THE PRESIDENT AND THE WORLD

vol. 2, no. 4, April 2009, $ 1.00

si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/


THE PRESIDENT AND THE WORLD

President of the United States of America since January 2009, Barack Obama was born in 1961. He graduated from Columbia University and the Harvard Law Faculty and then was later elected as a Senator from Illinois State, an office he held until November 2008. Recently, he visited Canada.

In 2006, he published his book The Audacity of Hope, advancing his thoughts on reclaiming the American dream. His writings have made the New York Time’s Bestsellers book list. One can understand the curiosity of this author to find this book in Montreal's east end, in the middle of this overwhelmingly French speaking city. The book is in English. (First Vintage Books Edition, Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, July 2008).

In his book, he reflects on decisions taken by past presidents, including Ronald Reagan. “Nevertheless, by promising to side with those who worked hard, obeyed the law, cared for their families, and loved their country, Reagan offered Americans a sense of a common purpose that liberals seemed no longer able to muster. And the more his critics carped, the more those critics played into the role he’d written for them –a band of out-of-touch, tax-and-spend, blame-America-first, politically correct elites.” (p. 39). Considering the necessity to levy huge amounts of money to remain in politics, Obama, notes that Democrats adopt policies keeping them not too far from the center. For instance, he named Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, who “believes in the virtues of capitalism.” (p. 47). He also wrote that “as difficult as the work may seem, I believe we have an obligation to engage in efforts to bring about peace in the Middle East, not only for the benefit of the people of the region, but for the safety and security of our own children as well.” (p. 381).

The whole book is interesting. It is an expose of an honest man, optimistic and ready to comply with necessities. But he is probably a little bit too enthusiastic. For instance, he writes: “Sixty years later, we can see the results of this massive postwar undertaking: a successful outcome to the Cold War, an avoidance of nuclear catastrophe, the effective end of conflict between the world’s great military powers, and an era of unprecedented economic growth at home and abroad.” (p. 337).

We all know today the deep crisis facing the USA and the world… Of course, the counter-revolution in the Soviet Union is not the cause of this recession. The People’s Republic of China is apparently adopting policies that will push the country through this difficult period without loosing too much of its financial capacities.


Mr. Obama is however very lucid on the foreign policies of previous US governments when he sadly recognizes that: “The Cold War techniques of secrecy, snooping, and misinformation, used against foreign governments and foreign populations, became tools of domestic politics, a means to harass critics, build support for questionable policies, or cover up blunders. The very ideals that we had promised to export overseas were being betrayed at home.” (p. 339).


He provides other examples of misguided foreign policy: “Occasionally, U.S. covert operations would engineer the removal of democratically elected leaders in countries like Iran –with seismic repercussions that haunt us to this day.” (p. 338). He goes further in affirming that “…the CIA, the “military-industrial complex,” and international institutions like the World Bank were all manifestations of American arrogance, jingoism, racism, capitalism and imperialism.” Those words could have been pronounced by a communist. For Obama, they were the wrong tools to fight against “godless communism”!

The President also rejects criticism of large corporations, stating: “I couldn’t be persuaded that U.S. multinationals and international terms of trade were single-handedly responsible for poverty around the world…” (p. 341).


The United States of America and the future

“[…] so long as a handful of rogue states are willing to attack other sovereign nations, as Saddam attacked Kuwait in 1991- there will be times when we must again play the role of the world’s reluctant sheriff. This will not change –nor should it.” (p. 362).

He adds: “Indeed, given the depletion of our forces after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we will probably need a somewhat higher budget in the immediate future just to restore readiness and replace equipment.” (pp. 362-363). And, obviously, China is seen as a challenge for the USA. Barack Obama, declares as well, that America values play a determinant role in the world arena. “The United States won the Cold War not simply because it outgunned the Soviet Union but because American values held sway in the court of international public opinion, which included those who lived within communist regimes.” He does not mention that North America did not suffer materially from WWII, and that the reconstruction of Europe gave a tremendous boost to its economy, just speaking in economic terms.

Many people condemn George W. Bush for his preemptive war doctrine. Let us say it bluntly: it was generally condemned. So, what does the President means when he writes: “we can and we should carry out preemptive strikes against [nation, group or individual] wherever we can?” (p. 365). He also stresses the importance of protecting US interests in the world, through military power “–interests in maintaining access to key energy sources, keeping financial markets stable…” (p. 366). In this sense, it is difficult to see a difference between Obama and previous administrations.

Finally, the book expresses the general idea that the world must adapt to the western world’s “language” and “popular culture”. Frankly speaking, it is audacious to impose US mass culture and threaten other cultures and languages. Is it not a democratic conquest for the whole world to be able to reflect on reclaiming the planetary dream?


In conclusion, the book deals also with values, the constitution, politics, opportunity, faith, race and family. It should interest everybody living as good neighbourhoods of the United States and wanting to understand the politics of the ruling elite of that country. After all, Obama could be in office for the next 8 years. The book demonstrates that Obama is neither reactionary nor conservative but that his whole life has been moulded by traditional US institutions that are difficult to break free from. This maybe harsh, but it is a friendly comment!

- 30 -

___________________________________________________________________

Many thanks to Tim Pelzer, tpelzer@shaw.ca, for editing this bulletin in english.

http://humaniteinenglish.com/

L'Humanité in English

THE POLITICS OF CAPITALISM: DEADLOCK

vol. 2, no. 3, March 2009, $ 1.00

si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS to Tim Pelzer, tpelzer@shaw.ca, for his precious help in correcting this bulletin from a somehow written in english draft copy into a presentable publication. Tim, living in Vancouver (Canada), is also correspondent for People's Voice and People's Weekly World (USA).

How come more and more analysts turn to socialist ideas? “As Engels wrote, Marx told him on more than one occasion later that it was his study of the law on thefts of wood and of the condition of the Mosel peasant that prompted him to turn from pure politics to the study of economic relations and, thus, to socialism"(Collected Works, Karl Marx-Frederick Engels, volume 1, International Publishers, New York, 1976, Preface, p. XXX).

In Canada, the coalition opposed itself to the Conservatives until they introduced their new budget in January 2009. As the Communist party declared: “The Liberals under their new leader Michael Ignatieff have decided to support the budget, hoping to regain their position as the ‘favoured party’ of big capital. This decision finishes the Liberal-NDP coalition which millions of working people had hoped would defeat the most reactionary, pro-business, militaristic, sell-out government in Canadian history.”

The Québec Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN) criticized the new budget in the January 29th issue of Webdo Info because it does not include: a “change of direction towards a green economy, greater access to unemployment insurance; income protection for aging workers, fair equalisations’ payments for Québec; pay equity for women and free collective bargaining rights for public servants.”

The situation is even more critical when one looks at a recent study done by researchers at the University of Montréal revealing that 14 per cent of Canadian children live in chronic poverty. “Childhood poverty has been linked to more hospitalization and illness […] Other studies have shown consequences of childhood poverty in adults, who are also more at risk for chronic ills, from diabetes, to cardiovascular disease and dementia,” according to the study, reported in The Gazette of January 20th 2009.

Nevertheless, The Gazette concluded in an editorial at the beginning of December 2008 that “the proper way to choose a government for Canada is at the ballot box, not by cabal and closed-door deal. Yes we’re all tired of elections, and yes Harper brought this on himself.” The pro-big business Conservatives supported by the Montréal newspaper wanted to remain in office.

By January, the editorial board of this publication also started to temper public expectations after the election of Barack Obama. “Certainly, Obama’s accomplishments will not live up to the most optimistic of the expectations that are so sky-high in this country, and around the world.”

In contrast, the CSN’s Métro Montreal Central Council magazine Unité observed that “the election of Barack Obama to the American presidency […] shows that the power for changes is rooted in the strength of ideas supported by progressive people and the actions they take to enlarge the number of those who are soon going to believe in them.”

Crisis or no crisis

At the same time, The Gazette wrote that Bloc Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe and Parti Québecois leader Pauline Marois met and affirmed that, “despite a period of economic turmoil in which Quebecers are mostly concerned about bread-and-butter issues, cranking up the sovereignty machine now makes sense because they can show how much better off Quebec would be in a recession if it was not part of Canada…”

However, French Canadians are not gullible so much so as they think. At the same time, Gilles Duceppe had started a war of words with English speaking Canada. The majority of French Canadians do not stand for the separation from Canada. Quebec is a diverse province where opposites live together: rich people, workers, English speakers, and so on. Gilles Duceppe, who claimed in the past to be Marxist, should read what Lenin said: “We could not be, I think, more explicit: Marxists borrowed surely from Marx methods without which it is impossible to understand social relations: thus, their appreciation of these relations is not based on abstract schemes and other absurdities, but on the strict conformity with the reality.” (Works, Volume 1, Editions sociales, Paris, p. 211).

The 5 of Cuba

La Vie Réelle in English receives regularly news from Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, one of the 5 of Cuba jailed in the USA under the alleged accusations of spying. Antonio is a poet. His poetry moves his readers and soothes our hearts and souls. In his letter of January 19, 2009, he claimed: “Let us sow peace for all times for all parts of the Earth, for the rivers and the seas for all love that join us. Let us come together to make a better world, pregnant with light… like the spring.” He added: “On behalf of the 5, I wish you, your family and friends peace, love and happiness today and forever.”


“Invitacion a la paz

A todos: ninos, hombres y mujeres
A lo ancho y a lo largo del planeta
Hago una invitacion, un grand llamado :
Por igual repartamos las riquezas!

To all men, women and children
Throughout the whole of the world
I make an invitation, a heartfelt call:
Let us share the wealth equally!”

As he underlined, “it is nice to hear that my poems touched you deeply. It means they are useful. They can give hope, joy and peace and, of course, love.”

Hoping to hear from you soon, Antonio!

- 30 -

DIANA AND FRANK

vol. 2, no. 2, February 2009, $1.00


si vous voulez lire en français, : http://www.laviereelle.blogspot.com/

It may sound indecent to talk about something like love between a young Lebanese woman and an elderly Jewish man. But it is not something gross. It is in fact the virtual -in time- common passion by two human beings for understanding and peace as an upshot of deep and mutual respect.

I have known the young woman – Diana- in a coffee shop where she was acting as a supervisor and waitress for a well-known restaurant, outlet of a Canadian chain store. It was in the 2000s. She was keen and very curious to learn restlessly about just everything: the world; on one hand, the Middle East in general, on her motherland in particular; on the other hand, Venezuela (especially on Chavez that she heard of) and finally Cuba. We became acquainted and gradually I spoke to her with the words of a dear and passed away communist comrade whose name was Frank. He is this old man.

Frank came to Canada in 1921 from Poland. He was a garment worker and proud of it. He dedicated his life up to the last moment, sick and with a crippling age (I knew him in his 80s), to the cause of the working class of Canada and of Québec. Though he never learned French language, - the ups and downs of a hectic life of struggles hindered him to do so -, he was always amongst the firsts to attend meetings in Montréal of the communist party to support the right of Québec to self-determination up and including secession.

Once, he came to the bookstore of the communist party downtown of Montréal, looking for a car driver to help him in his weekly “run” to sale communist literature –from Poland, New York, Israel and Soviet Union- in the Jewish neighbourhoods of the metropolis. The author of these lines volunteered with his poor knowledge of the Jewish reality, himself born and educated in Québec City amidst a total French-Canadian society.

Prior to the beginning of this new adventure, Frank would lead: “turn right, turn left, go straight, stop here or there, etc.” After a few weeks, everything ran smoothly. Frank happily and smiling would call his partner: “good horse, you’re a good horse!”

One fine morning, he inquired: “what do you do, sonny, on Saturday evenings, before coming here on Sunday mornings?” - I have a couple or more of honest beer. I chuckled.
- Do you eat then?
- No, I’m not that hungry.
The Sunday soon after, he invited me to his house. His wife was there and she invited me right away to the kitchen: “So you’re Frank’s friend… Now, let’s eat." I ate more than enough and I called for “surrender”.
- Don’t be stingy, eat more, you’re young, young men must eat if they want to get stronger. Try this struddle, I made it especially for you.”

Frank poked his nose in the kitchen: “Yo, she made everything for you; you know old folks like us don’t eat much."

And for the week-ends to come, I started to enjoy typical Jewish goodies. I was no more hungerik and durshtik.

Diana

At least 25 years later, Diana was in her twenties, I sat at her place of work, with a pain in the stomach. She came to the table: “you don’t order anything today, Daniel?” - Oh no, ask my friends, as for me, I don’t feel too well." After a short while, she brought me herbal tea: “it’s mint, it is good for the stomach. It is on the house.”

But most of the time, since I was in a good shape, I told her when she was free what Frank taught me about Israel and Zionism: “you see it is poison, an ideology of domination whose aim is to destroy the Arabic people of Palestine. We must support this people in its struggle for a State in Palestine, in the Gaza Strip and the West Banks with the beautiful city of East Jerusalem as the capital. Naturally the dispossessed must be repaid. You see at least 10 millions Palestinians live abroad, almost five to six times more than those actually living in the territories.”

Furthermore, the State of Israel cannot speak on behalf of the whole of the Jewish people. It never spoke on behalf of Frank Goldman. Frank’s engagement was to the working people of Québec. One of the last days that I saw him; although he was very sick, he put his back over the sink in the kitchen and raised his body; he looked at me and declared: “you get this Daniel, the French-Canadian workers are a very good people, too good perhaps, but untidy. The day that they will act like one fist and better organized, they will conquer heaven, mark my words. ”

As for one, Karl Marx said in his time: “The working classes will have learned by experience that no lasting benefit whatever can be obtained for them by others, but that they must obtain it themselves by conquering, first of all, political power.” (Collected Works, Volume 10, International Publishers, New York, 1978, p. 275).

Frank Goldman, eyes open to the whole world is no more; Diana, blossoming, of different descendants, can bring this message to the young Arabs of the Middle East: “there in Canada, a middle-age French-Canadian communist told me about an old Jewish worker who cherished peace and loved all people until his last breath.” And he was not alone; in January 2009 only, many thousands from all corners of the world, Canada included, protested against the war the leadership of the Hebrew State wages against the people of Palestine living in Gaza; by the way 80 percent of its inhabitants are already refugees despoiled of territories during previous conquests conducted against them by the same Zionist invaders…

- 30 -

THE FUTURE IS MADE OF MARBLE

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 -

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!

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 -

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 -