You’re listening to Back in the USSR here on 93.3 FM
CFRU, I am Siegfried, and I must apologize, comrades, for the little hiatus I
took over the past two weeks. We had
Thanksgiving there, which is not a holiday I recognize but is nevertheless a
statutory holiday, and then, of course, we had election night last week with my
pal Adam Donaldson keeping you up to date as the results came in.
I want to spend some time talking about the election,
but not much given all the other frankly more important stuff going on around
the world, but I’ll still my two cents.
Basically I was not impressed. Not
much changed. The Liberals dropped to a
minority but were only short of a majority by thirteen seats, which, as far as
I’m concerned blows all arguments about the NDP “holding the balance of power”
right out of the water. Especially given
that the NDP not only did not gain seats in this election but actually lost
seats and now sits at about 24 in the House of Commons. Not impressive, especially given all the
promises of an “orange wave” of social-democracy sweeping the country. They didn’t even get a single seat in the
GTA, which the Liberals managed to retain a lock on. I’m happy the Conservatives didn’t win,
although they certainly gained too many seats for comfort and won the popular
vote, which is even more disturbing. It’s
true that the far-right People’s Party gained no seats and that racist asshole
Maxim Bernier lost his seat in Quebec, but the struggle against fascism is far
from over in this country. This loss
might take the wind out of their sails for a bit, but they’ll be back. I still remember how the local PPC candidate
actually got applause at the Guelph-Wellington Social Justice Coalition debate
at the Italian Canadian Club on September 26, which was the most liberal debate
venue in town, and how one of the organizers tried to justify giving a platform
to the far-right when I called him out on it.
I still remember how friends of mine were threatened with doxxing and
legal action when they tried to block the same far-right candidate from
participating in another debate. So this
campaign has been really personal for me.
And I’m happy to say that I fought against the fascist presence in this
city and stood shoulder to shoulder with my comrades in that crucial
struggle. I was also Juanita Burnett’s
campaign manager for the Communist Party in Guelph, and I’m just going to say
that me and her did a pretty damn good job for what was essentially only a
two-person team. We few, we happy few. There’s still so much more that needs to be
done. Trudeau still plans to go ahead
with the trans-mountain pipeline and other reactionary policies. He still plans on running roughshod over
indigenous land rights. And, even with a
minority government, it will take a strong movement in the streets to stop him.
Midnight Oil – My Country
Handsome Furs – Serve the People
But October 21 has come and gone. The election is over. And I’d like to give more focus to what’s
been going on around the world. First of
all, in Palestine. 95 unarmed civilian protesters were shot by the Israeli Army in Gaza on Friday October 25, 43 of
them were children, two were paramedics and one was a journalist. None of the main political parties in Canada
have budged in their support for the Apartheid state of Israel and none have
come out in support of BDS. This is disgraceful.
Earlier this month, Ecuadorian President Moreno was
forced to back down on the series of austerity measures that he was pursuing
with the blessing of the IMF because the working class and indigenous peoples
of the country would not stand for it and took to the streets in the tens of
thousands. In particular, thousands of
indigenous protesters converged on the capital Quito from the north and from
the south, forcing the president to flee to the coastal city of Guayaquil and
declare martial law, which failed to stop the protests. He was ultimately forced to back down and
withdraw the austerity measures, which had spurred labor unions to call for
national strikes starting on Oct. 3.
This is a major victory for working class and oppressed people.
Last Friday, over 1.2 million people gathered in
Santiago, the capital of Chile, to demand the resignation of that country’s
right-wing IMF-friendly president who had also introduced an array of austerity
measures, in particular a hike in transit fees that would have consumed upwards
of 20% of the monthly wages of an average worker. But that was just the straw that broke the
camel’s back, leading to the biggest wave of protests to hit the South American
country since the downfall of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. And the government’s response to the protests
was in many ways just as brutal. Martial
law was declared, the military deployed on the streets. Chile's Interior Minister on Saturday
acknowledged that 20 people have died. In addition, according to the National
Institute of Human Rights (NHRI) data, 3,162 people have been arrested, 343 of
whom are minors. Until Friday night, 997 citizens were injured, 437 of whom
were shot by security forces. And that
number is almost certainly much higher. I’m going to post a recent Guardian article
entitled, “Hundreds shot and beaten as Chile takes to the streets” to the
show’s blog so you can read about what these brave protesters are facing. Suffice it to say, they need our solidarity
now, brothers and sisters, and I know that there have been a number of
solidarity actions in Toronto recently that comrades of mine from the Communist
Party have participated in. There is
song that the protesters in Chile are singing in the streets as they fight for
justice and for their livelihoods. It’s
called “El Derecho de Vivir En Paz” or “The Right to Live in Peace”. It was written by Victor Jara, a Chilean
communist singer/songwriter who stood up against the CIA-backed Pinochet
dictatorship in 1973 and was tortured to death.
But the people of Chile remember and draw inspiration from him and the
others who fought against capitalist tyranny in their country. This is the song. Please stay tuned to Back in the USSR.
Victor Jara – El Derecho de Vivir En Paz
That song by Victor Jara, “The Right to Live in Peace”
was written during the Vietnam War and you might have notice that it celebrates
the resistance of the Vietnamese people against the American Empire as well as
the leader of Vietnam’s anti-colonial struggle Ho Chi Minh. There are many people in the world today,
brothers and sisters, who are fighting for the right to live in peace. In Chile, in Ecuador, on indigenous
territories in Canada, in Lebanon where mass protests have erupted in recent
days against capitalist rapine and official corruption, and in Iraq where more than two hundred protesters have given their lives in recent days to overturn
the corrupt system that was forced on the country in the wake of the 2003
invasion by the U.S Empire. Earlier this
year similar protests took place in Sudan.
Protests are ongoing in Haiti, where the protesters are not only
fighting to overthrow a corrupt president, but also overthrow the neo-colonial
order that was imposed on the country by the United States, Canada and other
imperial powers after the 2004 coup that ousted the democratically elected
progressive president Jean Bertrand Aristide.
Struggle isn’t comfortable, brothers and sisters. Especially when you are up against a
superpower and a global capitalist order armed to the death and not afraid to
shoot to kill. Those who stand up for
justice, for dignity, for survival are brave people indeed. And these are the people that the Irish
hunger strike Bobby Sands celebrated in his iconic poem, “The Rhythm of
Time”. I’d like to read it for you now.
Bobby Sands – The Rhythm of Time
Bobby Sands was only 27 years old when he gave his
life on hunger strike in 1981. Taking a
stand against the British colonization of Northern Ireland and their attempts
to criminalize all resistance to that colonialism. He never surrendered, and neither are the
peoples of the world from Chile to Iraq who are rising up against the
capitalist monster that threatens to devour their lives and all that they hold
dear. Internationalist solidarity to all
of them. And we must remember the role
that we have to play here, brothers and sisters, for we must fight against
imperialism, capitalism and colonialism in the belly of the beast. As Black Panther leader Fred Hampton used to
say, “Peace, if you’re willing to fight for it.” Victor Jara of Chile was
willing to fight for it, and so must we all.
Christy Moore – Victor Jara
Victor Jara - A Cuba
Michael Parenti - On the Cuban Revolution
