by Kabir Joshi-Vijayan
Basics Issue #13 (Apr/May 2009)
The end of February marked the fifth anniversary of the Canadian, American and French backed coup in Haiti. It was the country’s 35th coup, the second against the popular President Jean Bertrand Aristide and the first carried out directly by foreign soldiers, including American Marines and Canada’s Joint Task Force II. It would be the latest interlude in Haiti’s sad history of constant interference and intervention from foreign powers working in collusion with Haiti’s tiny and corrupt elite. It would violently derail the remarkable popular movement of Haiti’s poor majority which had organized itself in the streets, in the fields and in the churches into a formidable democratic force. This grassroots movement demanded an end to their social and political exclusion, and had given Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas Party an indisputable mandate, with a massive 75% share of the vote in the 2000 elections.
After deposing the President, the “international community” dismantled Haiti’s entire government structure and removed thousands of elected officials from every region of the country. The United Nations Security Council officially sanctioned the illegal intervention, and then consolidated the coup with the deployment of a United Nations military occupation and endorsement of a brutal foreign-imposed dictatorship for two years.
Today, Haiti remains administratively, economically and militarily occupied. The five coup years have served to culminate years of American and international financial institution economic policy impositions that have maintained Haiti as a low-wage, export-friendly, most open world economy providing profitable business and resource extraction opportunities for foreign investors. The coup has resulted in thousands killed, raped, displaced, imprisoned and exiled; a political and social setback of decades; termination of every one of Aristide’s progressive social programs; a crippled economy; and increased poverty, misery and hopelessness.
The storms in the fall of 2007 exposed the perilous state of Haiti under foreign domination, when with more money coming into the country, the international community was incapable or unwilling to even come close to reinstating the disaster relief programs in place under Aristide. The networks and offices of Aristide’s Civil Protection Committees were attacked after the coup, and committee officials were killed, arrested or driven into hiding. The fall-out from the lack of preparation for the expected hurricanes was 1000 people killed, several thousand displaced, destruction of the season’s entire harvest and an aggregated loss to agriculture and infrastructure of 900 million dollars, representing the largest disaster to take place in Haiti for more than 100 years! The Haitian government complained that it became impossible to coordinate relief efforts among the numerous and disconnected NGOs (non-government agencies) who control all of the foreign aid coming into Haiti. Incredibly, the Haitian government was unable to access some 197 million dollars for relief from its own Central Bank because the funds had been placed in U.S. financial markets without the consultation of the Haitian parliament!
So while the international community marked the 5th anniversary of the coup with promises to stay their disastrous course in Haiti, the fatigued but defiant popular movements filled the streets with thousands and thousands of people (as they have consistently done since 2004).Their demands? Release all political prisoners; end the neoliberal policies and associated occupation; end the repression against Lavalas; and return the exiled President Jean Bertrand Aristide. It is a course that Haiti’s poor majority has not altered for five years, and one with which people in Canada need to stand in solidarity!
Showing posts with label Latin America and Caribbean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latin America and Caribbean. Show all posts
Thursday, April 16, 2009
FMLN Triumphs in Elections in El Salvador, But the Struggle Continues
by Nicolas Lopez of Barrio Nuevo Basics Issue #13 (Apr/May 2009)
Patiently enduring a long road of suffering and disillusionment, the FMLN, the main people’s party of El Salvador, has set an example of how perseverance and conviction can achieve what it aims for. On March 15, 2009 the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) triumphed in El Salvador’s presidential elections, bringing a major political defeat to the right-wing governing party, ARENA, and bringing the people one step closer to the reality of social and economic justice.
During the 1980s, five insurgent groups united to form the FMLN coalition, which they named after the internationalist-minded Farabundo Marti, a Salvadorian leader of a peasant and working class uprising against electoral fraud in January 1932. Dictator Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez reacted with furious violence against the movement, backed by U.S. and British military support. During an event known as ‘La Matanza’ (The Massacre), Farabundo Marti was executed and historians estimate that some 30,000 people were killed during four days. Since then, the people’s movement in El Salvador took to the underground to organize themselves clandestinely to overcome repression. In response, the Salvadorian government began using death squads to kill the revolutionaries’ social base. During those years of fierce repression, the people’s movement was forced to take up armed struggle as a way to defend the poor from the violence imposed on them, enduring the hardships of a gruesome civil war that lasted from 1979 until 1992. Although the people’s movement was unable to seize power from the powerful Salvadorian army aided by a million-dollar-a-day U.S. investment in paramilitary squads, the movement was still able to achieve wide political support and legitimacy, laying the foundation of what today is a victorious movement.
This is the brutal history that set the tone for the 2009 Presidential elections in El Salvador.
A week before the elections, the FMLN closed the campaign in the capital, San Salvador. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in a public gathering, the largest crowd for a political event in decades. It was a show of support far superior to what the right wing party displayed the next day. It was obvious by then that the FMLN had a greater following than the opposing party, and during the days of that week ARENA (Republican Nationalist Alliance) desperately tried to convince people through an intensive media bombardment that if FMLN were to be elected, El Salvador would become subordinate to Venezuela and “President Hugo Chavez’s expansionist project”, and that Salvadorians would risk having remittances from family members in the U.S. halted by the U.S. government.
ARENA’s maneuvers to discredit the revolutionaries included personal attacks against FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes, to which Funes responded by highlighting his party’s proposals to overcome the devastating effects of the neoliberal capitalist policies implemented by ARENA since 1993. ARENA has a long track record of using tricks and foul play to maintain power, but this time the frustrated population would not allow another fraud to occur and perhaps wouldn’t limit their furious reaction.
ARENA has in past handed out thousands of fake IDs to people they brought in from neighboring countries to fraudulently vote for their party. Although widespread evidence indicates this also happened on March 15th, 2009 FMLN was still able to move their voters and supporters to the vote and defend their electoral rights against these ‘tactricks’ of ARENA.
However, change will only occur gradually in El Salvador, with the right still firmly entrenched in the bureaucracy, the judiciary, and with the FMLN lacking a majority of seats in the Parliament. At best, the FMLN’s presence in the government will only be able to pave the ground for future rounds of struggle. For a start, it will begin by opening the books and taxing big business and recover the U$2 billion lost every year on tax evasion. This could allow them to increase wages and subsidies to basic social services, implement land reform and increase agricultural production, increase employment and scholarship opportunities and reduce gang violence in urban areas. Also, the FMLN’s political presence will give them the opportunity to strengthen the social and political capacity of the mass movements, for example by strengthening community media. Furthermore, with the FMLN at the head of the executive branch of government, they will be able to establish independent foreign relations, which under ARENA’s governments were so submissive to U.S. policy.
All of this, however, will only be possible through the continued participation and increased development of an organized mass movement to defend and advance the struggle for the economic and social power of the people.
Patiently enduring a long road of suffering and disillusionment, the FMLN, the main people’s party of El Salvador, has set an example of how perseverance and conviction can achieve what it aims for. On March 15, 2009 the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) triumphed in El Salvador’s presidential elections, bringing a major political defeat to the right-wing governing party, ARENA, and bringing the people one step closer to the reality of social and economic justice.
During the 1980s, five insurgent groups united to form the FMLN coalition, which they named after the internationalist-minded Farabundo Marti, a Salvadorian leader of a peasant and working class uprising against electoral fraud in January 1932. Dictator Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez reacted with furious violence against the movement, backed by U.S. and British military support. During an event known as ‘La Matanza’ (The Massacre), Farabundo Marti was executed and historians estimate that some 30,000 people were killed during four days. Since then, the people’s movement in El Salvador took to the underground to organize themselves clandestinely to overcome repression. In response, the Salvadorian government began using death squads to kill the revolutionaries’ social base. During those years of fierce repression, the people’s movement was forced to take up armed struggle as a way to defend the poor from the violence imposed on them, enduring the hardships of a gruesome civil war that lasted from 1979 until 1992. Although the people’s movement was unable to seize power from the powerful Salvadorian army aided by a million-dollar-a-day U.S. investment in paramilitary squads, the movement was still able to achieve wide political support and legitimacy, laying the foundation of what today is a victorious movement.
This is the brutal history that set the tone for the 2009 Presidential elections in El Salvador.A week before the elections, the FMLN closed the campaign in the capital, San Salvador. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in a public gathering, the largest crowd for a political event in decades. It was a show of support far superior to what the right wing party displayed the next day. It was obvious by then that the FMLN had a greater following than the opposing party, and during the days of that week ARENA (Republican Nationalist Alliance) desperately tried to convince people through an intensive media bombardment that if FMLN were to be elected, El Salvador would become subordinate to Venezuela and “President Hugo Chavez’s expansionist project”, and that Salvadorians would risk having remittances from family members in the U.S. halted by the U.S. government.
ARENA’s maneuvers to discredit the revolutionaries included personal attacks against FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes, to which Funes responded by highlighting his party’s proposals to overcome the devastating effects of the neoliberal capitalist policies implemented by ARENA since 1993. ARENA has a long track record of using tricks and foul play to maintain power, but this time the frustrated population would not allow another fraud to occur and perhaps wouldn’t limit their furious reaction.
ARENA has in past handed out thousands of fake IDs to people they brought in from neighboring countries to fraudulently vote for their party. Although widespread evidence indicates this also happened on March 15th, 2009 FMLN was still able to move their voters and supporters to the vote and defend their electoral rights against these ‘tactricks’ of ARENA.
However, change will only occur gradually in El Salvador, with the right still firmly entrenched in the bureaucracy, the judiciary, and with the FMLN lacking a majority of seats in the Parliament. At best, the FMLN’s presence in the government will only be able to pave the ground for future rounds of struggle. For a start, it will begin by opening the books and taxing big business and recover the U$2 billion lost every year on tax evasion. This could allow them to increase wages and subsidies to basic social services, implement land reform and increase agricultural production, increase employment and scholarship opportunities and reduce gang violence in urban areas. Also, the FMLN’s political presence will give them the opportunity to strengthen the social and political capacity of the mass movements, for example by strengthening community media. Furthermore, with the FMLN at the head of the executive branch of government, they will be able to establish independent foreign relations, which under ARENA’s governments were so submissive to U.S. policy.
All of this, however, will only be possible through the continued participation and increased development of an organized mass movement to defend and advance the struggle for the economic and social power of the people.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Review of Steven Soderbergh’s 'Che'
by Sana Malik
BASICS Issue #13 (April/May)
Steven Soderburgh's 4.5 hour biopic on Enrnesto Che Guevara is an accomplished and respectful take on the revolutionary years of Che’s short life. For those who expect a celebratory tribute to the Latin American figure, Soderbergh’s piece will seem like an ambiguous attempt to represent a hero’s tale. However, Sodebergh’s depiction and stylistic choices – always showing not telling – are as complex as its subject. Che was a principled man, but he was not without flaws or errors in judgement. This is an epic that celebrates his victories, but it just as easily leads you into the frustration of crushing defeat that Che was surely encountering. Soderbergh's strong cinematic overtures, and especially the contrast in pace and tone between part one and part two provoke questions on who Che was as a revolutionary and as a leader forced to make conflicting decisions. And that's exactly where this picture is its strongest- never making any judgement calls but leaving the viewer in the position of dissecting Che’s actions as a man of principle, without ever making his thoughts or actions palpable.
Part one juxtaposes scenes of guerilla fighting in the ‘50s in the Cuban heartland with Che’s first visit to the UN in 1964. His zeal and confidence are on full display in the gritty black and white reel, and a BBC reporter’s voiceover perfectly intonates the simultaneous suspicion and intrigue the West held of Che. It’s here that Soderbergh introduces and plays on the iconic and visionary poses that make the Argentine recognizable as a revolutionary, while the battle of Cuba wages on in subsequent scenes. Indeed, Che is to remain an enigma in Soderbergh’s vision - adding to his larger than life image as a popular icon – and Benicio del Toro captivates with perfection in the lead. Del Toro’s Che is equally compassionate and cruel, sometimes dogmatic and other times rash, his brilliant intellect on display and his crucial miscalculations crushing. It makes the man all the harder to understand.
After the battle has been won and Cuba’s glorious socialist revolution is in place, part two begins with Fidel Castro reading Che’s farewell letter to the Cuban people he helped free from the forces of imperialism. Che’s vision for a free and socialist Latin America has compelled his return to Guerilla warfare and to Bolivia and to his eventual death. This story is less about his image as a revolutionary icon and more about a man as complex and conflicted as a determined fighter. The glamour is left behind in part one, and the continuation is a jauntier, more reflective piece that captures more of Che’s raw emotion and human spirit. Or at least as much as much is accessible. Soderbergh reconstructs the complexity of Che’s covert battle – in the landscape and with himself – through discrete, but powerful sequences in the fateful year Che spent in the Bolivian highlands. Che sees everything that happened in Cuba in reverse: he is rejected by the peasants he hopes to liberate, his battalion shrinks as fighters die, are wounded, or run away, and the American-trained Bolivian militia encroaches his terrain. But he never turns back and that is the biggest message this film delivers.
The film is challenged by it’s slow pace and choppy storytelling attempting to mesh parts that don’t quite work together. It’s not entirely a glamorous portrayal and part two, especially, will probably suffer in commercial success. But it’s as honest, direct and significant as the subject it portrays.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Cuban Revolution Turns 50
by Hassan Reyes
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
If revolution is a thing of the past, then the people of Cuba didn’t get the memo.
On January 1st, Cuba celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the victory of the popular movements to overthrow US-backed military dictator Fulgencio Batista.
On July 26th, 1953, the Castro brothers and others attacked the Moncada Police Barracks hoping to spark a revolt. Castro was one of a few who survived the unsuccessful attack and then went into exile in Mexico, where he organized and trained a small guerrilla army while the mass movement inside Cuba recruited members and organized urban resistance.
In 1957, Fidel, his brother Raul, and a young Argentine doctor named Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara were among the 88 who set out to cross the Caribbean in a shoddy boat built to carry up to 25 purchased in Texas. Upon landing in Cuba, only 12 managed to evade capture or execution. Incredibly, within about two years the guerrilla forces and popular movements forced the dictator and his cronies to leave the country. On January 1st, 1959, the rebel forces from the July 26th Movement (named after the day in 1953 where the Castro brothers and others launched their rebellion) marched into Havana to be greeted by tens of thousands of jubilant Cubans.
Since that day, Cuba has been under a constant barrage from their northern neighbour, the United States, which has never forgiven Cuba for taking its destiny in its own hands and for showing the world that a society based on solidarity is possible. Not only has the US funded and orchestrated numerous terrorist attacks against Cuban civilians, it also coordinated the failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 and has attempted to kill ex-President Fidel Castro more than 600 times. This says nothing of the inhuman trade embargo imposed over the tiny island and its population, which by the US State department’s own numbers has cost Cuba between $84 million to $167 million a year – between $4 billion and $8 billion since the embargo was imposed. The American Association on World Health described the embargo as violating “the most basic international charters and conventions governing human rights.”
Despite these monumental obstacles and colossal enemies, what Cuba has been able to accomplish is nothing short of astounding given the few domestic resources at its disposal. The World Health Organization reports that Cuban males have a life expectancy at birth of 75 years and females 79 years, which equals that of developed nations including the US. In infant mortality, Cuba boasts a lower rate than the US, with 5 deaths per thousand in Cuba versus 7 per thousand in the US. Cuba also has 6 doctors to every 1000 people – more than double the amount in the US!
In the area of educational achievements, Cuba was recognized as the first country in the hemisphere to eradicate illiteracy following a massive literacy campaign in 1961. Before the revolution, literacy rates were at best 60%.
Cuba was instrumental in bringing down the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, by sending soldiers to assist Angolan freedom fighters against South Africa and their colonial allies. Cuba also sends thousands of doctors and educators all over the world in areas affected by disaster or poverty to assist those populations, including in Haiti, Bolivia and even Pakistan.
Due to the severe hurricanes that caused over $9 Billion in damages in August 2008, festivities on the island were relegated to concerts in major cities and a humble celebration in the birthplace of the revolution, Santiago de Cuba. Nonetheless, it was evident all over the island that Cubans remain proud of their achievements and are determined to not let them be reversed.
People all over the world should be proud of our Cuban brothers and sisters and work tirelessly to catch up with them in building a just society.
Basics Issue #12 (Jan/Feb 2009)
If revolution is a thing of the past, then the people of Cuba didn’t get the memo.
On January 1st, Cuba celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the victory of the popular movements to overthrow US-backed military dictator Fulgencio Batista.
On July 26th, 1953, the Castro brothers and others attacked the Moncada Police Barracks hoping to spark a revolt. Castro was one of a few who survived the unsuccessful attack and then went into exile in Mexico, where he organized and trained a small guerrilla army while the mass movement inside Cuba recruited members and organized urban resistance.
In 1957, Fidel, his brother Raul, and a young Argentine doctor named Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara were among the 88 who set out to cross the Caribbean in a shoddy boat built to carry up to 25 purchased in Texas. Upon landing in Cuba, only 12 managed to evade capture or execution. Incredibly, within about two years the guerrilla forces and popular movements forced the dictator and his cronies to leave the country. On January 1st, 1959, the rebel forces from the July 26th Movement (named after the day in 1953 where the Castro brothers and others launched their rebellion) marched into Havana to be greeted by tens of thousands of jubilant Cubans.
Since that day, Cuba has been under a constant barrage from their northern neighbour, the United States, which has never forgiven Cuba for taking its destiny in its own hands and for showing the world that a society based on solidarity is possible. Not only has the US funded and orchestrated numerous terrorist attacks against Cuban civilians, it also coordinated the failed invasion at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 and has attempted to kill ex-President Fidel Castro more than 600 times. This says nothing of the inhuman trade embargo imposed over the tiny island and its population, which by the US State department’s own numbers has cost Cuba between $84 million to $167 million a year – between $4 billion and $8 billion since the embargo was imposed. The American Association on World Health described the embargo as violating “the most basic international charters and conventions governing human rights.”Despite these monumental obstacles and colossal enemies, what Cuba has been able to accomplish is nothing short of astounding given the few domestic resources at its disposal. The World Health Organization reports that Cuban males have a life expectancy at birth of 75 years and females 79 years, which equals that of developed nations including the US. In infant mortality, Cuba boasts a lower rate than the US, with 5 deaths per thousand in Cuba versus 7 per thousand in the US. Cuba also has 6 doctors to every 1000 people – more than double the amount in the US!
In the area of educational achievements, Cuba was recognized as the first country in the hemisphere to eradicate illiteracy following a massive literacy campaign in 1961. Before the revolution, literacy rates were at best 60%.
Cuba was instrumental in bringing down the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, by sending soldiers to assist Angolan freedom fighters against South Africa and their colonial allies. Cuba also sends thousands of doctors and educators all over the world in areas affected by disaster or poverty to assist those populations, including in Haiti, Bolivia and even Pakistan.
Due to the severe hurricanes that caused over $9 Billion in damages in August 2008, festivities on the island were relegated to concerts in major cities and a humble celebration in the birthplace of the revolution, Santiago de Cuba. Nonetheless, it was evident all over the island that Cubans remain proud of their achievements and are determined to not let them be reversed.
People all over the world should be proud of our Cuban brothers and sisters and work tirelessly to catch up with them in building a just society.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
FRENTE NORMAN BETHUNE: Building People-to-People Solidarity, Venezuela to Canada
by Erica Peña & Nico Lopez (of Barrio Nuevo) Basics #11 (November 2008)
As a launching initiative for Frente Norman Bethune [FNB], this past October several community organizers and hip hop artists visited Canada from Venezuela for an 18-day tour. The Venezuelan delegation included members of Comite Nacional de los Sin Techos (National Homeless Committee), and rap-groups Familia Negra, and Area 23. They came to our corner of the world to learn a little more of what hip-hop group Familia Negra poetically refers to as Babylon. During very intense and important times they had the opportunity to compare the social, economic and political situation in their homeland with what they experienced in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Haudenesaunee (Six Nations Confederacy). Surprised and curious about the rich cultural diversity in our neck of the woods, the delegates of FNB shared their revolutionary messages not through hip hop music, but also during discussions and meetings with local organizations.
Besides opening dialogue with diverse groups of people to inform them on the positive changes in Venezuela, which our mass media rarely mentions (if at all), visiting FNB delegates met with grassroots collectives and student organizations, inviting them to participate in this Toronto-based exchange project that can bring us closer to their people’s movement. The exchange will initially allow people from Canada, Quebec , and indigenous territories to travel to Venezuela to volunteer in specific tasks during 3 or 4 weeks, during which they will be exposed to a vibrant social and cultural urban (or semi-rural) landscape. Set out to take organizers and activists to a country that has been in the spotlight of international news during the past decade, FNB is not just a solidarity effort to build stronger North-South ties: it is also an amazing learning opportunity for those actively involved in progressive social change, and especially for those who intending to increase their community organizing involvement in the future.
The visit of FNB delegates could not have happened at a more opportune time as Canada was in the midst of electing its next Prime Minister. The electoral context surrounding their stay allowed the Venezuelans, who have strengthened their system of participatory democracy for almost a decade now, to witness “the celebration of representative democracy”. In the case of Canada, they could notice that voter turnout is way lower compared to their own country, where millions flock the voting centers on the day to choose or even recall the head of Government. Additionally, they were able to see that the mechanisms to avoid electoral fraud did not seem as rigid as they are in Venezuela, where elections are enhanced by voting machines and others that verify your fingerprint coincides with the one on your identification, plus there is a paper track for every vote to avoid any discrepancies when the time to count comes. Finally, the Bolivarian visitors inquired about the lack of “international observers”, who seem to flood their country on every election, “to ensure the transparency of the voting process”.
While visiting various communities and organizations, the delegates gained insight into the many local issues we’re facing in Canada. For instance, their visit to St. Jamestown was useful to learn about the current efforts going towards organizing resident involvement in Toronto’s Mayor Tower Renewal project in North America’s most densely populated neighbourhood. Familia Negra performed at an anti-poverty rally at Jane & Finch, galvanizing the atmosphere as its residents “sung out against poverty and inequality.” They also performed in Montreal during a demonstration in solidarity with police-slain youth, Freddy Villanueva. FNB delegates were invited to speak at radio shows from four different stations, sharing with the local audience their insight on the important role community media has played in strengthening their Bolivarian Revolution. By visiting indigenous communities in struggle at Six Nations near Caledonia, ON and meeting with solidarity groups such as Students Against Israeli Apartheid, the FNB delegates increased their awareness of our local struggles and solidarity initiatives and were able to parallel to theirs while opening doors to possible mutual exchanges.
The Frente Norman Bethune campaign is demonstrating that the time has come to take a closer look at successful efforts for change in other parts of the world and learn from their positive experiences. Given the global socio-economic turmoil and its local effects, community groups and organizations in Toronto are building international solidarity links to find collaborative solutions to global problems.
For more Info on the FRENTE NORMAN BETHUNE initiative contact Barrio Nuevo at barrio.nuevo@gmail.com.
FRENTE NORMAN BETHUNE delegation of Venezuelans with Barrio Buevo and BASICS being given a tour at the Kanawakhe Mohawk Territory (just outside of Montreal).
Venezuelan MOVIMIENTO Hits T.O.
by Hassan Reyes
Basics #11 (November 2008)
Three of the members of Venezuelan rap group Familia Negra: Aja (Axe), Scott, and DJ Ancho.
On October 18th, Toronto’s VIDA Lounge was graced by some of the best revolutionary hip-hop in any language.
The Movimiento show featured 2 of Venezuela’s premier hip –hop acts: AREA 23 from the infamous 23 de Enero neighbourhood and artists/ community activists Familia Negra blessed the stage for their first visit in Canada and Quebec. The Venezuelans were accompanied by Toronto latin hip-hop pioneers Code Blue who are about to release a new album, ‘Premature’.
The concert was part of the 1st round of FRENTE NORMAN BETHUNE, a movement started by Barrio Nuevo to build people-to-people solidarity with Venezuela, as well as to coordinate on-the-ground community-organizing training for organizers in Canada, Quebec and First Nations territories to train in Venezuela.
Other acts who also lent their talents for the night included Vaughan and Oakwood’s Wasun, spoken word artist’s Sun and Spin as well as DJ D Boyz from Cuba and eLman from Dos Mundos Radio on the turntables.
Movimiento capped off a successful first tour that included similar performances all over Toronto as well as Montreal and Ottawa.
The crowd was treated to some of the best conscious hip-hop culture that this hemisphere has to offer, as well as being shown that the people of this hemisphere are coming together to fight for our common struggle.
Venezuelan rap group Área 23 at the House of Reggae in Montreal, Saturday, October 11.
Basics #11 (November 2008)
Three of the members of Venezuelan rap group Familia Negra: Aja (Axe), Scott, and DJ Ancho.On October 18th, Toronto’s VIDA Lounge was graced by some of the best revolutionary hip-hop in any language.
The Movimiento show featured 2 of Venezuela’s premier hip –hop acts: AREA 23 from the infamous 23 de Enero neighbourhood and artists/ community activists Familia Negra blessed the stage for their first visit in Canada and Quebec. The Venezuelans were accompanied by Toronto latin hip-hop pioneers Code Blue who are about to release a new album, ‘Premature’.
The concert was part of the 1st round of FRENTE NORMAN BETHUNE, a movement started by Barrio Nuevo to build people-to-people solidarity with Venezuela, as well as to coordinate on-the-ground community-organizing training for organizers in Canada, Quebec and First Nations territories to train in Venezuela.
Other acts who also lent their talents for the night included Vaughan and Oakwood’s Wasun, spoken word artist’s Sun and Spin as well as DJ D Boyz from Cuba and eLman from Dos Mundos Radio on the turntables.
Movimiento capped off a successful first tour that included similar performances all over Toronto as well as Montreal and Ottawa.
The crowd was treated to some of the best conscious hip-hop culture that this hemisphere has to offer, as well as being shown that the people of this hemisphere are coming together to fight for our common struggle.
Venezuelan rap group Área 23 at the House of Reggae in Montreal, Saturday, October 11.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Socialism, Imperialsm, and “Natural” Disasters: Cuba and Haiti in 2008
by Enver Harbans (Basics #11 - November 2008)
2008’s Atlantic hurricane season has been one of the most devastating in recorded history especially for Haiti and Cuba. However, how a political system braces itself for such natural occurrences proves decisive in how the people are affected by them.
With wind gusts reaching speeds of 340km/h, Hurricane Gustav battered the island of Cuba in late August 2008. However, Cuba’s fast-acting hurricane plan and evacuation methods spared 2.9 million lives in the eastern side of the country. There was only a handful of deaths in Cuba resulting from the hurricane. Even facing sanctions and embargos, cutting off Cuba from foreign trade with much of the world, Cuba has proven that it can defend the people when it comes to natural disasters.
However, the story of Cuba, a socialist country, is by no means the norm when it comes to hurricane preparedness. The case of Hurricane Katrina is a case we’re all familiar with, where the U.S. government, although fully capable, proved unwilling to aid the thousands who died and the hundreds of thousands of people who were left homeless.
Likewise in Haiti, just a few hundred kilometers away from Cuba, the vast devastation of the hurricanes was not simply a natural occurrence. In 2004 Haiti became an occupied nation when Canada, US and France invaded and kidpapped at gunpoint Haiti’s popular and democratically-elected president, Jean Baptiste Aristide. Since then the conditions of Haitians have become far more miserable, and the people have been violently repressed for expressing dissent to the occupation forces.
When the hurricanes struck in the summer of 2008, there was no state or infrastructure willing or able to help the people. The hurricanes in Haiti have accounted for deaths and missing persons in the thousands; tens of thousands have been made homeless, and hundreds of thousands are desperately in need of food and water.
What was Canada’s response to the crisis, a country that has sent more “foreign aid” to Haiti per capita than any other country in the world? Canada send a contingent of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). Despite receiving more “foreign aid” than any country in the Caribbean, “international assistance” to Haiti has done little to assist the Haitians except those Haitians assisting the foreign occupation.
Contrast the situation in Haiti with what happens when news of a coming hurricane hits Cuba: centralized planning is deployed and thousands of people are immediately mobilized to ensure that the effect on human life is minimized. This is the benefit of a socialist society.
In a wealthy capitalist country like America, however, or in a country under foreign imperialist occupation like Haiti, the people are left to fend for themselves (and are often attacked by the state when they try to do so).
The case of Haiti in 2008, just as much of New Orleans In 2005, shows that capitalism and imperialism is what makes for natural occurrences become disasters of the greatest proportions.
Actor Matt Damon, Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean, and Frank McKenna (former Canadian ambassador to U.S. and now T.D. Bank’s Deputy Chairman) are escorted through Gonaïves, Haiti by the gun-toting U.N. occupation forces (Sep 2008).
FRENTE NORMAN BETHUNE: Building People-to-People Solidarity Between Canada and Venezuela
by Erica Peña & Nico Lopez
Basics #11 - November 2008
As a launching initiative for Frente Norman Bethune [FNB], this past October several community organizers and hip hop artists visited Canada from Venezuela for an 18-day tour. The Venezuelan delegation included members of Comite Nacional de los Sin Techos (National Homeless Committee), and rap-groups Familia Negra, and Area 23. They came to our corner of the world to learn a little more of what hip-hop group Familia Negra poetically refers to as Babylon. During very intense and important times they had the opportunity to compare the social, economic and political situation in their homeland with what they experienced in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Haudenesaunee (Six Nations Confederacy). Surprised and curious about the rich cultural diversity in our neck of the woods, the delegates of FNB shared their revolutionary messages not through hip hop music, but also during discussions and meetings with local organizations.
Besides opening dialogue with diverse groups of people to inform them on the positive changes in Venezuela, which our mass media rarely mentions (if at all), visiting FNB delegates met with grassroots collectives and student organizations, inviting them to participate in this Toronto-based exchange project that can bring us closer to their people’s movement. The exchange will initially allow people from Canada, Quebec , and indigenous territories to travel to Venezuela to volunteer in specific tasks during 3 or 4 weeks, during which they will be exposed to a vibrant social and cultural urban (or semi-rural) landscape. Set out to take organizers and activists to a country that has been in the spotlight of international news during the past decade, FNB is not just a solidarity effort to build stronger North-South ties: it is also an amazing learning opportunity for those actively involved in progressive social change, and especially for those who intending to increase their community organizing involvement in the future.
The visit of FNB delegates could not have happened at a more opportune time as Canada was in the midst of electing its next Prime Minister. The electoral context surrounding their stay allowed the Venezuelans, who have strengthened their system of participatory democracy for almost a decade now, to witness “the celebration of representative democracy”. In the case of Canada, they could notice that voter turnout is way lower compared to their own country, where millions flock the voting centers on the day to choose or even recall the head of Government. Additionally, they were able to see that the mechanisms to avoid electoral fraud did not seem as rigid as they are in Venezuela, where elections are enhanced by voting machines and others that verify your fingerprint coincides with the one on your identification, plus there is a paper track for every vote to avoid any discrepancies when the time to count comes. Finally, the Bolivarian visitors inquired about the lack of “international observers”, who seem to flood their country on every election, “to ensure the transparency of the voting process”.
While visiting various communities and organizations, the delegates gained insight into the many local issues we’re facing in Canada. For instance, their visit to St. Jamestown was useful to learn about the current efforts going towards organizing resident involvement in Toronto’s Mayor Tower Renewal project in North America’s most densely populated neighbourhood. Familia Negra performed at an anti-poverty rally at Jane & Finch, galvanizing the atmosphere as its residents “sung out against poverty and inequality.” They also performed in Montreal during a demonstration in solidarity with police-slain youth, Freddy Villanueva. FNB delegates were invited to speak at radio shows from four different stations, sharing with the local audience their insight on the important role community media has played in strengthening their Bolivarian Revolution. By visiting indigenous communities in struggle at Six Nations near Caledonia, ON and meeting with solidarity groups such as Students Against Israeli Apartheid, the FNB delegates increased their awareness of our local struggles and solidarity initiatives and were able to parallel to theirs while opening doors to possible mutual exchanges.
The Frente Norman Bethune campaign is demonstrating that the time has come to take a closer look at successful efforts for change in other parts of the world and learn from their positive experiences. Given the global socio-economic turmoil and its local effects, community groups and organizations in Toronto are building international solidarity links to find collaborative solutions to global problems.
For more Info on the FRENTE NORMAN BETHUNE initiative contact Barrio Nuevo at barrio.nuevo@gmail.com.
FRENTE NORMAN BETHUNE delegation of Venezuelans with Barrio Buevo and BASICS being given a tour at the Kanawakhe Mohawk Territory (just outside of Montreal).
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Canada’s Free Trade Deal With Narco-Terrorist Government Colombia
by Jeremias De Castero
Basics Issue #10 (Aug/Sep 2008)
On June 7th, 2008, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez signed a free trade agreement, pulling both of their countries deeper into the miserable economic system of capitalism. The experience of free trade for working Canadians over the last two decades has been immiserating: jobs have been shipped to the more exploited countries of the world; our public resources, like education and health care, are being privatized; and Canada is participating in endless wars abroad.
As the deal was being worked out in June 2008, it’s interesting to note how much talk there was in the Canadian media of how Colombia has become so much more democratic under its current president Uribe. Well if this trade deal is about free trade, and we know how destructive free trade has been to the world in the past decades, then what kind of democracy is the media talking about? Let’s sum up the “democratic” advances Colombia has made under Uribe to get an idea of what kind of democracy the Canadian government has in mind:
Since Uribe became president of Colombia in 2002 under the banner of ‘democratic security’, Colombian society has become more militarized and more impoverished.
While supposedly more than 15, 000 right-wing paramilitaries have been decommissioned, most have been reformed and rearmed into other organizations. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-Army of the People (FARC-EP) have sustained their worst casualties in more than 15 years. At the same time as the Colombia military has waged war against the FARC-EP revolutionaries, the state’s war against the general population has stepped up as well.
In the last 20 years, the paramilitaries and the military forces have assassinated more then three thousand trade unionists, both leaders and ordinary workers, and hundreds of community activists, human rights workers, and citizens critical of the government.
Throughout the same period there has been an intense increase of poverty in Colombia, with an ever-increasing impoverishment of normal workers. Colombia is also the country with the second highest number of internal refugees in the world, a number that is increasing every day. This is the ‘democratic security’ that Uribe and his government offers.
Uribe himself has a long history of connections with paramilitaries, drug gangs and just general plain old corruption. When Uribe was governor of the Antioquia province, it is known that he would have nightly meetings with paramilitaries in his governmental compound, giving them lists of union leaders and other community organizers to target for assassination. His policies as the President have been a mixture of privatization, conservatism in regards to social issues and an opening of Colombia to the exploitation of foreign companies. None of these brutal and exploitative policies would be possible without the support of foreign imperialist nations like the U.S. and Canada.
Uribe’s regime receives massive aid in the form of military hardware, technology, military officers and contract mercenaries, costing the American tax payers nearly a $1 billion per year.
On March 1, 2008 the Colombian military made an incursion into Ecuadorian territory to bomb a site of FARC’s revolutionary leader Raul Reyes, killing him as well as 20 others. The affair caused an international stir as Colombia broke international law, leading to a deterioration of relations between Colombia and its neighbours, particularly Venezuela and Ecuador.
Finally, as a foreign policy chess piece, Uribe is much more friendly to the counter-revolutionary policies of American and Canadian governments. Currently, Latin Americans in almost every country on the continent are building massive revolutionary movements for socialism. Colombia is the sole country in Latin America where the fascist right-wing is being firmly propped up with the help of America and Canada, even though the Colombian people in the countryside have waged 40 years of insurgency against the government.Therefore, the Colombian military provides a sure foothold in Latin America for those foreign powers wishing to stamp out people power in the neighbouring countries.
The Canadian people have nothing to gain and much to lose from Canada’s free trade deal with Colombia. Exploited workers and oppressed people in Canada must stand alongside Colombians in their struggle against the Uribe government, because it is a struggle against the American and Canadian governments too.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
People's Organizing for Housing in Venezuela
by Hassan Reyes
Like many major cities in what North Americans and Europeans like to call the 'Third World', the streets in Caracas, Venezuela are busy and crowded people. However, Venezuela isn't your typical 'Third World' nation. There is a revolution going on and you can see it and feel it when you are there.
BASICS Community Newsletter and the Toronto-based Latino radio program Barrio Nuevo sent us to find out what’s really happening in Venezuela and link up with the movements and people that are advancing a people's program.
The corporate media in North America portrays the Venezuelan revolution as 'authoritarian' and 'violent', and it portrays the democratically-elected leader of the movement President Hugo Rafael Chavez as a 'dictator'. It’s not hard to understand why rich Americans and Canadians feel so threatened by what’s happening in Venezuela, with the nationalization of the oil sector and the support that the peoples’ movement is obtaining from its allies in government. Venezuelans have resurrected two words that the rich people of the world hoped they would never hear again - Revolution and Socialism.
On the streets the idea of revolution has become a tangible thing, with incredible murals and graffiti everywhere, everyone announcing support for Chavez, and actively organizing themselves at the local level.
We come to a building with a considerable amount of this sort of graffiti - the headquarters of the National Committee of the Homeless (Sin Techos). I walk in and ask for Layo Gascuez, a local leader who agreed to give BASICS an interview and tell us about their work. Layo takes us to the second floor of a 5-storey building being occupied by the movement. Once occupied, the residents (mostly single mothers, seniors and youth) are organized into committees to carry out the every aspect of living collectively, including communications and renovations. On this same floor, the movement is renovating a space that will be used as a free day care centre for the single mothers in the buildings.
"Currently, we have 75 occupied buildings in Caracas and 165 nationally" says Gascuez, pointing to other adjacent buildings also run through the collectives.
"The Sin Techos movement began 2003 when we in Venezuela really began to take on the oligarchy, who live off the misery of the people" explained Gascuez of how the movement started. "In our Bolivarian constitution, Article 103 prohibits all types of
monopolies and so we started doing occupations of buildings to break that monopoly."
So united and strong are the peoples’ collectives within the Sin Techos movement that Layo proudly brings us to another occupied 7 storey building - which has a McDonalds as the main tenant on the street level. "Whenever we need something done to the
building we go to their management and demand that they pay for it. They don't dare say no."
The Sin Techos form part of the Manifesto for People's Liberation (MLP) that brings together over 8000 collectives and mass organizations together in Venezuela and other parts of Latin American.
Layo also brings us to other collectives under the banner of the MLP - the Workers of Art Centre, and Soberana TV.
The Workers of Art also function within an occupied storefront that hadn't been in operation for years. The Centre offers quality space for poor artists to do
their trade (painting, sculptures etc.) that they can then sell in order to survive. The artists offer free classes to youth and people in the community.
Soberana TV is a media centre, where the Sin Techos produce a local newsletter and TV-quality media reports to offer to other local TV stations.
"Ultimately, the work we do stems from a necessity. There are families who are living on the streets. Just as our President Chavez has said we can’t keep on allowing a monopoly over land and to permit a situation where the most vulnerable and poor in our society are trampled on."
A political mural in Caracas that reads " Work amongst the people must be the first principle of any revolutionary".
Like many major cities in what North Americans and Europeans like to call the 'Third World', the streets in Caracas, Venezuela are busy and crowded people. However, Venezuela isn't your typical 'Third World' nation. There is a revolution going on and you can see it and feel it when you are there.
BASICS Community Newsletter and the Toronto-based Latino radio program Barrio Nuevo sent us to find out what’s really happening in Venezuela and link up with the movements and people that are advancing a people's program.
The corporate media in North America portrays the Venezuelan revolution as 'authoritarian' and 'violent', and it portrays the democratically-elected leader of the movement President Hugo Rafael Chavez as a 'dictator'. It’s not hard to understand why rich Americans and Canadians feel so threatened by what’s happening in Venezuela, with the nationalization of the oil sector and the support that the peoples’ movement is obtaining from its allies in government. Venezuelans have resurrected two words that the rich people of the world hoped they would never hear again - Revolution and Socialism.
On the streets the idea of revolution has become a tangible thing, with incredible murals and graffiti everywhere, everyone announcing support for Chavez, and actively organizing themselves at the local level.
We come to a building with a considerable amount of this sort of graffiti - the headquarters of the National Committee of the Homeless (Sin Techos). I walk in and ask for Layo Gascuez, a local leader who agreed to give BASICS an interview and tell us about their work. Layo takes us to the second floor of a 5-storey building being occupied by the movement. Once occupied, the residents (mostly single mothers, seniors and youth) are organized into committees to carry out the every aspect of living collectively, including communications and renovations. On this same floor, the movement is renovating a space that will be used as a free day care centre for the single mothers in the buildings.
"Currently, we have 75 occupied buildings in Caracas and 165 nationally" says Gascuez, pointing to other adjacent buildings also run through the collectives.
"The Sin Techos movement began 2003 when we in Venezuela really began to take on the oligarchy, who live off the misery of the people" explained Gascuez of how the movement started. "In our Bolivarian constitution, Article 103 prohibits all types of
monopolies and so we started doing occupations of buildings to break that monopoly."
So united and strong are the peoples’ collectives within the Sin Techos movement that Layo proudly brings us to another occupied 7 storey building - which has a McDonalds as the main tenant on the street level. "Whenever we need something done to the
building we go to their management and demand that they pay for it. They don't dare say no."
The Sin Techos form part of the Manifesto for People's Liberation (MLP) that brings together over 8000 collectives and mass organizations together in Venezuela and other parts of Latin American.
Layo also brings us to other collectives under the banner of the MLP - the Workers of Art Centre, and Soberana TV.
The Workers of Art also function within an occupied storefront that hadn't been in operation for years. The Centre offers quality space for poor artists to do
their trade (painting, sculptures etc.) that they can then sell in order to survive. The artists offer free classes to youth and people in the community.
Soberana TV is a media centre, where the Sin Techos produce a local newsletter and TV-quality media reports to offer to other local TV stations.
"Ultimately, the work we do stems from a necessity. There are families who are living on the streets. Just as our President Chavez has said we can’t keep on allowing a monopoly over land and to permit a situation where the most vulnerable and poor in our society are trampled on."
A political mural in Caracas that reads " Work amongst the people must be the first principle of any revolutionary".
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Harper in Colombia: Free Trade Coming Ahead of Human Rights
The Para-Political scandal in Colombia is one good reason why Canada should not have a free trade accord with Colombia.
The para-political scandal is the current outrage engulfing Colombian politics. In February, the foreign minister was forced to resign after the arrest of her brother, a senator in Colombia's congress, due to their ties to one of the heads of a paramilitary group. In April, Senator Gustavo Petro, of Polo Democrático Alternativo, the new alternative political party in Colombia, exposed the web of relationships between the death squads and members of the President's party as well senators from different parties, including liberal members of congress.
In the early 1980's, the bigger land-owners of Colombia formed the "United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia" (AUC), a paramilitary organization, in response to the local farmers who had been organizing and protecting themselves from the excessive exploitation and greed of those very huge land-owners. Using the AUC, the big landowners have seized more than 26,000 square miles from local farmers, killing tens of thousands in the process and displacing thousands more. These paramilitary thugs of the AUC have murdered community and union organizers as well as any villagers who have resisted. This has meant that after the Sudan, Colombia has the second highest number of internal refugees.
The scandal is the first fully visible example of the complex but ‘legitimized’ relations between the Colombian state- its institutions as well as its political parties- and the right wing paramilitary death squads that have been internally attacking the population. The AUC and its sister organizations have received the benediction and protection of important politicos in Colombia. For example, Senator Petro revealed that President Uribe, as governor of the Antioquia State, held meetings with top-ranking paramilitary leaders on a nightly basis in his gubernatorial compound, handing over lists of suspected organizers. The para-politico scandal has also shown how relentless multi-national corporations are in acquiring their profits. For example, Del Monte and Chiquita have been caught buying paramilitary ‘protection’, hiring death squads to brutally suppress its workers. Furthermore, last year in 2006, the year of Uribe’s reelection, 77 union organizers have been ‘disappeared’ and all are presumed to be assassinated.
Why does Canada do nothing while Colombian blood drenches Colombian soil? Is it perhaps because Canadian companies are profiting from this blood? Imperial Oil through its multi-national parent company, ExxonMobil, sells gas to Canada and Colombia, as well as owning gas interests in both countries. Various Canadian banks do business in Colombia. As well, mining companies such as Cerejon, exports coal from Colombia for use in Eastern Canadian power plants. Canadian food importing businesses bring in cheap in-demand, out-of-season or tropical fruits, vegetables and other staples, such as bananas, papayas and coffee. All these Canadian multi-nationals use Colombian natural resources and labour-power for their benefit.
Additionally, although US Democrats had pushed for a free trade deal with Colombia and helped the Colombian state acquire funding for the paramilitaries, it now looks like the Democrats are withdrawing their support for this corrupt regime, as they may now block the passage of the free trade accord between the US and Colombia. For the workers of Colombia, the failure of the free trade accord means that they will not face more cuts to whatever current meager social programs are in existence.
However, on June 7, it was announced that Canada is seeking to firm up a free trade agreement with Colombia because of the impending loss of the US and Colombian free trade accord. Also with Prime Minister Harper’s jaunt to the US’ closest allies of the South America --Colombia, Peru and Brazil (with a possible stop-over in Haiti, a country that is still a horrible skeleton in the Canadian closet), our concern is that President Uribe’s corruption is going to be re-enforced with Canadian resources: money, trade and military. Therefore, we need to decide if we will allow Canada to further profit off of the pain of Colombian workers. A free trade agreement between Canada and Colombia will not improve Colombian lives; it will only increase Colombia’s painful exploitation and weaken Canadian labour.
The para-political scandal is the current outrage engulfing Colombian politics. In February, the foreign minister was forced to resign after the arrest of her brother, a senator in Colombia's congress, due to their ties to one of the heads of a paramilitary group. In April, Senator Gustavo Petro, of Polo Democrático Alternativo, the new alternative political party in Colombia, exposed the web of relationships between the death squads and members of the President's party as well senators from different parties, including liberal members of congress.
In the early 1980's, the bigger land-owners of Colombia formed the "United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia" (AUC), a paramilitary organization, in response to the local farmers who had been organizing and protecting themselves from the excessive exploitation and greed of those very huge land-owners. Using the AUC, the big landowners have seized more than 26,000 square miles from local farmers, killing tens of thousands in the process and displacing thousands more. These paramilitary thugs of the AUC have murdered community and union organizers as well as any villagers who have resisted. This has meant that after the Sudan, Colombia has the second highest number of internal refugees.
The scandal is the first fully visible example of the complex but ‘legitimized’ relations between the Colombian state- its institutions as well as its political parties- and the right wing paramilitary death squads that have been internally attacking the population. The AUC and its sister organizations have received the benediction and protection of important politicos in Colombia. For example, Senator Petro revealed that President Uribe, as governor of the Antioquia State, held meetings with top-ranking paramilitary leaders on a nightly basis in his gubernatorial compound, handing over lists of suspected organizers. The para-politico scandal has also shown how relentless multi-national corporations are in acquiring their profits. For example, Del Monte and Chiquita have been caught buying paramilitary ‘protection’, hiring death squads to brutally suppress its workers. Furthermore, last year in 2006, the year of Uribe’s reelection, 77 union organizers have been ‘disappeared’ and all are presumed to be assassinated.
Why does Canada do nothing while Colombian blood drenches Colombian soil? Is it perhaps because Canadian companies are profiting from this blood? Imperial Oil through its multi-national parent company, ExxonMobil, sells gas to Canada and Colombia, as well as owning gas interests in both countries. Various Canadian banks do business in Colombia. As well, mining companies such as Cerejon, exports coal from Colombia for use in Eastern Canadian power plants. Canadian food importing businesses bring in cheap in-demand, out-of-season or tropical fruits, vegetables and other staples, such as bananas, papayas and coffee. All these Canadian multi-nationals use Colombian natural resources and labour-power for their benefit.
Additionally, although US Democrats had pushed for a free trade deal with Colombia and helped the Colombian state acquire funding for the paramilitaries, it now looks like the Democrats are withdrawing their support for this corrupt regime, as they may now block the passage of the free trade accord between the US and Colombia. For the workers of Colombia, the failure of the free trade accord means that they will not face more cuts to whatever current meager social programs are in existence.
However, on June 7, it was announced that Canada is seeking to firm up a free trade agreement with Colombia because of the impending loss of the US and Colombian free trade accord. Also with Prime Minister Harper’s jaunt to the US’ closest allies of the South America --Colombia, Peru and Brazil (with a possible stop-over in Haiti, a country that is still a horrible skeleton in the Canadian closet), our concern is that President Uribe’s corruption is going to be re-enforced with Canadian resources: money, trade and military. Therefore, we need to decide if we will allow Canada to further profit off of the pain of Colombian workers. A free trade agreement between Canada and Colombia will not improve Colombian lives; it will only increase Colombia’s painful exploitation and weaken Canadian labour.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Canada at War Against Democracy in Haiti
When the popular Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected in 2000 with 93% of the popular vote (in elections deemed free and fair by international observers), this was a result that neither the United States, nor the rich in Haiti could accept. Aristide had been brought to office by a popular movement of the poor, known as the Lavalas movement. For the lighter-skinned and French-speaking wealthy elite (in a country where 90% are Creole-speaking, dark skinned, and poor) the coming to office of a representative of the poor was deemed unacceptable.
Consequently, the United States, alongside the help of France and Canada, worked to undermine the ability of Aristide and the Lavalas movement to govern. First, the Haitian government was cut-off from access to loans and aid – with what aid that did enter the country being directed to the unelected opponents of Aristide. All of the so-called Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) being funded by the Canadian and American governments were actually anti-Aristide groups, meaning that the hard-earned tax-payer dollars of Canadians were spent to help the rich, undemocratic elite attack Haiti’s poor majority.
With the Aristide government cut off from all loans and aid funding, it was very difficult for the administration to govern. With a flood of NGOs pouring into the country from Canada and the United States, no doubt Haitians would have been asking themselves why foreigners were claiming to be there to help them but refused to cooperate with their elected government.
At the same time that Canada and France were attempting to take the moral high ground by refusing to participate in the Iraq war, officials from those countries joined with the United States to hatch a plan to violently overthrow Aristide and occupy Haiti. Canada and France were not against invasion and occupation of sovereign countries per se and were more than willing to participate if they viewed it as being in their interest. At a high-profile meeting held in Ottawa in January 2003 the decision was made that Aristide had to go, regardless of the will of the Haitian people.
On February 29, 2004 the three countries invaded Haiti with more than 7,000 troops. Backed by local paramilitary forces, the government was overthrown, Aristide kidnapped, and deported to a French military base in the Central African Republic. A dictatorship was appointed by the three invaders, headed up by a wealthy Haitian, Gerard Latortue - the uncle of Haiti’s top cocaine dealer and alleged CIA agent, Yuri Latortue. Yuri Latortue became a senator and now heads up a commission to re-instate Haiti’s brutal military apparatus, disbanded under Aristide.
The American, Canadian, and French troops were soon replaced by a United Nations ‘peacekeeping’ team, but the invaders would still maintain decisive control of the situation in Haiti. Canada maintained a contingent of about 100 RCMP officers in Haiti training the new Haitian police force, composed of the same former thugs and paramilitaries that had been paid and armed by the US to destabilize Aristide’s government.
The impact of the invasion and occupation is only starting to come to light. A recent study by the esteemed British medical journal The Lancet revealed that in the period after Aristide’s overthrow, over 8,000 people were killed and 35,000 women were raped in the Port-au-Prince area alone. Most of the crimes were committed by United Nations forces, RCMP-trained police forces, or gangs linked to Haiti’s elite and were directed at supporters of Aristide and Lavalas party officials.
In an attempt to blame the victims, the Canadian government has claimed (without evidence) that the murdered Aristide supporters were gang members and terrorists. One former Lavalas official, Jean Candio, fled to Canada to claim political asylum to avoid assassination. However, upon entering the country he was arrested, held in prison, and accused of being a terrorist based on claims made by a Washington-based “human rights” organization, one of the many foreign-funded anti-Aristide NGOs. This will almost certainly jeopardize Candio’s claim for status.
After more than two years of a brutal occupation, and after much stalling by the occupiers, elections were finally held in Haiti on May 7, 2006. However, these elections, costing more than all of the democratic elections held in Haiti’s history put together, were riddled with fraudulence. Every other democratic election in Haiti’s history brought in a popular leader from the Lavalas-associated party, the presidential candidate associated with the movement. René Préval, the Lavalas-backed candidate should have had no problems winning – even with the slaughter of Lavalas officials, supports, and over-all intimidation of the Haitian masses.
But when Préval could not get past the first round of voting with a clear majority, and with evidence emerging that the Canadian-organized elections were a complete fraud, a popular uprising took place. The militant uprising of Haiti’s poor forced the occupiers to concede to the democratic will of the people and allow Préval to take the presidency.
Even with Préval in power, Haiti has not returned to a state of normalcy. The United Nations continues to occupy the country, killing Lavalas supporters and many other innocent bystanders, women and children included. Several peaceful demonstrations have been machine-gunned by the RCMP-trained Haitian police forces. Washington and Ottawa have also made it very clear that Aristide will not be permitted to return to his own country to revive the popular movement of Haiti’s poor majority.
It is clear that for the Canadian state Haiti is not a humanitarian mission. Canada must respect Haitian sovereignty and the will of the Haitian people and stop subverting the democratically elected government. Canada must pull its troops and RCMP forces out now!
Consequently, the United States, alongside the help of France and Canada, worked to undermine the ability of Aristide and the Lavalas movement to govern. First, the Haitian government was cut-off from access to loans and aid – with what aid that did enter the country being directed to the unelected opponents of Aristide. All of the so-called Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) being funded by the Canadian and American governments were actually anti-Aristide groups, meaning that the hard-earned tax-payer dollars of Canadians were spent to help the rich, undemocratic elite attack Haiti’s poor majority.
With the Aristide government cut off from all loans and aid funding, it was very difficult for the administration to govern. With a flood of NGOs pouring into the country from Canada and the United States, no doubt Haitians would have been asking themselves why foreigners were claiming to be there to help them but refused to cooperate with their elected government.
At the same time that Canada and France were attempting to take the moral high ground by refusing to participate in the Iraq war, officials from those countries joined with the United States to hatch a plan to violently overthrow Aristide and occupy Haiti. Canada and France were not against invasion and occupation of sovereign countries per se and were more than willing to participate if they viewed it as being in their interest. At a high-profile meeting held in Ottawa in January 2003 the decision was made that Aristide had to go, regardless of the will of the Haitian people.
On February 29, 2004 the three countries invaded Haiti with more than 7,000 troops. Backed by local paramilitary forces, the government was overthrown, Aristide kidnapped, and deported to a French military base in the Central African Republic. A dictatorship was appointed by the three invaders, headed up by a wealthy Haitian, Gerard Latortue - the uncle of Haiti’s top cocaine dealer and alleged CIA agent, Yuri Latortue. Yuri Latortue became a senator and now heads up a commission to re-instate Haiti’s brutal military apparatus, disbanded under Aristide.
The American, Canadian, and French troops were soon replaced by a United Nations ‘peacekeeping’ team, but the invaders would still maintain decisive control of the situation in Haiti. Canada maintained a contingent of about 100 RCMP officers in Haiti training the new Haitian police force, composed of the same former thugs and paramilitaries that had been paid and armed by the US to destabilize Aristide’s government.
The impact of the invasion and occupation is only starting to come to light. A recent study by the esteemed British medical journal The Lancet revealed that in the period after Aristide’s overthrow, over 8,000 people were killed and 35,000 women were raped in the Port-au-Prince area alone. Most of the crimes were committed by United Nations forces, RCMP-trained police forces, or gangs linked to Haiti’s elite and were directed at supporters of Aristide and Lavalas party officials.
In an attempt to blame the victims, the Canadian government has claimed (without evidence) that the murdered Aristide supporters were gang members and terrorists. One former Lavalas official, Jean Candio, fled to Canada to claim political asylum to avoid assassination. However, upon entering the country he was arrested, held in prison, and accused of being a terrorist based on claims made by a Washington-based “human rights” organization, one of the many foreign-funded anti-Aristide NGOs. This will almost certainly jeopardize Candio’s claim for status.
After more than two years of a brutal occupation, and after much stalling by the occupiers, elections were finally held in Haiti on May 7, 2006. However, these elections, costing more than all of the democratic elections held in Haiti’s history put together, were riddled with fraudulence. Every other democratic election in Haiti’s history brought in a popular leader from the Lavalas-associated party, the presidential candidate associated with the movement. René Préval, the Lavalas-backed candidate should have had no problems winning – even with the slaughter of Lavalas officials, supports, and over-all intimidation of the Haitian masses.
But when Préval could not get past the first round of voting with a clear majority, and with evidence emerging that the Canadian-organized elections were a complete fraud, a popular uprising took place. The militant uprising of Haiti’s poor forced the occupiers to concede to the democratic will of the people and allow Préval to take the presidency.
Even with Préval in power, Haiti has not returned to a state of normalcy. The United Nations continues to occupy the country, killing Lavalas supporters and many other innocent bystanders, women and children included. Several peaceful demonstrations have been machine-gunned by the RCMP-trained Haitian police forces. Washington and Ottawa have also made it very clear that Aristide will not be permitted to return to his own country to revive the popular movement of Haiti’s poor majority.
It is clear that for the Canadian state Haiti is not a humanitarian mission. Canada must respect Haitian sovereignty and the will of the Haitian people and stop subverting the democratically elected government. Canada must pull its troops and RCMP forces out now!
Revolution Moving Forward in Venezuela
The Congress of Venezuela has passed legislation giving President Hugo Chávez new powers to make sweeping changes to 11 broadly defined “strategic eras”, including the economy, the energy industry, and the military.
Chávez, who was re-elected in December with over 60% of the popular vote, called the passage of the legislation the beginning of a new era of “maximum revolution” to transform Venezuela into a socialist society.
The new powers will be used for the socialization of the largest telecommunications company and electricity sector, enact a more progressive tax system, curb the independence of the national bank and place the oil and natural gas industries under state control. The oil and gas companies have been given until May 1 to surrender control to the state, with the foreign companies staying on as minority partners. Those that fail to meet the deadline will face total expropriation.
The structure of government is also facing dramatic changes, with the creation of 16,000 community councils that give regular Venezuelans direct control over an increased budget for various neighborhood-based projects, including social housing, road repair, and other local issues.
Chávez has also pushed for the creation of a single political party to push forward the revolutionary process, a move that would consolidate the often chaotic pro-Chávez movement currently composed of a variety of political parties, social movements, and grassroots organizations. Chávez insisted that the new party should be built “from the base” of the popular committees composed of working people that fought and won the recent elections.
The United States has responded with hostility to the changes in Venezuela. In 2002 the Bush regime backed a failed military coup against the Chávez government. John Negroponte, US Director of National Intelligence has since slammed Chávez as “threatening to democracies in the region.”
Venezuela rejected the accusation and pointed to Negroponte’s own role in subverting democracy in Latin America during his tenure as US Ambassador to Honduras (1981-85) when he supported the Honduran military in it’s genocidal “dirty war” against indigenous people and backed the Contras, a right-wing terrorist group that fought the democratically elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
Despite the struggles and upheavals during the Chávez administration, Venezuela has produced impressive economic growth that has benefited working people. State funds from Chavez’ previous socialization of sections of the oil sector have been used in large part to introduce a wide range of social programs aimed at the vast majority of Venezuelans who live in poverty. The programs include the health ‘mission’ Barrio Adentro (Inside the Neighbourhood) which has brought free health and dental care clinics for the first time to millions of Venezuelans. Education programs have also been responsible for making Venezuela only the second country in the hemisphere to be declared ‘Illiteracy Free’ by the United Nations after Cuba.
Chávez, who was re-elected in December with over 60% of the popular vote, called the passage of the legislation the beginning of a new era of “maximum revolution” to transform Venezuela into a socialist society.
The new powers will be used for the socialization of the largest telecommunications company and electricity sector, enact a more progressive tax system, curb the independence of the national bank and place the oil and natural gas industries under state control. The oil and gas companies have been given until May 1 to surrender control to the state, with the foreign companies staying on as minority partners. Those that fail to meet the deadline will face total expropriation.
The structure of government is also facing dramatic changes, with the creation of 16,000 community councils that give regular Venezuelans direct control over an increased budget for various neighborhood-based projects, including social housing, road repair, and other local issues.
Chávez has also pushed for the creation of a single political party to push forward the revolutionary process, a move that would consolidate the often chaotic pro-Chávez movement currently composed of a variety of political parties, social movements, and grassroots organizations. Chávez insisted that the new party should be built “from the base” of the popular committees composed of working people that fought and won the recent elections.
The United States has responded with hostility to the changes in Venezuela. In 2002 the Bush regime backed a failed military coup against the Chávez government. John Negroponte, US Director of National Intelligence has since slammed Chávez as “threatening to democracies in the region.”
Venezuela rejected the accusation and pointed to Negroponte’s own role in subverting democracy in Latin America during his tenure as US Ambassador to Honduras (1981-85) when he supported the Honduran military in it’s genocidal “dirty war” against indigenous people and backed the Contras, a right-wing terrorist group that fought the democratically elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua.
Despite the struggles and upheavals during the Chávez administration, Venezuela has produced impressive economic growth that has benefited working people. State funds from Chavez’ previous socialization of sections of the oil sector have been used in large part to introduce a wide range of social programs aimed at the vast majority of Venezuelans who live in poverty. The programs include the health ‘mission’ Barrio Adentro (Inside the Neighbourhood) which has brought free health and dental care clinics for the first time to millions of Venezuelans. Education programs have also been responsible for making Venezuela only the second country in the hemisphere to be declared ‘Illiteracy Free’ by the United Nations after Cuba.
Thousands Celebrate Death of Chilean Dictator
Spontaneous celebrations sprung up all over the South American country of Chile at the news of the death of former dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Pinochet, a former General who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, lead the United States-backed overthrow of the democratically elected Socialist government of Salvador Allende. He died from health complications on the afternoon of December 10th. Shortly following the reports that the ailing dictator had died, thousands of people erupted in spontaneous celebration all over the country.
Pinochet headed the US-backed and organized overthrow of the Allende government as a response to the nationalization of the Chilean copper industry. American mining firms were expropriated in order to fund the expansion of social programs for Chilean workers.
The following 17 years of military rule saw the systematic torture of over 35,000 people, the assassination of over 5,000 and the exodus of 10% of the population who sought refugee status in mainly North American and European countries. Thousands remain missing.
Under Pinochet, Chile became the World’s testing ground for neoliberal economic policies, which use privatization and removal of laws meant to protect workers, the environment and secure tax cuts for large companies and the wealthy.
Canadian companies also benifited from Pinochet’s repressive rule. Canadian mining firms invested heavily in Pinochet’s pro-corporate economy. In 1996, Peter Munk, Chairman of Barrick Gold corporation, dismissed concern about Pinochet’s human rights record, saying “they can put people in jail, I have no comment on that... I think [the end justifies the means] because it brought wealth to an enormous number of people.”
Pinochet had been trying to evade being brought up on charges of human rights violations for the thousands killed under his command, as well as charges over tax evasion, falsifying passports and $27M stashed in bank accounts outside Chile.
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