Imperialism Meddling in Caucasus

On the US/NATO aggression in the Caucasus

The outbreak of a deadly armed conflict in the Caucasus is not only a
humanitarian disaster which has already cost some 2,000 lives, but
poses a very real threat of wider wars in the region. Imperialism's
preparations and aggressions in Georgia are sparks that can eventually
ignite a much larger conflagration, demanding the sharpest
condemnation of the international labour movement and all peace and
anti-imperialist forces.

Unhindered by a strong socialist bloc of countries, imperialist
countries led by the US in the NATO military alliance are using
Georgia to prepare future aggressions, in violation of the basic
principles of international law such as those in the United Nations
Charter.

The Communist Party of Canada condemns the Georgian invasion on August
7, including bombing raids on residential areas, hospitals, and
schools in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, as an unprovoked
assault which plunged the Caucasus into war. We give full support to
calls from many countries for the complete withdrawal of Georgian
forces from South Ossetia as a first step towards a peaceful solution
to this conflict, which must not be allowed to expand into all-out
confrontation in the Middle East and Central Asia.

We also note that contrary to claims by much of the western media and
by the Bush regime, this is not a case of "Russian aggression." The
source of rising tensions in the Caucasus is not the presence of
Russian troops, which entered South Ossetia in the early 1990s as
peacekeepers after Georgia attempted to forcibly annex the area,
driving much of the population across the border into North Ossetia,
which remained within Russia.

The real origin of this conflict lies in the US/NATO imperialist
policies of expansionism. For decades, starting with the Cold War, the
US has sought to place a military ring around its rival, undermining
allies of the Soviet Union and later Russia, and imposing so-called
"pro-Western" regimes which allow US bases on their soil and rely
heavily on US military cooperation and support. Recalling the Nazi
invasion which cost their country over twenty million lives, Russia
strongly opposes such imperialist encirclement.

This is the case with Georgia, which became a U.S. client state at the
time of the illegal NATO war against Yugoslavia in 1999. Israel, the
main U.S. ally in the region, has also forged close political and
economic links with the Georgian government. The high level of
US/NATO/Israeli/Georgian military integration makes it clear that the
August 7 aggression must have been known in advance and approved by
the Bush and Olmert governments. Bolstering this view is the decision
on August 9 by the United States to provide military transport
aircraft to fly many of Georgia's 2,000-strong troop contingent out of
Iraq to join the fighting at home.

The imperialist drive to plunder oil and other vital resources is a
key factor in destabilization of the region. Notably, the
Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline brings oil and gas through Georgia to the
Eastern Mediterranean, including a large part of Israel's oil imports
from Azerbaijan. Controlled by British Petroleum and built with US
support, the BTC pipeline is a vital piece of the military-political
bloc including Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Israel, which the US
considers a vital counter-balance against the influence of Russia and
China in the region.

In the wake of the US/UK war against Iraq and the continuing efforts
by the occupation forces to turn over Iraq's vast oil wealth to the
transnational corporations, nobody should underestimate the desire of
the ultra-right clique around Bush, Cheney and other Republican hawks
to use events in the Middle East and Central Asia to further this
strategic push. Seen in this context, Georgia's aggression against
South Ossetia, which quickly met powerful Russian resistance, may have
been a provocation to create better conditions for expansion of the
US/ NATO military presence in the area.

The Caucasus war could also influence the US presidential election, by
tilting voter support towards Republican candidate John McCain. It is
not a stretch to wonder if these events may be intended to help lay
the groundwork for a US strike against Iran, with the long-range goal
of imperialist seizure of that country's oil reserves. Such an attack
would unleash a war of unforeseeable dimensions, costing millions of
lives and spreading far beyond the borders of the Middle East.

In pursuit of its aim of global hegemony, imperialism is playing with
fire, and Georgia's latest aggression is part of this wider pattern.
The Communist Party of Canada urges full support for international
attempts to contain and extinguish this conflict, and for an end to
all imperialist meddling in the Caucasus.

Issued by the Central Executive Committee

Communist Party of Canada

August 14, 2008

YCL-LJC Action Update "Give me $2.7 mill" - T18 informant

1. YCL IN ACTION
2. FESTIVAL UPDATE
3. TORONTO 18 - "I WANT 2.7 MILL"

YCL IN ACTION

The YCL BC successfully held a weekend summer camp at a beautiful lake
near Merritt. Comrades discussed Reform and Revolution, and action for
the BC YCL over the next year. Comrades came from Vancouver, Burnaby,
the Lower Mainland, and Trail BC. See the facebook group for photos!

The YCL-LJC is in the process of getting a new website. In a few
months we will launch our new site, which will allow for more regular
updates of the main page and other cool features! If you have comments
or suggestions for the new site, please send them to the Central
Executive, c/o johan@ycl-ljc.ca

YCL Ontario is organizing a fall school for early September for new
members. The school is planned to be held in Hamilton, at Solidarity
House, a hall run by the Communist Party, working with the FMLN and
friends in the local labour movement and other peoples groups.

This summer Marianne Breton Fontaine, Quebec Organizer, together with
Johan Boyden, General Secretary of the YCL, traveled across the
country visiting most clubs of the league. Marianne gave a short talk
about developments in Quebec student politics since the last issue of
Rebel Youth, when an article appeared discussing this issue.

YOUTH FESTIVAL UPDATE

The World Festival of Youth and students is moving forward -- but it
is a little uncertain where the next festival will be and when the
date is. This is the news from a summer meeting of the International
Union of Students and the World Federation of Democratic Youth. Due to
financial reasons, the youth festival committee in Belarus was forced
to withdraw their application, leaving India as a possible host. Stay
posted! More information will follow.

TORONTO 18 - I WANT MORE SAYS POLICE INFORMANT

'Toronto 18' informant Mubin Shaikh ups his price

MICHAEL FRISCOLANTI | July 23, 2008 |

Original Source:
http://www.macleans.ca/canada/national/article.jsp?content=20080723_115512_115512&page=1

Two years ago, when Mubin Shaikh first went public with his tale of
anti-terror espionage, he was candid about his compensation. He told
Canadians the RCMP paid him a cool $300,000 to spy on the "Toronto
18," a group of young, tough-talking Muslims who liked to camp in the
snow (and allegedly plot jihad). But Shaikh insisted, over and over,
that cash was not his motivation. He went undercover to protect his
country and his religion, not to line his pockets. "I didn't do it for
the money," he said shortly after the arrests. "I'm not going to
negotiate with the lives of Canadians."

Today, Mubin Shaikh is ready to negotiate. Canada's most famous
informant — the public face of the nation's largest-ever terrorism
trial — is asking for a $2.4-million raise.

In a two-page letter addressed to the Mounties, Shaikh vows to abide
by a long list of conditions in exchange for the hefty, "no tax"
payment ($2.7 million, minus the $300,000 he's already received). His
promises include no more media interviews, no more drug use, and no
book or movie deals. The 32-year-old also pledges to "aggressively
defend the evidence and vocally support the role of the agencies
involved" in the case, including the RCMP and CSIS, Canada's spy
agency. "This document is intended to be a formal request for further
compensation that is 'deserved and proportional' to my involvement" in
the investigation, Shaikh writes.

The note contains no explicit threats. Shaikh, a married father of
five, does not go so far as to say he will abandon the case if the
cops don't cave. However, one of his proposed conditions is a promise
not to "bring any legal action against the RCMP/CSIS."

The authorities have yet to respond to Shaikh's letter, but this much
appears certain: police and prosecutors are growing increasingly
impatient with their prized informant. The timing of his extravagant
demand was especially bold. Shaikh sent his note to the Mounties on
June 9, just days before his widely publicized testimony at the trial
of a teenager charged in connection with the bust. "It certainly makes
a mockery of his 'I'm not doing this for the money' line," says lawyer
Michael Moon, who represents Steven Chand, one of 10 adults still
facing charges. "The Crown's devout, patriotic witness keeps on upping
his price, depending on what trial he's at."

Indeed, this is the second time Shaikh has requested a pay hike. In
the early stages of the investigation, he happily accepted $77,000 to
infiltrate the group. He bugged his minivan, befriended one of the
alleged leaders, and famously joined the suspects on a two-week winter
camping trip that prosecutors now believe was the genesis of a
sophisticated plot to detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto. But in
June 2006, days after the high-profile raids, Shaikh went back to the
RCMP and asked them to boost his reward to an even $300,000. They
agreed.

Two years later, it's hard to imagine a repeat outcome. Despite his
undeniable charm and outspoken disdain for aspiring terrorists, Shaikh
is proving to be as much of a Crown liability as an asset. As star
witnesses go, he has become more star than witness. Since the arrests,
he has outed himself on national TV, proclaimed the innocence of some
of the accused, snorted cocaine on the taxpayers' dime, and pleaded
guilty to threatening two 12-year-old girls. During his recent
testimony at the youth trial, he also sparred with prosecutor John
Neander, who took the rare step of declaring Shaikh a hostile witness
and grilling him on some alleged inconsistencies in his statements.
Simply put, the Crown accused its own hired mole of fudging facts to
protect the defendant. A few days later, Shaikh went one step further,
telling reporters the teenage suspect deserves to be acquitted.

And now, after all that, Mubin Shaikh wants more cash — more than 30
times the dollar figure he originally agreed to. "You have to be
concerned about the motives of an informant whose sole source of
income has been taxpayer money," says defence lawyer Dennis Edney,
whose client, Fahim Ahmad, faces more charges than any of the accused.
"And if Mr. Shaikh is asking for more money, then it causes further
concern that his sole motivation in giving evidence is financial
rewards."

This case, of course, already has a controversial history of financial
rewards. A second informant, an unidentified businessman who is now
hiding in the witness protection program, was paid at least $4.1
million for his covert assistance — and only after the Mounties talked
him down from his original offer of $15 million. At the time, Shaikh
had no idea the other spy existed, let alone the fact he was being
paid millions of dollars. After the raids, when he did find out,
Shaikh claimed to have no regrets. "I've got no complaints," he said
in February 2007. "I'm not thinking: 'Oh damn, I should have asked
them for more.' Nope. I'm happy with everything."

So what changed? Why is he suddenly so anxious to fatten his bank
account by $2.4 million? His answer is typical Shaikh: self-assured,
unequivocal, and rife with references to the Quran. "My response is
simple," he said, when contacted by Maclean's. "This case is huge. It
is history being made — legal history, Canadian history and Islamic
history — and the burden it has on a person is great."

Shaikh insists — again — that money had nothing to do with his
original decision to become a police agent. "A person who does things
for money, money is the number one thing right from the beginning," he
says. "But when I went into the first negotiation I didn't go anywhere
near a lot of a money. At the time, I had no idea what this was going
to entail." Only now, Shaikh says, does he realize the full
ramifications of his co-operation. "This has shaped the rest of my
life. The next 10 years are going to revolve around this stuff. It has
become a full-time job, and I would like to know who in the courtroom
is there free of charge. I'm sure the judge is not there because of
his love for justice. I'm sure the media isn't there because of the
right for the public to know. And the lawyers aren't there because
they're crusading for justice. Everybody is there for a dollar."

Shaikh wants to be clear: he is not giving the RCMP an ultimatum. If
the force doesn't pay him another dime, he'll still show up to testify
whenever the adult suspects reach trial (or trials). "That will never
change," he says. "I am ordered by Allah to do the right thing, to
tell the truth." He still believes in the evidence, and he still
believes that most of the accused deserve to spend many more years
behind bars. But he also believes that his own time and effort — just
not his opinions — should come at a fair price. "I do feel that I
deserve more," he says. "Basically, the money is for me because I
didn't go into witness protection. What if I need to relocate the rest
of my family because my house is known? The cops wouldn't even put a
deadbolt lock in my apartment. What makes you think they're going to
do anything?"

Though he is careful with his words, Shaikh is clearly frustrated with
the RCMP. "I don't think the police take me as seriously as they
should," he says. "I don't think they realize the resource that I am.
I'm only interested in increasing their intelligence-gathering and
crime-prosecuting abilities. That is my goal, because the last thing I
want is for them to not do it properly, get to court, and have it
fizzle out." In fact, Shaikh says he's no longer angry that Neander
attacked him on the stand; if anything, the episode proved he is
committed to telling the truth, not following the government's script.
"I work with the police, not for the police."
Still, Shaikh knows what's coming. He has no doubt that many in the
Muslim community, including some of the suspects' families, will curse
him yet again. The money-hungry traitor needs to buy more coke to
snort up his nose. He smiles at the thought. "Those people are
terrorist cheerleaders," he says. "Frankly, I don't give a rodent's
buttocks what the community thinks — or anybody else. People who do
the right thing should not be swayed by what people say or what people
think, because the right thing is the right thing. And if the whole
community says it's not the right thing, then the whole community is
wrong."

World Federation of Democratic Youth News

Against the ban of the Czech Communist Youth Union (KSM)

This is our first issue of WFDY NEWS since many years. It is intended to be a news bulletin that reflects the struggles, activities and news of WFDYas well as its member organizations around the world. It will be published in hard copy and electronically on our website and through the email. We hope that it constitutes one more step in the development of the action of our organization and gives a tribune for the progressive and democratic struggles around the world. However, it is a sad moment to publish our first issue under the recent decisions of the Czech government to ban KSM.

Some people think that they can ban the future! At least this is what the Czech government believes. The Czech government decided to ban the Czech Communist Youth (KSM), with the approval of the juridical authorities, on the pretext that the Czech

Communist Youth is spreading forbidden communist ideas.

We tell the Czech government that ideas cannot be banned; they just spread like the breeze among the people. Youth action will never be illegal as long as it is oriented for the development and protection of youth rights for a different world. Youth have the right to have their beliefs in social justice and in a world free of exploitation. They have the right and they also have the duty to fight for their beliefs on the ideological and the political level. No government shall ban the progressive youth because no government can prevent the future.

The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) expresses its solidarity with KSM and strongly condemns the actions of the Czech government against it. WFDY will launch an international campaign to protest this decision around the world, and to make the Czech government hear the voice of a great number of people refusing its decision and supporting KSM. Petitions, demonstrations at the Czech embassies and other forms of protest will be launched against this undemocratic decision.

This is a part of an ideological offensive conducted by imperialism against the youth and their dreams in a better world. Ideological offensives are the complimentary of the military offensives practiced by imperialism around the world. Silencing the people is one more step for hegemony, but the youth will fight back.

We will struggle for our rights and our freedom of action is a basic right. We shall never stop our struggles for a better world, and we shall never accept any decision criminalizing our legal peaceful actions. We will struggle. We call the youth around the world to protest this decision and support the right of KSM in acting as a communist youth organization struggling for the rights of the Czech youth.

WFDY Solidarity Action in Balkans

Between 3 and 6 April, the Commission of Europe and North America of WFDY held a solidarity action with Balkans region. Alongside with a NATO Summit going on in Bucharest and a visit of the President of United States to the region, this event had an important impact both for the international delegates from several countries and for the youth of Serbia, Croatia and Romania.

This action, held under the slogan “For Peace in Balkans, we struggle against NATO, bases and imperialism”, was successfully hosted by SKOJ (Serbia), Youth Association SOS (Croatia) and UTS (Romania), and gave a great contribution for the international solidarity with youth struggle in all ex-Yugoslavia republics.

The denouncement of NATO crimes, the discussion about ways to improve solidarity and the direct contact with the destruction of the youth's social rights in these countries, led the delegates to the conclusion that only peace and sovereignty are the way for friendship and social justice. The delegates also acknowledged that the promotion of militarization and ethic or religious conflicts was a weapon of imperialism to break down the resistance of the peoples, as well as the offence against democratic rights, clearly felt by the delegates as they acknowledged that the police was pursuing the comrades from Croatia during the preparatory process of the event, and in Croatia and Romania, where the border’s police demanded to check, during several hours, the contents of all books and posters brought by the delegates, in an unacceptable demonstration of the imperialist wish to break down all those who struggle against it.

The expansion of NATO and the imperialist wars can only be stopped with struggle in each country, in each town, in each school or place of work and are closely connected with the struggles for social rights, that is why so many delegates brought up this issue during the panels of discussion as what is going on in the ex-Yugoslavia countries clearly shows that imperialist order is not compatible with social justice and peace.

WFDY April 2008

Correction

Please note that a correction has been made to the YCL-LJC anti-racism statement. Grassy Narrows was incorrectly listed as in Manitoba, it is in Ontario. The statement can be viewed here:

http://ycl-ljc.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html#6684743723717602641

WE STRUGGLE FOR A PUBLIC, FREE AND HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL

The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) calls upon all member
and friendly organizations to rise up and join the international
campaign for having public, free and high quality education in all our
countries, as an essential human right in the struggle to build a
better world where full and free access to universal education and
liberty of human beings prevail.

When 150 millions children nowadays in the world do not have full
access to education, 90 millions people are illiterate – two thirds of
them are women- and the basic schooling completion rate is over 100
millions people, when the globalize neoliberalism seeks to obtain
profits from all sectors including education and health, WFDY calls
upon all progressive youth organizations to demand our educational
rights.

Expenses on education at the, so called "first world countries" exceed
all from the Sub-Saharan African countries, four days of the military
cost and 9 minutes of financial speculation are over 8 thousand
millions dollars, just the same global price that would be enough to
carry out full and free education for all.

Young people from all the world have the right to defend education as
a mean of freedom, of obtaining worthy and wide knowledge that respect
our legacy and true history where moral values prevail, of achieving
the total emancipation of human being and of avoiding to be submissive
slaves of the world market.

Let's struggle for coming true the right to a full and free education
to save our world, for creating basic learning conditions, for
encouraging each government to wide the resources on the education
field and to fulfill its obligation to provide full access to
education as the most important human investment ever done, so as to
eradicate poverty and inequality. Let's struggle to make our young
people study and not let them work and beg to survive, to make women,
ethnic minorities, indigenous people, immigrants, refugees, and all
young people have the right to learn how to read and write as a way of
a genuine development of the human being and the societies we live in.

The CC/HQ of WFDY

Budapest,
April 1, 2008

FREE MUMIA

The Young Communist League of Canada joins with the Free Mumia
Committee in denouncing the recent ruling of the injustice against
Mumia Abu-Jamal whose case exposes the racist death penalty, the
brutality of the police, and the unjust imprisoning of political
activists in the United States.

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)

ELIMINATION OF RACISM: A DIRE NECESSITY

YCL-LJC
March 21, 2008

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.

CONDEMN ATTACKS ON RIGHTS TO DEMONSTRATE

Young Communist League
March, 2008

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.

International Womens Day!

March 8, 2008

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!

RESTORE FREE SPEECH!

Young Communist League
March, 2008

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!