vol. 2, no. 1, January 2009, $ 1.00
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
Aristotle’s idealism as a standpoint for living in society
In an early Treatise, Difference between the democritean and epicurean philosophy of nature, Karl Marx, wrote: “The objective history of philosophy in Greece seems to come to an end with Aristotle […] Thus it would not have been surprising if Greek philosophy, after having reached its zenith in Aristotle, should then have withered. But the death of the hero resembles the setting of the sun, not the bursting of an inflated frog.” (Collected Works, vol. 1, International Publishers, New York, 1975, p.34-35).
The Politics stands amongst Aristotle’s best known works. Hence, he affirmed: “And yet Socrates says that, thanks to education, there will be no need for a large number of regulations such as those governing the warden ship of the city and the market…” (p.118). He recognizes that society lives, altogether and whenever in the Antiquity, divided in social classes, “a farming class and a defensive fighting class, while out of the fighters a third group is formed which deliberates and is in sovereign charge of the state.” (p.121). Of course, Aristotle could not foresee comprehensively the future of the society, its economy and concurrently the development of capitalism, thus the industrial revolution and the birth of the working class. Naturally, he does not enlarge his analysis of democracy in relation with this new class. Furthermore, he criticizes the political evolution by stating that possession in general (land, slaves, coins…) influences the application of different Greek State-Cities’ constitutions, while some became “over-democratic; for it ceased to be possible to appoint to office only persons from the specified property-classes.” (p.128).
On this issue, especially with the lack of democracy in today’s world and beyond twenty centuries later, Lenin pointed out that: “To break the resistance of these [actually ruling] classes, there is only one mean: find out in the society itself that surround us, [the forces] to be educated and organized for the struggle, – and starting from their social status- capable to sweep the old and create the new.” (Oeuvres choisies, Editions du Progrès, Moscou, 1980, (p.20). He had in mind the working class.
In his book, the Greek philosopher spoke of the ideal constitution of a state. (The Politics, Penguin Books, London, 1981). Here, he already laid bare the somehow modern efforts of political parties to have a detailed approach onto all problems of society, overtaking eventual difficulties beforehand, regardless of whatever may occurred in society’s life. Friedrich Engels, in this train of thinking in 1891, analyzed reluctantly – for lack of time- the program of the German social-democrats, known as the Erfurt program, under the pressure of revolutionary leaders of the socialist movement confronted to opportunism and eager to defend the very principles of the communists of those days.
In Québec, both nationalist social-democratic parties, one being the traditionalist centre Parti québécois and the other the recent left Québec solidaire, amply elaborated their program respectively. However, the working people expect generally simpler and more concrete measures. Russian communists understood it, at the wake of the October revolution, when the Bolsheviks claimed that they will solve the dire problems of peace, land and bread. That is the basic commitment that Lenin took in 1917. As for the agrarian reforms, the communists borrowed the manifesto of a “social-democratic” party (Narodnaya Volya) and applied it.
Now, to the friend of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Aristotle’s “chief merit is the return to dialectics as a supreme form of thinking. Greeks philosophers of this era were all inborn dialecticians. With the most encyclopaedically knowledge, by comparison to all of them, Aristotle had already and more deeply studied the most essential forms of dialectical thought.” (Anti-Dühring, Éditions sociales, Paris, 1950, p. 52).
While reading The Capital, the masterpiece of Karl Marx, one may note that Aristotle left imprints in the economic works of the father of the communist movement. On the other hand and generally speaking, in Québec, the university professors are very often akin to the great Greek thinker and teacher; however, and in a narrow-minded spirit, they oppose him and his philosophical idealism to materialist representatives of the Left, such as Karl Marx and Lenin or the former general secretaries of the Communist party of Canada, Tim Buck and William Kashtan. The Roman Catholic Church amongst others has not excluded the thought of Aristotle from the Bible’s teachings and the statements of the Vatican, especially in regard with moral and social values, notably in the education of the workers.
Commenting history and the emergence of the Church, the French philosopher Voltaire, stressed that the death of Jésus-Christ had a lot to do with the one of Socrates, whom we dealt with upper hand: “The Greek philosopher died of the hatred of the sophists, priests and the leaders of the people: the Christian lawmaker succumbed of the scribes’ hatred, of Pharisees and priests. Socrates could have avoided death, but he did not want: Jésus-Christ the same.” Both forgave. (Oeuvres philosophiques, Classiques Larousse, Paris. p. 75).
The economic crisis
The current capitalist crisis was foreseeable, being even inherent in a system of happy few. The Communist party of Canada expressed it in its program, especially for a modern and democratic constitution based on workers rights and their full participation in the political process of society. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels rightly described the capitalist world as: “Modern bourgeois society with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the powers of the subterranean world which he has called up by his spells.” (The Communist Manifesto, Washington Square Press, New York, 1977, p. 66-67).
Since the late 1990s, communist and workers’ parties meet yearly to discuss the world situation and prepare the ground for cooperation and solidarity. In 2008, the conference took place in Sao Paolo, in Brazil. Previously, such meetings took place originally in the “cradle of democracy”, Athens (Greece). Aristotle would have appreciated highly such meetings. The Canadian communist newspaper People’s Voice reported that the appointed group to prepare the conference dwelt earlier on “the growing instability of the capitalism system, which results in sharper exploitation of workers.” Over 80 parties were present on Nov. 21-23, at the special invitation of the Communist party of Brazil that “was one of the original forces in the broad coalition which eventually won the election of Workers’ Party candidate Lula da Silva as President in 2002.” He is still in power…
- 30 -
jeudi 18 décembre 2008
lundi 24 novembre 2008
LAND,LAND, CAPTAIN; IT IS THE NEW WORLD
vol. 1, no. 5, December 2008, $ 1.00
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
Barack Obama has been elected. As would say the late Soviet writer Maxim Gorky in The Reader: “In order to have the right to speak to the people, you must have in your heart either a great hatred of their shortcomings or a great love for them in their sufferings; if there are no such feelings in your heart, be modest enough to think again before you say anything…”
The peoples of the world expect this “great love”. Of course, a solution to the various economic problems and the current crisis of capitalism – for instance- would be more than welcome, but a lessening of the tensions inherited from the war onto “terrorism” should take place right now. Naturally, alternative political forces must emerge, such as the communists who propose just and lasting peace, with real security for all nations.
In a recent interview to The Hollywood Reporter, and reprinted in the Marxist People’s Weekly World, the famous actor Kirk Douglas, answers a few questions in relation with the communists:
“At that time [during the Cold War], our danger was Sen. McCarthy. We were in danger of losing our freedom. We are living in a free country. Democracy thrives because people can say what they think. I don’t believe that there was a danger posed by communists or radical thinkers. […] We are not very popular around the world. They think we’re arrogant. I maintain that a powerful country like ours should show that we are capable of humility. The best way to do that is to make a formal apology for slavery.”
A letter from Colorado
As promised in an earlier issue La Vie Réelle in English reproduces here part of a letter sent to us by one of the Five of Cuba, also incarcerated separately in the USA after a hasty trial, occurred ten years ago. Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, who wrote it, is held at the Florence Penitentiary in Colorado State on the false accusation of spying, while he and four other young men were conducting an inquiry amongst the Cuban community of Florida, to prevent any other terrorist attack against their island:
“Oct. 19. 2008
Dear Daniel Paquet,
From August 10th the prison has been in “lock down”. On September 26th we were allowed out of our cells, but only inside of the housing unit. It is part of an “Emergency Plan”. It is not clear when normal operation will resume […] I want and need to finish [my work] before I could be transfer to Miami for a re-sentence.”
Here is a poem written by Antonio on January 1st 2000:
“I am a man
They say I am a spy
I am a simple man
Dedicate in his life
To serve and to create
They say I am a spy
I am a modest man
Who does not pretend to live
Better than the rest
They say I am a spy
I am a discreet man
Who has not secret
Who has not evil
They say I am a spy
I am a friendly man
Who has no enemies
Only true friends
They say I am a spy
I am a man, a good father
Who teaches his children
Love and goodness
They say I am a spy
I am a man, a good son
Who constantly cares
For the maternal home
They say I am a spy
I am an emotional man
Romantic, loyal
Occasional poet
They say I am a spy
I am a man without fear
Sure of myself
Tranquil in his walk
They say I am a spy
I am a man without wars
Guerrero (warrior) by name
But full of peace
They say I am a spy
I am an innocent man
Valiant prisoner
Who they wish to judge.
We stay firm and optimistic. A big embrace from the 5.”
Peace
As reported in The Gazette of October 26th, the mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba, made a stop in Canada, “where he and Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay planted a Sakura tree [and the first said that Canada promoting the nuke ban] would make it a star around the world.”
Elections in Québec on December the 8th 2008
Really, we cannot speak about a campaign that aroused passions. Most likely, the result will be business as usual. The Action démocratique du Québec, a right wing political party, is probably leaving the apron for ever. We will not be too many to mourn it. The Parti québécois (petite bourgeoisie par excellence) avoided the catastrophe, putting temporarily aside its separatist program. Québec solidaire did not benefit from the support of the organized labour movement in spite of the party support for workers rights; some trade unionists even helped the Parti québécois shamelessly. The Liberals remained on the left-centre lane. At the moment of printing this newsletter, everything indicates that they are going to regain political power, eventually in a majority government.
MAY 2009 BE A YEAR OF PEACE, PROGRESS AND SOLIDARITY!
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
Barack Obama has been elected. As would say the late Soviet writer Maxim Gorky in The Reader: “In order to have the right to speak to the people, you must have in your heart either a great hatred of their shortcomings or a great love for them in their sufferings; if there are no such feelings in your heart, be modest enough to think again before you say anything…”
The peoples of the world expect this “great love”. Of course, a solution to the various economic problems and the current crisis of capitalism – for instance- would be more than welcome, but a lessening of the tensions inherited from the war onto “terrorism” should take place right now. Naturally, alternative political forces must emerge, such as the communists who propose just and lasting peace, with real security for all nations.
In a recent interview to The Hollywood Reporter, and reprinted in the Marxist People’s Weekly World, the famous actor Kirk Douglas, answers a few questions in relation with the communists:
“At that time [during the Cold War], our danger was Sen. McCarthy. We were in danger of losing our freedom. We are living in a free country. Democracy thrives because people can say what they think. I don’t believe that there was a danger posed by communists or radical thinkers. […] We are not very popular around the world. They think we’re arrogant. I maintain that a powerful country like ours should show that we are capable of humility. The best way to do that is to make a formal apology for slavery.”
A letter from Colorado
As promised in an earlier issue La Vie Réelle in English reproduces here part of a letter sent to us by one of the Five of Cuba, also incarcerated separately in the USA after a hasty trial, occurred ten years ago. Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, who wrote it, is held at the Florence Penitentiary in Colorado State on the false accusation of spying, while he and four other young men were conducting an inquiry amongst the Cuban community of Florida, to prevent any other terrorist attack against their island:
“Oct. 19. 2008
Dear Daniel Paquet,
From August 10th the prison has been in “lock down”. On September 26th we were allowed out of our cells, but only inside of the housing unit. It is part of an “Emergency Plan”. It is not clear when normal operation will resume […] I want and need to finish [my work] before I could be transfer to Miami for a re-sentence.”
Here is a poem written by Antonio on January 1st 2000:
“I am a man
They say I am a spy
I am a simple man
Dedicate in his life
To serve and to create
They say I am a spy
I am a modest man
Who does not pretend to live
Better than the rest
They say I am a spy
I am a discreet man
Who has not secret
Who has not evil
They say I am a spy
I am a friendly man
Who has no enemies
Only true friends
They say I am a spy
I am a man, a good father
Who teaches his children
Love and goodness
They say I am a spy
I am a man, a good son
Who constantly cares
For the maternal home
They say I am a spy
I am an emotional man
Romantic, loyal
Occasional poet
They say I am a spy
I am a man without fear
Sure of myself
Tranquil in his walk
They say I am a spy
I am a man without wars
Guerrero (warrior) by name
But full of peace
They say I am a spy
I am an innocent man
Valiant prisoner
Who they wish to judge.
We stay firm and optimistic. A big embrace from the 5.”
Peace
As reported in The Gazette of October 26th, the mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba, made a stop in Canada, “where he and Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay planted a Sakura tree [and the first said that Canada promoting the nuke ban] would make it a star around the world.”
Elections in Québec on December the 8th 2008
Really, we cannot speak about a campaign that aroused passions. Most likely, the result will be business as usual. The Action démocratique du Québec, a right wing political party, is probably leaving the apron for ever. We will not be too many to mourn it. The Parti québécois (petite bourgeoisie par excellence) avoided the catastrophe, putting temporarily aside its separatist program. Québec solidaire did not benefit from the support of the organized labour movement in spite of the party support for workers rights; some trade unionists even helped the Parti québécois shamelessly. The Liberals remained on the left-centre lane. At the moment of printing this newsletter, everything indicates that they are going to regain political power, eventually in a majority government.
MAY 2009 BE A YEAR OF PEACE, PROGRESS AND SOLIDARITY!
dimanche 19 octobre 2008
KARL MARX AND THE MASS-MEDIA
vol. 1, no. 4, November 2008, $ 1.00
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
Foreword
Still a minority government for the Conservative party: 144 out of the 308 seats. Same policies? It could be, but it is not so sure. The opposition is over the rim of the House of Commons in Ottawa. Already in the French-Canadian province of Québec, during the race, the people marched in the streets to denounce the Tories: for the cutbacks in Arts and against the Young Offenders Act’s amendments, for instance. In Québec, the Bloc québécois, the nationalist party, won 50 of the 75 precincts. The leader of this party, Gilles Duceppe, declared to The Gazette (on October 10th) that: “I think people were waiting to see what he [Stephen Harper] is proposing [and they] said we don’t want that kind of leader because we don’t want those policies.” Gilles Duceppe has been previously one of the leaders of the Confederation of National Trade Union which endorsed the Bloc along side with the Québec Federation of Labour, 800 000 members altogether.
The candidate of the social-democratic party, the New Democratic Party, Thomas Mulcair, was re-elected in Montréal; interestingly, the Conservative party did not elect any member in the island of Montréal, the largest city of the province of Québec and its industrial heartland. The population of Québec is 7, 7 millions people while the population of Montréal is around 3 millions. Canada: 33 millions.
As for the Liberal Party, they will go in a convention in Spring 2009 to choose a new leader, according to the rumours circulating, before going to press; after all, they lost 25 seats and considerable support amidst the population. The Communist party presented four candidates in Montréal with over 3 600 votes in the 24 ridings where they presented members all over Canada.
Take your pen
Right or wrong, the socialist countries have been all accused to deprive their citizens of the right to free expression and the freedom of press. Let us see what Karl Marx had in mind when he was writing about the press, having been himself a journalist for some German newspapers such as the Rheinische Zeitung. His articles ignited strong criticism by the pundits of this time.
“What makes the press the most powerful lever for promoting culture and the intellectual education of the people is precisely the fact that it transforms the material struggle into an ideological struggle, the struggle of flesh and blood into a struggle of minds, the struggle of need, desire, empiricism into a struggle of theory, of reason, of form.” (K. Marx, Collected Works, International Publishers, New York, Volume 1, p. 292).
The first leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, wrote in 1905, twelve years before the October Revolution, that: “it is indisputable that the literature cannot be equated to mechanical egalitarianism, at a levelling, at a domination of majority over minority. In this area, certainly, one must guarantee a larger space to personal initiative, thought and imagination, form and content.” (V. Lénine, Oeuvres choisies, Les Editions du Progrès, URSS, p. 157-158)
Since La Vie Réelle in English has been created for English-speaking readers, it was decided to refer to The Gazette, (being the only daily published in Montréal), bearing in mind that we display the Marxist outlook in Québec. On August 25th, a member of the above newspaper team at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Dave Stubbs, wrote: “Of course, this grand country will always have its historic Great Wall, China’s challenge now is to move forward, and the Olympics it has just masterfully staged is an ideal springboard to its future.” It is a sound approach. Evaluating the closing ceremony and the performance of the People’s Republic of China, another journalist of The Gazette , Aileen McCabe, said: “When it came time to hand off to London, the host of the 2012 Games, the Brits didn’t even try to compete. Instead, they drove a red double-decker bus onto the field and simply gave the crowd something to cheer about: soccer great, David Beckham.”
The day after, the editorial of their newspaper hammers out: “Now the Games are over, the athletes have dispersed, and Tibet is still as before, China still censors, human rights seem farther away that ever. So much for the impact of international sport on society.” Our head is nodding: Is the editorialist more informed than us? Is he prejudiced? Do we have the right to take our distances from such a point of view? What is the expectation of this “disappointed” editorialist? Do the Chinese people deserve a chance?
The other media
In 1972, was published in Montréal the French translation of a book written by Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media. He stated then that “as an international service, Voice of America was coarse and could not be compared to the refinement of BBC or Radio-Moscow…” In August 2008, the Editor of Radio France International (RFI), Richard Labévière, was dismissed after the interview he made with President of Syria, Bachar el Assad. Mr. Labévière is not recognized as being unilaterally pro-Israeli. This decision encroaches upon plurality in journalism, the freedom of expression, and Human Rights in France, the country of “la philosophie des Lumières”.
In the past, the Canadian workers and progressive intellectuals had access to different newspapers published by democrats close to the working class, such as: The Canadian Tribune, The Pacific Tribune and Combat (in Québec). Their circulation was by thousands, through mail or militant hand-to-hand distribution at plant gates, schools or any other event taking place in Canada gathering the workers and their families. As would have concluded Sophocles in Ancient Age, in relation with the death of his hero Ajax: “Ignorant men don’t know what good they hold in their hands until they’ve flung it away.” The disappearance of these champions for world peace, progress and democracy is the consequence of the internal crisis inside of the Communist party in Canada. Today, a new generation is replacing these papers: People’s Voice and Clarté and they reckon on the workers to make it through.
Nowadays, the communist mass media play a more decisive role than in the past, for instance confronted to the hurricanes in Cuba: “The television, radio and printed press are assuming a great responsibility in exercising their informative tasks "[reported People’s Voice in September 2008]. In this country, the Union of journalists issued a news release congratulating its members for their work in these very difficult conditions (source: AIN, September 11th , 2008).
On the other hand, a group of US citizens, working with professionals and students of the Sonoma State University of California, studied the role of media of information in today’s world, created the Project Censored 2009 and concluded that the “modern censure is the subtle, constant and sophisticated manipulation of the reality in our mass media.” Argenpress informed its Spanish-speaking readers about those mass-media (working in the Western world) in September.
Sometimes, as La Presse Canadienne revealed, the intervention is more direct. At the end of September, an Afghan freelance journalist, Javed Yazamy, was released from a US jail in Kandahar since he was no more considered as a threat by the US authorities. Canadian Forces were aware of his detention that lasted 11 months. The journalist affirmed that the whole affair depends upon them.
Finally, the mass media: press, television, radio, Internet interest the communists who nurtured a weakness for the movie industry. Speaking to Lounatcharski, the first commissar to education, Lenin mentioned to him that “in regard with all form of arts, film making is the most important for us”, especially to touch the most ignorant sections of the population.
- 30 -
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
Foreword
Still a minority government for the Conservative party: 144 out of the 308 seats. Same policies? It could be, but it is not so sure. The opposition is over the rim of the House of Commons in Ottawa. Already in the French-Canadian province of Québec, during the race, the people marched in the streets to denounce the Tories: for the cutbacks in Arts and against the Young Offenders Act’s amendments, for instance. In Québec, the Bloc québécois, the nationalist party, won 50 of the 75 precincts. The leader of this party, Gilles Duceppe, declared to The Gazette (on October 10th) that: “I think people were waiting to see what he [Stephen Harper] is proposing [and they] said we don’t want that kind of leader because we don’t want those policies.” Gilles Duceppe has been previously one of the leaders of the Confederation of National Trade Union which endorsed the Bloc along side with the Québec Federation of Labour, 800 000 members altogether.
The candidate of the social-democratic party, the New Democratic Party, Thomas Mulcair, was re-elected in Montréal; interestingly, the Conservative party did not elect any member in the island of Montréal, the largest city of the province of Québec and its industrial heartland. The population of Québec is 7, 7 millions people while the population of Montréal is around 3 millions. Canada: 33 millions.
As for the Liberal Party, they will go in a convention in Spring 2009 to choose a new leader, according to the rumours circulating, before going to press; after all, they lost 25 seats and considerable support amidst the population. The Communist party presented four candidates in Montréal with over 3 600 votes in the 24 ridings where they presented members all over Canada.
Take your pen
Right or wrong, the socialist countries have been all accused to deprive their citizens of the right to free expression and the freedom of press. Let us see what Karl Marx had in mind when he was writing about the press, having been himself a journalist for some German newspapers such as the Rheinische Zeitung. His articles ignited strong criticism by the pundits of this time.
“What makes the press the most powerful lever for promoting culture and the intellectual education of the people is precisely the fact that it transforms the material struggle into an ideological struggle, the struggle of flesh and blood into a struggle of minds, the struggle of need, desire, empiricism into a struggle of theory, of reason, of form.” (K. Marx, Collected Works, International Publishers, New York, Volume 1, p. 292).
The first leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, wrote in 1905, twelve years before the October Revolution, that: “it is indisputable that the literature cannot be equated to mechanical egalitarianism, at a levelling, at a domination of majority over minority. In this area, certainly, one must guarantee a larger space to personal initiative, thought and imagination, form and content.” (V. Lénine, Oeuvres choisies, Les Editions du Progrès, URSS, p. 157-158)
Since La Vie Réelle in English has been created for English-speaking readers, it was decided to refer to The Gazette, (being the only daily published in Montréal), bearing in mind that we display the Marxist outlook in Québec. On August 25th, a member of the above newspaper team at the Olympic Games in Beijing, Dave Stubbs, wrote: “Of course, this grand country will always have its historic Great Wall, China’s challenge now is to move forward, and the Olympics it has just masterfully staged is an ideal springboard to its future.” It is a sound approach. Evaluating the closing ceremony and the performance of the People’s Republic of China, another journalist of The Gazette , Aileen McCabe, said: “When it came time to hand off to London, the host of the 2012 Games, the Brits didn’t even try to compete. Instead, they drove a red double-decker bus onto the field and simply gave the crowd something to cheer about: soccer great, David Beckham.”
The day after, the editorial of their newspaper hammers out: “Now the Games are over, the athletes have dispersed, and Tibet is still as before, China still censors, human rights seem farther away that ever. So much for the impact of international sport on society.” Our head is nodding: Is the editorialist more informed than us? Is he prejudiced? Do we have the right to take our distances from such a point of view? What is the expectation of this “disappointed” editorialist? Do the Chinese people deserve a chance?
The other media
In 1972, was published in Montréal the French translation of a book written by Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media. He stated then that “as an international service, Voice of America was coarse and could not be compared to the refinement of BBC or Radio-Moscow…” In August 2008, the Editor of Radio France International (RFI), Richard Labévière, was dismissed after the interview he made with President of Syria, Bachar el Assad. Mr. Labévière is not recognized as being unilaterally pro-Israeli. This decision encroaches upon plurality in journalism, the freedom of expression, and Human Rights in France, the country of “la philosophie des Lumières”.
In the past, the Canadian workers and progressive intellectuals had access to different newspapers published by democrats close to the working class, such as: The Canadian Tribune, The Pacific Tribune and Combat (in Québec). Their circulation was by thousands, through mail or militant hand-to-hand distribution at plant gates, schools or any other event taking place in Canada gathering the workers and their families. As would have concluded Sophocles in Ancient Age, in relation with the death of his hero Ajax: “Ignorant men don’t know what good they hold in their hands until they’ve flung it away.” The disappearance of these champions for world peace, progress and democracy is the consequence of the internal crisis inside of the Communist party in Canada. Today, a new generation is replacing these papers: People’s Voice and Clarté and they reckon on the workers to make it through.
Nowadays, the communist mass media play a more decisive role than in the past, for instance confronted to the hurricanes in Cuba: “The television, radio and printed press are assuming a great responsibility in exercising their informative tasks "[reported People’s Voice in September 2008]. In this country, the Union of journalists issued a news release congratulating its members for their work in these very difficult conditions (source: AIN, September 11th , 2008).
On the other hand, a group of US citizens, working with professionals and students of the Sonoma State University of California, studied the role of media of information in today’s world, created the Project Censored 2009 and concluded that the “modern censure is the subtle, constant and sophisticated manipulation of the reality in our mass media.” Argenpress informed its Spanish-speaking readers about those mass-media (working in the Western world) in September.
Sometimes, as La Presse Canadienne revealed, the intervention is more direct. At the end of September, an Afghan freelance journalist, Javed Yazamy, was released from a US jail in Kandahar since he was no more considered as a threat by the US authorities. Canadian Forces were aware of his detention that lasted 11 months. The journalist affirmed that the whole affair depends upon them.
Finally, the mass media: press, television, radio, Internet interest the communists who nurtured a weakness for the movie industry. Speaking to Lounatcharski, the first commissar to education, Lenin mentioned to him that “in regard with all form of arts, film making is the most important for us”, especially to touch the most ignorant sections of the population.
- 30 -
mardi 7 octobre 2008
WE DESERVE A DEMOCRATIC CANADA
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
MESDAMES, MESSIEURS,
VOICI LE PREMIER MINISTRE DU CANADA!
MESDAMES, MESSIEURS,
VOICI M. STÉPHANE DION!
********************************************************
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
LET’S WELCOME THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA!
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
LET’S WELCOME MR. STÉPHANE DION!
- 30 -
MESDAMES, MESSIEURS,
VOICI LE PREMIER MINISTRE DU CANADA!
MESDAMES, MESSIEURS,
VOICI M. STÉPHANE DION!
********************************************************
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
LET’S WELCOME THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA!
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
LET’S WELCOME MR. STÉPHANE DION!
- 30 -
vendredi 19 septembre 2008
OBAMA MUST BE ELECTED
vol. 1, no. 3, October 2008, $ 1.00
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
Foreword
To open a new chapter: the Canadians will vote this October 14th. La Vie Réelle in English encourages its readers to vote for the New Democratic Party. This invitation has been done so far in the French issue previously. If you speak French, we encourage you to read the article under the title of Un gouvernement minoritaire. Canada needs a shift onto a people’s agenda like in the USA.
November the 4th
Already in an editorial, published in People’s Weekly World this summer, the communists of the USA recognized that one may disagree with some aspects of Barack Obama’s foreign policy, while encouraging important points, such as: “ending the war in Iraq, shifting to multilateral diplomatic measures and re-engaging the international community in a unified and necessary struggle against real problems of terrorism (which have been fuelled by the Bush-McCain policies).” However, the political battle will continue after the eventual election of Obama.
In his speech –a striking credo- Obama, unveiled his viewpoint about world and domestic events when he spoke in Berlin on July 24th: “if we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.” The would-be president seems to ignore all what communism is about; and his allocution denounces without nuances – maybe - the attitude of the then Soviet government. Let’s hope that it will be possible to dialogue and exchange on what animates the communists: their faith in a better world, love and compassion for the needy and strive for the beauty of life.
On the other hand, Obama, in his declaration, mentioned rapidly the “voters” in Zimbabwe. Bush, still in power, was rather drastic on this issue, along side with the G8 nations – including Canada- and expressed, according to the Montréal daily The Gazette, “grave concern” about this country, vowing to impose financial restrictions on President Robert Mugabe and his officials. Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe’s UN mission, as reported in the British daily The Morning Star, said a few days later that the nation is “not at war with itself and poses no threat to its neighbours or any other country.” Sanctions would only be a “support of Britain’s colonial crusade against Zimbabwe.” Their letter indicated that “some isolated and localised cases of violence have indeed occurred in Zimbabwe” since the Spring elections, but accused the Movement for a Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition party, of “premeditation, planning, stage management and exaggeration of this violence, with British and American encouragement and collusion, as part of a grand strategy aimed at inviting foreign intervention in Zimbabwe.”
This is the kind of policy that democratic-minded people do not expect to see in the future. The overwhelming majority of the US population stands by him when Obama reaffirms that within 16 months of his presidency the US troops would leave Iraq. The daily Métro issued in Montréal, quoted him, reminding that: “John McCain and George W. Bush both said that if Iraq, as a sovereign government, would decide that it is the time for us to start to withdraw our troops, they should respect the wish of this sovereign government.”
Canada, the USA and the world
In many cases, the Congress has not been able to reinforce democracy in the country. The People’s Weekly World in an editorial of mid-July points out that: “it’s unfortunate that Congress has been unable to compel the current administration to begin to end the occupation. The ball will be in the court of the next administration and Congress to finally and promptly end this war [in Iraq].”
The chairman of the Communist Party USA, Sam Webb, at this moment, expressed this concern: “What is more, to win, the campaign has to reach out to independents and disaffected Republicans. Without winning a section of them, a landslide victory is improbable […] In order to advance one iota of a pro-people’s agenda; the people’s movement has to elect Obama and to enlarge the Democratic Party majorities in Congress. Without that everything else is wishful thinking.” This is part of an article reproduced in the People’s Weekly World.
In the world, other countries are keen to develop a foreign policy, sometimes different from the one of the USA. In July, Fidel Castro wrote in the news bulletin Argenpress that basically the competition between the US administration and the government of North Korea could lead to insecurity for all countries in the region, especially this country and China. “We were satisfied by the declaration of North Korea on the decision to suspend their program of nuclear weapons. This has nothing to do with the crimes and blackmail of Bush who now boasts that this decision is the result of his policy of genocide.”
It is even more obvious than the policies of the large capitalist countries are dictated or shaped in the head offices of multinationals. It happens that often the governments yield quickly to their desiderata; nevertheless, the workers are more and more determined to protect their lifestyle and rights. The numerous upsurges of the European workers against the oil corporations last summer are a good indicator.
Some other topics will confront the future President of the USA. For instance, members of the Bloc québécois, of the New Democratic Party (NDP) -both in Parliament (before October 14th)- and the Communist party of Canada (CPC) have given their support to the world campaign urging for a fair trial for the five Cubans detained since nine years in the USA. Their situation is opposed to the Constitution of the country and the International Laws. La Vie Réelle in English spoke about them in the September issue; here is a poem of Antonio Guerrero, one of the Five:
In the Eye of the Hurricane
In the eye of the hurricane
Where it is feeling so much unfair
When time of revenge
A bloodstained iron
I have figured out more
Than four brothers
Which millions of brothers
Theirs arms, theirs voices
And have failed
Doves thus flying
Around my body
Bringing hope
The vital hope
In its giant wings
A troubadour with his guitar
Singing my adventures
And my misadventures
A painter with a flower
Drawing a face and many other ones
Cherished and beloved
And a poet with a lamp that
By day and by night
Brighten up everything
What shall I need more!
In the eye of this hurricane
Everything which was scattered
By evil winds
It is worth really
To be willing for dying.
(Poem in Spanish under the title En el ojo del huracan, written in USP, Florence, Colorado, on July 2nd, 2008 and translated in English by Michel Pratte, in Montréal, Canada, on August 27th, 2008.)
For all of these considerations and many more things, Barack Obama should listen to the communists of the United States of America. Their strength lies surely in their deep passion for the working class and their true affection for their country. Let’s break bread!
- 30 -
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
Foreword
To open a new chapter: the Canadians will vote this October 14th. La Vie Réelle in English encourages its readers to vote for the New Democratic Party. This invitation has been done so far in the French issue previously. If you speak French, we encourage you to read the article under the title of Un gouvernement minoritaire. Canada needs a shift onto a people’s agenda like in the USA.
November the 4th
Already in an editorial, published in People’s Weekly World this summer, the communists of the USA recognized that one may disagree with some aspects of Barack Obama’s foreign policy, while encouraging important points, such as: “ending the war in Iraq, shifting to multilateral diplomatic measures and re-engaging the international community in a unified and necessary struggle against real problems of terrorism (which have been fuelled by the Bush-McCain policies).” However, the political battle will continue after the eventual election of Obama.
In his speech –a striking credo- Obama, unveiled his viewpoint about world and domestic events when he spoke in Berlin on July 24th: “if we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope.” The would-be president seems to ignore all what communism is about; and his allocution denounces without nuances – maybe - the attitude of the then Soviet government. Let’s hope that it will be possible to dialogue and exchange on what animates the communists: their faith in a better world, love and compassion for the needy and strive for the beauty of life.
On the other hand, Obama, in his declaration, mentioned rapidly the “voters” in Zimbabwe. Bush, still in power, was rather drastic on this issue, along side with the G8 nations – including Canada- and expressed, according to the Montréal daily The Gazette, “grave concern” about this country, vowing to impose financial restrictions on President Robert Mugabe and his officials. Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe’s UN mission, as reported in the British daily The Morning Star, said a few days later that the nation is “not at war with itself and poses no threat to its neighbours or any other country.” Sanctions would only be a “support of Britain’s colonial crusade against Zimbabwe.” Their letter indicated that “some isolated and localised cases of violence have indeed occurred in Zimbabwe” since the Spring elections, but accused the Movement for a Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition party, of “premeditation, planning, stage management and exaggeration of this violence, with British and American encouragement and collusion, as part of a grand strategy aimed at inviting foreign intervention in Zimbabwe.”
This is the kind of policy that democratic-minded people do not expect to see in the future. The overwhelming majority of the US population stands by him when Obama reaffirms that within 16 months of his presidency the US troops would leave Iraq. The daily Métro issued in Montréal, quoted him, reminding that: “John McCain and George W. Bush both said that if Iraq, as a sovereign government, would decide that it is the time for us to start to withdraw our troops, they should respect the wish of this sovereign government.”
Canada, the USA and the world
In many cases, the Congress has not been able to reinforce democracy in the country. The People’s Weekly World in an editorial of mid-July points out that: “it’s unfortunate that Congress has been unable to compel the current administration to begin to end the occupation. The ball will be in the court of the next administration and Congress to finally and promptly end this war [in Iraq].”
The chairman of the Communist Party USA, Sam Webb, at this moment, expressed this concern: “What is more, to win, the campaign has to reach out to independents and disaffected Republicans. Without winning a section of them, a landslide victory is improbable […] In order to advance one iota of a pro-people’s agenda; the people’s movement has to elect Obama and to enlarge the Democratic Party majorities in Congress. Without that everything else is wishful thinking.” This is part of an article reproduced in the People’s Weekly World.
In the world, other countries are keen to develop a foreign policy, sometimes different from the one of the USA. In July, Fidel Castro wrote in the news bulletin Argenpress that basically the competition between the US administration and the government of North Korea could lead to insecurity for all countries in the region, especially this country and China. “We were satisfied by the declaration of North Korea on the decision to suspend their program of nuclear weapons. This has nothing to do with the crimes and blackmail of Bush who now boasts that this decision is the result of his policy of genocide.”
It is even more obvious than the policies of the large capitalist countries are dictated or shaped in the head offices of multinationals. It happens that often the governments yield quickly to their desiderata; nevertheless, the workers are more and more determined to protect their lifestyle and rights. The numerous upsurges of the European workers against the oil corporations last summer are a good indicator.
Some other topics will confront the future President of the USA. For instance, members of the Bloc québécois, of the New Democratic Party (NDP) -both in Parliament (before October 14th)- and the Communist party of Canada (CPC) have given their support to the world campaign urging for a fair trial for the five Cubans detained since nine years in the USA. Their situation is opposed to the Constitution of the country and the International Laws. La Vie Réelle in English spoke about them in the September issue; here is a poem of Antonio Guerrero, one of the Five:
In the Eye of the Hurricane
In the eye of the hurricane
Where it is feeling so much unfair
When time of revenge
A bloodstained iron
I have figured out more
Than four brothers
Which millions of brothers
Theirs arms, theirs voices
And have failed
Doves thus flying
Around my body
Bringing hope
The vital hope
In its giant wings
A troubadour with his guitar
Singing my adventures
And my misadventures
A painter with a flower
Drawing a face and many other ones
Cherished and beloved
And a poet with a lamp that
By day and by night
Brighten up everything
What shall I need more!
In the eye of this hurricane
Everything which was scattered
By evil winds
It is worth really
To be willing for dying.
(Poem in Spanish under the title En el ojo del huracan, written in USP, Florence, Colorado, on July 2nd, 2008 and translated in English by Michel Pratte, in Montréal, Canada, on August 27th, 2008.)
For all of these considerations and many more things, Barack Obama should listen to the communists of the United States of America. Their strength lies surely in their deep passion for the working class and their true affection for their country. Let’s break bread!
- 30 -
jeudi 4 septembre 2008
FULL SWING FOR THE LEFT IN QUÉBEC
vol. 1, no. 2, Federal Elections, $ 1.00
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
Obviously, the Conservatives have a chunk in the Province of Québec. This was confirmed by the CROP-La Presse poll where they were supported by 31% of the interviewees. However, The Gazette of August 17 stressed that “The Summer’s public-opinion polls show Conservatives and Liberals neck-and-neck across the country; evidently Harper doesn’t believe that.” Previously they would have garnered 24% of the people’s support in the homeland of the French-Canadian nation, according to Léger Marketing-Le Devoir on June 20th, while one week later they reached 26%, after CROP-La Presse completed the same exercise on June 27th. This is consistent with the real favour of the right in Québec. On the left side, the New Democratic Party (NDP) jumps slightly from 16% to 17% during the same period. They summed up at 14% August 27th.
Bloc Québécois (an alliance of conservative and progressive nationalists) vacillated and plunged from 31% to 29%, to come back at 30%. As for the Liberals, they moved from 23 to 21%, and finally 20%. Meanwhile, the Greens collected 5% and now 4%.
The fact is that the voters of the Liberal party are more than often progressive-minded people, the Reds. Their vote added to the NDP and a fringe of the Bloc Québécois, and hopefully the Greens; and the political landscape in Québec is rather encouraging.
Apparently, the Conservatives gained five points during the summer period; they gleaned points from each of the other political parties. Basically, there is no room for conservative policies in the “dormant” Québec. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been surely briefed on this issue. For instance, the Action Démocratique du Québec (ADQ)’s sweeping since the last elections in La Belle Province confirms the slowdown of the right. They represent less than a third of the whole population, at the moment.
And the winner is…
One afternoon after the working session, our group of journalists was getting ready to leave, still surrounding the editorial table. One of us was reading La Presse. It raised a question: what party is going to win the next federal elections? Nobody actually reacted to the question. I said: I am going to vote for the Liberals. Quickly another declared that she was leaving the Bloc québécois and intended to do the same. Another told the same thing, referring to the cuts in the cultural industry by the Tories. At last, a younger one expressed her choice for the NDP. “It will be my first ever vote for them.”
The day after, a Chilean friend –psychologist and communist- declared that “this time”, he would opt for the Liberal Party. Another friend, a professional welder, affirmed that he would vote for the NPD. It seems that spontaneously the people decided to vote for anything rather than the Conservative party and as well the Bloc québécois in the province of Québec.
Two lessons: the left in Québec is deserting the Bloc québécois or is ready to talk about this taboo; especially significant, since the progressive intelligentsia has for years been linked to this party. Secondly the population is attached to the defence of culture. The same day (August 27th), Radio-Canada confirmed that more than a thousand artists and friends marched in Montréal to protest the cutbacks of 48,5 millions $, by the minority federal government. Even the mayor of the city, Gérald Tremblay was part of the demonstration.
Moreover, not only the Conservatives have been in power for just a few years and already the most cynical, rightist and fascist elements of the Canadian society looked up. They are against democratic rights. They are racists. They are opposed to women’s movements. They are full of hatred for immigrants, especially Moslems. They stand for a climate of vulgarity and coarseness. There is no room for love, friendship and harmony when they are around. We certainly need more than their “balanced” budget!
Meanwhile, The Gazette, in an editorial, lectured them in mid-August: “Stonewalling, heel-dragging and ad-hominem attacks might play well to some part of the Conservatives’ constituency, but most Canadians, we suspect, have no patience with Tory truculence on this issue. What makes all this particularly galling, and disappointing, is t hat the Conservatives won the last election largely because they promised a cleaner; more transparent government. The time has come for them to live up to those promises.”
They must be defeated. Canadians need freedom of thought, and the protection for the social liberties won over the last decades. Harper and the Conservatives must go. In Québec, an important battle ground in the coming elections, the Tories shall be fired, especially in Québec City celebrating its 400th anniversary. A political slip-up would tarnish our beautiful capital.
- 30 -
A CASE OF DISCRIMINATION
Five Cuban citizens were dispatched by their government to enquiry into the Cuban community of Florida to prevent a new attempt to destabilize the life in the island and avoid a new terrorist attack. They reported the results to the US authorities. The government of the USA arrested them, sued them and scattered them in different jails. This occurred 10 years ago. Now, a movement of solidarity is growing to condemn this injustice, even members of the Canadian parliament criticized the decision of our southern neighbour, especially after the exposure of the arrest based on mere allegations. We entered in contact with them. Here is the reply of Antonio Guerrero: one of the Cuban 5.
“Dear Daniel Paquet,
Excuse me for my delay to reply to your letter. We had a long “lock down” and I have been very busy with legal issues and an art project.
In “my dictionary” there is not the word “demoralized”. We never will feel that way. You are right; we are free, totally free with our conviction and the solidarity that support us.
Today, Che’s example is more important and necessary than ever, because we live in a world that every day demands us to stand up and fight against so much poverty, exploitation, and inequality, so much arrogance from the rich and so much aggression and threats from the Empire. Today, Che’s example is indispensable in building the new world that we know is possible.
I reiterate our eternal gratitude to all our friends for their immense and unconditional support. With conviction I reaffirm: Venceremos! A great embrace from the 5.
USP Florence, Colorado, July 2nd
I send, in the name of the Five, a greeting to the readers of your bulletin. Your friend,
Antonio Guerrero “
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
Obviously, the Conservatives have a chunk in the Province of Québec. This was confirmed by the CROP-La Presse poll where they were supported by 31% of the interviewees. However, The Gazette of August 17 stressed that “The Summer’s public-opinion polls show Conservatives and Liberals neck-and-neck across the country; evidently Harper doesn’t believe that.” Previously they would have garnered 24% of the people’s support in the homeland of the French-Canadian nation, according to Léger Marketing-Le Devoir on June 20th, while one week later they reached 26%, after CROP-La Presse completed the same exercise on June 27th. This is consistent with the real favour of the right in Québec. On the left side, the New Democratic Party (NDP) jumps slightly from 16% to 17% during the same period. They summed up at 14% August 27th.
Bloc Québécois (an alliance of conservative and progressive nationalists) vacillated and plunged from 31% to 29%, to come back at 30%. As for the Liberals, they moved from 23 to 21%, and finally 20%. Meanwhile, the Greens collected 5% and now 4%.
The fact is that the voters of the Liberal party are more than often progressive-minded people, the Reds. Their vote added to the NDP and a fringe of the Bloc Québécois, and hopefully the Greens; and the political landscape in Québec is rather encouraging.
Apparently, the Conservatives gained five points during the summer period; they gleaned points from each of the other political parties. Basically, there is no room for conservative policies in the “dormant” Québec. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been surely briefed on this issue. For instance, the Action Démocratique du Québec (ADQ)’s sweeping since the last elections in La Belle Province confirms the slowdown of the right. They represent less than a third of the whole population, at the moment.
And the winner is…
One afternoon after the working session, our group of journalists was getting ready to leave, still surrounding the editorial table. One of us was reading La Presse. It raised a question: what party is going to win the next federal elections? Nobody actually reacted to the question. I said: I am going to vote for the Liberals. Quickly another declared that she was leaving the Bloc québécois and intended to do the same. Another told the same thing, referring to the cuts in the cultural industry by the Tories. At last, a younger one expressed her choice for the NDP. “It will be my first ever vote for them.”
The day after, a Chilean friend –psychologist and communist- declared that “this time”, he would opt for the Liberal Party. Another friend, a professional welder, affirmed that he would vote for the NPD. It seems that spontaneously the people decided to vote for anything rather than the Conservative party and as well the Bloc québécois in the province of Québec.
Two lessons: the left in Québec is deserting the Bloc québécois or is ready to talk about this taboo; especially significant, since the progressive intelligentsia has for years been linked to this party. Secondly the population is attached to the defence of culture. The same day (August 27th), Radio-Canada confirmed that more than a thousand artists and friends marched in Montréal to protest the cutbacks of 48,5 millions $, by the minority federal government. Even the mayor of the city, Gérald Tremblay was part of the demonstration.
Moreover, not only the Conservatives have been in power for just a few years and already the most cynical, rightist and fascist elements of the Canadian society looked up. They are against democratic rights. They are racists. They are opposed to women’s movements. They are full of hatred for immigrants, especially Moslems. They stand for a climate of vulgarity and coarseness. There is no room for love, friendship and harmony when they are around. We certainly need more than their “balanced” budget!
Meanwhile, The Gazette, in an editorial, lectured them in mid-August: “Stonewalling, heel-dragging and ad-hominem attacks might play well to some part of the Conservatives’ constituency, but most Canadians, we suspect, have no patience with Tory truculence on this issue. What makes all this particularly galling, and disappointing, is t hat the Conservatives won the last election largely because they promised a cleaner; more transparent government. The time has come for them to live up to those promises.”
They must be defeated. Canadians need freedom of thought, and the protection for the social liberties won over the last decades. Harper and the Conservatives must go. In Québec, an important battle ground in the coming elections, the Tories shall be fired, especially in Québec City celebrating its 400th anniversary. A political slip-up would tarnish our beautiful capital.
- 30 -
A CASE OF DISCRIMINATION
Five Cuban citizens were dispatched by their government to enquiry into the Cuban community of Florida to prevent a new attempt to destabilize the life in the island and avoid a new terrorist attack. They reported the results to the US authorities. The government of the USA arrested them, sued them and scattered them in different jails. This occurred 10 years ago. Now, a movement of solidarity is growing to condemn this injustice, even members of the Canadian parliament criticized the decision of our southern neighbour, especially after the exposure of the arrest based on mere allegations. We entered in contact with them. Here is the reply of Antonio Guerrero: one of the Cuban 5.
“Dear Daniel Paquet,
Excuse me for my delay to reply to your letter. We had a long “lock down” and I have been very busy with legal issues and an art project.
In “my dictionary” there is not the word “demoralized”. We never will feel that way. You are right; we are free, totally free with our conviction and the solidarity that support us.
Today, Che’s example is more important and necessary than ever, because we live in a world that every day demands us to stand up and fight against so much poverty, exploitation, and inequality, so much arrogance from the rich and so much aggression and threats from the Empire. Today, Che’s example is indispensable in building the new world that we know is possible.
I reiterate our eternal gratitude to all our friends for their immense and unconditional support. With conviction I reaffirm: Venceremos! A great embrace from the 5.
USP Florence, Colorado, July 2nd
I send, in the name of the Five, a greeting to the readers of your bulletin. Your friend,
Antonio Guerrero “
dimanche 22 juin 2008
A JOURNEY IN TORONTO
vol. 1, no. 1, September 2008, $ 1.00
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
When I told my doctor that I intend to publish an English-speaking newsletter, she said to me, both startled and amused: “you’ve got to be sick; why do you want to support the English imperialism while too many cultures on the planet are threatened by the rules of their domination?” Since she was not dealing with my health, I decided for the first time to do not follow her piece of advice.
I know by experience that our neighbours in English-speaking Canada and the USA can be touched by any culture if we find the correct way to present it to them. Maybe then, they will be inclined to learn other languages and cultures. Naturally, almost everybody knows Céline Dion. She is herself very popular in Québec, because she has a nice voice, she comes from a very large family and she has ordinary people’s roots. However, she is not the best of the singers that one can discover in Canada. For instance, Lara Fabian, an Italian-born composer and singer, has more than a beautiful voice; she is sensual, more profound and she deals in a simple way with themes such as love, optimism and hope.
Nevertheless, Céline is an idol because, for the ordinary folk, she represents the success of a young French-Canadian girl, who made it big in Québec and especially abroad. As we state it here: “she put Québec on the map.”
Most of the people in English-speaking Canada do not understand the Québec nationalism. Of course, La Vie Réelle does not support such an ideology, but we acknowledged it. After being a French colony, Canada (then called la Nouvelle-France), was conquered by Britain who turned it to an English colony from 1760 to 1867. The French elite left the Nouvelle-France after the war opposing France to England at the end of the 1750s; 60 000 peasants remained along the St.Lawrence river, and the aboriginal peoples. A few years later, the Britishes authorized the Catholic Church to organize the spiritual life of the Canadians. In fact, they maintained the spiritual control for the military administration at least until the foundation of modern Canada with a larger population composed of English-speaking immigrants. French became a minority group. But the matter is not in numbers, it is in the policies of the British rulers who tried to assimilate the French-Canadians, already after 1839, i.e. the years that succeeded the armed uprising of the patriots in Ontario and Québec.
While the English-speaking provinces of Canada were industrialized, Québec stagnated into a pastoral province. It lasted to the 1960s, when important changes took place. The period was called the “Quiet Revolution”. A Department of Education was established, public colleges opened, hydro energy was nationalized and the like. The church lost its grip on the people. An urban intelligentsia emerged and forced the government to modernize life in the province. Trade unions developed and demanded a better treatment for the French-Canadian working class, similar to the one in Ontario for example.
Artists, intellectuals and trade unions leaders united to claim an independent Québec, confident in their strength and ability to manage the province. Two referenda gave almost the majority to the nationalists, especially in 1995. But now, the situation is at stake. In fact, an important ally (and political leader)for the forces of changes and equality between the two Canada is only recovering from internal crises and… you guessed it: international events that destroyed its credibility in Québec; we speak of the communist party.
Up to now, every party or group in the scope of the left is surrounding the new political formation called Québec solidaire. However, the communists are completed sunk in this party. Further, they don’t have the resources to publish regularly their newspaper Clarté. Anyhow, they received the help of the Communist party of Canada.
At the end of the day, the workers of Québec will see that the solution to the national question, to the reduction of the purchasing power and evils of capitalism goes through a strong communist party. La Vie Réelle wants to bring its contribution to this feat, because we believe in the words of the Communist Manifesto: “In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”
The reader of La Vie Réelle should notice that the newsletter is independent from the Communist party; the newspaper of this party is People’s Voice, published bi-monthly. It is a good paper. We only wish that eventually, the communists in Québec will have such a paper in French language.
Now, why the title of this article? In 1976, then a student leader, I have been invited to join the Communist party of Québec. After double-thinking, I agreed; the day after, we drove to Toronto to meet the Young communist League (YCL) members in this city. Believe me, the YCL was really the organization to be member of in the 1970s. We had fun, we drank beer and we had talks about politics. We reshaped the world. A few years after, the caucus of the YCL and the Young New Democrats in the National Union of Students (of English-speaking Canada) along with the writer of those lines contributed so that the union and the Association nationale des étudiants du Québec recognized each other as an equal partner and as well the right of Québec to self-determination including secession, if it is the choice of the people of Québec. Even today, such a stand could be agreed upon in the workers movements and the progressive intelligentsia. The spirit of the Young Communist League is well and alive. They discuss and… they act!
- 30 -
si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/
When I told my doctor that I intend to publish an English-speaking newsletter, she said to me, both startled and amused: “you’ve got to be sick; why do you want to support the English imperialism while too many cultures on the planet are threatened by the rules of their domination?” Since she was not dealing with my health, I decided for the first time to do not follow her piece of advice.
I know by experience that our neighbours in English-speaking Canada and the USA can be touched by any culture if we find the correct way to present it to them. Maybe then, they will be inclined to learn other languages and cultures. Naturally, almost everybody knows Céline Dion. She is herself very popular in Québec, because she has a nice voice, she comes from a very large family and she has ordinary people’s roots. However, she is not the best of the singers that one can discover in Canada. For instance, Lara Fabian, an Italian-born composer and singer, has more than a beautiful voice; she is sensual, more profound and she deals in a simple way with themes such as love, optimism and hope.
Nevertheless, Céline is an idol because, for the ordinary folk, she represents the success of a young French-Canadian girl, who made it big in Québec and especially abroad. As we state it here: “she put Québec on the map.”
Most of the people in English-speaking Canada do not understand the Québec nationalism. Of course, La Vie Réelle does not support such an ideology, but we acknowledged it. After being a French colony, Canada (then called la Nouvelle-France), was conquered by Britain who turned it to an English colony from 1760 to 1867. The French elite left the Nouvelle-France after the war opposing France to England at the end of the 1750s; 60 000 peasants remained along the St.Lawrence river, and the aboriginal peoples. A few years later, the Britishes authorized the Catholic Church to organize the spiritual life of the Canadians. In fact, they maintained the spiritual control for the military administration at least until the foundation of modern Canada with a larger population composed of English-speaking immigrants. French became a minority group. But the matter is not in numbers, it is in the policies of the British rulers who tried to assimilate the French-Canadians, already after 1839, i.e. the years that succeeded the armed uprising of the patriots in Ontario and Québec.
While the English-speaking provinces of Canada were industrialized, Québec stagnated into a pastoral province. It lasted to the 1960s, when important changes took place. The period was called the “Quiet Revolution”. A Department of Education was established, public colleges opened, hydro energy was nationalized and the like. The church lost its grip on the people. An urban intelligentsia emerged and forced the government to modernize life in the province. Trade unions developed and demanded a better treatment for the French-Canadian working class, similar to the one in Ontario for example.
Artists, intellectuals and trade unions leaders united to claim an independent Québec, confident in their strength and ability to manage the province. Two referenda gave almost the majority to the nationalists, especially in 1995. But now, the situation is at stake. In fact, an important ally (and political leader)for the forces of changes and equality between the two Canada is only recovering from internal crises and… you guessed it: international events that destroyed its credibility in Québec; we speak of the communist party.
Up to now, every party or group in the scope of the left is surrounding the new political formation called Québec solidaire. However, the communists are completed sunk in this party. Further, they don’t have the resources to publish regularly their newspaper Clarté. Anyhow, they received the help of the Communist party of Canada.
At the end of the day, the workers of Québec will see that the solution to the national question, to the reduction of the purchasing power and evils of capitalism goes through a strong communist party. La Vie Réelle wants to bring its contribution to this feat, because we believe in the words of the Communist Manifesto: “In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.”
The reader of La Vie Réelle should notice that the newsletter is independent from the Communist party; the newspaper of this party is People’s Voice, published bi-monthly. It is a good paper. We only wish that eventually, the communists in Québec will have such a paper in French language.
Now, why the title of this article? In 1976, then a student leader, I have been invited to join the Communist party of Québec. After double-thinking, I agreed; the day after, we drove to Toronto to meet the Young communist League (YCL) members in this city. Believe me, the YCL was really the organization to be member of in the 1970s. We had fun, we drank beer and we had talks about politics. We reshaped the world. A few years after, the caucus of the YCL and the Young New Democrats in the National Union of Students (of English-speaking Canada) along with the writer of those lines contributed so that the union and the Association nationale des étudiants du Québec recognized each other as an equal partner and as well the right of Québec to self-determination including secession, if it is the choice of the people of Québec. Even today, such a stand could be agreed upon in the workers movements and the progressive intelligentsia. The spirit of the Young Communist League is well and alive. They discuss and… they act!
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