is of course insufficient. It’s clearly just a few crumbs thrown our way to keep us satisfied and complacent—and punching in every day,” Fearnley argues.<br />
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“Our employers are profiting substantially from this crisis, and we know we won’t ever see anywhere near what we are entitled to for the essential work we are doing in creating those profits.”<br />
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Profiting in a pandemic</h3>
Fearnley’s claim that employers are doing especially well during the pandemic is backed up by the available evidence. Statistics Canada data indicates that, during the second week of March, when the government announced its response plan to COVID-19, grocery sales in Canada rose by 38%. Likewise, Sobeys parent company, Empire Company Ltd., said that in a four week period that began on March 8, sales surged by 37%.<br />
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When speaking with RankandFile.ca, workers reported Herb & Spice is definitely busier than normal. <br />
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Fearnley’s critique also echoes part of what Steven Tufts, a York University labour researcher, said in a Globe and Mail<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-many-companies-paying-premiums-for-essential-work-labour-groups-call/"> </a>interview in late March. Like Fearnley, Tufts argued that the voluntary pay increase from employers keeps staff coming into work, but may also be a political substitute for “steeper, more prolonged wage increases” that could be brought about by government legislation.<br />
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Grocery store owners also receive good press from mainstream media for taking action on “hero pay,” which is obviously important in courting public opinion and keeping wages suppressed. This is good public relations for an industry which loudly opposed $15 minimum wage campaigns only a few years ago.<br />
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While the Trudeau and Ford regimes have intervened decisively to prop up businesses with direct subsidies, loans and a huge wage subsidy program, government support for front line workers has been very thin.<br />
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“We want to be paid a living wage. We shouldn’t have to struggle paycheque-to-paycheque just to survive,” Fearnley argues. “If we’re so essential to the functioning of this country, why are we being sacrificed by our own government?” <br />
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“The government needs to step up and give workers more,” said the anonymous co-worker. “Workers want more recognition for the work they are putting in.”<br />
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Building solidarity</h3>
The growth of the service economy since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-2009 has been exponential. But the coronashock has changed this. According to the International Labour Organization, more than one billion people around the world—predominantly in the retail, hotel, and restaurant industries— are at high risk of a pay cut or losing their job. In Canada alone, over 8 million people have applied for COVID-19 emergency relief in the past month. <br />
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Like many other struggles facing our society, such as unaffordable housing, the pandemic has crystallized the challenges of young, low-wage workers and the importance of organized labour. As stated by the anonymous Herb & Spice worker:<br />
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“COVID-19 has shown that because we are unionized, workers are the Herb & Spice have more power to shape their surroundings than we would have thought otherwise; that if we act collectively, changes to issues that come up can be rectified and not just thrown in the bin in the name of keeping discussions ‘civil’ within the workplace.” <br />
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Though private sector unionization rates have fallen over the past three decades, a unionized workplace with an active, organized membership remains fundamentally important to protecting workers, especially at times of crises like today’s pandemic.<br />
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“I think I can speak on behalf of most of my coworkers when I say that the pandemic has absolutely renewed our resolve and our commitment to building solidarity,” says Fearnley, noting that $1.50/h raise will not deliver her or her co-workers from precarity.<br />
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“A government that is not structured to promote my interests as a worker is not going to deliver me the radical changes that I want to see. We, the workers, have the power to resist, to demand and to free ourselves from exploitation. Concessions are beneficial, but our desire for change shouldn’t end there and that change will not come from above.”</div>
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<i>We're migrating to a new website! Check it out at <a href="http://ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca/">ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca</a>!</i>bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-74711509618129881712020-05-15T13:34:00.002-04:002020-05-15T13:35:21.479-04:00YCL-LJC Salutes the Palestinian people on Nakba Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Central Executive Committee, May 14th 2020</i><br />
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This statement was originally published on <a href="https://ycl-ljc.ca/2020/05/14/ycl-ljc-salutes-the-palestinian-people-on-nakba-day/">YCL-LJC.ca</a><br />
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On Nakba Day, The YCL-LJC reiterates its wholehearted support for the Palestinian people, and strongly condemns Israel’s occupation and annexation of Palestinian lands. Nakba Day is a day of commemoration for Palestinians who faced mass displacement following the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their towns and villages, many of which were entirely depopulated and destroyed. For 72 years, the Palestinian people have been fighting for recognition of their own state in the image of their national aspirations. Throughout this time, the Israeli apartheid state has organized the deadliest raids, in total violation of human rights and in total violation of international law.<br />
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Today, Palestinians continue to struggle against ongoing displacement from their homelands. Currently, more than 5,248,000 live in refugee camps because Israel denies Palestinians the right to return. In contrast, more than 375,000 Israeli settlers are implanted in about 150 settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan, an unacceptable breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention. <br />
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In the face of ongoing colonization and increasing imperialist aggression, Palestinians resisting this violence have been persecuted by the Israeli state. There are now appoximately 5000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, including many children. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, Palestinian political prisoners face even more threats to their safety and health, which is continuing to be neglected by the Israeli apartheid state. In fact, Israel has gone as far as raiding and shutting down Palestinian Testing Clinics in East Jerusalem, while arresting activists providing testing kits to people, though knowing that overcrowded living conditions can lead to a rapid spread of the virus. The Israeli siege of the Gaza strip and West Bank have turned these territories into open-air prisons, in which people have already been kept in lockdown conditions prior to the COVID-19 crisis, and are now facing even greater danger being one of the most densely populated places in the world where the virus can spread at a very fast rate. Now more than ever, we need to oppose Israel’s siege and settlements, where Palestinians face violent oppression, imprisonment and death.<br />
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Despite this however, Imperialist countries, most notably the United States, have done everything in their power to increase Israel’s stronghold on Palestinian lands– doing what they can to impede Palestinian self-determination. Recently, Donald Trump proposed his supposed “deal of the century”, which is nothing more than a plan for ongoing occupation. Trump’s plan, backed by Benjamin Netanyahu, aims to cede control of the eastern border with Jordan to Israel, while also proposes to place the Palestinian capital on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem rather than East Jersualem itself, ultimately strenghtening Israeli settlements while disempowering Palestinians and their right to soveriegnty. As Hadash member Ofer Kassif said, “The Trump plan is not a peace plan but a plan for war, a plan to commemorate the occupation and regulate apartheid. Ignoring the Palestinians and excluding them from formulating the ‘plan’ is the first indication of this.” <br />
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The erasure of Palestine from the map has been a goal within imperialism’s larger “Greater Middle East” plan, aimed to destabilize the entire region in order to strengthen imperialism’s hegemony. Imperialists have made it their mission to destroy any nation that gets in their way, while supporting, arming and funding those who have been their allies, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. It is the iron law of Capitalism in its highest stage, Imperialism, that there be no room for nations, states, or peoples whose development is not in total harmony with the aims of the leading imperialist bloc. The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the destruction of Libya, the proxy wars in Syria, the constant threats and sanctioning of Iran, and of course, the destruction of Palestine, are all examples of this. <br />
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Being an imperialist country and a close ally of the United States, Canada has played an active role in supporting Israel and their plans to continue annexing and occupying Palestinian territories. For instance, Justin Trudeau has recently sent a letter to the International Criminal Court (ICC) saying it had no jurisdiction to investigate Israeli war crimes against Palestinians. During Israel’s numerous military actions against Gaza throughout the past few years, the Canadian state continued to show its support to Israel while vilifying Palestinians. Moreover, Canada was one of the only countries that shamefully abstained in voting to condemn Trump’s declaration to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel back in 2018. Today, Canada has done nothing to oppose Trump’s “deal of the century,” once again showing its support for occupation and displacement. To take it even further, when democratic forces in Canada, especially students, organized behind the growing BDS movement to speak out against the ongoing genocide and colonialism of Israel, the Canadian government condemned us, even through force, in attempts to silence and suppress pro-Palestinian activism. Ultimately, Canada’s support for Israel’s displacement of Palestinians comes to little surprise considering both its role in NATO’s warmongering missions abroad, as well as its own history and ongoing displacement of indigenous peoples here from their lands. In response we say, down with Canadian Imperialism and stop the genocide of indigneous peoples!<br />
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On Nakba Day, we denounce, louder than ever, Canada’s shameful position to support Israel’s apartheid system, illegal settlements, and violent oppression and displacement of Palestinians.We continue to support the demands of the Palestinian people, its leadership, and our Palestinian sister organizations in the World Federation of Democratic Youth: for the complete withdrawal of Israel from all occupied territories, dismantlement of the settlements and the Apartheid wall, lifting the siege on Gaza, the full right of return for refugees, the release of all Palestinian prisoners, and Palestinian self-determination. Additionally, the YCL-LJC will continue to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement until Palestinians achieve their full liberation. <br />
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At this moment, the most pressing task is to build and strengthen solidarity movements for Palestine both within Canada and internationally. Therfore, in response to the flame of Israeili independence, the YCL-LJC joins our sister organisations today in supporting the “Flame of Return” initiative in remembrance of the Palestinian Nakba, as well as calls to create signs to Free Palestine. <br />
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Since 1948, the people of Palestine have been fighting for freedom and their right to self- determination. As long as there is occupation, there will be resistance.<br />
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Free Free Palestine! Long Live Palestine!<br />
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الشعب يريد تحرير فلسطين<br />
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"<i>I stood up to my oppressors<br /><br />orphaned, nude, and barefoot<br /><br />I carried my blood in my palm<br /><br />I never lowered my flags<br /><br />I guarded the green grass<br /><br />over my ancestor’s graves<br /><br />I call on you<br /><br />I clasp your hands</i>” – Tawfiq Zayyad</div>
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bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-28623753671935054852020-05-10T17:49:00.000-04:002020-05-10T17:52:38.290-04:00Check out our new website!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><b>Rebel Youth is migrating to a new space!</b></i><br />
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<i>Rebel Youth</i> and <i>Jeunesse militante</i> will now be available to read at <a href="https://ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca/">ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca</a><br />
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But don't worry! The archives of all articles from 2005 to early 2020 will remain at this space. The French-language archives will remain <a href="http://yclljc-magazine.blogspot.com/">here</a>.<br />
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To transition to our new blog, we will be posting the next five articles on both this website as well as our new blog, but new material will thenceforth be available only at <a href="https://ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca/">ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca</a><br />
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We encourage our readers to check out our new page and to bookmark it for their convenience! Keep your eyes peeled for our 25th print issue of <i>Rebel Youth/Jeunesse militante</i>, which will be released in the coming months.<br />
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<b>Access the new <i>Rebel Youth/Jeunesse militante</i> blog <a href="https://ry-jm.ycl-ljc.ca/">by clicking here</a>.</b>bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-52632200704980217652020-05-09T11:11:00.000-04:002020-05-09T11:11:26.494-04:0075 Years Since the Victory over Fascism - The Decisive Blow to Colonialism <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>By Tyson Riel Strandlund</i><br />
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When asked to reflect on the defeat of fascism, the images that come to mind for most are set in Europe, either on the bloody battlefields of World War II, or behind the barbed wire of the concentration camps. For liberal and otherwise revisionist historians, the Holocaust and other atrocities by the Nazis are depicted either as the result of Hitler’s personality or “insanity”, or worse, as an inevitable response to Soviet “totalitarianism”. As historical materialists, we understand that “great man” history or psycho-history of this kind which ignores the material and social forces at play in any historical setting is idealism, and reflects a disdain for the working class on whose shoulders history is truly carried. Indeed, there is some truth in the assertion that German fascism grew from a response to the Soviet Union, but not, as is falsely claimed, a response to Soviet aggression or attacks on personal liberties. For the 75th anniversary of the heroic victory over fascism, for which the Soviet people sacrificed as many as 30 million lives, it’s my hope to help make the case – which at one time was well known – that this victory, for the vast majority of people in the world, was a victory over the forces of colonialism and imperialism.<br />
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As a historian, I must ask my audience for some patience if I’m inclined to begin in 1794, when revolutionary France first abolished slavery throughout the empire, which soon led to the declaration of independence by Haiti led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. The world’s first successful slave rebellion marked the beginning of the end for the old colonial relations. While their foundations were shaken however, it would take more than a hundred years for the weakest link of imperialism to finally be broken – that of the Russian Empire. Too often overlooked is the fact that the first socialist revolution was also a national liberation struggle for the over a hundred distinct nationalities in what would become the Soviet Union. These nations gained sovereignty and self-determination for the first time as voluntary components of the Soviet Union and its eventual 15 republics, each further divided into as many autonomous units as necessary to account for the rich array of peoples and languages and cultures that composed the new multinational state. This not only materially weakened imperialism on a global scale with the defeat of a major imperialist power, but further set an example to the colonized peoples of the world that it is indeed possible to win against the colonial empires, and to build a society run by the workers. Not only this, but taking place in a country where capitalism had only just begun developing, existing alongside pre-capitalist, feudal modes of production, the October Revolution demonstrated the power of subjective over strictly objective forces, and that the maturation of capitalism is not a prerequisite for revolt. In so doing, the Soviet Union had posed an open challenge to the forces of imperialism which would echo throughout the Third World. It is this challenge that fascism was called on to answer.<br />
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Aimé Césaire did not differentiate between colonialism and fascism. It was clear to him that fascism was a political form of bourgeois rule in times when parliamentary democracy posed a threat to capitalism. Colonialism meanwhile was essentially “naked power” justified by racism to seize resources otherwise unattainable by less coercive means. Indian historian Vijay Prashad similarly described colonialism and fascism as “different in form, while in manners identical.” The concentration camps, the exclusion of the working population from politics, and the unhindered rule of corporations and the capitalist class in their thirst for profits, while perhaps novel in Europe was all too familiar in the colonies. Hitler’s aim was indeed to make a colony of Eastern Europe, its population to be mostly exterminated, and the remainder enslaved. <br />
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The Soviets understood the links between colonialism and fascism, tied together by racism. The Soviet record in this regard is perfectly clear – never at any point in their history did they rely on colonialism in any form. From the national liberation of the Soviet republics and of Mongolia, to the fight against Franco in Spain, the Soviet Union in spite of great challenges can truly be said to have “walked the walk” of proletarian internationalism, even in the interwar years. The purpose of fascism was to suppress these revolts in the colonies and at home, and to maintain imperial domination by the capitalist class by any means. The imperialist powers of Britain and the United States were therefore more than willing to share in the spoils with the Axis so long as they kept the spread of socialism and anti-colonial movements at bay, which explains their eagerness to appease Hitler with territories in Europe, as well as the lengthy list of non-aggression pacts signed by the Western powers in the decade prior to the outbreak of war (and prior, mind you, to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact signed as a desperate measure to buy time after the refusals by Western powers to form an alliance against Hitler, and of anti-communist Poland and Czechoslovakia to receive Red Army troops to defend against the inevitable invasion).<br />
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The defeat of fascist Germany, Italy, and Japan represented the defeat of the foremost detachment of imperialism, weakened the colonial powers, and significantly changed the global balance of forces. Only a few years prior, the idea that the imperialist powers would be forced to relinquish their colonial possessions was unthinkable. The ripening of internal conditions and the disintegration of colonialism and imperialism made possible a new era of national liberation in the post-war years, strengthened not only morally and ideologically by the Soviet Union and the newly formed socialist bloc, but increasingly materially. The crushing of fascism had by the 1950s allowed the socialist system to become a decisive influence in the world, and by the 1970s achieved socialist preponderance. The weakening of imperialism had made possible for the first time completely new alliances of forces, and an increased unity of the global proletariat. These conditions allowed for the emergence and victory of national liberation movements even without the destruction of capitalism in the imperial metropole, and further cleared the way for non-capitalist development in pre-capitalist societies for whom development had been stunted by colonialism. It is for this reason that nationalism in the Third World countries took on an inherently different character than the nationalism of the imperialist powers, having developed under very different material conditions.<br />
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Lenin’s theory of imperialism suggested that as a result of colonialism, the capitalist powers created their own gravediggers by creating an industrial proletariat that would develop a collectivist consciousness and overthrow the colonial masters. For this reason, the Soviets viewed industrialization as objectively anti-imperialist. Although the colonial powers did not create even development, but in many ways hindered it, creating infrastructure that helped maintain their profits and hampering industrialization which would threaten their monopolies in the imperial core. Far from wrong however, today Lenin has been proven more correct than ever – his theory simply came too early. Formal independence in Asia, Africa, and Latin America created the conditions for a national bourgeoisie to arise, industrialization to take place, and the basis for real economic independence to be established. But as we know, these countries today, many of which were developing along socialist or non-capitalist paths, have since been forced back onto their knees, and the optimism which coloured the 1970’s has disappeared.<br />
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While the post-war years on one hand were a period of liberation and revolution for colonized peoples of the world, the imperialist powers meanwhile wasted no time in setting to work expunging the record and obscuring the connection between fascism and colonialism. The suggestion that fascism was simply Nazism and the “insanity” of Hitler allowed Europe and North America to revive colonialism without embarrassment. The Dutch sent their forces to Indonesia, the British suppressed uprisings from Africa to Southeast Asia, the French attempted to retake their former colonies in Algeria and Indochina, and the Americans carried out coups and invasions across Latin America and as far away as Iran. US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles feared that decolonization would cost the US its military bases and access to raw resources, and called for “patience” towards decolonization, and by this means the language of imperialism was quickly revived. While fascism had been defeated, it was clear that colonialism would be welcomed into the post-war era cleansed of any such associations.<br />
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Today, the Soviet Union is no more, nor is the socialist block that provided the Third World with alternative trade partners and aid aimed at industrialization and independence rather than exploitation and use strictly of raw resources. Formal colonialism has been replaced with neo-colonialism, and those countries which had achieved real economic independence are gone save a few, with domination imposed more subtly through predatory loans and authoritarian compradors more loyal to international capital than their own people. The policy of Détente which the US had been forced to accept in the 1970’s gave way to renewed willingness to engage militarily by the 1980’s, and with the loss of the Soviet deterrence, has left US imperialism with few obstacles preventing direct or indirect military involvement and destabilization. The countries of Soviet Central Asia which the UN had become accustomed to comparing developmentally to the countries of Western Europe have been plunged back into a state more comparable to neighbouring Afghanistan, with the other formerly socialist countries experiencing similar declines in all measures of living standards. Ultra-nationalism is once more being employed to compensate for lack of democratic participation by the working class, as austerity measures are increasingly put in place in even the most advanced capitalist economies, and colonial projects are being intensified in an attempt to withstand falling rates of profits and the inherent contradictions of capitalism. As we stand on the precipice of yet another global recession, there will be attempts to create distractions and cast blame on socialist countries like China and Venezuela, to blame other independent countries like Iran and Syria, but most immediately here in Canada, to scapegoat Indigenous people and immigrants for this unavoidable crisis of capitalism.</div>
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For the 75th anniversary of the victory over fascism, I would have readers remember that this victory was arguably the most significant blow ever given to colonialism – but furthermore that this fight is not over. The struggle against fascism lives on in the struggle against imperialism, against racism, and against neo-colonialism, all alive and well in this country, as the RCMP’s attacks on Indigenous sovereignty on behalf of the capitalist class have shown – to say nothing of the vitriolic response by non-Indigenous Canadians. There is no Red Army to save us this time. If the Canadian working class has any hope of avoiding a renewed rise of fascism, then it must make common cause with both the world proletariat and Indigenous people for whom it was never truly defeated.</div>
bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-56506213349241078122020-05-07T15:26:00.000-04:002020-05-10T17:05:16.690-04:00Death Does Not Dazzle the Eyes of the Partisans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>By Adrien Welsh (translated from the French by Bronwyn Cragg)</i><br />
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February 21, 1944, Mont Valérien, 3pm. Nazi rifles detonate and shoot down 23 resistance fighters, half of whom are under the age of 25. All are part of the Manouchian group -- Manouchian, leader of the Partisan Snipers of the <i>Main-d’œuvre immigrée</i>. All but two are foreigners, many are Eastern Europeans, many are Jewish, and others are Spanish Republicans in exile. All are communists.<br />
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The <i>Organisation de la Main-d’œuvre immigrée</i> (MOI) was founded in 1925, when the French Communist Party decided to organize foreign workers into language groups in order to integrate them into the country's social and political battles. During the Spanish Civil War, many of them volunteered and served in the International Brigades: to struggle against fascism in Spain was to struggle against Nazism. <br />
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In 1942, the French Communist Party decides to intensify its resistance action, in particular armed resistance, and creates a military body: the Partisan Snipers (FTP - <i>les Franc-tireurs partisans</i>). The <i>Main-d’œuvre immigrée</i> joins the movement and creates its own detachment, the FTP-MOI. With the “old” seasoned in the fight in Spain or in the clandestine struggle in other countries, young immigrants in the prime of their life are gathered, sometimes very young (some not yet fifteen), all gathered by the desire desire to fight against the Nazi occupier and to fight against fascism.<br />
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From the moment of their creation, the FTP-MOI were the authors of remarkable feats of arms in occupied Paris, including assassinations of high-ranking Nazi officials, derailments of trains, the bombing of strategic occupation-administration buildings, etc. The attacks followed one another at a consistent and sustained pace: it is estimated that, on average, the hundred or so resistance fighters were behind one attack every two days.<br />
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This score is all the more remarkable as, from 1942, the German army knew it was at its peak. That people in the heart of Paris would dare to attack it seemed unthinkable. So, the battle was as much a military feat as it was a psychological one: the idea was to make life in Paris unbearable to the occupying troops. The actions of the FTP-MOI were all the more crucial as, since the summer of 1943, each of the other resistance groups in Paris had fallen into the hands of the police, who had hunted them down under the banner of the occupier, or had otherwise been dissolved by defeatism.<br />
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In the autumn of 1943, the principal elements of the group are arrested. Their highly-publicized trial allows the Nazis and the Vichyists to deal a great blow upon the resistance movement through their propaganda. This trial is quite timely: between 1942 and the end of 1943, the omnipotence of the German army seems to have ended, the Nazi regime being bogged down on the Eastern front with the bitter defeat at Stalingrad. However, this trial makes it possible to attack the Resistance and to present their fighters as foreigners and Jews on Moscow’s payroll.<br />
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No surprise, the 23 accused are sentenced to death. The day after their execution, the day that “the rifles bloomed”, the walls of Paris are lined with red posters upon which the portraits of the freedom fighters are printed, with the inscription, “Liberators? Liberation by the Army of Crime”. We see 11 of the 23 shot, shaggy and threatening, their foreign origins and their actions highlighted. The desired effect is to provoke an aversion among the French towards the Maquisards and the Resistance. <br />
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As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the victory of the peoples over Nazism and Fascism, we must first remember that, without resistance fighters like Manouchian, Bancic, Alfonso and thousands of others, liberation would never have been possible. As communists, they never shuddered before death and never wavered before the imperatives of the struggle.<br />
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We must remember, when a monument to the glory of the Victims of Communism is built in Ottawa, and when the European Parliament adopts a motion putting communism and fascism on an equal footing, it is in fact the Communists who were often the only ones to maintain organization and to deliver heroic resistance from within. They did so even when De Gaulle initially called for resistance from the outside, relying even on British and American imperialism, but also on the French colonial empire.<br />
Finally, to remember the history of these "twenty-three foreigners, but our brothers nevertheless" is to emphasize, during times when we hear more and more hate speech insinuating that the cultures of certain immigrants are incompatible with our values, the contribution of immigrants in the struggle for the liberation of their adopted homeland. These heroic actions contrast with those of the "good Frenchmen" who did not hesitate for a second to collaborate with the Nazis. No doubt even today, if a similar opportunity arose, the Marine Le Pens, Boris Johnsons, or even Maxime Berniers of this world would be the first to collaborate.bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-46214387293779062312020-05-03T08:30:00.000-04:002020-05-07T15:21:30.768-04:00"Our victory stems from our daily activism": A discussion with elected French communist Diana Kdouh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>By Adrien Welsh (translated by Dave McKee)</i><br />
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<i><a href="https://yclljc-magazine.blogspot.com/2020/04/notre-victoire-tient-de-notre.html">This article originally appeared in French in Jeunesse militante</a></i><br />
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France has a long tradition of electing communists locally. As Georges Marchais noted in his 1980 book <i>L’espoir au present</i> (Hope in the Present), “The French Communist Party has 28,000 elected officials, 1500 mayors, nearly 500 councillors. One in five French people live in a communist-controlled municipality.”<br />
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Forty years later the French Communist Party (PCF) has certainly faded, especially after the counter-revolution in Eastern Europe and the USSR. Still, even today several “red cities” remain, particularly in the working-class suburbs around urban centres. These centres of power, which elude the bourgeois parties, are commonly called the “red belts.” The tradition of communist municipalities is so strong that it is sometimes crudely identified as "municipal communism." Some town halls have been run by the PCF since the 1920s (the Parisian suburb of Malakoff is a notable example) but the history of most of these red cities began with the Liberation in 1945.<br />
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This is the case in St-Martin d'Hères, a suburb in Grenoble’s “red belt” where, in the first round of the municipal elections on March 15, the Communist list was voted in with more than 53 percent support. For 75 years, the inhabitants of this working-class suburb have put their confidence in the Communists as the best defenders of social progress. This victory is all the sweeter since the opposition lists all hoped to end 75 years of municipal communism in St-Martin-d'Hères.<br />
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To get a deeper understanding of this victory, I contacted longtime friend and comrade Diana Kdouh, a young municipal councillor for the Communist majority in St-Martin-d'Hères.<br />
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Right away, she stressed that the PCF success was primarily the result of day-to-day work on the ground by local communists – leafletting, rallies, public meetings, banquets – as opposed to electoralism. "The door-to-door work we did was focused on specific municipal policies," she said.<br />
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"The key issue in the campaign,” she added, “was to project our program for a quality public service that meets people’s expectations and needs [...] at the municipal level and sometimes even beyond that.”<br />
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During municipal elections, the political forces that have power at the national level were challenged to establish themselves locally. Emmanuel Macron's La République En Marche (LREM) party did not even exist three years ago, and these elections were a referendum on his government’s policy. It’s a referendum which, according to preliminary results (the second round has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), seems to have ended in failure for Macron and LREM.<br />
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In St-Martin-d'Hères, Macron’s anti-social policies, particularly his pension reform, were clearly rejected. The LREM list obtained only 15 percent of the vote. "Although [his] vote count should not be overlooked, Macron's challenge in St-Martin d'Hères was not successful. Our vanguard is making sure of it!”<br />
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It’s the same story for the Rassemblement national (heir to the Le Pens’ Front national) which has the wind in its sails overall, including in some municipalities in the region like Échirolles where it has 20 percent support. But in St-Martin, not only is there no Rassemblement list, but their activists are completely unwelcome in the red city. As Kdouh remarked, "where the communists defend class positions on a daily basis, there is no room for the far right.”<br />
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The first round of municipal elections saw the lowest voter participation since the 5th Republic was formed, at just over 44 percent. Obviously, holding the vote at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic discouraged many people from voting. Kdouh noted that even long-standing PCF supporters did not mobilize. However, it would be wrong to believe that this low turnout is due solely to COVID-19. "Abstention reached record levels even before the pandemic, if we look at the presidential and legislative elections,” said Kdouh. “The dominant ideology’s attitudes of resignation and fatalism have become well-established.”<br />
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She emphasized that her role as an elected communist had nothing to do with municipal management or administration. For her, and for the Communists, "the municipal level like any other [...] must be a foothold, a platform from which we advance our struggles and demands."<br />
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In other words, the primary responsibility of elected Communists is to use their position to strengthen the struggle of the masses against their exploiters. With this view, elected communists have never hesitated to leap from their Senate or council seats in order to block bailiffs coming to evict workers from their homes. Nor have they hesitated to march at the front of demonstrations in their politicians’ tricolour sash.<br />
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However, it would be wrong to view a communist municipality as an oasis of socialism in a sea of capitalism – far from it. Certainly, elected communists work to improve the living and working conditions of the people. But the fact remains that the conquest of power by the working class cannot be reduced to the conquest of different levels of governance, as we often hear.<br />
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If there is one point on which Kdouh insists, it is that elections must be a means of strengthening daily struggles, not the other way around. The class struggle comes before the struggle for seats.bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-21082948940389727622020-05-01T19:09:00.001-04:002020-05-09T11:20:48.384-04:00May Day 2020: The Youth will not pay for Capitalism’s Crisis<br />
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<i>YCL-LJC Central Executive Committee, May 1, 2020<br /><br />This statement was originally published on the <a href="http://ycl-ljc.ca/2020/03/24/for-a-peoples-recovery-not-a-corporate-plunder">Young Communist League of Canada - La Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada</a> homepage</i><br />
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On the occasion of May 1st 2020, International Workers Day, the Young Communist League of Canada salutes healthcare workers who are on the frontline in the struggle against the COVID-19 Pandemic. We also wish to express our solidarity with those who must continue to work despite the risks of the Pandemic. To all these workers, we reiterate our demand that they be provided at no cost all personal protective equipment and that their health is guaranteed on their workplace. Would that not be the case, their right to refuse to work has to be enforced. We also the more than 10 million people who have lost their job or seen their work hours slashed.<br />
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This year, the first of May comes at a time when the masses and particularly the youth face a fundamental question. Either we accept a “return to normal” and the inevitability of capitalist exploitation once the pandemic is over, or we fight to ensure that neither the youth, nor the oppressed, nor the workers pay for this crisis . It is up to employers and big companies who plunder our wealth, destroy our environment, snatch the fruits of our labour, and engage in criminal imperialist wars of aggression, in order to keep their profits afloat to pay the costs of this crisis for which they are responsible. <br />
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We know that the return to the status quo that is advocated by the ruling class is not synonymous with a better life. The federal emergency deficit of more than $250 billion will undoubtedly be used to justify austerity measures that will result in job loss and larger cuts to social services including an already overwhelmed health care system. Student and other consumer debts will continue to accumulate, tuition fees will continue to increase while wages fall overall. Finding affordable housing will become increasingly difficult. Many small businesses file for bankruptcy. Conversely, large transnational companies will take advantage of the situation to take control of the competition and thus increase their concentration of capital. <br />
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It is this normal that the ruling class and its spokespersons refer to. Now, if there is one thing that the COVID-19 pandemic has been able to reveal to the world, it is that no capitalist system was ready to face this health crisis. The people in capitalist countries were left exposed as a consequence of the commodification of healthcare. In Canada, the various austerity measures and the privatization of several sections of the public health service, in particular through so called Public-Private ‘Partnerships’, have made the health network vulnerable. <br />
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Conversely, in socialist countries and other states that try to develop in a different way than that dictated by the law of the market, the situation is quite different. In Venezuela, the number of people infected with COVID-19 is in the hundreds, not the thousands. In Cuba, despite the blockade reinforced by the Trump government which prevents the delivery of health equipment, doctors are on solidarity brigades in 21 countries and this, without impacting the country’s public healthcare system. In China, the pandemic was taken seriously from the start, effective quarantine measures were applied which allowed this country not only to get out of this crisis, but also to bring aid to countries (including Canada), in particular by sending medical equipment. <br />
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Meanwhile, the imperialist countries continue to impose criminal economic sanctions against more than 40 countries and engage in a smear campaign against the countries that are doing best in this crisis. <br />
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Examples like that of Cuba should give us hope that another world is both necessary and possible. It is with this message of hope that we must approach this May 1st. <br />
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In this particularly difficult times, we must uphold our demands for an emergency universal childcare system for people at work despite the pandemic and for a $20 minimum wage. It is unconceavable that minimum-wage workers, most of which are young and racialised, get less money than what is allocated through the CERB despite them having to face health risks. <br />
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We must also make sure that the coming weeks are marked by youth’s struggle for the expansion of public services (of which free education is a part), for a universal health system in which no one is left behind, for a single-payer employment insurance system which guarantees 90% of income – including for young precarious workers, for the right to a dignified and secure job. <br />
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It is through these struggles that, in the immediate future, we will be able to make the exploiters pay for the crisis and thus lay the foundations for a new society without crises, exploitation or wars.</div>
bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-84142164990102194882020-05-01T11:28:00.001-04:002020-05-01T11:29:55.934-04:00Rent In the Era of COVID-19: An Interview with Victoria Tenant Action Group<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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By Florian Castle</i><br />
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On the 25th of March, John Horgan’s NDP government outlined their plan for dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic. The government’s plan was swiftly condemned by Lekwungen territory-based tenant advocacy organization Victoria Tenant Action Group, or VTAG. VTAG’s statement described some of the issues with Horgan’s proposal, most notably the complete insufficiency of their rent subsidy of $500 per month which would cover only a third of the average monthly rent in Greater Victoria. <br />
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I wanted to find out some more about VTAG’s issues with the government’s plan, so I reached out to VTAG member Ben Baird. Ben made it clear that not only is the $500 subsidy too little, but it is also too late. As it turns out, renters will only be able to even apply for the subsidy in mid-April, more than a month after the crisis hit BC, and the subsidy won’t even kick in until the beginning of May. The government would have been within its power to delay or cancel rent for the month of April, yet it did nothing. Renters have been struggling with a pre-existing housing crisis for years prior to COVID-19, and the meagre subsidy won’t be adequate to address the financial hardship of tenants living under excessive rent burdens, Ben says.<br />
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VTAG’s statement, released on March 27th, called for an immediate and full suspension of rent, mortgage, and utility payments, as well as further clarification around evictions the government has said will be allowed in so-called “exceptional cases.” Elaborating on these demands, Ben says that VTAG has called for a blanket rent suspension because it is the only solution that isn’t too little or too late for renters in BC. Ben gave his personal opinion on the call for mortgage payment suspension (though he made clear that opinions within VTAG may differ), saying that he sees small homeowners as different from big landlords. In his view it is divisive to the working class to call for a moratorium on rent but not on mortgage payments. On the topic of the “exceptional cases,” Ben explained that while the initial announcement was vague, the NDP government has made it clear that “problem tenants,” threats to a landlord’s investment, and health and safety concerns will be considered exceptions. In Ben’s view, any eviction that takes place in the midst of a public health emergency is <i>itself</i> a health and safety concern.<br />
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VTAG’s statement describes the NDP as “betraying its roots as a social democratic party.” I asked Ben what their response to this crisis has done to his faith in the NDP as a progressive force. While clarifying that he isn’t a scholar of NDP history, Ben did say that he is inspired by the party’s roots in the prairies. Despite this history and many years of voting for them, in January of 2019 Ben stopped voting NDP for good due to their active participation in the invasion of Wet’suwet’en. He sees their climate program as a failure, and the passing of UNDRIP followed by an armed invasion of sovereign indigenous territory as a gross betrayal. He says he will no longer be supporting them with his vote. <br />
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To conclude, I asked Ben more broadly what kinds of changes he would like to see in the housing sphere. He says there are diverse views within VTAG, but he personally believes social housing to be a desirable alternative to private ownership and rental tenure. He believes taxpayer funded government housing needs to be expanded and that we need more diverse forms of cooperative tenure. He also believes we should introduce collective ownership of apartment complexes. He emphasized how clear the pandemic has made the instability of Canada’s current housing model.<br />
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Ben and VTAG are not alone in their loss of faith in the NDP. In my organizing with the YCL I have time and time again met those who have come to understand the fundamental flaws and limits of a bourgeois social-democratic party. Over these past few years, the NDP has demonstrated in the spheres of indigenous rights, environmental justice, workers’ rights, crisis response, housing, and more that their loyalty is to the Canadian bourgeoisie, and that their supposedly working class politics are a mere pretence.<br />
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VTAG’s full statement can be found at the following url: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1799605883387741/posts/3517357474945898">https://www.facebook.com/1799605883387741/posts/3517357474945898</a>bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-40640793784993072162020-04-07T13:14:00.000-04:002020-04-07T13:14:15.297-04:00COVID-19: More than ever, it's time to fight for free education<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eMOCfX3KzX8/Xoy0qaacxVI/AAAAAAAABgI/cKtpj7nrMdkqx1KgMO-1ZSeKFbpa5FgiQCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoDZFKf8GDJRqlXfKxklR8YeTDDPgZBZce6D7Qq8XSUdSHWPh5HLBeJ7WtTuwyWO2HIo8zyVt0ETD2q1IPScidp1uTxbQhFsJ0BYUgdchb-0Pl4pzaLvJxE7b5rzpBbqIRBr0OdqB0OA_fkaEhJ4RMVp42Jl9uAY_qrGLYOFPBPxzjdgJ-iCfGOWp69vx5TB1zi-5Q4BuBO6pyu_4yVmZtynsQK1CYXpNX5q66nPnt9GYqCVql0_stgy0SsBzXJx9eThnooB9A8DCXI-gKO9mKEJAE-1JSxyCuknc1fKEsIII5zAiQwe0fMqbGRjSJPl6WMFtQYBEb_14YJoQ81QPlSlqq7Ox_hWdm9e4u455xHuwXhCCcruYg0UEA5FPBZdMU7fYkjsiJaF0pT6Cn9RGGdQ8w8oMsbBF7R8htX9PC-Ti_ZeLAkmsjWHgJRkXXCLdzzLCErOiOy27WWV6WJ8Afmyloa-lVV7hrjoGURvZ5O_1L-g3E1sbwXqjjsKI1XJiUrDJIu9lxnDkMeCVekvRJcdLJKIkRYU7aA2YNFXwmKiEFs4j_bc965z3ZaG20yVWaVC-K4xWszQ3-6KimWy8VWLa3l6R-smn3kYMI3usvQF/s1600/Free_Education.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="313" height="205" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eMOCfX3KzX8/Xoy0qaacxVI/AAAAAAAABgI/cKtpj7nrMdkqx1KgMO-1ZSeKFbpa5FgiQCEwYBhgLKs4DAMBZVoDZFKf8GDJRqlXfKxklR8YeTDDPgZBZce6D7Qq8XSUdSHWPh5HLBeJ7WtTuwyWO2HIo8zyVt0ETD2q1IPScidp1uTxbQhFsJ0BYUgdchb-0Pl4pzaLvJxE7b5rzpBbqIRBr0OdqB0OA_fkaEhJ4RMVp42Jl9uAY_qrGLYOFPBPxzjdgJ-iCfGOWp69vx5TB1zi-5Q4BuBO6pyu_4yVmZtynsQK1CYXpNX5q66nPnt9GYqCVql0_stgy0SsBzXJx9eThnooB9A8DCXI-gKO9mKEJAE-1JSxyCuknc1fKEsIII5zAiQwe0fMqbGRjSJPl6WMFtQYBEb_14YJoQ81QPlSlqq7Ox_hWdm9e4u455xHuwXhCCcruYg0UEA5FPBZdMU7fYkjsiJaF0pT6Cn9RGGdQ8w8oMsbBF7R8htX9PC-Ti_ZeLAkmsjWHgJRkXXCLdzzLCErOiOy27WWV6WJ8Afmyloa-lVV7hrjoGURvZ5O_1L-g3E1sbwXqjjsKI1XJiUrDJIu9lxnDkMeCVekvRJcdLJKIkRYU7aA2YNFXwmKiEFs4j_bc965z3ZaG20yVWaVC-K4xWszQ3-6KimWy8VWLa3l6R-smn3kYMI3usvQF/s400/Free_Education.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Manuel Rato</i></div>
</i><br />For many students, COVID-19 is synonymous with anxiety: anxiety about the accommodation they will probably no longer be able to afford at the end of the month, anxiety about their food and summer jobs so essential for making ends meet and paying higher and higher tuition fees.<a name='more'></a><br />These concerns are not limited to finances. Everyone wonders what will happen to their school career, their term, their exams. It is obvious that both the current material and psychological conditions are not conducive to study. Universities and schools must not turn into brain-shaping centers for the interests of Capital. On the contrary, they are places devoted to the dissemination of knowledge and personal development. It is for this reason that the end of the 2020 semester and school year should be declared, and all students who are not failing should move on to the next year. Credits should be awarded to students on a pass/fail basis. These measures are not so extraordinary: the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières and the University of Quebec in Outaouais have already applied them. Many petitions are circulating for this purpose. <br /><br />It is impossible to predict the end of the health crisis. However, for a good number of students, the simple fact of registering at the university implies moving to urban centers, and therefore signing a lease for the duration of the school year. If the extraordinary measures applied to curb the pandemic (that is, the closing of schools and universities) continue for another month, there is a good chance that these leases will expire, or that the students will have other plans for the summer, which presents a real logistical puzzle. For those who live in student accommodation, the majority of which are closed, resuming classes in a month implies a new move. <br /><br />For international students, this puzzle is even more crucial: as student residences empty, their only option is either to take up residence with friends, or return home. However, not all countries have the means necessary to repatriate them. What is there to do for nationals of countries in the grip of war or occupation (Syria, Iraq, Palestine, etc.)? How can they manage if they contract COVID-19 when their access to universal health care is limited despite the $25,000 they pay, on average, in tuition fees? <br /><br />In his various announcements, Trudeau contented himself with promising students amnesty on interest payments on their student debt. However, he fails to put in place an amnesty on student debt itself, much less a measure promoting access to higher education. Once the health crisis has been overcome, bills risk spiking. With consumer debts having accumulated, the return to interest payments on the $30,000 on average that each student must pay in Canada will be all the more brutal. <br /><br />Faced with this situation, the meager $2,000 a month that Trudeau offers in emergency aid means very little in the grand scheme of things (especially for students who do not have access to it). This sum does not even allow one to survive in several urban centers of the country (where universities, colleges, and CEGEPs are concentrated). <br /><br />The question of the quality of our education also arises. Indeed, if technology currently allows classes to continue remotely, and supposedly to meet the extraordinary needs of the moment, the fact remains that there is danger of extending its use even after the pandemic has ended, at the expense of the quality of education. In the same way that we risk trivializing telework, we will pretend that the distance courses are running smoothly to “reorganize and rationalize resources”, that is to say, to justify the dismissal of teachers, their accumulation of tasks (teaching in several schools via the internet, teaching in several classes at the same time, etc.) to the detriment of their working conditions, and, therefore, to students’ study conditions. <br /><br />It doesn’t take clairvoyance to understand that the measures which our government proposes to students are not only insufficient, but they point us in a dangerous direction, a direction in which one tries to make students, young people, and the working masses pay for the bulk of the expenses of this crisis. <br /><br />The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the contradictions of the capitalist system to those who still doubted its existence. This system is clearly incapable of solving the problems of the population unless the exploiters derive some benefit from it. It is therefore no coincidence that the countries that are doing best are those where we can conclude with confidence that the recovery, once the pandemic is over, will not be in the interests of the wealthy, but in the interests of the people, and where the majority benefit from extensive public services, in particular in the area of healthcare. <br /><br />Expansion of public services, defense of public monopolies, and the nationalization of key sectors of the economy are the keys to preventing employers from gaining even a dollar out of the $260 billion that Trudeau has granted. From a student perspective, we recognize the urgent need for the recognition of education at all levels as a public service, which must be accessible and free of charge to all, as well as provided publicly (with no place given to private corporations in education). We also recognize the need to fight for a democratic and quality education - we say no to courses geared towards the needs of employers. Finally, we state loud and clear that, like health, education is not a commodity! hay-gente-patohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089694946919833684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-25867105842407937272020-04-03T12:00:00.000-04:002020-04-03T12:00:04.384-04:00NATO: A Virus as Deadly as COVID-19<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0TQo-PU8Elc/XoZj0Gng8mI/AAAAAAAAAiw/R7d1Oi7wVZQkyOJyQf5gx7x0PEmxAsrkwCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-02%2Bat%2B6.14.25%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1398" height="182" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0TQo-PU8Elc/XoZj0Gng8mI/AAAAAAAAAiw/R7d1Oi7wVZQkyOJyQf5gx7x0PEmxAsrkwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-04-02%2Bat%2B6.14.25%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>By Adrien Welsh </i><br />
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The death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 40,000 and the number of people infected by this pandemic is approaching one million. Given the scale of this health crisis, there is no doubt that emergency measures, in particular to help the most vulnerable, are necessary. <br />
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However, the billions of dollars mobilized to respond to COVID-19 mean very little in the face of the colossal sums that the Western imperialist states are constantly pouring out not to fight, but to incubate another virus just as deadly, if not more, than COVID-19: NATO. <br />
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NATO has killed 400,000 in Syria since 2011 and left more than a million dead in Iraq alone since 2003. More than $1 trillion is spent on arms each year, or 56% of spending worldwide. There are more than a thousand foreign military bases globally. The military is the most significant source of pollution on the planet. <br />
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Contrary to what Emmanuel Macron asserts, NATO is not in a state of “brain death”. Today it is the main threat to world peace and, therefore, a threat to the whole of humanity. Mark Esper, US Secretary of Defence, said at a Munich Security Conference in February that the competition between “great powers” was the “first priority” of the United States. Esper stressed that America was to adopt a strategy of national defense which distances itself from “conflicts of low intensity” to better prepare for “high intensity” wars with China and Russia. He reiterated that the secondary priority of the United States was the fight against the ‘rogue states’ that are, among others, Iran and the DPR of Korea. <br />
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Even though these announcements were made before the COVID-19 crisis broke out, the fact remains that to date they have not been contradicted by anyone in the United States (not even by Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders), or anywhere else in the world. Trudeau, for his part, has still not considered rolling back the 73% increase in military spending announced in 2017. <br />
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With the billions of dollars mobilized to wage war around the globe and prepare for conflicts of “high intensity”, we could easily have maintained health services able to meet the needs of this crisis. Italy, a member of NATO, has become the centre of the pandemic after China. We have come to learn that the Italian health system is regionalized, so each region is put in competition with the other, and for the past 10 years, cuts to healthcare have amounted to €37 billion, which has resulted in the closure of 150,000 beds. Meanwhile, the annual Italian military budget has risen, according to official sources, to €28 billion... <br />
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Reducing the military budget, which, according to NATO guidelines should amount to 2% of the GDP of each country (nearly $35 billion for Canada against about $25 billion today) would fund not only public health; it is also a way to invest in scientific cooperation projects around the world that would allow countries like Cuba to receive the financial and scientific support necessary to develop their potential vaccine (in this case, Alpha-2B) rather than putting Professor Raoult's findings in competition with those of Cuba, and rather than appealing to the greed of the pharmaceutical companies, as Donald Trump does when he offers German scientists tempting sums if they work on behalf of the United States. <br />
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Unlike COVID-19, NATO is a virus that does not develop in human cells. It is growing thanks to the cells of Big Capital and it is clear that the measures taken by the western capitalist governments, if they serve to curb the health crisis of COVID-19, also serve as an incubator for imperialist warmongering, including that of NATO. Indeed, all the economic indicators are showing that the post-COVID-19 era will be pockmarked by an economic depression and an even greater concentration of capital than that which we saw in 2008 - 2009. However, it is precisely this concentration of capital which acts as an incubator of imperialism and warmongering, because war and occupation are only products of a separation from the world in zones of influence which meet the needs of the increasingly saturated markets, which, to satisfy the needs of their monopolies, must extend beyond their national borders. <br />
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Unlike COVID-19, getting rid of this virus is relatively simple. For us in Canada, it is about fighting for the withdrawal of our country from NATO, which can be achieved through a simple unilateral declaration. It is scandalous that Trudeau and his government speak of solidarity and "national" effort when it does not touch on Canada's participation in NATO or on military spending.<br />
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COVID-19 evolves in disconcerting lock-step with this "other virus", NATO, imperialist war-mongering. This is why anyone who cares about real social solidarity, a social solidarity that does not stop at Canada's borders, but an internationalist solidarity must not fall into the traps set by the ruling class and which aim to instrumentalize the COVID-19 health crisis to better place their pawns on the world geopolitical chessboard and ensure better domination of the world.<br />
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It is for this reason that we call on all of our readers, all progressive people to remember that April 4 represents NATO's anniversary day and, therefore, to sign the <a href="http://chng.it/tHS7xyWJ">following petition</a> calling for Canada's immediate withdrawal from NATO and for the dissolution of this murderous and criminal cartel.bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-88047840641932293782020-03-30T12:28:00.000-04:002020-03-30T12:35:47.863-04:00Write for Rebel Youth! A Call for Submissions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z8VFgF9MWGo/XoId_LXWx5I/AAAAAAAAAh8/GxrxmDTHkmctfNU3nlE8BvYz8__x-WuJgCNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-03-30%2Bat%2B12.27.22%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1600" height="182" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z8VFgF9MWGo/XoId_LXWx5I/AAAAAAAAAh8/GxrxmDTHkmctfNU3nlE8BvYz8__x-WuJgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2020-03-30%2Bat%2B12.27.22%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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How should you kill time under quarantine? <i>Write for RY-JM! </i><br />
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With the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, almost all of Canada is idling under quarantine. As of now, numerous cities, provinces, territories, and First Nations have declared a public health state of emergency. Several schools and universities in the country have closed; restaurants, cafés, stores and other businesses have either closed their doors or reduced their activity and staff, if they are not temporarily laid off, are forced to work from home. All public political and cultural events, demonstrations, rallies, and meetings are cancelled or postponed, thus a large portion of the population are confined to their homes. <br />
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Why not take advantage of these days in confinement to write an article for <i>Rebel Youth</i> or <i>Jeunesse militante</i>? The Press Commission is currently preparing the 25th print edition of our magazine! If you would like to contribute, please send your articles to us by April 10th.<br />
<a name='more'></a>If you need a bit of inspiration, here are some themes to help you get started:<br />
<ul>
<li>The struggles of young workers;</li>
<li>The 75th anniversary of the victory of the people over Nazi-fascism;</li>
<li>2SLGBTQ+ struggles;</li>
<li>A review of indigenous struggles and Wet’suwet’en resistance;</li>
<li>Coronavirus; </li>
<li>...or whatever else interests you!</li>
</ul>
If these topics don’t inspire you, don’t hesitate to broaden the spectrum! We are always open to receiving book reviews, or articles on politics, the arts, sports, etc. <br />
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If you’re not a fan of writing, or if journalism doesn’t excite you, why not send us something artistic (poems, drawings, caricatures, etc.)? Our magazine is open to any proposals and we won’t rule out any form of expression capable of conveying the political message that inspires our magazine, namely a fundamentally anti-capitalist message that is supportive of peace, international solidarity, and youth and popular struggles in Canada and around the world.<br />
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The important thing is that you don’t hesitate to send us your ideas and submissions. We know that the youth have a lot to say, and this is the foundational basis of <i>Rebel Youth</i> and of <i>Jeunesse militante</i>: we do not pretend to be the voice of young people, but rather the voice of the youth in struggle, because we know that the youth is not resigned to its fate, but struggles on a daily basis. And these are the struggles we are committed to promoting. <br />
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Please send your proposals to the following address: <a href="mailto:rebelyouthmag@gmail.com">rebelyouthmag@gmail.com</a> bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-8444295713266635522020-03-29T12:00:00.000-04:002020-03-29T12:00:00.822-04:00Toronto tenants organize “Keep Your Rent” campaign during pandemic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l-RBzU4HO6E/Xn0j6agPmTI/AAAAAAAAAhg/57TVGPyq084uwMGCZ_U-TGPpEC2zLqWCACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/ETt-GDfWkAMoTSj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="167" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l-RBzU4HO6E/Xn0j6agPmTI/AAAAAAAAAhg/57TVGPyq084uwMGCZ_U-TGPpEC2zLqWCACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/ETt-GDfWkAMoTSj.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>By Ivan Byard</i><br />
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<i>This article was originally published in the April 1-15, 2020 issue of <a href="http://peoplesvoice.ca/">People's Voice</a>, Canada's leading socialist newspaper</i><br />
<br />Workers, especially low-income tenants, are being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite social distancing, they’re organizing to put their rights and needs ahead of landlords’ profits. Parkdale Organize, a membership-based group of working class people who organize to build neighbourhood power in Toronto’s Parkdale area, has called for tenants to “Keep Your Rent on April 1.” The campaign comes on the heels of the Ontario Superior Court March 19 decision to place a hold on the enforcement of residential evictions, and the subsequent decision of the Toronto the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) to suspend hearings.<div>
<a name='more'></a><br />Despite these suspensions, landlords have continued to put unnecessary pressure on tenants, many of whom are struggling with layoffs and other economic pressures as public health officials urge people to stay home. Housing activists and tenant organizers are working to build and strengthen the community with every public health precaution.<br /><br />“Keep Your Rent” is not asking anybody to withhold rent on their own. Tenants are reaching out to each other while maintaining physical distance. Phone trees, cloud file sharing, Facebook groups, banners from balconies, propaganda posters and online petitions are all part of the communication campaign. For many, withholding rent on April 1 will not be a choice. With Employment Insurance covering only 55 per cent of previous earnings, and around half of Canadians living paycheque to paycheque, nearly half of all renters in Toronto already spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Hundreds of thousands of workers have filed for Employment Insurance across Canada, as many sectors are seeing layoffs.<br /><br />An online petition started March 19, calling for all rent and mortgage payments in Canada to be cancelled for the duration of the COVID-19 public health crisis, gathered more than 625,000 signatures in five days and is still growing. In Toronto, the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations (FMTA) has called on the Ontario government to waive all residential rent payments on April 1, on the basis that housing is a human right. Tenants are teaching each other and learning as collectives how to organize amid the need to respect physical distancing.<br /><br />With the ongoing housing crisis now hit with a long-term public health crisis, the existing and emerging networks of community organizations will be essential, not just on April 1, but for the duration of the state of emergency and beyond. In Toronto, as elsewhere, decades of budget cuts, austerity policies and selloffs of social housing have added urgency to the ongoing fight to expand public housing, roll back and control rents, and ensure housing for all.<br /><br /><i>For more information and for resources that can be used in other communities, visit <a href="http://keepyourrent.com/">KeepYourRent.com</a></i><br /><br /></div>
bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-73958755200410050872020-03-26T17:39:00.000-04:002020-03-26T17:39:38.643-04:00For a People’s Recovery, NOT A Corporate Plunder!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RG_D5SRlL1E/Xn0gzkL_AhI/AAAAAAAAAhU/EaKI3Fz0C3wV7stgHT3mKvMJ1SdmKmFgACNcBGAsYHQ/s1600/COVID-19-CUBA--800x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="800" height="120" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RG_D5SRlL1E/Xn0gzkL_AhI/AAAAAAAAAhU/EaKI3Fz0C3wV7stgHT3mKvMJ1SdmKmFgACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/COVID-19-CUBA--800x300.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>YCL-LJC Central Executive Committee, March 2020</i><br /><br /><i>This statement was originally published on the <a href="http://ycl-ljc.ca/2020/03/24/for-a-peoples-recovery-not-a-corporate-plunder">Young Communist League of Canada - La Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada</a> homepage</i><br /><br /><br />We salute the immense efforts of healthcare workers to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and provide their essential services in a state of emergency. For over 30 years public sector unions and community organisations have struggled against privatisation, job loss, and closures in the healthcare sector. Our public healthcare system was overwhelmed before the outbreak of the global pandemic. Decades of cuts and austerity will leave working people, Indigenous peoples, the unemployed, the elderly, and the poor severely exposed unless emergency action is taken. <div>
<a name='more'></a><br /><b>NO WORKER LEFT BEHIND! </b><br /><br />Everyone has the right to a safe work environment. No worker should be forced to choose between their safety and their paycheque. Trudeau’s lifeline is insufficient; 55% of previous earnings through Employment Insurance will force millions into poverty. Many precarious workers do not qualify for EI. We need job protection and guaranteed compensation. <br /><ul>
<li>Guarantee all workers at least 21 paid sick days</li>
<li>Make EI non-contributory, and universally and immediately accessible to all workers including part-time and precarious workers for the duration of unemployment at 90 percent of previous earnings </li>
<li>Introduce a guaranteed annual livable income now</li>
<li>Protect workers in healthcare, long-term care and other emergency services with the provision of emergency free childcare services</li>
<li>Introduce plant closure legislation to stop unjustified closures and layoffs</li>
<li>Enforce the right of all workers – organized and unorganized – to refuse unsafe work</li>
<li>Enforce COVID-19 health advisories in workplaces, with penalties for employers who violate the advisories; set-up hotlines to report employer violations</li>
<li>Migrant workers exploited through the Temporary Foreign Workers program need access to social supports and their freedom of movement and safe passage guaranteed </li>
</ul>
<br /><b>AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL! </b><br /><br />The COVID-19 pandemic is a virus that will affect all strata of society. A tiered health system will leave too many people behind and provide preferential treatment on a basis of profit and not medical science or need. Universal healthcare for all is required to fight the virus. Access to health services must be expanded and preventative measures are needed. Now is the time for our public healthcare system to expand and take serious proactive measures. Healthcare workers are begging for businesses to close in order to slow the transmission of the virus; this system comes with harsh lessons. Under capitalism, the profit of the ruling class will be prioritized over workers’ lives. <br /><ul>
<li>Eliminate the requirement to produce health insurance cards for the duration of the crisis; provide healthcare and treatment to all who need it</li>
<li>Expand Healthcare to cover prescription medications, dental care, physiotherapy, ambulance services, prescription eyeglasses free of user fees and private insurance</li>
<li>Publicly produced, researched and developed pharmaceuticals for all </li>
<li>Immediate funding for hospitals to open closed wards and beds, including capital funding for new hospitals, staff and equipment where needed</li>
<li>Immediate funding to expand hospital and healthcare staff across the country based on need, with attention to Northern and Indigenous communities, many of which have boil water advisories while almost none have hospitals or adequate healthcare facilities and staff to meet the crisis </li>
<li>Immediate funding for home visits to the elderly and those quarantined or self-isolated, on the basis of need, to include provision of food, drugs, and other necessities</li>
<li>Immediate funding and oversight of long-term care homes, where the elderly and infirm are in greatest danger, where staff-patient ratios are very high, and staff are contract workers often working in several homes simultaneously</li>
<li>Immediate funding of public health services, including expanded testing for the COVID-19 virus, and restoration of public health units closed or cut by right-wing governments</li>
</ul>
<br /><b>PUT PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS! </b><br /><br />In times of crisis the class divide deepens. There is no such thing as a business in need of a bailout: there are workers and owners, whose interests are not only different but in conflict. The Liberal government has handed out billions of dollars to corporations as thousands of workers are being laid off. Thousands of young people are wondering how they will finance massive student loan repayments. Over 500 billion in loans and handouts is being made available to corporations through government maneuvers. Banks in Canada received over $114 billion in cash and loan support from governments during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. There are estimates that at some point during the crisis, three of Canada’s banks—CIBC, BMO, and Scotiabank—were completely under water, with government support exceeding the market value of the bank. Trudeau is preparing a bailout for the oil and gas sector that will be around $10 billion at a time when the majority of the people in Canada are weeks if not days from defaulting on their debts. It is unconscionable that in a time of great urgency the canadian Crown is prioritizing oil and gas profits ahead of human life. <br /><ul>
<li>Eliminate student debt and cancel credit card debt</li>
<li>Extend and enact bans on evictions and foreclosures</li>
<li>Defer rent payments, rollback rent and implement rent geared to <20 per cent of income to cover all rental units </li>
<li>House the homeless with emergency, interim, and permanent social housing</li>
<li>Provide emergency housing on reserves, and in Northern and isolated communities</li>
<li>Defer personal debt, including mortgages and loans</li>
<li>No one is illegal! Refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants must have their rights enforced </li>
<li>Social services need to be greatly expanded as social distancing and isolation are not currently safe options for everyone </li>
<li>Teachers need emergency resources and funding to provide education to students </li>
<li>Loans to businesses must not be the publicly-funded corporate bail-outs of the 2008-09 economic meltdown. Public funding must buy public equity (a public share of the business), or public ownership of the business where it is in the public interest to do so (e.g. energy, banking, transportation)</li>
<li>Convert military spending to civilian or public healthcare, hospitals, beds, staff and equipment, medical research, testing for COVID-19, and for protection of workers’ jobs, wages and incomes, the sick, the elderly, and the poor</li>
</ul>
<br />By sending material aid as well as frontline healthcare workers, the people of Cuba and China have yet again demonstrated their internationalists commitment to the workers of the world and our shared future. The significant contribution of Cuban workers in the sphere of pharmacology and their anti-imperialist mission will be an important stalwart in the fight ahead. There are important lessons in the fight against COVID-19 to be learned from the workers and state agencies in Cuba, China, DPRK, Laos, and Vietnam. The World Federation of Trade Unions has led the charge in calling for measures to protect and enhance the health and wellbeing of all workers. It will take international cooperation to combat the pandemic. <br /><br />Sanctions are killing our brothers and sisters. The continuation of sanctions by the Canadian state will leave millions vulnerable in places like DPRK, Nicaragua, Eritrea, Iran, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. The Canadian states support for the illegal zionist settlement project already harms the lives of millions Palestinians and the situation will worsen as the impact of the virus is felt. Denial of life saving medicines for those with pre-existing conditions and weakened immune systems will put the people of these countries in grave danger. The Helms-Burton act and the Yankee blockade of Cuba are opposed by an overwhelming majority of the world’s states; it is illegal for american law to be upheld in Canada. Lift the sanctions! Now more than ever we need cooperation and solidarity amongst all people. This is a global pandemic and will require worldwide solutions and struggle. <br /><br />We stand with our comrades of our sister organisations in the World Federation of Democratic Youth. The youth of the world must collaborate with available science and tested safety measures across invisible imperialist lines. This is a time when scientific breakthroughs and discoveries cannot be hoarded for profit, every step must be forward. Our bond is indivisible, across the world we need to fight as one for our common goal of working class power. Giving working people the tools to democratically run the economy will create a future where we provide for all, from the collective efforts of society. <br /><br />We stand at the crossroads. Now, we the youth, must take leadership to ensure the security of our collective future. Another world is possible! A world where exploitation, want, poverty, and insecurity shall be ended forever. This is not an easy task, but a necessary goal which will be won through struggle. The task is ours as young workers and students.<br /><br />Now is the time to organize!<br /><br />Youth are the future, the future is socialism!</div>
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bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-51618756332613497982020-03-21T21:55:00.000-04:002020-03-23T21:01:33.446-04:00Don't Demonize China! A Report from Chongqing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>by Peter Miller, Correspondent in China</i><br />
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<i>Peter Miller also gave an interview for the show "Loud and Clear". You can listen to it <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/user/radiosputnik/behind-china-s-success-in-combating-coro">here</a>. </i><br />
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I’m in China during the pandemic and it’s pained me to see anti-Chinese propaganda gaining ground in the West, including Canada. <br />
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Instead of blaming China for a virus that knows no borders, we should be looking to China for lessons on how Canada should respond to the COVID-19 crisis. During the height of the crisis in China, both in Chongqing where I live and all over China, residents followed rules on how often they could go out. For me, I could only leave my apartment complex once every two days to go shopping for groceries. This was labelled as "authoritarian" by writers in the Western press, but instead of being authoritarian, it was clearly a measure needed to quell the spread of the virus. <br />
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China did not have enough hospital beds in places of the epicentre of the crisis, like Wuhan, but hospitals were quickly built over 10 days. Touching videos of nurses and doctors unable to be with their children because of the quarantine were shown on CGTN with the recognition that this temporary hardship was necessary in order to defeat the virus and so as to not risk spreading the disease to one’s families. <br />
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I left China on February 20th to come back to Canada, but I headed back to China on March 11th after being asked to come back for work. I went back before Trudeau advised people to stay in Canada, but I’m thankful I came to a country that is clearly safer and doing more to defeat the virus. Today, most of the new cases in China are imported from abroad so there are measures to stop a second spread of the virus. For myself, just like all other new arrivals into China, I am on 14 days of quarantine in my apartment after arriving back in Chongqing. I have my temperature checked every two days by nurses, and I have also been tested for COVID-19 just in case I am asymptomatic. There is a camera pointed at my apartment door to make sure I don’t leave. You might think this is overkill but the camera does not impinge on my privacy and this is instead a sign of just how serious this virus must be taken. <br />
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Every day that I am in China I worry about people back home in Canada. Neoliberal governments there have not been taking the virus seriously enough. Sure, there have been efforts for people to practice social distancing, but I don’t see the massive investment by Canadian governments in creating more hospital beds and more ventilators that will be needed very soon. A friend of mine who is showing symptoms is having great difficulty getting tested, while I was tested in China as a precautionary measure. Nurses, doctors, and patients with mild symptoms are being left to fend for themselves and quarantine themselves after spending time in the ER when instead the state should find adequate places to quarantine people without them risking getting their friends and families infected. The list of issues I see in Canada go on and on and governments need to be held accountable. <br />
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The Liberal Government will use this virus as an excuse to cut back on working people in Canada but we can’t let them do it. Instead of using this crisis to further cut back on workers now and in the future, we must demand better public health care, more robust unemployment insurance, and free education. While we work to defeat this crisis we should also be investing in green jobs to defeat the even more existential climate change crisis. Don’t fall for Anti-Chinese propaganda and instead demand more from your governments. </div>
bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-83623777356951707762020-03-20T12:09:00.001-04:002020-03-20T12:09:28.145-04:00Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Québec salutes the struggle of Francophones across Canada <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Special to RY <br /><br />We reproduce here a statement produced by the Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Québec (LJC-Q) in which it salutes the struggle of Francophones across Canada for the occasion of the International Day of the Francophonie. In the statement, LJC-Q outlines the need for Francophones to struggle to have their linguistic, cultural and political rights recognised albeit Canada being a bilingual country. They also clarify that celebrating Francophones across Canada does not mean to celebrate the neocolonialist Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, and make it clear that the main danger of Francophone culture is not immigration, but corporate power that benefits from the national oppression that millions across Canada are fighting on a daily basis. They also outline the fact that Francophone struggles should not be put in competition with those of Indigenous peoples and nations, both targeting the same enemy. </i><div>
<i><a name='more'></a></i><br />On the occasion of the International Day of the Francophonie, first celebrated in 1988, the Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Québec salutes all those who struggle to keep this “Language of France with American accents” alive in Canada. We wish to highlight the progressive fight of Francophone minorities in the rest of Canada to ensure their linguistic and cultural rights are guaranteed. <br /><br />Today in Canada we are in the midst of a wave of Francophobia. In the fall of 2018 the Ford government in Ontario announced the cancellation of l’Université de l’Ontario français as a part of their austerity measures. If the University ever sees the light of day in 2021, it is because last year Franco-Ontarians mobilised in the hundreds of thousands to defend their right to an education. In New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province in Canada, the ‘People’s Alliance’ party holds the balance of power. The ‘People’s Alliance’ was elected on a platform of attacking the rights of Francophone Acadians! In Ottawa, the capital of Canada, the struggle of Francophones there has resulted in the city becoming officially bi-lingual in the winter of 2018, however their resistance continues to ensure the enforcement of these rights. <br /><br />For the Francophones in the rest of Canada, despite living in an officially bi-lingual country, it is a daily fight to preserve their language. In 1971, 27.4% of Francophones outside of Quebec had adopted English as their daily language. By 2011 this number had risen to 39.8%, this trend continues today. For example, St-Boniface, once the vibrant heart of Francophone Manitoba, today only 30% of the population declare themselves as Francophone. <br /><br /> In other words, the struggle for the rights of French-Speaking national minorities is not a fad but an imperative for all those who strive to defend democratic and social rights. Despite abandoning laws that forbid French decades ago, the fact remains that the assimilation of Francophones is again the order of the day for the most reactionary sectors of the monopolist class. <br /><br /> As Communists, we refuse to reduce the celebration of the International Day of the Francophonie to the descendants of the children of ‘New France’. The diversity of the Francophones of Canada continues to grow. The contribution of immigrants from west Africa, Maghreb, or elsewhere is increasingly fundamental to the survival of Francophone communities across the country. To think that different Francophone cultures are threatened by immigration is an irrational aberration. It is like aiming for the animal and hitting its shadow to think that the workers who settle in Canada fleeing misery, war and the destruction of their environment, are at all responsible for this situation. It is the monopoly class of Canada – francophone and anglophone – for which cultural and linguistic rights mean nothing unless they can be profitable.<br /><br />We also want to make it very clear: defending the rights of Francophones in Canada as in the rest of the world is not to defend the ‘Organisation internationale de la francophonie’. The OIF is a neocolonialist organization that seeks only to integrate African and Asian countries in the lap of French imperialism and other countries Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland. It is no secret that the OIF has forgotten its mandate – if it ever were – of promoting French language and culture: in recent years, countries like Qatar (which has not absolutely no link neither cultural nor linguistic with the Francophonie) became members of the OIF while the President of this organization, Mrs. Mushikiwabo represents Rwanda, a country whose administration has, recently, both joined the Commonwealth and opted for English as the official language.<br /><br />In the context of Canada, defending French language is not synonymous with imperialism. On the contrary, it is, unlike what some people even in the left might think, a fundamentally progressive struggle since it targets the domination of the English-speaking Canadian nation and underlines the multi-national character of the country. Celebrating the Francophonie should not, however, give rise to a surge of Francophone chauvinism, but rather highlight the struggles for linguistic, political and cultural rights that Francophones across the country are deprived of. These struggles should not be opposed to those of Indigenous peoples and nations since in both cases, these target the national oppression that millions of people in Canada who do not belong to the dominant nation are constantly fighting.<br /></div>
hay-gente-patohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089694946919833684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-62115599834444627822020-03-18T18:30:00.000-04:002020-03-18T18:30:36.255-04:00The Economics of Austerity: How the USMCA is Disastrous for Windsor & All Canadian Workers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>By J.G. Markham</i><br />
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On February 11th, 2020, the Windsor chapter of the Young Communist League - Ligue de la jeunesse communiste invited Communist Party of Canada - Parti communiste du Canada leader Liz Rowley to the University of Windsor Alumni Hall for a speaking event titled ‘The Economics of Austerity and the Politics of Militarism and Regime Change’. Rowley’s first point of discussion was talking about austerity, particularly the trade deal negotiated by the Liberal government known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and its effects on the manufacturing sector in Canada, which is deeply felt within the Windsor-Essex region. <br />
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Liz Rowley began by mentioning that as a result of a stronger union sector in Canada, albeit declining unionization rates since the 1990’s, Canadian auto workers enjoyed good living wages; auto sector compensation was enough to raise a family and retire with a decent pension. In contrast to Canada's roughly 30% unionization rate, only 8% of Americans are unionized, which contributes to their lower wages of $16/hr. In Mexico, wages are 1/10th that of Canada, at $3/hr. With deals like NAFTA or the new USMCA, which allows capital and corporations to freely move across the continent as they please, capitalists will continue to seek out the highest profit, lowest costs – thus Mexico is far more profitable to operate in than Canada. This deal also ensures that some of the manufacturing and auto jobs departing Canada end up in the U.S Rust Belt for much lower wages. The USMCA also does nothing to alleviate anxieties over the aluminum and steel industries as tariffs continue to loom and threaten industry. <br />
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The U.S would see Canada as it was before WWII, as described by Comrade Rowley. They want us extracting natural resources, materials to be refined and processed, only to be sold back to us as consumers, depriving us of sustainability and Canadian-made products. Timber will be harvested to be sold to the U.S for furniture manufacture, and sold back to Canadians at a much more inflated price. Therefore, you see American led transnational corporations pushing for increased tar sands operations, mining operations, and deregulated farming.<br />
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Oshawa faces a crisis with the GM plant closing, eliminating 2,700 employees with 20,000 additional jobs being sacrificed. Liz Rowley made the remark, “What about the local mom & pop shop that used to serve donuts and coffee to workers as they came in for work? They’re gone too. Or the pub at the end of the shift? Gone. All the shops and services will suffer from people not having the money to spend in the community or the lack of people to service.” She warned that communities in Windsor, Oshawa, Brampton, and St. Catharines could face severe community disruption and deep socioeconomic impacts. These were the first people to suffer the consequences of the USMCA. When the plant closure in Oshawa was first announced, many workers advocated to their union the idea to socialize the GM plant and retool it to produce a Canadian made electric vehicle, with a well formulated plan on how to do so. Autoworkers of Canada in UAW, CAW, and now Unifor Oshawa have long advocated for a Canadian car, made by a Canadian public company, which would guarantee auto manufacturing jobs. In the 1960s, the Canada-US Auto Pact guaranteed that a portion of cars sold in Canada had to be assembled in Canada, which in part neutered the support for a Canadian made car at the time.<br />
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In Windsor, Ontario, workers have seen firsthand the dangers of deals like NAFTA & USMCA, recently with the Nemak factory, which employed roughly 270 people creating parts for General Motors. Nemak had previously closed the Essex Aluminum plant 8 years after purchasing it from Ford Motor Co. instead of honouring the collective agreement signed in 2016 that stated that Nemak would continue operations until at least 2022, so long as employees take a wage freeze in 2019. Nemak is choosing to abandon its workers in the pursuit of exploiting the Mexican working class, where workers would be paid $1.50 compared with Windsor’s starting wage of $16. Within the past five years, Nemak has also received almost $5 million in provincial and federal funding, and another $1.5 million offer from the city of Windsor, which is now all going towards the new operations in Mexico. As a response, workers and their union (Unifor) seized the factory and blocked the entrances to prevent anything leaving or arriving in August 2019. Although the strikers had the support of the local community in Windsor, the courts eventually ruled that the strike must end, blockades be removed, Nemak allowed to regain access, and Unifor to pay back Nemak. Unifor has since taken the Nemak case to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and Nemak continues to prepare its Mexico operations, taking its machinery and technology along with them.<br />
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Workers at the Fiat-Chrysler Automotive (FCA) Assembly Plant in Windsor have been facing increasing uncertainty and anxieties related to production and the removal of the entire third (midnight) shift, alongside looming shutdowns. Since March of 2019, there have been talks of removing the third shift from Windsor Assembly Plant (WAP), with slated layoff beginning September 30th of that year. Instead, it was pushed back to November 2019, then again to March 2020. Most recently, corporate leaders at FCA announced that WAP will be cutting its third shift officially in June 2020, eliminating 1,500 auto sector jobs. Windsor workers have also seen an increase in shutdown time, beginning in February of 2019, two weeks in April, and then another two week shutdown that summer, followed by the last shutdowns of 2019 in November and the prolonged ‘Christmas’ shutdown. FCA continued the trend in January 2020 with yet another shutdown. All of this affects local feeder plants, which employs thousands more on top of WAP; for every one WAP employee, there are roughly 10 others working in feeder plants. Fiat-Chrysler exploits the feelings of uncertainty faced by its workers in preparation for contract negotiations this summer, likely seeking further concessions from the workers to ‘save the third shift’ or their very own.<br />
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In other ways, residents of Windsor have seen the effects of the dismantled Canada-US Auto Pact of the 1960s as well as NAFTA through the loss of manufacturing jobs from Ford Motor Company and General Motors. GM, who once employed the majority of people in Windsor, have all but entirely abandoned the city as they have done in Oshawa. A husk of the old GM Transmission factory is all that remains, the space now used for storage. The other half: demolished, empty and abandoned, a constant reminder of the fleeting auto manufacturing industry in the heart of Windsor’s Walkerville. Or the old abandoned Chrome Shield factory that supplied GM, closer to the downtown core of Windsor. Since 2002-3 in Windsor, with IPL and Chrysler cutting jobs as examples, we have seen jobs steadily leaving – the result of the Auto Pact being struck down and NAFTA being negotiated. In 2007, the closure of the Ford Windsor Casting Plant meant the layoffs of 600 workers, and the closure of Hallmark Technologies led to the loss of almost 200 jobs. 2008-9 saw the closure of more plants and tool and die jobs, particularly Plastech Engineered Products and Lear Corporation, which meant the loss of over 500 jobs between the two alone. Windsor and Essex continues to see layoffs, shutdowns and closures of factories and tool and die to this day.<br />
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Leamington, Essex County, near Windsor, suffered from immense layoffs and economic uncertainty when Kraft Heinz was purchased by 3G Capital and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, and the Heinz Canning (now Highbury Canco) plant’s 750 workers were slated to be out of a job by 2013, the goal being to move operations to the US and Mexico. Although the canning plant was “saved” in 2014, maintaining 250 jobs (now around 600), workers have taken a large decrease in pay from $25/hr to only $16/hr. The height of the plant’s productivity still has not been seen. Kraft Heinz was successful in decreasing the number of jobs required to make their products for marketing, whilst also driving down the wages of Canadians. Nearby farmers also suffered, seeing decreased demands for tomato and other canning crops, which have yet to recover to previous levels. <br />
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As cheaper wages are allowed, and as corporations can exploit and abuse migrant workers through the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, the free flow of capital allows plants to be closed with no consideration for the community. We see the repercussions of free trade with a decline in Canadian manufacturing sector jobs and the decline and stagnation of wages. We are lured by the promises of cheaper grocery store prices by capitalists, while Canadian workers and farmers would be the ones losing their income and livelihoods. <br />
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Liberals, NDP, and Greens have all voted to back the USMCA with support from the Tories – who in fact stated the deal didn’t go far enough; the Bloc Québécois voted against it. As stated by Elizabeth Rowley, the Communist Party of Canada has advocated against these deals for years and continues to do so.<br />
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Workers can no longer afford more concessions or any more austerity. Workers of Ontario, Canada, and the world must continue to unite and stand in solidarity against capitalism’s overreaching greed and overconsumption. We must reject deals like the USMCA. We salute the strikes of autoworkers in Mexico and the United States; their fight is one and the same as the struggle of autoworkers in Oshawa, Windsor, and the rest of Canada. We must stand against imperialism at home and abroad. We must demand sustainability and protection of the environment. The struggle of the Wet’suwet’en, Mohawk, and other First Nations’ land protectors most recently, in defending their sovereign territory, their rights, as well as the purity of the water and land from corporate & imperialist exploitation is the struggle of all workers and peoples. The struggle of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples highlights the extent of imperialism still at play at home, enabling capitalist exploitation and for-profit motives. The environment is not sustainable with such extraction. People and environment before profits!bronwyncragghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03735041745647907654noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-15795574926665163682020-03-05T15:00:00.000-05:002020-03-05T15:00:04.883-05:00From RCMP Raids to NATO Wars: Capitalist Crisis and Oil<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>By Ryan Abbott</i><br />
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<i>This article was originally published in <a href="http://peoplesvoice.ca/2020/02/22/from-rcmp-raids-to-nato-wars-capitalist-crisis-and-oil/">People's Voice</a>, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. </i><br />
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Despite having some of the largest energy reserves in the world, despite an almost universal support for pipeline projects among its major political parties, and despite a bloated lobby of energy executives who dictate its domestic energy policy, the petro-state of Canada is in a deep crisis.<br />
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Three pipeline proposals have already been shot down. Two others remain deeply unpopular and face a long list of challenges. The Trans-Mountain Pipeline extension (TMX) would allow the Alberta tar-sands operations to increase by up to 600%. Despite this, Kinder Morgan ultimately pulled out of the project, citing low investor confidence in the face of strong opposition from Indigenous groups as well as enormous legal and environmental challenges. Tar-sands bitumen is notoriously hard to produce, requiring massive amounts of energy to process, and comes at enormous environmental costs. Most damning is the fact that bitumen produced from tar-sands cannot compete in the global oil market; it only barely squeaks out a profit due to heavy government subsidies and handouts.<br />
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Likewise, the Coastal Gaslink (CGL) pipeline, which would carry natural gas from reserves in northeastern BC to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Kitimat, is a project riddled with problems. These range from its source of origin (dangerous and unsustainable fracking sites) to the pipeline itself (which faces enormous Indigenous opposition and international condemnation) to the reality of the global market (an unprecedented glut of natural gas available, in which neither fracking or LNG can economically compete with vast gas fields in Russia or the Middle East). Add to this the fact that Chevron has just pulled its investments, and this appears to be yet another energy project that’s doomed to failure.<br />
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Both Justin Trudeau and John Horgan understand these economic realities. Furthermore, they understand that their pipeline politics are quickly undermining their electoral base which is concerned about reconciliation and climate change. They understand that their pipeline policies are a declaration of war on Indigenous people, and they understand that they are pushing two energy products onto a global market that is already saturated with oil and gas.<br />
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So why do they push ahead just the same? Why is the TMX now a state-funded project? Why does Horgan refuse negotiations with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership, instead sending in militarized RCMP forces to terrorize and brutalize land defenders in pre-dawn raids? Why is the threat of military deployment being considered as a means of securing the TMX? Why do they now appear so utterly indifferent to the looming climate catastrophe? And why do they do this in a global economy which is stagnating due to a crisis of energy over-production?<br />
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Because when it comes down to it, one of the central crises of capitalism is that it is too productive, that it cannot possibly generate enough consumption to keep up with production, and that the capital (generated by profits) it produces simply reaches such a scale of accumulation that it can no longer be invested. This is the crisis we are currently living.<br />
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Globally, the oil and gas industry is mired in overproduction, a problem that the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned of in October 2019. Since January 2019, OPEC and other oil producers such as Russia have instituted production cuts of over 1.7 million barrels per day. At the same time, non-OPEC countries like the US, Norway and Brazil have increased oil production, ensuring that an overall glut continues. Over the past decade, the US has more than doubled its production and is now the world’s largest oil producer, even though the global market demand for these levels is lacking.<br />
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The only way out of this crisis (of overproduction) is to severely curtail overall oil production. And one obvious way for the US to do that is through the destruction of selective productive forces in the oil and gas sector. Hence, the current aggressive and dangerous foreign policy of the United States and its key allies.<br />
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And this is exactly what is taking place: the US is escalating its campaign of aggression against Iran, Venezuela, and Russia. Canada is positioning itself as a key American asset in this campaign. Just look at its support for the massive NATO proliferation on the borders of the Russian Federation. Look at its shamelessness in leading the Lima group against Venezuela. Look at its unwavering support for the Saudis, for Israeli apartheid, and for the ongoing campaign of intervention against Iran. There is hardly an inch of daylight between US and Canadian foreign policy, and it would be foolish to think these imperialist states are not willing to proceed to the apocalyptic end game of global, and nuclear, war.<br />
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Venezuelan oil production has already taken an enormous hit from US sanctions, and now sits at its lowest level in half a century. This suggests that imperialist attention will be increasingly focused on the Middle East, as 30% of the world’s oil supply flows through the Strait of Hormuz, and Russia, which is poised to become the primary supplier for European gas. If oil and gas supply from these regions can be sanctioned into oblivion or even destroyed, the market for US and Canadian natural gas would grow explosively. The tar sands could expand indefinitely. The global market would come under full control of US imperialism. This is the naked logic of capitalism: in order to restore profitability in a stagnating economy, all options become cold and rational possibilities. They need a war to get their bitumen and LNG to market. Their short term investments in these pipelines are simply phase one of this campaign.<br />
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In short, Canadian domestic and foreign policy are two sides of the same coin. The drive to horrific new global conflicts is grounded in the same terrain as the growing police terror on Wet’suwet’en land. Without exaggeration, the struggle of land-defenders is a universal struggle with world-historical significance. The necessity of linking the anti-colonial, anti-imperialist and climate movements together in the fight for a socialist future has never been clearer. It is the only way to defeat the fascist extermination logic of capitalism.hay-gente-patohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089694946919833684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-82600913292899182732020-03-04T15:00:00.000-05:002020-03-04T15:00:00.157-05:00Ryerson University's Attack on Student Democracy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ezsWZ_ZH0UM/Xl8TS3455dI/AAAAAAAABcE/fqBOnUouLSU94Ebn6zdnC_O0CBe-Bjn2ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/RSU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1080" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ezsWZ_ZH0UM/Xl8TS3455dI/AAAAAAAABcE/fqBOnUouLSU94Ebn6zdnC_O0CBe-Bjn2ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/RSU.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>By Ivan Byard</i><br />
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<i>This article was initially published in <a href="http://peoplesvoice.ca/2020/02/20/ryerson-universitys-attack-on-student-democracy/">People's Voice</a>, Canada's leading socialist newspaper</i><br />
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On January 24 Ryerson University in Toronto broke its 1986 operating agreement with the Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU). The university’s justification was that a new operating agreement had not been finalized, following allegations of improper use of RSU funds by members of the 2018-2019 Executive. This is a thinly veiled excuse to attack the democratic rights of students. The RSU remained actively engaged in negotiations with the university to enter into a new operating agreement and remains willing to make concessions, but not at the risk of jeopardizing their autonomy and ability to effectively advocate for students. The union was in fact hours away from sending over a new draft of the agreement when they received the university’s statement terminating the agreement and derecognizing the RSU as representing students on campus. The RSU nonetheless provided the university with a draft agreement the same day.<br />
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Ryerson has been withholding RSU dues since before they breached the operating agreement. The administration argues that the union has not met conditions set out in January 2019, including sharing the results of a forensic audit. On January 21, the RSU indicated that the findings of their financial review would be released to the membership at the Semi-Annual General Meeting on February 3. Clearly, the university is not acting in good faith, as its termination notice came just weeks before the RSU’s scheduled elections. Ryerson has also attempt to intervene with the electoral process by encouraging students to form a separate student union.<br />
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This blatant attack on democracy has been widely condemned. The Canadian Federation of Students, representing over half a million post-secondary students, has urged Ryerson to reverse their decision. The Continuing Education Student Association of Ryerson, representing over 16,000 continuing education and part-time students, will continue to recognize the RSU and has expressed their disapproval of the university’s attack. Ontario Federation of Labour Vice-President Janice Folk-Dawson said, “Any decisions about the fate of student unions must be done through the proper democratic channels, rather than through a unilateral decision that silences the voices of students.”<br />
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Shamefully, the University of Toronto Student Union (UTSU) Board of Directors immediately moved to end all relations with the RSU. This maneuver not only undermines the democratic rights of Ryerson students but also members of UTSU, who have a Special General Meeting in February where the membership should decide themselves whether or not to recognize the RSU.<br />
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How did we get here?<br />
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In 2015 the RSU eliminated the Executive Director of Communications and Outreach (EDCO) position. In the process they fired Gilary Massa, a unionized worker who was on maternity leave at the time. This move was part of the ‘corporatization’ of the RSU that was overseen by former right-wing lobbyists from Western University and the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, a right-wing movement opposed to the CFS. The EDCO position was replaced by a non-union general manager who would be responsible for all of the RSU’s finances.<br />
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In May 2018, on its first day in office, a newly elected RSU executive fired the general manager and split the operation’s credit card into two $10 000 monthly limit cards – one for the RSU President and the other for its VP Operations. From that point until January 2019 no receipts for credit card purchases were provided and the RSU Executive failed to meet their constitutionally mandated requirement of Quarterly Financial Reports.<br />
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At a retreat on May 27, 2018, the RSU directors and executive passed unanimous motions, behind closed doors, to increase the annual salaries of the executive members by $11,000 (a 30.5% increase), raise the semesterly honorariums for executive members by $500, and expand the financial authority of each executive member by $3500. These motions were initially put forward to the RSU’s 2018 AGM but could not be passed due to lack of quorum.<br />
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On January 22, 2019 the Eyeopener, Ryerson’s independent student newspaper, published a story alleging misconduct and violations of RSU policy and by-laws by the executive. Pressured by the student body and the independent student press, the RSU acted swiftly and suspended the President and VP Operations. Since then four out of six executives have left office, with the VP Equity, VP Marketing and VP Education resigning and the VP Operations being impeached.<br />
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In May 2019, a newly elected RSU executive implemented procedures and a new governance structure to ensure good financial management. These include eliminating all executive RSU credit cards (which from the onset violated RSU policy), hiring a full time executive director to oversee day-to-day operations and hiring a full time controller to ensure financial oversight. RSU’s policies were updated to include a new oversight committee that ensures executives are accountable to RSU’s members.<br />
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The RSU retained PricewaterhouseCoopers to do a forensic audit and is in the process of finalizing a report which includes the results of the internal investigation and a detailed description of actions that have been taken this year to ensure financial accountability. The report will be shared with the university as well as RSU’s membership at the Semi-Annual General Meeting taking place February 3. As a result of their findings, the RSU filed a report with the Toronto Police Service, whose review is ongoing. The RSU has also filed a Statement of Claim with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against the breach of contract by Ryerson University.<br />
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Is there a way forward?<br />
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Ryerson’s attack on student democracy comes at a time when the student movement in Ontario is being bludgeoned by the provincial government. Faced with the Conservatives’ “free speech” policy, which protects hate speech on campus, and “Student Choice Initiative,” which makes student union dues voluntary and is currently before the courts, it is an accomplishment in itself that the RSU is going forward with their elections and Semi-Annual General Meeting.<br />
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The whole fiasco is a symptom of the broader crisis in the student movement in English-speaking Canada. Student unions are not governing bodies and should have no interest in collaborating with corporate driven board of governors and administrators. The basis of student unionism should be the struggle for increased student rights. When this principle has been adopted by unions the student movement has been at its strongest – its most internationalist, its most united, and its most combative. This is the way for student unions to build a united, strong and militant movement, as in the 2012 Quebec student strike, that will echo the voices of hundreds of thousands of students who are ready to fight for their right to free education.<br />
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There is a battle of ideas that needs to be fought inside the student movement, alongside advancing unity in action. The movement needs to connect immediate student demands with other labour and peoples’ movements, to forge an alliance that will fight to curb corporate power and eventually overthrow capitalism. This is what students need and what many students are looking for. Many students, who on average finish their post-secondary education nearly $30,000 in debt, understand that capitalism is leading to crises, war and environmental destruction. Students do not need more campus services outsourced to “student governments.” What they need are organizations built on struggle, mass mobilizations and unity in action.hay-gente-patohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089694946919833684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-9258010829750623412020-03-03T21:52:00.000-05:002020-03-03T21:52:40.971-05:00Cyprus: a country still divided by Imperialism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Special to RY</i></div>
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<i>This piece was originally published in <a href="http://peoplesvoice.ca/2020/01/22/cyprus-a-country-divided-by-imperialism/">People's Voice</a>, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. </i></div>
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A small island in the eastern Mediterranean, at the crossroads of the Middle East and Europe, Cyprus is victim to imperialist antagonisms in the region. It is a situation that has led to 37% of its territory being occupied by Turkey since 1974.<br />
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This division contributes to making Cyprus an “unsinkable aircraft carrier,” as shown by the occupation of 4% of the territory by more than 4000 British forces which are stationed there. To add to the complexity of the case, oil deposits have been discovered recently off the coasts of Lebanon and Israel and Cyprus, which reinforces the geostrategic interest of the island.<br />
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Despite several talks aimed at reunification in recent years – on the initiative of the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL), in particular – the nationalists and reactionaries on both sides of the “green” line of separation continue to act, objectively, in the interests of NATO and have prevented significant advances.<br />
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The general assembly of WFDY in Cyprus was an opportunity for the anti-imperialist youth of the world to show solidarity with the youth, workers and popular masses of Cyprus, both Turkish-speaking and Greek-speaking, in their common struggle for the reunification of their country. WFDY demands that this be achieved in the only democratic way possible. That is, through the withdrawal of Turkish troops and all the foreign troops present on Cypriot territory, then by the creation of a bicommunal and bizonal federal state.<br />
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With the ongoing tensions and threats of war in the Middle East, it is imperative that the Cyprus issue be resolved in a sovereign manner, without foreign interference. Cyprus must be a zone of peace, not an unsinkable aircraft carrier.<br />
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During this Assembly, the delegates were invited to a demonstration for the reunification of the country on Nicosia’s Ledras street, known for its commercial shops, but also as the “border” between the Republic of Cyprus and the puppet state of Northern Cyprus (recognized only by Turkey).hay-gente-patohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089694946919833684noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22056053.post-79069780549547512792020-03-03T21:29:00.001-05:002020-03-03T21:53:56.922-05:00Anti-Imperialist Youth of the World hold a successful Meeting in Cyprus<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K2LcXtEy5fQ/Xl8SMYKPUsI/AAAAAAAABb4/LMrOwVehmbwv0y-ehQEd9r-qeWm7X7MBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Tofari.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K2LcXtEy5fQ/Xl8SMYKPUsI/AAAAAAAABb4/LMrOwVehmbwv0y-ehQEd9r-qeWm7X7MBwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Tofari.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iakovos Tofari, outgoing President of WFDY addresses the Assembly</td></tr>
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<i>Adrien Welsh </i><br />
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<i>This article was originally published in <a href="http://peoplesvoice.ca/2020/01/22/anti-imperialist-youth-hold-global-meeting-in-cyprus/">People's Voice</a>, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. </i><br />
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From December 3-6, anti-imperialist youth from around the world gathered in Cyprus for the 20th General Assembly of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY). More than 100 young people participated, representing about 95 organizations from all over the world, including Cuba, Venezuela, Palestine, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Western Sahara. The Young Communist League of Canada (YCL-LJC) was also present.<br />
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This assembly was the largest in the last 30 years, proving the vitality and the relevance of the fight against imperialism, particularly among youth, since the counter-revolution in Eastern Europe.<br />
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Delegates debated the political lines that will guide WFDY activities over the next four years. Topics discussed included an analysis of the growing aggressiveness of imperialism and anti-imperialist perspectives on the struggle for environmental justice and gender equality. The resistance of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Australia and New Zealand received unanimous solidarity from the delegates.<br />
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In its contribution to the Assembly, the YCL-LJC noted that the meeting occurred “in dangerous times for the youth, marked by the sharpening of capitalism’s contradictions. The rise of the ultra-right everywhere throughout the world, the increased aggressiveness of imperialism, the danger of wars and the destruction of our environment are all consequences of the deepened structural crisis of capitalism. These are threats that our generation will need to overcome.”<br />
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The YCL-LJC told that Assembly, “We are sorry to say that our country, Canada, is increasingly siding with the fiercest warmongers of the world.” After denouncing Canadian international policy as increasingly aligned with that of the United States, NATO and its allies, regardless of the color of the elected government and regardless of its majority or minority status, the young communists made it clear that Canada is an imperialist state in the Leninist sense of the word.<br />
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But they also noted that this situation cannot continue forever. “We know very well that no working people, no young person benefits from imperialism in the long run. An increased number of young people are becoming aware of that. We saw it as recently as September 27, when nearly a million people (mostly young people) have been pounding the pavement across the country to defend climate justice.”<br />
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The YCL-LJC concluded that they “are fully committed, as young communists, to organizing those who struggle, to providing them with the only perspective possible: that of the overthrow of capitalism and of the construction of socialism. This is a difficult battle, but it is the most important one for our generation. <br />
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In addition to discussing political documents, a new Federation leadership was elected. The General Council has 35 elected organizations including the YCL-LJC Canada, which was re-elected. The General Council is headed by the 10-member Coordination Council, which has two members for each regional commission. Leading organizations on the Coordination Council include the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), the Union of Communist Youth of Cuba, the Kimilsungist Kimjongilist Youth League of Korea, the youth of the Polisario Front (Western Sahara) and the Palestinian Youth Organization. In addition, a Women’s Commission has been set up to strengthen the involvement of anti-imperialist youth organizations in feminist struggles.<br />
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The Presidency of WFDY, after being assumed by the Communist Youth of Cyprus (EDON) since 2011, is now held by the Union of Spanish Communist Youth (UJCE). This organization has a glorious history as the youth of the party of La Pasionaria, Dolores Ibarruri’s – that of the resistance against Franco’s rule and of the International Brigades.<br />
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At the end of the Assembly, the delegates agreed on the importance of strengthening WFDY, its collaboration with other anti-imperialist organizations (the World Peace Council, the World Federation of Trade Unions and the World Federation of Democratic Women) while continuing to strengthen the links of our organizations with youth movements in our respective countries.<br />
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With the unity of anti-imperialist forces as its main commitment, the Assembly worked to clearly and scientifically define this concept. This is particularly important in a period when imperialism is arming itself more and more, in order to preserve and widen access to markets, roads, natural resources and cheap labour.<br />
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Although the US – EU – Japan triad represents the main imperialist pole, the fact remains that imperialism constitutes a global system and is, therefore, not the prerogative of one country, one alliance or organization. Imperialism is nothing more nor less than the supreme stage of capitalism, as demonstrated by Lenin over a century ago in conditions frightfully similar to the one we are living in.<br />
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Fighting against imperialism on the global scale and, more importantly, in advanced capitalist countries, is not a step towards fighting capitalism. It is part of one fight against the exploitation of the working class by those who own the means of production.<br />
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The resolution from the WFDY Assembly concludes with reference to the struggle for peace. “The replacement of war with lasting peace and the peaceful coexistence of the peoples; of poverty and misery with wellbeing; of unemployment with the right of work and education for all; all these demand the replacement of imperialism, of capitalism with another social-economic system where the fundamental means of production will be in the hands of the people and where the economy is developed based on popular needs. This is the ground on which the peoples utilise for their own interest the produced wealth. Under different conditions, the interests of the monopolies will inevitably trap humanity inside the endless cycle of capitalist crisis and wars.”hay-gente-patohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15089694946919833684noreply@blogger.com0