| November 14, 2020
- No. 44 Resistance
to
Privatization Across the Country Stop the
Privatization Fraud!
Stop the
Corruption!  
•
Campaign to
End Contracting Out of Civilian Work Within Department of
National Defence
Crisis in the Airline Industry
•
The Need to
Give the Airline Industry a Nation-Building Aim - K.C. Adams -
• Airline Crisis in Stark Numbers
• Government
Bailouts in U.S. Industry
Demand Permanent Immigration Status
for Migrant Workers, Refugees and International Students • End
Exploitation and Abuse of International Students • International
Students Rally in Toronto to
Demand Rights •
Montrealers
Honour the Dead by Fighting for the Living - Diane Johnston -
• November 24
Rally to Stop Mass Deportations
of Migrant Student Workers
COVID-19
Update
• Eight
Months into the Pandemic •
73rd World
Health Assembly Resumes Proceedings Virtually
Anniversary of the Great October
Socialist Revolution
•
A Watershed
Moment Still in the Making
Supplement
• U.S. Election Results
• Bolivia's New President and Vice
President Take Office
Resistance
to Privatization Across the
Country 
Stop
paying the rich! Increase investments in social programs,
public services and public enterprise! Workers and
their allies across the country are demanding a
reversal to privatization of social programs and public services.
Working people are fed up with the global oligarchs pilfering the
public treasury and damaging society, the economy and the lives of
public sector workers. Slogans have arisen to stop private
interests from interfering and profiting from public
work.[1]
 The fraud of
contracting out education, health care, public
services and all manner of public work to the global oligarchs,
leaving programs weakened and workers twisting in the wind,
must cease!
No excuse exists at all to
contract
out public work but if the ruling elite force it through then
this must not mean or result in workers being contracted out. If the
public treasury pays for the work then workers working for the
public enterprise and institutions must remain public sector
workers with the automatic right to retain membership in their public
union with wages, benefits, pensions and working conditions
acceptable to themselves, to which Canadian governments and state
institutions remain committed in collective agreements. If
any portion of funds to mobilize workers for work comes
from the public treasury, government or state institution, such
as a public-private partnership, then the workers involved must
be deemed to be public workers and guaranteed to receive similar
Canadian-standard wages, benefits, pensions and security of employment
as
public workers across the board. When the public pays for the
work, even a portion of the work, then workers must be deemed
to be working for the public, full stop; not for a contracted company
or
private enterprise, such as a private school subsidized with
public funds, no matter what position of authority the government
has given to the private entity. Stop the
Privatization Fraud!  Privatization of
public services and social programs sucks the
lifeblood out of public investments, the economy, society and
the working class. The obsession of the imperialist class to
expropriate private profit from every cell of the economy
regardless of the damage this causes must be restricted. The
working people are coming to realize that privatization is a
pay-the-rich conspiracy against the people and society.
Privatization
diverts public funds away from the intended purpose of public
services and social programs to serve the public good. Privatization
reduces the scope of the necessary social
programs, public services and infrastructure, and encourages a
section of the people to seek private solutions, in education and
health care for example. Privatization fragments
the working class and inhibits its
ability to maintain or gain Canadian standard wages, benefits,
pensions, security of employment and working conditions agreeable
to themselves and ratified by their collectives. Privatization
puts more power and wealth into the hands of the
global oligarchy directly reducing the reproduced-value going to
the Canadian working class and reduces any influence the people
may have for nation-building in opposition to imperialist
globalization and the U.S. war economy. Privatization
expands the numbers of the privileged oligarchs
by providing them increased positions of ownership, control and
power within the economy. With this increased power and wealth,
the imperialist class finances its own think tanks, media and
political representatives to push the neo-liberal agenda and
damage public opinion for the New and block the movement to stop
paying the rich and increase investments in social programs,
public services and public enterprise. Those in control and
ownership of the privatized sectors and enterprises of the
economy are deep-pocketed bombastic supporters of imperialism and
neo-liberalism, and opponents of the working class,
nation-building and the necessity for a new pro-social direction
for the economy to solve the many economic, political and social
problems confronting society. Privatization blocks
the working people from having a say over
those matters that are important in their lives, such as
education, health care, public services, infrastructure and the
search for and discussion and implementation of solutions to social
and natural problems and a new direction for the economy and
politics.  The damage caused
by privatization and decreased investments
in social programs and public services has become patently
obvious during the pandemic. Seniors have died in their hundreds
in starved-for-funds long-term care facilities, and governments
at all levels have been stymied in meeting the challenges of the
health emergency. Necessary infrastructure and means of
production, such as the airlines, have been incapable of dealing
with the emergency because their narrow private interests negate
the public interest, as their aim for maximum private profit puts
their narrow interests before the needs of the people and economy
as a whole.
Privatization fragments the economy
into competing sectors,
parts and enterprises. This saps and blocks the modern productive
forces and working class from mobilizing their inherent strength
and capacity to meet the challenges of the pandemic. The modern
economy and working class need cooperation and a pro-social aim
to work in harmony for the mutual benefit and development of all
and to solve problems.[2]
Each major private enterprise is on the prowl to use the
difficulties of others to destroy them or seize and take them
over rather than work together for the good of all. This
competition introduces weakness into the social programs, public
services and infrastructure and inhibits any possibility to
mobilize the productive forces and human factor/social
consciousness to defend the people and society. Privatization
must be stopped and reversed for the good of all, the economy and
society! Stop the privatization fraud! Stop the
corruption! Join the struggle against
privatization, to stop paying the
rich and to increase investments in social programs, public
services and public enterprise. Notes 1. See Workers'
Forum for reports on the growing resistance in Alberta,
Quebec and throughout the country to privatization and on the
burgeoning movement to stop paying the rich and increase
investments in social programs. 2. The disastrous response to the
pandemic in the United States has exposed the weakness of the
extensive private nature of the U.S. health care system. Many
believe that the miserable failure of the U.S. elite in the face
of the pandemic is partly the result of the privatized health
care system. Private health insurance further fragments the
private ownership and control of almost all hospitals, clinics
and other parts of the system. The staggering personal cost of
even minor treatment leaves millions unable or unwilling to seek
medical help. Many
Canadians watching U.S. television during the
election wondered about the number of ads for private health care
insurance. The "open season" to renew private health care
insurance is November 1 to December 15 and companies spend
millions pushing their respective plans. This fight for customers
reflects the competition among all parts of the health care
system, which greatly weakens its collective strength.
Annual family premiums for U.S.
employer-sponsored health
insurance -- the amount it costs each year for insurance, often
divided into 12 monthly payments -- rose four per cent to average
$21,342 this year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. On
average for workplace coverage during the last year, workers paid
$5,588 toward the cost of their coverage, while employers picked
up the rest. Those without workplace coverage must pay the full
amount or go without. Also of note, most plans carry a
deductible, the amount a person pays for health care before
insurance begins to pay the health care bill. The deductible has
been constantly rising in recent years. In 2020, the average
annual single deductible amount a person is required to pay for
any doctor's visit or hospital treatment before
insurance coverage begins has been $1,644,
nearly twice what it was a decade
ago. More than
243,857 people have died of COVID-19 in the United States and some
10,319,131 have been infected.
September
2018. PSAC's broad public campaign successfully halts the contracting
out
of cleaning services at Greenwood military base in rural Nova Scotia.
The planned contracting out of cleaning services in Kingston is also
reversed.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada
(PSAC) and one of its
largest components, the Union of National Defence Employees (UNDE),
are calling on Canadians to join its campaign to eliminate
privatization within the Department of National Defence (DND). The
unions released a report on October 30, "detailing the failure of
privatization within the DND. Most DND bases contract out
facilities management, cleaning, food preparation, grass cutting,
and trades work. Services critical to DND operations, such as
helicopter maintenance and airport management, are also
contracted out." PSAC-UNDE declares, "When
governments contract out public
sector work to private companies, profits take priority over
services, and everyone, except the corporate shareholders, ends
up paying the price."  PSAC-UNDE details
the abuse of public funds and workers by the
contracted companies. This abuse includes a constant demand to
amend the contracts for more money and extensions, the hiding of
how the money is used, terrible relations with employees and a
low standard of service.
"Once the contract goes
out the door, Canadians have no way of
knowing how public money is being spent because of the protection
of competitive advantages and corporate interests clauses in the
Access to Information Act,"
states Marianne Hladun, Regional
Executive Vice-President, PSAC-Prairies. "Without the details of
these contracts, the public has no information on inspection
reports, employee salaries, equipment expenses, or profits made
by the companies. When employees report being told to water down
cleaning products and ration supplies, those details become very
important." PSAC-UNDE says Canadian Forces Base
budgets are skewed to
ensure that it appears favourable to hire private contractors rather
than having public
sector employees doing the work. Within the budgetary process
very little money is allotted for in-house organizing of
maintenance and service. In contrast, the budget calls for
"generous funds" to be paid for contracted services for
Operations and Maintenance. Inexplicably, Base Commanders are
bound by their budgets, which are determined by DND, not to use the
public
service but rather to contract out the work to private interests,
"even if contracting out is more expensive." PSAC-UNDE
says, "Instead of providing the budget to hire an
adequate number of employees, the DND
skimps on staffing budgets, forcing Base Commanders to contract
out while knowing that it will cost more money to provide less
service. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent in this shell
game, with substantial profits going to private corporations in
Canada, and across the globe. "In the meantime,
communities across the country that rely on
Canadian Forces bases for employment are left with minimum wages
and precarious jobs instead of decent work that pays a decent
wage and allows workers to contribute to their local
economies." The DND annually gives around $4
billion of public funds to
private companies rather than investing that money in building a
viable public service sector and giving workers a chance to have
stable Canadian standard jobs with security of employment. A
vibrant stable public sector ensures that the DND money spent on
services and maintenance for the most part flows into and
throughout the local economy. The amount contracted
companies siphon off as expropriated
profit is not a trifling amount. Many of these companies are
global cartels that repatriate their profits to who knows where.
Cartels such as Aramark, Sodexo and ATCO are
notorious global privatizing profiteers involved in contracting
work in health care and all manner of social programs and public
services. Alberta Experience "Alberta
is riddled with examples of unnecessary contracting
out ranging from facilities management and cleaning, to kitchen
staff and emergency medical response staff. We even have public
sector trades people being replaced with contracted 'handymen.'
Our bases deserve the highest quality of work, not cutting
corners for profit's sake," states Peter Devlin, UNDE Local 30910
President. "UNDE hears incidents of contracts issued through
members at the base but cannot find any public records. If there
are public dollars involved, there should be public
accountability, period." PSAC-UNDE says, "Public
service janitorial workers used to be
larger in scale but are slowly being eroded. In 2019, an advanced
procurement notice was issued for Wainright Garrison [Alberta]
for janitorial services with a total cost of $6 million over
three years to supplement the work of the public service." Devlin
insists that the union's campaign to oppose
privatization "isn't a matter of switching private contractors,
it's about getting out of the privatization game altogether --
we tried it and it failed. By investing public dollars into the
public service, we know we are investing in quality work with
transparency and accountability, and good stable jobs for the
people of our communities." The experience in
Alberta confirms that privatization
undermines the safety of workers and their working conditions and
saps money not only from the local economy but from Canada.
Saskatchewan Experience 15 Wing Moose Jaw,
similar to other DND bases, has privatized
and contracted out facilities' management, cleaning, food
preparation, grass cutting, trades work, helicopter maintenance,
airport management and firefighters. Reports are rampant of
contracted employees being pressured by their employers "to water
down cleaning products and ration supplies." Those details never
come to official light because the contracts and details of the
companies' practice are kept secret and no accountability is
allowed. "At the start of the pandemic at 15 Wing
Moose Jaw, it became
even more clear that contracting out creates two classes of
people: those protected by their employer and those that felt
disposable," UNDE Regional Vice President Mona Simcoe states.
"Despite continuing to be paid, CAE subcontractors, ATCO and
Sodexo, ignored directives to limit work to 'only essential core
activities' and instructed their workers to continue to go into
work, regardless of the urgency of the task." PSAC-UNDE
writes, "DND told PSAC-UNDE that it 'couldn't tell
the contractors how to manage' their employees. Only through
intervention by senior elected union officials -- UNDE National
President June Winger and Vice-President Mona Simcoe -- and only
when the deputy minister was brought into the situation, did
contractors address the union's concerns. But it's still not
enough. The union continues to fight for these workers' rights as
coronavirus cases dramatically increase once again." PSAC-UNDE
emphasizes, "Contracting out creates an endless
cycle of precarious work. With Aramark's current contract
complete in January 2021, Aramark employees at 15 Wing are
currently under threat of losing their jobs. A new contractor
would mean job losses for every Aramark employee at 15 Wing."
For Simcoe a solution is not difficult. "With
Aramark's current contract out for proposals, now is the perfect
time to bring these workers back into the public service. By
investing public dollars into the public service, we know we are
investing in quality work with transparency and accountability
and good, stable jobs for the people of our communities," she says.
Manitoba Experience The
Manitoba experience reveals the failures of privatization
within the DND and that a solution
exists in contracting the work back into the public service
sector. "Over a decade ago, we experienced the failure of
privatization at 17 Wing in Winnipeg. Civilian cleaners had their
hours reduced from eight to six hours. Any work required outside those
six hours was contracted out. It didn't take long for there to be
complaints about the quality of work provided by the private
company. Contracting out created the problem and contracting the
work back in has solved it," said Mona Simcoe, UNDE Regional Vice
President for Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Hladun
notes, "PSAC-UNDE has analyzed the data and heard directly from
affected workers and the findings are clear: Canadians pay more
to get less through privatization, all the while undermining fair
and safe labour practises, labour relations and the security of
our bases. Now is the time to put an end to these private
contracts and begin contracting back in the civilian work on DND
bases." PSAC-UNDE's statement concludes decisively,
"Private interests have no
place on Canada's military bases."
Crisis
in the Airline Industry - K.C. Adams -  October
20, 2020. Airline workers demonstrate on Parliament Hill demanding the
federal government take action to "Save Canadian Aviation."
The necessity for a new direction and aim
for the
airline sector that begins
with nation-building to serve the
people  The current
crisis in the airline sector is the fifth one this
century. The September 11, 2001 attacks on the twin towers and
Pentagon in the U.S. and the SARS outbreak in 2003 disrupted the
airline sector, especially Air Canada. Next came the general
economic crisis of 2008-09 followed by the oil price collapse of
2014 and the continuing crisis in the oil sector that has hit Alberta
and Saskatchewan hard.
The 2020 crisis is the most
severe crisis to date. It
underscores the necessity for a new direction and aim for the
sector that breaks free from the recurring crises and iron grip
of the global investment cartels and their mania for private
maximum profit above all else. The airline sector is a key
component of modern nation-building, in particular in Canada with
its vast land mass, distinct economic regions from coast to coast
to coast, that trade with each other and the world, and with
many in the population having family links and other relations
across Canada and abroad. The airline industry needs cooperation
and a broad aim to serve the people, economy and society, not the
present narrow competing private interests of the global rich to
become richer. Prior to the pandemic and the
ensuing economic crisis of 2020,
more than 50,000 workers were directly employed with Canada's
airlines as flight attendants, pilots, baggage handlers, and in
customer service, maintenance, call centres and security. Today
only a fraction of that number are employed and working. The
major airports in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and
Vancouver prior to the crisis had thousands of workers each but
today resemble ghost towns. Indirectly, the crisis has adversely
affected thousands of additional workers in the tourism,
hospitality and hotel sectors and the taxi industry. 
October 30, 2020. Demonstration at Pearson Airport in Toronto.
The reasons for the crisis in the airline sector are both
objective and subjective. The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated the
immediate crisis but the manner in which the privately owned and
controlled airlines have responded to the pandemic has made it
worse. The response was conditioned by the narrow aim and panic
of those in control not only of the airlines but politically and
the underlying contradiction between the sector's socialized
productive force and its private control by competing
oligarchs.  The ruling elite
in control view the working class as an enemy
and object to exploit and not the determining human factor that
can and should be mobilized to defeat the pandemic and solve
economic and social problems. The reactionary response of the
rich in control and ownership of the main economic sectors is
conditioned by their outlook that the working class is a cost of
production and an object to exploit and discard at will. Their
megalomania is so intense, they believe that only by the rich
becoming richer will the economy prosper and some of their excess
wealth will trickle down to the masses through jobs and their
philanthropic charity. Their narrow aim for private profit cannot
see or grasp the necessity to put the airline sector on an
emergency footing to keep workers active and producing for the
sake of the socialized economy and common good. Instead, the
private interests in control have scrambled to save their private
fortunes and engaged in wrecking of the productive force and then
begging for bailouts from the public purse.
The
response of the ruling elite in the airline sector to the
pandemic has been to lay off workers and reduce flights. They
have refused to mobilize their workers to participate consciously
in continuing to fly in a socially responsible and safe manner
with more flights, less passengers and any additional physical
precautions scientists and airline workers themselves deem
necessary. 
October 30, 2020. Montreal action by airline workers.
Instead,
those in control conspired with their representatives
in the federal government to pay some of their workers a
percentage of their regular wages not to work and to stay in
contact for use when needed while others were dismissed. This
self-serving action of the rich has generated tremendous anxiety,
insecurity and hardship among airline workers at a time their
expertise and sense of social responsibility at work were sorely
needed to keep the industry producing and serving the economy,
people and society. The rich in control of the
sector in addition are demanding
public bailouts such as low interest loans, government purchase
of stock equity in their private companies, and other
pay-the-rich schemes. These demands arise without having done
anything to solve the problem of how to produce during the health
emergency. In fact, the ruling elite deliberately collapsed the
air industry as the numbers show. They demanded government pay
some of their workers a stipend not to work and now in the face
of their criminal wrecking actions want public funds to bail out
their private interests so they can continue in the old way.  Why should such socially
irresponsible
self-serving actions of
the rich be rewarded with public funds? The airline oligarchs
have proved in practice they are useless at solving problems and
detached from the present conditions and the necessity for a new
direction. They are blinded by their greed and hatred of working
people and society. They deserve nothing more than to be relieved
of their positions of ownership and control and thrown into the
dustbin of history.
The refusal to mobilize the
working class throughout the
country to collectively uphold social responsibility towards one
another and society and deal with the pandemic using the
available advanced science and means of production has led to a
deepening economic crisis and resurgence of the pandemic. In
the modern era no economic, political or social problem can
be solved without mobilizing the working class to tackle it by
unleashing the human factor/social consciousness. This requires a
new direction and aim for the economy that upholds the public
good and nation-building to serve one another and society
generally in a spirit of mutual benefit and cooperation. The
control, direction and aim of the global oligarchs to
compete for maximum private profit to become richer through the
expropriation of the value workers produce and their socially
irresponsible exploitation of natural resources are outmoded and
completely discredited and in contradiction with the socialized
productive forces, causing recurring destructive crises and
war. Working people and their collectives must step
up to take
control of the situation for the good of the nation, people,
economy and society. The time is now to build the New!
November 9, 2020. Airline workers in Halifax demand government action. (Unifor Local 2002)
The gross income of
Canadian airlines plunged dramatically during the first half of the
year 2020; in July passenger
numbers were down on average 90 per cent year over year. NAV CANADA,
the private
cartel controlling air traffic, reports that air traffic throughout the
country in September was
still down by an average 62.6 per cent compared to a year earlier, with
air cargo accounting
for a large percentage of the traffic. It could be said these terrible
numbers are largely
self-inflicted by those in control. They stem from the contradiction
between the private
competing control of an industry that is completely socialized and
interconnected with the rest
of the economy and in need of cooperation for the mutual benefit of
all. The airline sector,
along with all the basic industries, requires a new direction and aim
to serve the people,
economy and society under the control of those who do the work.
Air Canada
Since
mid-March, the country's largest airline, Air Canada, has slashed its
flight schedule by more than 90 per cent and grounded more than 200 of
its fleet of 332 planes. At that time, it laid off 5,100 employees. It
has cut service internationally from 150 airports to just five. Gross
income from ticket sales and services at Air Canada dropped by $604
million or 16 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 compared with a
year earlier. The company says it burned through $22 million in cash
per day in March. It reported a loss of $1.05 billion in its first
quarter compared with a profit of $345 million in the same quarter last
year. The company said it expected the cash burn to ease as it stops
most flying other than for cargo.
This is the backward and destructive view of the ruling
oligarchs. They see only the "cash
burn" of what they consider their own money when producing a necessary
service during an
emergency. They do not see the value of mobilizing the working class to
work and produce,
albeit at a reduced rate, during the pandemic. But they
scream, What is the good of producing
if maximum private profit cannot be had and we're burning money that
belongs to us? Let the
public burn its money paying workers not to work!
When faced with the difficulties of a health emergency, the rich
oligarchs lash out in
desperation to save their private fortunes. Through destruction they
see opportunities to save
their skins, demand public money and even expand their empires, as the
Air Canada oligarchs
are plotting to do with their proposed purchase of Air Transat at half
the price they offered
before the pandemic.
Air Canada's Second Quarter: Air
Canada's second quarter 2020 results showed gross income declined from
$4.738 billion in the second quarter of 2019 to $527 million in the
second quarter this year, a
decline of $4.211 billion or 89 per cent. Only cargo income was up over
the previous year,
climbing 52 per cent to $269 million. Total passengers carried declined
by 96 per cent compared
to the second quarter of 2019. Operating loss for the quarter was
$1.555 billion compared to operating income of $422 million in the
second quarter of 2019,
a decline of almost $2 billion.
Air Canada reduced
its second quarter 2020 passenger/seat capacity by 92 per cent compared
to the second quarter of 2019 and announced plans to reduce its third
quarter 2020 capacity by approximately 80 per cent compared to the
third quarter of 2019. By this point, Air Canada had reduced its
workforce by more than half -- a total of 20,000 positions -- through
layoffs, attrition and early retirement.
Cancellation of Routes:
Air Canada announced in June the complete suspension of service to 30
regional routes. The
routes cancelled without any indication of a plan to restart are the
following:
Atlantic
Canada: Deer Lake-Goose Bay, Deer Lake-St. John's,
Fredericton-Halifax,
Fredericton-Ottawa, Moncton-Halifax, Saint John-Halifax,
Charlottetown-Halifax,
Moncton-Ottawa, Gander-Goose Bay, Gander-St. John's, Bathurst-Montreal,
Wabush-Goose
Bay, Wabush-Sept-Iles, Goose Bay-St. John's.
Quebec: Baie
Comeau-Montréal, Baie Comeau-Mont Joli,
Gaspé-Iles de la
Madeleine, Gaspé-Quebec City, Sept-Iles-Quebec City, Val
d'Or-Montreal, Mont
Joli-Montréal, Rouyn-Noranda-Val d'Or.
Ontario:
Kingston-Toronto, London-Ottawa, North Bay-Toronto,
Windsor-Montreal.
Western Canada:
Regina-Winnipeg, Regina-Saskatoon, Regina-Ottawa,
Saskatoon-Ottawa.
Stations Closed at Regional
Airports: Air Canada closed its stations in the following
regional airports:
Bathurst, New Brunswick
Wabush, Newfoundland and Labrador
Gaspé, Baie
Comeau, Mont Joli, and Val d'Or, Quebec; and
Kingston and
North Bay, Ontario. WestJet
The second biggest Canadian carrier, WestJet, parked 140 of its
181 aircraft and furloughed more than 9,500 of its 14,000 employees
early in the year. The wrecking of service
resulted in a 95 per cent drop in passenger travel on the airline,
particularly to and from
Alberta.
WestJet also eliminated 80 per cent of its flights to the Atlantic
Provinces, completely
suspending service to Moncton, Fredericton, Sydney and Charlottetown
while significantly
reducing flights to Halifax and St. John's. It stopped all its flights
between Toronto and
Quebec City.
Other Carriers
Porter Airlines out of Toronto grounded its entire fleet on March 21
and now
says the suspension will last until at least December 15.
Air Transat ceased almost all its operations and closed its Vancouver
base.
Sunwing and other smaller regional carriers across the country have in
the main suspended air
service.
NAV CANADA
The national air traffic controller NAV CANADA, which is a private
cartel of the
major airlines and others, so far this year has cut 720 of its 4,600
workers.
NAV CANADA announced in May that it would hike its fees by 29.5 per
cent, which became
effective in September. The new fees increase the price of tickets for
a cross-country flight for
a family of four by about $100. NAV CANADA blamed the increase on the
absence of greater
government support though it did not specify, as a private enterprise,
what support it wanted
from the public treasury.
Chief executive officer Neil Wilson said in a press release at the
time: "NAV CANADA
acknowledges this increase (in fees) comes at a time when its customers
are also in
exceptionally difficult circumstances as a result of the COVID-19
pandemic. [...] All available
alternatives, including further government assistance, will continue to
be explored and utilized
in order to minimize or avoid the proposed rate increase."
NAV CANADA is a private corporation that owns and operates Canada's
civil air navigation
service (ANS) on behalf of the private airlines. The work includes air
traffic control, flight
information, weather briefings, aeronautical information, airport
advisory services and
electronic aids to navigation. These responsibilities were held by
Transport Canada until
it was privatized in 1996. The federal government of Jean
Chrétien transferred the
ANS from Transport Canada to NAV CANADA for a privatization fee of $1.5
billion. The cartel
leadership that seized control of ANS consists of four directors from
the major air carriers,
one from general and business aviation, three from the federal
government and two from
bargaining agents or unions.
September 10, 2020. Action by Chicago, Illinois, flight attendants
calling for extension of payroll support program. (AFA)
The necessity for a new
direction serving the people and
not private profit of the rich The colossal failure
of the U.S. ruling elite to deal with the
COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a crisis in the airline
industry that shows every indication of continuing into the
winter. People are not travelling, either from fear of contracting
the virus or because of government restrictions. In effect, the
economic crisis results from the inability or rather
unwillingness of the ruling elite to mobilize the working class,
the human factor/social consciousness, to deal with the health
emergency. This reluctance is embedded in the hostile unequal
social relation those who own and control the means of production
have with the working class. The ruling elite view any
development of the human factor/social consciousness of the
working class as an opening to the empowerment of working people
and a threat to the continued economic, political and social
dominance of the uber-rich oligarchy, the imperialist class. Airline
Crisis Airline reports for the third quarter
(July, August,
September) reveal a situation that has not improved since the
spring. Passenger volumes across major U.S. airlines are down 65
per cent from last year. American Airlines (AA), Southwest
Airlines and Alaska Airlines each report their gross income from
operations is down about 70 per cent in the third quarter
compared with the same period last year. United and Delta also
report large quarterly losses with gross income down nearly 80
per cent compared with last year. All carriers collectively say
they are losing about $200 million per day as they cannot fully
realize (sell) even the reduced number of available passenger
seats.[1]
AA reports a loss of $2.4 billion over the third quarter,
while Southwest lost more than $1.1 billion and Alaska more than
$430 million. Airlines collectively say they will cut their
production (capacity or available passenger seats) for the rest
of the year to just 30 per cent of last year's production.  Companies in the airline industry have demanded
thousands of
industry workers take buyouts or pay cuts. In September alone,
United and AA furloughed more than 32,000 workers. Reports are
rampant of layoffs, even with government paying subsidies to
companies to keep workers employed. A congressional committee
reported on October 9 that the U.S. Finance Department allowed
aviation companies to keep relief money that was supposed to go
to workers. Business Insider reporter Tyler
Sonnemaker
explains: "The Trump Administration's mismanagement of a
coronavirus bailout program that Congress created to 'preserve
aviation jobs' has instead led to 16,655 layoffs across the
industry while overpaying companies that fired workers, a
congressional investigation concluded earlier this
month."[2]
The concrete conditions of the airline productive forces have
forced a discussion on their status within the economy and the
necessity for a new direction. Voices are being raised that the
airline industry should be deemed a public trust administered by
a public authority with the aim to serve the people and economy
and be held accountable to the people. Discussion is growing that
the airline industry is a necessary means of production or public
infrastructure for the modern economy, in effect a public utility
that must be stable and not subject to recurring crises as is
presently the case in the hands of competing private
interests. The general sense of the discussion is
that a public utility
would serve the people as an important infrastructure of a modern
economy, especially in a country as large as the United States. A
public utility, a social means of production, should not be in
the hands of competing private interests with their aim for
maximum private profit. Ownership by competing interests, each
with an aim for maximum private profit, is in contradiction with
the aim of serving the collective interests of the people and
economy. Pay-the-Rich Government Bailout for U.S.
Airlines U.S. airlines were offered a reported
$60 billion in financial
assistance last March as part of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Of
note is the fact that the CARES Act has come into being, passing out
billions to companies, while the 2008 federal government Troubled
Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the separate bailout of Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac totalling $700 billion are still in
existence.[3]
The airline portion of the current CARES Act includes
$25 billion in straight grants intended for companies throughout
the airline industry, some of which was directed at paying workers
so they would not be furloughed. This aspect of the program has
been widely criticized as full of holes.[4] Another $25
billion was made available as loans
for the largest passenger airlines and another $10 billion as
grants and loans for cargo airlines and aviation
contractors.[5]
The U.S. Congress was negotiating to extend and increase the
$25 billion grant program for airlines and the separate $25
billion loan program available to airlines, certified repair
stations and ticket agents, but because of the bitter fight
between contending factions of the ruling elite and their cartel
parties for control of government and the public treasury the
talks were postponed until after the November 3
election. Airline Ruling Elite's Expropriation of
Realized New Value
to Pay the Rich Roger Lowenstein writing in the New
York Times exposes
the practice of airline companies paying their stock holders and
executives millions of dollars from realized new value rather
than keeping it as insurance for the inevitable crisis or using
it to refurbish the industry. For Lowenstein the imperialist
practice of paying the rich through stock buybacks and huge
payments to executives is anti-social. The same airlines that
engaged in these practices prior to the pandemic are now
demanding government bailouts, which shows that pay-the-rich
schemes in different forms exist in "normal" times as well as
during crises. Lowenstein
reminds his readers of the recurring crises in the
sector and that you can predict with certainty that the money
from realized new value will soon be needed "for a rainy day"
crisis such as the pandemic. Instead of putting money
aside "for a rainy day," he writes, "From 2014 through 2019 the big
four carriers
(American, Delta, United and Southwest) plowed $42 billion into stock
repurchases in the hope of improving their share prices." Lowenstein
remarks that during a period of large
realized new value airlines should make funds available for
reinvestment or
insurance rather than gifting owners of stock higher prices
through buybacks and giving huge bonuses to senior executives.
The author wishes for something that is in contradiction with the
aim of those who own and control the economy and can only come
into being if working people force the issue. Aside
from paying the rich with stock buybacks and extravagant
executive payoffs, during the same period before the pandemic the
airlines borrowed massively. They collectively increased their
debt on average 56 per cent from 2014 to 2019. For example,
during this period of sizable realized new value, AA increased
its outstanding debt from $18 billion to $33 billion. Lowenstein
writes, "The borrowing binge fit the Wall Street
strategy of leveraging up to increase risk. Temporarily it
worked; airline stock prices moved higher. And stock price was
key to executive pay. Over the six years, the chief executives of
the four carriers pocketed almost $340 million in stock sales.
American's CEO, Doug Parker, was the biggest winner, with stock
sales totalling $150 million. And those figures don't include
stock received but not yet sold." It should be
remembered that servicing of airline debt comes
from the expropriation of a portion of the realized new value
airline workers produce. This servicing continues whether the
gross income and realized new value remain high or collapse as
they have during the current crisis. Servicing debt during a drop
in realized new value means less available profit for executives
and stock buybacks and dividends: enter other pay-the-rich
schemes. Various pay-the-rich forms are regularly used to deal
with servicing this debt during a crisis, including government
bailouts,
Federal Reserve making cheap money available, and Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection. On government bailouts for
the airlines Lowenstein writes,
"The argument for a bailout rests on the premise that airlines
are important to national security. But bailouts save the
shareholders. The assets -- the planes, the gates and so on --
endure, even if the ownership changes. The history of the
industry is riddled with bankruptcies and yet planes keep flying.
The other argument is that bailouts maintain a higher level of
workforce than would otherwise be possible, given that revenue
has plunged."  Lowenstein
refutes this argument and suggests an alternative
to bailouts although he gives scant details how this could be
accomplished other than to suggest that representatives of the
oligarchs in Congress should do it even though they are the
regular architects of pay-the-rich schemes. He writes, "When and
if airline traffic recovers, so will employee levels. In the
meantime, it would be better to send checks directly to the
people, until they find work in sectors that are growing. If
executives are unwilling to forgo their gains, Congress can seize
any carrier that fails, dismiss the chief executive and run it as
a public trust. Let's end the farce in which airlines are
risk-taking enterprises in good times and the public's burden in
bad."
Also related to the airline industry is the
production of its
most important fixed instruments of production, commercial planes
and airports. The public purse heavily subsidizes both these
fixed means of production. This payment of public funds for
airplanes to such companies as Boeing, and for airports, reduces
the market price the airline companies must pay. Boeing
faces stiff competition from the European Airbus
cartel, which it accuses of receiving government subsidies
reducing the market price for its commercial airplanes. The lower
prices for means of production plays a role in reducing the size
of the airline companies' investment in fixed value, thus propping
up their rate of profit. The production of airplanes, which is
also closely tied to the war economy, along with airports, should
become part of a public trust operating in the public interest to
serve the people and economy and not be targets of private
interest, pay-the-rich schemes and the imperialist
warmongers. To his credit Professor Lowenstein
suggests an alternative
direction and aim for the airline industry without, however,
concretizing his view in a practical way. Any alternative
direction must confront the economic, political and social
control of the global oligarchy, the imperialists. The working
class is the only social force capable of bringing into being a
credible pro-social alternative. In this regard, a new direction
also entails the necessity to mobilize the working class to
defend and claim what belongs to it by right and to confront the
sector's real problems with real solutions both in stable times
and crises such as the current health emergency. Federal
Airline Bailout of 2001 and Use of Chapter
11 Bankruptcy
To
bail out the airlines in 2001,
President Bush signed into law the Air Transportation Safety
and Stabilization Act, which gave public funds to airlines in
"compensation" for their reduced gross incomes following the 9/11
attacks. The act gave the airlines $5 billion in grants and an
additional $10 billion in loan guarantees or other federal credit
instruments. Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection acts like a
pay-the-rich
scheme. The big airline companies have used it many times this
century. Between 2002 and 2011, American, Delta, Frontier,
Northwest, United and U.S. Airways all filed for Chapter
11.[6]
Richard Squire in an article in the Washington Post
titled
"U.S. airlines don't need a bailout to stay in business" points
out, "All [airlines while in Chapter 11] kept flying throughout,
and all emerged intact. (Some have since consolidated by merger.)
Most of their customers didn't even notice." Squire
writes, "Once a public company [not public as opposed
to privately owned but rather one listed on public stock
exchanges -- TML Ed. Note.]
enters Chapter 11, it rarely has difficulty raising
new credit to cover operating costs, such as payroll. This was
true even during the 2007-2009 financial crisis, when, despite
the general credit crunch, private bankruptcy lending reached a
new peak. Bankruptcy loans to companies in Chapter 11 are
extremely safe, because the Bankruptcy Code gives the bankruptcy
lender a high-priority claim on the assets. And potential bank
lenders are now [in 2020] flush with cash, thanks to the Federal
Reserve's market interventions in recent weeks." Squire
notes, "The airlines aren't running out of cash because
their debts are coming due sooner than expected. They're running
out of cash because their revenues are much lower than expected.
That's a solvency problem, not a liquidity problem. Losses are
inevitable. The only question is whether Washington leaves the
losses with private investors or shifts them to taxpayers." He
continues, "The president has also said he wants to back
the airlines because the current crisis is 'not their fault.'
True enough, but an industry's investors ought to bear
responsibility for its direct social costs. Otherwise, the
industry grows too large while under-investing in precautions.
Airlines doubtlessly provide a socially valuable service. But, as
we have seen, that service can sometimes contribute to the spread
of a contagious disease. The risk of further spread is why
governments are banning international travel and why the public
is shunning cramped airplane cabins. The resulting drop in
industry revenue is thus the manifestation of a business risk
inherent in the service the airlines sell. Airline investors, not
taxpayers, should bear the resulting losses." Richard
Squire also writes of the airline companies
blackmailing the public into believing that only through
pay-the-rich schemes can "draconian measures such as furloughs"
be avoided. In a joint letter to political leaders in Congress in
September the companies warned that unless they immediately
received an additional $29 billion in "worker payroll protection"
grants, plus another "$29 billion in loans or guarantees" massive
layoffs would occur along with possible bankruptcies. Of course
the private interests in control would never suggest a new
direction for the industry to make it a public trust with a new
pro-social aim to serve the people and economy. Instead, they
insist on pay-the-rich schemes to entrench their private power,
wealth and imperialist class privilege. Notes1. The situation in
Europe is similar with IAG, a global
investment cartel that controls British Airways, Iberia and other
airlines and industrial and financial interests. IAG reports its
airlines suffered a decline in gross income of more than 80
per cent in the third quarter compared with a year ago and that
its planes are regularly only about half full. 2. Business
Insider writes, "The Payroll Support Program [PSP], which
was
established under the CARES Act and expired this month,
tasked the U.S. Treasury Department with allocating U.S.$3
billion to aviation contractors to help them avoid unnecessary
layoffs as the pandemic ground travel to a halt.
"The money was intended to cover companies'
payroll for six
months, until September 30 -- and in exchange, recipients were
supposed to keep workers employed for those six months.
"But the Treasury Department's 'delays' and
'perverse'
approach to implementing the PSP encouraged companies to fire
workers while they waited to receive funds, the House Select
Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis concluded in a report
published on October 9. [...] "'These
delays led at least 15 different aviation contractors
to lay off or furlough at least 16,655 employees before the
agreements took effect -- more than 15 per cent of the existing
aviation contractor workforce,' [the report] said."
The House report is available here.
Sonnemaker points out that the U.S. Treasury
Department "let
companies continue to lay off workers while their PSP
applications were pending." According to the report, "This
decision had the perverse effect of incentivizing companies to
lay off or furlough workers before executing the agreement [and]
stockpile the money rather than
rehire laid-off workers." "Swissport,
Gate Gourmet and Flying Food Fare were among the
companies connected to the aviation industry that, according to
the report, laid off workers while accepting coronavirus relief
funds -- and some companies used the funds to pay their top
executives. The report found that Flying Food, for example,
received more than $85 million in taxpayer dollars and 'restored
senior executives and management to full pay' even when many
others at the company were being laid off," Alternet noted.
The newsletter ProPublica
gives examples of these
practices in a particularly poignant article available
here.
3. ProPublica says as
of
August 12, 2020, the 2008 TARP and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
bailouts have dispensed $634 billion of public funds to 983
corporate recipients. The newsletter keeps a bailout tab of the
hundreds of companies receiving public funds from both programs
and how much has or has not been returned. The bailout tracker is
available here.
4.
"The Trump administration let
aviation companies lay off more than 16,500 workers while taking
coronavirus relief funds -- some used the money to pay executives
-- according to a congressional report," Tyler Sonnemaker,
Business Insider,
October 20, 2020. 5. To date, seven large carriers
have
received more than $12 billion through the CARES bailout program.
American Airlines received $5.8 billion, United $5 billion,
Alaska $992 million, JetBlue Airways $936 million, Frontier
Airlines $205 million, Hawaiian Airlines $292 million, and
SkyWest $438 million. Five
airlines have struck agreements with the Treasury
Department for portions of the $25 billion in federal loans
during the pandemic: American Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Sky
West Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines.
Last spring, U.S. airlines started receiving
portions of an
additional $25 billion in grants to pay for workers' wages. Cargo
air carriers received an additional $4 billion. Talks were
underway in Congress to extend this program through to next March
but the election fight between the two cartel parties of the rich
has postponed a decision. A
list of the hundreds of airline companies that have already
received payroll support from the federal government is available here.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury writes:
"Payroll Support Program Payments
"Section 4112 of the Coronavirus Aid,
Relief and Economic
Security Act (CARES Act) authorizes the Treasury
Department to provide up to $32 billion to compensate aviation
industry workers and preserve jobs. "The
Payroll Support Program under Division A, Title IV,
Subtitle B of the CARES Act provides payroll support to
passenger air carriers, cargo air carriers, and certain
contractors for the continuation of payment of employee wages,
salaries, and benefits. A total of up to $25 billion is available
for passenger air carriers; $4 billion for cargo air carriers;
and $3 billion for certain contractors." 6. Chapter 11 is similar to the Companies'
Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) bankruptcy
protection for big companies in Canada. Canadian workers are very
familiar with the infamous CCAA, which is frequently used to
attack their pensions and benefits and generally for the rich in
control to escape as unscathed as possible a crisis either real
or concocted. The Stelco steel company in Hamilton, Ontario
concocted a CCAA bankruptcy in 2004, which Local 1005 of the
steelworkers' union exposed as a massive pay-the-rich fraud.
Details of this struggle are available in issues of TML Daily
published at the time. The
rich in control of a company under CCAA, but also those in
charge of the bankruptcy process such as the cartel Ernst &
Young
Global Limited, use the process to feather their own nests, attack
the working class and force certain competing investors to give
up a portion of their investment in the company under CCAA, to
"take a haircut" as they say. Once
workers and certain creditors have "taken a haircut"
through Chapter 11 or CCAA, companies such as the U.S. airlines
are then released from bankruptcy protection to continue
operations. Other companies in bankruptcy protection may be
dissolved with the rich in control escaping with the lion's share
of the assets and workers are left to pick up the pieces of their
lives without the security of jobs, benefits and pensions
which they have worked for years to build.
Demand
Permanent Immigration Status for
Migrant
Workers, Refugees and International Students 
On October
20, the Trudeau government lifted travel
restrictions for international students coming to Canada to
study. The only condition is that they hold a valid study permit
and that the Designated Learning Institution they are
enrolled in have a provincially approved COVID-19 readiness
plan. Why is this being done? Over the summer it
was reported that
there has been a 22 per cent decline in government-issued study
permits to foreign students which would affect the budgets of all
universities and colleges in Canada. As governments continue to
underfund public post-secondary institutions in the context of
the anti-social offensive, universities and colleges have become
increasingly dependent on the high tuition fees levied on foreign
students.  For example, at
the University of Toronto (U of T), which promotes
itself worldwide as Canada's premier university, international
students make up fully 30 per cent of the total student body. Most
hope to remain in Canada. They contribute close to $1 billion to
the university's operation, a third of its budget. For the
privilege of attending U of T, an
undergraduate international student pursuing a bachelor's degree
in arts or science pays more than $40,000 a year while a Canadian
student pays $6,200. Typically, international students attending
Canadian universities and colleges pay from two to six times the
tuition fees Canadian students pay for the same programs. In an
interview with the campus newspaper The Varsity in
February 2019, U of T President Meric Gertler said that
international student tuition is priced to cover the "full costs
associated with educating those students," without disclosing
what those "full costs" are.
Currently students
from India, China, the Republic of Korea,
Brazil and Vietnam comprise the largest cohort of international
students in Canada. Migrant Students United, a national defence
organization for international students in Canada, notes that
there are 721,000 study permit holders in Canada as well as an
estimated 500,000 postgraduate work permit holders, who together
contribute close to $30 billion to the Canadian economy. They are
trapped in a racket that the Canadian state has created to ensure
a cheap source of labour for Canadian monopolies and financial
oligarchs, as well as a source of revenue for subsidizing the
operations of Canadian colleges and universities. The Canadian
government, along with post-secondary institutions and
unregulated "consultants" around the world charge students large
amounts of money for the "privilege" of studying in Canada. When
international students arrive in Canada they have to fend
for themselves from day one. The rules and policies governing
international students' ability to work in Canada are
restrictive. In one case, Jobandeep Sandhu, a student from Punjab
studying mechanical engineering at Canadore College, Mississauga
Campus, was pulled over by police while driving a truck from
Montreal to Toronto. That was in December 2017 when he was 10
days away from receiving his diploma. He was subsequently found
to be working more than the 20 hours a week permitted. He had
accumulated nearly $27,000 in fees and other school costs and was
forced to work longer hours. Despite broad opposition, including
a petition delivered to then-Federal Immigration Minister Ahmed
Hussen signed by more than 50,000 people calling on the Canadian
government to allow Sandhu to remain in Canada, he was deported in
June 2019 for "breaking the law."  Statistics Canada
reported in 2019 that international students
who find work after graduation were found to earn less tha their
Canadian counterparts six years after graduation. A 2018 survey
by the Canadian Bureau for International Education found that
close to 60 per cent of international students in Canada surveyed
were unemployed and having difficulty finding work in fields that
would enable them to accumulate enough points to apply for
permanent residency. And this was before COVID-19!
As
Migrant Students United, the Canadian Federation of
Students and other organizations have pointed out, since the
beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, international
students have been further victimized by the total lack of
support from the federal government. Yet, in May this year, in
order to keep fleecing foreign students, Immigration, Refugee and
Citizenship Canada ruled that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,
international students can study online at Canadian universities
and colleges without affecting their eligibility for a
Post-Graduate Work Permit. This is unconscionable.
The Trudeau Liberals have formalized
the exploitation and abuse of international students in their
International Student Strategy, a five-year plan (2019-2024) to
dramatically increase the number of foreign students in Canada.
When the plan was announced Minister of International Trade
Diversification Jim Carr noted: "International
education is an essential pillar of Canada's
long-term competitiveness. Canadians who study abroad gain
exposure to new cultures and ideas, stimulating innovation and
developing important cross-cultural competencies. Students from
abroad who study in Canada bring those same benefits to our
shores. If they choose to immigrate to Canada, they contribute to
Canada's economic success. Those who choose to return to their
countries become life-long ambassadors for Canada and for
Canadian values." Canadians do not want
international students to be exploited
and abused in the name of enhancing "Canada's long term
competitiveness." They do not want international students to be
uprooted from the nations that raised them and brought to Canada
where their basic rights are denied as they are currently in the
case of the pandemic. It is an abomination to create a pathway to
citizenship that is essentially rigged against the majority of
international students in Canada who, even before COVID-19, were
unable to find the work that would enable them to qualify for
permanent residency and citizenship. The process of citizenship
should begin as soon as international students arrive in
recognition of the fact that they are contributing to Canada from
the moment they come here.
 
Migrant Students United
(MSU), a national affiliate of
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, held a rally outside the
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada office in downtown
Toronto on October 25 to demand the recognition of the rights of
international students. They demanded that the Canadian
government guarantee their basic rights to live, work and study
in Canada and uphold the promises made to them to entice them to
come to this country. Activists from the Communist Party of
Canada (Marxist-Leninist) also participated in the action. The
main demand is for the renewal of the Post-Graduation Work
Permit (PGWP) for all international students so that they have
additional time to fulfill their employment requirements to
qualify for permanent residency. Many of the more than 700,000
international student work permit holders are facing the reality
that their work permits will expire at the end of 2020 and they
will be deported because they are unable to fulfill their
employment requirement to qualify for permanent resident
status. Sarom Rho, the main organizer for MSU in
Toronto, highlighted
the extreme difficulties that international students are facing
in the COVID-19 pandemic. She pointed out that foreign students
pay tuition fees two to six times that of citizens or permanent
residents. They contribute billions of dollars to the economy
through these high fees, and through their labour and taxes, yet
have been completely ignored by the Trudeau Liberal government
and deprived of any emergency financial support, health care and
other basic social services. They have been left extremely
vulnerable. Many are going hungry, having lost their jobs and
housing, are cut off from their families, and now face the
prospect of being deported. She called for an end to this abuse
of international students. She put forward the MSU's four demands
to the Canadian and Ontario governments: 1. Fix
Rules Around Work: Make postgraduate work permits
renewable so former students can complete requirements for
permanent residency (PR) in the COVID-19 job market. Remove time
limits and count all work for PR. 2. Give
Real Access to PR: Lower the points required for PR.
Ensure full and permanent immigration status for all
migrants. 3. Lower Tuition and Ensure
Full Services: Ensure migrant
students pay the same tuition fees as Canadians; Ensure full
access to all services including health care, housing,
scholarships, pandemic emergency benefits, in-school support and
jobs; and immediate access to social insurance numbers. 4.
Unite Families: Allow families to travel, and ensure
work
permits for family members. Two George Brown
College postgraduate students, one from Brazil and one from Poland,
shared their struggles, frustrations and constant stress about their
future. They expressed their determination to continue to fight for the
rights of all international students and migrant workers in Canada for
permanent status so that they can continue to live in Canada and
contribute their talents. They called on everyone to join them in their
fight for justice. An online petition to "Fix PGWP,
Ensure Status for All" can be
found here.
-
Diane Johnston -  As part of
the Migrant Rights Network's November 1
pan-Canadian day of action "to raise the call for full
and permanent immigration status for all," Solidarity Across
Borders organized a rally in Montreal. The rally was held outside the
Radio-Canada building "to
highlight and challenge our invisibility in the mainstream
media." Approximately 70 people, mainly youth, turned out for the
event.  November 2 is the
Day of
the Dead, "a Mexican festival to commemorate and honour the dead."
This action was held in honour of friends, family, compatriots
and fighting comrades who have died, as well as to strengthen
everyone's resolve in the fight for the recognition of the
rights, including the right to be, of all human beings in society. It
included a symbolic "die-in," described as "an art
action to show our dead."
The first speaker
stressed that not only are undocumented
migrants involved in a life and death struggle for the
recognition of their rights, they are also on the front lines of
the fight against COVID-19. Government indifference to the
untenable working and living conditions of these workers has resulted
in
some of them losing their lives. "It is our intention to continue
the struggle until this issue of migrants has been resolved," one
speaker asserted. "We will remain on the ground and continue to
fight for them, as a matter of human dignity." A
message from Robyn Maynard of Black Lives Matter was read.
Amongst other things, Maynard wrote that the injustices migrants
face today are part of Canada's long legacy of racial injustice
and that the country's entire history is one of racial
discrimination. She said that the pandemic has exposed the
scandalous exploitation of migrant labour in Canada. "Front line
health care workers, factory workers, janitors, drivers, grocery
store clerks -- without those jobs, this nation does not
function. And yet those who do this work are subjected to the
worst working conditions [...]." "None of us are
free while some of us are working, such as
black or racialized women, on the front line of the pandemic
while afraid for our own possible deportation." "None
of us are free when our brothers and sisters are working
in a factory facing workplace abuses regularly for little pay
[...]." "None of us are free while black and
racialized people across
the American continent, the Caribbean, Central and South America
are forced to leave their homes due to the unequal global
economic system [...] and while Canadian mines misappropriate the
global south." Maynard then encouraged everyone to
continue the struggle "of
our time, working to build a better, safer world for all of us.
All migrants are essential! All migrants require protection,
deserve security [...] and justice." Participants
then heard the news that Mamadou Konaté, a failed
refugee claimant originally from the Ivory Coast who had been
detained by the Canada Border Services Agency on September 16,
had been released. His case had been widely publicized.[1] Mamadou, who
participated in the
action, thanked everyone for their efforts in securing his
release, encouraging them to continue the struggle for status for
all. Protesters then observed a minute of silence
to "remember the
thousands of migrants who have lost their lives crossing the
border into the United States and into Canada." These include
Mavis Otuteye, a Ghanaian grandmother living in the U.S. who had
overstayed her 2006 visitor visa and attempted to cross over into
Canada in 2017. Her body was found about half a kilometre south
of the Manitoba border town of Emerson on May 26, 2017. 
Also named
during the commemoration was Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy
whose image made global headlines after his body washed up on a beach
in Turkey on September 2, 2015. Canada, just like other NATO powers,
bears responsibility for driving millions of people out of
their homelands and creating hundreds of thousands of refugees through
its participation in war, regime change, nation-wrecking, sanctions and
anarchy unleashed by the U.S. imperialists and NATO powers against
Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and
Venezuela. Those forced to leave their countries, among them refugees
facing persecution and death, are then labelled "migrants," suggesting
that millions willingly leave their homelands for economic reasons.
This obscures the causes of their flight, that they have been subjected
to the most brutal, violent, inhumane treatment due to allegedly
civilized Western intervention by the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Statistics were given on the thousands of deaths of migrants
fleeing their home countries by way of the Mediterranean Sea year
after year. Countries who close their borders to
asylum seekers were
condemned, with Western countries in particular being called upon
to abide by the 1951 Geneva Convention with regard to the rights
of refugees. The rally ended with a symbolic
"die-in," with participants
lying still on the ground in commemoration of those who have
perished. Note 1. "Oppose
Canada's Role in Exploiting and Abusing Migrant Workers!" TML
Weekly, October 10, 2020.
Organized by Migrant Workers Alliance for Change
FacebookTens of thousands of migrant student workers in low-wage jobs
are facing deportation because of impossible immigration requirements.
Millions of people lost work and wages during COVID-19, but for migrant
student workers who are on time-restricted work permits, losing work
means they cannot fulfill requirements to apply for permanent
residency. Their work permits are non-renewable and time is running
out. Unless Prime Minister Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marco
Mendicino act quickly, thousands will be forced to leave Canada by the
end of this year or become undocumented.
Migrants should not be punished for the pandemic! Ensure fair
immigration rules to stop the deportation of thousands. Make work
permits renewable and value all work!
COVID-19
Update 
November 12, 2020. WHO map of coronavirus cases worldwide as of 4:40 pm.
November 11 marked eight months since the WHO characterized
the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic. The recent
period has seen a marked upsurge in cases, whereby infection
curves that had been flattened now threaten to exceed the
capacity of health care systems. As of November 13,
there have been at least 53,256,556
recorded cases of people infected with COVID-19. Of these,
37,316,738 people have recovered and 14,637,743 cases are active.
The number of people who have died from COVID-19 is 1,302,075.
The number of daily new cases has risen sharply in the last month
alone, from 419,312 on October 16 to an all-time high of 647,651
on November 12. Daily deaths were 6,226 on October 16 and also
hit an all-time high on November 11 of 10,163. The
20 countries with the highest number of cases on
November 8 were, in descending order: the U.S. (10,880,526),
India (8,729,190), Brazil (5,783,647), France (1,898,710), Russia
(1,880,551), Spain (1,484,868), the UK (1,290,195), Argentina
(1,284,519), Colombia (1,174,012), Italy (1,066,401), Mexico
(991,835), Peru (930,237), Germany (752,830), South Africa
(744,732), Iran (738,322), Poland (665,547), Chile (526,438),
Belgium (520,393), Iraq (514,496) and Ukraine (512,652). As
of November 13, the 20 countries with the highest infection rate
(measured in cases per million) among countries
with a population greater than one million in population are: Bahrain
(48,875), Qatar (48,211), Belgium (44,830), Czech Republic
(41,682), Armenia (38,574), Israel (35,026), Panama (33,034), the
U.S. (32,801), Spain (31,754), Kuwait (31,594), Switzerland
(29,631), France (29,065), Argentina (28,326), Peru (28,070),
Chile (27,452), Brazil (27,139), the Netherlands (25,456),
Slovenia (25,193), Costa Rica (23,662) and Oman (23,178). The
20 countries with the highest number of deaths as of
November 13 are, in descending order: the U.S. (248,638), Brazil
(164,332), India (128,722), Mexico (97,056), UK (50,928), Italy
(43,589), France (42,960), Iran (40,582), Spain (40,461), Peru
(35,067), Argentina (34,782), Colombia (33,491), Russia (32,443),
South Africa (20,076), Indonesia (15,037), Chile (14,699),
Belgium (13,891), Ecuador (12,946), Germany (12,312) and Iraq
(11,580). The 20 countries with the highest
mortality rate, for countries over one million in
population, (measured in cases per million population) as of November
13 are: Belgium
(1,197), Peru (1,058), Spain (865), Brazil (771), Argentina
(767), Chile (767), Bolivia (752), the U.S. (750), Mexico (750),
the UK (749), Ecuador (730), Italy (721), France (658), Colombia
(656), Panama (652), Sweden (609), North Macedonia (594), Armenia
(572), Bosnia and Herzegovina (552) and the Czech Republic
(537). For countries in the northern hemisphere,
the onset of winter is expected to increase the infection rate,
all other factors being equal. In Europe, which was
a hotspot early in the pandemic and
instituted lockdowns in the spring, a sharply worsening situation
has seen increased measures such as mandatory mask-wearing and
reduced hours for bars and restaurants being put in place over
the last month. Lockdowns at the national or regional level are
being brought back in Ireland, Britain, France, Germany, Spain
and the Czech Republic. Situation in Canada
As of November 12, Public Health Canada reports a total of
282,477 cases recorded in Canada. Of these, 226,775 had
recovered and 45,034 remained active. There have been
10,768 deaths. There were 5,516 new cases on November 12. As of
November 13, Canada's infection rate is 7,463 cases per million
population and the death rate is 284 per million. Most provinces
and territories across the country have experienced a surge in
cases in recent weeks. Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's
Chief Public Health Officer, said in
her November 12 statement that: "As the resurgence
of COVID-19 activity continues in Canada,
we are tracking a range of epidemiological indicators to monitor
where the disease is most active, where it is spreading and how
it is impacting the health of Canadians and public health,
laboratory and health care capacity. The following is the latest
summary on national numbers and trends, and the actions we all
need to be taking to maintain COVID-19 at manageable levels
across the country. [...] "Though the cumulative
number is high and continues to
increase, with several regions experiencing accelerated growth,
it is important to remember that the vast majority of Canadians
remain susceptible to COVID-19. This is why it is important for
everyone to continue with individual precautions that will keep
ourselves, our families and our communities safer. "[...]
The latest national-level data indicate daily averages
of 4,015 new cases (November 4-10) and 54,668 people tested, with
5.8 per cent testing positive (November 1-7). Outbreaks continue
to contribute to COVID-19 spread in Canada. Although the size can
vary from just a few cases to larger clusters, outbreaks are
being reported in a range of settings including long-term care
and assisted living facilities, schools, congregate living
settings, industrial work settings and large social
gatherings. "The number of people experiencing
severe illness continues to
increase. Provincial and territorial data indicate that an
average of 1,361 people with COVID-19 were being treated in
Canadian hospitals each day during the most recent seven-day
period (November 4-10), including 258 of whom were being treated
in intensive care units. During the same period, there were an
average of 50 COVID-19-related deaths reported daily. Elective
admissions are now being postponed in some areas of the country
given rising COVID hospitalizations. "As
hospitalizations and deaths tend to lag behind increased
disease activity by one to several weeks, the concern is that we
have yet to see the extent of severe impacts associated with the
ongoing increase in COVID-19 disease activity. As well, influenza
and respiratory infections typically increase during the Fall and
Winter, placing increased demands on hospitals. This is why it is
so important for people of all ages to maintain public health
practices that keep respiratory infection rates low. "With
colder weather, we are moving indoors. Canadians should
avoid the 3Cs settings -- closed spaces, crowded places and close
contact situations -- wherever possible. Larger clusters tell us
that closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowded places where
many people gather and close contact situations can amplify
spread of the virus. Spread in informal social gatherings and
activities is also occurring. In these more relaxed settings,
such as family and holiday celebrations and recreational
activities, letting our guard down and not consistently
maintaining public health practices, can lead to many exposures
and infections. For these reasons, it is recommended that
everyone wear a non-medical mask or face covering when spending
time indoors with people from outside of your immediate
household. "Canada needs a collective effort to
support and sustain the
public health response through to the end of the pandemic, while
balancing the health, social and economic consequences. To do
this, we need to retake the lead on COVID-19, by each reducing
our close contacts to the best of our ability and employing key
public health practices consistently and with precision: stay
home/self-isolate if you have any symptoms, maintain physical
distancing, wear a face mask as appropriate, and keep up with
frequent hand, cough and surface hygiene. [...]" Regarding
the possibility of a vaccine, Dr. Tam stated on November 6 that she is
"cautiously optimistic that safe and effective
COVID-19 vaccines will be available in the first quarter of 2021,
bringing us one step closer to the widespread and long-term
management of COVID-19. "I would like to emphasize
that when vaccines become
available, there will be a limited supply at first. While that
supply will continue to increase over time, it does mean that
federal, provincial and territorial governments will have to make
important decisions on how to use the initial vaccine supply.
"The National Advisory Committee on Immunization, or NACI, is
a long-standing expert advisory group that provides independent
guidance and recommendations to inform these kinds of tough
decisions. "On Tuesday [November 3], NACI provided
preliminary guidance
on the key populations that should be considered for early
COVID-19 immunizations, including people at high risk of severe
outcomes or those at high risk of spreading to them; workers
essential to maintaining the COVID-19 response and other
essential services for the functioning of society; and people
whose living or working conditions put them at elevated risk of
infection and its disproportionate consequences, including
Indigenous communities. The full guidance is available online at
Canada.ca. "While this preliminary guidance is
helpful for planning,
there is still a long road ahead. Clinical trials need to
continue, Health Canada still needs to approve the vaccines if
they are deemed safe and effective, and we will be receiving
additional advice on prioritization based on the characteristics
of each vaccine once approved. In the meantime, it is crucial
that we continue to layer on individual protections that we know
to be effective in keeping infection rates low: stay home if you
have symptoms, even mild ones; wash your hands frequently;
maintain physical distancing; wear a mask when spending time
indoors with people from outside of your immediate household; and
avoid or limit time spent in closed spaces, crowded places and
close-contact situations where you can't consistently maintain
physical distancing [...]"
May 18, 2020. World Health Assembly meeting. (WHO)
The World Health Assembly (WHA) this week resumed its
proceedings virtually from November 9 to 14. The resumed session
follows the reduced (de minimis) meeting of May 18
to
19.[1]
The WHA is the decision-making body of the World Health
Organization (WHO). The
WHA highlighted three main concerns to be addressed at the
proceedings: 1) COVID-19 can be beaten with
science, solutions and
solidarity, and calls for an evidence-based approach to the
pandemic and for all countries to work together to develop and
provide everyone with the necessary vaccines, diagnostics and
therapeutics. 2) Members of the WHO must
not
backslide on its critical health goals. The WHA indicated, "The resumed
session
will discuss a 10-year-plan for addressing neglected tropical
diseases, as well as efforts to address meningitis, epilepsy and
other neurological disorders, maternal infant and young child
nutrition, digital health, and the WHO Global Code of Practice on
the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, adopted in
2010." 3) The world must prepare for the next
pandemic now. It is
calling on "the global health community to ensure that all
countries are better equipped to detect and respond to cases of
COVID-19 and other dangerous infectious diseases." Overall,
the major concern of the WHO is to develop the
capacity, cooperation and solidarity of all countries to
collectively overcome the health problems facing humanity. Summing
Up the WHO's Work in 2020
In his opening remarks to the WHA on November 9, WHO
Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus summed up the state of
the pandemic and gave an overview of the WHO's approach in the past
year to overcoming COVID-19:
- providing the
world with up-to-date scientific
guidelines;
- conducting the Solidarity Trial, one of the
largest and most diverse clinical trials, to generate robust data
on therapeutics;
- the OpenWHO.org learning platform that has
provided free online training in 17 different topics, in 41
languages, with more than 4.5 million registered users;
- the
Access to COVID-19 Tools that aims to develop vaccines,
diagnostics and therapeutics fast, and to allocate them
fairly. Dr. Tedros noted the WHO's work to respond
to more than 60
emergencies, "including major outbreaks of Chikungunya in Chad,
yellow fever in Gabon and Togo, measles in Mexico, conflicts in
the Sahel, Middle East and Caucasus, storms in the Philippines
and Viet Nam, and much more." He noted, "After an 18-month
struggle, under the leadership of the government of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and with multiple partners, we
ended the Ebola outbreak in the country's east -- one of the most
complex health emergencies WHO has ever faced, made even more
difficult by the world's largest measles outbreak." The WHO also
provided aid to those injured in the explosion in Beirut on
August 4. It has continued its vaccination program to eradicate
polio, despite the difficulties posed by COVID-19. He
stated that "there has been progress towards our
target to see 1 billion more people benefiting from universal
health coverage" and that "There has also been significant
progress in our work to support health system-strengthening
around the world." Transformation of WHO
Dr. Tedros also pointed out that the WHO is in the midst of a
process of transformation as directed by its membership. Its aim
is to "deliver a measurable impact" in member countries,
including by making the "WHO a modern, data-driven organization
that supports Member States with timely, reliable and actionable
data to drive impact." The second aspect of the
transformation is "new processes to
make us more effective and efficient." Thirdly, the
WHO is also implementing a "new aligned operating
model, which for the first time clearly differentiates the role
of headquarters, regional and country offices, and aligns our
structures at all three levels." Fourthly, the WHO
is taking a new approach to partnerships,
expanding them to include ones with sports federations and the
private sector, including social media monopolies. Fifthly,
is what Dr. Tedros referred to as "a new culture that
is focused on results" which he linked to the WHO's values
charter established two years ago "which outlines five values
that make us who we are: service, excellence, integrity,
collaboration, and compassion." The sixth aspect of
this transformation is to ensure
predictable and sustainable funding for the WHO. He said, "For WHO to
do its job, we must address the shocking and
expanding imbalance between assessed contributions and voluntary,
largely earmarked funds. In the past decade, the world's
expectations of WHO have grown dramatically, but our budget has
barely changed. And those expectations will only continue to
increase in the wake of the pandemic. Our annual budget is
equivalent to what the world spends on tobacco products every
single day." The seventh and final aspect of the
transformation is
"building a motivated, diverse and fit-for-purpose workforce,"
and Dr. Tedros noted, "We achieved gender parity in
senior leadership for the first time in WHO, and we're making
progress in other areas." Dr. Tedros also mentioned
a proposal made last year "by the
Central African Republic and Benin as the then-Chair of the
African Union [...] in which countries agree to a regular and
transparent process of peer review, similar to the system of
universal periodic review used by the Human Rights Council. We're
calling it the Universal Health and Preparedness Review. Its
purpose is to build mutual trust and accountability for health,
by bringing nations together as neighbours to support a
whole-of-government approach to strengthening national capacities
for pandemic preparedness, universal health coverage and
healthier populations. We are now in the process of developing a
more detailed proposal, which we will share with Member States
very shortly." Resolution on Emergency
Preparedness
On November 10, the WHA approved a resolution on emergency
preparedness. The resolution asks countries to reinvigorate their
systems of emergency preparedness, vulnerability assessment,
alert, response, and compliance, in line with the 2005
International Health Regulations (IHR), which are a binding legal
framework. The new resolution also asks the WHO to
come up with proposals by
next year's WHA for "possible complementary mechanisms to be used
by the Director-General to alert the global community about the
severity and/or magnitude of a public health emergency, in order
to mobilize necessary support and facilitate international
coordination." The website Geneva Solutions reports
that "member states are
considering adding an 'amber alert' to the current IHR system by
which WHO could signal that a public health emergency is
developing -- even before it becomes a full blown 'red light'
signaling a 'public health emergency of international
concern.'" Resolutions on Meningitis Control and
Epilepsy,
Roadmap on
Neglected Tropical Diseases Committee A, which
focuses on program and budget matters,
recommended the adoption of the first-ever resolution on
meningitis, which would approve a global roadmap to defeat
meningitis by 2030 -- a disease that kills 300,000 people
annually and leaves one in five of those affected with
devastating long-term consequences. Committee A
also recommended the adoption of a resolution
calling for scaled-up and integrated action on epilepsy and other
neurological disorders such as stroke, migraine and dementia.
Neurological disorders are the leading cause of disability and
the second leading cause of death worldwide. Committee
A further recommended the endorsement of the new roadmap for neglected
tropical
diseases (NTDs). The roadmap aims to achieve the following targets by
2030: reduce by 90 per cent the number of people requiring
treatment for NTDs, eliminate at least one NTD in 100 countries,
eradicate two diseases (dracunculiasis and yaws), and reduce by
75 per cent the disability-adjusted life years related to
NTDs. Committee B, which deals predominantly with
administrative,
financial and legal matters, reviewed the Director-General's
report on "Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian
territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian
Golan." Committee B also voted to recommend the
adoption of a decision requesting that the Director-General, amongst
others, report on progress in the implementation of its
recommendations to the next World Health Assembly. Along
with the resolution on scaled-up action on epilepsy and other
neurological disorders, resolutions
on eye care and food safety were also adopted. The WHA also adopted a
Global
Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a
public health problem, a Global Strategy for Tuberculosis
Research and Innovation; and a Global Strategy and Plan of Action on
Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property. The
WHA declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Healthy Aging,
as well as declaring 2021 as the International Year of Health and
Care Workers. Note 1. For
coverage
of the first part of the 73rd WHA, see "73rd Session
of World
Health Assembly Held Virtually," TML Weekly Supplement,
May 23, 2020.
Anniversary
of the Great October Socialist
Revolution
 November 7, 2017. Communist
organizations in Russia were joined by
representatives of political parties and democratic and progressive
organizations from more than 80 countries
at a march and rally in
Moscow honouring the 100th anniversary of the Great October
Socialist
Revolution. (teleSUR)
November 7 marks the 103rd anniversary of the 1917 Great
October Socialist Revolution in Russia. In "ten days that shook
the world," the first ever socialist workers' state was created.
The architect of that revolution, the great V.I. Lenin, spoke to
its significance saying that this revolution undertook the task
of completing the democratic revolution that got underway in
England in the 1660s. Old forms of governance based on liberal
democracy and a bourgeois civil society were replaced with new
ones. This created a socialist civil society with full
employment, free education, health care and housing for all and
no taxes. It provided political equality before the law, full
democracy to elect and be elected, no class privileges and no
exploiting classes. It affirmed that peace, prosperity, freedom
and fraternal unity of the peoples are not merely a utopia, a
pipe-dream. They are attainable and the necessity of our
times. Today, the dregs of the deposed ruling
classes of that time
are consumed with a spectre of communism which haunts them every
time they engage in practices which go against the public good.
They have created a stereotype of socialism which is a figment of
their deranged imaginations, dominated by morbid preoccupation
with their own demise. Such is the case in the United States
where the Trump campaign declared that a vote for his adversary
was a vote for socialism. Such is also the case in the defamatory
imperialist propaganda against the Communist Party of China or
Putin's Russia. This merely expresses how jealous they are of the
ability of others to channel all the human and material resources
of their countries in a manner which favours them -- something the
U.S. imperialists and their allies, to their chagrin, are unable
to accomplish.  In fact, the more
the counter-revolution launched since the
fall of the former Soviet Union deepens, the more the
significance of the Great October Revolution to human history
increases. The restoration of capitalism in the former Soviet
Union, which led to it becoming an imperialist superpower and
then to its collapse, is not a failure of socialism but of
capitalism. The consequence is the brutal neo-liberal anti-social
offensive and wars to achieve regime change and domination led by
the U.S. imperialists, as they collude and contend with other
great powers for domination over spheres of influence and sources
of cheap resources and labour, and zones for the export of capital
with highest returns.
In the conditions of the retreat of
revolution, the world is now waking up to take stock of what it
means to have a society such as the one which came into being
just over one hundred years ago when Soviet Russia was
established and Soviet power created a new society where the
workers decided all matters in a manner which favoured their
interests. The conditions of the present are
forcing all concerned to
look at the most important events of the past with the eye of the
present, to assist in securing the future. All over the world,
the peoples are striving to bring new forms into being, based on
democratic principles which vest sovereign decision-making power
in the people in a manner which is consistent with the needs of
the 21st century. The October Revolution
brought to power those forces which lay dormant in the bosom of
the old society. The workers, peasants and the intelligentsia and
other working people established a power which favoured them for
the first time in human history. Not only did the October Revolution
bring an entirely new
class to power -- the working class -- it also inspired the
workers and oppressed of all lands to embark on the same path.
The national crisis created out of the First World War was
resolved in favour of the people as the October Revolution ended that
bloodiest
war in history which was being fought between the imperialist
powers for the re-division of the world.
Lenin
declares Soviet power, October 26, 1917 at the historic
meeting of the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets at
the Smolny Institute. This was the first
revolution that created an entirely new
society. Socialism appeared on the world historical scene, as
predicted by Karl Marx, and the practice of the proletarian
revolution ushered in an entirely new period, the period of
ending the exploitation of persons by persons and of creating a
socialist and communist society on the world scale. The
founder and leader of the Communist Party of Canada
(Marxist-Leninist), Hardial Bains, emphasized that during the
entire period which has followed the October Revolution, "people
have been profoundly imbued with change. Everything points to a
great upheaval in the making for the renewal of the society again
at this time. Workers cannot but draw the conclusion that
prejudices and dogmas are no substitute for a clear conscience
and scientific analysis, on the basis of which the crisis in the
sphere of ideas can be overcome and cognition can take place in
favour of the people and that this is the necessary ideological
preparation for renewal."[1]
"This period in history is increasingly bringing forth the
necessity to look at all events in history with an open mind, by
depending on the body of knowledge and experience of life itself
to come to pertinent conclusions. A grasp of the present, a
strong handle on what is going on in front of one's eyes, has
become vital to ward off that blindness which presents events in
history as the work of some evil forces, instead of recognizing
them as important milestones on the high road of civilization,"
Hardial Bains added.[2]
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) hails the
Great October Revolution with a great deal of revolutionary
optimism, by always keeping in mind that it is the working people
who are to decide their future themselves. It is their stubborn
persistence to bring about the renewal of the world today which
reinforces the Party's resolve to continue until final
victory. The world is in transition from one system
to another. The
workers of the world and progressive peoples are striving to
bring a new world into being. They are taking stock of the
present situation in which democratic renewal has emerged as the
most important demand in order to humanize the social and natural
environment. What people are demanding is to be in control of
their lives, to participate meaningfully in the decisions which
affect their lives. Only if people can take part
in decision-making are they part of the political power.  The working class
is the most important part of this struggle
for renewal in which abolishing class privileges and
discrimination based on race, culture, nationality, religion,
gender, language and privileges has become the battle cry. The
content, the words, the analysis and observations, and the
demands which the working people are putting forward far exceed
the possibilities that the existing forms can provide. As a
result, people are calling for a change in the forms to ensure
that they can bring about the necessary changes for the
resolution of the conflicts in their favour.
Increasingly,
the political processes are coming under fire as
the politicians resort to even greater deception and anti-people,
anti-social laws. The experience of this entire
period is very instructive.
Taking into consideration all the developments of the past more
than 100 years since the triumph of the Great October Socialist
Revolution, the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
calls on the workers to stand steadfastly behind their cause.
CPC(M-L) calls on the workers to join with the Party to leave
behind everything which has been negative, especially the
influence of the bourgeois world outlook and instead elaborate their
own reference points that can help them make heads
and tails of unfolding events, and work out what can be done to
turn things around in their favour. Notes
1. TML
Daily, Vol. 22, No. 27, November 7, 1992.
2. TML
Weekly, Vol 48 No. 38,
November 3, 2018.
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