By Alan Woods
Friday, 06 February 2009

On February 15th an important referendum will take place in Venezuela. The central question is the removal of the limit on the number of times the president can be elected.
Hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie and Imperialism

The constitutional amendment has been presented by the bourgeoisie as a dictatorial move whereby Chavez is aiming to install himself as President for life. This is complete nonsense and corresponds to the propaganda campaign of lies and misrepresentations that the western media has conducted against the Bolivarian Revolution from the very beginning.

By Bertolt Brecht
Taken from Stories of Mr Keuner

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), a revolutionary poet, playwright, and theater director, author of The Threepenny Opera, Mother Courage and many other provocative plays, poems and theoretical writings, composed his Mr. Keuner anecdotes at odd moments from the 1920s through the 1950s.

“If sharks were people,” Mr K. was asked by his landlady’s little girl, “would they be nicer to the little fishes?”

“Certainly,” he said. “If sharks were people, they would build enormous boxes in the ocean for the little fish, with all kinds of food inside, both vegetable and animal. They would take care that the boxes always had fresh water, and in general they would make all kinds of sanitary arrangements. If, for example, a little fish were to injure a fin, it would immediately be bandaged, so that it would not die and be lost to the sharks before its time. So that the little fish would not become melancholy, there would be big water festivals from time to time; because cheerful fish taste better than melancholy ones.

By Socialist Appeal (US)
December 18th 2008

John Peterson, National Secretary of the Workers International League, presenting at a forum on the Spanish Revolution at May Day Books in Minneapolis, MN on November 13th, 2008. You can view the forum in its entirety here or watch it as a YouTube playlist here.

By Karl Belin in the U.S
18 December 2008

At 9:49 pm, on Wednesday, December 17, a communique reached the Campus Antiwar Network national discussion e-mail list announcing the occupation of the New School University's cafeteria by students both from the New School, as well as from other universities in the surrounding area from New York and New Jersey. The students have occupied the cafeteria, claiming it as an autonomous students center, demanding that the university immediately reveal any and all investments in companies with military contracts and the immediate divestment from the same. The students have now been occupying their building for more than 10 hours at the time this report is being written.

By Mike Skinner, member of CUPE 3903
November 8, 2009

York University officials claim that unionized Contract Faculty, Teaching Assistants, Graduate and Research Assistants put their own interests before those of their students. This is nothing less than outrageous.

Did you ever wonder why, during an in-flight emergency, cabin crews instruct caregivers with children or dependents to put on their own air mask first, before assisting the less capable person? The caregiver must first ensure her or his own safety, because, if she or he does not first act selfishly to survive, others would surely perish.

By Issa Al-Jaza’iri
November 12th 2008

Premier Jean Charest has pushed through an election for Dec. 8th, against the grumbling of some of the leading Liberals, who are worried this could be a big gamble. He may have no choice, delaying the vote would likely create the worst conditions possible for the ruling party. Québec’s economy cannot defy gravity. We have walked off a cliff along with the rest of the world, and Charest hopes to have a quick election before we collectively look down and realize what’s happened.

It may be too late. Already, headlines are beginning to show up about crisis in the forestry sector, and it won’t get rosier from here. Approximately 81% of all Québec exports go to the United States, and Québec’s forestry and mineral exports are an important part of its economy. As the housing market in the US continues to fall apart, and housing prices in Canada begin to slow down as well, the Liberal finance minister must have failed first grade mathematics if she actually believes her propaganda that Québec’s economy will miraculously avoid recession. Our resources were in hot demand when credit made it possible for people to live beyond their means and buy houses they couldn’t afford. The party’s over, and the Liberals know it.

CF Editorial

Last month’s federal election we witnessed the lowest voter turnout in the history of Canada (59%) and the Conservatives gained even more seats (19 more seats). The NDP was predicted to make huge gains in this election but only made moderate gains. On the surface, things seem to be getting worse. However, beneath this superficial result, there is a lesson to be learned; more than ever we need a socialist NDP that can provide real solutions. Faced with the lack of a real alternative, people opted to stay at home.

In our previous paper, we argued that “We Need a Socialist NDP”. This election result only serves to confirm the correctness of this call for socialist policies. Two weeks before voting day, world events served to turn the campaign on its head. The stock market crash, which began at the beginning of October, changed the entire dynamic of the campaign. The only question on people’s minds was which party could protect their savings, their homes and their jobs.

By Lorenzo Fiorito and Ted Sprague

There is no denying that millions of Americans are awakened politically with the running of Obama as the president, and his historic victory. This is more than just the first African-American president in the US. This overturns eight years of “war on terror” under the Bush administration. It mobilizes millions of once “apathetic” Americans. It shattered the myth that the Americans are ignorant and brainwashed, and thus deserved to be ruled by the likes of Bush.

Millions of Americans see what they want to see in Obama - regardless of what Obama truly represents: the “kinder gentler” face of capitalism. They see universal health care, the end of war, solutions for the mortgage crisis that has left millions homeless, and for the stunning disappearance of more than quarter of a million jobs in just a month. Recent labor statistics put the number of jobless Americans at 10 million: the highest in the past 25 years. People see solutions in Obama; but the objective reality will not permit Obama to fulfill their hopes.

By The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Classes are cancelled Thursday for 50,000 students at York University after part-time workers went on strike.

More than 3,400 contract faculty, teaching assistants and graduate researchers who are members of CUPE went on strike at midnight. York University officials have said they would cancel classes if the union walked out.

The union said members overwhelmingly supported the unanimous decision of the bargaining team and the union executive to reject the university's final offer.

"It's clear that the university administration is pushing us to go out on strike. Over the last three years, our members have had to work harder with less job security and fewer resources," union chairwoman Christina Rousseau said in a release late Wednesday.

By Alexandre Vidal - Demilitarize McGill

In every university in Montreal, a significant amount of academic research is directly related to military activities, and most of it is being done without the knowledge of students or the public. During the Vietnam war, some universities had close links with the American Department of Defense, and received funding for the development of various murderous weapons. Though this war is long over, the military research has never ended.

In recent years there have been several academic research projects, funded by both Canadian and American military interests, that have contributed to wars that are responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Afghan and Iraqi civilians. For example, at McGill, a division of the faculty of engineering, the Shockwave Physics Group, has been doing research projects in conjunction with the US military that contribute to the development of thermobaric explosives designed to bomb caves in Afghanistan.