Brigadistas return home to Canada from Cuba

Brigade & Ailí Labañino after a morning of volunteer work
photo: Denise M.

 Drew Garvie

The 38 participants who traveled to Cuba this month as members of the 23rd Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade have returned home to Canada. The annual Brigade, a two-week solidarity tour of the island, is organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba. It’s purpose: to build Canada-Cuba friendship and solidarity, and celebrate the gains of the Revolution, now in its 56th year. This year was especially significant in the broader political context; the hard-won freedom of the five Cuban heroes, and the groundbreaking negotiations taking place between the United States and Cuba.

The Brigade members were a diverse group of activists of all ages, joined together in solidarity with the Cuban people. Members participated from cities across Canada, including Vancouver, Kamloops, Kelowna, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax. Some members came as individuals and others as members of organizations involved in Cuba solidarity work across Canada. Several members of the Communist Party of Canada and the Young Communist League attended the tour.

This year, larger international delegations with over 1000 members were present in Cuba to attend the May Day celebrations. Because of this, this year’s Che Brigade was joined by other participants from a variety of countries. A large delegation from Peru and smaller delegations from Chile, Costa Rica, New Zealand, joined the group from Canada. This added to the internationalist flavor of the Brigade and friendships were made with a shared respect of Cuba’s revolution as the foundation.

A letter to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen

By Nicolas Lopez,
Hugo Chavez People's Defence Fund

A Venezuelan citizen living in Canada corrects lies in Ottawa Citizen published on March 25, 2014: Venezuela and the Canadian Left

As a Venezuelan who recently returned from visiting family and friends in Venezuela, I’m taken aback by the extent to which this article doesn’t reflect the reality in Venezuela. In most of the country, people are going about their business with absolute normalcy. In almost all of Caracas you don’t see protests. This is with the exception of the affluent neighbourhoods in the east of the City where violent protestors only make things difficult for people living in those areas.

Hence, I was bewildered as to why I couldn’t take Air Canada to come back home from Caracas, but I could if I were travelling back from Cairo or Kiev.

On the dangerous developments in Ukraine

A sign at the 18th World Festival of Youth
and Students in Quito, Ecuador

Central Executive Committee,
Communist Party of Canada

The deepening political crisis in Ukraine and the threat of regional conflict, possibly an even wider war erupting over the fate of Crimea, is extremely alarming. The "war of words" emanating from Washington and Brussels is inflaming international tensions and could in turn provoke a global catastrophe. This crisis has been stoked by the ongoing imperialist strategy of the U.S. and NATO to encircle Russia, as seen in the installation of anti‑missile systems in Poland, and the integration of Georgia into the NATO alliance. Their goal is to isolate Russia and China, neutralizing potential obstacles to the drive by transnational capital based in the NATO countries to exploit the resources and labour power of the entire planet.

It is appalling that the Harper Conservative government has been playing an active role in this dangerous escalation, and that the mainstream media continue to whip up lies and distortions around recent developments in Ukraine. The claim by right‑wing forces that the March 16 referendum on the status of the Crimean Autonomous Republic is equivalent to the 1936 Nazi occupation of Sudetenland is particularly odious. The unchecked expansion of Hitler fascism led to World War Two, which killed some 60 million people, including over 27 million citizens of the USSR. As an autonomous republic, Crimea has the legal right to determine its status, free from all foreign interference.

Video and final declaration: 18th World Festival of Youth and Students

 The 8000 of delegates of the 18th World Festival of Youth and Students who gathered from 88 countries in Quito, Ecuador, under the slogan “Youth united against imperialism, for the World of Peace, Solidarity and Social Transformation” declare the following:

We salute the people of Ecuador and its struggles; we express our solidarity in the struggle of the Ecuadorian people for popular conquests and radical social-political changes. With the support of the progressive and militant youth of Ecuador which in the past years have made important steps forward and achievements through its struggle through the process of the “Citizens Revolution” the international anti-imperialist youth movement constructed another important moment in the history of its organized struggle. We gathered in Latin America, a continent were the youth movement is steadily growing, once again for the biggest anti-imperialist youth event in the world to strengthen our common struggle towards our common goal: the overthrown of Imperialism.

A Taste of the Ernesto Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade

By Peter Miller 

The Ernesto Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade is a highly recommended trip for workers, students and progressive-minded people in Canada.

The trip is organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba, that represents organizations throughout Canada that do Cuban Solidarity work, and also organized by ICAP, the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the People, that puts together a very well organized trip for the "Brigadistas".  The trip often helps motivate Canadians to continue work as Cuban solidarity activists, and makes many realize the importance of fighting for socialist revolution in Canada.

Last year, I attended the Brigade and it exceeded my expectations.  Brigadistas get the opportunity to work some mornings on cooperative farms and urban farms, along with other volunteer work. The work is modest and not too strenuous but important to show that Brigadistas do not come to Cuba as tourists but as activists fighting to support the Cuban revolution.

Ecuador's Citizen's Revolution

J. Boyden,
Rebel Youth Magazine

Delegates headed to the 18th World Festival of Youth and Students in Quito, Ecuador this December are being invited to learn about a “Citizen’s Revolution” in motion throughout the country.

At the centre of these major transformations are a comprehensive series of anti-poverty, pro-democratic, and pro-environmental measures which have not only begun to re-assert the Republic Ecuador’s sovereignty but also put the country on the map internationally as a key player in the struggle between the United States and the new Latin America.

If the motor of these changes has been the active support of a broad sweep of progressive Ecuadorian society especially the rural poor, urban workers, labour movement, and indigenous communities, the driver has come from perhaps an unlikely source, the “PAIS alliance” lead by an economist educated at an US Ivy-League school who speaks four languages including indigenous Quichua.

Organization grows for anti-imperialist festival

Peoples Voice
Youth Bureau

Drew Garvie is the acting co‑chair of the Pan-Canadian delegation to the 18th WFYS and a member of the Young Communist League of Canada. Drew sat down with People's Voice to talk about the organizing for the Festival.

So what is the festival in a nutshell?

The festival is basically the largest gathering of anti-imperialist and progressive youth in the world. Something like 12,000 to 17,000 youth are expected to attend from over 120 different countries!  The festival itself will be held in one of the hot spots of social change in Latin America today, the Republic of Ecuador, from December 7th to 13th.

Tell us the latest news.  

The Pan‑Canadian delegation continues to grow. Endorsing groups of the festival now include CUPE Toronto District, the Canadian Federation of Students‑Ontario, several Quebec student unions, the BC Federation of Labour, the Young Communist League of Canada, the Vancouver District Labour Council, the Kamloops Socialist Club, Occupy Edmonton, and others. The Pan‑Canadian delegation will be between 50 and 100 participants. The final size of the delegation really depends on the outreach efforts of the 10 or so local committees over the next couple weeks.

The Chilean 9/11

Stamp honoring Allende from the German
Democratic Republic

by School Of the Americas Watch

September 11, 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S.-backed military coup in Chile, in which General Augusto Pinochet ousted the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende. The coup began a 17-year repressive dictatorship during which thousands of people were murdered, disappeared and tortured by Chilean security forces. High-ranking Chilean military officers, trained at the School of the Americas, perpetrated these crimes, and some have now been charged.

As a symbol of our solidarity with the Chilean people, we call on all activists to support the campaign, “Justice for Victor Jara.” The Chilean folksinger was the voice of his country's dispossessed, an internationally admired songwriter, and one of the founders of a new genre of Latin American song. He was killed on September 16, 1973, in the Estadio Chile. His body was dumped in the street, and found riddled with 44 bullets and signs of torture.

Korean Peninsula - who is being 'bellicose' and 'provocative'?

Winner of the 26th Mangyongdae Prize Marathon women's race in DPRK

From The Guardian, weekly of the Communist Party of Australia, April 10, 2013

"Bellicose" and "provocative" - those are the words used over and over by the capitalist media to describe the actions the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and statements by its leadership in recent times. Scarcely any context is given to explain developments in the strained relationship between the DPRK, its South Korean neighbour and the USA. What little that is provided amounts to speculation about what might be in the mind of the new leader of the country, Kim Jong‑un. "Maybe the young leader is trying to assert his authority in the eyes of the military." "Maybe he wants to distract the population from the economic problems of the DPRK," and so on, and so forth without any reference to facts.

     The corporate media can always be relied on to stoke the fires of hatred. Items carrying unconvincing claims of camps containing hundreds of thousands of starved and tortured political prisoners are being published again. Reports about parents eating their children in a supposedly ongoing famine have resurfaced. The notion that Communists eat babies was first trotted out at the time of the Russian Revolution and has never completely been retired. And, of course, the country is "isolated", "paranoid" and "Stalinist" in the eyes of an increasing tabloid‑style corporate media.

     Imperialism's media/industrial complex has no interest in informing the public to allow it to make considered judgements. It is partisan; its objective is to tarnish any alternative to capitalism in the eyes of exploited people and to justify the crushing of any successful attempt to break free of imperialism's grip. Invasions have been planned and tried but, short of military attack, socialist countries have always been subject to punishing trade and diplomatic restrictions. In some cases, such as Cuba and the DPRK, they have been extreme and deadly. The reaction to this aggression against these usually small states is then provided as evidence of "isolation" and "paranoia".

     The history of the DPRK is the classic example of a US‑led campaign to stand truth on its head. Despite the presence of tens of thousands of US troops on its borders with terrifying military equipment including nuclear weapons, despite regular, provocative joint military exercises with its South Korean client state, despite the vivid memory of the carpet bombing, napalming and germ warfare against the DPRK during the war of 1950-1953 and the loss of five million lives, the leadership of the country has consistently called for:

* A peace treaty to formally end the war
* Reunification of the country divided by the US in 1945
* An end to the US occupation of the south and the annual, month‑long joint military exercises
* Bilateral talks to ease tensions between the US and the DPRK

     These calls for peace have been persistently rejected. Fraught six‑party talks aimed at removing the DPRK's nuclear deterrent were imposed instead. The US/South Korean "war games" have become more and more threatening since the passing of late leader Kim Jong‑il.

     The change of posture also coincides with US President Obama's announcement of a military "pivot" towards Asia with its ultimate military objective of China. The latest manoeuvres included scenarios for the "pre‑emptive" invasion of the DPRK. Nuclear weapons capable B‑52s and the B‑2 stealth bombers have dropped inert bombs less than 30 kilometres away from the North/South border in mock bombing runs on the DPRK.

     This is the context of the DPRK's decision to deploy missiles, mobilise its troops, call for foreign diplomats to leave the country for their own safety and to cut communications with the South Korean government of President Park Geun‑hye, who just so happens to be daughter of General Park Chung‑hee, the late, ruthless dictator of South Korea. The defiant statements emanating from Pyongyang are being portrayed by many as the utterly unprovoked taunts of a "rogue" regime.

     It is worthwhile asking what the response would be if the situation were reversed - if a socialist country moved state of the art military equipment close to the borders of the US. The last time that happened - during the Cuban missile crisis - the US moved the planet as close to a nuclear winter as it has ever come. So, when the government of the DPRK issues strongly worded statements in response to the mobilisation of masses of troops and huge quantities of war‑fighting materiel right up to its border, it's worthwhile asking, who is really being "bellicose" and "provocative"? Who is really engaging in "sabre rattling"?

Harper mocks Chavez

Ted Snider, from Rabble.ca

Upon hearing the news of the death of Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez, Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper had this to say:

Canada looks forward to working with his successor and other leaders in the region to build a hemisphere that is more prosperous, secure and democratic ... At this key juncture, I hope the people of Venezuela can now build for themselves a better, brighter future based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.

Prosperous? Democratic? Harper should take a better look not only at Chavez, but at himself, before he insensitively responds to the death of a man whom a majority of Venezuelans had just re-elected and lectures them on economics and democracy.

Prime Minister Harper prides himself on his economic prowess. But under his government, unemployment has increased from 6.8 per cent when he took office to the 7 per cent level it is at today. Harper has had seven years to improve unemployment, but his policies have done nothing. Chavez has cut unemployment amongst Venezuelans by more than half. In 1999, the year Chavez took office, unemployment was 18 per cent. By 2011 it had dropped to 8.2 per cent and by last year to about 6 per cent.

When it comes to cutting poverty, Harper has done somewhat better. But not as good as Chavez. When Harper took office in 2006, poverty levels stood at 15.9 per cent of Canadians. In 2012, it had improved to 9.4 per cent: an improvement of 40 per cent. However, in the last five years, since 2008, when the number had already improved to 10.8 per cent, Harper's policies have done little to improve poverty in Canada.

In Venezuela, poverty has dropped from 42.8 per cent when Chavez took office to 26.7 per cent -- a vast improvement of 37 per cent. However, according to economist Mark Weisbrot, Chavez did not really have control of the oil industry or the economy until 2003.

When measured from that date, when Chavez's policies began to have an effect on the economy, the improvement in poverty increases to 49.7 per cent. When extreme poverty is considered, the results are even more impressive. In 1999, 16.6 per cent of Venezuelans lived in extreme poverty; by 2011 that number had dropped to 7 per cent: an improvement of 57.8 per cent. And again, if you only look at the period that Chavez could realistically affect, the improvement was an incredible 70 per cent.

In terms of inequity in the economy, the score card for Harper is no better. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening in Canada. Under Harper, Canada's rich-poor gap is one of the fastest growing in the world, according to the Conference Board of Canada. The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development says the gap between the top 10 per cent and the bottom 10 per cent is currently 10:1. In the early 1990s, it was only 8:1. The Gini index measures how much distribution of income deviates from being equal. Zero means everyone has the same income; one means one person has it all. So the lower the number, the better. Under Harper's administration, Canada's Gini index has been virtually unchanged. In Venezuela, under the Chavez administration, the Gini index has improved by about 17 per cent.

While Canada's economic growth stalled in 2012, Venezuela's continued to grow by 5.5 per cent. Though in the 20 years prior to Chavez's presidency, Venezuela had the worst performing economy in South America, since 2003, when Chavez's policies began to have an effect, Venezuela's economy has grown by more than 94 per cent.

As Harper has no right to criticize Chavez on economics, so he has no right to lecture Venezuelans on democracy. Aside from the insensitivity of expressing joy that Venezuelans can "build for themselves a better, brighter future" now that the man they four times overwhelmingly elected to majority governments has died, Harper's categorization of Chavez's government as not based on the principles of democracy requires as much unwillingness to look at reality as his economic criticism of Chavez.

While Harper was busy twice proroguing government, Chavez was holding fourteen national elections and referendums, taking his policies to the people for approval an average of once a year. Harper, however, literally suspended parliament in order to avoid a nonconfidence vote and hold on to power. And he lectures Chavez on democracy. What's worse is that Harper locked the doors on parliament to avoid discussion of diplomat Richard Colvin's strong evidence that Harper's government was handing Afghan detainees over to Afghan prisons known to torture. Good thing Harper also threw the bit about "rule of law" and "respect for human rights" into his eulogy for Chavez.

Harper's remarks mirror much of the western media, who have tarred Chavez's democratic credentials by consistently attaching the adjective dictator to his name with no evidence. But Chavez was no undemocratic dictator. Chavez won four consecutive elections and submitted many important decisions to national referendums. In every case, Chavez honoured the will of the people: even the one time that he lost, by the slimmest of margins, in the December 2007 referendum.

Though Harper says that Chavez's death ushers in the hope that Venezuela can now build a future based on the principles of democracy, Jimmy Carter said in 2012 that "of the ninety-two elections that we've monitored, I would say that the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world."

Venezuela has very high ratings of satisfaction with its democracy and of support for its government. Chavez's government has been marked by its distribution of power to local organizations. It is participatory and grassroots: entirely different from the U.S. backed dictatorships initiated in Venezuela by Woodrow Wilson and finally ended by Hugo Chavez.

Chavez has consistently won a majority of the vote. In 2006, he was re-elected by 63 per cent of the people. Thirteen years into his presidency, he still attracted over 54 per cent of the vote: a popular majority never attained by Harper.

The people elected him and reelected him because of his participatory style of democracy and because of the economic improvements and his care for the poor. He increased Venezuelans' access to education -- college enrollment doubled since 2004, with many students qualifying for free tuition -- and he increased access to health care for millions. These too are part of the better, brighter future that Chavez was delivering and Harper is dismissing.

So before Harper insensitively and arrogantly dyslogizes Chavez, he should take a closer look at Chavez, and at himself.

Ted Snider has his masters in philosophy and teaches high school English and politics in Toronto

In memory of Hugo Chavez: Canadian Network on Cuba

The Canadian Network on Cuba on behalf of all its member organizations expresses its heartfelt condolences to the people of Venezuela on the loss their beloved president and leader Hugo Chávez Frías. Hugo Chávez was a steadfast fighter for self-determination, social justice and independence. His vision and politics went beyond the boundaries of Venezuela to encompass the struggle for dignity not only in Latin America and the Caribbean but for the entire world.  Hugo Chavez may have passed on but the ideals that his life embodied live on.

We express our deepest sympathy to his family, friends, comrades and loved ones. As the peoples of Venezuela and the world absorb this hard blow, this immense loss, we are confident that they will able to meet any challenge on the path to create a country and world as envisioned by Hugo Chávez a nation and planet fit for humanity.

Long Live the Memory of Hugo Chávez

On behalf of the Canadian Network On Cuba

Witnessing a glimpse of the real Cuba

Peter Bazarov

What is Cuba? Ask the average American, and it is very likely that you will hear some variation on JFK’s “imprisoned island” hokum, where that small island is described as a testament to the bearded tyranny that is seemingly endemic to the developing world.

Ask the average Canadian and you will probably hear a description of softly lapping waves, cheap but delicious rum, and how they bought a t-shirt with some fellow named Che on it for only $10.

But if you were to leave the privileged confines of the West, if you were to go to the villages of Angola, to the streets of South Africa, or to the Barrios of Venezuela, you would hear about the shining example that Cuba presents in the face of Empire. You would hear about the sacrifices that the  Cuban people have made and still make, sacrifices in the name of solidarity with the people who Franz Fanon called “the wretched of the Earth”.

All of this in mind, a question emerges: what is Cuba?  And which description is right?

For me the answer didn’t come from a book, a film, or a “CNN Special Report”. I was able to witness a glimpse of the real Cuba when I went on the 20th annual Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade, and saw for myself the beautiful nuances and complexities of Cuban life.

The Brigade was a three-week long program that took me and 40 other Canadians (fellow Brigadistas as we called each other) through the Eastern half of Cuba, and was centered primarily in the pleasant and slightly dreamy city of Holguin (the capital of Holguin province). The city became a defacto base camp for the Brigade as we had a packed itinerary that saw us visit a diverse collection of locales ranging from medical centers, to wind farms, to opera houses.

Each daily trip offered a glimpse at the life of the Cuban people in a way that you could never otherwise see; a glimpse of Cuban life that did not hide the difficulties and the struggles of the Cubans, but also revealed their resilience, optimism, and continued vigor in building a better world.

The most amazing surprise of the whole experience however, was not something mentioned in the pamphlets or in the itinerary. Even considering all that was planned and organized, much of the trip placed us at full liberty, and it was during this time that everyone was able to explore and understand the Island on entirely their terms.

The adventure and idiosyncrasies of such exploration are not easily generalized, so instead allow me to share a personal anecdote of one of the more interesting free roaming experiences of the trip.

This particular adventure began on May Day, after we had been in Cuba only two days. As this was our first day of free time, a number of Brigadistas (including myself) decided to dedicate the day to unbridled exploration; it was as good a day as any, and the annual May Day parade provided a colorful backdrop to our anticipated adventure.

What we didn’t anticipate was the lack of directional sense that afflicted everyone in our little group. Now getting lost in Cuba is not a heart-quickening experience by any stretch of the imagination, as crime is almost non-existent - I would venture to claim that the streets are more dangerous in Canada.  However, we were getting hungry and were not used to Cuba’s sweltering heat. Alas, our Spanish was poor, and with nary a peso in our pockets a Taxi back to our quarters was out of the question. Thankfully, we were rescued by an unlikely hero.

That afternoon a medical student by the name of Fares was walking home from the May Day Parade, and with him he had a large Palestinian Flag hanging off of a bamboo pole. Though our group spoke little Spanish, one person did speak Arabic, and when we saw the young medical student with the flag we were certain we were saved.

Lucky for us, Fares was not simply bi-lingual in Spanish and Arabic, he was a veritable polyglot and spoke fluent English among many other languages. Not only did he offer to direct us back to the hotel, but he also invited us for tea and lunch at the student residence.  Without hesitation we took him up on the offer, and our small group of adventurers quickly found itself sipping tea at the International Residence of Holguin University, discussing middle-eastern politics with Fares and his two room-mates.

As it turned out, Fares and his roommates had moved to Cuba four years ago from Palestine, enrolling in medical school thanks to Cuba’s policy of internationalist free post-secondary education.

The friendship between the Mayday rescuers and the Brigadistas quickly flourished and we would see Fares and his friends many other times throughout the trip. With their assistance and their knowledge of the city we saw the nooks and crannies of Holguin, the little art-galleries, the best salsa-halls, and the student haunts; indeed, they even brought us to a Deep Purple tribute concert where we heard an excellent if slightly accented rendition of “Smoke on the Water”.

Somehow, even with the daily excursions and the spontaneous adventure, the Brigade also engaged in volunteer labour (as per the name). The volunteer labour consumed only a small amount of time on the trip, but as I fondly recall those weeks it was the volunteer labour which brings the biggest smile to my lips.

The volunteer labour consisted of us Canadians helping out at a construction site for the first two weeks and at a farm for the final week. We worked side by side with everyday working class Cubans, doing the kind of manual work that is exhilaratingly different for a bookish student such as myself.

While the labour was obviously more symbolic than necessary (the Cuban workers were much more qualified to do farming or construction than most of the Canadians), it nonetheless decreased the workload for the labourers onsite, and provided an opportunity for us Canadians to bond with the Cubans through shared labour.

In my case, I hope that my broken Spanish mixed with wild gesticulation was enough to establish a connection with some of my temporary Cuban co-workers, and in this way foster a feeling of solidarity.

Among the tapestry of new experience and adventure that made up the Ernesto Che Guevara Volunteer Brigade, the tales above are but a single thread. By the end of the trip, a sense of Cuba emerged for all of the Brigadistas, a feeling that made us understand why that little island had survived in the face of such adversity and why it still needs our solidarity. We saw a Cuba that was complex but beautiful, a human Cuba that’s been too often hidden from our sight.

Get involved in the Brigade -- check out this link to the main site of the Brigade with all the details of the current adventure including prices and dates, and connect with more past Brigadistas over Facebook.

Mali: Labour, peace, African and French youth voices against the intervention

Launched just days ago, a brutal military intervention by the French "socialist" government of Francois Hollande is being carried out in Mali. The war includes areal bombing assault and, now, a ground assault by troops.

As People's Voice noted earlier in January:

A consequence of the western imperialist powers' intervention in Libya in 2011, under the guise of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine (R2P), which cost the lives of thousands of civilians, was the destabilization of the west African state of Mali.  On Dec. 20, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2085, authorizing deployment of an African‑led International Support Mission (AFISMA) in northern Mali.... An estimated 1.2 million Tuareg people inhabit the Saharan interior of Africa, living as nomadic pastoralists in Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Burkina Faso. Since the European powers first colonized the region, causing wide‑scale displacement and suffering, the Tuareg have struggled for better living conditions and the right to self‑determination. They have continued this struggle against the Western‑backed leaders of their now independent nations.

The main pretext for this imperialist war is the intensification of the strife and war between the Malian army and the militant organizations that claim to be fighting for the independence of Northern Mali in Azawad. In this context, Malian President Dioncounda Traore (who was appointed after a military coup last March) "asked" for action which resulted in a December 2012 UN Security Council resolution.

Mali is a landlocked West African country, well-known internationally for its music and cultural history, home of the famous historic trade city of Timbuktu. The country is also a former French colony (see this link here which shows a 1936 map of West Africa; read here about the pact France forced on its former colonies after 'independence').

The military "operation" focuses on the Muslim Tuareg people's homeland in the north of the Mali, in an area known as the Sahel. The Sahel is an the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas. It is home to vast natural resources with the world third largest uranium reserves as well as substantial oil reserves.

One of the main companies involved is the French energy corporation Areva, which is the second largest producer of uranium in the world.  Areva has been extracting for decades in neighbouring Nigeria, although they have lost their exclusive rights recently.

Uranium is a very important energy source for France. The World Nuclear Association says that over 75 percent of electricity is produced from nuclear energy in France, and the country is also the world's largest net exporter of nuclear-generated electricity with a revenue of more than 3 billion Euro a year.

The French force includes at least 2,500 French troops as well as Gazelle helicopter gunships, as well as six Mirage 2000D fighter jets based in Chad and four Rafale fighter jets from France in the bombing runs.

The war is taking place with the full support of the United States and NATO, as well as the European Union, the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) -- and the Harper Conservative government of Canada.

About 2340 troops are expected from neighbouring African countries; Britain is also sending two C-17 aircraft to carry troops and military equipment while Denmark and Belgium are also sending troop transport aircraft and helicopters respectively. The US is providing military intelligence.

The Harper Conservatives, who have no money or time for the Aboriginal peoples and Idle No More, immediately sent one C-17 cargo plane to Mali on Tuesday to offer logistical support to the French, airlifting supplies to Bamako. There is a summary of Canadian mining and other corporate investments in Mali here.


Below are some statements by labour, peace, and communist youth organizations of South Africa and France.

Geo-strategic goals, not humanitarianism

(The intervention) constitutes the continuation of the implementation of the imperialist plans for the geo-strategical control of broader areas of Africa, as we have seen it in 2011 with the bloody intervention and bombing of Libya. Their goal are the energy resources which are object of fierce rivalry between imperialist forces and centers, which however go hand in hand in the slaughter of the peoples under various pretexts each time. World Peace Council

Plunder and control of uranium mines

...After the genocide in Rwanda and the demolition of Libya, France continues to use the military bases it maintains in Africa in order to strengthen its role in the inter-imperialist competition and to serve the interests of its monopoly groups who are plundering the wealth-producing resources (gold, uranium etc.).  (...)  aiming for the protection of the French interests in the uranium mines found in Tuareg areas of the West-African Region, the inter-imperialist competition for the control of the wealth-producing resources of Mali and the placement of puppet-governments in the African countries serving the leading imperialist forces...  World Federation of Trade Unions


No war for Areva and Total!


It did not take much for our country to start the onslaught of Mali. In the name of freedom and the fight against terrorism, the (French) government arises as the savoir of Africa. This speech, appropriate for the clash of civilizations, is shameful. We've known this policy to justify intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. With what results? Destabilization, violence and armed militias in those countries that are completely divided.

No war on behalf of (the companies) Areva and Total! We refuse to make a war on behalf of corporate interests. The war will only bring its share of desolation and not solve anything. Armed intervention is an opportunity to strengthen the positions of French multinationals in the region, Areva in Niger and Total West Africa, which operate without resources that local people benefit.  Communist Youth of France


A task for the people of Mali and Africa, not imperialism

In our minds we still harbour fresh memories of French military invasion of Libya in 2011 as part of NATO, leading to a regime change; French military "residence" in Ivory Coast which was actively involved in regime change; and French military presence in the Central Africa Republic, to "protect" the so-called French interests but not to keep peace and as part not to prevent rebels from capturing that country.


This time around France is "fighting" rebels which seek to capture Bamako, the capital city in Mali. We see this as nothing but an agenda by France to defend its hegemony and advance its capitalist interests in the country and the region at large. (...) The people of Mali and the African Union must be the ones taking a leading role in solving the problems experienced in Mali and in Africa respectively, not imperialist countries and former colonisers such as France which in the first place are part of the root causes to these problems and their historical development. Young Communist League of South Africa

What if Mother Nature had rights? She does in Ecuador

Quito, Ecuador

David Suzuki

In some of the poorest countries of Latin America, one can find a refreshing (and radical) departure from the conventional economic thinking entrenched in Canada and around the world.

It’s not often that people look to countries such as Ecuador or Bolivia as examples that might have something to teach Canada. And yet, when it comes to finding new forms of economic development that pay serious attention to the environment, this is exactly the case. And at a time when Canada’s oil sands production continues to grow despite climate science predicting even more alarming consequences, it’s high time we had a look at what’s going on in the Andes. As part of a documentary production for The Nature of Things, that’s exactly what I did.

And I was amazed.

Both Ecuador and Bolivia are embarking on new paths of social and economic development toward what they call “sumak kawsay,” or “living well.” This indigenous concept stands in contrast to the neo-liberal model of development that’s always about growth. The mantra is more productivity, more growth, more consumption of resources, ad infinitum. Ad nauseam!

In contrast, “living well” is about developing in harmony with nature, meeting human rights and satisfying basic needs for all, and living in balance.

Sure, it sounds nice on paper, but what does it mean in practice?

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told me that one example of this new vision of development is the fact that his country’s constitution is the first in the world to give rights to nature. In other words, trees, animals, rivers – entire ecosystems – have the constitutional right to exist and flourish. It’s a far cry from Canada’s “Ministry of the Environment,” which is more about managing human use of the environment than about Mother Nature herself.

In 2010, two American residents of Ecuador were the first to go to court on behalf of nature, over damage to a river caused by a provincial government road construction crew. The case was a first for Ecuador and the world, establishing a legal precedent we can only hope spreads around the globe.

Mr. Correa also told me that Ecuador’s attempt to marry ecology and economy has led to a radical proposal to not exploit 20 per cent of the country’s untapped oil reserves. Those reserves happen to lie under Yasuní National Park – a jewel of the Amazon rain forest thought to harbour the highest level of biodiversity on Earth. Scientists have found more species of trees in one hectare of this forest than there are in all of North America from Alaska to Mexico.

Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT initiative promises to leave that oil in the ground, to help combat climate change, but asks the global community to be “co-responsible” and contribute half of the profits the country would be giving up: $3.6-billion. So far, they’ve raised $300-million.

For a country whose economy depends on oil to propose such an initiative is remarkable. Nearly 30 per cent of Ecuadoreans live below the poverty line, yet the country is wildly supportive of the initiative. What’s Canada’s excuse? Surely we could afford to do something similar with the oil sands.

Another lesson Canada could learn takes place high in the Andes mountains, in Bolivia’s Uyuni salt flats. The flats are the fossil remnant of an ancient seabed containing more than half of the world’s lithium deposits. (Lithium is much in demand, and electric cars using lithium batteries are expected to play an increasing role in reducing our carbon footprint.) Heavy hitters such as China, Japan and the European Union are seeking new sources of lithium. But instead of exporting raw lithium to these industrialized nations for them to make the batteries, Bolivia plans to make the batteries itself and thus realize the real economic benefits of value-added products. There’s no doubt this is an ambitious gamble that could fail.

Yet, in Canada, we continue being “hewers of wood and drawers of water,” as we ship raw logs and raw bitumen elsewhere. At least in this respect, Canada could learn from Bolivia.

Of course, we’re not saying that Bolivia and Ecuador have all the answers, or that they don’t have environmental and economic contradictions to sort out. But they’re grappling with these issues and forging new paths toward a different kind of growth that’s attuned with nature – and that’s what makes them such exciting models. Which is more than anyone can say for Canada these days.

David Suzuki’s Andean Adventure airs on The Nature of Things, Jan. 10, at 8 p.m. on CBC-TV.

Reprinted from The Globe and Mail

Cuba Guarantees Employment for Youth with Disabilities

Havana, Oct1 (Prensa Latina) The employment for more than 1,000 youth with disabilities in Cuba is a guarantee, Special Education officials told the press today.

According to Moraima Orozco, national director of that teaching, the Ministries of Education, and Work and Social Security ensure blind, deaf, people with physical limitations, and those with mental disease, a training in skills required for the performance of trades.

Depending on the labor demand, both institutions determine the necessary workshops in schools, Orozco told Trabajadores newspaper.

Special Education methodologist Osmel Garrido stated that job training of students adapt to new forms of employment, taking into account the changes the country has implemented.

Garrido acknowledged as a challenge the maintenance of education quality provided to people with special educational needs.

He also ratified the fundamental mission of his sector, consisting of ensuring the social integration of students, and prepare them for life.

Stop the deportation of war resister Kimberly Rivera!

"My biggest fear is being separated from my children and having to sit in a prison for politically being against the war in Iraq."  - Kimberly Rivera, Toronto

Dear Friends,

What kind of government do we have in Canada, elected by less than 40% of people who voted, that intends to send a heroic young mother to jail for up to five years in the U.S. for doing the right thing?

We are appealing for your immediate attention, help and action to stop the thoroughly reactionary, anti-family deportation order of Kimberly Rivera to certain harsh imprisonment in a U.S. military jail for two to five years, away from her young children.

Stephen Harper's government has failed to deal with Kimberly's application to stay for humanitarian reasons, like it does not care she will be unable to care for her four children or that her family will be broken up when she goes to jail.

The deportation can be stopped if enough people and groups speak out. The prairie provinces are critically important for this effort, Harper's key support area.

We can win, and the government must be forced to back down. The immediate support for this campaign from the Canadian Labour Congress and Amnesty International are vital, welcome, and a sign that broad support can grow. We are thankful for opposition party support in Ottawa, but what happens outside parliament matters most.

By now, media has informed most Canadians that the Harper government has issued a Sept. 20 deportation order to Kimberly and her young family, the same way it already deported two other former U.S. soldiers who disagree with the unjust Iraq war.

This is a reactionary move, because everyone knows that these two soldiers served long prison sentences for doing the right thing. Harper expects that Kimberly will be jailed. Her lawyer expects a sentence of 2 to 5 years!

These good soldiers should not be in custody for one second. That is why they came to Canada. So far, Harper has achieved a 100% success rate of sending US war resisters to jail. This must stop now, especially in light of the news Harper is planning to send more U.S. soldiers to face certain imprisonment.

Rivera is "guilty" of the crime of being a hero, a good soldier who deserted from the unjust occupation of Iraq. Here's a comparison. Nazi soldiers who deserted Hitler's army after realizing they were helping commit war crimes were heros, not "bogus refugees" as Jason Kenney calls the U.S. soldiers who came to Canada seeking safe refuge and the welcome of the majority of Canadians.

The Harper government is showing its true face. It is pouring the blood of hundreds of thousands of Iraq's people on Canada's global reputation. It is still supporting George Bush's unjust Iraq war. It is defying international law that never allowed the Iraq war.

Canadians must not stand for that! Canada must be made better!

The Canadian government is sending U.S. soldiers to a harsh military prison in an army rife with sexual abuse and torture, like the abuse Bradley Manning is experiencing, according to the UN special rapporteur on torture and hundreds of legal experts. What is the proper response by Canadians? It must be outrage and the loudest possible outcry. This is totally unjust. It is inhuman.

Help inform Stephen Harper's MPs across the prairies. Ask them to change their minds. We cannot allow them to get their bullying way.

- Talk about this to everyone you know, tell them to contact their MP and to tell other people.
- Put this message up on notice boards.
- Phone, write or visit your MP or Immigration minister Jason Kenney. Ask them why they want to place a young mother of four children who has only obeyed her conscience and the law in jail and possibly destroy her family, why they are still helping the US' unjust occupation of Iraq, why they think US war resisters should be punished for making the right moral and legal decision to desert from the Iraq war, and how they can explain why every war resister they have deported so far has gone to jail for no good reason?
- Have a picket line in support of Kimberly and her family, even if its small.
- Tell the media, write a letter to the editor - From your family, union, faith group or community organization
- Visit your MP's constituency office, even if the MP is not there. Stay as long as you can! Get the staff's time and attention and send a really strong message! Polite but unshakable.

Not doing anything at this critical time of moral degeneracy by the Harper government is the worst option for anyone with an ounce of compassion and humanity. We appeal to you for your immediate action!

The Keep Resisters in Canada Campaign (KRICC) is sending this message to hundreds of supporters across the prairie provinces (where we work) and beyond in total solidarity with the Toronto appeal from the War Resisters Support Campaign there (appended). We in KRICC have been planning an urgent appeal for a U.S. deserter in Saskatchewan, Joshua Key, which will now be slightly changed. Please support the below appeal, and the one we expect to issue shortly.

We would be happy to hear from you by email, phone (204-798-3371) or by mail - KRICC c/o 269 Kitson St., Winnipeg MB R2H 0Z6. Please copy your message to the Harper government to us and the Toronto campaign (address below). We'd very much appreciate it.

Yours truly,
Cheryl-Anne Carr and Darrell Rankin
for the Interim executive, Keeps Resisters in Canada Campaign

Appeal for solidarity from Sudan

On Wednesday evening the 4th of July 2012 the major opposition political parties which include the Umma Party and the SCP, have signed the political document entitled the "Democratic Alternative". The signing took place on the twenth day of the continuous mass demonstrations against the rule of Albashir regime. These peaceful demonstrations which engulfed the main cities and towns of the country are being met with the most cruel repressive measures, wide spread detention, terrible torture to those detained, denial of medical treatment and beatings. Despite all this the demonstrators continue to defy the security repression and fill the streets. Yesterday Khartoum University students took to the streets for the upteenth time.

The journalist, members of the Journalist democratic network, demonstrated in their hundreds in front of the UN human rights building, demanding an end to security harassment, intervention and respect of freedom of expression and release of detained journalists. It worth mentioning that the security forces have released two female Egyptian journalists and deported them back to Egypt.

Lawyers, in their hundreds, have picketed the ministry of Justice demanding the respect of the constitution, fair trials to the demonstrators, better and more humane conditions for those arrested including the right to see doctors and defence lawyers and release of all political prisoners and detainees. It is clear that the demonstrations which have started as protest against rising prices and the austerity measures, is gradually taking a different shape with new forces joining the protest movement and more political demands are coming to the fore. The slongan demanding the overthrow of the regime is the main demand of the people.

In response to the ongoing demonstrations and the growing struggles of the Sudanese people, the document on the "Democratic Alternative" was signed. The document calls for a transitional period during which the country is ruled under a special Constitutional Declaration, beginning with the establishment of national unity government and finishing with the organisation of fare, free and honest elections. Furthermore the document called for the separation of religion from the state, and prohibited the exploitation of religion for political purposes and it is use in the political struggle so as to foster stability and social peace. The document defined the tactics to overthrow the regime through strike, peaceful demonstrations, occupation, civil disobedience and people revolution.

The different political forces have agreed to continue the struggle till final victory, stressing that there is no way for talks with the regime.

The main challenge now is to transform the document into a people’s manifesto that can help to bring all opposition forces together in the final push against the regime. The Sudanese Communist Party, which have signed the document, wishes to stress that adherence to the document by those who have signed, and support by other forces who are waging fierce struggle in Darfur, Southern Kordufan and the Blue Nile, as well as international solidarity will all pave the way for an end to the present regime, the sufferings of our people and the establishment of a democratic Sudan.

Long live International Solidarity.

Victory for the Sudanese people


Secretariat of the CC of the SCP

A critical perspective on the Houla massacre

Whomever is responsible for the Houla
massacre, it is difficult for us not to see
imperialism's outcry as crocodile tears

Stephen Gowans,
Reprinted from What's Left  
Syrian government forces may or may not have been responsible for the killing of 108 civilians at Houla. Witness accounts point to militias that may have been acting independently of the Syrian government. One account describes the killings as avenging a rebel sectarian attack on an Alawite village.

All the same, no witness account has been independently verified. The events are, in the words of a UN monitor, “murky”.

The US government, nevertheless, has reached far beyond the evidence to blame the Syrian government for the atrocity, a brazenly hypocritical public relations assault on Syria. In light of the serial massacre of hundreds of Pakistani and Afghan civilians, including children, by US drone strikes, the US government has no credibility as a self-appointed champion of the innocent.

Examining the conflict with reference to US foreign policy goals, and the objectives of other parties, it is likely that the Assad government’s opponents are depending on armed conflict and the exploitation of the public relations opportunities the conflict provides to meet their goal of regime change.

Damascus, on the other hand, has more to gain from working out a modus vivende with its internal opposition than trying to win a shooting war with armed rebels that have the backing of the formidable diplomatic and material resources of the United States and wealthy Gulf petro-monarchies.

Bahrain struggle continues

Emile Schepers
Peoples's World

Dissidents continue to organise protests against the government of Bahrain, a Persian Gulf kingdom known for its pearl fisheries but also for its large scale oil production and its hosting of the US Fifth Fleet.

Bahrain is an island of 1.2 million inhabitants off the north coast of Saudi Arabia, to which it is connected by a causeway. The tiny kingdom has been the focus of a power struggle between its two important neighbours, Iran and Saudi Arabia, with the latter being backed by the United States.

To understand what’s going on, a little history is important.

Fifth National Campaign against Homophobia Underway in Cuba

Rainbow flags and the Cuban flag

An exhibition of paintings and other plastic arts works promoting the acceptance of and respect for free and responsible sexual orientation and gender identity was inaugurated on Tuesday in Havana during the opening day of the Fifth National Campaign against Homophobia that runs in Cuba through the month of May.


In a press conference at Havana’s National Center of Sexual Education (CENESEX), the director of this institution, Mariela Castro Espín, explained that, as in previous years, the main purpose of the campaign is to contribute to the education of society, focusing mainly on the family and youths.