2012 Socialist Youth Conference notice

CONFERENCE NOTICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 25, 2012
2012 Socialist Youth Conference called for July 28

VANCOUER - The Young Communist League has called for youth and students to register for the 2012 Socialist Youth Conference being held July 28.

What: The 2012 Socialist Youth Conference is an opportunity for youth to come together and discuss minimum wage, high tuition fees, environmental concerns, and other issues. Speakers will include student and young worker activists.

When: The conference will be July 28, 2012.

Where: The conference will be held at the Centre for Socialist Education in Vancouver, BC.

How to register: To register please e-mail ycl.bcctte@gmail.com

Cost: $20 per person, $10 student and low-income.

The conference is open to young people interested in meeting to discuss the struggles facing youth today. Trade unions, students' unions, environmental groups, peace groups, and others are encourage to organize registration for their members.

The Young Communist League of Canada is Canada’s Marxist-Leninist youth organization. The League was established in 1923 and fights for the rights of youth and students across the country.

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Support BC Teachers: Fight Bill 22!

The BC Liberals have proposed legislation that would send BC’s teachers back to work without collective bargaining or the right to strike. This legislation, called Bill 22, threatens the democratic rights of all workers in BC. The Young Communist League of Canada BC Provincial Committee condemns Bill 22 for seeking to terminate the basic rights of working people to bargain collectively and to strike.

Teachers are seeking improvements to public education such as smaller classes and more resources for special needs students. , Under the cynical slogan of “Families First”, The BC Liberals are attacking teachers through slander and threats. In the process, they are aggravating the problems with BC’s public school system and hindering the students who depend upon it for their education. Bill 22 uses a “cooling off period” and sham “mediation” as tools in the Liberal’s ongoing union busting efforts. Violations of the imposed restrictions being placed on teachers’ right to strike will result in millions of dollars in fines, a clearly punitive action on the part of a government.

The Young Communist League supports the struggle of the BC Teachers’ Federation and the efforts of the BC Federation of Labour, local labour councils, and others to stand strong against this anti-democratic, anti-worker legislation. We also applaud the impressive and inspiring actions of BC high school students in staging walkouts and rallying to support high quality public education.

The alternative to high quality public education is private education. The spread of private schools would mean a two-tier education system. One tier of high quality education for those who can pay the high cost of tuition fees, and another insufficiently funded tier for the majority of British Columbians.

The BC Liberal government’s time in power has been disastrous for working people, youth, and students in this province. This is the government of big business carrying out the interests of the socio-economic class they represent.

The attack on unions and on public services is part of the broader offensive on working peoples’ working conditions and living standards aimed at saving the capitalist system its current crisis by making working people pay for a situation they did not create. Youth and students should fight to stop Bill 22, to defeat the Liberal government, and ultimately to replace the capitalist system with one in which working people themselves will set the priorities for our communities and teachers and students will be valued, not criminalized and demonized. We call that system socialism.