BASICS Bulletin - 4 May 2009
BASICS Free Community Newsletter condemns the disgraceful conduct of
the Toronto Police Service in its treatment of of the Tamil community
and peaceful demonstrators attempting to join the Tamil rally at the
US consulate on May 2, 2009.
For the last two months the Tamil community has shown exemplary unity
and organization in demanding an end to the genocide of the Tamil
people being carried out by the Sri Lankan government, including the
use of military attacks on civilian targets and the use of chemical
weapons and concentration camps in an attempt to break their movement
for national liberation. The Tamil community has persevered despite
the silence of the Canadian government and corporate media and
undemocratic repression by the Toronto police. In the words of one
demonstrator, "We will not be treated like animals!"
On May 2, thousands of people, both Canadian-born and migrant workers,
marched to call for an end to the racist attacks of the Canadian
government against immigrant communities. After the No One Is Illegal
march ended at City Hall, a large group of marchers continued on to
join the rally organized by the Tamil community at the US consulate.
The police showed no respect for the peoples right to peaceful
assembly and freedom of speech as guaranteed by the Charter of Rights
and Freedoms. Even though there was no violence or even threat of
violence from the side of the demonstrators, police verbally and
physically assaulted the people, calling them "terrorists" and other
insults. The marchers were penned in between metal barricades and
rows of armed riot police, creating a tight bottleneck on one end of
the sidewalk while mounted police on horses assaulted marchers from
the other end. Tamils and non-Tamils alike were brutalized and
crushed together, including women and children. Police even assaulted
a young couple who were only passers-by and were complying with police
instructions to leave the area. The officer grabbed the woman with
both hands and threw her down on the pavement and threatened to arrest
her partner when he attempted to passively intervene.
Two marchers, including a correspondent for BASICS Free Community
Newsletter and a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid,
were arrested for "disturbing the peace," even though their only crime
was speaking out in defense of the Tamil people and calling for
international solidarity. Footage now posted on YouTube clearly shows
that the CAIA member was arrested simply because he dared to make the
links between the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka to the occupation
and apartheid policies imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel and
correctly identifying the Canadian state as being complicit in both of
these international war crimes. Footage also clearly shows that there
was no basis for the arrest and mistreatment of the correspondent from
BASICS at the hands of the Toronto police.
The police have been attempting to break the growing unity between
Tamils and non-Tamils, by spreading rumours to each side that the
others are "trouble-makers." Anyone who views the footage of police
conduct at the demonstration will know the truth: that it is the
police who are the real "trouble-makers!"
As our arrested comrade from BASICS said, "The excessive response
against me – both at the time of my arrest and during the booking
procedure at the police station, was intended to humiliate and
intimidate me and thereby discourage my participation in the Tamil
protests. Needless to say, I will be back at the Tamil protest making
“trouble” as long as the Tamil community will be there."
We will not be intimidated! Our unity will not be broken! BASICS
Free Community Newsletter demands an impartial investigation into the
treatment of demonstrators by the Toronto police, disciplining of any
officers who violated peoples rights, as well as a public apology from
Chief of Police Bill Blair for the disgraceful and cowardly conduct of
his officers. Further, we demand that the Canadian government use any
and all means available to pressure the Sri Lankan government to stop
the genocide of the Tamil people! For more information, contact
basics.canada@gmail.com or visit our website at
basicsnewsletter.blogspot.com.
Showing posts with label migrant issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label migrant issues. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Protests in Toronto respond to Ontario immigration raids
by Syed Hussan, Faria Kamal, and Chris Ramsaroop
Basics Issue #13 (Apr/May 2009)
Nearly 200 outraged community and labour activists rattled the fences of Rexdale Immigration Detention Centre on April 5, demanding the release of over 100 undocumented workers arrested during unprecedented immigration raids across southwestern Ontario.
Chanting ‘No One Is Illegal! Stop deporting people,’ ‘We didn’t cross the borders, the borders crossed us’ and ’Justice for migrant workers,’ teachers, lawyers and organizers from OSSTF D12, Parkdale Legal Community Services, Mujeres Al Frente, the Sikh Activist Network, the Good Jobs Coalition, CUPE, UFCW, CAW, OPSEU and many others joined family members and friends on Sunday morning. Organized by No One is Illegal-Toronto, Migrante Ontario and Justicia for Migrant Workers, the spirited action was in response to three separate but coordinated attacks against undocumented communities.
This past week, Canada Border Services Agency and South Simcoe Police arrested hundreds of people, detaining over 100 workers. At the same time, in Leamington and Windsor, Ontario, dozens of undocumented people were picked up on their way to work, in their homes and in public spaces. Homes were also raided on the Danforth where absentee workers possessions were confiscated.
''For Justicia, these are our friends and our families that are on the inside," says Chris Ramsaroop from Justicia for Migrant Workers. "For Justicia this isn't just political, it’s personal. Our activists are impacted by these workplace raids."
“Racialized people have been targeted once more while working to pay for the basics while corrupt employers go free. And to this we say No!" he thundered.
No charges have been laid against the employer, Cericola Farms. These raids come the same day the migrant worker community celebrated a victory against recruitment agencies charging large “placement" fees to workers even if no legal work was found. Many workers were forced to work under precarious immigration status in order to secure an income.
As supporters encircled the premises of the detention center, the detainees came to the windows, applauding, cheering, pounding at the glass and waving fists. The action saw both the imprisoned and their community allies demanding an immediate end to immigration raids, detentions and deportations.
Basics Issue #13 (Apr/May 2009)
Nearly 200 outraged community and labour activists rattled the fences of Rexdale Immigration Detention Centre on April 5, demanding the release of over 100 undocumented workers arrested during unprecedented immigration raids across southwestern Ontario.
Chanting ‘No One Is Illegal! Stop deporting people,’ ‘We didn’t cross the borders, the borders crossed us’ and ’Justice for migrant workers,’ teachers, lawyers and organizers from OSSTF D12, Parkdale Legal Community Services, Mujeres Al Frente, the Sikh Activist Network, the Good Jobs Coalition, CUPE, UFCW, CAW, OPSEU and many others joined family members and friends on Sunday morning. Organized by No One is Illegal-Toronto, Migrante Ontario and Justicia for Migrant Workers, the spirited action was in response to three separate but coordinated attacks against undocumented communities.
This past week, Canada Border Services Agency and South Simcoe Police arrested hundreds of people, detaining over 100 workers. At the same time, in Leamington and Windsor, Ontario, dozens of undocumented people were picked up on their way to work, in their homes and in public spaces. Homes were also raided on the Danforth where absentee workers possessions were confiscated.
''For Justicia, these are our friends and our families that are on the inside," says Chris Ramsaroop from Justicia for Migrant Workers. "For Justicia this isn't just political, it’s personal. Our activists are impacted by these workplace raids."
“Racialized people have been targeted once more while working to pay for the basics while corrupt employers go free. And to this we say No!" he thundered.
No charges have been laid against the employer, Cericola Farms. These raids come the same day the migrant worker community celebrated a victory against recruitment agencies charging large “placement" fees to workers even if no legal work was found. Many workers were forced to work under precarious immigration status in order to secure an income.
As supporters encircled the premises of the detention center, the detainees came to the windows, applauding, cheering, pounding at the glass and waving fists. The action saw both the imprisoned and their community allies demanding an immediate end to immigration raids, detentions and deportations.
Charges Against Sison Dropped
Dutch prosecutors drop false murder rap against poet and Filipino people's leader for lack of evidence
by J.D. Benjamin
Basics Issue #13 (Apr/May 2009)
Prof. Sison and his supporters are celebrating the decision of the Dutch prosecutors to end their year and a half long investigation into his alleged involvement in the murders of two military assets working for the Philippine government. Sison is a poet, writer and activist living in exile in the Netherlands.
"I've long expected the decision to be dismissed because in the first place I'm innocent of the charge," Sison said during a press conference.
The accusation was a result of false information fed by the Philippine government of current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is eager to silence one of her most prominent opponents. The false charges were an attempt to distract Sison from his role as chairman of the International League of Peoples' Struggles, a coalition of democratic and anti-imperialist people's organizations from around the world, as well as his work as a political consultant for the National Democratic Front (NDF). The NDF has been fighting a 40-year-long civil war against the brutal and corrupt government of the Philippines.
Despite the clearing of Sison, the legal harassment against him has not ended. The Arroyo regime has announced that they will seek extradition of Sison, despite his recognized status as a political refugee.
Sison has announced his plans to sue Dutch prosecutors for legal costs as well as moral and material damages.
The Story of Zahir Ofuq: Canada relegates migrant to legal limbo
by Craig Fortier (Research by Ian Munroe)
Basics #13 (Apr/May 2009)
Afghan writer and philosopher Zahir Ofuq endures 15 years with no rights, no status, says it’s like being in an “open air prison”.
TORONTO – On a rainy and windy day at a Toronto rally calling on the Canadian government to pull troops out of Afghanistan, Zahir Ofuq stands atop the makeshift stage and explains how the combined occupation of his country Afghanistan and Canada’s immigration system have torn him from his family and confined him to life with neither status nor rights.
Zahir Ofuq fled Afghanistan with his family in 1992 after the rise of the warlord regime of Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmed Shah Masood. Zahir belonged to a communist group in Afghanistan with links to the previous central government in Afghanistan. Zahir was a tireless defender of human rights, and was imprisoned by the government he worked in for twenty years for his opposition to human rights violations. However, after two years in prison, the government fell and Zahir and his family fled to Pakistan, where his family remains, in hiding, to this day. Zahir subsequently came to Canada to apply for refugee status.
At the Immigration & Refugee Board, Zahir’s application for refugee status was turned down, even as Canada was gearing for war against the very regime that Zahir was fleeing. Even though he was never personally accused of involvement in any of the atrocities, and was in fact jailed for opposing them, his membership in the party was enough for the Canadian state to exclude him from refugee status.
The Canadian government, however, did not deport Mr. Ofuq because under Canadian policy, Afghanistan was deemed too dangerous to deport failed refugees. Thus, Zahir lingers in legal limbo, unable to acquire the status he needs to work, have rights, and sponsor his family here in Canada. Recently, his application for a visa to visit his severely ill daughter in Germany was denied.
Macdonald Scott, an immigration consultant with Carranza Barristers and Solicitors, and a member of No One Is Illegal-Toronto, has been working on Zahir’s case since 2006. He explains, “The thing is, he’s like person-non-grata with everyone. Someone who’s an anti-imperialist or a human rights activist, it’s like the last thing I think Canada and the United States wants is to see an independence movement in Afghanistan that’s really autonomous…”.
Zahir understands that his lack of immigration status is a direct result of Canada’s imperialist war in Afghanistan. It is for this reason that he has worked closely with No One Is Illegal and other anti-imperialist organizations in Toronto to oppose Canada’s occupation of Afghanistan. He notes that the Canadian government’s claims on why they are occupying Afghanistan are hypocritical and untrue.
He explains his case: “I think this is a very, very bad argument from immigration, because personally when a person is not guilty, you cannot make him guilty by saying it is so. The other point is now they are not going to accept me to give me status because of my affiliation with a particular political party, but Harper sends troops to Afghanistan to save the same party’s members, the leadership of the same party - they’re in parliament in Afghanistan. They send the troops to save the parliament, but I’m guilty, they’re not guilty? Where’s the logic?”
Zahir’s case is not unique. It is estimated that there are over 200,000 people live in Canada with no immigration status, with at least 80,000 in Toronto alone. Under new Conservative immigration laws like Bill C-50, more and more people are being pushed towards legal limbo, losing status and having applications rejected.
On May 2nd, Zahir will take to the streets with thousands of others on May Day to demand: “Enough is Enough!” And to state “No One Is Illegal!”. The march will begin at Allen Gardens at Dundas and Sherbourne at 12pm and will be preceded by a community festival on Friday, May 1st starting at 6pm at Steelworker’s Hall, 25 Cecil St.
For more information on No One Is Illegal and Zahir’s case go to http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org.
Basics #13 (Apr/May 2009)
Afghan writer and philosopher Zahir Ofuq endures 15 years with no rights, no status, says it’s like being in an “open air prison”.
TORONTO – On a rainy and windy day at a Toronto rally calling on the Canadian government to pull troops out of Afghanistan, Zahir Ofuq stands atop the makeshift stage and explains how the combined occupation of his country Afghanistan and Canada’s immigration system have torn him from his family and confined him to life with neither status nor rights.
Zahir Ofuq fled Afghanistan with his family in 1992 after the rise of the warlord regime of Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmed Shah Masood. Zahir belonged to a communist group in Afghanistan with links to the previous central government in Afghanistan. Zahir was a tireless defender of human rights, and was imprisoned by the government he worked in for twenty years for his opposition to human rights violations. However, after two years in prison, the government fell and Zahir and his family fled to Pakistan, where his family remains, in hiding, to this day. Zahir subsequently came to Canada to apply for refugee status.
At the Immigration & Refugee Board, Zahir’s application for refugee status was turned down, even as Canada was gearing for war against the very regime that Zahir was fleeing. Even though he was never personally accused of involvement in any of the atrocities, and was in fact jailed for opposing them, his membership in the party was enough for the Canadian state to exclude him from refugee status.
The Canadian government, however, did not deport Mr. Ofuq because under Canadian policy, Afghanistan was deemed too dangerous to deport failed refugees. Thus, Zahir lingers in legal limbo, unable to acquire the status he needs to work, have rights, and sponsor his family here in Canada. Recently, his application for a visa to visit his severely ill daughter in Germany was denied.
Macdonald Scott, an immigration consultant with Carranza Barristers and Solicitors, and a member of No One Is Illegal-Toronto, has been working on Zahir’s case since 2006. He explains, “The thing is, he’s like person-non-grata with everyone. Someone who’s an anti-imperialist or a human rights activist, it’s like the last thing I think Canada and the United States wants is to see an independence movement in Afghanistan that’s really autonomous…”.
Zahir understands that his lack of immigration status is a direct result of Canada’s imperialist war in Afghanistan. It is for this reason that he has worked closely with No One Is Illegal and other anti-imperialist organizations in Toronto to oppose Canada’s occupation of Afghanistan. He notes that the Canadian government’s claims on why they are occupying Afghanistan are hypocritical and untrue.
He explains his case: “I think this is a very, very bad argument from immigration, because personally when a person is not guilty, you cannot make him guilty by saying it is so. The other point is now they are not going to accept me to give me status because of my affiliation with a particular political party, but Harper sends troops to Afghanistan to save the same party’s members, the leadership of the same party - they’re in parliament in Afghanistan. They send the troops to save the parliament, but I’m guilty, they’re not guilty? Where’s the logic?”
Zahir’s case is not unique. It is estimated that there are over 200,000 people live in Canada with no immigration status, with at least 80,000 in Toronto alone. Under new Conservative immigration laws like Bill C-50, more and more people are being pushed towards legal limbo, losing status and having applications rejected.
On May 2nd, Zahir will take to the streets with thousands of others on May Day to demand: “Enough is Enough!” And to state “No One Is Illegal!”. The march will begin at Allen Gardens at Dundas and Sherbourne at 12pm and will be preceded by a community festival on Friday, May 1st starting at 6pm at Steelworker’s Hall, 25 Cecil St.
For more information on No One Is Illegal and Zahir’s case go to http://toronto.nooneisillegal.org.
Enemy of the People: Jason Kenney
by Hassan Reyes (Basics Issue #13, Apr/May)
Indeed, it’s been a while since we at BASICS declared someone an ‘Enemy of the People’. We’ve wanted to focus our limited space on the good work being done by various people's organizations. However, the actions of one individual in the Federal government has prompted us to bring back this section to highlight the racist, reactionary tendencies that exist in Canadian politics today.
The Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Member of Parliament for Calgary South-East Jason Kenney has been on a tear, looking to earn the crown of most right-wing politician in Canada, if not North America. In the first three months of 2009, Kenney has been making continuous headlines for his unrelenting support for apartheid Israel and the imperialist wars in the Middle East and Central Asia.
As Minister of Immigration, Kenney has overseen a massive increase in raids on locations where undocumented workers are looking to build a life. Near the beginning of April, over 100 workers were swept up in raids in the GTA alone. Instead of regularizing these people who have come here to work in order to have their rights protected and their taxes collected, Kenney and Co. would rather split up families and detain workers in inhumane conditions.
Calling them “bogus refugee claimants”, Kenney has made it a personal mission to see that principled war resisters from the United States are denied refugee status in Canada, even though many of them face lengthy jail sentences if they return to Obama’s U.S. for refusing to participate in the murderous campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
More recently, Kenney weighed in to denounce Israeli Apartheid Week, a grassroots educational and cultural series of events organized on campuses in over 40 cities worldwide. Kenney was of course responding to the calls of Zionist organizations that are realizing that the tide of public opinion in North America is shifting away from supporting Israel as it continues its construction of permanent ghettos, indiscriminate bombing and a range of other war crimes against the Palestinian people.
Just weeks after condemning university activists for showing movies and holding talks exposing Israel, Kenney responded to a call by the Jewish Defence League (JDL) asking the Canadian government not to allow British Member of Parliament George Galloway to enter the country. Galloway, an outspoken critic of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and long time supporter of Palestinian people, was considered by Kenney to be a 'threat to national security' for handing over donated items and civilian vehicles to the elected representatives of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The JDL, on the other hand, is actually classified as a terrorist organization even by the U.S. government’s standards, even though the U.S. is itself apartheid Israel’s strongest supporter in the world.
Kenney and company did, however, let their fellow Enemy of the People, George W. Bush, into the country just weeks prior to Galloway's scheduled talks in a number of Canadian cities.
Kenney appears to have no problem supporting actual terrorist groups such as the JDL or the People's Mujahedin of Iran, a right-wing neo-conservative CIA-backed outfit that advocates the violent overthrow of the Iranian government. Kenney spoke at a rally organized by the group on Parliament Hill, though he later said he didn’t remember going to it.
And then in early April, in a public address Kenney made to a group of Croatian supporters, he told the crowd that he keeps a prayer card on his desk of the fascist Croatian Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac – one of his ”heroes of the 20th century”. Cardinal Stepinac was a rabid anti-communist and a Nazi supporter who was in 1946 convicted and imprisoned for his crimes in collaborating with fascism and overseeing the forced conversion of Orthodox Christian Serbs to Catholicism during the fascist reign of the Second World War.
Kenney has been working overtime in 2009 to offend and attack the people and anyone fighting for a more just and peaceful world. So for your attacks against immigrants, peace organizations and your active involvement in the oppression of Palestinians, you, Jason Kenney, are an Enemy of the People.
Monday, April 06, 2009
May Day 2009: Festival (May 1) and Day of Action March and Rally (May 2)
Cultural and Political Festival:
Friday, May 1, 6pm - Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St.
(See below for details)
'NO ONE IS ILLEGAL' Rally and March
Saturday, May 2, 1pm - Rally at Sherbourne and Carlton
(See below for details)
This year, the newly-formed May 1st Movement (M1M) Committee and its allies are coming together to restore the importance of May Day for working peoples' struggles.
Friday, May 1, 6pm - Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St.
(See below for details)
'NO ONE IS ILLEGAL' Rally and March
Saturday, May 2, 1pm - Rally at Sherbourne and Carlton
(See below for details)
This year, the newly-formed May 1st Movement (M1M) Committee and its allies are coming together to restore the importance of May Day for working peoples' struggles.
May Day, that is May 1st is celebrated everywhere in the world as the day for workers. Everywhere, on that day, people celebrate the accomplishments of working people everywhere towards justice, true peace and liberation. Everywhere that is, but here in Canada and in the United States.
It is long time we change that.
Come celebrate as communities and activists come together across borders to celebrate our resistance as workers striving for a world of of true peace, justice, equality and respect for all.
MAY DAY FESTIVAL
Friday, May 1, 2009
6:00pm - 10:00pm
United Steelworkers Hall
25 Cecil St
Toronto, ON
Entrance FREE!
Food from all over the world!
With Speakers from:
Six Nations Mens Fire
No One Is Illegal -Toronto
Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberacion Nacional - Toronto
MIGRANTE Ontario
Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for the Rights of Tamils
BASICS Newsletter
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
With Dance performances from:
Manuela Astudillo (Ecuador)
MataDanze (Latin American)
Musical perfomances by:
Amai Kuda
CUPE Freedom Singers
Generaciones (Chile)
Hernan Astudillo (Ecuador)
Kings of Kush (East Africa)
Lyrics (Bolivia)
Maracatu Nunca ANTES
Panyolito (Philippines)
Ruben Esguerra (Colombia)
Santa Guerrila (Philippines)
Wasun and Unsung
Visual and Video Art by:
Alex Felipe (Philippines)
Huellas (Latin American)
Spoken word by:
Mujeres Al Frente (Latin American)
La Revolucionaria
Rafeef (Palestine)
SPIN (Guatemala)
Theatre and Performances by:
Teatro un Minuto (Latin American)
Honor Ford Smith (Jamaica)
And music all night by:
El Machetero (Chile)
dj eLman (Colombia)
This event is part of the build up to the MAY 2nd MAYDAY OF ACTION
No One Is Illegal!
May Day of Action
Rally and March
Saturday, May 2, 1pm
Meet: Sherbourne and Carlton
The MayDay Festival is organized by the May 1st Movement Committee (comprised of No One Is Illegal-Toronto | FMLN - Toronto | Migrante Ontario | Canadian HART | Casa Salvador Allende | BASICS Newsletter | CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee | Tamil Youth Organization | Barrio Nuevo | Labour Education Centre | BAYAN Toronto | CAIA |Victor Jara Cultural Group | Progressive Nepali Forum on the Americas)
Media Sponsorship by: CHRY 105.5FM, Voces Latinas CHHA 1610AM, BASICS Community Newsletter
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Cherry-Picking Immigrants on the Cheap
How Bill C-50 Means Lower Wages for all Canadian Workers
by Steve da Silva (Basics Issue #9 - May 2008)
On March 14 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives sneakily introduced a number of amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act within the larger framework of Bill C-50, the Budget Implementation Bill. By including the immigration changes within the Budget Bill, the Conservatives made the immigration issue one of “confidence”, meaning that the opposition parties would have to topple the government and go to elections if they wanted anything changed in the bill. And with the Liberals propping up the Conservatives once again – like they did over the question of continuing the occupation of Afghanistan) – it looks like Bill C-50 will soon become the law of the land.
So what exactly is Bill C-50? What changes will it enact? Who will it benefit and who will suffer?
The Conservatives talk about modernising the immigration system in order to process the hundreds of thousands of backlogged applications. But what Bill C-50 is really about is giving the immigration Minister new powers to shape immigration to the benefit of big business and against all workers in Canada.
Whereas under the previous Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), anyone who met the already-strict criteria to enter Canada as a worker, student, visitor, or permanent resident would be granted that status, the immigration Minister will now have authority to reject any application with no right to appeal for applicants.
The Minister will have new power to set “quotas” on the “category” of persons entering Canada. This language has community organizations such as No One is Illegal asking whether these quotas and categories are just a white-washed version of earlier “quotas” in Canada’s racist history, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923; the Order in Council of 1911 prohibiting the landing of “any immigrant belonging to the Negro race”; or that of 1923 excluding “any immigrant of any Asiatic race”; or the “None is too many” rule applied to Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe during the Second World War.
Furthermore, the Minister will no longer be obliged to review Humanitarian and Compassionate applications from abroad, the most common route through which immigrants reunite with their Canadian family members.
The immigration Minister will also have new powers to decide the order in which applications are processed. This means that immigration applications will be prioritized on the needs of Canada’s big businesses, rather than the order in which they are filed.
What the government and its big corporate backers are aiming for with Bill-C50 is cheap labour, plain and simple. Canadian businesses want the ability to bring in the most exploitable labour possible from around the world, while also bringing in high-skilled trades persons and professionals. Bringing in highly-skilled labour allows the Canadian government to spend less money subsidizing the education of its own citizens, which means more money is left over to subsidize big business.
“Why spend 25 years educating and training a doctor or engineer when Canada can steal them from developing countries”, goes the logic of the corporate thieves and their puppets in Parliament. This policy keeps “developing” countries firmly under the domination of the big capitalist countries and thus not “developing” at all. For example, there are more Haitian doctors in Montreal than in all of Haiti. Some call this “brain-drain”; others call it being a parasite on the rest of the world.
Furthermore, by maintaining a large labour pool that is extremely exploited and poorly paid (and too scared to do anything about it because of the racism migrant workers face), the net result for other Canadian workers is that their wages experience a downward pressure.
What many Canadian workers don’t realize is that many migrants come to Canada because of the terribly desperate situations in their own countries, which are almost always a direct result of the foreign policies of countries like Canada. In recent years Canada has occupied and brutally overthrown governments in Afghanistan and Haiti, while aiding and supporting oppressive puppet governments in the Middle East, the Philippines, Latin America, central Africa, and Somalia. In these places, millions have been displaced or killed by oppressive governments backed-up by Canada. Is it no wonder then that people want to leave their own lands for Canada?
So it’s clear that the new changes to the Immigration Act are going to negatively affect all working-class Canadians. What all Canadian workers need to be doing is fighting together for the regularization and status of all migrant workers, Moreover, migrant workers should have a right to live in peace in their own countries as well. So the fight of to put an end to Canada’s aggressive, imperialist foreign-policy is at the same time the fight for better working conditions and wages for Canadian workers at home.
by Steve da Silva (Basics Issue #9 - May 2008)
On March 14 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives sneakily introduced a number of amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act within the larger framework of Bill C-50, the Budget Implementation Bill. By including the immigration changes within the Budget Bill, the Conservatives made the immigration issue one of “confidence”, meaning that the opposition parties would have to topple the government and go to elections if they wanted anything changed in the bill. And with the Liberals propping up the Conservatives once again – like they did over the question of continuing the occupation of Afghanistan) – it looks like Bill C-50 will soon become the law of the land.
So what exactly is Bill C-50? What changes will it enact? Who will it benefit and who will suffer?
The Conservatives talk about modernising the immigration system in order to process the hundreds of thousands of backlogged applications. But what Bill C-50 is really about is giving the immigration Minister new powers to shape immigration to the benefit of big business and against all workers in Canada.
Whereas under the previous Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), anyone who met the already-strict criteria to enter Canada as a worker, student, visitor, or permanent resident would be granted that status, the immigration Minister will now have authority to reject any application with no right to appeal for applicants.
The Minister will have new power to set “quotas” on the “category” of persons entering Canada. This language has community organizations such as No One is Illegal asking whether these quotas and categories are just a white-washed version of earlier “quotas” in Canada’s racist history, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923; the Order in Council of 1911 prohibiting the landing of “any immigrant belonging to the Negro race”; or that of 1923 excluding “any immigrant of any Asiatic race”; or the “None is too many” rule applied to Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe during the Second World War.
Furthermore, the Minister will no longer be obliged to review Humanitarian and Compassionate applications from abroad, the most common route through which immigrants reunite with their Canadian family members.
The immigration Minister will also have new powers to decide the order in which applications are processed. This means that immigration applications will be prioritized on the needs of Canada’s big businesses, rather than the order in which they are filed.
What the government and its big corporate backers are aiming for with Bill-C50 is cheap labour, plain and simple. Canadian businesses want the ability to bring in the most exploitable labour possible from around the world, while also bringing in high-skilled trades persons and professionals. Bringing in highly-skilled labour allows the Canadian government to spend less money subsidizing the education of its own citizens, which means more money is left over to subsidize big business.
“Why spend 25 years educating and training a doctor or engineer when Canada can steal them from developing countries”, goes the logic of the corporate thieves and their puppets in Parliament. This policy keeps “developing” countries firmly under the domination of the big capitalist countries and thus not “developing” at all. For example, there are more Haitian doctors in Montreal than in all of Haiti. Some call this “brain-drain”; others call it being a parasite on the rest of the world.
Furthermore, by maintaining a large labour pool that is extremely exploited and poorly paid (and too scared to do anything about it because of the racism migrant workers face), the net result for other Canadian workers is that their wages experience a downward pressure.
What many Canadian workers don’t realize is that many migrants come to Canada because of the terribly desperate situations in their own countries, which are almost always a direct result of the foreign policies of countries like Canada. In recent years Canada has occupied and brutally overthrown governments in Afghanistan and Haiti, while aiding and supporting oppressive puppet governments in the Middle East, the Philippines, Latin America, central Africa, and Somalia. In these places, millions have been displaced or killed by oppressive governments backed-up by Canada. Is it no wonder then that people want to leave their own lands for Canada?
So it’s clear that the new changes to the Immigration Act are going to negatively affect all working-class Canadians. What all Canadian workers need to be doing is fighting together for the regularization and status of all migrant workers, Moreover, migrant workers should have a right to live in peace in their own countries as well. So the fight of to put an end to Canada’s aggressive, imperialist foreign-policy is at the same time the fight for better working conditions and wages for Canadian workers at home.
Friday, May 02, 2008
MAY DAY OF ACTION: STATUS FOR ALL!
MAY DAY OF ACTION: STATUS FOR ALL!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Christie Pits Park (at Christie subway station)
12 Noon - Hosted by No One Is Illegal - Endorsed by 93 Supporting Organizations
*This is a child-friendly demonstration.Food and drinks will be available.There will be vehicles on-hand for those with reduced mobility.*
Millions across North America have taken to the streets in the lasttwo years demanding Status for All! In Toronto, workers, students,trade unionists, activists and community members have led passionatedemonstrations calling for justice and dignity for immigrants and refugees.
The last year has seen unprecedented targeting of refugees inSanctuary. Asylum seekers have been arrested from schools, workplacesand even hospital beds. Families have been torn apart. Over 12,000friends, family, and community members have been deported.
On March 14th 2008, the Conservative government introduced a series ofamendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA),buried in Bill c-50, a 136-page "budget implementation bill". Ifpassed, the Minister will have the discretion to refuse applicationseven where the applicants meet the elitist and racist criteria forpermanent residence, to refuse to even examine humanitarianapplications filed from abroad, and to arbitrarily set quotas on the"category" of person that can enter Canada – including quotas based oncountry of origin.
In the face of this intimidation and fear, our communities haverefused to be silenced. Together, we have forced immigrationenforcement out of Toronto District schools. Inspired frontlinecommunity workers have taken up the struggle for Access Without Fear.We have fought against, and stopped the deportations of allies andfriends.
But the fight is not over. There are over 500,000 undocumented peopleliving and working across Canada, over 200,000 in Toronto alone. They are forced to live in daily fear of jailing and deportation, withoutaccess to essential services. Bill C-50 would create even morecategories of "temporary foreign workers" without full status andwithout rights. These workers will be exploited as cheap labour, asmere commodities, used and then removed. We will not stand for this.
On May 3rd, as part of the National Days of Action for Status for All,we will take to the streets. We demand an end to detentions anddeportations. We demand access without fear to essential services. We demand an end to security certificates and secret trials. We demand afull and inclusive regularization program. We demand justice, dignityand respect!
JOIN US!
The March will be followed by a community fair featuring music, performers, food, childrens activities and visual art displays
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Christie Pits Park (at Christie subway station)
12 Noon - Hosted by No One Is Illegal - Endorsed by 93 Supporting Organizations
*This is a child-friendly demonstration.Food and drinks will be available.There will be vehicles on-hand for those with reduced mobility.*
Millions across North America have taken to the streets in the lasttwo years demanding Status for All! In Toronto, workers, students,trade unionists, activists and community members have led passionatedemonstrations calling for justice and dignity for immigrants and refugees.
The last year has seen unprecedented targeting of refugees inSanctuary. Asylum seekers have been arrested from schools, workplacesand even hospital beds. Families have been torn apart. Over 12,000friends, family, and community members have been deported.
On March 14th 2008, the Conservative government introduced a series ofamendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA),buried in Bill c-50, a 136-page "budget implementation bill". Ifpassed, the Minister will have the discretion to refuse applicationseven where the applicants meet the elitist and racist criteria forpermanent residence, to refuse to even examine humanitarianapplications filed from abroad, and to arbitrarily set quotas on the"category" of person that can enter Canada – including quotas based oncountry of origin.
In the face of this intimidation and fear, our communities haverefused to be silenced. Together, we have forced immigrationenforcement out of Toronto District schools. Inspired frontlinecommunity workers have taken up the struggle for Access Without Fear.We have fought against, and stopped the deportations of allies andfriends.
But the fight is not over. There are over 500,000 undocumented peopleliving and working across Canada, over 200,000 in Toronto alone. They are forced to live in daily fear of jailing and deportation, withoutaccess to essential services. Bill C-50 would create even morecategories of "temporary foreign workers" without full status andwithout rights. These workers will be exploited as cheap labour, asmere commodities, used and then removed. We will not stand for this.
On May 3rd, as part of the National Days of Action for Status for All,we will take to the streets. We demand an end to detentions anddeportations. We demand access without fear to essential services. We demand an end to security certificates and secret trials. We demand afull and inclusive regularization program. We demand justice, dignityand respect!
JOIN US!
The March will be followed by a community fair featuring music, performers, food, childrens activities and visual art displays
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Modern Slavery of Ontario's Migrant Farm Workers
by Chris Ramsaroop of the Justicia for Migrant Workers Campaign
Over the past few months glossy TV ads have promoted Ontario’s agricultural industry through the campaign “Good Things Grow Here in Ontario”. With a catchy tune these ads encourage consumers to buy Ontario fruits and vegetables. Missing, however, from these commercials are the images of those responsible for putting fruits and vegetables on our tables.
For over forty years Canada has relied on Caribbean and Mexican migrant workers to harvest our fruits and vegetables. These workers are employed under the auspices of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (CSAWP), an employment scheme of our government that hires Mexican and Caribbean Workers to work in our agricultural industry for up to eight months annually. The program operates in Canada in every province with the exception of Newfoundland. The overwhelming majority of these workers are employed in Ontario. However, there is increasing demand for these workers in other provinces, particularly in British Colombia and Quebec.
While the Canadian government alleges that the migrant worker program represents ‘best practices’ – a model program for migration in Canada. However, what is a ‘best practice’ for the farming industry and the Canadian government is far from what would be considered a best practice from the perspective of the average worker.
It is quite common for migrant workers to compare the CSAWP as a form of modern day slavery, and they are demanding an end to conditions where they are treated worse than animals in Ontario’s fields. These workers, despite their contributions to the Ontario economy, can never apply for permanent residency in Canada. The farm worker program prohibits workers from applying for status. Furthermore, if workers speak out against the injustices they face they can be ‘repatriated’ (deported).
Along with their precarious immigration status, workers are subjected to working and living conditions that are heavily exploitative.
In our experiences, workers have reported being forced to work in fields that had recently been sprayed with dangerous chemicals and pesticides, being forced to work up to 18 or 19 hours a day, not being provided with water while working, nor being provided with bathroom facilities at their site of employment. Many of these workers experience racial harassment from supervisors and are denied breaks while at work – this despite working under temperatures reaching close to 40oC.
Instead of workers receiving medical attention for injuries sustained at work, many of them are simply ‘repatriated’ back to their countries. These workers have no medical assistance while working under extremely harsh conditions in Canada. As a result of these repatriations our organizers at Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) has heard of numerous stories where workers have either died or have become permanently disabled as a result of injuries sustained in Canada.
Despite these injustices, workers and their allies in organizations such J4MW are fighting back against these injustices. Emphasizing a workers-led model of organizing, J4MW co-ordinates campaigns with workers to address the numerous complaints they have pertaining to the CSAWP program. From advocating for reforms in migrant worker accommodations to demanding the legal right to organize, J4MW works to build solidarity amongst migrant communities as well as developing educational campaigns to raise awareness on the conditions faced by migrant workers to the greater community many of who have no idea of who represents the real face of our agricultural industry.
Recently J4MW and several community organizations have come together to demand changes to Canada’s two tiered healthcare system. While universal for permanent residents, migrant workers have been denied the basic right to access our healthcare system.
For more information to get involved with J4MW, you can visit www.justicia4migrantworkers.org.
Over the past few months glossy TV ads have promoted Ontario’s agricultural industry through the campaign “Good Things Grow Here in Ontario”. With a catchy tune these ads encourage consumers to buy Ontario fruits and vegetables. Missing, however, from these commercials are the images of those responsible for putting fruits and vegetables on our tables.
For over forty years Canada has relied on Caribbean and Mexican migrant workers to harvest our fruits and vegetables. These workers are employed under the auspices of the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (CSAWP), an employment scheme of our government that hires Mexican and Caribbean Workers to work in our agricultural industry for up to eight months annually. The program operates in Canada in every province with the exception of Newfoundland. The overwhelming majority of these workers are employed in Ontario. However, there is increasing demand for these workers in other provinces, particularly in British Colombia and Quebec.
While the Canadian government alleges that the migrant worker program represents ‘best practices’ – a model program for migration in Canada. However, what is a ‘best practice’ for the farming industry and the Canadian government is far from what would be considered a best practice from the perspective of the average worker.
It is quite common for migrant workers to compare the CSAWP as a form of modern day slavery, and they are demanding an end to conditions where they are treated worse than animals in Ontario’s fields. These workers, despite their contributions to the Ontario economy, can never apply for permanent residency in Canada. The farm worker program prohibits workers from applying for status. Furthermore, if workers speak out against the injustices they face they can be ‘repatriated’ (deported).
Along with their precarious immigration status, workers are subjected to working and living conditions that are heavily exploitative.
In our experiences, workers have reported being forced to work in fields that had recently been sprayed with dangerous chemicals and pesticides, being forced to work up to 18 or 19 hours a day, not being provided with water while working, nor being provided with bathroom facilities at their site of employment. Many of these workers experience racial harassment from supervisors and are denied breaks while at work – this despite working under temperatures reaching close to 40oC.
Instead of workers receiving medical attention for injuries sustained at work, many of them are simply ‘repatriated’ back to their countries. These workers have no medical assistance while working under extremely harsh conditions in Canada. As a result of these repatriations our organizers at Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) has heard of numerous stories where workers have either died or have become permanently disabled as a result of injuries sustained in Canada.
Despite these injustices, workers and their allies in organizations such J4MW are fighting back against these injustices. Emphasizing a workers-led model of organizing, J4MW co-ordinates campaigns with workers to address the numerous complaints they have pertaining to the CSAWP program. From advocating for reforms in migrant worker accommodations to demanding the legal right to organize, J4MW works to build solidarity amongst migrant communities as well as developing educational campaigns to raise awareness on the conditions faced by migrant workers to the greater community many of who have no idea of who represents the real face of our agricultural industry.
Recently J4MW and several community organizations have come together to demand changes to Canada’s two tiered healthcare system. While universal for permanent residents, migrant workers have been denied the basic right to access our healthcare system.
For more information to get involved with J4MW, you can visit www.justicia4migrantworkers.org.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Migrante-Ontario Launched in Toronto
Organizers vow to fight for and defend the rights of Filipino migrant workers.
Migrante-Ontario, an alliance of Filipino migrant organizations in Ontario, was officially launched in Toronto this November. Migrante-Ontario is a chapter of Migrante International, a global alliance of more than 100 overseas Filipino organizations in 22 countries. Members of Migrante-Ontario include: DAMAYAN Migrant Education and Resource Center, United Filipinos for Nationalism and Democracy (UFiND), AWARE/GABAY, Philippine Advocacy Through Arts Canada (PATAC), Pilipinong Migrante Sa Canada (PMSC)-Ottawa, Migrant Workers Family Resource Center-Hamilton, UKPC-Toronto, and Siklab-Ontario. Since its launching, initiatives have been put forward for the formation of a Migrante Ontario Youth Collective.
Migrante-Ontario believes it is part of the Filipino people’s movement for national liberation and democracy. Migrante organizes Filipinos overseas and their families back home. Migrante’s mission is to continuously uphold and defend the rights and welfare of Filipino migrants and their families.
The need for organizing Filipinos abroad has become urgent since the 1980s due to the Philippine Government’s Labour Export Policy (LEP). The LEP is part and parcel of the government’s counterinsurgency strategy as the biggest safety valve to the country’s crisis. The over 10 million Filipinos now abroad would otherwise be at home un- or underemployed and not sending remittances to relatives also un- or underemployed. Neither would the billions of dollars remitted every year be circulating in the economy to provide work for others. The other elements of this counterinsurgency strategy include massive foreign borrowing and militarization of the country.
For their part, receiving countries like Canada rarely protect the rights of the migrants they so assiduously exploit. Police violence, non-enforcement of employment standards, and restrictive visas are just some of the many weapons used against Filipino migrants.
In its brief existence, Migrant Ontario is already at the forefront of Filipino migrants struggles. Migrante Ontario is seeking cooperation with local Canadian and other migrant organizations. A major task of Migrante Ontario is to mobilize other migrant organizations in Canada to assist in the formation of an anti-imperialist International Migrants Alliance (IMA). The first IMA assembly is set for May 2008 in Malaysia.
Migrante-Ontario, an alliance of Filipino migrant organizations in Ontario, was officially launched in Toronto this November. Migrante-Ontario is a chapter of Migrante International, a global alliance of more than 100 overseas Filipino organizations in 22 countries. Members of Migrante-Ontario include: DAMAYAN Migrant Education and Resource Center, United Filipinos for Nationalism and Democracy (UFiND), AWARE/GABAY, Philippine Advocacy Through Arts Canada (PATAC), Pilipinong Migrante Sa Canada (PMSC)-Ottawa, Migrant Workers Family Resource Center-Hamilton, UKPC-Toronto, and Siklab-Ontario. Since its launching, initiatives have been put forward for the formation of a Migrante Ontario Youth Collective.
Migrante-Ontario believes it is part of the Filipino people’s movement for national liberation and democracy. Migrante organizes Filipinos overseas and their families back home. Migrante’s mission is to continuously uphold and defend the rights and welfare of Filipino migrants and their families.
The need for organizing Filipinos abroad has become urgent since the 1980s due to the Philippine Government’s Labour Export Policy (LEP). The LEP is part and parcel of the government’s counterinsurgency strategy as the biggest safety valve to the country’s crisis. The over 10 million Filipinos now abroad would otherwise be at home un- or underemployed and not sending remittances to relatives also un- or underemployed. Neither would the billions of dollars remitted every year be circulating in the economy to provide work for others. The other elements of this counterinsurgency strategy include massive foreign borrowing and militarization of the country.
For their part, receiving countries like Canada rarely protect the rights of the migrants they so assiduously exploit. Police violence, non-enforcement of employment standards, and restrictive visas are just some of the many weapons used against Filipino migrants.
In its brief existence, Migrant Ontario is already at the forefront of Filipino migrants struggles. Migrante Ontario is seeking cooperation with local Canadian and other migrant organizations. A major task of Migrante Ontario is to mobilize other migrant organizations in Canada to assist in the formation of an anti-imperialist International Migrants Alliance (IMA). The first IMA assembly is set for May 2008 in Malaysia.
Somali People Resist Attacks
Somalis at home and abroad struggle for independence.
Towards the end of 2006, US-backed Ethiopian force rolled into Somalia to overthrow the popular Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). The UIC had restored peace and security in much of southern Somalia during their brief reign of power. The illegal Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia, with the installation of a puppet government, marks a new phase of US imperialism in Somalia.
Somalia has endured a long history of foreign domination, both at the hands of European colonial powers and the US. During the colonial era, Somalia was curved up into five territories; Italian Somaliland in the south, British Somaliland in the north, French Somaliland in Djbouti, Ogaden (Western Somalia), annexed to Ethiopia and the Northern Frontier Division (NFD), ceded to Kenya.
In 1960, European colonizers were eventually defeated when Somalia attained its national independence. In the early 1980s US imperialism gradually took hold in Somalia as the US administration propped up the military dictatorship of Mohamed Siad Barre through financial aid and the massive transfer of weapons. Working in collusion with Barre, US destabilization in this era was aimed at suppressing and dividing the Somali people, thereby making Washington directly responsible for state collapse in Somalia.
The primary objective of the US in Somalia is access to Somalia’s untapped but massive oil reserves and vast uranium deposits. In geopolitical terms, Somalia is strategically located where the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea converge. It oversees the daily passage of oil tankers that go through the Suez Canal, while its close proximity to the Middle East and Sudan makes it an ideal territory to launch US military attacks against the perceived “Islamist threat” in the region. Worse still, the US plans to use the strategic town of Berbera as the base of its newly launched ‘AFRICOM’ (Africa Command), an American military scheme aimed at the militarizing the entire African continent.
Just as the Somali people rallied hard to defeat the US occupation of 1993 during the so-called “Operation Restore Hope”, Somali resistance to the Ethiopian occupation has been unrelenting and fierce. All the while, the humanitarian crisis in Somalia worsens: hundreds of thousands of Somalis have been displaced by the Ethiopian army, while the Western corporate press completely ignores the issue.
Abroad, Somalis have begun to wage their own peaceful resistance. On November 16, the Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance (SDA) of Toronto organized a demo outside the U.S. embassy, attended by at least 200. This demo came at a time when a large umbrella organization of progressive Somali Diaspora organizations from across Canada and the U.S. was formed. The mandate of the new organization, known as Somali Cause, is to demand an immediate end to the Ethiopian occupation and war crimes, promote an all inclusive national reconciliation process, and call for the establishment of an International War Crimes Tribunal for Somalia. The main objective of all these pro-people Somali organizations is to forge a united front to peacefully free Somalia from occupation and oppression, and to bring lasting liberation and real democracy to the Somali people.
Songs of Our Times
Dec 8, OISE Auditorium, Toronto
“Songs of Our Times” was an impressive debut for community organization Philippines Advocacy Through Arts - Canada (PATAC). The concert featured a variety of musical performances, ranging from traditional Filipino, to modern folk, to ballads, to comedy. It was also a multimedia event, as PowerPoint videos accompanied the performances and exhibitions of photographs, paintings, and other visual arts were on display.
As well as being entertained, the capacity crowd learned more about the human rights situation in the Philippines. Many of the songs highlighted the struggles of the Filipino people, forced to either live under a corrupt government at home or to go abroad as migrant workers to seek a better life.
The concert was organized to raise funds for the Childrens Rehabilitation Centre in the Philippines, a place where children who have been victims of state violence receive physical, psychological and social rehabilitation services. The children have suffered arrest, torture, displacement, or other human rights violations at the hands of the brutal and corrupt army, police, or paramilitary of the Philippine government in its all out war against the peoples movement. The death toll of children killed by the military during operations has reached 54. Seventeen children have been tortured, 69 illegally arrested, and 63 beaten and raped. Many are also traumatised by the killing of relatives by security forces. Over 800 unarmed, legal mass activists have been killed by security forces since current President Arroyo came to power in 2001.
The event also received the warm greetings of exiled revolutionary poet Jose Maria Sison, who praised the use of arts and culture “as truly a potent instrument for reaching out and inspiring the people to act and change their lives and the world.”
Canadian artists and community activists should take inspiration from PATAC and the kind of work that they are doing. Songs can do more than just entertain - sometimes, they can bring people together, united in the struggle for justice!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Jose Maria Sison Freed
Dutch attack on political refugee shows danger of “terror lists”.
Progressive Filipinos and their allies are celebrating the severe blow dealt to the Dutch government’s campaign of harassment against Jose Maria Sison. On September 11, the court in The Hague ordered the release of Sison, who had been held for two weeks on trumped-up charges of having ordered the killing of two counter-insurgency agents in the Philippines.
A poet, scholar, and respected political commentator, Sison has spent most of his life struggling for the national liberation of the Philippines. As founding Chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines/New Peoples Army, Sison led the underground movement against the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos until his capture by the military. Following his released after the fall of the dictatorship, Sison traveled the world on a speaking tour. The government of the Philippines cancelled his passport and with the threat of assassination should he return to his homeland, Sison was stuck in The Netherlands as a political refugee for the next 20 years.
Currently, Sison is the chairperson of the International League of Peoples Struggles and Chief Political Consultant to the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front currently in peace talks with the government of the Philippines to seek a just and lasting peace to the civil war that has been raging between the two parties for the past 30 years.
Rather than provide a safe haven from violent repression, the Dutch government has gone out of its way to attack Sison. It has prevented his earning any livelihood or access to personal bank accounts and denied him refugee status, even after the highest administrative court in the land ruled that he was a legitimate political refugee. During his recent arrest he was held in the National Penitentiary in Scheveningen - the same prison used by the Nazis to torture Dutch resistance ighters during WWII - without access to any media, warm clothing, or prescription medication.
Canadian activists immediately condemned the arrest and launched a Free Jose Maria Sison campaign that included petitions and rallies outside the Dutch embassies in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa. Similar actions occurred worldwide, with rallies held in Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Manila, and other major cities.
Every charge brought against Sison has proven to be nothing more than empty propaganda and dismissed by courts both in the Netherlands and the Philippines. Yet Sison has been labeled a “terrorist” and blacklisted by the US and EU. When Sison’s inclusion in the EU terror list was overturned by EU courts, the Dutch government launched its attempt to criminalise Sison and the entire National Democratic movement in the Philippines and those that support it abroad.
The arrest of Sison - as well as the raiding of the NDF oices and homes of Filipino refugees in the Netherlands - is part of the Arroyo government’s campaign to demonize the patriotic national democratic movement and to cover up its own heinous human rights abuses, including the murder of over 1,000 unarmed civilians (men, women and children), the creation of over 1 million internal refugees, two stolen elections, ruining the economy by selling out national interests to foreign corporations, massive corruption and theft of state assets, and the arrest and prolonged detainment of political opponents on false charges. Instead of condemning these abuses, the Dutch government has gone along with this campaign because of its economic interests - Shell Oil (a Dutch company) is currently negotiating with the government of the Philippines for lucrative oil extraction contracts.
These crimes have been aided and abetted by the governments of the other G7 nations, including Canada. Canadian aid, rather than being used to beneit the Filipinos, has gone to death squads and supported Canadian mining irms that have caused environmental catastrophes. The Canadian government refuses to put human rights before trade in the Philippines, and continues to use it’s anti-democratic “terror lists” against any forces waging just struggles for social change. Sison’s case shows that you don’t have to actually commit any crime to get on these lists - they are arbitrary tools of repression and could be used against anyone who speaks out against the government. The Canadian people should defend Sison, not just to protect his rights, but to protect their own!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Immigrant Workers Organize Accross N. America For May Day
Across North America, immigrant workers, workers of colour, and their supporters came out in record numbers for this year’s May Day.
May Day started in 1886 as a commemoration for workers killed by Chicago police during a demonstration demanding an 8 hr work day and the later execution of several worker organizers on fraudulent charges. International workers day is celebrated as a holiday everywhere in the World and is a day when workers go to the streets to demand peace, equality and justice.
In Los Angeles, over 100 000 workers - largely comprised of Latinos - assembled in MacArthur Park during marches calling for the recognition of the rights of undocumented workers. The immigrant workers movement has been organizing to fight the Bush administration’s offensive against Mexican and Latino undocumented workers in the Southern US. Their work has included a massive show of working peoples power in 2006 with a day-long strike and demonstration that had the participation of millions across the United States.
This year’s L.A. demonstrations were met with force from the notoriously racist and brutal Los Angeles Police Department (L.A.P.D). Hundreds of riot police attempted to break up the peaceful demonstrations with batons, shields and rubber coated bullets.
According to eyewitness accounts, hundreds of people “were shot, beaten by night sticks and run out of the park.” Calls from Latino and progressive organizations to fire Police Chief Bratton have been largely ignored by the Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa.
Sizeable demonstrations were held in Canadian cities as well, including a rally in Montreal that attracted 2000 workers. Hundreds of radical demonstrators staged a breakaway from the more conservative trade union led rally and marched to a nearby military base where they denounced the war in Afghanistan.
In Toronto, May Day organizing took place on the weekend beginning with a demonstration of workers, students and activists calling for the recognition of undocumented workers in Canada. Over 2500 people filled Christie Pitts Park calling for the end to the deportation of undocumented workers and their families that began under the Liberal governments and has continued under Harper’s Conservatives.
Also on the weekend, progressive Latino group Pa’delante organized a workshop at San Lorenzo Church on organizing in the Latino community around workers rights and livable wages. After addressing the mass of 150 workers and family members, organizers spoke with members of the community urging an organized response within the Latino community aimed at getting people to mobilize for a livable wage.
The increasing level of activity on and around May Day from workers in North America shows the rising level of consciousness and organization among working people. The government knows this, and they think that they can ‘discourage’ this by using measures like police brutality against the people. The people must show the police, the government and the bosses that they will not be deterred and that the struggle will continue.
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