Get Your Politics Out of My Hockey Game!

As the Stanley Cup playoffs have unfolded this year, I have been really annoyed by something. I don’t know if this is something that has happened in previous years; it may just be that the Canucks haven’t stuck around in the playoffs long enough for me to notice. Though I am quite pleased to be living in the country that I do, I am a devout internationalist. It is bad enough that I have to sit and listen to both the American and Canadian national anthems before the puck drops. It is worse that this year they have been bringing out members of the armed forces and veterans from the Iraq and Afghan wars to honour them during these national anthems.

Given that both of these wars are extremely controversial in both countries, you would think that the NHL might want to hold off on promoting them. In Canada, the majority of the population has been opposed to the wars for a very long time. In the United States, the Iraq war has been unpopular for sometime and support for the Afghan war has been steadily declining.

Comrade Ted Grant used to joke that religion isn’t the opiate of the masses, professional sports is. Perhaps the NHL has become a little more conscious of their role in society.

Don’t Eat the Chilli!

When I was just out of high school, I worked at a certain fast food restaurant that shall remain nameless to prevent my ass from being sued (let’s just say this restaurant was named after a little girl with freckles and red pig tails). I was only able to tolerate three weeks of such a backwards workplace before calling it quits, but it was enough to teach me to stay well away from their chilli. There were many things there that would make the average customer turn green, but nothing topped the stomach-churning power of the chilli-making process. In fact, in the three weeks that I worked in this cess-pool, no less than two employees had to leave the room to vomit while making the chilli.

This particular fast-food chain takes pride in serving their burgers hot off the grill. This means that they have to anticipate how many burgers will sell in the next fifteen minutes or so, in order to have them ready to serve. Well, we can’t all be perfect and quite often there are either too many or too few burgers on the grill. When a burger is cooked and left sitting on the grill so long that it can no longer be served (and this is left up to the discretion of the kid manning the grill), it is put into a little drawer at the side of the grill labelled “Chilli Meat”.

Now you probably suspected that the meat for their chilli came from old burgers and aren’t too horrified yet; you just wait. The little metal drawer at the side of the grill is not actually heated, but picks up a lot of warmth from the grill. Here these burgers sit for hours and hours until the drawer is full, in their own little cave, the perfect temperature for their microscopic hangers-on to breed.

When this bacteria-infested drawer cannot fit another burger in it, they are all transferred to an oversized freezer bag and put into the walk-in freezer. You of course write the date on the bag and put it at the back of the rotation, so when making chilli you use the oldest bag first. Here we encounter the second problem: at the restaurant that I worked in we made chilli meat twice as fast as we made chilli. The store had been open for only two years, which meant that the bags of meat we would take out for chilli were already a year old. I don’t even want to think about what happened in other, more established locations. By the time they were ready for use, the meat was so freezer-burnt that you wouldn’t know what was in the bag or how long it was there if it wasn’t written on the front.

From there, we took our bag full of year-old, over-grilled, bacteria-infested, freezer-burnt hamburger patties and put them into a giant pot of water. They were boiled for several hours, I don’t remember how long exactly, until they were no longer recognizable as burgers and the pot resembled something the texture of chunky oatmeal.

Now the next part was not for the faint of heart. This is the part where people were often unable to keep their revulsion from escaping up their oesophagus. The next step was to take a long-handled potato-masher and crush any chunks that remained. When the lid was lifted off the pot, my god the stench was unbelievable. I have walked through some of the poorest slums on the planet, with garbage and human waste piling up in the streets and rats eating the remains of other rotting carcasses, but I have never in my life smelled anything so fowl as the contents of one of those pots of chilli meat.

When all of the remaining lumps have been crushed, the rest of the chilli ingredients are added. A couple cans of beans, a large bag full of green and white cubes that are supposed to be frozen vegetables, some tomato sauce and of course the chilli seasoning. Make note, the bag said chilli seasoning, not chilli powder. I don’t know what was in that mystery bag of flavouring that could make this slop taste like chilli, but it was about three cups of some neon-orange powder. From there, it was just a quick stir and a simmer away from being served.

Every word of what I have written above I swear is true.

NDP Mobilizes for Anti-Campbell Demonstration

Well, I have to give the NDP some credit. Yesterday I received a phone call from the Leader of the BC NDP, Carole James. As the recorded message from the leader of the opposition began to play in my left ear I thought, “Here we go again. Here comes the pitch… ‘Gordon Campbell is so bad and we need money to stop him.’” Of course, no NDPer would blame me for this assumption. After all, I can’t count the number of recorded messages and pieces of junk mail I’ve received in the last six months asking me to donate money to the party. Invitations to high-priced dinners, parties for the tasting of fine liqueurs, fundraising galas and plain old guilt trips, all have made it into my mailbox and then my trash can.

But the expected pitch never came. Instead, Carole James asked me to join her at a demonstration against government cuts being held at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Saturday April 10th at noon. I couldn’t believe my ears. After all, I have been relentlessly criticizing this exact leader for years for only going to the membership when she wanted some cash. I write snarky comments on facebook complaining that they only ask for my money and not my time. And throughout the anti-Campbell movement Carole was always lurking somewhere around the back of the demonstration trying not to be seen. Something has changed here.

Maybe Carole has finally realized that the real strength of this party is its grassroots and a real leader can win by mobilizing them. Maybe she has been browbeaten by the higher ups in the labour movement. Maybe she just woke up one morning and realized that the last seven years have been pretty dismal and it is time to try something new. Whatever the reason is, it is a breath of fresh air. And if this signals a new change in direction for the NDP, there might just be some hope for us yet

I’ll be there at the demonstration - and I might just send them a cheque.

Tell Gordon Campbell that Corporations Should Not Be Allowed to Vote!

Last December, Premiere Gordon Campbell appointed a Local Government Elections Task Force that is looking into a number of issues around municipal elections. One of the things they’re discussing is giving corporations the right to vote.

Governments in British Columbia have long been bought and paid for by corporations. I suppose it is only the next logical step to allow a corporation to actually cast a ballot. But why stop at municipal elections? Corporations could vote in any election! Hey, why not give them the right to run in elections too? Maybe one day McDonald’s will be Premiere! Imagine the cabinet… Minister of Forestry, Weyerhaeuser, and don’t forget the Right and Honourable Minister of Fisheries, High Liner!

What’s that? Some of you little peons on the loony left think it’s a bad idea to give corporations a ballot? Well maybe you should explain that to the Task Force:

localelectionstaskforce@gov.bc.ca

You could also pass the message on to Gordon Campbell himself:

Gordon.Campbell.MLA@leg.bc.ca

If you are reading this on your home computer: Congratulations! You are one of only 1,733,993,741 people on this planet that has internet access. You are certainly doing better than the 1.6 billion who have no electricity and the 100 million people who have no home at all.

If you are reading this on your work computer: Congratulations! You are not one of the 212 million people that lost their job last year.

If you had a shower and breakfast this morning: Congratulations! You are better off than the 1 billion who do not have enough food and the 3.6 billion who do not have access to basic sanitation and drinking water.

If you are okay with the statistics you just read: Congratulations! You are a member of the tiny fraction of the world’s population that owns and controls the world economy and maintains these criminal levels of poverty. Enjoy it while it lasts; it will not be for long.

On Diversity of Tactics

Now that the Olympics are over and the crowds have died down, I feel compelled to throw my two cents into the debate on the question of diversity of tactics that has been sweeping Vancouver’s left. Diversity of tactics, of course refers to the idea that demonstrators should be free to use different tactics and that organizers should respect one’s right to do so. The implication is that individuals should be free to exercise direct action and civil disobedience regardless of the intent of the organizers or the majority of people attending the demonstration. The anarchists are quick to demand “You must respect a diversity of tactics” – or in other words “You must respect my right to do whatever the hell I want”.

I must confess, that this idea of respecting diversity of tactics seems ridiculous to me. In any other context such arguments would be insane. Can you imagine a hockey player telling his coach to respect his right to a diversity of tactics and allow him to throw the play-book out the window? How about a soldier on a battle field telling his superiors to respect his right to attack or retreat at his own pleasure? Or a sailor on a ship insisting to his captain that he should be able to point the sails in whatever direction he sees fit? Of course not. A more serious approach is needed.

A very quick look at the results of the demonstration the day after the opening ceremonies, where half a dozen people smashed windows and vandalized vehicles is enough to pass judgement on the entire question. Those few individuals, succeeded in discrediting the thousands who marched the evening before. Only days earlier, the polls were showing a large majority opposing the Olympics and sympathetic to the upcoming demonstrations. The Heart-Attack demonstration was the turning point in public opinion.

So-called diversity of tactics, on a small demonstration can discredit a cause. The same actions on a larger demonstration can give the cops and excuse to tear-gas and attack an entire crowd. And in a revolutionary situation, respecting a right to diversity of tactics will get people killed! The class struggle is not a game; it is a life and death struggle.

This is not to say that there is no place for civil disobedience. Direct action and civil disobedience can be most effective tools when used correctly. But these things must be coordinated and organized by a leadership that is prepared to go into battle and win. This is ultimately a question about leadership. A full understanding of the objectives and potential outcome of direct action is necessary before it is utilized. Thousands of people blocking streets or occupying a building or even charging a police line can be the decisive moment in a mass struggle. Conversely, a few individuals smashing windows and tipping over newspaper boxes has never accomplished anything.

While a small handful would argue that any form of leadership is oppression, such arguments are completely alien to the working class movement. Any worker that has ever walked a picket line knows whose side his picket captain is on. And anyone involved in an actual struggle knows the necessity of having a picket-captain on a picket line, or a marshal on a demonstration, or a sergeant at arms at a convention, or a shop steward on a shop floor, or a captain on a battle field. The question of leadership is one of decisive importance in the struggle to overthrow capitalism - and the question of diversity of tactics has already been answered by events.

Obama Prepares the Healthcare Sell-Out

Many people had high hopes for the presidency of Barak Obama. He was voted into office on a wave of popular support calling for “Change”. “Yes We Can”, was his battle cry and the people answered his call. But less than a year after taking office, these illusions are beginning to fade. Obama’s administration has, for the most part, been business as usual. He has continued the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The US is sliding deeper and deeper into a recession and dragging millions of people into poverty with it. Now it is becoming clear that he will break one of his key election promises – to provide healthcare coverage to nearly 50 million people who have no insurance.

The hysterical mobs whipped up by the right wing at the healthcare town hall meetings have clearly rattled the white house. They are already preparing the ground to back down on any meaningful change to the healthcare system in the United States. Key people in Obama’s administration are now coming out saying that the “public option” is not essential to their plan and covering all uninsured Americans has never been the top priority. Any idiot can read between the lines and see where this is going.

The President is backing down. Millions of Americans can kiss goodbye the hopes of seeing affordable healthcare coverage out of this administration. This will not be a surprise to many on the left. After all, the Democratic Party is a party of big business. Until working people in the United States organize their own party to represent them, the big corporations will continue to get their way and the working class will continue to get shafted.

Time for a Revolution in BC?

Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberal government has lost any legitimacy it had. Campbell’s approval rating is in free-fall and is now in the mid thirties. The majority of eligible voters didn’t even bother to cast a ballot in the last election and just under half of the ones that did voted for the Liberals. Now it is becoming clear that this election was won under false pretenses. The Liberals lied during the election about their intention to bring in the new Harmonized Sales Tax and they also deceived the public about the actual state of affairs in this province. They prevented a welfare report from being released before the election, they prevented healthcare budgets from being released before the election and it is looking like they even destroyed emails that were requested by the court for the BC Rail trial. This is an illegitimate government.

One has to question a democratic process that is conducted in an atmosphere of misinformation. When politicians deliberately hide important information that may change the outcome of an election and blatantly lie to the public about that information, then win the election on a razor-thin margin, we have a right to demand the removal of that government. Gordon Campbell’s administration has done exactly that. Only weeks after the election, they announce they will be implementing a tax that nine out of ten British Columbians oppose – what’s worse, they specifically said during the election campaign that they had no plans to do it!

It is time for the people of this province to start thinking about ways of removing this illegitimate government from power. We cannot afford to wait another four years to toss these crooks out on their rear ends. An escalating protest movement involving mass demonstrations and strikes could achieve this. If the labour leaders were prepared to lead this movement, it would be achieved in fairly short order. And if Campbell had even a shred of integrity left in him, he would call an election immediately to test his real agenda before the public. I think we all know what the results of that election would be.

What’s in a Name? New Democratic Party to Discuss Dropping “New” from its Name.

I find it appalling that in the midst of an economic crisis the likes of which none of us have ever seen, one of the main debates at the federal convention of the New Democratic Party of Canada will be discussing a name change. Surely there are more important things to talk about when hundreds of NDPers from across the country get together. Nevertheless, valuable time at this convention will be wasted debating a superficial change to the party’s brand.

But just how superficial is this name change? Many are worried that dropping the word “new” from the title could be seen as a move to align the party more closely with the Democratic Party in the United States. This is certainly how the move would be seen given the party leadership’s eagerness to jump on the Obama band wagon. It is getting harder and harder to find a large NDP event where they don’t start chanting “Yes We Can”. Oddly enough, if Barak Obama was Prime Minister of Canada he would be the most right wing Prime Minister we’ve had in generations.

Unfortunately, the NDP will waste this time staring at its own naval. The constitutional amendment would require a 2/3rds majority to pass and given the dived over this question, it is doubtful that they will get it. If there has to be discussion about changing the name of the NDP, I would suggest the title “Democratic Socialist Party”.

How to Organize a Union (and keep it)

The benefits of having a union are almost too numerous to name. Better wages, working conditions, benefits, a grievance procedure and often simple respect are some of the reasons people join unions. But the labour movement seems to have trouble organizing these days. Often shops are organized only to decertify a year or two down the road. Many organizers today have a narrow view of what it means to organize a union and this is at the heart of the problem.

There are basically three main steps to organizing and solidifying a union. The first step is obvious and universally recognized – getting the certification. To bring a union into a workplace you need to sign membership cards and depending on the number of cards signed and the labour laws in your area, have a vote. This will doubtlessly require a lot of hard work and long conversations about what exactly it means to be in a union. This is the first step, but it is only the first step.

The next two steps are the ones that are too often over-looked in the labour movement: winning the first collective agreement and enforcing that agreement. The first hurdle is bargaining a good contract. This can be easier said than done, but it is vital for the success of the union. At the end of the day, workers need to see concrete improvements in their workplace. If their union doesn't bring them tangible results, they will decertify. The contract will only be as good as the workers are ready to fight for, so the bargaining committee must have the perspective of mobilizing the workers to put pressure on the bosses. This doesn’t mean that a strike is always necessary, but if workers aren’t prepared to strike they will not be happy with the outcome.

Once a collective agreement is in place, the union must be willing to back it up. Generally the bosses will test the limits of the union. They will ignore clauses in the collective agreement. They will refuse to implement what they have already agreed to. The union staff must be prepared to follow through on the grievances to force the employer to comply. This can be costly. It is easy for union staffers to do a quick cost/benefit analysis and determine that the cost of the grievance isn’t worth it. But this overlooks the political aspect. If the workers don’t see their union standing up for them, they will soon loose faith. Generally the bosses need to loose a few grievances before they realize that it isn’t worth the hassle to violate the contract.

I have been involved in organizing dozens of shops. I have seen great victories won, only to be unraveled a year later because one of these steps was ignored. Ultimately the power of a union is the productive power of the workers. There is an old saying in the labour movement, “Not a wheel will turn, not a light bulb will shine, without the consent of the working class”. That is the only real power a union has. Workers run the world. The bosses wouldn’t have a penny without us. That is the strength we must rely on.

51% of NDPers Say it’s Time for Carole James to Go

A new Angus Reid Strategies poll reveals some interesting facts about the state of discontent in this province. Support for the BC Liberals is in freefall. They’ve lost 12% since the election down to a pathetic 34%. The NDP is ahead in the polls for the first time since November 2008. This is not surprising given the overwhelming opposition to Campbell’s new harmonized sales tax. What is surprising is that the NDP has failed to gain anything from this; support for the party has remained stagnant at 42%. 59% believe it is time for new leaders in both parties. But perhaps the most telling number of all, 51% of NDP supporters believe it is time for a new leader.

Given the results of this poll, it is no surprise that the Take Back the Party campaign launched in Vancouver on July 7th is gaining momentum. The second meeting of this group elected a steering committee including notable names like Tim Luis (former COPE city councilor) and Fred Muzin (former president of the Hospital Employees Union). A meeting is set to launch the group in Victoria on August 20th. Speakers at this meeting will include Ben Isitt (two time mayoral candidate) and Dennis Pilon (UVIC Political Science Prof.).

Take Back the Party is aiming to bring more grassroots democracy into the party and bring the NDP back to their working class roots. The group has called for free tuition at all levels, free public transit and a dramatic increase in the minimum wage among other things. This movement should be welcomed by all those on the left in British Columbia. Poor and working people need a voice in BC politics. The NDP used to be that voice, but the shift to the right by the party leadership has left many of us speechless. Now the results of these policies are starting to sink in. Another electoral defeat has shown, that you don’t win anything by walking down the middle of the road. It’s time for the NDP to pick a side. The reality of capitalism in the 21st century is that there is no middle road. You are either with the working class or the employing class. You fight for the poor and disadvantaged or you maintain the rule of big business. We’ve run out of room to compromise and it seems the only people who haven’t realized that yet are leading the NDP.

takebacktheparty@gmail.com

Capitalism, War and the Downfall of the American Empire

There is little doubt that the American Empire is the greatest empire in the history of humanity. Its influence extends to every corner of the globe. Its corporations control vast sectors of the economies of nearly every country on the planet. It posses the most powerful military force ever constructed. The United States of America is a giant, but it is clearly in trouble. A collapsing economy, a massive deficit, rising foreign powers, and two exhaustive wars are all threatening its position as the global super power.

The American empire has clearly reached the height of its success and is now in decline. Rocketed into the position of a major power after the Second World War, the United States quickly grew to super power status. After the fall of the Berlin wall, the US became the sole super power on the planet and quickly dominated the globe. This was a first in human history. But every empire must fall, no matter how large and powerful. This does not mean that America will collapse entirely as a major power in the short term; the decline of the Roman Empire spanned several centuries. But it is becoming more and more clear that America’s grip on the world is slipping.

The economic foundations of American dominance are crumbling. The currency is struggling, major institutions are failing, mass unemployment undermines domestic markets and a 1.3 trillion dollar deficit threatens to cripple her future development. She has been fighting wars on multiple fronts, leaving her military stretched and her population fatigued and unwilling to support further military action. The limits of American power are being clearly shown in Latin America. The persistent presence of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and a rising tide of leftists being elected throughout the continent show her weakness. A few decades ago, every one of these governments would have been overthrown by coups, carefully plotted in American embassies. But American imperialism is left powerless in the face of growing revolutionary movements in its own “backyard”.

One could write an entire book on nearly every line of this post. The topic is not one that could be covered extensively in any forum, let alone a four paragraph blog-post. But these are fascinating times we live in. I’ve often thought about what it would have been like to live in the tumultuous past and watch history being made. But it is becoming clear to me, that our grandchildren will look back on our time with the same reflections. It is a privilege to be witness to such a spectacle. We are watching the beginning of the downfall of the greatest empire that has ever existed. This is one of the most important events in human history and we will all have some part in it.

Comrade Obama – is the President a Communist?

I’m sick and tired of hearing all the right-wing demagogues saying that Obama is a Communist. I happen to be a Communist and I take great offence to being lumped in with the likes of Obama. Obama is a Capitalist – plain and simple. He is not going to nationalize the economy. He is not going to collectivize the farms. He is not going to hand control of industry over to working people. In fact, he is going to do everything in his power to help big business continue to plunder the United States and the world.

It is ironic that these idiots would scream Communism now. After all, we didn’t hear a whisper from them when George W Bush was out nationalizing banks! That’s right – NATIONALIZING BANKS. Of course, we commies called it socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. In any event, it was basically an admission that free-market capitalism had failed. The big corporations and their lackeys in Washington are changing tactics. The free market thing didn’t work out so well, so they’re going to go back to the corporate welfare thing.

Now I know what you’re thinking – that Obama is trying to bring in socialized medicine. There’s that word again – Socialism. Well first off, that really isn’t even strictly accurate. But the second thing you have to realize is that every other advanced capitalist country has it. If public healthcare makes Obama a Communist, then America is just one tiny island of capitalism in a whole sea of Communism. In fact, every other G8 country is Communist. So is Canada, all of the European Union, Israel, Brazil, Australia, Finland and North Korea – ah, okay forget that last one. You could also add to the list of Communists the 56% of Americans who support public healthcare.

With so many “Communists” in this world, what’s a guy like me to do? You see, I’m actually in favor of nationalizing the economy and handing over control of industry to the workers. I think that the people should democratically control the economy, that you should be involved in decisions in your work place and that you should be able to elect your boss. I think that the billions upon billions of dollars in profits that the big corporations make should be given to the people that earned it. I think that we should stop wasting money and lives on unwinnable wars, and put that money into healthcare, education and a general improvements in living standards. I think that politicians should be elected, recallable and make no more than the average wage of a worker. But if everyone says that what Obama is spouting is Communism, then what’s the point in even hoisting the red flag? No self-respecting commie would ever march under his banner.

Canadian versus American Healthcare

I am continually appalled by the lack of coverage in the American healthcare system. Millions upon millions of Americans have no coverage at all, and as Michael Moore’s movie Sicko points out, even the people who do have coverage are often untreated. It is estimated that in Texas alone, seven people die every day because of a lack of healthcare coverage. Thousands of Americans die every year because they can’t afford to pay. To put this in perspective, more people die from lack of treatment in America every year than the total number killed during the 9/11 attacks.

And yet, with talk of reforming the healthcare system in the good old US of A, comes dooms-day style attack ads. A frenzied campaign is underway to convince Americans that public healthcare systems are evil. They are told that bureaucrats in Washington will decide whether or not they get covered. They are told they will have to wait for months or years to get treatment. They are told they will not get to choose their own doctor and their doctors will not get to choose where they practice. An endless stream of half-truths, innuendo and out-right lies are employed to convince Americans that there is no way to fix their broken system.

For my American friends, I will relay some recent healthcare stories from my life in Soviet Canuckistan. Last year my appendix ruptured. When I went to emergency I was treated right away. I went under the knife that same day. It was a much more involved surgery than normal appendectomies because my appendix actually ruptured several days earlier. I spent a week in hospital recovering. My bill would have been covered 100% by our public healthcare system, but I chose to pay a little more to stay in a private room with a TV (yes, you can do that). The extra charges were covered by a private extended healthcare plan paid for by my employer (yes, you can do that too). The overall quality of care was excellent.

A few days after getting out of hospital my son was born (I know, rough timing). We were planning to do a home birth with a midwife. We chose the midwife we liked and the government paid the bill. But as my wife went into labour there were some complications. The home birth didn’t work out and we had to go into the hospital. After a gruelingly long labour, Nikolai was born. We had our midwife there, plus a whole team of others. A couple days later we took our new son home and again, paid nothing. We did not have to call anyone for approval. We did not have to ask what hospital we were allowed to go to. And through it all, we didn't even think about having to pay a bill.

One of the founders of Canadian healthcare, Tommy Douglas, was recently voted by the public as the single “greatest Canadian” in history. That is the extent to which we value our public healthcare system. It is so well supported that if any political leader even talked about privatizing healthcare it would be political suicide. Not a single major party in Canada advocates an American-style system. We are horrified at the thought. I am convinced, that if any government in Canada ever attempted to privatize healthcare, there would be a revolution.

CLC Sanctions the BCNU for Raiding HEU

It’s not often that I find myself praising the actions of Ken Georgetti. But in his ruling on the BC Nurses Union’s raid of the Hospital Employees Union, he is bang on. The BCNU has been trying to recruit members of the HEU to their union for months. The Canadian Labour Congress has now laid out escalating penalties for the BCNU. The BCNU is barred from taking part in local labour councils, the BC Federation of Labour and programs and services of the Canadian Labour Congress. It is hoped by everyone in the labour movement, that the BCNU will come to their senses and drop these divisive tactics.

At a time when the BC Liberal government is preparing an assault on public healthcare, the BCNU has decided to pick a fight with another healthcare union. Raiding is banned in the labour movement for the simple reason that it pits workers against each other instead of the bosses. Some unions have called for a “right to choose” policy in the CLC. So far there hasn’t been much enthusiasm for this move.

The argument that workers should be able to choose which union they belong to seems like a logical one at first, but a second look shows the flaws in such reasoning. To start with, unions are democratic organizations. If workers are unhappy with their unions, they can change them. They can elect new leaders, pass new policies, change their constitutions or implement whatever changes they want. When that is understood, the idea of switching unions seems a little strange. But the negative side of raiding is a bigger issue. It is not only bad for the workers involved, but for the labour movement as a whole. If there was an open season for raiding, the labour movement would spend more time fighting each other than fighting the bosses. Solidarity between unions would disappear as they would see each other as potential rivals. Divide and conquer is an old tactic and the bosses are quick to exploit any division that comes up.

The leaders of the CLC have taken the right stand on this one. They’ve stood up for unity in the labour movement. They’ve stood up for solidarity over division. And there is still the obvious point that needs to be made: two thirds of workers in Canada don’t have a union at all. Those are the workers we should be focused on organizing.

The recession is over?

It was just days ago that the Governor of the Bank of Canada declared the recession over. He claimed that GDP would grow at an annualized rate of 1.3% in the 3rd quarter and 3% in the 4th. This is a rosy outlook indeed. But numbers coming out today reveal the precise opposite. May’s GDP numbers released this morning show that the economy contracted more than the predicted 0.3% in May. In fact, the GDP fell by 0.5% or at a 6% annualized rate. This shows that the recession is actually accelerating, not slowing. Canada’s GDP has been contracting for 10 consecutive months now.

A simple reminder is in order. The capitalists tend to view the world through rose coloured lenses. During the great depression, the talking heads predicted the end of the recession every couple of months and it of course dragged on for a decade. Here in Canada, a steady stream of stats have been released over the last year showing the situation is worse “than expected”. But how do they calculate these expectations? It turns out there is no science to it at all. They simply conduct a survey of “senior economists” and take the average of the numbers given.

Let’s not forget, that these are the same people who led us into this mess. They didn’t see the recession coming and they have been consistently wrong in their predictions about where it is heading. Prime Minister Stephen Harper (who has been known to brag about his economic credentials) famously said during the last election campaign that if there was going to be a recession it would have happened already. Of course, only weeks later he was forced to eat his own words.

I challenge people to compare the forecasting records of these “captains of industry”, to the articles published by the good people at www.marxist.com and www.marxist.ca. It seems the Marxists understand capitalism much better than the Capitalists! Contained in those websites you will find archives of shockingly accurate economic predictions. People like Michael Roberts and Mick Brooks not only predicted this recession in advance, but gave details about exactly how and why it would take place. There are many things that can be said about Karl Marx, but one thing is certain: he developed the best critique of the capitalist system ever written. Marx explained the basic processes at work in a capitalist economy. Those laws that he outlined in the 19th century are still at work today and if anyone wants to understand the recession taking place now, they best familiarize themselves with them.

Support the Paramedics – Time to step it up!

British Columbia’s Paramedics have been on strike for 121 days. They’re seriously restricted in their job action by essential service legislation. It seems the only noticeable sign of a paramedic strike is the large sticker reading “On Strike” that you will find plastered on every ambulance. Essential service legislation is commonly abused by the government (I can remember when Gordon Campbell considered the UBC Teaching Assistants essential), but in the case of our ambulance attendants lives actually hang in the balance. This poses a moral dilemma. Should paramedics defy essential service legislation knowing that lives will be lost? The argument isn’t so clear. The truth is, the paramedics have been standing against the deterioration of our ambulance service and if the government isn’t willing to pony up the cash to run the service properly, lives will be lost. But there are many other actions the paramedics can take without putting peoples’ lives in jeopardy.

The actual issues of the strike are shocking. Most people do not know that many paramedics get paid a lousy $2/hr while waiting for a call. This fact alone justifies all of the action they have taken so far. This is the information that needs to get into the public consciousness. The people of British Columbia would be outraged if they knew how these heroes were being treated – and that public outrage is what will win this strike.

If our ambulance attendants are going to win this fight for us, they need our support. It is time to take this campaign to a new level. CUPE should work with the BC Federation of Labour to organize public demonstrations and mobilize the broader labour movement. The paramedics should consider more militant actions to put this strike in the spotlight. A rolling parade of ambulances with their sirens blaring would get some attention. Perhaps a couple dozen paramedics, in uniform, could occupy Gordon Campbell’s constituency office. Sympathy strikes in the public and private sectors would go a long way too. It’s time to think outside of the box. Creative actions and civil disobedience are the way forward.

Don’t forget to visit their website - http://www.saveourparamedics.org/

Support our Troops – Bring them Home!

Every time a police car drives by me in Vancouver I can’t help but notice the sticker on the back in the shape of a yellow ribbon. “Support Our Troops” it declares. When the Vancouver Police Department decided to put these stickers on all of their vehicles many eyebrows were raised. Why would our police department choose to publicly support a war that the majority of the populations in both Canada and Afghanistan have consistently opposed from the start? This raises some important questions about what supporting the troops really means. One thing is clear however, these stickers are not simply a declaration of support for the troops, they are a declaration of support for the war.

I recently met with a veteran named Chris. We were staying in the same hostel and had a very interesting conversation over a few beers. He was proud of his military service. He served two tours in Bosnia, one in Kosovo, one in Somalia, one in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. But his last tour in Afghanistan soured him. He was so upset, that when he got back from that tour, he walked away from the military and said he would never look back. He did not elaborate on the legal terms of his departure, but left me with the impression that he was AWOL.

I gained a whole new respect for “our troops” that day. His words confirmed my suspicions, that the vast majority of the troops in Afghanistan honestly believe they are there to fight the good fight. They see how desperate the situation has become for ordinary Afghan people and they want more than anything to help. He told me that half way through his tour, he realized he was fighting in a war in which there was no right side. He told me, with tears welling up in his eyes, that he had lost no fewer than 31 friends over the course of his military career - many of them in Afghanistan – and for what? That question seemed to haunt him more than anything. It was easy to rationalize the death of a friend who was fighting for freedom… But his recent realization about what was right and what was wrong in this conflict smashed those illusions.

He began to tell me a story about some of the work the troops tried to do to help the people in the Kandahar region. He explained that they realized that Afghanistan will always be a desperately poor country, run by drug cartels and warlords unless they could build some kind of economy. They talked about it regularly. It was in one of these conversations that someone came up with the idea of asking a drug company to set up a factory for medicinal opiates in the region. There is a huge international market for medicinal opiates; this could serve as the basis of an economy. The more they talked about it, the more excited they got. After all, a factory like this would be a real step forward for the development of the country. It would simultaneously provide jobs for people in the cities and a legal market for farmers that grow poppies. Those poppies are currently used to produce the vast majority of the world’s heroin.

They immediately set to work. Someone estimated that the cost to set up this factory would be a couple hundred million dollars – pocket change to a big pharmaceutical company. They started writing letters to CEOs of drug companies pitching the plan. They talked about it in the villages through their interpreters. He smiled when he talked about the excitement on the faces of these people. It gave them hope – something they haven’t had for a long time.

But soon these efforts were frustrated. They never heard back from a single drug company. More importantly, one of the local war lords heard about the plot. He was furious. Setting up a legal market for poppies would remove the economic basis for his power – the drug trade. To make matters worse, this particular war lord was one of the ones on “our side”. He supported the occupation of Afghanistan, and the military relied on him as a counter-weight to the Taliban.

“We got in a lot of trouble”, Chris told me. He didn’t elaborate on what exactly that trouble was, but they were told by their superiors in no uncertain terms that they were to immediately stop these efforts. “That’s when we started to realize there was something wrong here”, he said. That episode started a process of realization among the troops. Chris told me that they were starting to see through the façade. He continued to talk about how rotten the whole mission had become and the growing disillusionment within the ranks. “The day I learned that Hamid Karzai’s brother is the biggest drug lord in Afghanistan is the day I knew I was getting out.”

I’ve thought a lot about that conversation. And every time I see one of those yellow stickers on the back of a vehicle I’m reminded of it. Our politicians are happy to declare that they support the troops, but Chris’ story stands in stark contradiction to that. I can tell you what is NOT supportive of our troops: sending them into an unwinnable war that the majority of the population opposes, asking them to go out on patrol and get picked off one-by-one by IEDs without doing anything to stabilize the situation, using them to prop up a government of drug lords and telling them it is all in the name of freedom and democracy. It is becoming increasingly clear that there is only one real way to support our troops: end this farce of a mission and bring them back home to their families where they belong.

Campbell’s plan to “harmonize” PST with GST another attack on BC’s working class

Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberal government has just announced that they will be breaking another election promise. They’ve announced plans to “harmonize” the GST and PST. After specifically saying during the election campaign that such a move would be a major concern and that they had no plans to do it, the Liberals have gone back on their word. They have decided to increase taxes by seven percent on a whole range of things, from Hydro bills to most food items. This tax will again, disproportionately hurt poor and working people and will actually be a drag on the economy.

Many basic goods and services are exempt from provincial sales tax. This was designed to prevent unfair burden being placed on working class people whose budgets are tight already. But Campbell’s latest move will see the sales tax applied to restaurant meals, home phone bills, BC Hydro bills, heating bills, most food items, school supplies and a host of other basic items. It is said that the only certainties in life are death and taxes; this expression takes on new meaning as Campbell’s new tax will even be applied to funerals!

The tax will also be applied to new homes that cost over $400,000. The Campbell government’s short sightedness is staggering. The average price of a home in British Columbia is expected to fall to $416,000 in 2009. This new tax will effectively add about $30,000 to the cost of the average house. It will also put downward pressure on the value of homes as new buyers will bid down prices in an attempt to get them under the $400,000 mark. In the short term, it may lead to a scramble to sell properties before the tax is implemented, but in the long term it will only put negative pressure on the market. In the middle of a real estate crash, and the collapse of the construction industry, Campbell’s ill-conceived plan could wreak havoc.

This is clearly an attempt to squeeze even more money from the working class of British Columbia. With the government running a massive deficit, the Liberals are attempting to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and working class. We predicted a new wave of attacks from the BC Liberal government after the election. This is the first indication of it. Over the coming months and years, the economy will force the hand of business and their government. Campbell’s third term will look a lot more like his first. Once the 2010 Winter Olympics have come and gone, there will be a relentless attack on the living standards of the people of British Columbia.

Vision Vancouver plots to split the NDP

There have been many rumblings inside the BC NDP lately. The members are clearly unhappy about the direction their party has been headed and the failure to win an election. The Take Back the Party initiative which is quickly gaining momentum hopes to push the party to the left. But not all the criticism is coming from the left. Now, it appears that several prominent supporters of Vision Vancouver (many of them members of the NDP) are considering the launch of a new party altogether. The Vision Vancouver folks seem to think that the NDP is too left wing as it is. They believe they can repeat their civic success at the provincial level; they are mistaken.

It is difficult to imagine anyone believing that the NDP isn’t already in the middle of the road. The last provincial election saw both major parties pushing their rhetoric to the center in an attempt to pick up undecided voters. This strategy did not work for either of them, and we witnessed the lowest voter turnout in BC’s history. But somehow, key members of Vision Vancouver have determined that there is wide opening for a provincial political party in the center of the political spectrum.

The Vision Vancouver group has made it clear that they plan to attend the NDP’s convention in November to “inject some of that Vision energy” into the party. But if they don’t get their way, a new provincial party could be in the cards. This is not surprising given the history of this bunch. After finding themselves in a minority in Vancouver’s Coalition of Progressive Electors, they left en masse and set up their new civic party. They also left COPE with the election debt that many of them had run up to get elected. It is alleged that they then (illegally) used NDP and COPE membership lists to sign people up to their new project. They bullied the Coalition of Progressive Electors into running just two candidates in the following election. Knowing that members of COPE had put their homes up as collateral for the election loans, they used the debt as a bargaining chip in this charade.

With this in mind, it is clear that Vision Vancouver’s electoral success was not due to their politics, but to their back room maneuvers. The previous right-wing city council had done everything possible to pave the way for a victory of the left. In the last days of the NPA’s rule, even the right wing turned on Mayor Sam Sullivan and he was unable to secure his nomination. But one thing is clear, if COPE had run a full slate of candidates, there would not be a Vision Vancouver city council today.

Now with Vision Vancouver in office, it is clear that there is really no such thing as a “center” party. When the capitalist system is failing on a global scale, anyone who defends it is pushed to the right, willingly or not. We now see that Gregor Robertson’s promises of ending homelessness in Vancouver were as empty as a Pigeon Park Savings account. This supposedly progressive city council has spent hundreds of millions of dollars bailing out Olympic projects. Their latest initiative to clamp down on free speech during the 2010 Olympics includes a ban on leaflets, posters, protest signs or megaphones in key parts of the city. Under capitalism in the 21st century, there is no such thing as a third way!

The creation of a new provincial party that tries to put on a left face, while defending the interests of big business could prove to be a disaster for working people in British Columbia. Such a party would only serve the purpose of securing a fourth victory for the BC Liberals. But there may be a silver lining to this cloud. A move like this may also pull some of the worst elements of the NDP along with it. The right wing of the party would likely line up behind Vision’s new initiative. This would force the party to take a harder left stand to differentiate itself from its new rival. That could lead to an opening for socialist ideas within the party and this ultimately is what will inspire working class people to get active. All those that would consider forming this new party were never really with us to begin with. And to them, I say “So long and good riddance!”