Canada is “Idle No More”

January 28, 2013 by

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In this article adapted from the website of the Socialist Workers Party (US) Brian Ward reports on the rise of the Idle No More movement, which is demanding that long overdue attention be paid to Canada’s impoverished First Nations communities.

Canada has become one of the wealthiest countries in the world by means of its bountiful land and natural resources. Canadian mining, logging, oil and fishing companies are some of the most powerful in the world. Some of the poorest First Nations communities (such as Attawapiskat) have mines or other developments on their land, but do not get a share of the profit. The taking of resources has left many lands and waters poisoned–the animals and plants are dying in many areas in Canada. We cannot live without the land and water. We have laws older than this colonial government about how to live with the land.

— Idle No More Manifesto

Since December 10, the First Nations movement called Idle No More has taken Canada by storm. On that day, Chief Theresa Spence of the Attawapiskat Cree band began a hunger strike in a tipi on Victoria Island, not far from the centre of the federal government in Ottawa.

Six days later, the Toronto Star wrote an editorial calling on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to accede to her demand for a face-to-face meeting.

Finally, on January 4, Harper agreed to meet, but Chief Spence is taking nothing for granted, given Harper’s record of broken promises to Canada’s First Nations. Prior to Harper’s announcement of his intention to meet with her, Spence expressed her willingness to “die for her people.” She plans to continue her hunger strike until the meeting actually happens.

Nothing approaching the scale and intensity of this indigenous uprising has taken place in Canada or the U.S. in many years. There have been grassroots protests across Canada, including flash mobs at malls and daily drum circles in every major city, with anywhere from a couple hundred people to more than 60,000 attending. [Read more…]

Filed Under: North America

Solomon Islands calling for labour mobility

December 19, 2012 by

robert-sisilo2_200_200While the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has received a lot of coverage lately, less attention has been given to the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) which is a trade agreement between Australia, New Zealand and a number of Pacific Island states.

Negotiations for a successor agreement, dubbed ‘PACER Plus’ have been on-going for years. While New Zealand and Australia want island nations to open their borders to imports, they have been less amenable to opening their own borders to borders to people.

Soloman Islands  trade negotiations envoy, Robert Sisilo is the latest to echo the call for regional labour mobility “Since all Island Countries will be expected to make binding commitments to reduce or eliminate their import duties on ANZ exports and hence lose much needed revenue, it is only fair that ANZ do likewise on labour mobility” he told the Soloman Star

Current immigration controls see workers from the Pacific bought to New Zealand to fill low wage jobs, largely seasonal jobs in agriculture and viticulture. Opening New Zealand’s borders to workers from throughout the Pacific would give Polynesian and Melanesian migrant workers in New Zealand more rights, and would be a first step toward opening borders to workers from across the globe.

Filed Under: Pacific

Wellington rally in solidarity with Gaza

November 22, 2012 by

12pm, Saturday 24th November
Cuba Mall bucket fountain

Facebook event

Filed Under: Events, Palestine

Interview: Socialist Party candidate re-elected in Yarra, Melbourne

November 6, 2012 by

In the recent local elections of Victoria, Australia, socialist candidates won seats in Yarra and Moreland (covered by Grant Brookes here: http://tinyurl.com/a7gbcxl.) Yarra Socialist Party councillor Stephen Jolly won his seat for the third time.  Writer for The Spark Ian Anderson interviewed Socialist Party member Mel Gregson.

The Spark: So the Socialist Party retained its council seat for Stephen Jolly, and lost its council seat for Anthony Main. Can you break that down a bit more?

MG: The campaign in Yarra was very successful with almost 1 in 5 voters across the city voting for us. We stood a team of five candidates, including current councillors Stephen Jolly and Anthony Main.

Our vote increased across all three wards, with Stephen Jolly topping the polls with 34.24% (the quota to be elected outright is 25%). Anthony Main stood in a different ward to which he was a councillor, where residents are being overrun by inappropriate development. There we increased our vote from 2.13% to 11.74%, with Anthony just missing out on re-election by a very small margin. In the other ward we almost doubled our vote to 10.81%.

The Spark: What is your political purpose in running electoral campaigns?

MG: The primary reason the Socialist Party stand in elections is to raise socialist ideas as an alternative to the pro-capitalist, neo-liberal policies of the main political parties. With class struggle at historic lows in Australia the level of political debate is also at a low, we believe that engaging with people at election time through standing candidates, debating the other parties and distributing political material can play a role in developing the level of political discussion.

In Yarra we have been able to take this to the next level by having some of our candidates elected to council. Through our work in Yarra over the last eight years we’ve been able to demonstrate socialist ideas in action. In this area we have been able to redefine the term ‘socialist’ from what many believed to be a stale, failed ideology into a positive term that people associate with the best class fighters and community campaigners in the area. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Australia

Socialists gain in Melbourne elections

November 4, 2012 by

Socialist Party candidate Anthony Main speaks at an election night party.

Grant Brookes, in Melbourne

Elections for local councils across the Australian state of Victoria took place on October 27. Socialist candidates scored major gains.

The Socialist Party, standing in all three wards in the inner-Melbourne City of Yarra, won its highest ever vote – up 58 percent on 2008. SP councillor Stephen Jolly was re-elected under the Single-Transferrable Vote (STV) system, topping the poll with more first preference votes than any other candidate.

Socialist Alliance candidates, running in the northern Melbourne suburbs of Moreland and in the regional city of Geelong, scored the party’s best results in Victoria. Sue Bolton came third highest in the tally of first preference votes, out of 24 candidates. And under STV she was elected to Moreland City Council as the most preferred candidate overall for her ward. In Geelong, Sue Bull won over 10,000 first preference votes (8 percent of the total) in the mayoral election.

Yet in a country where voting is compulsory, around a quarter of registered electors didn’t cast a vote. Commenting on the low turnout, Monash senior politics lecturer Nick Economou observed, “If people do not believe the system is relevant to them, they won’t turn up, even if there is a threat of a fine”.

Institute of Public Affairs spokesperson James Paterson called for voluntary voting, adding, “We don’t believe people should be compelled to cast a vote for a party they don’t agree with”.

The largest socialist group in Melbourne maintains that elections shouldn’t be a focus for activists, and may even be a distraction from the “real” struggle. Sadly, their abstention meant that voters only had the option of supporting socialist candidates, campaigning to radically transform the system, in three out of Victoria’s 79 council areas.

But the strong results for the SP and SA show the opportunity – and the need – for activists to connect with community members through elections. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Australia, Elections
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