www.socialist.ca $2 no. 535 October 2011 THEIR CRISIS OUR RESISTANCE WE WON’T BAIL OUT THE 1 % 10 YEARS OF THE ‘WAR ON TERROR’ Pages 6 & 7

Occupy everything Page 12 Peter Hogarth on the Occupy Wall Street movement and its spread around the globe

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Page 10 Valerie Lannon on the 15-year anniversary Profits and Pollution Page 4 John Bell on BP’s dirty plans for the Gulf by PAM FRACHE The Greek and European banks, budget deficit is coming in at 8.5 minimum wage and further water Yemenis fight for fearful that Greece may not be able per cent (instead of the targeted down labour law. AFTER THREE years of global to repay its debt, negotiated a sec- 7.6 per cent), and that its debt is Part of the reason that Greece democracy economic crisis there is no end ond €109-billion bailout package expected to grow to more than 172 has been unable to make its debt in sight, and the crisis in the in July and private creditors agreed per cent of GDP. reduction target is the magnificent Page 3 Eurozone threatens to trigger to a notional debt write-off of 21 Markets went into a tailspin. resistance of Greek workers. Since Yusur Al-Bahrani another recession. The only per cent. According to Geoffrey T. The EU postponed the release of October 2009, there have been 17 on repression and response by governments across Smith of the Wall Street Journal, the €8 billion-installment from general strikes and countless other resistance in Yemen the political spectrum—from “The deal involved asking private early October to mid-October smaller strikes, demonstrations military rule in Egypt, to the creditors for partial debt forgive- and then again to mid-November. and occupations, involving nurses, social democratic government in ness, something no developed During this time, Greece is to teachers, taxi drivers, transit Libya: Troops out Greece, to the Democrats in the country has done since World War prove its readiness to receive the workers, doctors, airline staff and US—is to impose more austerity II. But at the same time, they had funds by bleeding its workers. pilots, and more. This resistance now! measures. But from Cairo to to dress it up in such a way as to This explains the viciousness has grown, despite the reluctance Page 5 Athens to Wall Street, more and make it look like Greece wasn’t of the current round of austerity of the national trade union federa- more people are starting to defaulting on its debts.” Once being imposed by the Papandreou tions to call for all-out mobiliza- Paul Stevenson on the question and challenge the agreed, EU member countries each government. In addition to the tions against the social democratic myth of “humanitarian profit-driven system of need to approve the plan in order tens of thousands of public sector government. intervention” capitalism. for it to be fully implemented. workers already laid off, as well The Troika’s criticism of Greece On October 5, tens of That’s why many were relieved as the cuts in wages and pen- for the slow pace of privatiza- thousands of Greek workers when the German parliament ap- sions—as much as 20 per cent (the tion is a reflection of the impact took to the streets as part of proved the second bailout package equivalent of losing more than two workers’ resistance has had in ongoing resistance to the austerity at the end of September. months’ pay)—the Socialist gov- Greece. This resistance helped agenda—imposed by the social In early October, Greece was to ernment has said it intends to sack force European banks to take the democratic government of George receive an €8 billion-installment. an additional 30,000 public sector 21 per cent “haircut” and more Papandreou—which has plunged But the game suddenly shifted workers by the end of December. and more workers are concluding the country into recession. Most over the weekend of October 1 At the same time, the so-called that since the banks lent the money of Greece was at a standstill and when Greece announced that its “Troika” (the European Union, (and made handsome profits), they the two main union federations are economy actually shrank by 2.5 the European Central Bank and should be the ones to pay the price. CPMA No. 58554253-99 calling for another general strike per cent (when it was forecast the International Monetary Fund) >>>page 4 ISSN No. 0836-7094 on October 19. to grow by 0.6 per cent), that its has advised Greece to reduce the ‘Blame-the- BC jobs plan fails teacher” agenda workers and threatens environment education by BRADLEY HUGHES by TARA EHRCKE BC PREMIER Christy Clark’s new jobs plan creates very few jobs, and THE BC Public Schools most of the ones that it Employers’ Association does create will destroy (BCPSEA) is threatening the environment and other to lock out the province’s jobs. teachers, in response Premier Clark announced to job action designed the “ Starts Here: to push contract the BC Jobs Plan” in late negotiations forward. September. She bragged The BCPSEA Board con- about how little government sists of both elected trustee money was being spent on representatives as well as jobs creation in the plan. appointed government rep- The plan includes money resentatives. They are under to expand the port in Prince the direction of PSEC–the Rupert to accommodate Public Sector Employers’ increased shipments of coal Council, who are clearly and other goods, money an arm of government and to help open new mines, who dictate the terms of financial assistance to build bargaining. a liquefied natural gas plant, When the Liberals and plans to lure more first came to power, they A sign on the Aamjiwnaang Reserve international students to the enacted special legislation PHOTO: TOBAN BLACK province to pay discrimina- that mandated that teachers tory inflated tuition fees, be an essential service. In and a tax cut for those who 2002 this government unilat- Feds ignore suicide epidemic in First Nations invest in small businesses. erally legislated teachers Although it has fallen back to work and imposed a slightly recently, according three-year contract that was communities to Statistics Canada the not negotiated. In 2005 they by AMELIA MURPHY-BEAUDOIN unemployment rate in BC again legislated teachers the Pikangikum First Nation The soaring suicide rate in trade and suicide. remains above 6 per cent, back to work but teachers THE WILLFUL ignorance of over just two years. First Nations communities Initiatives to protect com- much higher than the 4.6 stayed out regardless. Canadian governments at The report recommends is a result of the appalling munities and prevent these per cent rate from 2008 just This government has been all levels is perpetuating improvements in health care, social and physical condi- tragic outcomes are under- before the last recession. intent on stopping any job the cycle of abuse that education and social services; tions in which First Nations funded and largely ignored. This jobs plan does action by teachers and in- First Nations people have like the recommendations of people live: overcrowded, It is vital that we understand nothing to deal with climate stead are using a legislative been grappling with since previous well-meaning re- sometimes contaminated the spiraling rate of suicides change and, by promoting hammer to force an end to residential schools. ports, these will likely not environments, usually with- in First Nations commun- coal and natural gas indus- disputes. The result has been Government officials who be implemented for lack of out adequate access to basic ities as a tragic and unneces- tries, it will also contribute low morale and frustration. have knowingly ignored the funding. services like sewage systems sary symptom of the white to climate change. That The BC Teachers’ myriad of issues affecting According to Health and running water, lower hegemonic and racist system change will destroy more Federation is conducting First Nations communities Canada, suicide rates are standards of education and in which we live. jobs than this plan creates. a phase one job action. are complicit in the epidemic five to seven times higher housing, high levels of pov- Socialists can play a role in A realistic jobs plan would Teachers are not attending of suicides affecting these for First Nations youth than erty and unemployment. building and expanding soli- raise BC’s low corporate evening events or monthly communities. for non-Aboriginal youth. All of this fosters a sense darity between Aboriginal income taxes and use that staff meetings. They are Early in September, Suicide rates among Inuit of hopelessness and results and non-Aboriginal people money to create green jobs. not attending the once Ontario’s Chief Coroner youth are among the highest in high rates of alcoholism, to force the government and yearly “meet-the-teacher” issued a report on the death in the world, at 11 times the drug addiction, domestic vio- its agents to take decisive ac- or “formal” parent-teacher by suicide of 16 youth in national average. lence, involvement in the sex tion and to stop the tragedies. >>> page 12 ‘Tories’ interviews. But teachers are continu- 4 per cent loss to the Liberals ing to meet with each other Yet another scandal for Charest (from 42 to 38 per cent). and to have department Another reflection of meetings without adminis- untapped anger is the voter tration. They are continuing by JESSICA SQUIRES turnout: for the first time in to contact parents and com- The report outlines Most recently, a third of her are limits to what it can do. Ontario’s history, a majority municate regularly. They are ELECTION FUNDING, corruption on a previously caucus voted against the And there is not likely to of eligible voters refused continuing extra curricular construction contracts, unimagined scale, with party line when the Quebec be an election in Quebec to vote, despite highly activities. They are teaching and shale gas; the illegal ties to organized crime arena bill was voted on. before next year. But to promoted changes to make it full time. Many teachers retroactive awarding of a reaching as far as political (The bill still passed by a their immense credit, Khadir as easy as possible to vote. A are using the few freed up contract in Quebec City party financing. Companies majority.) and party president and declining voter turnout was hours to do additional lesson in exchange for a hockey rigged bidding processes for The other corporate party co-spokesperson Françoise seen in other elections across preparation. Many are using team: Quebec Liberal public contracts and charged in Quebec—the Action David joined union-led the country—from Manitoba the time for additional one- premier Jean Charest has for work not performed. Democratique—is calling protests on September 24 in to PEI—and is part of a on-one support for students been plagued by scandals, Organized crime used the for a public inquiry, but not Quebec City and Montreal, global trend, as the system’s with particular learning seemingly since coming entire set-up to launder for Charest’s resignation. calling for an inquiry. In mechanism’s for reform needs. Many are saying to office. And now, fresh money. That’s because they don’t Montreal, over 2,000 people fail to deliver. This is not a that teaching and learning allegations are prompting The Quebec opposition want an election. protested at Charest’s office sign of apathy but of anger haven’t been better in years. renewed calls for his parties have been weak at downtown. with the system, coinciding Teachers are fighting resignation. best in calling the Liberals Québec solidaire It will be left to social with the electric response back against the BCPSEA The report of the to task. The PQ’s Pauline The only political party in movements to continue to to the Occupy Wall Street agenda to bring in US- Duchesneau investigation— Marois can’t hold a press Quebec willing to challenge pressure the government movement—a renewal of the style education “reform.” a government task force— conference without facing the Liberals is Québec for a full public inquiry— anti-capitalist movement. Proposals include the virtual was leaked to the media in awkward questions about solidaire. With only one and for Charest to resign McGuinty’s “major elimination of seniority, the September. her disintegrating caucus. MNA, Amir Khadir, there immediately. minority” was based on removal of any due process only 1.58 million votes, requirements for teacher out of 8.7 million eligible evaluations, the ability to People with disabilities face cuts, fight back voters in a province of 13 force a teacher to move to million people. He and the another job merely with Tories have no mandate for one month’s notice, and the by MELISSA GRAHAM insult and attack almost as difficult for people with two situations involving austerity, and there are seven ability to fire a teacher after a matter of routine, while disabilities to access it. police interaction with more NDP MPPs who have a single evaluation. It’s not a question a collective denial among In the Ontario provincial people with disabilities. In the potential to provide an The US “blame-the- whether austerity will police, government and election, it was not only July, police used handcuffs opposition—if they unite teacher” reform agenda is affect Canadians with other public bodies means social assistance programs, to restrain a nine-year-old with the growing movements political. It is about com- disabilities, but a question little is done to challenge the but also accessibility legisla- disabled boy who they say outside social democracy modifying and privatizing of when. situation.” tion that came under threat. “became uncontrollable” at fighting for a real alternative. education. It is a total rejec- In Scotland, people with During their campaign the a daycare centre. Around tion of the notion of equity. disabilities are once again Canada Tories refused to commit to the same time, a man with a Instead of quality, equal taking to the streets this The situation in Canada protect existing legislation, disability was killed during Socialist Worker access, and equal opportuni- month to fight back against is similar. With recent or effectively enforce it. interactions with e-mail: [email protected] ty, it promotes competition, government proposals that provincial elections in Municipal politicians police. web: www.socialist.ca consumer driven models and would see the Disability Manitoba and Ontario, there are also unafraid to cut on All of this points to a letters: [email protected] private service delivery. Living Allowance cut by is a heightened awareness the backs of people with clear message that politi- reviews: [email protected] The end result? Very good 20 per cent, pushing those that healthcare, housing and disabilities. In Toronto, Rob cians and those who enforce listings: [email protected] phone: 416.972.6391 schools that are hyper- people into increasing disability benefits in those Ford wants to put accessible the laws do not consider competitive for the rich. poverty. provinces might be headed transit and social housing on people with disabilities a All correspondence to: Pretty awful schools for the Hate crimes are also on for the chopping block as his cuts agenda. priority. Socialist Worker poor. Struggling schools for the rise. Some 47 per cent the recession drags on. Canadians too have We have Canada’s first P.O. Box 339, Station E everyone in between. Is this of people with disabilities Consider the case of faced high profile disability woman with a disability in Toronto, ON M6H 4E3 Published every four weeks in where we want to go? say attitudes towards them Ontario’s Special Diet hate crimes in the past few the Official Opposition, but Toronto by the International Socialists. If you would like to show have worsened over the last benefit. When people started months. In August, a man people with disabilities are Printed in Hamilton at a union shop; support, please contact your year. A recent Equality and using the benefit regularly who used a wheelchair still feeling powerless. member of the Canadian Magazine Pub- lisher’s Association / Canadian Publica- local school trustees and Human Rights Commission to bring their income to a died four days after being Perhaps it’s time to take tions Mail Agreement No. 58554253-99, let them know we need a report concluded that slightly less impoverished viciously assaulted in his a hint from Scotland, and Post Office Department, / ISSN solution, not to take teachers “people with disabilities in level, McGuinty cut it Winnipeg apartment. fight austerity before it has 0836-7094 / Return postage guaranteed out of the classroom. the UK face harassment, back, making it much more Toronto has experienced already won. 2 Socialist Worker October 2011 Yemenis fight INTERNATIONAL for democracy by YUSUR AL-BAHRANI

Yemeni security forces have used snipers and rocket-propelled grenades against protesters de- manding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Hundreds have been killed and injured. Saleh returned to Yemen on September 23 after spend- ing three months in Saudi Arabia, where he received medical treatment after a blast that hit his palace mosque. At a meeting in on September 23, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stated that “they affirm their commitment to help their brothers in Yemen to reach an agreement for the immediate implementa- tion of the Gulf Initiative.” The initiative would imply transfer of power from Saleh to the Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. This would make sure that Yemen would not be under the control of the opposition, if Saleh resigns. Any neighboring dem- Statehood bid exposes backers of ocracy would threaten the dictatorships of the Gulf, especially Saudi Arabia. apartheid Initiatives by Gulf monarch- ies have no value in the eyes by CHRIS BRUNO posed: France, the UK and the US. must reach agreement on the issues ently, promising that if Palestine’s of Yemeni protesters. GCC China and Russia recognize the that divide them.” statehood bid goes through, “that countries, including Saudi MAHMOUD ABBAS, Chairman state of Palestine. Since these na- Britain and Canada echo this would bring us to an altogether new Arabia, Bahrain and United of the Palestinian Authority tions have veto power, it is their vote sentiment. “We will get a Palestinian situation, and this would have re- Arab Emirates, have partici- (PA), submitted his application which truly matters. state alongside an Israeli state by the percussions, tough repercussions.” pated in killing and injuring for the recognition of the State Last year in his annual speech at Palestinians and the Israelis sitting If Palestine does what the US hundreds of pro-democracy of Palestine to the UN on the UN, US President Obama stated, down and talking to each other,” pro- and UK recommend—just wait and activists in Bahrain, while September 23. Three days later, “True security for the Jewish state claimed British Prime Minster David discuss—there will be no progress. detaining thousands. There the Security Council began a requires an independent Palestine Cameron. Palestine as it exists today without are fears that Saudi troops process of deliberation which —one that allows the Palestinian said earlier this state recognition is at a disadvantage would enter Yemen as they may last weeks or months until a people to live with dignity and op- month that, “we view this unilateral when negotiating with . did in 2009 when Saudi decision is made. portunity.” This year he is arguing action on behalf of the Palestinian But ultimately peace cannot warplanes hit Yemeni rebels Nine out of the fifteen members of for precisely the opposite: “Peace Authority to be not helpful.” thrive under partition defined by an leaving hundreds of deaths the Security Council must approve will not come through statements While the UK, US and Canada are antagonistic border. We must have and causalities in many Palestine’s bid in order for the coun- and resolutions at the UN,” he said, simultaneously asking for peace and a unified Palestine; we must have villages. try to win a seat. Palestine does have two days before Abbas applied for arguing against statehood, Israel’s a single-state solution. This will be Saleh has made promises these nine votes. However, three of recognition. “Ultimately, it is Israelis Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman possible when the Palestinian people to step down, but thou- the five permanent members are op- and Palestinians – not us — who voices his opposition more belliger- are treated as equals. sands of protestors are unconvinced and continue demonstrating in several Yemeni cities, demanding the resignation and the trial of Turkey postures against Israel the “murderer.” Turkey cracks down by AVI HALIGUA with Israel and announced a halt relations with Israel were reduced politics, has gained huge popularity on Kurds, socialists SINCE THE release of the UN to military agreements. The UN to the level of second secretar- around the . He has Investigation Commission report report on the incident stated that the ies. Foreign Minister Davutoğlu visited Egypt, Tunisia and Libya to by AVI HALIGUA on the Israeli raid on the Turkish Israeli commandos “used excessive declared that sanctions were going salute the Arab Spring. ship Mavi Marmara, Turkey has force.” However, the report also to be applied to Israel until the In these countries, he was Turkey is returning to taken a strong stand against claimed that the Israeli commandos country fulfilled Turkey’s demands, welcomed as a popular leader and armed confrontation with Israel. encountered violence and used including an apology to Turkey, has spoken to huge crowds. After its Kurdish minority. The Mavi Marmara was part of force for self-protection, therefore compensation payments, and lifting his visits in region, his last stop was This new policy comes a flotilla of six vessels that was criticizing both governments. The the embargo on Gaza. Davutoğlu’s in the United States to meet with after “secret peace talks,” and attacked by the Israeli military in report also supports Israel’s “right” sanctions include “taking all President Barack Obama. now the Turkish government international waters on May 31, to blockade Gaza. The publication measures considered necessary for Turkey is using its opposition to is slowly arresting as many 2010. The ships were carrying of the report was delayed in hopes freedom of navigation as the coun- Israel, and the dislike of America in Kurdish politicians and activ- humanitarian aid and were about of reaching a compromise between try with the longest shore line on the region, to improve its influence ists as it can. to break through the blockade on Turkey and Israel. the Eastern Mediterranean coast.” in northern Africa and the Middle The pro-Kurdish Peace Gaza. The Israeli military killed Foreign Minister of Turkey, This crisis with Israel is one of East. However, no one should be and Democracy Party (BDP) nine people in the course of the Ahmet Davutoğlu, expressed many factors that is empowering fooled that Turkey’s intentions won 35 seats in the recent raid. the government’s discontent. He the Turkish government around towards popular uprisings are any election. Among the arrested Turkey immediately reduced announced the withdrawal of the the region. Prime Minister Tayyip different from the other NATO members of BDP are elected the level of diplomatic relations ambassador and that diplomatic Erdogan, as the face of this new powers. mayors, district executives and many others. Thousands of people have been arrested in the last two years as a part of this campaign. At the same Egyptian regime stokes sectarian violence time, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan in Kurdish (PKK), by JESSE MCLAREN joined students on a sit-in for lower command or coordinating body, others with armoured vehicles, has started a new series of tuition fees and democracy on is the purging of the company leaving more than 20 dead and 300 attacks against the Turkish AS STRIKE waves by campus. management from corrupt, regime- injured. Egyptian state television military. Tens of people independent trade unions Many of the strike waves are affiliated figures. The strikers are claimed Christians were armed have died this month and the fuse economic and political being organized by newly formed even raising questions about global and attacking soldiers, and called government is responding demands and push the Egyptian independent trade unions, and politics, anti-imperialism and anti- on people to defend the soldiers, with a military build-up. Revolution forward, the regime is are fusing economic and political Zionism, during their industrial but cut transmission “for security Prime Minister Erdogan is using violence in an attempt to demands. According to Egyptian actions. The strike wave constitutes reasons” so the reality of the scene also talking about operations create divisions along religious socialist and journalist Hossam the only hope for the Egyptian would not be broadcast. and strikes on the adjacent lines. El-Hamalawy, “the current mass Revolution.” The regime is trying to pit ordin- Kurdish region in . In Half a million Egyptian work- strikes are political in essence, not In response, the military regime ary Egyptians against each other response, there have been ers went on strike throughout just economic. While activists are has been trying to divide the revo- to undermine the strike waves and peace demonstrations on September, including teachers, mobilizing thousands in Tahrir to lution along religious lines, pitting justify military rule. But Christians streets of big cities in Turkey. transport workers, health techni- denounce the military tribunals, Muslims against Christians. On and Muslims joined together to The police have arrested cians and sugar refinery workers. the workers in the hundreds of October 9 the regime viciously at- fight back against the regime, many at the peace demonstra- A students strike also spread across thousands are in effect breaking the tacked a peaceful march of Coptic chanting, “Muslims, Christians: tions, including socialists. campuses, including the elite anti-strike law which refers strikes Christians and Muslim allies who one hand!” This unity in Three leading members American University in Cairo— to military courts. The common de- were protesting attacks on Coptic struggle was key in bringing down of Revolutionary Socialist where striking workers demanding nominator between all the strikes, churches. The military shot people Mubarak, and is essential to keep Workers Party (DSİP) have higher pay and permanent jobs though they still lack a centralized with live ammunition and ran over pushing the revolution forward. been arrested and one is still in jail. October 2011 Socialist Worker 3 TALKING MARXISM Abbie Bakan INTERNATIONAL Constitutionally speaking: Quebec and the Supremes

The claim that “constitution fatigue” is a “problem” in Canadian politics serves to silence a key aspect of the oppression of Quebec within the federal system of capitalist rule. In a Supreme Court decision pronounced in August 1998, the highest law of the land ruled that Quebec does not have the right to unilaterally declare its independence from Canada according to the Constitution, nor does it have such a right according to international law. But even this decision did not go far enough to satisfy the cacophony of bigotry that characterized the Constitutional debates in the 1990s. The same decision ruled that if a majority of Québécois vote in a referendum to secede, Ottawa and the rest of the provinces would be obliged to negotiate the terms. The ruling followed the referendum of October of 1995, which came within a hair’s breadth of success for the sovereigntists. Before that outcome, the legality of the referendum process was not questioned. In fact, one of the main arguments used by the federal- ists during the referendum was that a “Oui” vote could only mean immediate separation without negotiation. But Quebec, apparently, only had the right to self-determination if it would not be asserted. “Plan B” The legal challenge was part of the federal government’s package of threats known as “Plan B.” It included the threat to partition Canada and maintain a system of militarized borders in the event of another referendum. Pipelines and poverty kill in “Plan A” was much less developed. It was based on the aim to win over a majority of Québécois to the benefits of by SALMAAN ABDUL HAMID KHAN ately.” Rather than acknowledge the precious farm land and pollutes nearby federalism voluntarily. dangers of transporting fossil fuels, the water reserves. But with the failure to win an unconditional Supreme ON SEPTEMBER 12 a leaking Kenyan government has pledged that Given the threats posed, it is incon- Court decision against any road to independence, many oil pipeline passing through the it will forcefully evict slum dwellers ceivable as to why any government commentators at the time thought that Plan B had backfired. densely populated Sinai slum in that live close to pipelines. would approve of the proposed 2,673 The get-tough strategy for the federalists won the legal Kenya exploded, killing more than km Keystone XL pipeline. The pipe- battle against Quebec sovereignty, after a fashion. The 100 people and leaving scores Molo Fire line would carry up to 900,000 barrels unrequested compulsion to negotiate in the event of a suc- horribly burnt. This is not the first oil spill accident of oil per day from Canada’s tar sands cessful referendum took away the government’s ideological According to Daniel Mutinda, a of its kind in Kenya: the “Molo Fire” in Alberta—one of the most destruc- ground, virtually negating the legal victory. spokesperson from the Kenyan Red in 2009 resulted in the deaths of more tive energy projects in the world—to Lucien Bouchard, at the time Premier of Quebec and Cross, an “informal school” close to than 130 and left hundreds more refineries on the Gulf Coast. leader of the pro-sovereigntist Parti Québécois, refused to the site of the explosion had been par- injured. These tragic incidents serve According to a University of recognize the entire process. ticularly badly affected. “They have all as reminders about the risks associ- Nebraska study, the Keystone XL And fair enough. been burnt,” he said. Driven by acute ated with dangerous and dirty fossil pipeline is likely to leak nearly The nine judges were appointed by the federal govern- poverty and desperation, many of the fuels and the threat they pose to the 100 times over the next 50 years. ment. And they were ruling according to a Constitution victims were caught in the fire as they surrounding population. Increasing this risk is that fact that the to which no elected government in Quebec had ever scoured the area with jerry cans, trying In Nigeria, an estimated 2,000 lives corrosive oil found in the Alberta Tar consented. True to form, the judges ruled against Quebec’s to collect as much of the leaking oil as have been lost in recent years as a Sands must be pumped under high right to self-determination. And what’s more, the ruling they could. result of pipeline related accidents. temperature and pressure, dramatically expressly denied that Quebec is an oppressed nation within In response to this tragedy, the According to the Associated Press, the weakening the pipelines and increas- the federation. Kenya Pipeline Company, a state run Shell Oil Company spilled an estimat- ing the potential for oil spills. But the entire history of Quebec belies such legalisms. corporation, has accepted no respon- ed 4.5 million gallons of oil in Nigeria Given this impending threat, not And the mere fact that the Supreme Court was even debat- sibility, and in an interview following in 2009 alone, and according to Niger only to the lives of innocent people but ing Quebec’s right to secede indicates that there is an issue the incident, a spokesperson for the Delta Campaigners, there are almost to the surrounding environment, it is of national oppression to discuss, despite the interpretation KPC demanded that those who man- “300 oil spills a year in Nigeria.” Not important that we organize against the of the judges. aged to take some of the oil before the only is the population exposed to risks Keystone XL pipeline, and prevent fu- fire erupted “should return it immedi- of oil fires but the leaking oil destroys ture “Molo Fires” and Sinai tragedies. Politics Importantly, however, the legal ruling did not reduce the political debate to a matter of law, which was what then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and his supporters had BP returns for more profits hoped. Instead, the judges threw the issue of negotiating sovereignty back into the court of the politicians. In the months after the ruling, political debate about Quebec’s right to self-determination intensified. and pollution The Supreme Court’s ruling against Quebec’s right to by JOHN BELL self-determination was a clear expression of the oppressive forced to sit out. is still leaking and call on the govern- character of the federal state. Cynically, BP proposes to use future ment to check. The leaders of the Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois BP HAS filed applications to drill Gulf profits to pay into the $20 billion The US Coast Guard insists it has were and remain committed to the capitalist system without new deep-water wells in the Gulf of fund, mandated by the White House, not seen any new oil slicks. USCG of- apology, including all the cuts, union-busting and exploita- Mexico. The applications came just to clean up the oil still washing up on ficials suggest the new oil samples are tion that goes with it. But no genuine unity between work- one week after a US government beaches throughout the region. “natural seepage, or a burp out of the ers in Quebec and English Canada is possible if it based on report confirmed what the whole Meanwhile, aerial photographs wreckage down below.” BP concurs. threats and coercion. world already knows: that BP was show that a massive oil slick is Based on experience of the past year And the ruling came along with a caveat that reveals a “ultimately responsible” for the resurfacing in the area of the Macondo and-a-half, both are lying. deep divide within the federalist section of the Canadian explosion of the Deepwater Horizon spill, raising two possibilities: either Meanwhile, new studies reveal that, ruling class about how to address the sentiment for rig which killed 11 workers and attempts to disburse the oil using far from returning to normal, Gulf independence within Quebec. resulted in over 5 million barrels of chemicals (just as toxic as the oil spawning grounds remain toxic and The bigots in English Canada, including those in the fed- oil fouling the Gulf. itself) have failed, or attempts to fish are exhibiting a wide range of eral Liberals and the then Opposition Reform Party (read: US environmental groups are ap- cap the well itself failed and leaking health problems and deformities. Stephen’s Harper’s alma mater), were cringing about part palled by the timing, and are seeking continues. Scientists expect many other spe- of the Supreme Court ruling. They had unleashed a process to block BP through the courts. Analysis of surface oil samples from cies, including commercially impor- that ruled that negotiation in good faith was to be followed BP is anxious to get going, as the region done by scientists from tant snappers, shrimp and oysters will should a clear majority in Quebec choose to secede on the the Macondo oil field was its most Louisiana State University proved suffer chronic illness that shortens basis of winning a clear referendum question. profitable operation. Its rivals have them chemically identical to oil from their lives and lowers their ability to The national question in Canada was hardly settled by been pumping the region while it was the BP well. They believe that the well reproduce. the Supreme Court ruling. Stéphane Dion, the Liberals’ >>>page 1 Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, had already renewed failure of Greece would be the failure September 27. On October 2 dock- the threats against Quebec. Chrétien had suggested that But this terrifies the capitalists. They of all of Europe. Remember in 2008, workers throughout the country shut “a clear majority” to secede would be at least 67 per cent, fear that a banking loss in one part of when the US let Lehman Brothers down ports in opposition to cuts to despite his insistence that the federalists won in the October the system will create a knock-on effect fail, the global financial system paid pensions. On September 29 there were 1995 referendum by only 0.6 per cent above 50. This was throughout the system and spark the the price. For both economic reasons mass strikes and demonstrations in the background to the Clarity Act, ultimately passed into kind of financial crisis that rocked the and moral reasons, we can’t let Greece Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia and law in 2000. world in 2008. They fear any victory fail.” Lithuania. That same day, over 100,000 But the fact that the federalists did not fully have the for Greek workers will inspire more This is code for accelerating the marched on the European Union’s outcome they hoped for indicated that in one sense the resistance elsewhere. While European direct transfer of wealth from European headquarters in Brussels in a demon- Supreme Court judges were right. It is politics that would banks have lent over €90 billion to workers to European banks under the stration organized by the European determine the outcome of Quebec’s relationship with the Greece, according to the Bank for auspices of “bailouts.” Meanwhile, Trade Union Confederation. rest of Canada in the future. International Settlements, the combined Stephen Harper also supports austerity, As we go to press, analysts are now But what type of politics remains an open question to exposure to Greece, Ireland, Portugal stating: “I certainly admire the determi- openly speculating about the need for this day. The growth of Québec solidaire in Quebec, which and Spain is nearly €2 trillion. nation of Prime Minister Papandreou. European banks to accept as much as advances a new type of sovereignty and solidarity with This helps explain why French We are very much all on his side.” a 50 per cent write-off of Greek debt. progressive forces in English Canada, poses a challenge. It President Nicolas Sarkozy, who wants But resistance is spreading It’s up to workers in Greece and around is not, as the judges perceived, the politics of the elite, but to implement the deepest cuts in public throughout Europe. In France, tens of the world to make sure that the banks’ the politics of mass struggle among workers in common spending since World War II, said: “The thousands of teachers demonstrated on write-off is 100 per cent. cause in Quebec and English Canada that will be decisive. 4 Socialist Worker October 2011 Libya and the myth of ‘humanitarian intervention’

NATO’s bloody history

by PAUL STEVENSON control pipeline routes from the FAR FROM signaling the “end Caspian Sea region. of history,” the end of the Cold War left the world open to a Libya vs. Bahrain new and volatile competition The idea of a humanitarian mis- between states. The US, while sion has fooled many in the West publicly proclaiming that it who have been inundated with was the lone superpower, images of violence from around was still worried about the the world. But the selective ap- emergence of potential rivals. plication of R2P and the involve- Russia was economically ment of the West in fuelling local weakened, but retained a huge conflicts prove that “humanitar- nuclear arsenal. China had (and ianism” is just a smokescreen. still has) a rapidly growing econ- For example, compare the re- omy. Western Europe competed sponses to the uprisings in Libya directly for resources and mar- and Bahrain. In Libya, the call for kets. Together, they represented R2P was immediate. In Bahrain, a major threat to US dominance. the same backers of intervention In June 1999, a report called never mention the killing of civil- “Coalitions of the Willing: NATO ians by the Bahraini regime. The and Post-Cold War Military reason? Bahrain is a close ally of Intervention” argued that “NATO the Saudi pro-West dictatorship. has several important post-Cold Another justification comes War roles. These roles include from the idea that the West must providing a hedge against a long- “protect” people in failed and fail- term revival of Russian expan- ing states—a modern-day “White Paul Stevenson examines NATO’s imperialist role in the Arab sionism, projecting stability east- Man’s Burden.” But there is col- ward by taking in new members lective amnesia about the rea- world and emerging divisions within the National Transitional as well as by contributing to the sons some states “fail’ in the first establishment of a cooperative place—another attempt to erase Council over Libya’s future. European security system, and the destructive role of imperial- helping to prevent the re-emer- ism around the world. gence of national rivalries in he Conservative govern- bouring Tunisia and Egypt, has no-fly zone to using air strikes to Europe.” ment is using the war gone through a series of changes hit all military targets. Canadian For the US, the Take Somalia, for example. In in Libya to revive the since it first began in February. Lt.-Gen. Charles Bouchard, the was an inadequate vehicle for early 2004 the Islamic Courts concept of “humanitar- Early protests were brutally at- overall commander of the NATO American imperial ambitions. Union (ICU) took control of the Tian intervention” and to tacked by the Gadhafi regime and intervention, even called for an China and Russia, both perma- country, largely by default, and justify massive increases in mili- quickly became an armed upris- expanded bombing campaign to nent members of the Security established an indigenous leader- tary spending. Stephen Harper has ing. Initially, the movement was include buildings that “could” be Council, would prevent UN- ship that didn’t represent Western argued that Canada should use its explicit in its opposition to foreign used for military purposes. sponsored military interventions interests. For the first time in dec- military for regime change around military intervention. As the weeks from securing Western interests ades, there was a real prospect for the world. progressed, the composition of the The fall of Tripoli at their expense. peace. The US, fearful of losing Echoing Harper, Foreign Affairs opposition changed, with many Since the fall of Tripoli, the role NATO, therefore, became the control over the longest coastline minister John Baird bragged in his former Gadhafi loyalists defect- of NATO has changed again, to vehicle for numerous interven- in Africa and crucial access to the recent United Nations speech that ing and taking over the reins of include providing policing and tions that have ensured a domin- Red Sea, backed an invasion by Canada has flown ten per cent of the Transitional National Council security for the new government. ant US military presence in their neighbouring . US air the bombing runs over Libya, add- (TNC). The demands of the upris- The concern for NATO is that the wake. support helped destroy the ICU. ing that he wouldn’t hesitate to un- ing also began to change. movement that fought against the Labeled a “humanitarian” mis- leash the Canadian Forces abroad. As socialist Simon Assaf writes: Gadhafi regime is made up of many The Balkans sion by the US to rid Somalia This is nothing new. NATO “The current leaders of the TNC different forces, each of which has The NATO bombing and subse- of Islamist rule and “protect countries have peddled the myth owe their position to the West, its own interests and aims. These quent occupation of the Balkans women’s rights,” it has led to of “humanitarian militarism” since and have become representatives different currents are competing left five permanent US bases on years of warlord rule and the re- the end of the Cold War—to justify of the Western interests in Libya. for some control over the future Russia’s western borders and an turn of rape gangs. The US and its NATO’s existence once the Eastern Their influence grew during the of the country. But NATO has no American foothold in a strategic- proxies made the state fail. Bloc had dissolved, and to muster counter-offensive, as their alliance intention of giving up its spoils, ally crucial area. The Canadian government support for military interventions with the West brought international and it needs to maintain a military Far from being a war to protect and its NATO partners have their from the Balkans to backing, as well as the no-fly zone presence to stop the situation from civilians, the NATO conflict in own interests at heart whenever and Iraq. It’s the same old sheep’s and political, financial and military turn against it. the former Yugoslavia exacerbat- they use invoke R2P. They have clothing for the imperial wolves, muscle. The young revolutionaries Libya has extensive oil fields. ed nationalist tensions. Internal no intention of liberating anyone and a cause of confusion for liber- had little else to offer. Western corporations are lining up displacement of ethnic groups from tyranny. Instead, they want als in the West who are swayed by “These defeats deflected the to exploit these resources, to gain was accelerated by the bombing to maintain strategic dominance arguments about “protecting civil- revolution. The aspiration for total valuable reconstruction contracts campaigns in Serbia and Kosovo for Western imperialism—at any ians” from dictatorial regimes. transformation of Libyan society in the country. But many of these in 1999. Over 15 years after the cost. The utter failure of “humani- was replaced by the drive for a contracts are not new. They existed first NATO combat operations, tarian interventions” to achieve Foreign intervention simple change at the top—the re- under Gadhafi and are simply be- tensions between various forces their publicly stated goals is proof The Responsibility to Protect moval of Moammar Gadhafi, his ing revived under the TNC. These continue to grow. that the concept is bankrupt. (R2P) doctrine is an attempt to sons and a few others around the lucrative deals are a nice byproduct codify this idea into international ruling circle. The faltering revolu- for Western corporations, but are Afghanistan law. Conceived at a conference tion presented imperialism with not the principal reason they went The first salvo in the “war on ‘the main initiated by the Canadian govern- an opportunity to place itself be- to war in Libya. terror,” the NATO bombing and ment in 2001, the doctrine has tween the Tunisian and Egyptian invasion of Afghanistan have objectives for subsequently been the basis for for- Revolutions, and French president Counter-revolution resulted in tens of thousands eign intervention in Libya, Sudan, Nicolas Sarkozy, always the oppor- The main objectives for NATO dead and more than a million NATO were to Somalia and Afghanistan. But the tunist, moved like a demon to im- were to gain control of the country displaced. The situation for the problem for NATO planners is plant imperialism back into North and to sever potential links with the people of Afghanistan continues gain control of the catastrophe of Bush’s wars in Africa.” revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. to deteriorate, with poverty and Afghanistan and Iraq, both justi- As the tanks surrounded NATO saw this as an opportu- corruption even more widespread the country and fied as “humanitarian” missions. Benghazi and the attacks on pro- nity to contain—and eventually than in 2001. As their real motives were exposed testers increased, the call for for- roll back—the gains of the Arab The war’s original goals are to sever links and the situation in both countries eign support from this section of Spring. even further out of reach after a deteriorated, the shine quickly the opposition hit a fever pitch, and One thing is certain: the interests decade of occupation. The real in- with revolutions came off the R2P concept. This is the UN moved to pass resolution of NATO and the interests of the terests of the West are to establish why war in Libya is so crucial for 1973 which called for a no-fly zone Libyan people will never be the a military beachhead in Central in Egypt and NATO and the West. over Libya. same. As Libyans struggle to shape Asia on China’s borders and to The revolution in Libya, in- Almost immediately, NATO ex- their post-Ghadafi future, this fact Tunisia’ spired by revolutions in neigh- panded its role from providing a will become even more apparent.

October 2011 Socialist Worker 5 TEN YEARS OF THE ‘WAR ON TERROR’

Ten years after the launch of the “war on terror,” James Clark examines the failure of US imperialism to achieve its aims in Central Asia and the Middle East, and the prospects for resistance in the Arab Spring.

hen the US launched its war in also undermined US influence. In Palestine, the boosted by a period of global anti-war solidarity Afghanistan, imperial planners in pro-West, pro-US Fatah faction was routed by that reached its zenith in February and March Washington had set their sights on in 2006 elections, despite US interven- 2003, when literally millions marched to stop Wa much bigger prize. Despite all tion. Fatah only regained power by force, seiz- the Iraq War. the talk of women’s rights and building democ- ing control of the West Bank a year later, with The combination of indigenous resistance racy, the real aim of the war—just the first step US and Israeli backing. Hamas still runs Gaza. movements in the Arab world and international of the “war on terror”—was to guarantee US Under pressure from its base, Fatah has now solidarity has helped improve the terrain on global dominance in the 21st century. turned on the US with its recent statehood bid which the Arab Spring emerged over the last A decade later, their plan is in ruins, although at the United Nations. year. Although the Arab Spring is far from over, millions of people continue to feel its deadly Israel, the US watchdog in the region, suf- and although it continues to face serious set- effects. But the decade that began with 9/11 fered an unprecedented defeat at the hands of backs—not the least of which has been NATO’s has ended with the Arab Spring. This should Hizbullah in the 33-day war with in intervention in Libya—it nevertheless repre- Civil liberties: The long struggle for justice give us hope that it’s possible not only to resist summer 2006, boosting resistance movements sents a stunning reversal for US imperialism in imperialism, but also to think about building an across the Arab world. In the wake of Israel’s the region, especially in light of the US’s ambi- alternative to it. war on Gaza in 2009, anti-Israel and anti-US tious war plans in 2001 and 2002. by JESSICA SQUIRES But the picture is not entirely bleak. A number of blame for conflict abroad—is a tried-and-true tactic of The blueprint for the “war on terror” goes sentiment spiked, further isolating the US and important victories in the fight to defend civil liberties almost every government at war. back to the Project for the New American its allies. Economic crisis MOHAMMAD MAHJOUB, Mahmoud Jaballah, Hassan have helped improve the terrain for future struggles. The There are still major challenges facing us. The Century, a think tank backed by leading US Far from toppling the government in , the In the midst of the “war on terror,” the US has Almrei, Mohamed Harkat and Adil Charkaoui: arrested importance of these victories should not be underestimated, Conservatives plan to reintroduce the ATA, even though it neoconservatives in the 1990s that expressed war has actually helped strengthen Iran’s influ- had to face an additional, unexpected setback: on security certificates. Ahmad Abou El-Maati: jailed especially in light of the difficult conditions in which they expired in the previous Parliament. The changes to security their vision for a more robust and aggressive ence, which is now one of the biggest power- the global economic crisis of 2008, which and tortured in Syria. Ahmad Abou El-Maati: renditioned were won. certificates in Bill C-3 are only cosmetic, while fundamental US imperialism. In the wake of the Cold War, brokers in Iraq and the broader Middle East. looks poised to throw the world into another to Egypt. Abdullah Almalki: arrested and detained in problems remain. New certificates have been issued against neoconservatives such as Dick Cheney, Donald Despite its sabre-rattling and talk of Weapons global recession. The crisis has created three Syria. Omar Khadr: tortured at Bagram and Guantánamo Victories all five of the men fighting them, and three certificates Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Robert Zoellick of Mass Destruction in Iran, the US has been serious problems for US imperialism. First, it Bay. Maher Arar: renditioned to Syria and tortured. In 2002 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that deportation are still to be fought n the courts and in the public eye. worried that the US was too slow in taking ad- unable to intervene as it had originally planned, has made the cost of the war even more expen- Abousfian Abdelrazik: detained without charge in to countries suspected of may be justified only in Nureddin, Almalki and El Maati still await an apology. vantage of the collapse of the Soviet Union to although the threat of intervention remains. sive in a weakened US economy. Nobel Prize- Sudan. Muayyed Nureddin: detained and turned over to “exceptional circumstances.” Although finally let back into Canada, Abdelrazik is barred advance US interests in newly opened regions winning economist Joseph Stiglitz estimates Syria. Bashir Makhtal: transferred to Ethiopia, perhaps In 2006 the O’Connor Inquiry entirely cleared Maher from employment and his name remains on the UN no-fly of the world. They perceived multilateralism, Afghanistan the cost could reach $3 trillion (http://thetim. to face the death penalty (he’s still there). Hassan Diab: Arar. The government was forced to issue a public apology list. Diab could soon be deported under Canada’s unfair international law and global institutions as bar- To make matters worse, the “good war” in es/pWiXJx). After a decade at war with no real facing extradition to France on hearsay evidence. and compensate him with $10 million. Although its recom- extradition laws. riers that gave a competitive edge to US rivals. Afghanistan—which the US neglected during gains, the US will soon be unable to afford a All Muslim. All detained or imprisoned—in Canada or mendations have yet to be fully implemented, the ruling was Nevertheless, resistance must continue. And it will. While That vision informed US foreign policy under its war in Iraq—has now become the “bad war,” war on the scale of the last ten years. abroad. All publicly smeared by the Canadian government crucial: it exposed the government’s complicity in violating still too few in number, every victory defending civil liber- George W. Bush’s two terms as president, and with US casualties now surpassing their rate in Second, the crisis has generated widespread and Canadian security forces. Many tortured, often with civil liberties, and changed the terms of debate among the ties makes another one possible—even in difficult circum- betrayed US ruling class fears about the declin- Iraq. Tens of thousands of Afghans have been anger and discontent in the US and elsewhere, Canadian complicity. public. stances. As we re-new our movement a decade after 9/11, ing relative strength of the US economy (http:// killed. NATO military leaders and their polit- which appears to be growing: witness the strike This is the record of civil liberties in Canada. In 2007 the Supreme Court ruled security certificates are the key is to keep solidarity at the heart of every struggle. bit.ly/qfkh9f). ical counterparts all over Europe now openly waves in Europe and the Occupy Wall Street If the list seems overwhelming, consider this: it’s only a unconstitutional in several aspects. Some detainees were re- speculate about losing the war and the conse- movement in the US. sample of government attacks on civil liberties since 2001. leased, although under harsh conditions. Also in 2007, Arar Iraq quences of a US withdrawal. Resistance move- Third, and most importantly, the crisis has It doesn’t include dozens of young Muslim men detained, received an apology from the US House of Representatives. Cheney and —Bush’s ments have grown in Pakistan, where the war sparked a deepening discussion about the na- deported or wrongfully charged and imprisoned over crimes (Despite these successes, the Canadian Parliament renewed National Security Adviser during 9/11—saw has spread across the border, fuelling even more ture of global capitalism—how it impoverishes they didn’t commit. The most high-profile of these cases the ATA that year.) the event as an “opportunity.” Although the opposition and instability in Central Asia. billions while prosecuting endless wars—such have corresponded with parliamentary debates or govern- In 2008 Adil Charkaoui successfully argued to the war began in Afghanistan, the Pentagon was In early 2009, the US-backed Ethiopian inva- that ordinary people are now increasingly open ment media releases about “fighting terror”—especially Supreme Court that CSIS’ destruction of evidence, retaining targeting Iraq almost immediately. According sion of Somalia brought the “war on terror” to to alternatives to the global economic system. attempts to restrict civil liberties. only the written summaries of interviews, was an infringe- to the New York Times, a document called Africa. The proxy war was partly in response The war that was meant to ensure US global While Muslims have been the primary targets of attacks ment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “Iraq: Goals, Objectives and Strategy” appeared to the waning political and economic influence dominance in the 21st century appears to have on civil liberties, the wider public has also been affected. Omar Khadr’s lawyers succeeded in forcing the release in August 2002, which laid out US war plans: of the US across the continent, as rivals such as fuelled a reaction that could lead to its undoing. The G20 Summit in Toronto in June saw the biggest mass of video footage of Khadr’s interrogation by US authori- leave a “light footprint” in Iraq, and then quick- China sank deeper roots and secured more oil Herein lies the hope of the Arab Spring, and arrest in Canadian history: over 1,100 arrested, but fewer ties. Their release further exposed Canadian complicity in ly topple regimes in Syria and Iran (http://nyti. and gas contracts. its potential to spread all over the world. If there than 100 now charged. International speakers critical torture. And the Iacobucci Inquiry exonerated Muayyed ms/qzhpp3). Bush & Co. thought Iraq would is a lesson from the last ten years of war, it is of Canadian foreign policy have been denied entry into Nureddin, Abdullah Almalki and Ahmad El Maati, finding fall quickly, allowing the US to redraw the map Arab Spring this: resistance matters. Canada—including British MP , US anti- Canadian officials partly to blame for their torture. of entire the Middle East. In North Africa and the Arab Middle East, op- Millions of people, from Afghanistan and war leader Medea Benjamin, and Palestinian democracy In late 2009 Charkaoui’s security certificate was quashed. In fact, the US was so confident of its plan, position to the war has helped nurture nascent Iraq to Palestine and Somalia, have refused activist Dr. Mustafa Barghouti. Similarly, Canadian NGOs The one against Almrei was ruled unreasonable. US General Tommy Franks announced shortly democracy movements that dramatically burst to accept the agenda imposed by the “war on have had their funding cut, not because they didn’t meet These victories were made possible by two factors. First, after his arrival in Baghdad in April 2003 that onto the scene in December 2010. Their high terror.” Their resistance has made possible the requirements for it, but because they opposed the Harper the Canadian anti-war movement was a global leader in US troops would be reduced from 140,000 point has been the toppling of key US allies, emergence of movements that are now con- agenda: KAIROS and the are just recognizing the role of Islamophobia in the “war on terror.” to 30,000 in just two months (http://bit.ly/ Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali sidering more than just opposition to war and two examples. In the days after 9/11, it took a clear position against racist nQdPyX). ‘the war that was and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Since imperialism. They are taking the first steps to Since Canada’s “Anti- Act” (ATA) became law scapegoating, uniting with Muslims, Arabs and their allies The plan was part of a larger project to en- then, a wave of revolt has spread through Libya, change the world around them, and on terms on December 18, 2001, the RCMP and CSIS have launched against attacks on their civil liberties. trench US dominance in the region. Instead, it meant to secure Bahrain, Syria and Yemen, with movements on that put the interests of humanity before those a series of operations that have violated the most basic achieved the opposite result. The US was pulled the rise almost everywhere else. Even Saudi of global capital. rights and freedoms guaranteed by Canadian law. Project O Anti-war movement into a quagmire in Iraq, where 1.2 million Iraqis US dominance in Arabia, a staunch US ally, has felt the shock- We still have a very long way to go, but the Canada, a Toronto-based RCMP anti-terrorism investiga- Second, the anti-war movement committed to defending have been killed since 2003. By contrast, the US waves of regional revolutions. entry onto the world stage of masses of ordinary tion, with arms in Ottawa and Montreal, led to the wrongful civil liberties as part of its anti-war opposition, defending death toll stands at over 6,000. Tens of thou- the 21st century By no means are the movements sweeping people, taking their lives into their own hands, detention and rendition abroad of Canadians Maher Arar, those under attack—even when it was unpopular to do so. sands of US troops remain in Iraq, propping the region the direct result of the “war on ter- is a major development. After ten long years of Muayyed Nureddin, Abdullah Almalki and Ahmad El Without a doubt, there were many debates, but the move- up an unpopular and undemocratic regime in appears to have ror.” Their roots can be traced to the Second war, there is now hope that we might be able Maati. Project Thread, an operation of the RCMP’s Public ment was vindicated. The links between the government’s a country scarred by sectarian violence. Every Intifada in Palestine in 2000, which laid the to stop it. Security and Anti-Terrorism unit, raided homes and arrested pro-war agenda abroad and its attacks on civil liberties at political party that participates in the Iraqi gov- fuelled a reaction foundation on which much of the resistance As the resistance movements show, it will be 26 young men, accusing them of terrorism; none were ever home are much more obvious than before. ernment wants US troops to leave. movements have grown. They also owe their up to ordinary people to do it. The slogan on charged and almost all were deported to countries that War always breeds racism. World War I saw anti-immi- that could lead to success to the internal opposition movements the homemade placard of a single Wall Street treated them as if they had been convicted. Almost half of grant discrimination and widespread detention. World War Palestine that persevered through years of repression protester seems to say it best: the so-called Toronto 18, arrested and detained under the II saw anti-Semitism and internment camps for Japanese- Across the region, the effects of the war have its undoing’ under brutal dictators. In particular, they were “We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for.” ATA, had all their charges stayed. Canadians. Creating a dehumanized “other” at home—to

6 Socialist Worker October 2011 October 2011 Socialist Worker 7 OPINION

PALESTINE The Arab Spring is the real ‘peace process’ FOR DECADES the West has maintained control of the oil-rich Middle East by arming Israeli apartheid and Arab dictatorships; it has denounced Palestinian resistance while preaching “peace process” negotiations with an increasingly complicit Palestinian Authority. But the Arab Spring is throwing this imperial structure into crisis. Solidarity with Palestine has been an important part of the ongoing Egyptian Revolution, like September’s storming of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. The revolution is threatening a key pillar of US control in the region, and exposing how much Israel relies on regional dictatorships. The Arab Spring has also challenged the subservience of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which the Palestine Papers revealed has been a willing participant in Israeli apartheid. In order to salvage legitimacy and reassert its strategy of negotiating, the PA has symbolically stood up for Palestine with a UN bid for statehood. In practice, the proposed state would be a disaster for most Palestinians, which is why many oppose it: it would cede to Israel majority control over historic Palestine, and ignore the majority of Palestinians who live outside Gaza and the West bank—either under apartheid conditions inside Israel, or in the global diaspora denied the right of return. Pipeline ethics: profit is god This is the reality of the two-state solution, which will never bring peace and justice. But even this minimal statehood bid has called the West’s bluff, revealing the “peace process” negotiated by imperial John Bell takes on the myth of ‘’ and looks at the powers to be a sham. This has rallied many more to the Palestinian cause, further isolated Israel and exposed its growing movement against the Keystone XL pipeline and Western backers. This could add fuel to the fire of the Arab Spring, which is the real peace process: a revolutionary Canada’s Tar Sands. wave with the potential to create a Middle East free of dictatorship and apartheid. The movement on both sides of illegally used his influence to bar production and pipelines produce TORY SCAPEGOATING the Canada/US border to stop the British parliamentarian and anti-war fewer jobs than other sectors. The construction of the Keystone XL activist George Galloway from province of Alberta’s own statistics pipeline can measure its strength by entering Canada, and is now, along show that oil extraction ranks dead The real threat is the massive, multi-million dollar with Kenney, subject of a lawsuit from last in job creation out of 58 industrial corporate ad campaign designed to sell Galloway. sectors. Harper-icism the public on the project. His slavish devotion to the Tar For each million dollars invested, The pipeline would run from Sands, and all things Tory, has three person-years of employment are Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared that “the major Alberta’s Tar Sands to Texas refineries landed Velshi a new job. He has been created in Tar Sands extraction and threat [to Canada] is still Islamicism” while , through some of the most environ- appointed to the board of the Toronto pipelines. The same amount invested Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, mentally sensitive regions of the US, Atmospheric Fund by Toronto Mayor in transit and ground passenger and Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, were hard at particularly the Ogallala Aquifer, fresh Rob Ford. The TAF has been pushing transportation produces about 25 work over the summer months padding the Conservative’s water source for most of the western the city to reduce its oil dependence, person-years; in healthcare and social shameful record of attacking immigrants. They went on a states. and is one of the legacies of Jack assistance about 20 person-years; in witch-hunt for ‘war criminals’ by releasing the names and A powerful grass-roots coalition of Layton’s tenure at City Hall. education about 18 person-years; in photographs of thirty men residing in Canada. None of these First Nations, environmentalists and Bogus environmental assessment construction about 11 person-years. men had ever faced trial for crimes against humanity or war western ranchers and farmers in the In the US, a key lobbyist for the In short, any other economic en- crimes; however, their applications for asylum had been de- US staged the largest demonstration of pipeline project is Paul Elliot, former deavour under the sun would produce nied because of suspicions they had engaged in such crimes. peaceful civil disobedience in decades press secretary for Secretary of State more jobs, and greener jobs, than the These allegations were the pretext for deportation of at least to expose the dangers of the project. Hillary Clinton. Clinton is on record oil industry. four of the men and even caused a foreign ambassador to Several thousands of activists were supporting the Keystone project and The “ethical oil” argument is express surprise that one of his countrymen was wanted for arrested sitting-in at the White House. a State Department “environmental equally farcical. Are we to rely on such crimes. Meanwhile Kenney allowed real war criminal In Canada, several hundred people assessment” has given the thumbs up slimy characters like Velshi and Elliot Dick Cheney—partly responsible for the Iraq War that killed were arrested on Parliament Hill, at to the pipe. for ethical judgments of any kind? a million people—to freely enter and leave Canada. a demonstration designed not only in That assessment is worthless. Pitting Canadian Tar Sands oil Kenney’s office then announced the creation of a tip line solidarity with the pipeline activists in The State Department allowed (which requires massive amounts of for members of the public to report any immigrants they sus- the US, but also to raise the demand to TransCanada, lead corporation in energy to extract and process, and pro- pect of “false representation, fraud or knowingly concealing shut down the Tar Sands entirely. the Keystone project, to choose the duces an equally massive amount of material circumstances in the citizenship process.” We They also oppose the Gateway agency to perform the assessment. greenhouse gas emissions) against oil already know the kind of people who are going to be ratted pipeline. Energy giant Enbridge, TransCanada picked Houston-based from Saudi Arabia or Nigeria is pure out by racist busybodies for ‘jumping the queue’—those along with Chinese financial back- Cardno Entrix. The New York Times rhetoric. It ignores the fact that the who would look out of place at a Conservative Cabinet ers, proposes to build the Gateway has revealed that Cardno Entrix lists oil extraction in oppressive regimes photo-op. pipe through unceded First Nations TransCanada as describes the pipeline like Saudi Arabia is controlled by And with Kenney’s and Toews’ re-introduction of ‘Human territories to new deepwater ports in company as a “major client” in its corporations based in the US, Britain Smuggling’ Bill C-4, which among other things proposes BC. The route covers fragile moun- marketing materials. or France. the mandatory detention of migrants for twelve months, the tain and river ecosystems. And the Now Clinton is working furiously There is plenty of investment from message the Canadian government is sending to newcomers super-tankers carrying the oil abroad to sweep this gross conflict of interest Saudi Arabia and China (another is clear: you’re not welcome in ‘our’ country. would have to traverse some of the back under the rug. favourite “ethical oil” bogeyman) in Resources are being squandered on detention, investiga- riskiest coastal waters in the world–an She isn’t the only liar on the corpor- the Tar Sands and in the pipeline pro- tion and policing at a time when the immigration waiting list accident that would dwarf the Exxon ate side. Koch Industries (leading jects. Saudi Arabian money is heavily is already sitting at 900,000 cases and citizens can wait years Valdez disaster would be a constant funders of the Tea Party movement), invested in the Texas-based refineries to be allowed to sponsor their spouses back home, and even threat. told Congress that their companies at the end of the Keystone pipe. longer to sponsor their parents, to join them. were not involved in the pipeline in It is likely that Obama will okay But once they do make it here, racialized immigrants will Unethical oil any way. They lied. Their subsidiary, the Keystone project. That will not be facing many of the same problems Canada’s Indigenous If we have activism and numbers on First Hills Resources Canada, is a be the end of the story. Opposition people currently face, including disproportionate surveil- our side, those pushing the Keystone major backer of the Canadian portion to the Tar Sands has been mobilized lance and incarceration. And with the Conservative’s omni- XL and Tar Sands development have of the pipe. and will continue to grow despite the bus crime bill, things aren’t going to get any better. The bill bags of money, political connections The corporate campaign rests on millions spent on misleading corporate will double the budget for policing, expand prisons, enforce and outright lies. two main pillars: the Tar Sands and advertisements. mandatory minimum sentences, and focus on punishment In Canada, a highly promoted associated pipelines will create jobs, The only ones who stand to gain instead of rehabilitative programs—all at a time when crime blogger named Alykhan Velshi is the and the Canadian sourced oil is more from the Tar Sands and the pipelines rates have been declining steadily. chief tout of “ethical oil.” Velshi was “ethical” than oil coming from oppres- are a handful of massive corporations. This bill is based on a bankrupt US model which both parliamentary aide to Jason Kenney sive countries like Saudi Arabia. They put their profits ahead of our crime victims and legislators in that country admit doesn’t and a key insider with the Harper The promise of jobs is feeble. welfare and our world. There’s noth- work and will not meet any of the Harper government’s government. He is alleged to have Capital intensive industries like oil ing ethical about that. dubious claims to prevent crime or help victims. What it will do is waste billions of dollars on the construction of new state-of-the-art prisons, and the employment of more police, lawyers, prison guards etc., with most of the costs being downloaded onto the provincial and territorial governments. Socialist Worker fighting fund While increasing the Corrections budget, Harper’s Conservatives will also continue throwing away billions of dollars on their imperialist interventions in Afghanistan, Thanks to the generous support of our readers, we have reached all under the guise of ridding that war-torn nation of ‘Islamicism.’ our goal of $20,000 for the Socialist Worker Fighting Fund! Thank The anti-war movement responded with the slogan “Islam you to all of you who made this possible! is not the enemy, war is not the answer.” Solidarity is es- sential to fight the real “major threat”: war, racism austerity and the climate change. 8 Socialist Worker October 2011 LEFT JAB REVIEWS John Bell

Resistance Press Bookroom Canada presents the launch of Ian Angus and Simon Butler’s new book rebranded CANADIAN TROOPS have Militarism been in Afghanistan for Chief of Defence Staff more than a decade, and I General Walter Natynczyk have never heard an honest also racks up hundreds of and convincing reason why. hours in the Challenger. Too Many People To bring democracy to Natynczyk also uses the Afghans? To bring security at executive jet to go to home? To bring liberation to fundraisers, and to football Population, women? and hockey games. None of those excuses hold Stephen Harper and his ilk Immigration and the water. want to remake us in their Now, at last, Stephen own image. They are willing Harper has provided a to spend as many of our tax Environmental Crisis believable reason for the loss dollars as it takes to do the of 157 Canadian soldiers job. and a cost of $1,500 per Hockey games must household (according to the become military pageants, Featuring co-authour Ian Angus government’s spectacularly with Don Cherry no doubt underestimated total). We sporting his camo tuxedo for are occupying Afghanistan the occasion. The return of so Defence Minister Peter every body bag becomes an McKay can go to the Lobster opportunity for military pomp Festival. and posturing. Who would Toronto: Ottawa: dare criticize? Only a traitor. Gravy plane My militaristic country: love Sunday, November 6 MacKay was vacationing in it or leave it. Labrador, salmon fishing on 3:00pm the Gander River, and wanted Move to the right Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre TBD to round out the good times Harper is right in a sense: with some lobster. Plus he had MacKay is doing important 427 Bloor St W a little government business Tory business. Their mission info: [email protected] info: [email protected] to do in London, Ontario. is to drag Canadians to the So he summoned a search- right. This is not just about and-rescue helicopter to pick militarism, although war him up in the wilds, dubbed making and war spending are it a “training exercise,” had central to the project. a government executive Foreign Affairs Minister The reality of catastrophic climate change Challenger jet (price tag John Baird so hates walking $10,000 per hour) pick him into the Lester Pearson up at Gander Airport, flew Building where his offices Book • Tropic of Chaos • By Christian Parenti • Reviewed by Ian to London, announced the reside, he had the name Tories are investing money in removed from his gold- Beeching building armoured personnel embossed business cards, carriers, hopped back in the along with the standard IMAGINE LIVING in a community hind climate change and the absurdity racism and exploitation throwing out Challenger and made it to “Canada” logo. where bodies turn up in your back of its deniers. Even if we stop every a government bent on privatizing Nova Scotia in time to tie on While I’m not a fan of yard and a drink of water can land green house gas emission today, Bolivia’s water and replacing it with the bib. Pearson or his autocratic a bullet in your head. This is the climate change will still happen. The one that puts its peoples needs first. MacKay likes to fly in style. successor, Pierre Trudeau, story of Ekaru Loruman, a pastoral- issue then becomes one of adapting to The severity of climate change He racked up 471 hours in the both men tower over the Tory ist in Kenya and one of thousands and mitigating the effects of climate has led Parenti to focus on reforming Challenger between January mediocrity John Diefenbaker, of victims of climate violence. change. capitalism. Although he believes 2009 and June of this year. the epitome of the grey, In Tropic of Chaos, Christian Parenti brings to light the slew of capitalism does not have a solution Harper defends MacKay, sexist, racist 1950s. Yet Dief’s Parenti takes us on a vividly illustrat- government reports discussing the for the environmental crisis, it may be insisting the flights are for name is being (in the words ed journey around the world showing social and military challenges of possible for capitalism to overcome “important government of a Canadian Press report) the catastrophic convergence of climate change. These reports paint a the specific challenge of climate business.” In particular, “slapped on awards, ships climate change fuelling the violence future where countries that can afford change. Western governments already Harper cited MacKay’s and public buildings as the and war of the 21st century. to do so build “fortresses” around have the resources and technology regular attendance at Harper Conservatives work to This brilliantly researched book themselves as the rest of the world needed to slow and adapt to climate ceremonies “repatriating” paint a little Tory blue into the takes us from tribal raiding in Africa starves and where “warfare defines change, but greed gets in the way. Canadian soldiers in Trenton, country’s political memory.” fuelled by Cold War arms prolifera- human life.” Parenti shows us how My only critique of the book is Ontario. He suggested tion and changing weather patterns, to planning for war can in fact lead to it. that Parenti mistakes the fight for an that anyone that criticized Abortion rights the walls of fear and reaction at home alternative to capitalism as exclusive his minister was less than When Tory MPs Brad Trost that meet the increasing numbers of Hope to fighting for reforms within it. patriotic. and Maurice Vellacott attack climate refugees. But there is hope! The final chapter Socialists around the world have NDP MP Jack Harris points abortion rights and funding Through first-hand experience, brings us to the challenges facing thrown themselves into the struggle out that just nine of 35 flights for Planned Parenthood, they Parenti brings together the legacy of the movement for climate justice. for climate justice. Yes reforms are taken by MacKay were for are portrayed as “mavericks”. colonialism, neoliberalism, climate Drawing on the inspirational struggle essential but, until we have a system such ceremonies. On one Yet both Harper’s right-hand change and imperialist wars. in Bolivia where poor predominantly that puts humans relationship with such occasion the Challenger man, Immigration Minister Parenti’s book starts with a bleak indigenous farmers and workers our environment first, there will flew to Tofino to pick up a and Deputy Prime Minister look at the reality of the science be- overthrew hundreds of years of always be an Ekaru Loruman. vacationing MacKay, flew Jason Kenny, and his Chief of him to Trenton for the brief Staff Nigel Wright, are dyed- ceremony, flew him back in-the-wool anti-abortion Clap hands for the meltdown to BC and then returned to crusaders. Trost and Vellacott Ottawa: price tag $205,111.20. surely have the blessing of On another occasion the their leaders as they attempt Music • Pull up some dust and sit down • By Ry Cooder • Reviewed Challenger picked up MacKay to reinvigorate the anti-choice after an Ottawa Senators game minority and lead the charge by John Bell hyped as “Canadian Forces against women’s rights. Appreciation Night,” flew IF ANYBODY was going to write In 2007 he produced My Name “Christmas Time This Year” him to his home riding where The rest of us the soundtrack for the new is Buddy, an original homage to the and “Baby Joined the Army” are he announced spending for a In September Jason Kenney depression, it was bound to be Ry struggles of the Great Depression, unflinching anti-war songs. “Dirty local infrastructure project, took time out from his crusade Cooder. told by Buddy Red Cat, Lefty Mouse Chateau” details the abuse of then whisked him off to against multi-culturalism to Cooder has been equal parts slide and Reverend Tom Toad. It was migrant workers. “Dreamer” returns Toronto: price tag $49,509.60. tell an Edmonton audience: guitar virtuoso and musical historian (according to the album artwork to the disappointments and dignity MacKay is a flying fool, “We have changed our since the mid 1960s. Through which featured an illustration of the of life in the LA barrios. “I Want and takes a lot of vacations in perception of what it means to the 1970s he released a string of Communist Manifesto) a “Journey My Crown” savages a legal system remote and beautiful corners be Canadian.” recordings featuring sly and satirical through time and space in days of stacked against the working class, as of Canada. The son of power Well, they haven’t yet. Most reinventions of gems from blues, labor, big bosses, farm failures, Cooder growls “The working man and privilege as well as a of us still oppose the war, gospel and the Latino tradition of strikes, company cops, sundown has been cast down” to a solid rock Tory power broker, he no support public health care, his native Los Angeles–roots music towns, hobos, and trains... the beat. doubt feels entitled to such and embrace human rights. before there was a term for it. America of yesteryear.” The music “Lord Tell Me Why (a white man treatment. If they haven’t succeeded, it From the start he was drawn to was a glorious blend of bluegrass, ain’t worth nothing in the world As annoying as all that is, isn’t for lack of trying. Get music created by and for the working jazz, polka, Tex-Mex, blues and rock today)” is Cooder’s take on the Tea there is something else lurking ready to watch Harper et al class. His takes on tunes like “How and roll. Party movement, at once satirical behind all the boarding passes spend the next four years, and Can You Keep On Moving (Unless That brings us to Pull Up Some and sympathetic. and dollar signs that bothers an immense fortune, to drag You Migrate Too),” “Ballad of Billy Dust and Sit Down, Cooder’s While this all sounds pretty me. There is a purpose to us back to the Diefenbaker the Kid,” Leadbelly’s “Bourgeois response to today’s imperial wars and down, the whole is fired up, just MacKay’s jet setting ways: Stone Age. Blues” and Woody Guthrie’s Wall Street greed. From the raucous like the best work of the Depression he is a central figure in Now we’ll learn how cattle “Vigilante Man” rediscovered and opening strains of “No Banker Left troubadours Cooder admires. It the relentless Tory public feel when they are rebranded. celebrated the spirit of rebellion that Behind,” you know you’re in for is as if he is nominating himself relations campaign to rebrand These Tories give me a grew in America through the Great smart ideas wrapped in eclectic but as the Woody Guthrie of the new Canada as a military power searing pain in the ass. Depression. always appropriate musical styles. depression. He just might be. for the new millennium. October 2011 Socialist Worker 9 international WHERE WE STAND socialist events The dead-end of capitalism The capitalist system is based on violence, TORONTO oppression and brutal exploitation. It creates York IS club meetings hunger beside plenty. It kills the earth itself Every Wednesday, 3pm with pollution and unsustainable extraction 446 Stuudent Centre of natural resources. Capitalism leads to info: yorkusocialists@ imperialism and war. Saving ourselves and the gmail.com planet depends on finding an alternative. The Politics of Stieg Socialism and workers’ power Larsson Any alternative to capitalism must involve speaker: Faline Bobier replacing the system from the bottom up Sat, Oct 22, 6-9pm through radical collective action. Central to Fund-raising dinner that struggle is the workplace, where capital- info: torontowest.is@gmail. ism reaps its profits off our backs. com Capitalist monopolies control the earth’s resources, but workers everywhere actually Beirut 2011: A report create the wealth. A new socialist society can back from the Summer only be constructed when workers collect- University of Palestine ively seize control of that wealth and plan its speaker: Abbie Bakan production and distribution to satisfy human Sun, Oct 22, 4pm needs, not corporate profits—to respect the Fund-raising dinner $10 environment, not pollute and destroy it. or pwyc info: pape.danforth@gmail. Reform and revolution com Every day, there are battles between exploited and exploiter, oppressor and oppressed, to Film screening: Kent reform the system—to improve living condi- State 1970 tions. These struggles are crucial in the fight Wed, Oct 26, 1pm for a new world. To further these struggles, Sid Smith, room 1080 we work within the trade unions and orient 100 St George st to building a rank and file movement that info: uoftinternation- strengthens workers’ unity and solidarity. [email protected] But the fight for reforms will not, in itself, The Royal Commission on bring about fundamental social change. The Book launch: Too Many present system cannot be fixed or reformed People? Population, as NDP and many trade union leaders say. It Immigration, and the has to be overthrown. That will require the Aboriginal Peoples: 15 years on Environmental Crisis mass action of workers themselves. speaker: co-authour Ian Angus Elections and democracy by VALERIE LANNON René Dussault (a Quebec lawyer Key recommendations include Sun, Nov 6, 3pm Elections can be an opportunity to give voice now with the law firm of Heenan governance – a new Royal Trinity-St Paul’s Centre to the struggle for social change. But under It is now 15 years since the Blaikie, where Pierre Trudeau Proclamation to establish a new 427 Bloor St W capitalism, they can’t change the system. The release of the report by the info: torontosocialists1@ and others of the ruling class have Nation-to-Nation relationship, rec- gmail.com structures of the present parliament, army, po- Royal Commission on Aboriginal historically been partners). In total, ognition of Métis self-government, lice and judiciary developed under capitalism Peoples (RCAP). The Commission there were four Aboriginal and three and the creation of an Aboriginal OTTAWA and are designed to protect the ruling class was established in 1991 in the against the workers. These structures cannot non-Aboriginal commissioners. parliament. There are also legisla- Book launch: Too Many be simply taken over and used by the working wake of at least two key events: They toured Canada and Quebec tive recommendations including the People? Population, class. The working class needs real democ- the so-called “Oka Crisis” and the and held 178 public hearings, visited termination of the Indian Act and Immigration, and the racy, and that requires an entirely different failure of the Meech Lake Accord. 96 communities, consulted individ- the Department of Indian Affairs Environmental Crisis kind of state—a workers’ state based upon The first event, the confrontation uals and reviewed relevant literature (currently known as Aboriginal speaker: co-authour Ian councils of workers’ delegates. in Oka, Quebec in 1990 lasted 78 and past inquiries. Affairs and Northern Development Angus TBD days, and saw the resistance of the In many ways, the commissioners Canada), and the creation of a new info: gosocialists@gmail. Internationalism Kanehsatake Mohawk people to did not pull their punches. While department to implement the new The struggle for socialism is part of a world- com wide struggle. We campaign for solidarity encroachments on their territory the final report is 4,000 pages long, Nation-to-Nation relationship, and with workers in other countries. We oppose proposed by the town of Oka, there is a much more accessible a second department to provide VANCOUVER everything which turns workers from one encroachments intended for a golf document published by RCAP services for non-self-governing Forum: What is country against those from other countries. course. This struggle culminated in a entitled “People to People, Nation communities (e.g. in urban areas, Marxism? We support all genuine national liberation stand-off with the Sûreté du Québec to Nation.” Within its opening where an increasing proportion of Wed, Oct 19, 12:30- movements. (the Quebec police), the RCMP and pages can be found the following Aboriginal people live). 1:30pm The 1917 revolution in Russia was an the Canadian Army. (This history statements: Other recommendations call for Langara College, room inspiration for the oppressed everywhere. But has been brilliantly captured in a “There can be no peace or a public inquiry into residential A218 it was defeated when workers’ revolutions number of documentaries, including harmony unless there is justice …. school abuse, the fulfillment of info: vancouver.socialists@ elsewhere were defeated. A Stalinist counter- gmail.com revolution which killed millions created a new one produced by the National Film Successive governments have tried – existing treaties and a new frame- form of capitalist exploitation based on state Board entitled Kanehsatake: 270 sometimes intentionally, sometimes work for negotiating new treaties, ownership and control. In Eastern Europe, years of Resistance by filmmaker in ignorance – to absorb Aboriginal recognition of the Aboriginal right peace & China and other countries a similar system Alanis Obomsawin.) people into Canadian society, thus to self-determination, provision of justice events was later established by Stalinist, not socialist During the same period, the 1987 eliminating them as distinct peoples. land sufficient to foster Aboriginal parties. We support the struggle of workers in Meech Lake Accord was under Policies pursued over the decades economic self-reliance and cultural TORONTO these countries against both private and state review for ratification by Quebec have undermined – and almost and political autonomy, improved Resist war and militar- capitalism. and the provinces. It represented erased – Aboriginal cultures and Aboriginal access to resource-based ism: Building a move- an attempt by the Canadian state identities. This is assimilation. It is economies, financing of Aboriginal ment for peace and Canada, Quebec, justice Aboriginal Peoples to have the people of Quebec a denial of the principles of peace, economic development, a 10-year Canadian Peace Alliance Canada is not a “colony” of the United States, accept the Canadian Constitution harmony and justice for which this initiative to employ and train bi-annual cconvention but an imperialist country in its own right that by formally recognizing Quebec as country stands – and it has failed. Aboriginal people, authority and Fri Oct 14- Sun 16 participates in the exploitation of much of one of Canada’s founding nations. Aboriginal peoples remain proudly resources to Aboriginal communities info: www.acp-cpa.ca the world. The Canadian state was founded Aboriginal people understandably different… Only as restored nations for child welfare, a framework for through the repression of the Aboriginal objected to their exclusion from can they reach their potential in the Aboriginal delivery of health and Rally to defend peoples and the people of Quebec. this formulation and also feared twenty-first century.” social services, a commitment to reproductive rights We support the struggles for self-determin- that, through increased provincial train 10,000 Aboriginal people over Sat Oct 22, 1-4pm ation of Quebec and Aboriginal peoples up powers, there would be even further The report’s a 10-year period in health and social Northeast corner of Col- to and including the right to independence. recommendations lege and University Socialists in Quebec, and in all oppressed limits on future First Nations services, protection of traditional Organized by the Ontario nations, work towards giving the struggle lands claims. In 1992, through a The full report is a five-volume healing practices, resources to Coalition for Abortion against national oppression an internationalist parliamentary move in the Manitoba 4,000 page document and contains upgrade water and sewage systems, Clinics and working class content. legislature by First Nations MLA 440 recommendations covering development of Aboriginally info: [email protected] Elijah Harper, Aboriginal people all the key aspects of the lives of controlled education systems from Oppression succeeded in stopping the signing of Aboriginal people. Each volume early education to post-secondary, Occupy Toronto Within capitalist society different groups suf- the Meech Lake Accord. contains a theme. Volume 1, and many more. Sat, Oct 15, 10am fer from specific forms of oppression. Attacks So, through militant action on “Looking Forward, Looking Back,” The recommendations are sweep- info: www.occupyto.org on oppressed groups are used to divide work- the ground and in the legislature, has a focus on the historical rela- ing in their scope. None of them ers and weaken solidarity. We oppose racism OTTAWA and imperialism. We oppose all immigration Aboriginal people had put their con- tionship between indigenous peoples would have come to public atten- Occupy Ottawa controls. We support the right of people of cerns on the political map in ways of Canada and Quebec, and settlers. tion – in fact, the commission would Sat, Oct 15 colour and other oppressed groups to organize not seen since the heyday of the Red The other volumes review modern, never have happened - without info: occupyottawa.org in their own defence. We are for real social, Power movement in the early 1970s. horrific living conditions and pro- a preceding history of militant economic and political equality for women. It was within the context of this vide a range of optional responses, resistance by Canada’s indigenous VANCOUVER We are for an end to all forms of discrimina- political pressure that the Canadian within a 20-year agenda to close people. Occupy Vancouver tion and homophobia against lesbians, gays, government established RCAP in the socioeconomic gap between The question is, fifteen years on: Sat, Oct 15 bisexuals and transgendered people. We 1991. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal have any of these recommendations Vancouver Art Gallery oppose discrimination on the basis of religion, people, and to recognize Aboriginal been implemented? That will be info: occupyvancouver.com ability and age. The RCAP process peoples as self-governing nations the topic of our next article in this The Revolutionary Party The Commission was chaired by with a unique place in Canada. series. The National Film Board video documenting You can find To achieve socialism the leading activists in Georges Erasmus (a member of the Recommendations were made to the Oka crisis, Kanehsatake: 270 years of the working class have to be organized into a Dene Nation and former head of both the Canadian government and Resistance by filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, the I.S. in: revolutionary socialist party. The party must the Assembly of First Nations) and First Nations. can be purchased at http://www.nfb.ca be a party of action, and it must be demo- Toronto, Ottawa, cratic. We are an organization of activists Gatineau, Vancouver, committed to helping in the construction of OPEN SATURDAYS, 12-3pm Victoria, Montreal, such a party through ongoing London, St. Catharines, activity in the mass organ- 427 Bloor Street West, suite 202, Toronto | 416.972.6391 Mississauga, Scarbor- izations of the working ough, Halifax, Belleville & class and in the daily RESISTANCE Kingston struggles of workers and PRESS e: [email protected] the oppressed. t: 416.972.6391 If these ideas make w: www.socialist.ca sense to you, help us in BOOK ROOM this project, and join the International Socialists. For more event listings, visit www.socialist.ca.

10 Socialist Worker October 2011 [email protected] AIR CANADA STICKING WITH THE UNION by J.Y. HODGE Carolyn Egan In what should be a red flag for labour negotiations in Canada, CUPE Local 4095 representing 6,800 Torontonians defend Air Canada flight attendants secured a tentative agree- ment in mid-September hours before hitting the jobs and services bricks. The last-minute negotiations that averted a strike happened under threat On September 26, powerful, and is an alliance of back-to-work legislation thousands rallied outside which has the potential from the federal labour City Hall in downtown to actually turn back the minister Lisa Raitt. TAR SANDS PROTEST COMES TO PARLIAMENT Toronto. They came attacks. The Air Canada workers from all corners of the The United Steelworkers flatly refused the contract by SHANE DAVIS-YOUNG Over 2,000 people Arctic, into their cordoned city—Jane and Finch, (USW) packed the City and announced plans to converged on Parliament area so he could show his Malvern, North Etobicoke, Council chambers for most walk off the job. However, The tar sands are truly Hill, protesting the support. Lawrence Heights, of the day before the rally, Lisa Raitt once again inter- the stuff of nightmares. government’s support for Despite the seriousness as well as downtown taking over one hundred vened. As this paper was Harper and big oil have the Alberta tar sands and of the issue at hand, the neighbourhoods. The members out of their going to press, she asked conspired to turn vast the XL. rally never once turned crowd reflected the workplaces to witness the the Industrial Relations forests in Alberta into Two hundred people were for the worse. But neither diversity of Toronto Councillors’ debate. Board to review the stalled toxic deserts that stretch arrested attempting to stage police nor protester ever and put forward their Mayor Ford and his contract talks. In doing so, as far as the eye can see. a sit-in in the House of resorted to violence and the demands for an end to supporters are ideologically she effectively rendered They’ve destroyed water Commons. mood was triumphant. Now the austerity agenda driven to bring massive cuts the strike illegal, leaving systems and communities The police were kind it is time for us to build on and the massive cuts and privatize everything workers and the union open alike for the sake of profit. enough to let Dennis this action and continue the that City Council is possible. More progres- to severe fines for any strike But on September 26, the Bevington, NDP MP from fight for climate and social considering. sive Councillors, who action. people fought back. the riding of Western justice. Mothers brought their have finally found their This marks the third time PROTEST GREETS WAR CRIMINAL DICK CHENEY IN VANCOUVER children supporting backbone because of the this year that the federal publically funded child strength of the movement government has interfered by BRADLEY HUGHES Canadian citizens, obligates he has chosen Vancouver care. Tenants organiza- from below, were standing with contract negotiations at Canada to investigate as the first location outside tions spoke out for social up and fighting back. It Air Canada. Combined with Protesters rallied outside Cheney to comply with of the United States to housing. Environmentalists was clear that this battle the Canada Post enforced the exclusive Vancouver the Convention Against do a book tour event, and put the issue of global is going to be won in the settlement (including Club as former US Vice- Torture,” Human Rights we feel it’s important that warming and a sustainable communities where people government mandated President Dick Cheney Watch said. Despite these citizens of Vancouver show city forward. City cleaners in their majority are making wage rates that were below arrived to promote his obligations written into that we won’t tolerate a spoke out about the dangers it clear that the cuts are management offers) in the book to supporters who Canadian law, our govern- war criminal coming and of contracting-out to the unacceptable. summer, the government paid $500 each. ment allowed Cheney to speaking in our town,” said private sector and turning message is clear: employers In the book he defends freely enter and leave the Derrick O’Keefe, co-chair decent jobs into poverty Ford can count on Parliament the torture his government county again. of the StopWar Coalition. jobs. There were trade Ford was elected mayor Hill to deliver company- authorized and the illegal This is unlike US and “We’re going to keep unionists and anti-poverty almost a year ago in a friendly in the face of an invasion of Iraq that killed British peace activists who protesting until we get a activists. Students marched landslide victory in which organized workforce. It is over one million people. have been barred from en- government that respects from the universities he promised to cut “the up to the union movement “Overwhelming evidence tering Canada, and several international law, takes a and colleges and seniors gravy train.” Because of the to respond with similar of torture by the Bush US Iraq War resisters who stand against torture.” demanded that long-term tough times that people are vigor. administration, including have been deported. Fore more information, care facilities not be sold experiencing, the job losses WALK4JUSTICE at least two cases involving “We’re very angry that www.stopwar.ca off to the private sector. and anxiety about what the SOLIDARITY BUILDS FOR MCGILL SUPPORT STAFF future will bring, many fell by REG MCQUAID Services for his rhetoric. But he also by DEBORAH MURRAY property. McGill has also signs along with other A transit driver representing said there would be no cuts The 2011 Walk4Justice banned wearing t-shirts support efforts can be the Amalgamated Transit in services and so many from British Columbia Over 1,700 clerical and buttons supporting found at www.facebook. Union (ATU), originally who voted for him now feel to Ottawa made a stop in workers, library the strike. A student union com/McGillStrike. from the US, shouted from betrayed. Toronto on September assistants and (SSMU) VP Finance and Hundreds of union- the podium for “power A significant majority in 8. The walkers are high- technicians (represented Operations refused to ized Quebec workers to the people.” He was every ward is now opposed lighting the situation of over by MUNACA) at McGill remove his button and recently joined McGill a Vietnam veteran who to the cuts and the mayor’s 4,000 murdered and missing university have been was denied entry to a students and faculty in a moved to Canada and had popularity has plummeted. Canadian women, mostly without a contract since management career fair solidarity rally. driven a bus for decades The momentum has swung aboriginal, whose cases November 2010 and went recently held at the Hotel Other on-campus in this city “bringing you to our side and we have to remain unsolved. on strike September 1. Omni. unions have issued all to work everyday.” continue building on the Gladys Radek and Bernie McGill’s reaction has Shocked by McGill’s support statements and His speech and fist in the ground. Unions and com- Williams, two frontline so- been severe. A Quebec attempt to silence also joined the rally. The air harkened back to the munity organizations must cial workers in Vancouver’s labour board inspector on-campus support for undergrad student union movements of the sixties continue to work together Lower East Side founded found McGill using scab strike members, faculty and the McGill postgrad- and seventies. and put the pressure on Walk4Justice in 2008 labour in some depart- and students covered uate student society have A woman who daily the politicians to stop the following the revelations ments. McGill then got their mouths with tape passed motions sup- picks up the city’s garbage attacks. of the trial of Robert Picton an injunction from the and marched on-campus. porting the union, and the talked about the hard We have to continue to and in response to the many Quebec Superior Court Support staff have been Mobilization Committee, work she and her fellow make the argument that missing aboriginal women limiting picket lines to receiving widespread soli- a student committee- CUPE members do to keep “cuts in jobs means cuts in along the “Highway of groups of 15 and to within darity. Pictures of students walked out of classes and Toronto clean and sanitary. services” and protect union Tears” in Northern BC. four metres of all McGill holding “I heart MUNACA” marched to join the rally. She also spoke about the jobs. Workers are under The Toronto event PRAIRIE FARMERS SEEK SOLIDARITY pride she took in her work attack and the community was co-sponsored by the and why decent jobs for has to defend the right to a Aboriginal Council of by REG MCQUAID any changes to the market- plebiscite requirement. This all had to be a priority. decent job. CUPE Ontario. ing of wheat. could take place the second Residents of Scarborough A major part of the Several hundred stu- On September 12, the Knowing full well that half of October, with the and Jane-Finch talked austerity agenda is to drive dents and supporters from Canadian Wheat Board abolishing the single desk government needing to about the importance of the down workers’ wages Amnesty International, announced results of a does not have the support complete all the legislative services they use and that and benefits and to smash KAIROS and other organ- producer plebiscite it had of the majority of farmers, steps in Commons and a cut in jobs means a cut in unions. We cannot allow izations heard the aboriginal commissioned on the over the past five years Senate prior to the end services. this to happen. We must walkers share their stories future of its single-desk the minority Conservative of December, to have the The joining together push forward the fight of heartbreak over missing selling agency. For wheat, government repeatedly changes take effect in 2012. of service recipients and against neo-liberalism in all family members. Listeners 62 per cent voted to keep attempted to circumvent the The Canadian Wheat service providers was very its manifestations. were struck by the dignity the single desk, while for law in a variety of ways, Board website (www.cwb. and raw courage of the barley, the result was 51 but without success. ca) has a link enabling speakers, embodied in their per cent in favor. Following the election individuals to send a mes- determination to hold gov- Predictably, Gerry Ritz, of a Conservative majority sage to Minister Ritz and Join the ernments accountable until the Conservative Minister government in May, the their MP in support of the justice is done, however Responsible for the Wheat Wheat Board commis- farmers’ position. International Socialists long it may take. Board, announced that he sioned its own plebiscite. The National Farmers The Walk4Justice arrived would ignore the results of The Friends of the Union website (www.nfu. Mail: P.O. Box 339, Station E, Toronto, ON M6H 4E3 E-mail: [email protected] / Tel: 416.972.6391 in Ottawa prior to the the plebiscite. He claims Canadian Wheat Board ca) has a sign-on letter for September 19 opening of that the Conservative (www.friendsofcwb. organizations to support the Parliament. They presented electoral victory last ca) has launched a legal Wheat Board. their demands to govern- May is all the mandate challenge to the govern- Recent signers include Name: ment for adequate measures the government needs to ment’s declared intention UFCW Canada and the Address: for protection of all women, fundamentally change of abolishing single-desk Agricultural Workers especially aboriginal, from how grain in marketed in marketing in contravention Alliance. This is a straight City/Province: violence, and thorough Western Canada. of the Wheat Board Act. ideological struggle of investigation of cases of the The Wheat Board Act The government plans to farmers and workers versus Phone: disappeared. of 1998 stipulates that the get around this obstacle by large corporations. We E-mail: For more information, visit www. government must conduct a introducing new legislation can’t afford to sit on the fnbc.info/walk4justice. producer plebiscite before that would remove the sidelines.

October 2011 Socialist Worker 11 OCCUPY EVERYTHING by PETER HOGARTH srpeading “occupy” move- ment across North America ECHOES FROM Seattle is happening on unceded 1999 to Egypt 2011 Native land which has been can be heard in Zuccotti illegally occupied by the col- park, the Manhattan site onial governments of Canada renamed Liberty Square and the US. But occupations by the Occupy Wall of an opposite kind, against Street movement (OWS) those governments, have also participants. been historically important The movement, which tatics for workers, students started out on Friday and the poor. From Boston to September 17 with a group Vancouver the occupy move- of largely young campaign- ments have been conscious to ers, artists and students oc- distinguish the two and build cupied Wall Street in New solidarity with First Nations York’s financial district, has struggles, and have gained continued to grow and attract the support of aboriginal international attention as it activists. captures the current mood of anger against austerity. Working class Starting September 17, power hundreds camped out in As the occupy movement Liberty Square (renamed spreads, these protests have in solidarity with Tahrir the potential to become a pole Square, where the Egyptian of attraction for resistance to Revolution began) and or- a broken system. ganized daily general assem- The initial declaration blies and demonstrations. coming out of the OWS is While originally built very promising as it challenges loosely without clear strategy the racism and colonialism or demands and instead just at home and abroad, criti- calling on others to “join us”, cizes the continued foreclos- the occupations have clearly ures, the ridiculous profits of touched a nerve and have executives and downloading drawn a lot of support. The of the crisis onto ordinary attack by police—who beat, into the presidency. But the and demonstrations and oc- to broader forces and grew. has drawn the support of the people, the declaration calls pepper-sprayed and arrested Democrats have put a damper cupied the capital building United Steelworkers, SEIU for renewable energy and col- en masse peaceful protesters on much of the resistance in against the austerity agenda Strategy 1199, the National Nurses lective bargaining rights and in the square and on Brooklyn the US, leaving anger against of Tea-Party governor Scott Despite an alleged aversion United coalition, and the train so forth. Bridge—only increased sup- the economic crisis to ex- Walker. Since then teach- to making concrete demands, and bus drivers of Transport It is these kinds of clear port for the protest. press itself with Tea party ers have defied injunctions the politics of the movement Workers Union local 100, demands that connect to the right-wing populism. in Washington, thousands are becoming sharper as the who are now refusing to have economic crisis and the fight Protest roots However, after three years of Verizon workers walked movement grows. The clear- their vehicles commandeered against austerity that can Some see this movement as of inaction, broken promises off the job, California pris- est message coming out of to transport those arrested draw wider forces around purely spontaneous but it was and nothing on offer but for- oners have gone on hunger the OWS is that “we are the at the demonstrations. This the movement in New York, shaped by over a decade of cing workers and the poor to strike, public sector workers 99 per cent”; we are in debt, sentiment is also what has Toronto or elsewhere. struggle in the US and around make sacrifices to bailout the in Ohio have led a campaign out of work, and the system inspired solidarity marches In Egypt the decisive mo- the world. The anti-capitalist system, people are fighting to repeal anti-union legisla- is hurting us; we are not the from the United Federation ment came when the spirit of messages (“the system’s back. Inspired by a year of tion, and dockworkers on richest one per cent and we of Teachers, New York Tahrir went to the factories, not broken, it was built this anti-austerity protests—from the west coast have blocked want something more. Communities for Change, fusing political and economic way”, as one sign read), echo the Arab spring to general trains filled with scab cargo Despite all the supposed SEIU, TWU, walk-outs from resistance. the 1999 anti-globalization strikes across Europe—2011 and smashed equipment used leaderlessness and lack of university students, and over By uniting the energy and protests in Seattle against the has shown significant by scab workers. demands on the part of the 700 pilots from the Air Line anger of this new anticapital- World Trade Organization struggles by the US labour There was an occupation movement, this is the senti- Pilots Association. Marines ist movement with the power (WTO). movement. in New York last June, but ment that is reaching people have even offered to act as of the working class, we can This was followed in the The spark was lit in it didn’t connect enough to across America and the world protection from the police prevent this movement from mid-2000s by mass move- Wisconsin, where work- labour and community groups and drawing support from and some police are refusing being isolated and it can pot- ments for immigrant rights ers and students, public so it was isolated and fizzled forces beyond the angry to police the demonstrations. entially be a new pole of re- and against the war, which and private sector workers out. But the Occupation Wall young people who started There is also growing soli- sistance as we rediscover our catapulted Barack Obama organized militant strikes Street movement connected the occupation. It is what darity with First Nations. The capacity to fightback. Never miss Mobilizing can stop the Tories by JESSE MCLAREN an issue. Since the spring there has NDP misses the that she would balance the ONTARIO TORY leader been sustained mobilizing orange wave budget. The main message Mail in this form with a Tim Hudak threatened cheque or money order against Rob Ford. In April In May the federal NDP was that Horwath would to channel the anger thousands rallied against achieved historic results- freeze tuition fees and transit made payable to against the Liberals—who “Socialist Worker”. the cuts. In June Ford’s based on years of anger at fares at the inaccessible closed hospitals, raised boycott of Pride caused an Tory austerity and Liberal levels to which the Liberals tuition fees and cut social outcry that isolated him. In complicity. The outpour- had raised them, and that she Prices per year assistance—into a right- (CAD dollars): July an explosive campaign ing of support after Jack wore high heels. wing response that would to defend libraries put him Layton’s death confirmed As a result, the NDP continue similar policies. Regular subscription: $30 on the defensive, while a that the “orange wave” was missed the wave of resis- Institutions, First Class After Rob Ford became marathon of deputations based on people’s hopes of a tance and only increased delivery and U.S.: $50 Mayor of Toronto and against the cuts revealed fighting alternative. their vote by 5 per cent Other international: $60 Stephen Harper won his that “Ford Nation”—a Tea But much of the NDP (from 17 to 23 per cent), federal majority, media Party style army of citizens leadership federally and which came from the Green pundits and political party demanding austerity—was provincially drew the op- Party (which dropped from leaders assumed Ontario had a myth. In September a poll posite conclusion, that their 8 to 3 per cent). While Name: lurched to the right, and that found strong opposition to electoral victories are based the concentration of the a “Tory hat-trick” would be cuts in every ward, and on on pushing the party to the progressive vote in the Address: inevitable. Hudak followed September 27 thousands of centre. labour party is positive, there this perspective, starting his people rallied in defense of Ontario NDP leader was no overall increase in Phone: campaign denouncing “for- jobs and services. Andrea Horwath refused this vote. Conversely there eign workers” and ending This mobilizing in the to challenge Hudak on his was no significant drop in E-mail: by distributing homophobic streets shifted the terrain racism, declared a “buy the combined corporate vote, leaflets. But this bigotry and around the ballot box— Ontario” campaign based on which went from 74 to 73 Mail to: Socialist Worker, PO Box 339 his association with Rob quickly turning Ford into hostility to Quebec, avoided per cent—as a 3 per cent Station E, Toronto, ON Canada, M6H 4E3 Ford ruined his victory—be- such a liability to Hudak that environmental issues, and gain for the Tories (from 32 Phone: 416.972.6391 / E-mail: [email protected] cause of mobilizations from he was not allowed to openly spent much of her time to 35 per cent) came from a below. endorse him. providing reassurances >>page 2