On Valentines - solidarity with missing and murdered Aboriginal women

Rebel Youth has received this commentary about the crisis of missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. We are reprinting it also in the context of the build-up to International Women's Day 2013.

By Darrel Rankin, CPC Manitoba

On this day of action for murdered and missing Aboriginal women in Canada, we are circulating yesterday's report from Human Rights Watch on the issue (read the report summary here).

It focuses on B.C., but the brutal racist and sexist realities are no different in this part of Canada, reported and unreported. (For example, see this "Letter from a Grandmother" we ran in the past - RY eds.)

This is a systemic problem, connected to the oppression of both women and Aboriginal nations in Canada by the dominant, English-speaking nation and Quebec, a nation which itself is in an unequal union with the non-Aboriginal "rest of Canada." Like war, the inequality of nations is an inherent part of capitalism in its late stage of development.

Solving the problem will require fundamental social change, curbing and ultimately ending the immense power of the corporate elite who benefit from all forms of discrimination and inequality, dividing working people and creating pools of super-exploited labour that drag all wages down.

(Extra: Read the YCL solidarity statement on the Sisters in Spirt campaign from 2011)

In serious denial, the largest oppressor nation (or its political, corporate class) doesn't have a name for itself, because it refuses to recognize the genocidal crimes it continues to commit. It calls itself "Canada," claiming we have a "multi-cultural" society with no other real nations, except Quebec which Harper recognized because it is an equal opportunity oppressor of Aboriginal nations. Je me souviens Oka.

Human Rights Watch is playing a useful role by helping expose the crude police state Aboriginal peoples are resisting in Canada, although I disagree with the role it has played in other parts of the world. (About HRW's role elsewhere, see for example here or here.)

The Aboriginal rights struggle requires the full solidarity of Labour and other popular movements. May Aboriginal nations win full rights and equality, and soon.



Links and related reports (with thanks to Eagle Watch):

• Full report
• Press release re-printed on Rebel Youth
• BBC report - RCMP 'discriminates against and abuses' First Nations women 
• Harper brushes off calls for inquiry into violence against Aboriginal women
• Documents show Attawapiskat gets 0.5% share of annual diamond revenues

Tory youth leader resigns over racism

Report from Sun News

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party says its youth president has resigned following racist comments he made on social media on Friday.

Braydon Mazurkiewich expressed disappointment on his Facebook page in regards to the Kapyong Barracks land deal that would see the former military base turned into an urban reserve.

“I wouldn’t want to live anywhere near there!,” Mazurkiewich wrote of the southwest Winnipeg property.

The 24-year-old went on to say the space was “built for hardworking men and women of the military, not freeloading Indians.”

The party condemned the comments and asked for Mazurkiewich’s resignation.

“As PC Manitoba Party President I have asked Brayden Mazurkiewich for his resignation and received it,” party president Ryan Matthews said in a statement late this afternoon.

Matthews called the comments “conduct detrimental to our party.”

Mazurkiewich had served as the party’s youth president since February 2012.

photo essay: Winnipeg sidewalks - signs

Above: the infamous rail yards of the Canadian Pacific Railway Co. The yards mark the historic line between poor and rich neighborhoods. Winnipeg's North End is to the left of the tracks.

Below: one of the few career choices for Winnipeg youth.

Above: a sign of the times, cameras are seen as a force multiplier for the police and a way to be omnipresent in the minds of common people. In plain english it helps the police do more with less and scares the oppressed minorities when needed. All to make upper classes feel safe.

Below: another sign of the times, Mathew Dumas was shot down by Winnipeg Police. This protest sign mocks the cops claim that Dumas had a screwdriver for a weapon.

Above: while bank branches continue to close, the vacuum in poorer districts is filled by payday loan outfits. They are commonly known as predatory lenders due to astronomical interest rates they charge the working poor that use them.

Below: the brightest lights on West Broadway...

Above: ...turns out to be a pawnbroker. This is the other method of obtaining funds in Winnipeg short of black market activities, such as the drug trade.

Below: truth in advertising. Manure for sale sign has different meaning when, at Portage and Main, the CanWest corporate headquarters looms in the background. Among the posters: the occupation will not be televised, modern life is war, just got paid; all seem to be an unintended working class collage.

Above: rental housing on St. Mathews Avenue. The porch enclosures have now been removed.

Below: one way workers fight back is by forming unions and striking for better working conditions when they have jobs, for the existence of jobs in Winnipeg, for fair pay and benefits, and in solidarity of other workers. These workers are on strike at New Flyer's Winnipeg bus factory.

Above: another way of fighting back is to vote with one's feet. This is happens to be the Mayday march.
\
Below: Election poster in North End long after the election. The Communist Party has one of the more visible campaigns in poor areas of Winnipeg. This area has sent communist MLAs and city councilors to office over a period of decades.

Many who are able to vote often don't because of a first past the post system, which seems rigged in light of today. Smaller parties are seen as unwinable and therefore are passed over for large business parties or as the majority does, don't vote at all. Those that remain to vote are the wealthy classes who want the status quo and surprise, the big parties all sell the status quo or some cosmetic tinkering.

click on above images for closer view

Israeli Apartheid Week grows and so does pressure to ban it: UofManitoba

above: a graphic calling for pressure in the
form of a BDS campaign.

Try as politicians might (see post below), it seems that Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW for short) is growing. IAW is held in more places with each year. This is the first year the events denouncing the system of Israeli Apartheid against Palestinians is held on the University of Manitoba campus. The event runs March 8-12th.

[link to the Winnipeg week here.]

Already pressure is being put on university officials to stop the events. Two news report links: 1 2

The People's Voice newspaper reports even more disturbing going ons in the halls of power. New laws being dreamed up, if enacted by the Harper Conservatives, may make events such as IAW criminal and outlaw criticism in Canada. [link here].

the central website of the sixth annual Israeli Apartheid Week can be found here.

RY Interviews David Jacks Part 1

This is part one of a very extensive interview done last September by Rebel Youth Magazine.

We are posting it here on the blog to supplement the print edition's publication of RY's interview with a spokesperson for ASSE, a student union federation in the nation of Quebec.

Note that the grammar is not up to par. This is due to trying to keep the transcription as close as possible to the audio recording.

We entered the Lo Pub. It was dimly lit and not too many patrons were in it at that hour. Seemed cozy enough. Some rock and top 40 music played in the background. We ordered a round of draft beer and sat in the corner. “Help yourself to some cheese bread” David Jacks says. All I had brought with me was a red Lloyds tape recorder, masking tape holding the batteries in. I'll point out now that for a man who is smiling and cheerful every time I see him, a columnist at the Winnipeg Sun has labeled him “Mr. Grumpy Pants” last autumn. WTF is up with that !?

Kangaroo session at Winnipeg's city hall

note: this report by freelance reporter Michael Welch of the proceedings at Winnipeg's City Hall over the P-3 option for the waterworks was originally circulated by e-mail and later rewritten for the newspaper People's Voice. Another PV article gives an analysis of the issue. Rebel Youth presents the article here as we feel this issue is relevant to youth and students as well. Why? The same forces at work here attack any ideal of univeral post-secondary education. And it goes without saying that this issue is important since water is one of life's basic necessities, not a commodity. Increased water rates can affect services like laundromats and housing rental costs for students. The Canadian Federation of Students made a presentation at city hall urging that the water supply remains public.

Right: cartoon poking fun at people who make shortsighted decisions.

"Let's not throw the word "privatization" around the way Joe Mccarthy threw the word Communist around!"
- Councillor Justin Swandel



Mayor Katz got his way.

At the end of the day (literally) Council voted 10-6 to approve of the new Utility and strategic partnership model.

This is a disappointing but not entirely unexpected development.

There were about 200 people at the rally the previous night along with excellent speeches, music and a big white elephant!

On the day of the vote, almost as many people showed up and packed both galleries.
outside, a camera was set up to allow critics of the Utility P3 to have their say. It was a kind of "speaker's corner."

At the outset, one of the Councilors, Justin Swandel, did attempt to limit the number of speakers to four, but Council ultimately agreed to hear the 20 speakers who signed up to speak.

At the outset, there were three or four people who spoke out in favour of the water utility, one arguing that further delay would cost the taxpayers money.

THEN THE DELEGATIONS SPOKE OUT AGAINST THE UTILITY. One of the people who had signed up to speak did not show up, so the next speaker, Phyllis Watson of the Council of Women of Winnipeg spoke on the flawed consultation process.

Following Phyllis were the following presentations all approximately 5 minutes long:

John Loxley (Danger of P3s with Examples); Jesse Hajer, CCPA-MB ( Poor Cost Saving Predictions in Business Plan ); Mike Davidson, CUPE MB (Distinction between Upgrades and Utility Model) ;Chris Leo (Urban Sprawl); Alana Makinson, CFS-MB (Youth Perspective); David Cavett-Goodwin, Wolseley Residents Association (Lack of Accountability and Public Control)

Around 11:30 there was a break to allow a different subject to be debated, that over the removal of a heritage building.

Then there was lunch. Over the lunch hour, CKUW helpfully covered the Utility proceedings which included interviews and colour commentary by Tony Clarke, Maude Barlow and Jenny Gerbasi. An Archive of that broadcast can be found at http://ckuw.ca/24/20090722.13.00-14.01.mp3 .

After lunch, Robert Chernomas presented his talk based on the most recent Fast Facts by Maude Barlow and Meera Karunananthan which can be found at the website for the Centre for Policy Alternatives (policyalternatives.ca)



The remaining delegations included the following...

Tom Simms (Charleswood Bridge comparator); Christine Bennett-Clarke; Kevin Rebeck, CUPE MB (Labour Perspective); Sandy Gessler, SPC Board President (Health); GReen Party Leader James Beddome; Larry Klippenstein

Following the delegations, Council deliberated for about three hours. Predictably, the Councilors in opposition to the water corporatization plan raised our major concerns and showed that they had done their homework. Councilors Gerbasi and Orlikow were particularly notable in this regard.

Most of the rest of the Councilors betrayed through their comments that they were largely oblivious to the concerns being raised by opponents of this plan.. Councilor Swandel accused the opponents of "cherry-picking" and not being particularly honest in their appraisal of P3s. He of course ignored Jesse Hajer's devastating critique of the cherry-picking in the Utility Business Plan!

Councilor Steeves insisted that something has to change. That the current system wasn't working, and that something had to be done! If this writer hadn't been familiar with the documentary information indicating that the current system was working fine, he would probably have been impressed by the Councilor's presentation. Even the Deloitte and Touche report which has been used by Council and the Mayor to justify this new Utility has been clear that there was "nothing to suggest that current regulatory requirements and services were not being met" by the current Department of Water and Waste. Therefore, nothing to justify the creation of this highly controversial proposal.

And they call us fear-mongers!

Of course, Councilors Swandel and Steeves sounded like thoughtful and enlightened statesmen compared to most of the other proponents in Council. Councilors Browaty and Fielding clearly had not heard a word that had been said from the delegations. They repeated the canards about how increased involvement from the private sector would reduce costs to the public, reduce cost over-runs, etc.

One pleasant surprise, however was Russ Wyatt's change of heart. He sits on the EPC (Executive Policy Committee) and formerly voted with his colleagues to approve this proposal. Yesterday, he spoke eloquently on the need to engage the public in a proper consultation. At one point he noted that the site of the consultations, the Masonic Temple on Osborne, was not easily accessible to people in his community (Transcona). It bares noting that Russ Wyatt's constituents waged a major campaign against the proposed Olywest pork processing facility a few years ago.

A low point was struck by Mr. Harry Lazaranko who threw a tantrum criticizing the opponents of the Utility plan of "grandstanding" in front of the press and capitalizing on the ignorance of concerned citizens who were expressing concerns about privatization. He even suggested at one point that the presence of children and a man in a wheelchair was part of some kind of PR stunt! He maintained that the Utility plan was so clear and plain to read that "even a twelve year old child could understand it!"

Mr. Lazarenko was the author of an amendment which would call for a mandatory referendum before "Privatization of our water" could happen. By this he appears to mean a shift of ownership from the public to the private sector.

This amendment is a red herring. As Council of Canadians reps Maude Barlow and Meera Karunananthan explained in a recent release...

"Councillor Harry Lazarenko’s motion to ensure that privatization is not sought without a referendum does not allay concerns about the loss of public control over water services, hikes in water rates and the global impacts of creating a for-profit utility."

Of course, the Mayor in the end demonstrated his dismissal of the opponents' arguments, continuing the meme of how the opponents were fear-mongering and lying.

The heart of the opponents' arguments was that there was inadequate consultation and no real opportunity for the public to engage decision-makers. Critics were arguing that they have not gotten adequate answers to their questions!

By the end, there were around 40 of us trying to make sense of what happened. We mostly wandered off dejected and tired.

However, as has been pointed out both within Water Watch and within the Council of Canadians, we really didn't expect this Council to vote against the proposal even if the media ended up giving more coverage to the issue than we dared to dream for!

The next stage of the battle in the opinion of this writer, would involve the province's approval process.

If nothing else critics of the Mayor's plan have public opinion onside. According to a recent poll, nearly 2/3s of Winnipeggers oppose approval of this Utility without proper public consultation.

Michael A Welch

News-all foster kids banned from restaurant & other stories

Manitoba News excerpt
from People's Voice (column written by a YCLer)


FOSTER KIDS NOT WELCOME IN RESTAURANT

Children in the care of Child and Family services were kicked
out of a restaurant in a Winnipeg Howard Johnson hotel back in
December.A CFS worker was told by the manager that it
was policy that children in CFS care are not allowed to
eat in the restaurant.The worker said that “I guess they looked
at our room number and knew these kids were in care ”.

INJURED AT WORK,MAN NOW DEPORTED

British born Chris Mason was a trucker when he came to Canada
in 2001 to fill the need for cheap labour.After hurting his
back as a truck driver, he became a dispatcher. He was
injured further when his wheelchair was hit by a taxi at
a crosswalk outside a hospital in Winnipeg. Now, the
Harper Tory government has deported the 36 year old
paraplegic back to relatives in Manchester, England,
even though Mason had lived with his father in Greece
from the age of eight until his arrival in Canada at 28.
Mason's mother said that the Canadian government treated
her son like a terrorist. Chris Mason says, “I'm homeless,
I have no money and I've got nowhere to live.”
Being disabled,he now stays in a seniors nursing home.


You can read the rest of the column in the February 15-28th People's Voice (Vol.17 #3), buy a copy today or read the PDF online March 1st.

OTHER NEWS

[Note: another deportee, this time in Calgary, Alberta set himself on fire
on Thursday February 12th "Witnesses said the man appeared to be upset and said something about being deported before he set himself alight, according to a local report...The man suffered second-degree burns to 40 per cent of his body, including his back, face, hands and legs".]


Wikileaks releases NATO report on civilian deaths

February 16, 2009

A confidential NATO report from January reveals that civilian deaths from the war in Afghanistan have increased by 46% over the past year.

The 12 page report was authenticated and released in full today by Wikileaks.

(click on link to see map)
ISAF Security Summary 2008

The report shows a dramatic escalation of the war and civil disorder. Coalition deaths increased by 35%, assassinations and kidnappings by 50% and attacks on the Kabul based Government of Hamid Karzai also more than doubled, rising a massive 119%.

The report highlights huge increases on attacks aimed at Coalition forces, including a 27 % increase in IED attacks, a 40%. rise in rifle and rocket fire and an increase in surface to air fire of 67%.

According to the report, outside of the capital Kabul only one in two families had access to even the most basic health care, and only one in two children had access to a school.

The disclosure follows the unrelated arrest of Colonel Owen McNally earlier this month for passing older civilian death toll figures to Human Rights Watch analyst and former BBC radio reporter Rachel Reid. Human Rights Watch published a report based around that data, which covered 2006-2007, last September.

The London Times, stated that American military officials were "seething" over the leaks.

A UK Ministry of Defence source reportedly told the Daily Mail:

"What McNally passed on will not cost lives in the sense that it doesn't give specific military details. But the whole point of defeating the Taliban is winning hearts and minds and stopping the population joining their cause. If they think we're lying to them, it could become a very dangerous place. This has caused a diplomatic row and the Americans are not happy at all."

Wikileaks legal spokesperson Jay Lim stated "We deplore the arrest of Colonel McNally for revealing civilian death figures. It is clear that Col. McNally's actions are of the highest moral calibre. His example has encouraged others to step forward."

NATO is not likely to find Wikileaks' source so readily. The site uses state of the art anonymization technologies, and the identity of its sources are protected under the Swedish Press Freedom Act.

police: crime containment crew

PART ONE: Winnipeg, 1968

This commentary is the first of a series on Winnipeg's (in)justice system and is posted as an exclusive to the Rebel Youth blog. Part 2 will quote some testimonies from the Manitoba Human Rights Commission report and focus on the issues of police and crime in Winnipeg's inner city. It will be printed in the next issue of Rebel Youth magazine, you'll have to get yourself a copy to read it. But to begin, part 1 goes back over 40 years ago, starting with a reprint from the People's Voice predecessor newspaper, Canadian Tribune from the spring of 1968.
---
WHO SAYS “THE LAW IS AN ASS” ?

By Tom Morris

When Charles Dickens said, “the law is an ass”, he could have been standing on the windy corner of Winnipeg’s Portage and Main streets, or reading the morning paper’s account of police strong-arming another citizen in Toronto.
George Paulowich arrived in Winnipeg from Toronto on Jan 11, checked into a hotel and discovered his wallet had been stolen. Innocently believing that the thing to do was call the police, Mr. Paulowich did just that. What followed was a piece of impressive public relations work by the Winnipeg Police Department.
Detectives arrived at the hotel and arrested George Paulowich. He was jailed for 30 days pending completion of investigation and preliminary hearing of two men charged with the robbery. When finally released, he was told not to leave town and to report each Friday until a trial date had been fixed- which turned out to be on April 26-105 days after his arrest.
Judge C. I. Keith, in dismissing the robbery charge against the two men, condemned the treatment of Paulowich and suggested the crown pay him a witness fee for the time spent in jail as well as for attendance at the trial. Winnipeg director of prosecution, A. A. Sarchuk, has called for reports of the case. Great move, Mr. Director of Prosecutions, but where in hell have you been for 105 days?

Mr. Paulowich, having lived in Toronto, might think that his experience is simply a dose of Western hospitality. He could exchange notes with Mr. Kenneth Bruton, who is trying to get his house fixed up following a visit by Toronto’s finest.
The damage was caused when police arrived to arrest Mr. Bruton’s brother-in-law April 29. To apprehend the slightly built 17-year-old youth, police ripped off a door, tore a wooden fireplace from the wall, twisted the suspect’s arms and pushed Mrs. Bruton against a wall. Now there seems to a question about who is going to put the house back together. “They told us to get it fixed and they’d pay for it,” said Mr. Bruton. “I guess that is an admission of liability,” Police Chief James Mackey, with an eye on the taxpayer’s dollar, says. “It doesn’t mean we’ll pay for it at all. It isn’t any kind of an admission.”
By all means, nothing should be admitted. When a 15-year-old boy is shot in the leg by police is there any admission? It was “an accident.” This police officer, in the performance of his duty, don’t you understand, slipped, fell, found his holstered revolver in his hand which went off and shot the boy.
The sad chronology could go on and on. For every case reported, there are hundreds of cases where the citizen is so damn happy just to get home that he doesn’t say a word. “I don’t want any trouble,” says he.
Countless men and women file into Canadian courtrooms, only to have their case remanded over and over again, and are sent back to the cells to await their time.-Most of them young, none of them rich.
Canadian police chiefs raised a storm last year by asking for greater powers. Some of them called for a return to flogging, arrest without charges, wiretapping, the right to enter homes without a warrant and a “detention law” which would take care of ‘rabble-rousers’ and ‘trouble-makers.’ The hue and cry raised by the community prevented such laws and a return to the Middle Ages.
And so, Mr. Paulowich, there isn’t any law under which you can be arrested without charges. Maybe it was all a bad dream. In any case, you should feel good because there isn’t a flogging law either. Had there been, you might have “confessed” stealing your own wallet.
---

As much as we think we have progressed from 1968, we have fallen more and more behind as you'll find in part 2. When the Federal Conservatives made law and order an issue in the election in 2008, it would do good to look at the above article with that in mind. Whose Law and Whose Order? Hindsight is 20/20 but we don't have 40 years to fix an issue that affects youth today. Police continue to screw up: in February 2000 Corinne McKeowen and Doreen Leclair were stabbed to death while the 911 operator listened to their fifth call for help. William John Dunlop murdered them in their Winnipeg home. The Fort Garry Women's Center published a study report showing police response times are less for poor callers and in poor neighbourhoods.

Beyond incompetence, outright malice and cold blooded murder occur. The Saskatoon "Moonlight tours" where police drove homeless men to the city limits to freeze to death. Eventually, one made it back to uncover the crimes. Trigger happy police shootings and taser deaths (almost on par with actual non-police murders in Winnipeg briefly this past summer), in parallel with poor response times show a pattern of two class justice. There are 40 years between the Newark Riots of 1967 and the Riots in Paris in 2007. Riots occurred in Montreal during the summer of 2008. Now Greece. All followed from acts of police brutality.

There is a pattern. Social condition. And racism.