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 -
vendredi 19 septembre 2008
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 “
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