“5 Broken Cameras” Documentary Review

Peter Miller

Ever since the latest assault by Israel on Gaza, which resulted in over 130 Palestinian deaths, and displayed the terror used by the Israeli Government in order to perpetuate the colonization of Palestine, more and more Canadians have started to question Canada’s unconditional support of Israel.

Now two documentaries critical of Israel, “5 Broken Cameras” and “The Gatekeepers” are nominated for the Academy Awards as best documentary film.

“5 Brocken Cameras” follows the story of Emad Burnat as he films his village’s resistance to a separation fence implemented by Israel that expropriated Palestinian agricultural land. The film is structured around the destruction of Burnat’s 5 cameras that occur between 2005 and 2009. At one point, Burnat’s camera saves his life when a bullet is fired into it as he is filming.

The documentary displays an inspiring, non-violent resistance from villagers in Bil’in, who received solidarity from around the world as they protested the occupation of their agricultural land. Emad Burnat and many of the villagers are unemployed and live off the land, harvesting olive trees. Therefore, losing their land brings great hardship to the people in Bil’in.  The documentary shows the tremendous courage of the Palestinian protestors, who face relentless repression by Israeli solders as they take part in weekly protests and direct action in order to get their land back.

Two of Burnat’s best friends are leaders of the resistance, and particularly inspiring. Bassem Abu Rahmah who also goes by Phil in the film, is loved by all the children in the village. Burnat’s filming reveals Phil’s kind-heartedness as he plays with children and jokes with his friends. It is amazing to see Phil act as such a strong, loving spirit encouraging fellow villagers to take part in the struggle, despite all of the hardship that has occurred.

Burnat’s other close friend is Adeeb Abu Rahmah. His bravery is shown many times. At one point he hugs an olive tree, demanding the soldiers turn around and leave the land. At another time he falls purposefully on the ground while in confrontation with Israeli Soldiers during a protest. He spreads his arms out and dares the soldiers to shoot him.  Soon after while still on the ground, he again begins demanding them to leave.

The inspiring film can also be hard to watch. Terrifying examples of Israel’s repression of Palestian protest are caught on Burnat’s camera. In nightly raids, Israeli soldiers arrest children in the village and take them away for the night in order to make them afraid of ever protesting again. During protests, shots are fired, and tear gas is always used. One of Burnat’s friends dies from a gunshot wound, 2 of his brothers are arrested, and at one point, Burnat’s camera captures a soldier shooting his brother at point blank in the leg, as other soldiers hold his brother down.

Burnat is targeted because his videography is documenting the gruesome repression of his villagers, and helping motivate solidarity around the world for Palestinian people. At one point he captures soldiers coming to his door in order to arrest him during a nightly raid. He is placed in house arrest at one point, and films himself during it because he has hardly anything else to do.

The film’s nomination in the Academy Awards is a positive development. Let’s hope that it’s nomination will cause more people to see it, and become witnesses to the colonization of Palestinian land by Israel. Let’s also hope that as more and more people watch this film they not only witness the repression of Palestinian people, but also are galvanized to take action against Canada’s unrelenting support of Israel’s crimes. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that that film wins at the Academy Awards and sends a message to Canadian and American people that our governments are on the wrong side of history when it comes to this conflict.

Jan. 28 Idle No More rallies, Canada-wide

Ottawa – March and Rally
Contact; Anil Naidoo anil@canadians.org
Place and Time: 11:10am
Victoria Island March –– gather at #CommonCauses banner and march together in solidarity to Parliament Hill for Speeches.
2:15pm Parliament Hill - Maude Barlow delivers a message on behalf of Common Causes.

Nanaimo – Rally
Contact; Paul Manly paulmanly@shaw.ca
Place and Time – 12:00 noon – Diane Krall Plaza (in front of the Library) 90 Commercial Street, Nanaimo

Sechelt/Sunshine Coast – Rally
Contact; Jef Keighley keighley@dccnet.com
Place and Time – 4:00 to 5:30pm - Gather at the corners of Wharf Street and the Sunshine Coast Highway, 4:00 to 5:30pm – Action along Sunshine Coast Highway

Vancouver – Rally w/INM
Contact; Harjap Grewel hgrewal@canadians.org
Place and Time - 12:00 noon at 1138 Melville Street, Vancouver, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

Courtney/Comox – Rally
Contact; Kathie Woodley riverside11@shaw.ca
Place and Time – 12:00 noon at 3310 Comox Road across from the I-Hos Gallery.

Kelowna – Rally at Enbridge Hearings
Contact; Lois B, loandcoagain@hotmail.com
Place and Time: 12:30pm at the Sandman Inn, 2130 Harvey Street, Kelowna

Kamloops – Information Evening w/INM
Contact; Anita Strong, dnastrong1@gmail.com
Place and Time; 6pm at the Smorgasbord Deli, 225 - 7th Ave. Kamloops.

Edmonton –Solidarity Event
Contact: Bill Moore-Kilgannon billmk@pialberta.org
Place and Time; 12:15pm – Churchill Square

Saskatoon - Townhall
Contact; Rick Sawa rj.sawa@inet2000.com
Place and Time - 11:00 am - Multi-purpose room at Station 20 West 1120 20th Street West, Saskatoon

Prince Albert – Video Release
Contact – Rick Sawa rj.sawa@inet2000.com
Place and Time; Video and press release on January 28th of weekend action.

Toronto – Banner Drop
Contact Mark Calzavara mcalzavara@canadians.org
Place and Time – 8-9am - Banner Drop along Don Valley Parkway at Wynford overpass (North of Eglinton)
Banner Message -Don’t Sell Out Canada’s Future commoncauses.ca

Guelph – Screening and Discussion
Contact - nrchaloner@hotmail.com
Place and Time – 7pm - Room 103 – University Centre, University of Guelph – Toxic Trespass screening with Q &A
Possible mid-afternoon march – TBC

London – Rally
Contact – jkennedy@golden.net
Place and Time - 10:30am – 546 King Street (at William), London - in front of Conservative MP Susan Truppe’s constituency office.

Oakville –
Contact - Clare Henderson reclaimcanada@gmail.com
Place and Time - 8:00am Oakville GO Station start
The Reclaim Our Democratic Canada Get off the Omnibus Tour

Windsor – Rally
Contact - Douglas Hayes dhayes18@cogeco.ca
Place and Time – 4pm - 186 Talbot Rd. Essex. Windsor - in front of Conservative MP Jeff Watson's constituency office

Montreal - Film Screening and Solidarity Statements
Contact - Abdul Pirani abdul.pirani@cgocable.ca
Place and Time - 7pm, Concordia H110, Hall Building, 1455 Maisonneuve W. Montreal

Halifax – March and Rally
Contact – Angela Giles – agiles@canadians.org
Place and Time - 10am – Gathering at the Holiday Inn parking, March across the MacDonald Bridge, rally at either Halifax Commons or Citadel Hill

Summerside – Rally – Note the Change
Contact - Leo Broderick - lcb45@eastlink.ca
Place and Time – 12pm Noon - 250 Water Street in front of National Revenue Minister Gail Shea’s MP Office

Saint John - Townhall
Contact – Leticia Adair adairl@nb.sympatico.ca
Place and Time – 7pm - Saint John Arts Centre, 20 Hazen Avenue
Town Hall with Rob Moir, Pat Riley and Stephanie Merrill
For Information;  506 633-0398

Peterborough -
Contact – Roy Brady rbrady1@cogeco.ca
Date: Wednesday, January 30,
Place - George St. United Church
Time - 7:00 - 9:30 pm

First Nations: The Long Shadow of Assimilation

Hennessy's Index: A number is never just a number

by Trish Hennessy

National Office of the Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives (CCPA)

January 3, 2013

Hennessy's Index is a monthly listing of numbers, written by the CCPA's Trish Hennessy, about Canada and its place in the world. For other months, visit:http://policyalternatives.ca/index

• 150,000

  Number of Aboriginal children who were taken from their families and forced into residential schools as part of Canada’s assimilation policy from the 1870s onward. In 2008, the government apologized to Aboriginal peoples “for failing them so profoundly.” (Source 1, 2)

• 70 cents

  Amount Aboriginal peoples earned for every dollar non-Aboriginals earned in 2006. At this rate, the income gap between Aboriginal peoples and the rest of Canadians won’t disappear for another 63 years, unless Canada adopts a new approach. (Source)

• 1 in 4

  Number of children within First Nations families who live in poverty in Canada, much higher than the 1 in 10 children in non-Aboriginal families who live in poverty. (Source)

• 444

  Number of recommendations to improve the lives of Canada’s First Nations people within the landmark Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples report, now 16 years old.  (Source 1, 2)

• $7.5 billion

  Estimated annual cost of doing nothing to resolve First Nations employment and social problems in Canada (in 1996 alone). (Source)

• 5-7

  Number of Aboriginal youth suicides for every non-Aboriginal Canadian youth. Suicide rates among Inuit youth are among the highest in the world, 11 times the national average.  (Source)

• 600

  Number of unresolved cases of missing and/or murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. (Source)

• 120

  Number of Aboriginal communities with a drinking water advisory, as of October 31, 2011. Of the more than 500,000 First Nations people who live on Canada’s reserves, thousands live without indoor plumbing.  (Source)

• Nearly half

  Number of houses on Canadian reserves in need of major repair. The federal auditor general says Aboriginal housing is subject to overcrowding and requires more federal funding to keep up with the growing Aboriginal population. (Source 1, 2)

• $169-$189 million

  Estimated federal government underfunding of capital expenditures on reserves annually. The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) says 40 new schools, at a cost of $12.5 million each, and 85,000 housing units would have to be built to meet current needs. (Source)

• C-45

  The federal omnibus bill that sparked a movement in Canada called Idle No More, which points to eight legislative bills that violate treaties. Amnesty International says changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the Fisheries Act, the Navigable Waters Act, and the proposed Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act have profound implications for the rights of Indigenous peoples as set out in treaties, affirmed in the constitution, and protected by international human rights standards. (Source 1, 2, 3)

• 35.1

  Section of Canada’s constitution that commits the Prime Minister and First Ministers to meet with Aboriginal peoples before changing federal responsibilities that affect First Nations. (Source)

• December 11, 2012

  The day Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike began. She says she is willing to die for her people “because the suffering is too much”. Her request: a commitment by the Prime Minister to meet with Canada’s First Nations chiefs. (Source)

• 24,815

  Number of tweets attributed to the #IdleNoMore Twitter hashtag on December 23, 2013 alone. The movement has not only gone viral, support has spread beyond the Canadian border in a phenomenon considered “too big to track”. (Source 1, 2)

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

Found on the internets...

We think this silly song is really mocking us, and while Rebel Youth is not pro-religion (although we think it is difficult to be against something that does not exist) we are really not anti-feminist. Nevertheless... Sing to the tune of the Major-General’s Song from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance”.

I am the very model of a modern Marxist-Leninist.
I’m anti-war, and anti-God and very anti-feminist;
My thinking’s dialectical, my wisdom’s undebateable,
When I negate negations they’re undoubtedly negatable.
And yet I’m no ascetic – I’m always full of bonhomie
When lecturing to classes on the primitive economy;
And comrades all agree that they have never heard a smarter cuss
Explain the basic reasons for the slave revolt of Spartacus

(Chorus)
Explain the basic reasons,etc.

I’m fierce and unrelenting when I’m extirpating heresies
Yet patient and forgiving to the comrade who his error sees;
In short, as a propagandist, agitator and polemicist
I am the very model of a modern Marxist-Leninist.

(Chorus)
In short, as a propagandist, agitator and polemicist etc.
I am the very model of a modern Marxist-Leninist.

My love of Party history comes very close to mania.
I teem with information on the Bund in Lithuania.
My speech on the Decembrists is replete with fun and pleasantry.
I know the different stages in collectivising peasantry.
With Russian Social-Democrats I’m always glad to clench a fist
(While carefully distinguishing the Bolshevist and Menshevist);
But when I’m confronted with a regular Bukharinite
I get a rise in temperature (both centigrade and fahrenheit).

(Chorus)
He gets a rise in temperature, etc.

I know what Lenin said about the concept of the deity,
And why it’s very dangerous to worship spontaneity.
In short, as a propagandist, agitator and polemicist
I am the very model of a modern Marxist-Leninist.

(Chorus)
In short, as a propagandist, agitator and polemicist
I am the very model of a modern Marxist-Leninist.

In fact when I begin to try to fight against bureaucracy
To criticise myself a bit, and practice more democracy,
And bringing Marx’s teachings up to date I’m much more wary at,
And when I’ve done with phrases like “impoverished proletariat”;
When I’ve learned that workers think that nothing can be sillier,
Than “monolithic unity” and biased Russophilia -
Then people will exclaim: “Hurrah! He’s not a stupid sap at all!
A better Marxist-Leninist. has never studied Capital!”

(Chorus)
A better Marxist-Leninist. has never studied Capital!” etc

My policies and theories have an air of unreality
Because I am a victim of the cult of personality
But still, as propagandist, agitator and polemicist
I am the very model of a modern Marxist-Leninist.

(Chorus)
But still, as propagandist, agitator and polemicist
I am the very model of a modern Marxist-Leninist.

Photo: Sir John A gets a paint-job in Kingston, Ontario

Taiaiake Alfred, a professor of indigenous governance at the University of Victoria, said the word genocide is a “powerful emotional trigger,” but that it nevertheless applies to Canadian Indians, now and in the past. He cited United Nations criteria for the crime, which include committing any of the following with intent to destroy a group, in whole or in part: killing their members, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction, imposing measures intended to prevent births, or forcibly transferring children to another group.”

“Our genocide, even if we accept that it’s historical and ended technically with the residential schools, there’s been no adequate reparations. There’s been no reparations at all, really. The individuals themselves have been compensated to some degree, but when it comes down to it, the collectivities, the communities that were affected in terms of their ability to sustain themselves into the future, are not being provided with any kind of adequate redress,” Prof. Taiaiake said.

From the National Post

Support for Idle No More continues to grow

Students of Colour Montreal honours and respects the Idle No More movement as part of the continuing 500 years of resistance by Indigenous peoples in the colonized Americas. Further, SoCM stands in solidarity with Chief Theresa Spence, Emil Bell and other fasting Elders, honouring the validity of their tactics and demands.

Communities of colour must stand in solidarity as we ourselves reside on Indigenous land. Harper's Conservative government is expanding a colonial agenda rooted in the exploitation of the lands and the Original Peoples. The welfare of all people and the sustainability of the environment are increasingly overshadowed by the pursuit of the material enrichment of imperialist corporations and the advancement of neo-colonial capitalism. Bill C-45, one of many omnibus budget bills, will drastically change the Indian Act and environmental protection laws in this country. The Harper government’s disregard of the nation-to-nation treaty relationship further entrenches institutionalized White supremacy and strips Indigenous nations of their sovereign rights. The Canadian Government relies on anti-Indigenous racism and the complicity of the settler population to push through these illegitimate pieces of legislation. This continues the genocidal process of elimination through assimilation in the guise of integration - an explicit goal of the Canadian settler state since its inception.

The cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples and the expropriation of Turtle Island’s resources continues to operate on the same patriarchal logic that legitimized the fatal and racist work conditions experienced by various communities of Colour in Canada. Examples include the enslavement of Black and Indigenous peoples, the use of Chinese railroad labourers, and today’s  exploitation of temporary workers. Fundamentally, these are linked by a systematic commodification of non-White bodies in the labour and economic market of Canada. This comes at a cost to the environment, the health and safety of our communities, and contributes to the further entrenchment of the white dominant colonial state on stolen Indigenous lands.

We also recognise the role of our non-Indigenous members as settlers. Simultaneously, as racialized people, the historical backgrounds of our communities and diasporas are sprung from colonial rule. For generations, we have experienced firsthand the ravages of colonialism: war, sickness, famine, forced migration, slavery, expropriation, etc. As individuals and communities, we have experienced the indignity and dehumanisation of colonization. It would be myopic of us to ignore the Idle No More movement as separate from our own struggles. However, it remains crucial for People of Colour to understand our participation in Canada’s settler state and to work in solidarity for the decolonization of Indigenous peoples.

Ultimately, Indigenous struggles for the long term survival and well-being of their communities and lands must be the primary concern of every inhabitant of Canadian soil. This movement is beyond Canada and its defined borders: Idle No More is a worldwide challenge to the treatment of Indigenous peoples on colonized lands everywhere. It is a movement grown from the personal experiences of millions (living and passed) not mere political rhetoric or academic discourse.

In solidarity, we promise to be in the streets with you.

Students of Colour Montreal
studentsofcolourmontreal@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/StudentsOfColourMontreal

Contact (français): Thien Vo 438.882.2916

Contact (English): Kai Cheng 514.219.4250/Jillian Sudayan 514.941.9267

Struggle and demands for "fundamental transformation" surround Harper's meeting with First Nations

Rebel Youth

Responding to the popular pressure of the Idle No More movement as well as the hunger strike of Chief Spence, Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper has finally agreed to meet with First Nations leaders.

According to the Globe and Mail, however, a agenda released by the Prime Minister's Office this afternoon says Harper would only attend the opening half hour and the final hour. Cabinet ministers would attend working sessions in between.

"Unfortunately, the prime minister has been very dictatorial and unrelenting in his position to control and set the agenda for this meeting" a release stated, from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and Southern Chiefs Organization. "This clearly demonstrates that the Government of Canada does not have any iota of concern or respect for the rights of the Indigenous people of this country."

Chief Spence and the First Nations leadership from across the country want Prime Minister Harper and the Governor General David Johnston, as the viceregal representative of the British crown, to meet at the Delta Hotel in Ottawa.  Harper, however, is not allowing the Governor General's presence and insisting on a smaller meeting in his personal offices at the old Langevin Block by Parliament Hill.

Meanwhile, Chief Spence is continuing her hunger strike on only fish broth and medicinal teas. The grass roots Idle No More movement continues to gather popular support and has not demobilized, remaining essentially vigilant and on-alert.

Speaking of the Idle No More movement Derek Nepinak, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said today that the protests have enough strength to "bring the Canadian economy to its knees."

"It can stop Prime Minister Harper's resource development plan and his billion-dollar plan to develop resources in our ancestral territories. We have the warriors that are standing up now that are willing to go that far. So we're not here to make requests. We're here to demand attention and to demand an end to 140 years of colonial rule," CBC news quoted him as saying.

Also today at a press conference in Ottawa, Saskatchewan Regional Chief Perry Bellegarde told journalists that “The treaties were about peaceful coexistence and sharing the lands and the resources, not exploitation. The treaties were not meant to make us poor in our homelands, but that is what you see.”

Chief Bellegarde appeared alongside Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, and B.C. Regional Chief Jody Wilson-Raybould at a news conference in Ottawa.  The full video by the Canadian Press is below and contains powerful statements the leaders on the necessity for real changes.

“The demands of our people of the First Nations is the need for fundamental transformation in our relationship with the government of Canada, now,” Atelo was quoted by Macleans Magazine as saying.

“Generations of our leaders have delivered the same message to successive federal governments for over a century... From the battle against the destructive federal government white paper back in 1969 to the struggles to win section 35 in the Constitution in ’80, to the Charlottetown debates in the 90s, to our efforts to make effective the recommendations of the royal commission 16 years ago, we have never wavered. Our voices have always been clear. Continuing attempts to undermine our resolve, to divide our people, have and always will fail,” Atelo said.


According to the Toronto Star the “high-level commitments” the chiefs will be seeking from the Harper Conservative government include:


 •  a new institution through the PMO or the Privy Council Office to look at the implementation and enforcement of treaties;

 •  designating a minister, possibly Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, to bring together First Nations and provincial premiers to figure out how they can share revenues from resource development;

 •  a new “fiscal relationship” that would allow federal funding to increase with inflation and be based on total population living both on and off reserves;

 •  a public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women;

 •  ensuring there is a school in every aboriginal community;

 •  reviewing the sections of recently passed omnibus budget implementation bills that have to do with environmental oversight to see if the Conservative government complied with its duty to consult First Nations;

 •  setting up a process to ensure that every piece of proposed federal legislation complies with Section 35 of the Constitution, which protects aboriginal and treaty rights;

 •  support for nation-building efforts when First Nations are “ready, willing and able to move beyond the Indian Act.”


Watch the full video here:

 

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

Movie review: Skyfall

Directed by Sam Mendes, cast including Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw, Berenice Marlohe, Daniel Craig, Helen McCrory, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Naomie Harris, Ola Rapace, Ralph Fiennes, Rory Kinnear, 143 minutes

Review by Glen Truax

Yes, I watched Skyfall. No, I didn’t pay for it.

The Bond film series that appears to be bulletproof, a franchise that has been running strong for decades (despite the glitch caused by Timothy Dalton in the eighties), continues to draw in boatloads of money at the box office. Every trope remains in place: gambling, oceans of alcohol consumption, beautiful women who show up only to get killed 20 minutes later – the template set by Connery back in the halcyon days of the sixties.

This doesn’t mean that Skyfall is terrible. It’s slick, it’s easy to forget that the film is over two hours long. There’s very little in the way of padding; in every other Bond film, there are at least 30 minutes of flab, and that doesn’t seem to be the case here. There are few moments of wasted screen time.

It’s still a little hard to take Skyfall at face value however. It’s difficult to forget the ludicrous opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics, in which Daniel Craig personally parachutes his way into the thick of things. (It’s also hard to believe that the director of 28 Days Later and Trainspotting directed the opening sequence, but that’s another matter.). Also, viewers know in their hearts that life will eventually return to a state of grace, with James and Company alive and well to do battle with “evil” in the next episode, so emotional stakes are rather low.

What’s more important is the subtext in every James Bond film, where villainy is always cast in a very zeitgeist-y way. Whatever happens to be grabbing headlines during the course of shooting the film can be expected to rear its ugly head in the finished product. In Skyfall, the bogeyman is the grim spectre of WikiLeaks, which the film takes pains to explain is entirely evil (along with Julian Assange and the Anonymous internet collective). These entities exist to blow the cover of good, hard-working spooks all over the world, seemingly without any purpose other than petty warfare with power structures.  This is completely unambiguous – ratting on agents is evil, pure and simple, with Javier Bardem stepping up to the plate as the face of pesky civilians who actually want transparency.

There are certainly worse ways to while away an afternoon. Anti-WikiLeaks undertone aside, the film delivers relentless action, with little CGI or noticeable electronic gimmickry getting in the way of a good punch up. It’s pure entertainment, not enlightenment, and the cast is uniformly strong. The viewer may want to wait until it comes to cable however – dropping 15 dollars minimum on a suspect action flick seems a little steep.

The attack on teachers is an attack on all working people

People's Voice Ontario Bureau

     If the basis of all real wealth - the real economy, past, present and future - is the application of human labour‑power to material from the natural environment, why has the most draconian use of state power been summoned up as a weapon against the Ontario Teachers Unions? Most people would argue that teachers do not produce wealth. In fact, in the anti‑teacher propaganda blasted by the capitalist media and whispered in a thousand dark corridors, this slander against an honoured profession is perpetrated: why should people who are essentially a drain on the public purse be compensated so generously?

     What is it about this area of collective bargaining that would cause the ruling elite to instruct their political lackeys to suspend parliament, to violate constitutional law and go to direct one party rule?

     The capitalist state has undemocratically dispensed with parliament in Ontario, to launch an unhindered attack on the teachers' unions and their ability to exercise collective bargaining. The instrument of direct class intervention is the Ontario Liberal Party, with the Tories trying to be even more hawkish, and the NDP sitting on their hands.

     Now the silk gloves have been shed for the naked fist, dispelling any illusion that these three parties protect parliamentary democracy. If the NDP had called for massive public resistance, they could have done a service to all working people, especially if the trade union leaders who belong to the NDP had organized labour unity across the board with the Teachers.

     Any Marxist will see immediately the relationship of teachers to the real economy. Their vital role to the ability of capitalism to create and expropriate surplus value is the reproduction of labour-power, the primary human ingredient in the creation of wealth. The scientific and technological revolution demands an ever higher level of education and training for working people. This is about productivity and the rate of exploitation. This is about the uncountable wealth of the one percent.

     No educated person (the product of teachers) would vulgarize the value of the teaching profession as only an instrument to maintain and expand the parasite role of the one percent. But we live in a class society. The historic service of teachers against the mental pauperization of capitalism, their resistance to the increasing demand to produce literate industrial and social drones, instead of people armed with a sense of themselves and a demand for a better future, is a direct threat to the one percent.

     It is also no accident that generations of women have dominated and transformed the profession. Witness the power of their efforts embodied in the courage and unity of the Quebec student's strike. Witness the threat to the capitalist state when student activists are a major part in the defeat of a governing political party. You cannot separate teachers from students, from the awareness of the Occupy movement, from the mental hunger and sense of wrongness and violation that is surging through our youth and through the indigenous people.

     The viciousness of the attempted destruction of collective bargaining in Ontario can only be understood clearly with a world view of the antagonism between the capitalist class in the advanced stages of imperialist decline, and the possessors of labour‑power, the global working class. Teachers worldwide develop a consciousness that makes their students much more than units of labour power, an awareness of self that will become an awareness of class, an awareness that labour power is also the essential ingredient in building the shared wealth of a non‑exploiting socialist alternative.

     The crisis of capitalism will continue to destroy whatever stands in the way of its drive to buy more life for an obsolete and historically unnecessary system, at war with its own productive forces. In the crosshairs everywhere are those who teach our children and youth, those who preserve and pass on knowledge. The capitalists cannot dispense with teachers, but they seek to break their relative independence and their dedication to humanity. They want to turn teachers into trainers who prepare our young for more efficient and profitable exploitation. This struggle is about much more than sick days, wages or classroom size. These issues might be the field of battle, but the stakes are much higher.

     The Ontario Teachers are on the front line of defending labour rights. They will decide on the extent of their resistance, on their tactics, where to attack and where to retreat. The Communist Party calls for one hundred percent support, now and in the future.

The class question and the democratic question

This article is part of an seven-part series of short quotes Rebel Youth is issuing about class struggle, revolution, civil-war, and parliamentary democracy. See also: Lenin on elections; the Communist Party of Canada on a counter-offensive against capitalism; Engels on voting and street fighting; Lenin on Democracy and Class struggle; Communist and Worker's parties on the struggle for socialism; and Lenin on tactics and guerilla war; theCommunist Party of Canada on force, and a peaceful transition to socialism.

The right to divorce, by Lenin
August-October, 1916

[...] This question of divorce is a striking illustration of the fact that one cannot be a democrat and a socialist without immediately demanding full freedom of divorce, for the absence of such freedom is an additional burden on the oppressed sex, woman--although it is not at all difficult to understand that the recognition of the right of women to leave their husbands is not an invitation to all wives to do so! [...] Under capitalism it is usually the case, and not the exception, that the oppressed classes cannot "exercise" their democratic rights. In most cases the right to divorce is not exercised under capitalism, because the oppressed sex is crushed economically; because, no matter how democratic the state may be, the woman remains a "domestic slave" under capitalism, a slave of the bedroom, nursery and kitchen. The right to elect "our" judges, public officials, teachers, jurors, etc., cannot be exercised under capitalism, in the majority of cases, because the workers and peasants are economically downtrodden. The same is true of a democratic republic. Our programme "proclaims" the republic as "the sovereignty of the people" although every Social-Democrat knows perfectly well that under capitalism the most democratic republic leads merely to the bribery of the officials by the bourgeoisie and to an alliance between the Stock Exchange and the government.

Only those who are totally incapable of thinking, or those who are entirely unfamiliar with Marxism, will conclude that, therefore, a republic is of no use, that freedom of divorce is of no use, that democracy is of no use, that self-determination of nations is of no use! Marxists know that democracy does not abolish class oppression, but only makes the class struggle clearer, broader, more open and sharper; and this is what we want. The more complete freedom of divorce is, the clearer will it be to the woman that the source of her "domestic slavery" is not the lack of rights, but capitalism. The more democratic the system of government is, the clearer it will be to the workers that the root of the evil is not the lack of rights, but capitalism. The more complete national equality is (and it is not complete without freedom of secession), the clearer will it be to the workers of the oppressed nation that it is not a question of lack of rights, but of capitalism. And so on. [...]

[T]he right to divorce, like all democratic rights under capitalism without exception, is difficult to exercise, is conventional, restricted, formal and narrow. Nevertheless, no respectable Social-Democrat would consider any one who repudiated this right a democrat, let alone a socialist. This is the whole point. "Democracy" is nothing but the proclaiming and exercising of "rights" that are very little and very conventionally exercised under capitalism. But unless these rights are proclaimed, unless a struggle for immediate rights is waged, unless the masses are educated in the spirit of such a struggle, socialism is impossible.

Discussion questions

1. What are Lenin's main point or points in this short quote? What do you think of the claim that just because we call for the right of something, does not mean we necessarily advocate for it?

2. In the past the Young Communist League has divided its educational work into two parts: the class question and the democratic question. What would be examples of "class questions"? what about "democratic questions"? How are they related and/or separate? Could they be opposites? Could they be connected?

3. Lenin claims that without a struggle for immediate rights and democracy being waged, socialism is impossible. Why do you think he makes this claim? What do you think? Is the argument correct or mistaken? How?


Reading more

You can find the original full statement by Lenin From A Caricature of Marxism and Imperialist Economism.

The topic of capitalist democracy is also discussed by Lenin in Chapter 7, "Should we participate in bourgeoisie parliaments?", of his book Left-wing Communism an Infantile disorder.

The connection between democracy and economic struggle, which can be read as a direct comparison with the above article on divorce is found in another short work by Lenin, "Reply to P. Kievsky," especially the section from paragraph 9 "Imperialism is highly developed..." to the end of paragraph 14 "...surrender to opportunism."

The YCL-LJC Canada, "Youth and the Trans-Canada fightback," in the 24th Central Convention Documents of the YCL uses this perspective and connects it with the struggle for reform and revolution. Another Rebel Youth article similar to this theme is Building broad and powerful youth struggles, which we ran back in 2011.

Another good read is State and Revolution by Lenin, particularly Chapter 1 and Chapter 4, section 5.

Political parties and student struggle

Jean Chrétien, Liberal Prime Minister
of Canada from 1993-2003 

Commentary
By Rebel Youth

Other articles and series on this theme: the student fight back and struggle today; our coverage of the Quebec Student Strike; Students of Canada Rise Up; YCLer Marianne Breton Fontaine speaks on Student Solidarity tour; Call to 2013 YCL student conference.

Can elections be used as markers in time and struggle? Perhaps only with the full knowledge that, as Marxists understand, history is not made by the comings and goings of bourgeois political parties in polite rotation through their bourgeois parliaments, like so many characters in a Swiss Cuckoo Clock -- but by the struggles of the masses.

Still, the Canadian federal election in October 1993 is significant moment to tag. The outcome shaped the terrain of struggle of the youth and student movement in many new ways. The unpopular Conservative government (formerly led by Brian Mulroney) was swept out of office in crushing defeat -- reduced from 156 seats to just two, it lost official party status. The landslide victory of Jean Chretien's Liberals began thirteen years of that party's rule.

Swept to office on somewhat vague promises of change and anti-Free Trade sentiment, the Liberal's quickly dropped their proposals like renegotiating NAFTA and made their true colours clear to all by shifting attention towards balancing the budget -- ie. paying back the big capitalist creditors. Still in their honeymoon period, the Liberal's announced that all of Canada's social programs would be reviewed with sweeping and significant changes likely to come. Cut backs would be deep.

Call-out to the second-annual YCL-LJC student conference

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Open only to members of the YCL-LJC or by invitation

1. We believe in the principle that the student movement is one of the most radical, dynamic and progressive forces for change in society and the future.

2. The uprisings of students in the Middle East and North Africa, the brave united battles of the Chilean students, and the massive struggle in Quebec last winter and spring have shown the validity of the optimistic claim that the young people, united with the working class, are continuously an important catalytic force for social transformation, overthrow and revolution.

3. At the same time, new, contradictory and even confusing developments are taking place internationally and locally. We believe that the student movements in Quebec and English-speaking Canada are at a difficult but significant and even historic juncture.  At stake is our basic access to education.

2012 Bye-Bye: Gabriel Nadeau-style

Generally hilarious, always outrageous, often scandalous and sometimes terrible, the Bye Bye is an annual Québécois New Year's Eve cultural icon. The sketch comedy special broadcast by Radio-Canada is virtually unknown outside of Quebec -- except when Anglophones over-react when the Bye Bye pokes fun at them -- but has been taking place since 1968 (with a pause of a few years between 98 and 06 and again in 09 because of scandal).

The first Bye Bye poked fun at Pierre Trudeau, the Vietnam War and reactionary elements of Quebec society; subsequent shows built a reputation on smart and funny comedy, not infrequently with a progressive edge. The show took a pause in the early 2000's and a new comedy crew took over in 2006. Sadly, some of these more recent Bye Bye's have been at best tasteless and at worst garbage. Facing widespread public criticism after 'black-face' skits, repeats of the kind of racist jokes that appear on mainstream US shows like Saturday Night Live, and especially a tasteless satire about child abuse, Radio Canada cancelled the show for a year.

But the Bye Bye lives on. The show remains a New Year's tradition for millions of kids growing up in Quebec. Many people can still remember some of the classic skits, giving the Bye Bye a strong following today.

This year took a turn that was seen as different and welcome by many, with a generally pro-student and anti-Charest Bye Bye. The video below is a short clip: a friendly mock of student leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois featuring various characters of the strike like anarcho-panda and protesters in Banana costumes dancing to a re-mix of the hit track Oppan Gangnam Style by South Korean artist PSY (Park Jae-sang).

To give a sample, at one point the young super-star Quebec film-maker Xavier Dolan makes an appearance. Dolan, who convinced the Cannes International Film Festival to wear the red square, made head-lines during the student strike when he described Nadeau-Dubois as sexy. In the film checks-out the bicep of the actor playing the student leader.

Does it trivialize the student struggle or support it? What is the comment about democracy, and personality in the struggle? Comments are open.