>With no challenge for the St. Catharines mayoralty, voter turnout here was >about 27%, down from 38% in 1997. For the most part, business-oriented >incumbents were re-elected to regional and City Council. > >In nearby Welland, with its traditionally progressive working class >history, a city councillor ousted a three-term incumbent to become >Welland’s first woman mayor. Long time labour activist Sandy O’Dell was >re-elected to city council. These results bode well for the working people >of Welland. > >7/ STUDENT ISSUES ARE ALSO WORKING CLASS ISSUES > >By Kirk Michaelian > >This article by a member of the Edmonton Club of the Communist Party >appeared in the Nov. 21 issue of The Gateway, the University of Alberta >student newspaper. > >As students prepare to vote on November 27, we should consider the stances >of the various parties on issues of concern to us: tuition and student >debt, the corporatization of campus, and the privatization of >post-secondary education. Nor should we forget that these are not only >student issues, but also class issues. > >Tuition has risen rapidly over the last decade, and with it, student debt. >Tuition has risen because funding has been cut. But why has funding been >cut? As the scientific and technological revolution has progressed, it has >been accompanied by a process of de-skilling. Corporations today need fewer >trained workers. > >Arts and the fundamental sciences receive inadequate funding. The reason >for this is the corporatization of post-secondary education. As >corporations gain more control over the curriculum, it is increasingly >geared to serve their interests. These fields consequently get underfunded, >while funding goes to the applied sciences and engineering. > >The training of future workers is not the only motive behind the interest >of corporations in post-secondary education. Capital is turning to >education as a source of profit. This is the ultimate source of the crisis >in post-secondary education. The crisis has been deliberately created by >means of underfunding, thus making privatization an option. > >The choice facing us on November 27 is thus a stark one. We can either >continue with the pro-corporate policies advanced by the major parties, or >make a break with the corporate agenda and support policies that put >working people first. And make no mistake: only the latter sort of policies >can solve the crisis in post-secondary education. > >While any attempt at a solution to the crisis inside parliament must be >accompanied by a united and militant student movement outside parliament, >it is vital that students get out and vote. The parties of big business >would be only too happy if we all stayed home on election day, because our >votes can blunt the drive to the right. > >The record of the Liberals on these issues is clear: they have >presided over the growing crisis. The other mainstream parties offer no >alternative. The Canadian Alliance, in particular, would open the door to a >“two-tier” system, not only in health care, but also in education. The NDP >has veered sharply to the political centre, promising only to dilute the >impact of neoliberal attacks on workers and students. > >The Communist Party of Canada, on the other hand, offers policies that >favour the interests of workers and students. Its policies call for >increased federal support for post-secondary education, the rollback and >elimination of tuition fees, and an end to the corporatization and >privatization of campus. As an immediate step, it advocates shifting from >loans to grants for student assistance. > >The Communist Party is not running a candidate in every riding. The Green >Party, which has worthwhile policies on many issues, is another option. And >despite the rightward shift of the NDP, many individual NDP candidates are >worthy of support. > >The election on November 27 will not solve the problems facing students. >But our votes can help make that day a step forward in the fight for a >solution to the crisis in post-secondary education. > >8/ ANOTHER REASON FOR STUDENT DEBT LOAD... > >By Rick Collier, Calgary > >The following response to Kirk Michaelian’s article (see above) was first >posted on Comparty, the Communist Party of Canada’s internal listserve >discussion group. > >Allow me to add one other possibility for the increases in tuition and >student debt load, one that derives from watching thirty years of this >slide toward overwhelming students with burdens. > >It’s clear that the reasons for the debt load are class-based, of course; >what happens is that increasing numbers of potential students from the >working class or poor families simply cannot contemplate going to >university because they would never get, or if they did, could not repay, >their loans. > >Since in many ways a university degree is the ticket to a meaningful and >financially rewarding career (much as a high school diploma was 30 years >ago), the inability of this group of potential students to attend >university simply widens the gap of economic possibilities and freezes them >into low-paying and marginal jobs. > >However, it’s not much better for the slightly better off class of students >who can get loans. If they graduate with debt loads of twenty to forty >thousand dollars, which is not at all unusual, it will take most of them 20 >years to repay that amount unless they are fortunate enough to get very >high paying jobs (which is why so many go into corporate law, commerce, >business, etc.). The problem is exacerbated by the natural tendencies to >acquire some debt load through marriage, purchase of a vehicle, mortgage on >a house etc. Essentially these students will be working for “the man” -- >bank, government, etc. -- for most of their young and early middle-aged lives. > >What better way to keep people who might otherwise be politically active >cowed, frightened, oppressed, obedient, and cooperative? My guess is that >the lessons of the youth rebellion in the ‘60s and early ‘70s was not lost >on the ruling class, and some of the impetus for saddling students with >enormous debt loads was intended to keep anything like those rebellions >against the establishment from ever happening again. > >9/ NEW COMPLAINT AGAINST RACIST VANCOUVER COPS > >By Kimball Cariou > >IN YET ANOTHER well-documented incident of “racial profiling,” Vancouver >police recently arrested the Latino victim of a criminal assault, while >letting the white attacker drive away. The case has been publicized by the >B.C. Latin American Congress (BCLAC) which has worked on many other similar >cases. > >On October 23, medical student/actor Leoncio Ventura (24), of Guatemalan >origin, took his nephews, five-year-old Miqueas and eight-year-old Jaime >Eli Ventura, to play at Killarney Park in southeast Vancouver. Afterwards, >they started home on their bikes, waiting for the lights at 49th and Kerr >to turn green. > >As they crossed, a male driving a large white car approached the >intersection looking like he was going to cross the red light. The car >abruptly stopped inches away from Ventura, who turned to the driver, >opening his arms in protest. The man, a Caucasian in his forties, lowered >his window and yelled: “This light is for pedestrians, not for bicycles!” > >Ventura decided to ignore the driver, and told Miqueas to resume riding. >Suddenly he heard screams and a bang; the driver had struck Jaime Eli, >throwing him about a meter away. > >Jaime Eli was on the ground, screaming, his bicycle under the man’s car. >Going to his nephew’s aid, Ventura saw that the man, who still had his >window down, had a grin on his face. As Ventura passed by the car, he made >a hand gesture as if to wake the driver up to what he had done. > >Various people coming from the direction of the park had approached; >several cars had stopped, and several called for an ambulance. The man in >the car simply took out his cell phone and made a call. Ventura had to run >after Miqueas, who had become scared and rode away from the scene. Jaime >Eli was left with a woman who had kindly offered help. > >Ventura’s nephew was still crying and in pain. His left leg had begun to >swell. Ventura was trying to calm the boy when a police car arrived. > >A Caucasian police officer approached Ventura demanding to speak to him >alone. Forced to leave Miqueas with his injured brother, Ventura was >handcuffed and placed under arrest. > >Asking what the charges were, Ventura was told, “You just hit a person.” >Ventura denied this, but the officer responded that the driver said he was >bleeding. When Ventura asked to see the evidence of this claim, the officer >pulled him towards the police car, yelling loudly, “You have no f--ing >rights!... Shut up! You’re going to jail!” > > From inside the locked police car, Ventura could see people trying to >explain to the police what had happened. More paramedics and police arrived. > >Ventura was interrogated in the car, including the completely irrelevant >question “what country are you from?” (he is a Canadian citizen). >Meanwhile, paramedics took Jaime to the hospital, leaving his younger >brother with the police. After talking to the cops, the assailant got back >into his car and left, as did the witnesses to the assault. > >The arresting officer and his partner talked for another 15 minutes before >Ventura was set free. He was told he would receive a letter with a court >date, and that if he ignored this he would be arrested at home. Before >leaving, the police said the accident was not Ventura’s concern since he >was not children’s legal guardian. > >“Back in Guatemala, when I was ten,” Ventura recalls, “I accompanied my >father and my uncle to the police station to denounce the persecution and >kidnapping attempt against my uncle. As soon as we started telling them >what happened, they proceeded to beat us and they jailed us. I thought the >police in Canada were different, that they are here to serve and protect. >This perception has changed.” > >The BCLAC wants BC’s Attorney General Andrew Petter (Fax: (250)3876411, >email <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>), to take action on this complaint >and to set up a fair police complaints process, independent of government >and the police. > >The organization is also calling on Vancouver Mayor Phillip (Fax 8737685, ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> to help ensure that police wear their >badges visibly at all times, that police be held accountable for their >actions, and that the focus of the “war on crime” be the real criminals, >not particular ethnic minorities or the poor. > >To contact BCLAC, call organizers Luis Alarcon (8790492) or Tracey Cullis >(3250487). _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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