At this important time, we join with all those demanding his immediate
release. We call upon all democratic and progressive youth in Canada
to join with the Free Mumia campaign.
(YCL-LJC CEC, March 28)
On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racism
on March 21 2008, the YCL joins with all those demanding an end to
racist wars, environmental destruction, inequality, and attacks on
civil and democratic rights.
March 21 marks the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, when
police used low-flying jet fighters and armored vehicles to attack a
non-violent demonstration of over 7,000 South Africans against
Apartheid's passbook laws. The attack killed 67 people and wounded 186
protestors.
Racism in Canada
Being born non-white is not a crime. But in Canada, it usually means
you are sentenced to a lifetime of systemic racial oppression.
This cannot be understood as simply a matter of individual prejudice.
In the grand sweep of our country's history, genocide, colonization,
national oppression, racism, sexual assault and sexism, discrimination
against immigrants, homophobia and other forms of oppression have and
continue to play a major role in the functioning of Canadian
capitalism.
The ideology of sexism and racism are also used as a rationale and
enforcer of the most brutal polices of our government – including
Canada's participation in coup and occupation of Haiti, the war in
Afghanistan, and Canada's support of for the ongoing Israeli
occupation and oppression of Palestine.
Equality and youth
There can be no peaceful co-existence with racism and with the
violence it invariably spawns. The ideology racism is not abstract. It
is used to divide and defeat the working class.
We demand respect for and call for the defense of civil and democratic
rights, including the elimination of racial profiling by the police
and the civilian and community control of police and prisons; reform
to immigration and refuge laws; strengthening and enforcement of hate
laws; support of black-focused schools; and the enacting and enforcing
equality in education, employment, healthcare and housing as a
priority.
We express our solidarity with the young anti-racist activists, one of
who was a Communist Party election candidate, whose home was recently
fire-bombed by neo-Nazis during the Alberta election.
We note with alarm the growing racism campaign against immigrants and
racialized communities including 'anti-Islamic racism' or
'islamophobia,' a new label for an old form of racism that is today
viciously used to justify oppression and imperialist policy.
We demand an end to the national oppression and racism Aboriginal
peoples (including First Nations Inuit, and Metis peoples) face;
immediate action for just and early settlement of Aboriginal land
claims; Treaty implementation; solidarity with Aboriginal struggles
including Sun Peaks BC, Grassy Narrows and Caledonia,
Ontario; recognition of self-determination and self-government;
implementation of the Kelowna accord at a minimum and the signing of
the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by Canada;
support of the Native Youth Movement and their opposition to the 2010
BC Olympic games profiteering; removing the current federal cap on
core funding to First Nations; and an end to the Canadian government's
policies of suicide, genocide and assimilation.
We demand that everyone should have the right to dignity, life and
justice, and access to employment, labour rights, education, health
care, sports, culture, and technology.
Anti-racist struggles
To push back racism and sexism will take a mighty and united struggle.
Together we can beat it by uniting all races, ages, and genders.
The capitalists will never end racism on their own because it serves
their economic self-interest. For youth & students, the working class
and the people as a whole, racism holds back our demands for a better
future. Racism is not an advantage to white youth. There are only
setbacks when there is no unity.
Sexism, racism, and class exploitation are inseparably linked and
impact all our lives, but through unity and militancy we can defeat
this system of oppression. In the longer term, socialism is a historic
necessity if humanity is to win that battle and reach the stage of
real democracy. The struggle to defeat racism not a distraction from
the struggle for socialism, it is part of that struggle, and continues
after socialism has been won. Socialism creates conditions to
profoundly deepen the anti-racist struggle.
It is not only possible to bring an end to racial oppression and
inequality in our country, it is a dire necessity.
The Young Communist League condemns recent rough-handling of peaceful
student protestors by the campus police of the University of Toronto
this past week, and stands with all those condemning this shameful
violence on campus. We view this as a grave and serious attack on the
civil and democratic rights of the students, and an outrageous
silencing of free speech and academic freedom on campus.
We call upon the University of Toronto President's office to recognize
and implement the students demands, publicly investigate these
actions, drop the motion to increase students' fees from the
Universities upcoming board meeting, and allow dissent on campus!
We also join with Quebec students in condemning the injunction issued
last week by the University of Quebec At Montreal administration,
banning all political protests and leafleting from within 100 meters
of campus, threatening $50,000 fines and jail. This follows the
November 2007 police attack on a peaceful student occupation of Cégep
du Vieux-Montréal (declaring a 'People's University') that left over 50
students wounded and 102 students in prison. Student occupations in
Quebec have not been terrorized like this for over a decade. This
dangerous anti-democratic trend shows the fear of ruling-class circles
about student protest.
Police forces regularly engage in brutal assaults against Aboriginal
peoples, people of colour, immigrants, demonstrators, trade unionists,
and so‑called "troublemakers." Across Canada, "investigations" of such
abuse are often sham. But a growing chorus of demands is calling to
end this impunity. The Young Communist League supports these demands,
as part of a wider range of measures to establish full civilian
oversight and control of police forces.
It is particularly alarming that these assaults are being increasingly
carried into our campuses. Freedom of expression and action by
students and faculty members must be a cardinal principle of
democratic, quality education – as is accessibility. Paternalistic and
hostile attitudes towards students by administrators and governments
must be replaced with full recognition of the right of youth and
students, including organizing free from administration and outside
restrictions, interference and any form of police harassment.
Young Communist League joins with all those celebrating International
Women's Day 2008, and saying that much more must be done in the fight
for real equality.
Imperialist policies of war and ecological crisis hit women and girls
hardest. The Harper Tories claim Canada fights in Afghanistan to help
women, but as suspended young parliamentarian Malalai Joya says,
"under the nose of NATO and Canadian troops, the situation of women is
getting worse."
Millions of Canadian women are caught in part-time, temporary, or
home-based jobs difficult for union organizing. Women working full
time make 70.5% of men. This is worse for women of colour, and
Aboriginal women. The Federal government refuses to establish
universal, public child care (yet Quebec has a $7 a day system).
Harper instead gives tax breaks to the wealthy, deepening inequality.
Rape, sexual harassment, psychological and emotional abuse, and the
regular disappearances of women (especially aboriginal women) is a
cross-Canada crisis. Because of the murders of young women along road
in northern Canada, it has been re-named the "Highway of Tears."
Only capitalists 'win big' from systematic oppression of women. Sexism
is a tool of capital to divide working people, thereby
weakening it. Some men think they benefit, but their wages, working
conditions, civil and democratic rights are also dragged down. Yet an
alarming and sophisticated ideological offensive by big business and
the capitalist state tries to convince young women and girls to accept
this 'double burden' of patriarchy and capitalism as normal, and tells
young men and boys that they benefit.
Despite these attacks on women – often affecting youth from childhood
– unity and struggle for women's equality gains supporters everyday.
Peace and disarmament, pay equity, higher minimum wages, increased
funding for women' programmes, affordable childcare and housing, and
the elimination of violence against women, are now demanded with
continued determination by women, youth, labour and other progressive
movements.
The racism in schools, work places, and sports against young Canadian
Muslim women who wear head scarves is increasing, but there is also
resistance – including by the young women team mates who've stood with
Muslim athletes ejected from competitions by referees promoting
hatred. Canadian movies like "Juno" discourage abortion, and women's
right to control their bodies. But as we celebrate the 20th
anniversary of abortion's decriminalization, anti-abortion groups are
being confronted on campuses. More young people reject our
anti-choice, anti-queer, and anti-women school curriculum. Students
join with teachers, demanding more women faculty, and eliminating all
barriers to public education.
Mobilization, awareness and organization must strengthen on many
fronts in the struggle for women's equality – essential in the
revolutionary process for peace, democracy and a socialist Canada. It
is in the interests of all youth to unite on these issues: a better
future is to be gained by all. Let's make sure that the future for
every woman and girl is bright!
The heavy hand of administration at McMaster University has displayed
an outrageous disregard for freedom of speech and academic freedom
alike.
Will McMaster University Provost, Busch-Vishniac, ban Nelson Mandel or
Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu, who compare Israeli oppression of
Palestinians with that of South African blacks under apartheid, or US
ex-president Jimmy Carter, who wrote Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid?
The gross inequality experienced daily by Palestinians in Israel and
the occupied territories has appalled the world, – but not Provost
Busch-Vishniac.
Israel has two government-appointed Chief Rabbis. One proposes moving
Palestinian citizens of Israel to the Sinai Desert. The other has
called them rats. In Gaza, a territory smaller than the city of
Toronto, with 1.4 million living in an open-air prison under siege,
Israel controls the boarders, airspace and even how much UN food aid
is allowed in.
The occupied West Bank is divided into sections reachable from each
other only through Israeli check-points and dotted with extremist
settlements of gun toting racist thugs. About half of West Bank is
effectively annexed by a several hundred mile-long and 25 foot high
wall, fortified with razor wire and electric fencing.
Since Wednesday, 14 Palestinian civilians, among them eight children,
have been killed by Israeli missile strikes.
Just as whites and blacks came together to oppose South African
Apartheid, so too have Jews and Arabs united to appose the genocide in
Palestine. Equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism is false.
That an attempt to silence debate on this question, in of all places a
University campus, is an glaring attack on the democratic rights of
students, freedom of speech, and the principle of academic freedom.
Schools should give us both facts and analytical skills. Freedom of
inquiry by students and faculty members must be a cardinal principle
of democratic, quality education – as is accessibility. Paternalistic
and hostile attitudes towards students by administrators and
governments must be replaced with full recognition of the right of
youth and students, including organizing free from administration and
outside restrictions and interference.
The YCL joins other decent young Canadians in demanding McMaster
Provost Busch-Vishniac restore free speech!
The rising number of deaths involving Taser assaults by police has led
a wide range of organizations to call for a full federal public
inquiry into the widespread use of this weapon, and a moratorium on
its use by police. The Communist Party of Canada and Young Communist
League supports these de-mands, as part of a wider range of measures
to establish full civilian oversight and control of police forces.
On Oct. 15, Robert Dziekanski died within seconds of a brutal and
unprovoked Taser attack and take-down by four RCMP officers at
Vancouver airport. His death was the 18th involving police use of
Tasers in Canada since July 2003; an estimated 280 similar deaths have
occurred in the United States since 2001.
The Dziekanski case is a tragic illustration of the misuse of this
deadly weapon. The RCMP and airport au-
thorities initially tried to downplay the key role of the police in
Mr. Dziekanski's tragic death, but the attack was carried out in full
view of witnesses, one of whom filmed the entire episode.
The video footage shows that the officers used their Taser as the
first option to deal with the Polish immigrant, who had become
emotionally distressed after being stuck for many hours in the
airport. After Tasering Mr. Dziekanski, the police held him down with
extreme force and used the weapon a second time, a tactic which ended
in his death within seconds.
Some expert observers have correctly stated that the RCMP officers
involved in this badly botched opera
tion did not follow proper procedures for dealing with a disturbed
individual, particularly since Robert Dziekanski threatened no one.
The list of police errors is horrifying: they took no time to assess
the situation or to speak with bystanders who tried to tell them that
he did not speak English; instead of beginning with less forceful
measures, the police immediately used the most violent tool available;
instead of helping their helpless victim to sit upright after the
first Taser attack, the police continued their physical assault. The
officers who committed this assault must face serious criminal charges
for their utterly reckless actions.
There should also be a full investigation of the role of privatised
airport operations in this case.
But this incident is much more than one case of police misconduct or
inadequate training. In the name of "law and order" and worshipped by
the corporate media, police forces in reality are a powerful tool of
the state, imposing the discriminatory prejudices of the ruling class
with impunity. Limited inquiries into the circumstances of
Dziekanski's death will never reveal the full scope of the problem.
Police forces regularly engage in brutal assaults against Aboriginal
peoples, people of colour, immigrants, demonstrators, and so-called
"troublemakers". Right across Canada, "investigations" of such abuse
are con-
ducted internally or by other police forces, with the unsurprising
result that such criminal actions are almost always whitewashed.
It is little wonder that many police officers assume that they can use
extreme force in virtually any
situation without facing consequences. There is now a growing chorus
of demands to end this impunity. Police officers who commit crimes
must not get a free pass after farcical internal "reviews"; they must
face the same legal standards and processes of investigation as the
rest of society. The consistent pattern of
racism which underlies much police brutality must be ended, with the
swift removal of any officers who commit racist acts or statements.
Not least, there must be a full federal inquiry into the use of
Tasers. Instead of relying on company "reports"
which deny the deadly effect of this weapon, there must be a complete,
unbiased scientific study of Taser deaths, and swift implementation of
the necessary recommendations. In the interim, Parliament should order
an immediate moratorium on the use of Tasers.
Dear the Young Communist League of South Africa:
The Young Communist League of Canada - la Ligue de la jeunesse
communiste du Canada salutes the Young Communist League of South
Africa, the League of Joe Slovo and Chris Hani, on the occasion of
your 85th Anniversary!
The YCLSA's dedication to the struggle is know by many. Your work is
impressive and important in the campaigns Education for All, the fight
against HIV and AIDS, combating unemployment and poverty, overcoming
illiteracy, speaking out against human rights abuses as well as
corruption and, together with the ANC Youth league, uniting youth
organizations, articulating the views and interests of the youth.
The YCL-LJC joins with others in condemning the recent attack and
attempt to murder your National Secretary, Comrade Buti Manamela.
Imperialism and reaction may try by cowardly terrorist methods, but
they can not stop the future!
The mass democratic movement of the peoples, including the youth, of
South Africa has inspired the world with your overthrow of the
Apartheid regime. The destruction of Apartheid is especially important
for the peoples of Canada. Many years ago, a delegation from the South
African ruling class visited our country to study the Canadian "Indian
Act" and "Reserve system" and national oppression of the Aboriginal
peoples, in order to develop the special type of racist and national
oppression of the Black people of South Africa that became Apartheid.
In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, across Canada, people rallied against that
system, demanding in solidarity the end of Apartheid.
The YCL-LJC was founded in the same year as the YCLSA, 1922. We also
began our re-organization in the same year as well, 2003. This year we
celebrated our 24th Central Convention, and our 85th anniversary.
We stand with you in your struggle to consolidate and take the
victories of your democratic revolution further, fighting for a better
life for all, and to smash capitalism and win a socialist South
Africa!
Warm Revolutionary Greetings!
Amandla Ngawethu!
Long live International Solidarity!
YCL Central Executive Committee
Young Communist League of Canada
October 27th 2007
The continued occupation of Afghanistan by Canadian troops has been
repeatedly rejected by the majority of the Canadian people. Daily
reports in the media about Afghanistan tell of bloodshed, rising child
mortality rates, and war-lord governments, and higher casualties by
the Canadian military.
The cost to Canada: seventy-two dead Canadians, a bill of $1.3 million
every day according to CBC News, and another people's blood on our
hands. The cost to Afghanistan: over 5,000 dead this year alone, and a
society in ruins with over 70% unemployment.
We cannot 'bomb the Afghan people into liberation.' The war is
worsening the situation. Continued military intervention in
Afghanistan will not make anything better.
The occupation of Afghanistan, and Iraq, is imperialist. Imperialism
and the war in Afghanistan are both driven by a cancer-like hunger for
profits and domination of markets. Imperialism has no interest in the
rights of the people or in the environment.
Canada's foreign policy should be independent, and based on peace and
disarmament, not US wars. The money that is spent on war should be
put towards the future of this country – eliminating tuition fees,
establishing public, universal and accessible childcare, building more
schools, homes, hospitals, public transit, parks and recreation
facilities, and good paying jobs.
Instead of militarizing society through aggressive army recruitment in
high schools and military research in universities, we should
guarantee a real, sustainable future for youth.
The question is forcing the government to have the political will to
implement our agenda, and not the big business agenda. This question
can be answered through strong, broad public pressure – and if those
in power won't carry out a people's agenda for peace and democracy
they should get out of the way and let the people rule, not the
capitalists.
The Young Communist League of Canada demands that the Harper
Conservative government set the date for troop withdrawal. Troops Out
Now! We call upon all progressive, revolutionary and democratic youth
to join the Peace Protests on October 27 2007 and continue to show
visible resistance to this dirty war, and solidarity with all
oppressed people's of the world.
YCL Canada
www.ycl-ljc.ca
ycl_ljc@ycl-ljc.ca
Car une gamme "bold" et forte des célébrations de fierté se produisent
à travers le Canada cet été, il y a beaucoup à célébrer dans la lutte
pour la pleine égalité de milles -- et beaucoup plus à aller !
Les mois d'été sont le moment pour des célébrations de fierté parce
que juin 27, 1969, un soulèvement historique s'est produit à l'auberge
de Stonewall à New York City. Le soulèvement, en réponse aux
incursions de barre et aux attaques par la police, a été mené par le
gay de classe ouvrier, la lesbienne et les personnes de transgender.
C'est devenu un point de rassemblement pour des personnes de LGBTQ aux
Etats-Unis, Canada et autour du monde.
Aujourd'hui les luttes de LGBTQ sont une partie principale du
mouvement pour défaire l'ordre du jour de corporation de droite
putréfié, commençant par les Conservateurs de Harper. Les gains
historiques récents pour le mariage de même-sexe juste au Canada,
l'Europe et plusieurs états des ETATS-UNIS indiquent le chemin à un
futur l'où le choix des formes de famille sera libéré des pressions
économiques et des normes sociales qui font à la famille nucléaire
patriarcale le seul modèle "acceptable" dans la société de
capitaliste.
Nous avons gagné une victoire dans les cours de mariage. Pourtant les
ennemis de l'égalité appellent maintenant des écoles d'Etat leur
prochain "champs de bataille". À travers le Canada, la haine contre
les étudiants étranges et interrogeants, et les polarisations de
heterosexist dans les programmes d'études et les attitudes, sont
encore répandues dans beaucoup d'écoles. Étrange-frapper doit finir.
Nous invitons tous les administrateurs, administrateurs et professeurs
d'école à suivre l'exemple des panneaux qui ont montré la conduite sur
cette question en soutenant la législation dans les écoles qui
inviteront des panneaux d'école à jouer un principal rôle dans la
discrimination de fin en enseignant la tolérance pour des étudiants de
LGBTQ.
Cette année marque la 26ème année de l'épidémie de HIV/SIDA.
Aujourd'hui, des millions de personnes sont encore niés l'accès aux
drogues de sauvetage et l'aide médicale en raison des sociétés
profiter-conduites de drogue.
Dans nos écoles, dans nos lieux de travail et dans des nos rues, des
personnes de LGBTQ sont confrontées à la discrimination, à la haine et
à la violence. Des droites d'adoption ne sont pas garanties. L'ennemi
public du numéro un est les conservateurs de Harper, les prisonniers
heureux de la homophobie.
Leur but dangereux, ainsi que beaucoup de libéraux, est de transformer
le Parlement en arme contre des droites reproductrices et l'égalité de
LGBTQ, servant les intérêts de corporation qui visent à détruire des
droites démocratiques, à rouler en arrière l'égalité de genre,
programmes sociaux d'intestin, à privatiser toute la richesse
nationale, et à briser le système d'école d'Etat, tous dans leur
commande pour des bénéfices.
La libération totale des sexualités opprimées et de toutes les
personnes viendra avec la libération de la classe ouvrière le
capitalisme et du Canada socialiste. Nous nous tenons dans la
solidarité avec nos soeurs et frères de LGBTQ dans le combat pour la
pleine égalité.
Nous exigeons une extrémité à la violence et la discrimination contre
des personnes de LGBTQ dans nos écoles, lieux de travail et
communautés. Nous serons marchants, rassemblants et célébrants cet été
dans des défilés de fierté à travers le pays. Nous invitons toute la
jeunesse de classe ouvrière pour nous joindre dans la lutte pour
l'égalité de LGBTQ. Pleine égalité -- MAINTENANT !
For Pride 2007, Communists demand:
Defend and expand LGBTQ rights!
Drive out Harper!
As a bold and strong range of Pride celebrations happen across Canada
this summer, there is much to celebrate in the struggle for full
equality -- and many more miles to go!
The summer months are the time for Pride celebrations because on June
27, 1969, an historic uprising occurred at the Stonewall Inn in New
York City. The uprising, in response to bar raids and attacks by the
police, was led by working-class gay, lesbian and transgender people.
It became a rallying point for LGBTQ people in the United States,
Canada and around the world.
Today LGBTQ struggles are a key part of the movement to defeat the
rotten right-wing corporate agenda, beginning with the Harper Tories.
The recent historic gains for same-sex marriage rights in Canada,
Europe and several U.S. states point the way to a future in which the
choice of family forms will be freed from economic pressures and
social norms which make the patriarchal nuclear family the only
"acceptable" model in capitalist society.
We have won a victory in the marriage courts. Yet enemies of equality
are now calling public schools their next "battleground". Across
Canada, hatred against queer and questioning students, and
heterosexist biases in curricula and attitudes, are still prevalent in
many schools. Queer-bashing must end. We urge all school trustees,
administrators and teachers to follow the example of boards which have
shown leadership on this issue by supporting legislation in schools
that will urge school boards to play a leading role in ending
discrimination by teaching tolerance for LGBTQ students.
This year marks the 26th year of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Today,
millions of people are still denied access to life-saving drugs and
medical help because of profit-driven drug corporations. In our
schools, in our workplaces and in our streets, LGBTQ people are faced
with discrimination, hatred and violence. Adoption rights are not
guaranteed.
The number one public enemy is the Harper Conservatives, the happy
prisoners of homophobia. Their dangerous goal, together with many
Liberals, is to turn Parliament into a weapon against reproductive
rights and LGBTQ equality, serving the corporate interests which aim
to destroy democratic rights, roll back gender equality, gut social
programs, privatize all public assets, and splinter the public school
system, all in their drive for profits.
Total liberation of oppressed sexualities and all people will come
along with the liberation of the working class from capitalism and a
socialist Canada. We stand in solidarity with our LGBTQ sisters and
brothers in the fight for full equality. We demand an end to the
violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people in our schools,
workplaces and communities. We will be marching, rallying and
celebrating this summer in Pride Parades across the country. We invite
all working class youth to join us in the struggle for LGBTQ equality.
Full equality -- NOW!
Joint statement by the Young Communist League USA and the Young
Communist League of Canada – La Ligue de la Jeunesse Communiste du
Canada.
August 2007
On August 20-21, at the invitation of the Canadian government, the
leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada are meeting behind
closed doors at Chateau Montebello, Quebec, for the third Annual
Security and Prosperity Partnership Leaders Summit. US President
George W Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mexican
President Felipe Calderon will be joined by thirty powerful CEOs from
the US, Canada, and Mexico who make up the key advisory body of the
SPP, an all-business group called the North American Competitiveness
Council.
The Young Comunist League USA, and the Young Communist League of
Canada - La Ligue de la Jeunesse Communiste du Canada, joins with the
young peoples in Canada, the US and Mexico in resisting the SPP.
Thirteen US State governments have already passed resolutions
directing Congress to drop out of the SPP: Idaho, Georgia, Arizona,
Missouri, Illinois, Oregon, Montanna, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah,
South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, and Virginia. The pan-Canadian
peace-loving and democratic forces, including the Canadian Labour
Congress, have denounced the SPP. This shows that people of all
countries believe unchecked corporate power has dangerous implications
for the entire continent.
The YCL USA and the YCL LJC of Canada commits to building the broadest
possible unity in opposing the SPP. We call upon all revolutionary and
democratic youth to join with the growing opposition. We declare our
intent to work together and seek out the participation of the
Communist youth of Mexico.
Described as "NAFTA on Steroids," the victory of the SPP secret
negotiations would make a serious defeat to the popular sovereignty of
the masses of the Canadian and Mexican peoples. The SPP negotiations
are much broader than the stated trade issues of boarder crossing
facilitation, standards and regulatory cooperation, as well as bulk
energy and water exports. They involve forging a corporate
constitution over the hard-fought for rights of the peoples. Topics on
the table include a single currency, which the head of Bank of Canada
has said "is possible"; integrating Canadian military units much
further into US command; and the NAFTA superhighway corridor – a
several hundred miles wide corridor including rail lines, freeways,
and pipelines from Mexico to the Canadian boarder, like a giant straw
sucking resources into the belly of imperialism.
The anti-democratic nature of these meetings is also seen in the
recent refusal by the US Army, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and
Sureté du Quebec, for a local civil society organization to rent a
community hall in the area. Château Montebello was also the host for
the 1983 NATO Nuclear Planning Group, and the 1981 G7 Economic Summit.
The talks are going on un-surrendered Mohawk land, near the Kanesatake
reserve, site of the famous resistance of the Mohawk people at Oka
against the Canadian military in 1990.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership will subordinate Mexican,
Canadian and US state and local governments to the economic, military
and political interests of big capital's world domination strategy.
The SPP agreement occurs in period when imperialism is increasing
exploitation, as well as the use of war and repression in order to
maintain and expand markets. The development of the SPP, the question
of US and Canadian imperialism's objectives in this agreement, and its
impact on the youth of Canada, the US and Mexico requires further
analysis and investigation.
Since the pretense of the tragic of September 11th, 2001, the world's
imperialist forces, with the United States government in the
frontline, have undertaken an aggressive and despicable offense,
indiscriminately trying to remove all obstacles on their way to
consolidate their global power. Canada, which is both a full
imperialist power and a junior ally and advisor to US imperialism, has
gone forward with this agenda and the SPP re-affirms the betrayal of
the peoples and nations of Canada, including the dominant
English-speaking nation, by the Canadian bourgeois. This
aggressiveness is by no means accidental. It stems from imperialism's
structural incapability to come up with solutions to the needs of the
vast majority of the world's population and at the same time to
perpetuate its existence.
On the other side are the youth with the people, including the
workers. The youth make up one of the most progressive, radical, and
dynamic forces of society. Continuously they are important catalytic
forces for social transformation and progress. For the ruling class it
is essential the people not to organize, question, think, discuss or
reflect and know its defeats – that are the victories of the workers
and people. Two main trends are confronting each other: on the one
side, imperialism with its interventionist and war policies and, on
the other the peoples who struggle for their inalienable rights. The
total failure of neo-liberal policies has been sharply felt in many
parts of the world and is being challenged by the huge ranks of youth
and students all over the world.
We commit ourselves to struggle for a world of peace, for a different
socio-economic system that holds the human being as a center and main
maker, a system based on social justice, national sovereignty,
independence, self-determination, democracy, security, friendship,
international solidarity and cooperation. We demand respect for and
call for the defense of human and youth rights, women's rights, sexual
and reproductive rights, sustainable development and the environment.
We demand that everyone should have access to employment, labor
rights, food and water, free, public and qualitative education, health
care, sports, housing, culture and technology.
We call on youth to join this struggle. We are confident that the
victory will be ours!
MAY 2007
The Central Committee of the Young Communist League of Canada met for
an all-day meeting on this past month to discuss the league's main
political priorities and campaign strategies around the issues of
peace, jobs, and international solidarity. Over the next few months,
the YCL-LJC will be unveiling new central campaigns of the YCL-LJC.
As directed by the central convention, work has begun on a Cuban
Solidarity campaign including applying to join the Canadian Network on
Cuba and helping to build the Che Guevara Work Brigade which takes
place in July. Additionally, the YCL-LJC will be expanding the YCL
British Columbia's Better Work, Better Wages campaign to a Canada-wide
level, beginning with a fight to increase the minimum wage.
The CC approved the Convention Documents from the 24th YCL Central
Convention, which are currently being formatted and will be released
to membership. Acting on instructions from the Central Convention, the
CC voted in favour of dropping the maple leaf from the YCL-LJC logo
out of respect to the multi-national character of the Canadian state.
The logo will feature a fist, holding a red flag in a white circle.
The CC heard reports on the student movement, including the results of
the Canada-wide demonstrations by students for reduced tuition fees.
This included an important victory by Nova Scotian students, who face
the highest tuition fees in the country and have won a freeze of
tuition fees. Quebec students are mobilizing for a large
demonstration, calling for the elimination of tuition fees, in
September. The CC also recognized concern over recent racist and
Islamophobic actions at McMaster University, which garnered a quick
response from students denouncing the incident.
Jason Mann, a member of the CC, was elected to the position of Rebel
Youth editor. He reported that a new issue of Rebel Youth will be
released in June, with a focus on International Solidarity.
The CC passed statements in solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions campaign against the Apartheid State of Israel, and with
the BC and Ontario campaigns to raise the Minimum wage to $10 an hour.
In Vancouver and Toronto the YCL recently helped organize two
successful protests demanding the extradition of US CIA-backed
counter-revolutionary and self-described terrorist Posada Carriles to
Venezuela. The YCL also distributed hundreds of flyers in places like
Sudbury and Niagara Falls about this issue and the case of the Cuban
Five.
The YCL-LJC's membership is also growing rapidly! In the Prairies, two
members of the YCL in Manitoba ran in the provincial elections for the
Communist Party. There has been recent YCL activity in Saskatchewan
and the CC hopes to build in this area. New clubs have recently been
built in Edmonton and Nanaimo. Plans are underway across the country
to organize regional Summer schools for YCL members.
The CC also heard a report on the recent visit of a comrade to an
International Women's meeting in Venezuela on the invitation of the
Young Communists of Venezuela, and a report from Stephen Von Sychowski
on international correspondence.
Across the land today, Aboriginal peoples together with their allies,
are sounding a warning to the trans-national corporations and the
government of Canada, a government that is foreign and has no rightful
control over the indigenous peoples!
WARNING BELL:
ACTION NEEDED NOW!
Canada has a long, shady and brutal history of con artists stealing
the land, resources, and very way of life from the Aboriginal peoples
who have been the protectors of this land. As time goes on the theft
of resources continues as oil, gas, hydroelectric power, and raw
materials are given away to the new powers, the corporate states
(trans-national corporations).
Youth are not taught this history in school. Talking about land claims
and acknowledging the rights of First Nations (and all Aboriginal
peoples), which should have happened all along, has never been acted
upon in good faith. So after waiting for so long, Aboriginals will be
the first ones to step in the right direction and act.
TIME FOR SOLIDARITY
The actions of June 29th are for self-determination and justice for
Aboriginal peoples first and foremost but ultimately, justice for all
that live on this land. Why? Because the capitalists sell our
resources south to the USA and all the people are being robbed.
The Young Communist League of Canada is out joining actions today
because we know that Aboriginal peoples are on the front lines against
the evils of big corporate greed that we call imperialism. We stand
in solidarity.
Aboriginal peoples have been the target of genocidal and systemic
racist policies causing unemployment and difficulty in finding a job,
police harassment, colonial in-justice, and health problems.
In the cities, Aboriginal people have to make ends meet to pay rent to
slumlords who profit from the situation. Paying rent on what was once
their own land? Being watched and "looked after" by an imposed police
force? Kept on small "reserves" that are more like refugee camps?
Kept at third world conditions?
These are all the results of an archaic government system, and the
policies of that system that perpetuate oppressive conditions.
Young people are bombarded with misinformation. The perceptions that
First Nations "have everything at the expense of the taxpayer" is a
divide and conquer tactic. No, Aboriginals do not get anything free,
for they have paid the highest price: their freedom.
TIME TO PAY THE BILL
First Nations have made treaties that agreed to "share the land," not
sign it over. They agreed to move to new homes on reserves. However,
they were then locked there, and what reserves they had were
relocated, and reduced in size.
They do not own their land (held in a government "trust") and have no
jobs on reserves. Spending for First Nations is close to $8,000 per
year per person. Who really gets it free? The trans-national
corporations and the billionaires.
The colonizing business interests have capitalized on the loss of
Aboriginal land and resource wealth. Aboriginals "gave an inch" while
capitalists and racists "took a mile". The time has come for the
return of what was stolen. Fair is fair. Time to pay the bill.
If there is to be any justice and a peaceful and healthy co-operation
between nations, self-determination must prevail, and above all,
honour in DEED by all concerned.
If the Harper Conservative government does not do what it promised,
then it is just another lie (and we know how governments lie no matter
who you are!). Lying is the language of thieves, and certainly does
not lead to peace and justice.
Please read the statements given out by the Assembly of First Nations,
and other Aboriginals groups, because one's best voice is one's own.
The Young Communist League adds its voice to those taking a stand
today, June 29th, because justice must prevail. In unity is strength.
With the Communist Party, the YCL demands action to further this aim:
- Recognize the Métis as an Aboriginal people.
- Support prompt land claims settlements, including Aboriginal rights
over resources.
- Campaign for a new, equal and voluntary partnership of nations in
Canada in a democratically made constitution.
Every Canadian citizen who is not a member of the ruling class, who
does not have a vested interest in exploitation and robbery, should
take a good look in the mirror. Looking back are the First Nations
allies with the same needs: access to education, jobs, housing, public
ownership of resources and wealth, the dignity to live as proud human
beings in peace and friendship.
This is the bottom line and the practical reality of solidarity, unity
and social justice. We call upon all the youth and students to stand
in solidarity with Aboriginal peoples!
ATLANTICA: MORE OF THE SAME
THE LEGACY OF FREE TRADE
Nineteen years ago, the first Canada US Free Trade deal was signed,
quickly followed by NAFTA. Today, Canada has lost more than a quarter
million manufacturing jobs. Many more jobs and industries are on the
verge of disappearing.
This is the result of the continental 'trade' deals that were never
primarily about trade, but constitute the corporate constitution that
allows the giant transnational corporations to divide up and control
the entire hemisphere, eliminate national sovereignty and borders,
rolling back workers' social and economic gains, rapidly eroding
precious labour, civil and democratic rights.
For a brief period in the 1960s and '70s Canadian governments
exercised a degree of independence from the US, creating a publicly
owned oil company PetroCanada, resisting US demands for unlimited
access to our hydro-electric power, and creating the Foreign
Investment Review Act to limit further US penetration into the
Canadian economy.
The arrival of the neo-liberal Mulroney government in 1984 reversed
even these modest concessions to Canadian sovereignty and
independence, and began reconfiguring Canada in the interests of the
transnational corporations and their goal of ever increasing
super-profits and an increasing rate of profit.
THEFT OF THE EI FUND, MORE TAX CUTS, & THE 90 CENT DOLLAR -- AN
ENDURING GIFT FROM THE LIBERALS
Free trade, privatization, de-regulation, tax cuts, and attacks on
labour and democratic rights were continued by the Chretien and Martin
(Liberal) governments.
Government fiscal policy has ensured the rise of the Canadian dollar -
now at the 90 cent mark, contributing further to the loss of
manufacturing and secondary industry in Canada, and to the loss of
270,000 well-paid, mainly unionized, industrial jobs since 2003.
These jobs have been replaced with minimum wage and precarious
employment, mainly in the service sector.
Theft of the EI funds in the 1990s left workers with no protection
from plant closures, and today 40% of contributors to EI cannot
collect benefits. Many faced 25% wage cuts, some were forced onto
welfare. EI funds were stolen so that governments could cut taxes for
the very wealthiest individuals and the most profitable corporations.
Job losses, benefit losses, the loss of universal social programs, the
abandonment of the 1993 Liberal promise for a universal quality child
care system - all have contributed to the huge gap between the rich
and the rest that has grown up over the last 25 years - marginalizing
hundreds of thousands in dead-end jobs, unemployment, and permanent
insecurity.
No wonder working people and youth are fed up!
THE HARPER TORIES -- MORE OF THE SAME, PLUS BOOT CAMPS, SECURITY
CERTIFICATES, AND WAR
· pushing military spending through the roof for the dirty war in Afghanistan;
· giving huge tax breaks for the corporations which are making record profits;
· eliminating hard-won social programmes for the people;
· advancing political, military and economic integration with George
Bush's USA through the so-called "Security and Prosperity Partnership"
- the pact to destroy what's left of Canadian sovereignty.
A Tory majority would transform Canada - speed-up the dismantling of
Medicare, education, social programs, and manufacturing including the
annihilation of productive industrial jobs, wages and working
conditions, and labour rights - using force including police, prisons
and the military if needed, to do it.
The Tories aim to smash the labour movement which they correctly
recognize as the main obstacle to their far right agenda. They won't
stop. Labour and its allies will have to stop them.
Labour must become the core of mass, escalating public resistance
across the province and across the country. This agenda must be
defeated.
WE SHOULD DETERMINE WHERE WE WANT TO LIVE AND WORK!
The East Coast needs an industrial strategy to rebuild manufacturing
and secondary industry, and a massive public housing construction
program. Canada's oil and gas corporations are booming, making record
profits off the backs of cheap East Coast labour. Government and the
corporations owe it to working youth that they won't be forced to
leave home for a decent paying job.
The industrial working class in Cape Bretton has been destroyed -- a
toxic sludge disaster is all that remains. State policies gave the
upper hand to over-fishing by off-shore corporations of the ground
fishery, beggaring offshore and fish plant workers. All the past jobs
– farming, fishing, and woodlot producing -- have rapidly disappeared,
except in fisheries in the most highly priced species.
What's left? McJobs, Call Centers, casinos and the 'culture industry,'
turning us into a zoo. Or you can illegally grow pot. Who is surprised
that youth are leaving in record levels to the West?
Its time to make full employment a top priority, and legislate a
32-hour work week with no loss in take-home pay and no loss in service
to the public. Ban compulsory overtime, and legislate minimum four
weeks annual paid vacations. Stop government theft of the EI fund; set
benefits at 90% of previous earnings for the duration of unemployment.
Put massive investments into rebuilding social programs, public
infrastructure, and affordable housing. Enact a fair wage policy and
full pay and employment equity for women workers.
RAISE MINIMUM WAGE
The East Coast "reserve army" of jobless workers has pushed down
average wages. But business can't have it both ways. They can't on one
hand want the government to do something to retain workers, and then
kick up a huge stink when we talk about raising minimum wage!
According to the labour force survey, almost one if four workers are
paid less than $10 an hour! Today, a minimum wage job in Nova Scotia
earns workers less than $14,000 a year. Polls show that 77% of people
polled in Atlantic Canada thought that the minimum wage should be
increased to $10 an hour. We need to see significant increases in
minimum wages, above the poverty line towards $12.00 and $15 an hour.
We need higher wages, a shorter work week with no loss in take home
pay (and no reduction in public services), a $15/hour minimum wage,
increased pensions and early voluntary retirement at 60, and
Employment Insurance at 90% of previous earnings for all unemployed
workers.
A FUTURE FOR STUDENTS!
Early childhood education is denied us. Over 80% of the 86,000 Nova
Scotia children of working mothers have no access to a licensed child
care space. Young mothers are getting left in the dirt.
Schools are being short-changed. The McDonald Tories in Nova Scotia
have cut $10 million (over 25% of the budget) from activities related
to evaluation of courses and programs and assessment of students.
Infrastructure funding in the last budget cut schools from $108
million to $60 million. The increase in K-12 spending is totally
inadequate, despite on-going concerns about inadequate support for
education, poor student achievement and inadequate services for
students with special needs.
In post-secondary education, there has been vague talk about tuition
freezes and creating less than 600 seats in the Community College
system -- but no details about where these seats will be created, for
what programs and over what time frame. No details about the ratio of
students to support staff and if more support staff will be hired.
Nova Scotian universities charge an average of $2,000 more than the
national average.
Rollback and eliminate tuition fees for post-secondary education, and
shift from loans to grants for student assistance. Expand training and
apprenticeship programs. Build better schools, not more prisons and
boot camps. Eliminate higher fees for international students.
Eliminate all special fees. Boldly expand apprenticeship programs.
Make childcare accessible to all students!
GET OUT OF NAFTA - NATIONALIZE ENERGY! Abrogate the NAFTA deal. Create
a publicly-owned steel industry, nationalize the oil and gas industry,
and prohibit water exports.
PEACE AND DISARMAMENT! Canada needs an independent foreign policy of
peace and disarmament. Withdraw our occupation forces from Afghanistan
and Haiti, and support the just demand of the Palestinians for an end
to the Israeli occupation. Condemn the U.S. war in Iraq, and prevent
war against Iran. Secure our civil, labour, and democratic rights, and
eliminate security state laws which target the Muslim and South Asian
communities, aboriginal peoples, and the civil rights of all
Canadians.
REVERSE GLOBAL WARMING! Launch emergency programs to drastically cut
greenhouse gases emissions. Phase out coal fired plants, and expand
renewable energy and conservation. Shift to free urban public transit
systems by subsidising the $2.5 billion in fares collected annually.
NATIONAL EQUALITY! Guarantee equality for First Nations peoples, the
Metis and Acadians starting with full recognition of the right to
self-determination (up to and including the right to secession) as the
basis for an equal and voluntary partnership of nations.
HOUSING FOR ALL! Take emergency action on the crisis of homelessness.
Build 200,000 units of social, cooperative and non-profit housing, by
establishing federal-provincial-municipal land banks and investing
over 1% of annual provincial budgets for housing
GUARANTEE EQUALITY RIGHTS Oppose all forms of racism and
discrimination. Strengthen and enforce affirmative action and
employment equity programs for Aboriginal peoples, people of colour,
and people with disabilities. Ban all discrimination based on sexual
orientation or gender identity. trengthen laws and enforcement against
hate crimes and neo-fascist groups, and prosecute war criminals living
in Canada.
EXPAND DEMOCRACY! Enact proportional representation and democratic
electoral reform. Adopt a Labour Bill of Rights to guarantee the
rights of workers to organize, bargain collectively, take political
action, and strike.
Dear Comrades,
Our meeting today comes at a time of continued volatility in the
political situation. This is reflected in the struggles of the student
and youth movement. In the opinion of the CEC, the analysis and
resulting priorities of work adopted by the Fall 2007 meeting of the
YCL-LJC Central Committee are still valid – not least our observation
that "it is the mass movements of people's organizations that will
embolden the opposition parties to fight the Harper Tories," the main
menace to Canadian youth today.
Before turning to the main task at hand in this meeting – a deep
reaching discussion about Rebel Youth – I would, however, like to make
a few brief comments about the current domestic and international
situation.
Comrades,
We have all heard the news now that Comrade Fidel Castro has stepped
down and the 7th legislature of the National Assembly of People's
Power has elected Comrade Raul in his place. What the bourgeois media
does not say, however, is that this is the culmination of a process of
elections that involved literally millions of Cubans and the CEC has
issued a release to that effect to our members, friends and allies in
Cuban solidarity.
Fidel's decision above all shows great reason for confidence in the
current leadership and government of Cuba, and their capability to
direct the Cuban people and their revolution towards more social
gains. One of the resolutions we are brining forward to this meeting
is to build the Che Brigade to Cuba for 2008. The bourgeoisie
bombardment of propaganda against Cuba around Fidel's resignation
makes that task all the more pressing.
There is more positive news internationally. In Venezuela, it appears
Chavez has retreated from his rather adventurous position that all
progressives must unite in one political party, and is now calling for
a "patriotic coalition" including the Communists for the 2008
elections, to defeat US imperialist interference and forge ahead with
a new socialist-oriented future.
In the United States, the Bush agenda is now a dirty word amongst most
youth. As the YCLUSA has noted, young people are heading to primary
elections in record numbers. Whatever quantitative and qualitative
changes occur in US policy, they will be of grave significance to
Canada.
Also since our last meeting, the people of Cyprus have elected a
Communist as President. This is important for progressive forces in
the region, especially considering imperialism's meddling in the
recent separation of Kosovo – which led the Serbia people to burn the
US embassy in Belgrade.
Also important for European anti-imperialist and peace-loving forces,
especially the youth, is the announcement that the next World Festival
of Youth and Students will be held in Belarus, one of the countries
Bush noted along with North Korea and Iran as in need of
"democratizing." The 2009 festival will be a topic we must return to,
very soon, and by accepting this report, the CC should instruct the
CEC to begin this work in earnest.
We note with pride that the YCL-LJC is now a full member of the World
Federation of Democratic Youth, accepted at the February meeting of
WFDY in Portugal.
Turning now to the situation in Canada.
It is clear that crisis in the American economy which was just
emerging at the time of our last meeting has had drastic impacts on
Canada. The People's Voice has had good coverage of these developments
over its past few issues. The majority of economic indicators point to
an impending recession, making the continued struggle by youth for
better jobs and higher minimum wages all the more relevant, which
Comrade Stephen will be commenting on.
These demands starkly contrast with the new Tory budget and its much
touted tax shelter. "In reality, only the well-to-do will be able to
seriously take advantage of this new program." (Toronto Star, Feb 27
2008) On Wednesday Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said we must reduce
business taxes if it wants to avoid the fallout from a downturn in the
U.S. economy.
It is likely the budget will pass, and an election will be averted.
But an election is coming and we should, as Canada's Young Pioneers
used to say, be "Always Ready." We repeat the comments made by the
Fall 2007 Central Committee: "As Communists, our job is to help deepen
and broaden the fight-back, and help sharpen up the critique of the
Tories, so that all the opposition parties are emboldened and/or
pressured to pull the plug, and bring down the Harper Tories."
One of the key fight backs against the Harper Tories is over the war
in Afghanistan. In January, Manley report essentially rubber-stamped
the extension of the Afghan mission to 2011. Yet public opinion
remains staunchly opposed to this dirty conflict. For this reason we
are think now is the critical time to begin mobilizing youth and
students into the March 15th anti-war actions, and have prepared a
statement to help mobilize our membership, friends and allies for this
important event.
I am reminded of the founding Manifesto of the YCL, which stated that
"in any war the youth suffer the most, bear the brunt and are the
first called upon." These words are still true today. This Feb. 25th
marked the 85th anniversary of the founding of our League and I
personally hope the CC, in accepting this report, will agree to
re-issue a new updated version of our fighting history in pamphlet
form.
By June of 1924, the YCL was publishing an independent magazine,
saying in its first issue that it pledged "to support the decisions
that are made [in the Communist International] to the fullest extent…
with no race hatred and nationalist feeling but with a truly working
class sprit."
This is a challenge today: to defend and expand the democratic rights
of youth – a struggle dialectically connected to the class struggle
for socialism. We need to reflect this in all of our tactics and
strategies in mass work, and in this meeting we will be introducing
three documents that will both outline our policy and guide our
action: on the International Day for the Elimination of Racism which
talks about Islamophobia, the Toronto 18, and black-focused schools;
on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day,
which talks about the need to oppose sexism in all its forms; and a
resolution in solidarity with the struggle of students across Canada.
The main task at hand in this meeting is to come up with solutions for
the production of our magazine. As a political tool, since 1924 the
YCL has always had "press" in some form – be it the Young Worker,
Advance, New Advance, Beacon, Champion, Jeunnesse, SYL News, Young
Communist, Le Revolutionnaire, New Horizons, Jeunesse Militante, and
now Rebel Youth.
Many of these magazines were produced under very difficult conditions.
But the YCL-LJC's magazine has never been a static effort. It has
always been something experimental, creative, and militant. We've
tried to make into an organizing tool for the YCL, and also a
ideological weapon that gets involved in the debates among left and
progressive youth forces, talks about what real youth are doing, and
makes a contribution.
For all these reasons, we hope our discussions today will help build a
magazine that is exciting, important, necessary, and worth fighting
for!
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