YCL: National Post, Stop Red-Baiting

Editor, National Post
April 21st 2009

The continued slanderous disinformation campaign labeling anti-Semitic all those who condemn Zionism and Israeli’s occupation of Palestine is wearing thin.

Last week, the National Post newspaper targeted the brave students and educators at Toronto’s alternative Student School who have launched High School Students Against Israeli Apartheid. The Post even steeped to red-baiting, saying that school coordinator Mr John Morton “refused interview requests from the National Post, but he outlined the school's continued support for such programs in a letter to the Web site Rebel Youth Magazine, a blog published by the Young Communist League of Canada.” (National Post, April 6th)

If The Post had done its homework, writer Dave Bowden would have found Mr. Morton’s supposed letter was simply an email widely circulated among the broad progressive majority in solidarity with the sovereign people of Palestine and outraged by Israel’s racist and brutal occupation, backed by US and Canadian foreign policy.

But then lack of fact-checking has never stopped The National Post from zealously churning-out Harper Tory capitalist drivel – attacking workers, women, youth and students, Aboriginal peoples, Quebequois, people of colour, Muslims and Arabs, people with disabilities, artists, you name it. The Post continually worships the market, while failing to make a profit from its own sales.

The Post’s inflammatory articles against the Student School have prompted an investigation into its coordinator.  Youth today are widely condemned for not voting, and then publicly chastised when we do engage in politics. Teachers who try to encourage discussion in class rooms are singled out for special scrutiny. This does not foster an educational environment, it deliberately creates an atmosphere of fear aimed at stifling free speech.

Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. The shrill claims to the contrary do not cut ice in Canada, nor around the world. The Young Communist League of Canada warmly applauds and expresses our full solidarity with the Student School, which has also recently banned police from its corridors, and High School Students Against Israeli Apartheid. Justice is on your side, as it is on the side of the Palestinian people.

 

Johan Boyden,
General Secretary,
Young Communist League of Canada
290A Danforth Ave.
Toronto, ON M4K 1N6
416-964-3894
www.ycl-ljc.ca

Three World Federation of Democratic Youth Statements

**For democracy and freedom, against anti-communism!
April 13

In the last months the attack against the democratic rights and freedoms of the peoples and youth of the world has been deepened by the imperialist Governments and its international, regional and national structures.

The criminalization of those who struggle against the imperialist world order and to overthrow imperialism itself is a common line of action, which is focusing particularly the communist forces. Nevertheless, WFDY believes that the attack to the communist forces has a much deeper meaning than only these forces (which would be unacceptable anyway), but it aims to destroy all resistance against imperialism.

The presidency of the European Union (now run by the Czech Government), and its political line of supporting the so called “researches against the dictatorships in Europe” is a clear attempt to rewrite History, comparing the hideous crimes of Nazism with the so called “Stalinism”, a period that the imperialist writers of history want to criminalize to confuse the people. In this same frame, the holding of a conference about “the resistance against communism in Czechoslovakia” is a new opportunity to try to, once again, rewrite History.

However, this is not a question of the past and only that. In fact, it is very much connected to the daily situation of the world today and for its future. In a moment when the capitalist crisis is clearly showing the dead ends and the self-destructive character of the capitalist system and the impossibility for a future of peace, sovereignty and with social and political rights for all mankind, it is necessary for imperialism to survive to chase those who can bury it! That is why now imperialism is developing a new “witch hunt”, trying that the people and youth of the world do not believe that it is possible to struggle and win, that it is possible to defeat imperialism.

WFDY denounces that all these worries with “democracy” coming from the European Union is nothing but a way to impose the imperialism world order. Let us remind that: it is the very same Czech Government that now is the presidency of EU that criminalized and banned KSM (the Czech Communist Youth Union) for its political program, as well as it happens in several other former socialist countries (as Hungary, or in the Baltic area), where communists, their organizations and political elements are forbidden and chased, this very same European Union is deepening bounds with the state of Israel, supporting (directly and indirectly) the daily massacre and humiliation of the Palestinian people, the same EU that keeps cooperating everyday more and more with NATO, a war instrument that has brought death to thousands of peoples over the last years, the same EU that cooperates with USA in its strategy to promote interferences inside the Cuban policies, creating NGO’s openly for that purpose, and the same EU that cooperates with the dictatorial regimes of Colombia and Egypt, where everyday people are killed, chased or wounded by their political options only

Furthermore WFDY denounces the situation of the countries inside EU itself has a clear demonstration on how dishonest this worry about the democracy is. The still to explain death of a person in a demonstration (London, UK), the prohibition for communists to be teachers (Germany), the arresting and interferences inside the students unions conducted by the police (Portugal), the prohibition of a cultural festival because of one of the bands invited having lyrics about the resistance (Spain) the inhuman expelling of the immigrants and way they are exploited and chased (Italy), among many other measures, explain by themselves how empty the word “democracy” is for imperialism.

To all this only one answer can be given by the youth and the people of the world: the struggle! WFDY calls upon all its member and friend organization to denounce as much as possible the ongoing attempt to criminalize the struggle we develop, particularly the communist organizations, during the days of the conference about Czechoslovakia (15 and 16 of April).

Moreover, WFDY states that despite the rough times that come ahead of us this a sign that imperialism knows we can win, so let us reinforce our daily struggle in the schools, places of work and neighborhoods, never being afraid of what we are and we struggle for, as it is the only way for mankind to achieve the long waited lasting peace and social development that imperialism keeps trying to postpone.

We will defeat imperialism!


** Solidarity towards Bolivia!
April 13

The World Federation of Democratic Youth has heard the news of the decision of President Evo Morales and an important group of members of its party and member of the trade unions of Bolivia to start a hunger strike, against the manoeuvres that the Bolivian oligarchy is making in the Congress, which would mean the implementation of a law that would block the implementation of the Constitution and the elections that are to be held near the end of this year.

The deep transformations that the Government of Evo Morales has achieved, which allowed the country to be free of illiteracy, to provide medical care for the poorest and has had excellent results in the economy, has always had the opposition of the imperialist oligarchy of Bolivia who keeps not accepting what the people has decided to change for ever.

WFDY expresses its full support the President Evo Morales, and to the youth and people of Bolivia, that are struggling to build a better future, and calls upon all its member and friend organizations as well as to all the young people of the world to express the support to the process of changes that has been occurring in Bolivia and to condemn all actions of the Bolivian oligarchy, which is the same oligarchy of all the world, capitalist and imperialist.


** Solidarity towards the Colombia youth
April 7

The World Federation of Democratic Youth, is following with much attention the serious situation of the human rights lived in Colombia and particularly the continuous attacks against the youth and students leaders, which are chased, murdered and force do leave the country, without any guarantee by the fascist government of Colombia.

The Government of Alvaro Uribe has continued it policies of hostilities against the young people in the last weeks, with the support of the paramilitary groups (who are said not exist anymore), murdering four students and wounding other three, distributing propaganda to create fear among the population.

WFDY, condemns these actions that have been held against the Colombian young people and students, by the fascist government of Alvaro Uribe Velez, and calls upon all its member and friend organizations as well as all the progressive youth of the world to express its condemnation of the colombian government and the support to the demand of the youth organizations of Colombia so that justice is made and that the material and intelectual responsible for everything that happened are investigated and punished.

The YCL-LJC Canada is the Canadian member of the World Federation of Democratic Youth

Students should not pay for this crisis

Statement by YCL Ontario
April 6, 2009

The elimination of the Women’s Studies programme by the University of Guelph’s senate is a lightning flash, warning students about a sharpening struggle on campuses. We’re heading into the worst economic crisis our generation has seen. Already the rumbling thunder of opposition has been heard as Guelph students flooded the senate chambers. Solidarity rallies were organized on several campuses across the country.

This is a deliberate, ideologically-motivated attack on small programs as well as women’s and student’s rights. It will save the University less than 0.17 percent of its deficit!

At the same time, the University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Sciences has swept in ‘flat fees’ requiring incoming students to pay a set, five-course fee rather than per-course. This will restrict access to education for part-time students who are working and going to school. Does the university think our wages have suddenly increased? Just weeks ago, mass outcry stopped Premier McGuinty from halting an increase in minimum wage (and even with the increase, full time workers are at least $3,000 below the poverty line).

These decisions can be reversed by the pressure of students, faculty and staff together with labour and other peoples’ movements. Everyone should know that the Guelph mobilization did prevent the elimination of Organic Agriculture, a program dedicated to solving desperate environmental problems in a framework free of the usual corporate-financed research on campus.

Behind closed doors Guelph’s administrators might think they can get away with an attack on feminism. But this fight is not over. Half the world is women, women students are the growing majority on campuses, and Women’s Studies is perhaps the only academic forum on campus dedicated to the issues of sexism, racism, homophobia and patriarchy. These days, Women’s Studies is being introduced into High School curricula. Having Women’s Studies is in everyone’s interest.

The funding crunch and broader economic crisis facing post-secondary institutions across Ontario was not caused by students or workers. We shouldn’t have to pay for it. In fact, at this time it is all the more necessary to increase access to education by reducing then eliminating tuition fees, creating jobs by hiring more faculty – increasing the number of people of colour and women faculty – expanding accessible childcare on campus, and expanding democratic student participation in the university.

McGuinty’s latest budget gives Ontario’s corporations one of the lowest tax rates in North America. It provides students, however, with only $780 million in capital funding. It continues the dangerous trend away from public funding and towards reliance on tuition fees, illegal ancillary fees, and endowment funds that was begun under the Mike Harris Tories. The U of T just announced it has lost $1.3 billion in endowment money because of the casino capitalist market (the manager of those funds, by the way, makes $170, 000 per semester).

All students must get organized with our allies and fight-back to make the capitalists pay for this crisis – not the youth, workers, women, Aboriginal peoples, people of colour, and the poor. Reactionary forces are already working to mislead students in this battle. Alternative campus media and CBC news recently exposed that the Conservative Party is holding Canada-wide skills training sessions, with sitting MPs present, about infiltrating and liquidating student unions, the Canadian Federation of Students, and the Ontario Public Interest Research Groups.

The Young Communist League (Ontario) expresses our full solidarity with the struggles of students to preserve their courses and make access to post-secondary education a right. The attack on Women’s Studies is part of the general attack on women, today spear-headed by the Harper Conservatives. We call upon all democratic-minded people to join with this fight. We demand emergency anti-crisis measures for students, including:

• Freezing, reducing and eliminating tuition fees

• Grants not loans

• Massive expansion of affordable housing on campus

• Quality, accessible childcare

• Free books

• Increasing student’s and worker’s representation in University administration

• Raising the minimum wage to $15

• Jobs not bombs; troops out now!

The fight-back of peoples’ movements necessary to win such measures could lead to more substantial demands, like nationalization of Canada’s energy and automotive industries, and banking. And that could open the door to a profound struggle to eliminate this sick and dangerous capitalist system of oppression and exploitation, which must ultimately be replaced by something radically better – guaranteeing people’s rights, livelihoods, and environmental sustainability – called socialism.

LET GEORGE GALLOWAY SPEAK IN CANADA!

March 25, 2009
YCL-Ljc CEC

The Harper Conservative government has again brought down its heel on freedom of speech.

Democratic Canadians have to reverse this decision. By banning British MP George Galloway, minister Jason Kenney and the Harper Conservatives are attacking the very liberties they hypocritically claim to defend in Afghanistan. Even the corporate media has condemned this (although they are really saying to Harper ‘don’t silence him, trust us to do that job’).

Since when has terrorism meant donating a fire engine, twelve ambulances, a fishing boat, trucks full of medicine, blankets, shoes and children’s toys? Who is next – the Red Cross (or Red Crescent)?

The Palestinians live under a state of siege and occupation. (Last week, Israel simply drove into the West Bank and arrested several elected Hamas parliamentarians!) This announcement comes in a period of intensifying clamp-downs against broad public discussion of Canada’s bloody imperialist foreign policy, especially the dirty, racist war in Afghanistan and the Canada’s support of the Israeli apartheid government’s occupation in Palestine.

Take the deportation of the US Iraq war resisters – this week Kimberly Rivera; or the cut backs to public funding for the Canadian Arab Federation’s immigrant community services not because of any policy violation, but a political statement by an unfunded part of the organization. High school and university communities have been under attack for Palestinian solidarity work. Immigrant workers without full documentation have been targeted through Immigration Enforcement raids, harassment outside women’s shelters, and rising deportations (and today the Minister equates the UN’s announcement of a 30% increase in refugee claims with abuse of the system! The nerve!).

In all of these heavy-handed measures Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, comes forward as the government’s un-muzzled pit bull terrier.

The Young Communist League expresses our condemnation of the Harper Conservative government and minister Kenney: reverse the decision, apologize, and drop the “Terrorist lists” which criminalize legitimate peoples movements. We stand with all democratic Canadians who are outraged by this development, and call upon the youth to join the rapidly growing vocal opposition to this attack on freedom of speech.

Mr. Harper – your attempt to silence the Canadian people will fail.

Young Communist League of Canada - Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada.
290A Danforth Ave,
Toronto ON M4K 1N6
CANADA
Office: 416-469-2446

CELEBRATE EL SALVADOR!

1. FMLN VICTORY! 
2. LEFT TRIUMPHANT IN EL SALVADOR 

1. FMLN VICTORY 

YCLers joined members of the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN) at socials and party's across Canada last night, celebrating the victory of President-Elect Mauricio Funes of the FMLN, the party of the heroic Communist and guerialla fighter Schafik Handal. Funes got 51.26 percent, against 48.74 percent from the governing Nationalist Republican Alliance candidate. The results are considered irreversible. 

A delegation of YCLers and other youth from Guelph-Kitchener is currently in El Salvador, observing the election proceedings and we will circulate a report-back from this delegation. 

This is very welcome development, marking the latest of a series of progressive shifts across the political landscape of Latin America. It is a  victory of a people that deserves to have the necessary change to fulfill their dream of liberation, and elimination of poverty and inequalities. The YCL will be sending greetings to the Youth of the Front and the FMLN on the occasion of this long, hard and historic victory! 

2. LEFT TRIUMPHANT IN EL SALVADOR ELECTION 

Morning Star (UK) 
Monday 16 March 2009 

SALVADOREAN left-winger Mauricio Funes vowed to crack down on tax-evading corporate chiefs on Monday after he won presidential elections. 

The country's election commission released figures on Sunday which showed that Mr Funes of the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN) garnered 51.27 per cent of the vote against 48.73 per cent for Rodrigo Avila of the ruling Arena party, ending two decades of right-wing rule in El Salvador. 

Jubilant, red-clad FMLN supporters poured into the streets of San Salvador on Monday, singing, clapping, blowing whistles and waving large party flags as fireworks lit up the night sky. 

Addressing the rally, Mr Funes said that "the time has come for the excluded, the opportunity has arrived for genuine democrats, for men and women who believe in social justice and solidarity." 

He vowed to boost public spending on education, health and poverty alleviation. 

And Mr Funes gave notice to big-business bosses who exploit government complacency to evade taxes, pledging to bring the full force of law to bear on them. 

The former freelance television reporter harnessed a wave of discontent with two decades of Arena party rule that have brought economic growth at the cost of growing social inequality. 

Fuel and food prices have soared, while powerful gangs extort businesses and fight for drug-dealing turf, resulting in one of Latin America's highest murder rates. 

Mr Avila, a former police chief, had warned that an FMLN victory would send El Salvador "down the communist path" and threaten the country's warm relations with the United States. 

On Sunday, he vowed to lead "a vigilant opposition that would ensure that the country does not lose its liberties." 

The FMLN was formed in 1980 as an umbrella group to unite progressive guerilla groups struggling against the US-backed military regime and its notorious death squads. 

After signing the Chapultepec Peace Accords in 1992 which ended the bloody civil war, it became a legal political party. 

In January's legislative elections, the FMLN won 42.6 per cent of the vote and 35 seats, making it the largest party in parliament, though it does not have a governing majority. 

In Washington, the Obama administration has assured Salvadoreans that it will work with Mr Funes - a marked departure from the approach of former president George W Bush who indicated that an FMLN victory would hurt ties.

Solidarity with Sudanese peoples

1. YCL IN ACTION
2. MIGUEL FIGUEROA TOUR IN BC
3. SUDAN SOLIDARITY

1. YCL IN ACTION

Six YCL Toronto members met on Wednesday 11th March to distribute and sell copies of People's Voice and Rebel Youth around the campuses of Ryerson and University of Toronto. The action was only about 45 minutes, but raised $5.60 despite this and the cold weather. It was decided that sales inside were more effective; future actions of this sort would benefit from a pre-distribution meeting in order to go over the contents of the literature being sold; and that this type of distribution activity should be taken up more regularly. (Report from Philip F, YCL Toronto)

2. MIGUEL FIGUEROA TOUR

YCLers across BC will be coming out to hear Miguel Figueroa, leader of the Communist Party, speak on his tour across the province. Miguel will be speaking about the root causes of the financial crisis, and the urgent need to change direction, create jobs and reform Employment Insurance (EI).

Among the Federal Budget's worst features is the almost complete government inaction on EI. Instead of extending coverage to all of the unemployed, and increasing benefit levels and claim periods, the budget keeps virtually all of the current miserly and exclusionary regulations firmly in place. The $2 billion for retraining jobless workers is a tiny fraction of the $54 billion stolen from the unemployed over the years through Liberal and Tory cuts. The federalminimum wage remains unchanged and the budget does nothin to protect and raise pensions or to improve social assistance. Read more:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/Pv01mr09.html#14_FIGUEROA_TOUR_TO_LAUNCH_C...

We will forward out all tour dates in a separate email.

2. SOLIDARITY WITH SUDAN

With the kidnapping of a Canadian nurse in Sudan, and the news that an "International court has issued an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan," the fact that Canada has been quietly increasing its military role in Sudan with Operation Safarri and Operation Saturn, has come into public scrutiny. There has also been a supposed solidarity campaign with Darfur, incorporating many honest and good activists but being led by anti-Palestinian and pro-Zionist students who have advocated for an "Afghanistan-style military intervention" into Sudan.

Canada's Talisman Oil has significant investments in Sudan.

This comes just months after one a horrifying scandal around one of Canada's last significant 'Peacekeeping' operations in north-eastern Africa was again slipped under the carpet by the military.

In September chargers were dropped against a former Canadian soldier who was accused of helping beat, burn and suffocate to death a sixteen year-old Somali teen, Shidane Abukar Arone. (Other soldiers later posed and snapped photos with Arone's bludgeoned and limp body). The charges were officially dropped because the soldier had a permanent brain injury -- inflicted days after the crime when he attempted to hang himself.

We re-print here the statement of the World Federation of Democratic Youth on Sudan.

WFDY ON SUDAN

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant against the Sudanese President for conviction in mass murder in Darfur region. As other international organizations manipulated by the imperialist powers, WFDY considers the ICC decision a political decision and another form of intervention in the internal issues of independent countries to cause more instability and to divide them in order to conquer them.

WFDY asserts its condemnation of those provocative decisions that will only lead to more wars and instabilities in the region.

WFDY also stresses the fact that it supports the democratic rights of the Sudanese people, the rights of the inhabitants in Darfur in a stable and better life and the rights of the residents of Southern Sudan in stability and progress. WFDY also supports the democratic forces struggling for the rights of the Sudanese people in democracy and social transformation.

However, all forms of international intervention in internal issues of sovereign countries like Sudan will only lead to more problems and tensions. Those policies form the legal cover for the domination and hegemony of USA and its imperialist allies over the world resources and sources of energy. The problems in Darfur and Sudan only rose after the discovery of oil, gas and uranium in its lands; therefore we understand those interventions as preliminaries for more exploitation of the resources of this country by the imperialist powers lead by USA.

WFDY expresses its solidarity with the Sudanese people against imperialist plans in their country, and with their right in independent progressive state that controls its resources for the well being of its people.

Viva International Women's Day

1. YCL IN ACTION
2. IWD 2009
3. STUDENTS AGAINST WAR


1. YCL IN ACTION

YCLers across the country are marching and participating in
International Women's Day this weekend. March 8th will mark the 93rd
anniversary of IWD. Read down for more...

Save the date! YCLers across Souther Ontario and elsewhere are being
urged to attend Student Assembly Against War and Racism, A
pan-Canadian student conference to end the war in Afghanistan, Friday,
March 20 to Sunday, March 22, 2009. The CFS has a travel budget for
this event, contact the YCL CEC at johan@ycl-ljc.ca or for more info
read down to item three...

LJCers in Quebec will be joining members of the PCQ next week in a
joint educational talk about the National Question in Quebec and the
current economic situation. They are working to bring in new contacts
and interested young people.

There have been several new contacts for the YCL across the East Coast
recently. Next week, YCLers in different locations in Nova Scotia will
be holding a conference call next week planning to discuss the next
steps with organizing, including the posibility of another East-Coast
YCL school.


2. IWD 2009

The YCL endorses the following statement of the Communist Party and
urges all members to read it!

IWD 2009: A Statement

from the Communist Party of Canada

“The Communist Party of Canada stands in solidarity with all those who
struggle for peace, equality, democracy and social progress. A better
world is both possible and necessary – the world of socialism, the
only system which can guarantee full equality and a future for
humanity!”

March 8: a day to honour women’s struggles

For 98 years, March 8 has been a day to honour women’s struggles, take
stock of hard-won gains, and put forward demands to promote full
equality. Communists have played a leading role since the inception of
International Women’s Day, which was unanimously adopted by a
Socialist International women’s conference in Copenhagen in 1910 and
observed for the first time in 1911. The Communist Party of Canada is
part of this historic tradition. We salute women who are struggling
throughout the world for peace, justice and equality, whose full
participation is essential for the success of all working class and
democratic movements.

This year on IWD, the United Nations has chosen the slogan “Women and
Men United to End Violence Against Women and Girls.” Violence takes
many forms, from family abuse to rape to human trafficking to war. To
truly address these issues requires a major commitment to both legal
remedies and social development.

In Canada, we must reverse the under-funding of emergency shelters and
support services for victims of family violence. We must address the
shameful economic and social conditions of Aboriginal women and girls,
who have been particularly vulnerable to racism and inequality –
hundreds have been murdered or disappeared. Internationally, trillions
of dollars are wasted on war instead of development efforts to provide
women and girls with education and economic opportunities, clean
water, adequate health care, and more human rights protection,
including personal security, choice in marriage, and reproductive
choice. Changing material conditions goes hand in hand with changing
social attitudes.

Today it is more obvious than ever that war is the most terrible crime
against humanity. In many countries, from the Middle East to
Afghanistan to Congo to Colombia, wars increasingly target civilian
populations. Women and children are casualties of bombardment from the
air and atrocities on the ground, and also the most frequent victims
of public health catastrophes arising from the destruction of power
plants, water supply systems and hospitals.
The Communist Party expresses our full solidarity for the women who
are involved in the struggle for survival under difficult conditions
and for peaceful resolution of conflicts. Particularly, we single out
the women of Gaza, subject to inhuman attack following a long period
of economic blockade. We call on all governments to embargo arms to
the state of Israel until it abandons its policy of territorial
expansion, violence and economic strangulation of Palestinian
communities.

International Women’s Day 2009 takes place during the most serious
global economic crisis in decades. Fifty million layoffs are expected
this year, destroying the livelihood of countless families around the
world, and threatening much of the social infrastructure which has
improved women’s lives.

In response to the crisis, the corporations, and the governments which
serve them, are increasing economic disparity by cutting social
programs and giving unconditional bailouts to wealthy shareholders and
CEOs. Rather than pay for the crisis which their system created, the
capitalists want to roll back workers’ gains and set the stage for
ever-deepening exploitation.

Here in Canada, unemployment is rising quickly, and the corporations
are pushing for wage cuts. The demand for a country-wide child care
system, a key issue in election after election, has again been
abandoned by the minority Harper government. Incredibly, pay equity is
actually under attack, with plans to reduce the opportunity for
complaints through the courts. The Tories have ignored calls to
improve the Employment Insurance system paid for by all workers. As
the majority of part-time and minimum wage workers, women are
disproportionately under-protected; only three women out of ten in the
workforce are eligible to collect EI. Even those who do meet the
requirements can’t survive on benefit rates set at 55% of their low
previous earnings.
Needed: a working class response to the crisis

The response to the economic crisis by working people, women and men,
must be a massive campaign to build a People’s Coalition for a genuine
alternative to corporate greed. Such a campaign, led by the labour
movement and its allies, should fight to restructure the economy, to
provide sustainable jobs and to improve social services such as
health, education and universal child care, to provide increased
opportunities for women in the work force. To protect jobless workers
and their families, EI payments must be set at 90% of previous
earnings for the full duration of unemployment. Evictions and utility
cutoffs against all families affected by unemployment must be banned.

But as long as capitalism continues, it will continue to generate
poverty, inequality, exploitation, environmental degradation and war.
These are not accidental side-effects, they are necessary ingredients
of a system designed to maximize profit in private hands. Under
capitalism, the women of the world face tremendous struggles to win
new progress, or to hold on to gains already won. Every step forward
will be threatened by the next economic downturn, and the danger of
war is never absent.

Only socialism, based on democratic, collective ownership and working
class power, can permit the enormous creative and productive potential
of the world’s workers to be used constructively for human needs. On
IWD 2009, the Communist Party of Canada stands in solidarity with all
those who struggle for peace, equality, democracy and social progress.
A better world is both possible and necessary - the world of
socialism, the only system which can guarantee full equality and a
future for humanity!


3. STUDENTS AGAINST WAR

Student Assembly Against War and Racism
A pan-Canadian student conference to end the war in Afghanistan

Friday, March 20 to Sunday, March 22, 2009
Ryerson Student Centre, 55 Gould Street
Ryerson University
Toronto ON

The Student Assembly Against War and Racism is a pan-Canadian student
conference to end the war in Afghanistan. We invite all students and
youth from across Canada and Quebec to join us in building a mass
student movement against war and racism, and in calling for Canadian
troops to come home from Afghanistan.

The assembly will focus on Canada's war in Afghanistan, where over
2,600 Canadian troops are currently deployed. Thousands more have been
cycled through in the largest Canadian combat operation since the
Korean War. The assembly will also address a broad range of topics
including racism, Islamophobia, civil liberties, counter-recruitment,
the militarization of campus, global solidarity, and more.

The assembly will feature a series of workshops that discuss anti-war
issues and build organizing skills. It will also feature high-profile
guest speakers, two evening panels, two anti-war socials, open
organizing space, and a closing strategizing plenary.

We hope you can be a part of it!

You can register online at http://www.unitedagainstwar.ca. Registration is FREE.

Organized by
Canadian Federation of Students - Ontario: www.cfsontario.ca
Canadian Peace Alliance: www.acp-cpa.ca

Kick-ass Ontario YCL School

1. YCL IN ACTION
2. SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE
3. REBEL YOUTH - DELAY
4. ALERT: IWD
5. DEMONSTRATE FOR PEACE

1. YCL IN ACTION: KICK-ASS ONTARIO YCL SCHOOL

About twenty students and young workers, employed and unemployed, came to Hamilton's Solidarity house from Oshawa, Toronto, Guelph, Kitchener, Burlington, Hamilton, and Niagara to spent a day and a half reading, discussing and debating ideas about youth and revolutionary struggle today.

Highlights:

- Sessions on: the financial crisis, dialectics, revolution, and racism/sexism/homophobia
- Good debates and discussions about politics and the youth movement
- Great food, good movies!
- at the end of the school, the YCL had six new members!

An article will appear in the next issue of PV. Read more and see photos:

http://ycl-ljc-activists.googlegroups.com/web/YCL%20School%20a%20succ...

2. WFDY SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE

In the coming week, between February 22 and March 1, the World Federation of Democratic Youth and several of its member organizations will once again be visiting Palestine. At the same time WFDY will visit Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, with the purpose of meeting the Palestinian people that live in Refugee Camps. The visit aims to contact with the suffering youth of the occupied lands of Palestine, in Ramallah, Jenin and Nablus, expressing the anti-imperialist youth’s solidarity towards the brave struggle that the Palestinian youth faces everyday, not only in the sieged, bombed and destroyed Gaza, but all over the Palestinian territories.

Read more WFDY news:
http://www.wfdy.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/wfdy-news-jan_feb-2009...

3. REBEL YOUTH – DELAY

Because of a number of politically important events happening at the same time with the YCL (and some delay in getting final edits from writers) RY magazine publication has been delayed. Our original goal was December-January. We are currently looking at late Feburary-March as we plan to get the magazine out of the printers within the next two weeks. Thank you again to all the writers who have contributed to the magazine. The challenge is on to start your distribution motors locally and get ready for the issues arriving in the mail by mid-March.

4. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

International Women’s Day is coming up soon! The YCL will be sending greetings of solidarity to the women’s movement and all who resist exploitation, oppression, violence and war. This will be a significant date of political importance.

Now is the time to google “International Women’s Day + [your community]” and see what actions you and your YCL club can join!

For almost a century, IWD has been a day to unite and mobilize for the right to vote, reproductive choice, labour rights, protections against violence, improved social programs, and opposition to homophobia, racism and xenophobia. But today, decades of hard-won gains are under
fire from profit-hungry corporations, reactionary fundamentalist groups, and right-wing governments. The defense of women's equality rights is an essential part of the struggle to stop the Harper Tory/corporate attack on working people and to defeat the Harper government at the polls.

5. APRIL 4: DEMONSTRATE FOR PEACE!

Canada and NATO out of Afghanistan

Worldwide demonstrations during the NATO Summit

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will mark its 60th anniversary on April 4 and 5, 2009. At the same time, demonstrations will take place all over the world calling for an end to NATO’s war in Afghanistan. The Canadian Peace Alliance and the Collectif Échec à la
guerre are calling for pan-Canadian demonstrations on April 4 to demand an end to the NATO-led occupation that has already killed thousands of Afghan civilians and threatens to bring war to the entire region.

Read More: http://www.acp-cpa.ca/en/April42009.html

A time of sharpening struggles

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. YCL IN ACTION
2. NEW WFDY SITE
3. CC OF CP: A TIME OF SHARP STRUGGLES

1. YCL IN ACTION

YCLers in Ontario are planning a school in Hamilton this Friday-Saturday, Jan. 20-21 covering topics including an introduction to Marxism, youth struggles and the Financial Crisis. For more information, email ycl.onta...@gmail.com

YCLers in Winnipeg recently interviewed student activists about the fight for lower tuition fees in Manitoba. Read their story here:

http://rebelyouth-magazine.blogspot.com/2009/02/student-action-federa...

Several YCL members of the Trail BC club are also members of a Death Metal Band (!!) called Domination Obliteration. They have been fundraising for the YCL by selling Rebel Youth and donating $1 of every CD sold to the YCL! Even if you don't like death metal, support them by joining there facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Domination-Obliteration/23381027342?ref=mf

2. NEW WFDY SITE

The World Federation of Democratic Youth, of which the YCL-LJC is a member, has released a new and flashy site, includes statements, a map of all member organizations, and the October, November, and December WFDY newsletters featuring short updates from revolutionary, anti-imperialist youth in southern Africa, Egypt, India, China, Bolivia, Venzuela, Nepal, Greece, Jordan and Palestine. Check it out at www.WFDY.org

3. CP ON FINANCIAL CRISIS

For the first time since the financial crisis broke, the Central Committee of the Communist Party gathered in Toronto recently. A wide-ranging political report was adopted which is now available on the site our Google group. Highlights include:

(*) The coming year will be a time of sharp challenges for the working class, and tremendous new opportunities to build the Communist movement.

(*) The present downturn is not "just another cyclical crisis." "What
distinguishes the current crisis from previous [is the] the role of speculative capital."

(*) "What unites the ruling class is the desire to overcome the crisis at the expense of the working class."

(*) This is happening directly through lowering the cost (price) of labour, the principal target of which is the organized labour movement...

(*) …And indirectly, through the use of public revenues (the bulk of which come from the pockets of working people) to insulate investors from losses and prop up sagging profits.

(*) For the working class, "neither prescription is acceptable. With respect to so-called `stimulation' financed by public revenues and/or deficits, the issue is not `stimulation' as such, but rather what types of stimulation, whose interests they serve."

(*) The report was sharply critical of the tendency by some labour and social democratic leaders to yield concessions rather than to mobilize for a stronger fight-back:

(*) For example, NDP leader Jack Layton, speaking to the Toronto Board of Trade in January said "It's that courage of the Canadian people which makes our country strong... It's that kind of courage workers will need to take a pay cut so your friends at the plant can keep their job."

(*) On the contrary, said CPC Leader Miguel Figueroa, "Canadian workers need to replicate the examples set recently in Europe where millions have taken to the streets across Greece, France, Germany and elsewhere with one unifying message: `We did not create this economic crisis, and we're not going to pay for it!'"

For more, check out:

http://groups.google.ca/group/ycl-ljc-activists/files
and download "CC Report - 2009-02.pdf"

YCL Statement on Gaza

The YCL condemns the complicity of the Harper Conservative government in the current genocidal war taking place in the Gaza strip which has so far lasted 11 days and cost over 550 lives.

On January 6th, in one of the most bloody incidents of the war so far, Israeli forces shelled a U.N. school, killing over 40 Palestinian civilians who were seeking shelter inside. The Israeli military has cynically blamed Hamas for the deaths, claiming that militants were hiding in the school, using the civilians as human shields.

On Wednesday, January 7th, Junior Foreign Minister Peter Kent was quoted stating "Hamas bears a terrible responsibility for this and for the wider deepening humanitarian tragedy." This view blames the victim while hailing the victimizer. Moreover, the Israeli military admitted today that no ordinance came from that school.

But it is not the Palestinian people, Hamas or otherwise, who are responsible for this war. It was Israel that broke the truce with Hamas. This is a war aimed at smashing the resistance of the Palestinian people to the Israeli apartheid state. It is part and parcel of the intensified campaign against the Palestinian people over the past few years and over the broader "war on terror" which is really aimed at securing the Middle East and its resources for
exploitation by imperialist powers.

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, has echoed the voices of progressives worldwide, and said Gaza is a essentially a concentration camp.

Like those governments which stood with the racist South African regime before the victory of the national liberation movement in that country, Stephen Harper and his government are complicit with a racist, apartheid regime. And now, as the Harper government rallies around Israel's murderous war, it has become complicit in genocide.

The YCL endorses's CUPE Ontario's call for a boycott of all Israeli professors visiting Canadian campuses who do not condem this war. We stand with all youth and students of Canada mobilizing across the country and urge everyone to join these actions denouncing the war, and calling upon Israel to immediately stop the war and end the
occupation. We demand that the Harper government reverse their position in support of the war.

The Canadian people are right to draw the connection between the Harper government's attack on working people and equity seeking groups here at home and their support for the attacks of the reactionary Israeli government against the sovereign state of Palestine. These domestic and foreign policies favour the wealthy elite and attack the

Canadian young and students and the working class. 

The ultra-right Harper Tories must go!