SocialistWorker www.socialist.ca $2 no. 583 May 2016

Decolonization Page 2 Valerie Lannon reports on the occupations across the system change country in solidarity with Attawapiskat Black Liberation Page 2,5 Stephen Ellis remembers Viola Desmond, while Michelle Robidoux reports on the successful mobiliz- ing of Black Lives Matter- Toronto Tax havens Page 3 Jesse McLaren connects the Panama Papers with Canada’s corporate tax cuts Quebec solidaire Page 5 Chantal Sundaram celebrates the 10th anniversary of Quebec’s left alternative party Climate jobs Page 6-7 Brian Champ challen- ges Trudeau’s policies of “clean growth” while Bradley Hughes explains how oil sands workers are demanding climate jobs

Anti-war Page 9 Paula Greenberg and Faline Bobier review the anti-war documentary We Are Many and the legacy of the anti-war movement Leap Manifesto Page 11 Carolyn Egan responds to claims that the Leap Manifesto ignores workers Fight for $15 Page 12 Pam Frache explains the growing movement across not the country and around the world climate change Facts & figures

11 Number of youth in Attawapiskat who at- ttemped suicide in one day 25 Percentage of Canadian Members of Parliament who bothered to attend an emergency debate on the crisis in Attawapiskat 350 Number of wealthy Canadians, who still remain anonymous, who the Panama Papers reveal are avading taxes 370 Number of shell compan- ies that the Royal Bank of Canada has created to help the wealthy avoid paying taxes, according to the Panama Papers 1000 Number of unemployed oil sands workers who Iron and Earth want trained in solar panel installation by VALERIE LANNON Charlie Angus, an emergency ous studies at the University (for the roads), clean swim- said Ko’na Cochrane, who session of the House of of Winnipeg, Jacqueline ming pool. The Youth Council heard about the protest and 17 million On April 9, Attawapiskat Commons was called in order Romanow, said the govern- has asked for a harvesting drove to the INAC office. Number of American First Nation declared to “discuss the situation.” At ment forced Indigenous centre, a cinema, a youth “The population of indigenous workers who have won pay a state of emergency. the emergency debate some people onto reserves, which trust fund, library, emergency people in Canada have had raises through the Fight There had been reports 75 MPs out of a total of 338 were far away from the mental health responders, enough.” for $15 of eleven suicide at- (fewer than 25 per cent) resources that were avail- firefighters, nurses, and for the Demonstrations have since tempts in one single day bothered to show up. Justin able at the time. Indigenous Prime Minister to meet with been held outside offices the previous weekend. “Sunny ways” Trudeau went communities are still feeling their leadership. in Vancouver, Regina and Subsequently, there was to a book launch for an old the effects, she said: “The Solidarity protests began Gatineau a report of a suicide pact Liberal buddy instead. problem is that indigenous in Toronto, where around More than 150 people took among eleven people, The same day, Mr. White people have had their rights 30 people from both Idle part in a solidarity rally in some as young as 9 years Paper himself, former PM to their resources and their No More and Black Lives Toronto outside the INAC of- old. Jean Chretien roamed around traditional territories taken Matter took over part of the fice, where protesters remain There are also reports Parliament Hill. Reporters away from them, and they’ve Indigenous Affairs office in the office inside. Speakers of more than 100 suicide asked him about the suicide been forcibly impoverished. on April 13, demanding the familiar with Attawapiskat attempts and at least one death crisis in Attawapiskat and he They’ve been pushed on re- federal government take talked about the ridiculously since September in the remote suggested the solution for serves...Reserves were never immediate action to address high cost of living (because community of nearly 2,000 some First Nations people meant to sustain communities recent suicide attempts in most things have to be flown people. Other First Nations may be to leave their isolated or human beings. They were Attawapiskat First Nation in in), the poor water that dealing with recent suicides communities, because of lack meant as temporary hold- northern Ontario. One day causes rashes, poor education, In their own include Pimicikamak and of economic activity. ings cells until they could be later, a similar occupation housing and health services. Shamattawa in Manitoba. In the most condescending assimilated into Canadian began in the department’s As one speaker stated, “The words Across Canada, suicide tone possible, he stated “They culture through things like downtown Winnipeg office: government has no problem rates are far higher among want to be close to the land. residential schools.” “We have officially occupied selling LCBO products at the Indigenous peoples than They are nostalgic about the INAC in Winnipeg in support same price there as here, but others, as are contributing fac- past” but that “people have to Attawapiskat youth of our brothers and sisters not the same for food and “People have to tors such as extreme poverty. move sometimes.” He went and solidarity across Turtle Island!!!!” everything else.” move sometimes.” All of this is the horrific on to say, as countless col- The list of demands of the organizer Raquel Lavallee As one speaker at the -Colonial response from ongoing legacy of coloniza- onial governments have done youth themselves is simple posted on Facebook. Toronto solidarity rally said, former Prime Minister tion perpetrated since day in the past to cast themselves and straightforward and First Nations across “The government cares when Jean Chretien in reac- one by Canada’s settler ruling as the cure for an Indigenous nothing more than youth Canada need better funding you care. Things change when tion to suicide crisis in class, while corporations like problem, that “there’s always in most places want, and, and a commitment from the the mass of people push and Attawapiskat the DeBeers diamond mine tragedies of that nature that in economically better off federal government to address push… Keep listening to the near Attawapiskat, exploit the occur, and the government has situations, receive. Things like the poverty, overcrowded communities and what they “The government planet. to do its best to cure it.” more recreational facilities housing, and other issues, the say they need.” cares when you He was blasted by with staff, better education, a protesters in Winnipeg say. care. Things change Colonial response NDP MPs in the House of community greenhouse gar- “It’s time … to honour our when the mass of At the insistence of Commons and by many den, traditional teachings, a commitments of healing and people push and Attawapiskat’s NDP MP others. The chair of indigen- recycling centre, dust control reconciliation in Canada,” push… Keep listen- ing to the commun- ities and what they say they need.” Black Lives Matter shows how to win -Indigenous speaker by MICHELLE ROBIDOUX the SIU and the Toronto of Ontario’s Special of the carding regulations, outside occupation of INAC Police Services work under Investigations Unit (SIU), and all the ways that our office in Toronto, on import- By combining mass mo- provincial jurisdiction. and calling for the officers Black people continue to ance of solidarity bilizing, tactical crea- Sooner of later, Wynne responsible for the killing of face violence at the hands tivity and a constant will have to answer to her Andrew Loku to be named. of those who should be We are skilled push for achievable constituents. In light of her City councillors Mike protecting us…One of our workers: electricians, demands, Black Lives silence, we decided to come Layton and Kristyn Wong- key demands is specific- iron workers, pipe Matter-Toronto has to her and remind her of the Tam put forward a motion ally seeking a complete fitters, boilermakers, challenged anti-Black faces of those victimized calling for the Province overhaul of the province’s carpenters, and racism and showed how by institutions under her and the Minister respon- Special Investigations Unit, many more trades, to win change. watch. Their blood is on her sible for Anti-Racism “to to be done in consultation and we could After nearly two weeks of hands.” ensure police services and with families of victims of easily transfer our an unprecedented tent city As Wynne refused to meet investigations are fair and police violence, the Black knowledge to the occupation outside Toronto with them, Black Lives transparent.” The motion communities throughout the green economy.” police headquarters, Ontario Matter led a march from was adopted unanimously. province, and the commun- -Liam Hildebrand, oil Premier Kathleen Wynne their police headquarters Activists then unfurled ity at-large.” sands workers and founder and Toronto Mayor John occupation to Queen’s banner-size copies of the In the wake of these Tory continued to remain Park, where Wynne finally SIU report into Andrew mobilizations the Coroner’s of Iron and Earth, which silent on the police killing emerged to briefly speak Loku’s death. On leaving office announced an inquest Socialist Worker is asking for transition to of Black people. So Black with them and acknowledge the council chambers, into the death of Andrew renewable energy Lives Matter-Toronto took systemic racism. the protest moved to the Loku, and activists have e-mail: [email protected] their demands directly to mayor’s office. The mayor also won the promise of web: www.socialist.ca them. Tory was nowhere to be seen, but community consultations. lphone: 416.972.6391 John Tory said he had activists invited John Tory to Though Tory tried to Wynne not even read a one-page come and meet with them at organize a meeting that All correspondence to: Socialist Worker On March 31 activists report by the “Special Toronto Police headquarters. excluded BLMTO, other P.O. Box 339, Station E hosted a vigil outside Investigations Unit” that A statement on the Black organizations representing Toronto, ON M6H 4E3 Kathleen Wynne’s home, cleared police of any Lives Matter TO Coalition the Black community, like Published every four weeks in leaving a wreath and photos wrongdoing in the murder facebook page stated: the Urban Alliance on Race Toronto by the International Socialists. Printed in Hamilton at a union shop; member of the in honour of Andrew of Andrew Loku. SoThen “#BLMTOtentcity draws Relations, showed solidarity Canadian Magazine Publisher’s Association Loku—who Toronto police on April 1 about 100 our attention to the ways by refusing to meet unless / Canadian Publications Mail Agreement No. killed and the SIU have members and supporters of that Black lives are dispens- BLMTO was present, and 58554253-99, Post Office Department, Ottawa / ISSN 0836-7094 / Return postage guaranteed refused to investigate. As Black Lives Matter-Toronto able to Toronto Police to support its ongoing Yusra Khogali, co-founder packed Toronto City Services, the inefficiencies demands. of Black Lives Matter- Council chambers calling of the Special Investigations Toronto explained, “Both for a complete overhaul Unit (SIU), the uselessness 2 Socialist Worker May 2016 INTERNATIONAL Revolt in France by DAVE SEWELL Strikes and protests in- tensified in France in the run-up to a coordinated day of action against the government’s proposed Work Law. This was expected to see over a million workers strike as well as student mobilisations. Entertainment workers led an occupation of the Odeon theatre in Paris last Sunday night, along with students and unemployed people The entertainment workers have a special unemploy- ment scheme since they are mostly in short term jobs and frequently out of work. The Labour-type government is trying to cut this. But TV worker Sophie Tissier told Socialist Worker, “It’s the powerful bosses’ union Medef that’s directing the negotiations, imposing the bosses’ demands and the bosses’ timetable. So we’re occupying the Odeon and holding general assem- Panama Papers, Canadian connections blies with all unemployed by JESSE MCLAREN people—because this is about defending unemployment The leak of the Panama Papers have with British dependencies in the evasion. states have increasingly criminal- insurance for everyone.” not only exposed specific greedy Caribbean long before they became One of the main responses to the ized refugees. Up to 1,000 people rallied individuals, but the general way in tax havens, and because Canadian leak has been to justify it in legal Governments have cut refugee outside, followed by the which capitalism works—where banks had played a key role in the terms. As lawyer Martin Kenney, health while scapegoated refugees latest in a series of national imperialist nations create havens Caribbean since the early twentieth brother of Jason Kenney, claimed: for cuts to healthcare, and exploited rail strikes against an attack for wealth while denying havens for century, Canada was a major player “It’s tax efficient. It’s not unlawful. refugees while scapegoating refu- on workers’ terms and refugees, and governments use the in their transformation.” It’s not tax evasion. It’s lawful tax gees for the economic crisis. While conditions to make way for resulting tax losses and further tax While the Panama Papers name avoidance.” At the same time, and RBC was using tax havens abroad, privatisation. cuts to impose austerity. 350 wealthy Canadians, many with the same rationale, Canada it- it was also using the Temporary Paris rail worker Axel previously unknown, there is a self has become a tax haven—with Foreign Worker Program to exploit Persson told Socialist Tax havens and long history of the most known record low corporate taxes after migrant workers in Canada. Worker, “The strikes are imperialism and powerful Canadians benefiting years of tax cuts by both Liberals Now the corporate press is growing, and this one’s The Panama Papers involve 11.5 from tax havens—from CK Irving, (like Paul Martin as finance scapegoating the Leap Manifesto bigger than the last Workers million documents from Mossack who has sheltered his wealth in minister and Prime Minister) in the for the tens of thousands of workers are talking about going from Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm Bermuda, to former Prime Minister 1990s and Conservatives. who have lost their jobs in the one-day strikes to rolling specializing in tax havens—many Paul Martin whose family shipping For years the Liberals and tar sands. But the Panama Papers strikes—and bringing more in the Caribbean. Canada is not just business (Canada Steamship Lines) Conservatives have used budget show that money exists for climate sectors onboard. In May we incidentally named in these papers has a subsidiary in Barbados deficits to justify slashing health- job alternatives to the tar sands, want the oil refineries and but has played a central role in the . care, education and other social if governments go after corpora- the dockers out with us, and creation of these tax havens. Economic crisis and services, when these deficits were tions instead of the climate justice that’s a real possibility.” Canada has a long history of austerity artificially generated through movement. Just think of how many The pressure for more imperialism in Latin America and The economic crisis created a low corporate taxes and offshore good green jobs we could have action shaped the confer- the Caribbean, where Canadian further drive for the 1% to hide “tax avoidance.” Trudeau and the if Trudeau closed corporate tax ence of France’s biggest corporations have benefited from from taxes. The wealth Canadians Liberals supported Harper’s free havens abroad and raised corporate union federation, the CGT. military coups. In 1917 the Royal have declared in offshore tax trade deal in Panama, and in the taxes at home. Delegates backed a proposal Bank of Canada set up a branch in havens has skyrocketed, from $11 latest budget Trudeau has continued Reacting to the Panama Papers, from entertainment workers Haiti in the wake of the US inva- billion in 1990, to $155 in 2012, Harper’s corporate tax cuts—arti- Trudeau stated that “Our govern- to make Thursday’s strikes sion. Canada was jointly respon- to $200 billion today. This creates ficially creating a budget deficit ment has long known — indeed, the start of continuous action, sible for the 2004 coup in Haiti an estimated $8 billion annual loss to claim he’s spending on First we got elected — on a promise to renewed by mass meetings which has benefited the Canadian in tax revenue, though the exact Nations and infrastructure. make sure that people were paying every evening. garment industry, and Canadian amount is unknown because the their fair share of taxes.” As well The union leadership mining corporations have benefited Canada Revenue Agency refuses to Create a haven for refu- as demanding the release of the was booed for watering this from the 2009 coup and ongoing calculate the tax gap. gees, not the 1% individuals and corporations within down. One delegate argued, violence in Honduras. Reacting to the leak, CRA The Panama Papers not only the Panama Papers, we also need to “We need to shut the country As Alain Deneault explains in claimed it “continues to pursue aud- serve as a reminder of the way the push Trudeau: down, notably by blockading Canada: A New Tax Haven: How its related to offshore tax evasion 1% hide their own wealth while the petrol depots.” the Country That Shaped the including some Canadian clients imposing austerity on the 99%, * demand the CRA disclose and Students continue to hold Caribbean Tax Havens is Becoming associated with law firm Mossack but also expose the scapegoating then eliminate the tax gap regular walkouts and sit-ins One Itself, “If we want to under- Fonseca.” But how is it supposed of migrants and refugees. While * restore corporate tax cuts so across the country. And the stand the relationship between to effectively collect hidden taxes imperialist nations make use of the Canada is no longer a tax haven, “Night on our feet” (Nuit Canada and today’s tax havens, if it’s not even aware of the scale Global South as a haven for their and use the money to provide good Debout) movement of square we need to understand Canada’s of the problem? The Panama wealth, they refuse to provide a green jobs for all occupations centred on Paris’ direct contribution to the genesis Papers reveal that the Royal Bank haven for refugees fleeing imperial- * close trade deals and open the Place de la Republique has of some of these jurisdictions. of Canada alone has created more ist war. While making tax avoid- borders: create a haven for refugees become a hub of the broader Because Canada had trade relations than 370 shell companies for tax ance increasing legal, capitalist not the 1% resistance. Occupiers defied repres- sion by soldiers as well as cops last week. And some From WTO to TPP of the initiatives and debates in the square seek to break The massive demonstrations alternative since other countries heart of these agreements. against corporate interests. This is down longstanding divides in in Seattle in November 1999 will go ahead with the deals with us The template for the ISDS is a dead end. The main drivers of the the French working class. alerted many to the dangers or without us. Chapter 11 under NAFTA. It gives agreements are states themselves. A new commission on of corporate driven trade What we need to know is that corporations the right to sue and The current Canadian government fighting Islamophobia and agreements. The collapse of these trade pacts have only one state that develops laws that may has a long history of support for state racism held an assembly the millennium round of WTO goal: increasing corporate profit- interfere with profits. We have a these trade deals. Far from being in the square last week. negotiations didn’t however ability at the expense of working long history of dealing with those an opponent of the weakening of And a call for a “Suburbs stop corporations from push- people and the environment. They types of disputes in Canada because law an regulations, successive on our feet” movement has ing for more deals. are written by corporations for cor- of the relatively longer tenure of Canadian governments have shown seen assemblies in Paris’ Instead of packaging all the trade porations with the goal of increas- NAFTA. themselves to be—as Marx put often poor and marginalised agreements into one broad WTO ing privatization and deregulation. There have been 35 disputes, it—the executive committee of the outlying areas. framework, they were instead There are many sections to these which have resulted in more than bourgeoisie, managing the state in There is an international broken down for parts and are agreements that cover everything $200 million in payments by the the interests of the ruling class. gathering in the square on being implemented piecemeal on from intellectual property and Canadian Government. The ISDS Economic crisis will drive more Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 newer agreements such as the TPP patents to limits on what govern- provisions have also been used in agreements to help prop up flagging May. This is to be followed (Tans Pacific Partnership) or CETA ments are able to do to regulate other parts of the world to target profits and we will be told again by a global “Night on our (Comprehensive Economic and environmental protections. labour and environmental protec- and again that there is no alterna- feet” on Sunday 15 May. Trade Agreement). Central to the deals is an tions. This dispute mechanism is tive. But that is false. A world Opposition has been blunted entrenching of corporate power designed to entrench profit as the where the interests of working This is shared from Socialist and the result is that you are hard in relation to the state, which only goal of domestic legislation. people and the environment is Worker (UK) pressed to find any political party— give multinationals the ability to This power to challenge do- central is the alternative. from the right wing to the social challenge any law that may cut into mestic laws has resulted in some democrats—that opposes the agree- their profits. The Investor State opponents of trade agreement ments. We are told that there is no Dispute Mechanisms (ISDS) are the calling for more power of the state

May 2016 Socialist Worker 3 IDEAS FOR STRUGGLE Faline Bobier HISTORY Arab Spring to Democracy Spring

This May Day there’s something in the air: an air of democracy which is running through the American primaries and the millions rallying behind the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, to the Black Lives Matter two week occupation in front of police headquarters in Toronto, to the sub- sequent occupation of INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs) offices, beginning in Toronto but spreading across the country, to the Nuit Debout gatherings in city squares across France—which have recently been joined by strikes by French workers against the proposed changes to labour laws by French ‘socialist’ president François Hollande. It’s not the feeble democracy our leaders are always talking about, which doesn’t deserve the name. For them democracy is used as a way to shut up any criticism of their actions or to wage wars on other countries in order to bring them this “democracy” they are constantly touting. No, the democracy we are seeing in action is the oppos- ite of this sham freedom our governments claim to bestow upon us. It is democracy from below. It’s the oppressed and exploited organizing themselves to challenge the racism, colonialism, inequality and injustice of a system where the 1% hold more wealth than the bottom 99%. Feel the Bern Even though Bernie Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in the New York primary, the level of organizing by Sanders supporters was truly impressive. And it was not the kind of organizing that we often see where people are supposed to avoid talking politics but simply talk up their candidate in a totally apolitical way. Sanders message, that what the US needs is a political revolution, is resonating with youth, with Blacks, with Latinos, with workers, with women—because he is chal- lenging decades of the status quo under successive cynical Republican and Democratic politicians. He is saying things that many Americans know to be true through their own experience: that the banks and corporations were bailed out at the expense of ordinary Americans, that there is something fundamentally wrong with the richest capitalist country in the world not being able to afford universal healthcare for all its citizens, that young people shouldn’t graduate from university or college with life-long debt, for those who are even able to get there in the first place, that Remembering Viola the US has the highest incarceration levels (particularly for Black men) in the world. That is why it will be a criminal betrayal if Sanders tries to get his supporters to back Clinton in the event he loses the primary. A significant proportion of Sanders supporters Desmond have already said they will not vote for Clinton should she win the nomination. Everything Sanders has stood for is by STEPHEN ELLIS the exact opposite of the war-mongering, privilege-driven, corporate-backed Clinton campaign. Some have referred to her as the police station.” She spent the night activists in the Black community the Canadian Rosa Parks. But in the jail. continued to insist that the injustice of Occupy Rosa Parks could be called the The next morning she was brought her conviction had to be addressed. Likewise the Nuit Debout movement in France is another American Viola Desmond. On before the magistrate. She had no Finally, in 2010, The Royal example of self-organization by the people themselves to Friday, November 8, 1946, nearly lawyer, was not told of her right to Prerogative of Mercy Free Pardon was take over public spaces and to challenge recent changes to a decade before Rosa Parks seek bail or request an adjournment, declared in a ceremony at Province French security laws. Beginning on March 31 thousands sparked the Montgomery bus and was not given the chance to cross- House. This was a free pardon – a of people began meeting in the evenings at Place de la boycott, Viola Desmond became examine the three white witnesses at signal that the original conviction Republique, a central square in Paris. Nearby on the river a symbol of resistance to racism her trial. She was convicted of having was a miscarriage of justice. A stamp Seine, a huge graffiti reads, “We would rather be on our in Nova Scotia. violated the Theatres, Cinematographs featuring Viola Desmond was unveiled feet at night than on our knees during the day.” While driving through New and Amusements Act by not paying in February 2012. The gatherings can include book stalls, speeches, Glasgow, Nova Scotia, her car broke the price differential between the debates about feminism. The Nuit Debout protests are down and she decided to take in a balcony and the lower seats. It was Black Lives Matter becoming a hub of bigger protests as workers and students movie at the Roseland Theatre while it clear to all to see, however, that this As Graham Reynolds, author of are striking over the proposed changes to French labour was being repaired. was an incident where the state had Viola Desmond’s Canada: A History law. They have also been a focus for the French govern- Desmond went into the theatre and again chosen to use provincial legisla- of Blacks and Racial Segregation in ment to try and divide and conquer using their preferred asked to buy a downstairs ticket. The tion to enforce racially discrimination the Promised Land writes, “We have tool—Islamophobia—but so far they haven’t been cashier, however, sold her a balcony in Nova scotia. She was fined $26 and felt a sense of moral superiority with successful. ticket and gave her change. As she had to pay it forthwith or risk spending the Americans because of the extent When people organize together to challenge the way proceeded downstairs, the white ticket a month in jail. of the problem in the United States. things are they can begin to build unity against the taker told her that she would have This was not the first time the We look south and see violent racism attempts by rulers and governments to sow division. In to go up to the balcony. Confused, Roseland Theatre was the centre of and we are shocked. But if we have Toronto this was seen very clearly in both the Black Lives Desmond returned to the cashier and legal controversy. In 1942, Carrie Best a close look at our own history, we Matter occupation of police headquarters and the subse- asked to be given a downstairs ticket. brought a civil suit against the theatre have the same problems...In general, quent occupation of INAC offices. Black and indigenous The white cashier stated, “I’m sorry for its racist seating policy. She lost Canadians are not willing to accept the activists supported each others’ actions, as well as drawing but I’m not permitted to sell down- the case and was forced to pay the reality that we had racial segregation. many others in Toronto to solidarity rallies. stairs tickets to you people.” theatre $156.07 in legal costs. It wasn’t enforced in the same way it The cashier never used to the word was in the U.S. with Jim Crow laws. Protest, strike “Black,” “Negro” or “colored, ” but Influence and legacy But in some ways it was worse. There In Egypt where the Arab Spring saw the ousting of Viola Desmond knew exactly what Viola Desmond believed that Black was a practice of racial segregation Western-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011 after 30 was meant by “you people” and pro- women should not have to be rel- quietly enforced by theatres, hotels, years of repression, the last few years have seen the return ceeded back into the theatre to sit in egated to domestic work. She operated restaurants...In Canada, we don’t talk of military dictatorship under Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. But el- the partially-filled downstairs section her own hair salon and inspired other about these problems but they are Sisi has no answers to the economic crisis and unemploy- of the theatre. Black women to follow an independ- quietly under the surface.” ment other than repression, torture and stamping out any Soon, the theatre manager con- ent path. Accordingly, some saw her as For many struggling against racism moves by the people towards popular democracy. fronted her in the theatre. She politely, an inspiration; others, a troublemaker. in Nova Scotia, the Roseland Theatre However, protests in Egypt held in late April show that but firmly, asked him to provide her a Many noted activists took up her incident was just one of many indigni- there is a growing confidence to take on the regime. These proper downstairs ticket as she would cause, including Pearleen Oliver, who ties suffered by Black Nova Scotians protests have been met with repression and arrests but they not be able to see very well from the convinced the Nova Scotia Association over the decades. With wounds like will not serve to stop people questioning and organizing. balcony. The angry manager went off for the Advancement of Coloured destruction of Africville still fresh in Ultimately these movements for democracy and freedom to find a police officer. People (NSAACP) to provide legal mind, Black Nova Scotians and their can be a real challenge to so-called capitalist democracy, and moral support. Eventually, she allies can take pride in the courage when they come together with a push for democracy in the The state challenged her conviction to the dis- and audacity of a “troublemaker” like place from which all democracy flows – the workplace. As Viola Desmond wrote of the trict court of Nova Scotia but justice Viola Desmond. Seventy years after That is why the strikes by French workers and students incident: “The policeman grasped my there too was nonexistent. Viola Desmond’s fight against seg- should be supported whole-heartedly by the activists in shoulders and the manger grabbed my Viola Desmond died alone in her regation, the fight against anti-Black Nuit Debout or the Verizon strikers in the US by those legs, injuring my knee and hip. They apartment in 1965. racism continues, through movements organizing around Bernie Sanders’ campaign. carried me bodily from the theatre out The passage of time, however, had like Black Lives Matter that are chal- May Day can be a powerful reminder of how much there into the street. The policeman put me not dampened interest in the Roseland lenging carding and police violence. is to gain in this democracy spring and how little capitalist in a waiting taxi and I was driven to Theatre incident. Over the decades, democracy has to do with freedom for the vast majority. 4 Socialist Worker May 2016 10 years of Québec solidaire Chantal Sundaram examines the origins and growth of Quebec’s left alternative party, and lessons for English Canada

Ten years ago, people in Quebec who want a better world—to eradicate poverty, environmental destruction, sexism, racism, homo- phobia, the oppression of Indigenous peoples, and to bring an end to austerity in favour of the redistribution of wealth and reinvestment in public services—got a party they can vote for in good conscience. And no, it’s not the NDP. It is Québec solidaire. The NDP is still the only party to cast a vote for in English Canada, as the only party con- nected to the labour movement and therefore not beholden to Canada’s corporate elite. But in Quebec, Québec soli- daire has emerged as a realistic electoral alternative despite the fact that its party programme and electoral platforms are far to the left of the NDP’s. In part this is because mass mobilizations against austerity and issues like war and climate change are larger and more advanced in Quebec. But it is also because QS was a conscious and direct creation of social movements based not QS’s founding just in parliament but in activism outside it, in order to provide a convention in political and electoral expression 2006 to that activism. This is a reality captured in the party’s goal to remain both “a party of the ballot short history, three of them went where austerity measures are fully it never came to the floor of box, and a party of the street.” on to be elected to the Quebec na- unleashed against Quebec civil the federal NDP Convention in Nevertheless, its party colour is tional assembly: Amir Khadir, an society, QS no longer has to prove April, where delegates were more orange, and it is not an accident Iranian-Quebecois who worked itself.” consumed with the debate over that it seeks to identify with with Doctors Without Borders And Daniel Boyer, president Mulcair’s leadership, the NDP in the desire in both Quebec and in Palestine; Françoise David, a of the FTQ, the other major Quebec appears to be planning to English Canada for a mass elec- founder of the World March of labour federation in Quebec challenge a few specific ridings toral alternative that people who Women and author; and Manon wrote: “Québec solidaire adds an in 2018. want change can vote for with Masse, a long-standing figure in important and necessary voice at There was a pernicious false- pride, and can feel they are given the LGBTQ community and now the heart of the broad collective hood spread about the last federal a voice along with that vote. a high-profile climate activist. movement in favour of Quebec election which blamed Quebec The election of three deputies independence, a political project for the NDP’s own failings. History within ten years of its creation is to which the FTQ adheres.” The notion that somehow the QS emerged from two organ- nothing short of impressive. But The growth of QS has gone Islamophobia of the niqab debate izations: the Union des Forces so has been the party’s role in hand in hand with the growth of is what cost the NDP the election Progressistes (UFP), formed by helping transform Quebec’s polit- support for the federal NDP in in its loss of Quebec seats over socialists, labour activists, and ical landscape beyond elections. Quebec, from the Orange Wave its principled stance has no legs former members of the Quebec They have built local riding as- that made Jack Layton to the solid given that the Liberal stance NDP; and Option Citoyenne, an sociations with an activist profile NDP popular vote in Quebec that on the niqab was indistinguish- organization grounded in environ- in social movements and grass- survived the Liberal sweep in the able. What was distinguishable mental activism, feminism, and roots campaigns. They are cur- last federal election. QS activists between the two parties was their notably the founding of the World rently conducting regional tours are in no small way responsible position on the deficit. And now March of Women. about growing local, sustainable for this electoral shift to the left Mulcair is paying the price for Both got a boost from the economies and good, green jobs. on the federal level. that with his ousting from leader- huge mobilization by ordinary And the three QS deputies have Not because the people of ship of the party. Quebecois against globalization, used their place in the National Quebec are becoming more fed- The NDP has not lost its which culminated in a protest Assembly as a platform to eralist, but because a vote to the potential federal electoral base of 80,000 against the Summit of denounce the austerity and pro-oil left has become more compelling in Quebec, far from it; but trying the Americas in Quebec City in politics of the Liberals, PQ, and than supporting the right-wing to revive the provincial NDP to April of 2001. And after 9/11, and the CAQ, and to speak out against Bloc Quebecois on sovereigntist compete with Québec solidaire particularly after the US invasion Islamophobia and racism. terms alone, making it possible would do nothing to restore of Iraq, Quebec saw the largest to vote NDP despite its federalist it. And in terms of provincial anti-war protests anywhere in the Today politics. politics, running NDP candidates country. There has been wave after wave would only encourage Quebecois Since the sixties, it was the in Quebec of mass mobilization The NDP in Quebec sympathetic to federalism to vote Parti Quebecois that had held the against austerity, from the 2012 The NDP hasn’t run candidates on that basis rather than voting unofficial allegiance of the left, student strike, to the movement provincially in any Quebec riding left. This would pose no real labour and social movements “The election of three dep- by parents to form human chains since 1994. And yet now, just at threat to Québec solidaire, but in elections. But in the lead-up around public schools to restore the moment when QS has created it would be a disservice to its to the Summit of the Americas uties within ten years of its funding, to the Common Front a new and successful pole of attempts to build a united move- protest the UFP ran a candidate public sector general strike of half attraction away from the Parti ment across traditional federalist- in one key riding—the Montreal creation is nothing short of a million people last fall. This Quebecois towards a genuine left sovereigntist lines. riding of Mercier—and demon- movement needs a political voice. alternative rooted in Quebec’s While many at the Edmonton strated that it was possible to pose impressive. But so has been To celebrate the 10th anni- particular context—all at the NDP convention debated the a new electoral alternative. versary of QS, “À Babord !,” an same time helping create a bigger future of a party that can be truly As the UFP continued to make the party’s role in helping independent progressive maga- base of Quebec support for the progressive and have an orienta- increasing breakthroughs in zine published by QS supporters, NDP federally—the NDP is now tion on political life outside of the popular vote in this riding, transform Quebec’s political interviewed intellectuals, artists, planning to field candidates in the watching Parliamentary debates, they began talks with Option and trade unionists about the 2018 Quebec election. the left in Quebec is thankfully Citoyenne, a larger organization landscape beyond elections.” importance of QS. Of the many Tom Mulcair was the first to past that debate. that had wide reach in organized glowing testimonials came two plant this seed a couple of years And that must be supported by community movements. The talks from the leaders of the major ago, just after the last provincial anyone in English Canada who culminated in a founding confer- labour federations in Quebec and election. But even with his supports both a better Parliament ence for a new political party of leaders of the Common Front. departure the idea seems poised and a better world. the left in 2006, where the name CSN president Jacques to persist. “Québec solidaire” was chosen by Letourneau wrote: “Even though At the last NDP-Quebec con- vote on the conference floor. the debate on sovereignty is never vention, at the end of November Early on, the party was led by over, at a time when the National 2015, a motion was passed to run individual activists with profile Assembly is dominated by right- NDP-Quebec candidates in the and credibility. In the party’s wing or centre-right currents and next provincial election. Although

May 2016 Socialist Worker 5 THE FIGHT FOR CLIMATE JOBS Whereas Harper refused to support green jobs, Trudeau has greenwashed his budget by using the language of “clean growth” to justify giving more money to oil and gas. But workers themselves are challenging this through campaigns for real climate jobs.

‘Clean growth’ vs green jobs By Brian Champ annual federal budget “in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and public transportation, over five years Canada could create one million new jobs while reducing our annual greenhouse gas The 2016 federal budget climate change programs are included in a section titled “A Clean emissions by 25 to 35 per cent.” Growth Economy.” In amongst the details of how much (little) money is to be spent on different This requires a total investment of $81 billion in these three areas over 5 years. The details of programs is included a commitment to move “towards a pan-Canadian Framework on Clean the exact dollar amounts, job numbers and greenhouse gas emission reductions associated with Growth and Climate Change that will meet or exceed Canada’s international greenhouse gas the plan can be found on the GEN website: greeneconomynet.ca. The entire amount being spent (GHG) emissions targets.” But what is “Clean Growth”? on “Clean Growth” over the next two years is on the order of a few billion dollars, and much of this money will not curtail GHG emissions. ‘Clean growth’ As seen above, the plan identifies jobs in the following three sectors as being climate jobs: In early March of this year, Trudeau and the premiers met in Vancouver and subsequently renewable energy production, energy efficiency and public transportation. Basically a climate job released their declaration on “clean growth and climate change.” The declaration makes promises is a job that keeps carbon buried in the ground. to meet Canada’s GHG emissions reductions targets and to transition to low carbon economy. So, for example, factory jobs manufacturing renewable energy systems (e.g. wind turbines or But this declaration and any government actions stemming from it are unlikely to make a dent solar panels, etc.) are climate jobs. But so too would those jobs required in the operations and on Canada’s emissions, due to three key components of the declaration—which replicate the maintenance of these renewable energy systems in the field, as would the associated clerical jobs. “Alberta Climate Leadership Plan.” These jobs help keep carbon buried by replacing fossil fuel energy production. Firstly, far from identifying fossil fuel development as the main problem to be solved, the dec- Improving energy efficiency in the stock of buildings across the country by retrofitting the laration recognizes “the economic importance of Canada’s energy and resource sectors, and their estimated 90 per cent of buildings that have low energy efficiency could employ half a million sustainable development as Canada transitions to a low carbon economy.” The budget has borne construction tradespeople in climate jobs. These jobs help keep carbon buried by reducing the this out, where not only have oil and gas sector subsidies not been cut, but $50 million more has amount of energy consumed per building. This is necessary in the short term, but insufficient been added to improve the “efficiency” of extraction. They’re really saying to the big oil and gas in the long term to curtail the growth of emissions because home and building heating has to be corporations to not worry, we won’t be coming after you. Which means more pipelines, more tar converted to renewable sources to continue to keep carbon in the ground. sands extraction and expanding carbon emissions. This is a serious flaw in any real attempt to Jobs in any part of the public transportation sector are climate jobs. This includes jobs to combat climate change when the main thing that must be done is to keep carbon in the ground. manufacture the vehicles and other components of the public transportation systems and any job Secondly, one of the key components of this plan is to price carbon. According to the budget, involved with the operations or maintenance of a public transportation system. These jobs help Iron and Earth: oil sands workers demand climate jobs Nora Connolly Constance Markiewicz “Pricing carbon will be a key element to transition Canada to a stronger, more resilient low-car- keep carbon buried by reducing the number of cars on the road and thus reducing the amount by Bradley Hughes originally from Victoria. As he explains in the organization’s Skills Campaign. The goal is to put 1000 electricians to work bon economy while also improving our quality of life.” Putting a price on carbon emissions and of energy consumed per kilometer travelled. In the long term public transportation has to be video, “A fourth generation boilermaker, I grew up on the BC installing solar arrays on public buildings. The retaining trusting that market mechanisms will gradually reduce emissions highlights the lack of political converted to renewable energy in order to continue to keep carbon in the ground. will to pursue real action that would require real public money, commitments and a confrontation In addition to climate jobs that lower carbon emissions through energy production and Since spring of this year a small band of oil sands coast and I’m passionate about protecting our environment. program that is required will take five days. with the fossil fuel industry. Pricing carbon allows polluters to pay to keep polluting, instead of efficiency, there are also many jobs that are green by the fact that they are low-carbon jobs. As workers have come together to fight against the I’ve tried to find work in renewable energy, but year after Adam Cormier is a journeyman electrician and writer based actually reducing emissions. It also opens the door to emissions trading and offset schemes that the Leap Manifesto explains, “Shifting to an economy in balance with the earth’s limits also growing layoffs in the tar sands and to fight for a year the only jobs available to me are in the oil and gas in St. John’s, Newfoundland, he spoke about the fate of East are good ways to make money for some companies, but do little or nothing to reduce emissions means expanding the sectors of our economy that are already low carbon: caregiving, teaching, greener future. Together they have created Iron and sector. While leading industrial nations like China, America Coat workers who have migrated to Alberta to work and now in reality. social work, the arts and public-interest media. Following on Quebec’s lead, a national childcare Earth, an initiative led by oilsands workers “who are and Germany are creating millions of green jobs, Canada can’t find work at home or in Alberta. He pointed out that “the Finally, while there is a language around promoting renewable energy production, a great deal program is long past due. All this work, much of it performed by women, is the glue that builds passionate about building the renewable energy is stuck on one idea: the fossil fuel economy. I think that amount of potential renewable energy on the East Coast of of the solutions on offer in the plan are for improved energy efficiency. And there is a widespread humane, resilient communities.” future that Canada needs.” needs to change, and I’m not alone: many of my fellow oil Canada is massive.” He announced their plans for a Maritime belief among many people that the more efficient use of fossil fuels will help reduce carbon emis- sions. But the truth has been known for a long time: a 19th Century economist, William Stanley Grow the Movement Iron and Earth is trying to get together the resources to sands workers are starting to think this way. We are skilled project in the near future. Jevons noted, that there was a paradox involved in the improving steam engine efficiency: as the A key element of expanding climate and low-carbon jobs is government spending. provide training to 1000 unemployed oil sands workers to workers: electricians, iron workers, pipe fitters, boilermakers, Lliam Hildebrand ended the conference by declaring that efficiency of coal burning steam engines improved, the cost of the coal dropped, allowing its use Clearly, given the small relative levels of investment in renewable energy across the economy build solar power. Their plan is to work with “unions, oil carpenters, and many more trades, and we could easily transfer “We want to be the bridge that is going to tie oil and gas and to be expanded dramatically leading to the overall increased use of coal in production. Efficiency and the continued dominance of a handful of global oil companies, the drive for profits is a and gas companies, clean energy entrepreneurs, contractors, our knowledge to the green economy.” the environment and the workers to create a future that we improvements in the extraction of oil from the tar sands have to be seen in this light, and are part barrier to the development of the green economy: witness the drive to fully exploit the tar sands politicians, and other leaders in the energy industry” to create In a press conference in April, Hildebrand introduced Iron can all believe in. We believe that energy development must of the problem, not the solution: leaving the carbon in the ground. even though the world scientific consensus is that this is a sure recipe for climate chaos.While new jobs in green industries despite our governments’ claims and Earth and it’s first project. He explained that he and his prioritize the health and equity of workers, their families, there are privately based climate jobs, significant public investment is necessary to ensure that that we can have jobs or save the environment, but not both. fellow oil sands workers are grateful for the work they have our communities, the environment and the economy. And Climate Jobs there are enough of them to make a difference on the direction of the economy. While our so called leaders make flowery speeches to cover up their inaction, the growth of the Trudeau claimed his budget spends lavishly on green infrastructure, but it’s a fraction of what’s This new organization hopes to become a member-driven had and that they “see a place for the oil sands in the Canadian we believe that all of those things can be accomplished. We climate justice movement in recent years has seen the coming together of Idle No More, environ- needed for a just transition—and it’s a fraction of the funds available, as is clear from the leaked advocacy organization. Their first annual general meeting will economy into the future.” However since many workers are believe that climate change is a considerable threat and we mentalists and labour activists into a growing movement. One of the crucial components of a Panama Papers. There are growing numbers of workers demanding federal and provincial gov- be in July, when they will ratify bylaws and decide on the path out of work, it’s time to diversify into renewable energy. “We want to ensure that Alberta and Canada meet their climate winning strategy for the climate justice movement is the demand for the development of, and just ernments invest in climate jobs, including oil sands workers themselves: as the organization Iron for the organization for the next 12 months. need policies that will put oil sands workers to work in the targets and exceed them. We believe that meeting these transition to Climate Jobs for workers. and Earth writes, “We’re calling on the government of Alberta to invest in training programs, The organization is made up of oil sands workers who have renewable energy economy.” climate targets is going to be the largest job creator that our The One Million Climate Jobs campaign originated in the UK after workers at the Vestas Wind starting by retraining one thousand out-of-work oil industry electricians in Alberta in solar panel lost their jobs and want to be involved in networks that can He pointed to his own experience where he could put his trades have seen in a long time.” Turbine plant on the Isle of Wight occupied the plant in August 2009, after the multinational installation…By preparing the renewable energy workforce it is a win-win for Canadian workers, create new jobs in renewable industries. Their first project is to training to use on renewable projects without the need for new company announced its closure, demanding that it be nationalized to save their jobs. It grew our families, our economy and the environment.” into an international campaign, in South Africa and now in Canada. Developed by the Green Only by continuing to build the movement and push for real solutions can we force our retrain 1000 electricians to install solar panels. training. However, some renewable industries will require For more information, and to endorse their campaign, visit Economy Network (GEN), a coalition of national union, environmental NGOs, and social justice governments to act, and ultimately build a better world run on the power of people and renewable The founding director, Lliam Hildebrand, is a boilermaker some retraining. Iron and Earth’s first campaign is their Solar www.ironandearth.org groups, the campaign asserts that if the Canadian government spends a mere 5 per cent of the energy.

6 Socialist Worker May 2016 May 2016 Socialist Worker 7 ANALYSIS

SOCIAL DEMOCRACY NDP convention From April 8-10, a convention took place in Edmonton to decide the future of the NDP. At the end of the weekend, the future was cloudy, though perhaps brighter than before. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory The NDP made historic gains in 2011, based on anger at the Conservatives, disillusionment with the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois, and inspiration from movements around the world from the Arab Spring to the occupation in Wisconsin. For the first time the Official Opposition was not the twin parties of Canadian capitalism but Canada’s labour party, which is supposed to represent the working class. Then the NDP took Alberta, the heartland of wild west capitalism and social conservatism, from a PC government that had run the province into the ground with reckless dis- regard for the climate, the provincial infrastructure, and the workers. The federal NDP began the election campaign in the lead, by echoing movement demands for $15 minimum wage, childcare and an end to Bill C-51. But in an election defined by expense scandals, police state omnibuses, attacks on refugees and “barbaric cultural practices,” and austerity, the party that should stand against all those forces managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This has seemed a strange occurrence upon reflection, because Canadians voted overwhelmingly for the idea of progress and change. With the Liberal party positing themselves as left wing, there was only one party that the media pegged as centrist or right wing. That big tent Conservative party received only thirty percent of the vote from Canadians, in what was one of the highest voter turnouts in years. So why did the NDP, who ran high in the polls and in public approval, get such a bad result, and why do they continue their decline? Those questions were asked before the convention, and the answers were twofold: the leader, and the platform. NDP removed the symptom, not the problem Mulcair failed his leadership referendum, winning only 48 per cent of the vote from his party delegates. This was a man who praised Margaret Thatcher, the enemy of labour union- ists. Someone who had removed the word socialist from a party, and who lost the election by promising to “balance the budget,” allowing the Liberals to monopolize the surge in vote for change. While he might have been effective in question period, he ran the party as a top-down manager, silencing members Ghomeshi trial shows justice of the party who were too pro-Palestine, too anti-oil, too anything that approached radical. The party agreed, after stirring speeches by the leaders and the membership, that there’s no room in this country for two liberal parties. But removing Mulcair won’t transform system is guilty the party. For years the NDP have moved towards the centre, federally under Jack Layton, and provincially across the Last month saw a wave of anger complainant on trial rather than the task for the trial and who obviously country. The NDP, like social democratic parties around the appear as Jian Ghomeshi was accused”; specious applications to failed to prepare its key witnesses. It world, exist to manage capitalism not to overthrow it. From acquitted of sexual assault obtain the complainant’s records; showed defence bar culture that sees Britain’s Labour Party, to PASOK in Greece and the ANC and choking charges. After and the invoking and exploiting of it appropriate to eviscerate witnesses in South Africa, social democratic parties have subordinated Ghomeshi’s lawyer, Marie stereotypical assumptions about through “whacking techniques”. And movements to the capitalist state. Mulcair is merely the Henein, aggressively cross- women and consent, including in the result, it showed why so many latest expression of this behaviour, and removing him does examined the women who assumptions about communication, victims of sexual assault chose to not not do away with the reformism at the heart of the party. brought forward the complaints, dress, revenge, marriage, prior sexual come forward, afraid of being humili- the judge overseeing the hearing history, therapy, lack of resistance and ated, blamed and accused of deception Stumble or leap? determined that the complain- delayed disclosure and manipulation. Another issue at convention that highlighted the party’s ants’ accounts were not believ- While legislation has sought to curb predicament was the debate over climate justice. In addition able and cast doubts onto their the practice, the Ghomeshi hearing Moving forward to removing Mulcair from the leadership, the NDP made a credibility. revealed that it is still a widely used Whether Ghomeshi will get justice second welcome move: to study the Leap Manifesto. Unsurprisingly, there was a furious and accepted practice. In her cross- in the future or not, things need to The Leap manifesto declares, in no small words, that reaction among women and allies who examination of the three complainants, change in our criminal justice system. the time for austerity and moderatism are over. Large steps have grown tired of a legal system that Henein went into extensive question- There needs to be greater openness in must be taken to curb and reverse climate change, income puts victims of sexual assault on trial ing about their recollection of events accepting that complainants’ stories inequality, militarism, and infringement of indigenous rights. and fails to punish the vast majority of that were only tangentially related to are messy, scarred by the trauma The NDP has committed to analyze the points outlined in victims of sexual assault. the actual assault. Henein used the of sexual assault. Their testimonies the manifesto, and adapt the appropriate points into their According to Holly Johnson’s victim’s failure to be fully forthcom- are never going to be crystal clear electoral platform. article “Limits of a Criminal Justice ing about post-assault communication accounts of what happened, and just A great deal of ink has been spilled by, as Avi Lewis Response,” out of every 1000 case of with Ghomeshi to suggest ulterior because they aren’t does not mean calls them, the “Very Serious Pundits” of Canada. They’ve sexual assault only 33 are reported, reasons for their account of the they lack legitimacy or credibility. attacked the Leap manifesto and the vote against Tom 29 recorded as a crime, 12 result in assaults. While Ghomeshi exercised There needs to be self-reflection Mulcair as the end of the NDP, a renewal of an age where charges, 6 of which are prosecuted, his right to not testify, the defense was among those who practice criminal the NDP were a fringe party. These are the same pundits and only 3 end up with a conviction. able to turn the entire case into a trial defense. The principle of not letting who have railed against the rise of Bernie Sanders, and of There are a variety of reasons why about the motives of the complainants someone’s freedom away without the Jeremy Corbyn. The same pundits who lauded Tom Mulcair these numbers are so staggeringly in bringing their accusation forward. state proving its case beyond a reason- for his dedication towards balanced budgets. These same low. Many women who are assaulted The end result was not surprising. able doubt is an important one, but pundits continue to misread the Canadian working class and choose to avoid the “justice” system The criminal justice system has a high does this require cross-examination the needs of the planet. They advocate for austerity and slow completely. Going forward to the bar of “beyond a reasonable doubt” techniques that aim to destroy the movement on climate action, for a continuation of failed police often results in their own to convict and when a trial turns into complainants? And judges need to be neo-liberal policies. sexual pasts or conduct being put on examining the minutia of recollection cognizant that decisions that vilify But the Leap Manifesto has also been attacked from trial. If a complaint actually results in of the accusers it is very difficult to victims discourage reporting. within the NDP leadership and section of the trade union prosecution, a victim will often face convict. Beyond this, projects such as the bureaucracy, who echoed the mainstream pundits and lashed public backlash of people doubting However, when Justice Horkin’s one launched by Linda Redgrave, one out at their own membership for engaging in the climate jus- their story and then have to confront made his decision he did not stop there of Ghomeshi’s victims, will try to pro- tice movement. The same reformist logic that led the NDP defense lawyers willing to attack them but went to great lengths to further vide a safe space for victims of sexual to chose Mulcair as leader and campaign on “balancing the as they testify before the courts. stigmatize those who bring forward assault to come forward. Additionally, budget” is leading the right-wing within the party to attack sexual assault accusations, labelling the Ontario government has agreed to the Leap Manifesto rather than fight for climate jobs. If this Whacking the witness the complainants as “deceptive” and pay for legal advice for victims, which continues it could derail the hope and unity of the climate In many ways, the Ghomeshi trial “manipulative” and warning against will hopefully give complainants a justice movement. revealed some of the worst aspects of the “dangerous false assumption that better sense of what they are going up The two votes at the Edmonton convention have demon- “acceptable” criminal defense prac- all sexual assault complainants are against and leave them more prepared. strated that the bulk of the NDP are interested in returning to tice. In sexual assault cases, defence always truthful,” as if that is the most their roots, though this won’t happen automatically. It’s by council often resort to the practice of pressing problem facing sexual assault Further reading: Jon Krakauer’s continuing to build the climate justice and other movements “whacking the witness,” a practice in the justice system. “Missoula: Rape and the Justice with those inside and outside the NDP that we can push the that law professor David Tanovich In many ways the Ghomeshi trial System in a College Town” is a bril- party back towards the left, or build the basis for a left- describes as follows: showed everything that is wrong liant recount of the American justice alternative if it continues its rightward track. Whacking the complainant includes with our criminal justice system’s system’s own failings with sexual humiliating or prolonged cross- handling of sexual assault. It showed assault that echo all the things we saw examination that “seek[s] to put the a prosecution that was not up to the in Ghomeshi.

8 Socialist Worker May 2016 REVIEWS The Irish Citizens Army of 1916

By Paul O’Brien of any army officered, trained and inspired by men of their In their efforts to present own class. Now, with arms the 1916 Irish Rising as a in their hands, they propose purely patriotic affair and to steer their own course, to to minimise its radical carve their own future.’ and revolutionary implica- Beginning in May 1915 tions the establishment in a series of articles in the tends to play down the Workers’ Republic Connolly role of James Connolly tried to develop military and the Irish Citizen Army. tactics for modern revolution- The ICA was formed in ary warfare. He set out the August 1913 during the great basis for a ‘peoples warfare’ Lockout. Both Larkin and based on the experience of Connolly were convinced the revolutionary upheavals that workers needed an starting with the bourgeois organisation of their own to revolutions in the nineteenth protect picket lines and union century and up to the socialist meetings from assault by the revolution in Moscow in 1905. police and the hired thugs of In particular he was trying to the employers. develop a strategy for urban Within a fortnight the first warfare such as the Citizen ‘red army’ anywhere in the Army might be called upon to world had been formed; 1,200 participate in. had enrolled. In reality the Connolly’s pamphlet The difference between those who Reconquest of Ireland was enrolled in a fit of enthusi- published by the ITGWU in Remembeing Prince’s life and politics asm and the numbers who 1915. This pamphlet is the key turned up for training was to understanding the direction MUSIC substantial. The ICA was not that Connolly took the Citizen exactly a ‘Red Army’ perhaps Army after he took command. In reaction to Prince’s pass- as highly talented musicians was He devoted a benefit concert a ‘Red Guard’ is a more apt His aim was to put labour in ing many mainstream press something of a first in this genre of in Baltimore to the movement in description. the forefront of the national focused on how many records music. memory of the murder of Freddy The Citizen Army was struggle. he sold, but for his fans it was A turbulent period in his career Gray, and introduced last year’s not central to the Lockout, Given the crisis thrown the combination of his musical was the latter part of his relationship Album of the Year at the Grammy’s but it made the police more up by the war in Europe; the talents and his politics that with Warner Brothers. Unwilling by stating, “Albums, like books and circumspect about attacking ICA would be the catalyst caused such an outpouring of to allow him to exit his contract, black lives, still matter—tonight and the workers. As the dispute that could unite all sections of emotion. Prince deliberately subverted their always.” Prince also used his success petered out in early 1914 at- the nationalist movement in a Whereas the press is obsessed with power by changing his name to an to support others, including radical tendances at parades dimin- revolutionary fight against the how he died, we want to remember unprintable and unpronounceable female musicians such as Janelle ished and the organisation was British presence in Ireland; how he lived. symbol (which merged the traditional Monae and Erika Badu. practically moribund and in while maintaining its polit- Prince pioneered wildly popular symbols for male and female), and For the benefit concert, Prince the changed circumstances, a ical independence within the fusion of pop, rock, and funk, writing “slave” on his face to protest wrote a song called “Baltimore.” In number of workers transferred broader movement. but never took on the mantle of a his conditions. it he honours the memory of Michael their support from the ICA to In the months before the celebrity artist—choosing instead to His popularity despite this change Brown and Freddy Gray and the the nationalist Irish Volunteers. Rising all ICA members were live in his home city of Minneapolis forced the mainstream media to BLM movement fighting anti-Black The active membership of the asked to confirm their support (and a home in Toronto). begin calling him “the artist formerly racism: ICA fell to about fifty. for the forthcoming Rising. He embraced sexuality through his known as Prince.” His management This was always going to be performances and lyrics, in a gender sent out floppy discs with the sym- “Nobody got in nobody’s way Reorganisation a difficult political tightrope non-conforming way that challenged bol/font loaded onto it, so that papers So I guess you could say it was a In 1914 it was completely for Connolly to walk. The dan- conventions and encouraged people could print articles with his correct good day reorganised and Sean O’Casey ger of liquidating the labour to be themselves—as he sang in name. As a member of the American At least a little better than the day in wrote its constitution, staing movement into the broader 1984, “I’m not a woman. I’m not a Federation of Musicians for 40 years, Baltimore the army’s principles as nationalist camp was always man. I’m something that you’ll never he also supported the musician’s Does anybody hear us pray follows: “The ownership of present, or of making political understand.” rights more broadly. For Michael Brown or Freddie Gray? Ireland, moral and material, is concessions that marginalised One of his many innovations was Prince, a Jehova’s Witness, Peace is more than the absence of vested of right in the people the labour programme in the highly visible role he gave to refrained from publicising his acts of war of Ireland” and to “sink all the name of unity with the women as the musicians in his band. charity due to his religious convic- If there ain’t no justice then there difference of birth property nationalists. Traditionally women were only tions. Though he never sought recog- ain’t no peace.” and creed under the common During Easter week about backup singers or backup dancers, nition, he was a strong supporter of name of the Irish people”. 175 members of the ICA or not visible at all. Their presence the Black Lives Matter movement. Jim Larkin threw himself mobilised. They were mainly into rebuilding the Irish attached to the garrisons in Citizen Army. The two the GPO and in the College strands that made up the core of Surgeons. The ICA was the of Larkin’s politics were first unit into action. Just after The anti-war movement on screen socialism and republicanism. midday on Easter Monday MOVIE Given the dearth of working a contingent of the ICA at- class militancy after the defeat tempted to take Dublin Castle, Film: We Are Many thereafter, particularly in Quebec, the not the end, but the beginning of a pro- of the Lockout, Larkin’s but they were beaten back. Directed by Amir Amirani peace movement was able to prevent cess, in which ordinary people have republican politics came to the Women, such as Constance Review by Paula Greenberg and the government of then Prime Minister resisted their respective governments fore. Markievicz, Dr Kathleen Faline Bobier Jean Chrétien from participating, how- to say no to bloody imperialist wars in After Larkin’s departure for Lynn, Mollie O’Reilly and ever much he may have wanted to. which we are all losers. America in late 1914, James Rosie Hackett, played a On Tuesday April 12 2016, the However, Amirani does more than Here in Canada we finally got rid of Connolly assumed command significant part in the ICA, War Resisters Support Campaign simply freeze a moment in time. He Stephen Harper and his hated Tories and knocked the ICA into serving as equals alongside presented a special screening of understands the anti-war movement but the struggle for justice continues. shape. The members worked the men. We Are Many. as a phenomenon which did affect the The WRSC is now organizing to push- hard at drill and military Connolly’s execution after This excellent documentary by course of history in ways that were Justin Trudeau to let US war resisters tactics evenings and week- the Rising left the ICA leader- internationally renowned director and unimaginable at the time. remain in Canada. It’s not enough to ends. Guns were obtained less and without any political producer Amir Amirani, focuses on There was a real cross-pollination sound different from the war-monger- by any means possible. They direction. They were active in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the resist- of anti-war movements in the West ing Harper government; Trudeau must looked smart in the new the War of Independence and ance against the war and the outcomes building solidarity for their sisters show in practice that his government uniforms, topped off with the the Civil War, but were totally from those protests. It covers over 50 and brothers in places like Egypt represents a different path. If the Iraq famous slouched hat, one side isolated from the working interviews of people involved in the and Palestine, and of the struggles war was immoral and illegal then it pinned up with the union red class movement and only global action that brought an estimated in those places feeding back into the follows that American soldiers who hand badge engraved with the played a support role with no 30 million people to march in over 72 peace movement globally. For sev- refused to participate in the slaughter initials ICA. independent class position countries. eral years, starting in the early 2000s, of Iraqi citizens should be supported, during those turbulent years. It clearly explains the build up that anti-war activists from around the not sent back to the US to face court Resurgence Members of the ICA were the USA and UK towards their pro- world converged in Cairo, Egypt for martial and military prison. The resurgence of the ICA prominent in rebuilding the ject of war with Iraq. The clips of Bush an international peace conference, In the same way, we must keep faith coincided with an upturn socialist movement in the late and Blair are shocking to think of their which also acted as a support for anti- with that movement which brought out in the political atmosphere. 1920’s, but by the late 1930’s blatant lies for an illegal war. It was Mubarak protests and strikes within over 30 million of us on February 15, Opposition to the war was the ICA had ceased to exist in inspiring to see the level of organiza- Egypt. Through the process the global 2013. growing, especially as the any meaningful sense. tion, that brought ordinary people out anti-war movement contributed to the The main lesson of Amirani’s film threat of conscription in Nevertheless in 1916 the to protest and call for a global day of Arab Spring. is that ordinary people have the cap- Ireland became a possibil- deeds of the ICA and its lead- action pre-facebook/twitter era. The There is a tendency now in some acity to organize movements that can ity. The republicans were ers such as James Connolly, protest was entirely global, includ- sections of the left to claim that these change the way we see the world. Our determined to use the war as himself, Michael Mallin and ing a scientific research station in movements never really existed, or if movement has not yet achieved what an opportunity to strike at the Constance Markievicz left Antarctica! they did, that they were in any case is necessary to make the world a safe old enemy. A hint of rebellion an indelible socialist and There were great interviews with doomed to fail because the forces and peaceful place but we are on that was in the air and Connolly revolutionary mark on Irish people such as Jermey Corbyn, MP ranged against us were too powerful. road and there is no turning back. in the pages of the Workers’ history, which should never be now UK Labour leader, Egyptian But if we want to be true to those Republic fanned the flames. forgotten. Revolutionary Socialists, and women who continue to struggle in extremely For more information visit http:// He wrote: from US organization CodePink. difficult circumstances we need to wearemany.com ‘Hitherto the workers of This is shared from Socialist Here in Canada, thanks largely to understand that the anti-war move- Ireland have fought as parts Worker (Ireland) the large mobilizations of Feb 15 and ment documented in Amirani’s film is of the armies led by their masters, never as a member May 2016 Socialist Worker 9 WHERE WE STAND The dead-end of capitalism The capitalist system is based on violence, oppres- Activist calendar sion and brutal exploitation. It creates hunger beside plenty, it threatens our sustenance through unsafe and unsustainable farming, and kills the earth itself with pollution and unsustainable extraction of oil, minerals, animals, trees, and water. Capitalism leads to imperial- movement events ism and war. Saving ourselves and the planet depends on finding an alternative. A system that is killing the planet Capitalist profits depend on extracting the world’s blood and bone. The devastating impact of capital’s assault on the planet affect the world’s most vulnerable populations and threaten the long-term meaningful existence of humanity. Capitalism cannot regulate the catastrophic effects of climate change. We stand for climate justice, including the concept of “just transi- tion” for affected workers. Socialism and workers’ power Any alternative to capitalism must involve replacing the system from the bottom up through radical collective action. Central to that struggle is the workplace, where capitalism reaps its profits off our backs. Capitalist monopolies control the earth’s resources, but workers everywhere actually create the wealth. A new socialist society can only be constructed when workers collectively seize control of that wealth and plan its production and distribution to satisfy human needs, not corporate profits—to respect the environ- ment, not pollute and destroy it. Oppression Within capitalist society different groups suffer from specific forms of oppression. Attacks on oppressed groups are used to divide workers and weaken solidar- ity. We oppose racism and imperialism. We oppose all immigration controls. We support the right of people of colour and other oppressed groups to organize in their own defence. We are for real, social, economic and pol- itical equality for women. We are for an end to all forms of discrimination and homophobia against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people. We oppose environmental racism. We oppose dis- crimination on the basis of religion, ability and age.

Canada, Quebec, Indigenous Peoples Canada is not a “colony” of the United States, but an imperialist country in its own right that participates in the exploitation of much of the world. The Canadian breakfree2016.org state was founded through the repression of Indigenous peoples and the people of Quebec. We support the struggles for self-determination of Quebec and Indigenous peoples up to and including the right to independence. In particular, we recognize Indigenous peoples’ original and primary right to decide their fate and that of their lands, heritage, and traditions. Socialists in Quebec, and in all oppressed nations, work to give the struggle against national op- pression an internationalist and working class content. Internationalism The struggle for socialism is part of a worldwide struggle. We campaign for solidarity with workers in other countries. We oppose everything that turns workers from one country against those from other countries. We support all genuine national liberation movements. The 1917 revolution in Russia was an inspiration for the oppressed everywhere. But it was defeated when workers’ revolutions elsewhere were defeated. A Stalin- ist counter-revolution, which killed millions, created a new form of capitalist exploitation based on state ownership and control. In Eastern Europe, China and other countries, a similar system was later established by Stalinist, not socialist, parties. We support the struggle of workers in these countries against both private and state capitalism.

Elections and democracy Elections can be an opportunity to give voice to the struggle for social change. But under capitalism, they can’t change the system. The structures of the present parliament, army, police and judiciary protect the ruling class against the workers. These structures cannot be simply taken over and used by the working class. The working class needs real democracy, and that requires an entirely different kind of state—a workers’ state based upon councils of workers’ delegates.

Reform and revolution Every day, there are battles between exploiter and exploited, oppressor and oppressed, to reform the system—to improve living conditions. These struggles are crucial in the fight for a new world. To further these struggles, we work within the trade unions and orient to building a rank and file movement that strengthens workers’ unity and solidarity. But the fight for reforms will not, in itself, bring about fundamental social change. The present system cannot be fixed or reformed as the NDP and many trade union leaders say. Nor can the system regulate itself to pre- vent environmental destruction and climate injustice. It has to be overthrown. That will require the mass action of workers themselves. The Revolutionary Party To achieve socialism the leading activists in the working class have to be organized into a revolutionary socialist fsm2016.org party. The party must be a party of action, and it must be democratic. We are an organization of activists com- mitted to helping in the construction of such a party OPEN SATURDAYS, 12-3pm through ongoing activity in the mass 427 Bloor Street West, suite 202, Toronto ; 416-972-6391; www.facebook.com/resistancepress organizations of the working class and in the daily struggles of RESISTANCE workers and the oppressed. PRESS If these ideas make sense Students to you, help us in this project BOOK ROOM Austerity and join the International & Socialists. ideas for struggle Resistance

10 Socialist Worker May 2016 [email protected] FIGHT FOR $15 AND FAIRNESS STICKING WITH THE UNION by Paula Greenberg and Carolyn Egan Pam Frache On April 1 the Chicago Teachers’ Union and the The Leap manifesto Fight for $15 launched joint strike action. Then on April 15, there was a and labour national day of action for the fight for a $15 min- The discussion over the local leader, the members imum wage, spanning 7 Leap Manifesto which were out because of, provinces and 30 cities. erupted after the NDP “onerous overtime, unsafe In the city of Toronto, activ- Convention seemed staffing levels, dangerous ists from the Fight for $15 to reopen the debate conditions the industry and Fairness campaign, union over jobs versus the continues to ignore, the members, community groups environment. daily occurrences of fires, and students gathered in It was suggested that it emissions, leaks and front of the Ontario Ministry was a document written by explosions.” of Labour demanding their Toronto elites out of touch They took on the spills voices be heard. Over 1000 with the economic needs of and pollution which were people attended the rally. the country. affecting local communities The recent Op Ed in The as well as the health and Shut down Chicago Globe and Mail written safety of the workers. They Brynne Sinclair-Waters, a worker Ontarians want meaningful changes outside the Ministry of Labour. by Crystal Lameman, an took on the contracting out for the OCUFA and organizer of The to the province’s labour standards. At the same time, several hundred Indigenous woman from of maintenance to poorly Toronto Young Worker’s Network, “Ontarians have big expecta- OPSEU members, in Toronto for their Alberta who was a part of trained, non-union workers spoke to Socialist Worker about her tions for this review,” said Deena annual convention, joined the Fight the gathering of activists that was putting everyone experiences of the April 15th action as Ladd, Coordinator of the Workers’ for $15 & Fairness rally, carrying who produced the docu- at risk, the local population well as the April 1st Teacher’s Union Action Centre, one of the member their own Fight for $15 & Fairness ment, took this claim on. and the workers. They action in Chicago. organizations of the of the campaign. placards and chanting rhythmically to As she wrote, “I was one were in the best place to In an extraordinary display of “Whether it’s parents trying to make the beat of the Samba Squad. of the first to sign the Leap raise the call to protect partnership and solidarity, teachers ends meet on poverty wages, recent About 1,000 workers from Manifesto, and I helped the environment in which walked the lines with fast food work- graduates struggling to pay student community organizations, student write it. You might find that they worked and lived. ers and fast food workers marched debt on short-term contracts, temp groups, and trade unions converged strange if you’ve read the Workers are not divorced with teachers. workers with no guarantee of hours, on the streets outside 400 University media reports calling its au- from communities. It is Chicago State University students workers losing their wages and Avenue. There, the crowd reclaimed thors latte-sipping Toronto they, their families and their and the Black Youth Project hosted benefits when contracts flip, or unfair and renamed the Ministry of Labour: elites. I’m not exactly children, as well as those of teach-ins about the need to end racist exemptions that leave some workers the Ministry of Decent Work part of that class: I’m an their neighbours, who are violence and deliver economic justice, with no protection at all - more and As the lunchtime rally and street indigenous mother of two directly affected by spills including decent work and high more Ontarians are saying: Enough! party wrapped up at the Ministry of from the Beaver Lake Cree and pollution. quality, free public education. Airport We need changes now!” Labour, some participants boarded a Nation, in the heart of They witnessed the BP workers, bakery workers, young The Fight for $15 & Fairness is bus and headed north to the GTAA Alberta’s oil industry. explosion of an oil rig workers, and other community organ- calling for sweeping reforms, includ- (Greater Toronto Airport Authority) “From where I stand, the in the Gulf of Mexico a izations mobilized in their thousands ing fair scheduling; further regulating in Brampton to show solidarity with Leap Manifesto isn’t an number of years back that to #Fightfor15, #FightforFunding and temporary agencies; investing in airport workers demanding $15 and attack on Albertans or its killed workers and created a #ShutDownChi. pro-active, public enforcement of Fairness at Pearson International workers. It’s a gift, offering massive oil slick which was From Brynne’s experience from employment laws; imposing meaning- Airport. The International Association us a pathway to a more devastating to the environ- the April 1st action, she remembers ful fines for labour law infractions; of Machinists and Aerospace Workers humane, healthy and livable ment. There have been activist Roxanne Dubois telling the legislating seven paid sick days; (IAMAW) had taken the lead on province, one that honours more explosions and deaths audience that movements like the an end to contract flipping; easier this rally bringing dozens of their the treaty rights of indigen- since as profits continue Fight for $15 are like tools for activ- access to unions; and more. Central members to this important event. ous peoples and meets the to rule over lives and the ists to use and learn from. in the campaign is the demand for a needs of all its inhabitants.” earth. When asked about the objective of $15 minimum wage for all workers, Next steps The group who de- The action by the the April 15th day of action, Sinclair- regardless of age, student status, job The next Fight for $15 & Fairness ac- veloped the Leap Manifesto Steelworkers did not go Waters remarked that the action was or area of work. tion in support of airport workers will was made up of Indigenous unnoticed by the climate to show power of a working class take place on May 1 from 1:00 pm to peoples, environmental- justice movement. They movement and to fight for decent Day of action 2:30 pm at Terminal 1, Departures. To ists, trade unionists and were joined on the picket work for all. She went on to say that In Toronto, April 15 began early RSVP on Facebook, click here. community activists from line by 350.org, the Sierra since the preceding fight for $14, the when dozens of frontline health The next steps of the group is to across the country. Club and Rising Tide as government would try to contain the workers gathered at 7:30 am outside continue to build networks of activists What the pundits are well as other unions includ- demands with subsequent reviews. the Dufferin Medical Centre to call and rank and file workers. The Fight putting forward is a total ing nurses. These workers This day of action was to show the for paid sick days and job-protected for $15 and Fairness plans to have misreading of the aims withdrew their labour in the Ontario Ministry of Labour that even emergency leave for all workers. another day of action on October of the manifesto, which name of health and safety small victories cannot subdue the Nurses, clinicians, students and 7th, the International Day for Decent is a thoughtful document protections and defense of movement, it raises expectations. doctors leafleted, collected signatures Work and have their objectives as an linking the fight against the the environment and this on petitions, and handed out tissue election issue in 2018. austerity agenda with the was understood in their Ontario We Want packages adorned with Support Paid climate justice movement. communities. The government’s Changing Sick Days stickers. For more information visit It speaks of the situation They won their strike Workplaces Review wrapped up Later, young workers from a http://15andfairness.org/ of Indigenous people and with this broad local sup- its formal consultation process last variety of unions and students’ unions the need to create climate port and gained significant fall and the initial report is expected gathered at Toronto’s College and jobs and a just transition improvements that made to be issued shortly. The April 15 University intersection at 11:45 am for workers presently in the the six weeks of lost wages mobilization was well-timed to put to participate in a feeder march that resource industries, as we worthwhile. There was also elected representatives on notice that joined the central 12:30 pm rally create an environmentally the threat of a nationwide sustainable future. strike in the oil industry that pushed the employer to Oil workers agree to a settlement. Conference highlights movements for change Workers in the resource This is a concrete industries understand the example of what an alliance The International Socialists’ who played a leading role in the 1916 working class today while seeking to situation in which they between trade unionists annual Marxism conference rebellion. build fighting movements outside of find themselves, trying to and environmentalists can tackled some big issues and saw The Saturday of the conference Parliament. make a living and at the achieve, which will bring attendance from socialists and opened with a moving session hearing At a time when the environment same time dealing with gains to both because in other activists from across the from speakers directly affected by Bill and jobs are being pitted against each the health and safety and truth it is the same struggle. country. C-51 and the Canadian government’s other, the “Climate Justice Now” environmental issues that The discussions going 2016’s Ideas for Real Change security certificates program. Azzezah discussion brought together Ken are at play. on locally on the Leap brought together around 150 activists Kanji, Sophie Harkat and Crystal Smith, a member of Unifor who works A recent strike by Manifesto gives us a from diverse social movements and Sinclair shared their experiences of ra- in the Tar Sands, on a panel with workers in the oil industry tremendous opportunity speakers from around the world—in- cism and surveillance by the Canadian Myeenghun Henry of the Chippewas in the United States is an to bring both a class, and cluding activists from Europe fighting state and explained the impact of the of the Thames First Nation. Facing example of this. The United anti-racist perspective to fascism and anti-migrant racism. government’s attacks on civil liberties. 50,000 layoffs, Smith emphasized the Steelworkers walked off the the developing climate Friday night’s opening panel At the lunchtime session on “How urgent task of transitioning oil workers job at fourteen refineries in justice movement and build featured former Ontario Federation of do we win real change,” Ontario into a sustainable economy. Myeengun 2015; 6,500 struck for six the unity we need to win Labour president Sid Ryan, leading NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo expressed Henry spoke of the battle against weeks. In the words of a against the corporations. member of the IS Carolyn Egan, and sharp criticism of the party’s direc- pipelines on their territory, and the Steelworker activist, Mike Seaward tion, emphasized the importance of meeting raised almost $1000 for the discussing the Easter Rising of 1916— the Leap Manifesto and advocated Chippewa of the Thames’ upcoming which was one of many anti-colonial her vision for the future of the party. Supreme Court challenge. struggles that took place in the 20th André Frappier joined the conversa- The weekend featured more than a century, where women played key tion from Québec solidaire, speaking dozen sessions and a Sunday “Skills roles. The speakers—members of the on the work they are doing to build a for Socialists” workshop. These Irish diaspora from Dublin, Boston left alternative party of the ballot box powerful presentations provided and Newfoundland respectively—dis- and the streets. From the International spaces for discussion and equipped cussed the importance of the fight for Socialists, Ritch Whyman empha- activists with ideas and connections to Irish freedom and the role of James sized the need for parties of the left continue these struggles. Connolly, a socialist and trade unionist to speak to the big ideas facing the

May 2016 Socialist Worker 11 SocialistWorker FIGHT FOR $15 AND FAIRNESS April 14 and 15, 2016 included health workers marked a new high gathering petitions and point in the Fight for distributing leaflets outside $15 movement in North the Dufferin Medical Centre America and around the to support paid sick days; a world when workers in rally outside the Ministry of over 300 US cities and Labour that united students 40 countries mobilized and workers from a variety together to demand fair of differemt unions and wages and decent work. community organizations; Since its beginnings in and then a rally at the 2012 when fast food work- Toronto airport, including ers and Walmart employees members of the International launched strike action to Association of Machinists demand a $15 minimum and Aerospace Workers wage, workers have been and other members of the winning victories on Toronto Airport Workers’ minimum wages, paid sick Council, building momen- days, fair scheduling, union tum for a May Day rally at rights and more. the airport.

Victories Global movement The US National In addition to variations Employment Law Project of the Fight for $15 across (NELP) estimates that, as a the US and Canada (BC, result of the Fight for $15, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, some 17 million workers Quebec, Nova Scotia, and across the US have won pay New Brunswick all have raises, far exceeding the launched campaigns over employer-centred approach the previous 18 months), the that characterized the living movement spans continents. wage campaigns of the Workers are mobil- 1990s. photo credit: OFL izing for a decent minimum In just a short period wage from Bangladesh to of time, several cities the Philippines and from won $15 minimum wage because not only New York and therefore separate from ize that I was actually part One reason the Fight for Belgium to Brazil. In Japan, legislation, including SeaTac and California deserve it. working-class concerns are of the working class.” $15 has been so successful workers are fighting for and Seattle, WA and San We all deserve it.” finding their own pathways This shift in conscious- is that it offers a framework $1,500 Yen. In Britain, the Francisco and Los Angeles, Even though she’s now into the Fight for $15. ness is not surprising: that poses the campaign in £10 Now! movement draws CA. Last year in New organizing in the south, she For example, contract according to a 2015 study by class terms—not merely directly from the $15 Now York, the state wage board wanted to be in New York faculty joined the movement the University of California union terms. It’s a frame that campaigns in the US (where implemented a sector-wide City for the national day of in 2015 organizing under Berkeley’s Center for Labor relies on workers’ self-activ- $15 US converts to about $15 minimum wage for all action in part to celebrate the banner of Fight for $15K Research and Education, ity, on networks of activists £10). fast food workers. the NY wage victory and –$15,000 per course, instead fully one-quarter (25 per in union and non-union David Rolf, president of On April 4, 2016, New to inspire workers to fight of the current rate of $3,500 cent) of part-time university workplaces, in communities SEIU Local 775, was one of York governor Cuomo and elsewhere. to $4,500. They formed professors rely on some and on campuses. the organizers of the Fight California governor Gerry “I am here to support all “Faculty Forward” inspired form of public assistance to No matter where they are for $15 campaign. In an Brown both signed into workers. One by one we are directly by the success make ends meet. situated, workers can adapt interview about the Fight being the first two statewide going to knock down every of New York’s Fast Food The situation for home- the campaign to suit their for $15 in The Guardian, $15 minimum wage laws in state until they win $15 like Forward movement. care workers is even worse. particular circumstances, yet a British newspaper, Rolf the US. we did.” “I’m 35 years old and still The data show nearly half still be part of a movement noted that in previous eras, Rebecca Cornick joined need some support from (48 per cent) of US home- where a victory anywhere “It took decades for the the April 14 Fight for $15 Working class unity my parents,” explains Matt care workers are reliant on nourishes the movement eight-hour day movement rally in New York’s Times The energy and excite- Hoffman, contract faculty social assistance to supple- everywhere. to have its first success, but Square. Four years ago, she ment of the Fight for $15 at Loyola University in ment inadequate wages. it took a matter of months was working at KFC and – including its remarkable Chicago: “I never con- But by connecting their Ontario for the Fight for 15 to have was among the first workers victories – has been conta- sidered myself a laborer or collective bargaining On April 15 thousands its first success. Now a $15 to strike for $15 as part gious, drawing previously someone who would be part strategy to the demands of of union and non-union minimum wage is rolling of the Fast Food Forward fragmented sections of the of a labor union because I the Fight for $15, union- workers joined forced to through the US… It has movement. Today, she’s a working class into united, always thought that those ized homecare workers in demand meaningful changes inspired hope in millions of Fight for $15 organizer: concrete activity. Even were for working-class Massachusetts and Oregon to the province’s labour workers.” “Right now I am in the sections of the working people in industries that have won a starting wage and employment laws, in South trying to help out and class who more typically required manual labor... It of $15 and paid sick days in 20 cities across Ontario. In make sure that they win $15, identify as “professionals” took me a long time to real- Minnesota. Toronto the day of action Never miss Join the World Social Forum an issue. The goal of World Social 2003 in Brazil played an around the world. 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