Young Communist League - BC

Occupy Everywhere!

2011-10-14T00:22:00.000-07:00

The YCL support the Occupy movement and will be participating around the country in occupations beginning October 15th.

For info on Occupy Vancouver click here.

For info on Occupy Kamloops click here.

"WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP"

2011-10-12T17:31:00.001-07:00

LEFT FILM NIGHT

"WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP"

Sunday, October 30, 2011, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

Directed by Saul Landau, Cuba/USA, 2011, 82 minutes

Saul Landau has produced more than 40 films in his career, most concerned with human rights. Will The Real Terrorist Please Stand Up documents 50 years in which CIA-backed Cuban exiles have tried to overthrow Cuba’s socialist government, killing over 3,000 in their campaign of terror. In the 1990s, Florida-based exiles began bombing Cuban tourist sites, aiming to damage a vital piece of its economy. In one such bombing, an Italian tourist was killed. When the FBI refused to deter or capture the bombers (who worked out of Miami), Cuba sent agents to infiltrate and report on these criminals. Predictably, the FBI, having ignored the bombers, arrested the five Cubans, who were given draconian sentences after a deeply flawed trial in Miami. Landau’s film features interviews with Gerardo Hernandez, one of the Cuban Five who is serving a life sentence, as well as the so-called “freedom fighters” who proudly acknowledge committing acts of terrorism in Cuba. Even Fidel Castro appears in the film. Shot by the great Haskell Wexler, the film is as good looking as it is intelligent and enlightening.

******************

Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Admission free, donations welcome. On this occasion, part of the proceeds will go towards Cuba solidarity campaigns. Coffee and refreshments available. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

Rally in Solidarity with CUPW

2011-06-15T16:29:00.001-07:00

Please join us for a rally in solidarity with the Canadian Postal Workers:

Date: Friday, June 17, 2011

Time: 5:30 pm

Place: Vancouver Public Library Square
350 West Georgia
Vancouver, BC

Summer Camp

2011-06-14T20:21:00.001-07:00

The YCL Summer Camp is fast approaching!

This years camp will be held in White Rock and will include sessions such as:

-What is Socialism?

-Youth Rising Up in Northern Africa & the Middle East

-The Lessons of the Freedom Charter & The Struggle for a Charter of Youth Rights

-And strategy sessions on Building the Student & Young Workers Movements

Registration is $20. Meals are included.
To register, please respond with the following information:
Name
Phone Number (preferably cell phone)
E-mail address
City
As well as details of any food allergies or preferences.

Accommodations will be tents. Please bring your own. If this is not possible, please indicate when registering.

Rides will be arranged to camp from Vancouver upon request.

Check out the event on Facebook, and help spread the word!

YCL BC eBulletin - June 2011

2011-05-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

Read the June eBulletin here. E-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca to subscribe!

CHEVOLUTION

2011-05-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

LEFT FILM NIGHT

"CHEVOLUTION"
(Written & directed by Luis Lopez & Trisha Ziff, 2008, 86 minutes)

Sunday, May 22, 2011, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

"Chevolution" tells the story of a photo that after 50 years, continues to intrigue the world. How did the iconic image of Che end up on everything from radical T-shirts to beer bottles and bikinis? Directors Luis Lopez and Trisha Ziff focus on the single most famous photographic portrait of the 20th century: Alberto Korda’s image of the beret-wearing Ernesto “Che” Guevara.... The photograph itself was cropped down from a larger picture that showed Guevara at the 1960 memorial service for the victims of the La Coubre explosion. The outside world first saw it in a 1965 edition of Paris-Match After Guevara’s death in 1967, the image was used as a symbol of many movements and issues, far beyond Che’s ideology of revolutionary Marxism. Albert Korda’s estate eventually regained the copyright on the image, but only after millions of posters, t-shirts, postcards and parodies were created. Among those interviewed in Chevolution are Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and actors Antonio Banderas and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Admission free, donations welcome, coffee and refreshments available. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

YCL BC eBulletin - May 2011

2011-05-01T00:11:00.001-07:00

Read the May eBulletin here. To subscribe, e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

March, Rally, Meeting, and Fundraiser!

2011-04-22T16:13:00.001-07:00

May Day March & Rally!

We encourage everyone to join in this event being organized by the Vancouver & District Labour Council...

International Day of the Worker
MAYDAY
One Movement - One World

Sunday, May 1
Gather 1 pm
Clark Park (13th & Commercial)
March 1:30 pm

Rally 2:30 to 3 pm
McSpadden Park (5th & Victoria)

Join with unions, community groups and individuals to march and call for the protection and advancement of workers' rights. Bring your banners & signs.

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=176916119024211

Mothers Day Pancake Breakfast - People's Voice Newspaper Fundraiser
Come join us fo r a delicious pancake breakfast on Sunday, May 8th, from 10 am - 1 pm. Last call for pancakes is noon.

All you can eat for $12.00 each. Kids under 12 are $8.00. Pancakes, sausages, and lots of other delicious breakfast goodies.

For information or directions, call (604) 294-6775.

All funds go to support the People's Voice newspaper - Canada's Communist Newspaper. http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/

Organize by the Burnaby Bolsheviks Club, Communist Party of Canada.

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=211002098927161&ref=mf

YCL Vancouver Meeting

Join us for our monthly meeting. May 2nd, 7pm, 706 Clark Dr.

Draft Agenda

Roll call
Previous minutes
Membership

Old Business
- We Are One Rally
- People Power Not War rally
- May Day march & rally
- Federal Election

Standing Items
Student movement
- Post Secondary
- High School

Peace & international solidarity
- Report and updates

Young workers movement
- Report and updates

Rebel Youth
- Subscriptions update
- Update on next issue
- Plan distribution

Culture & Agit-Prop
- Left Film Night
- Postering

New Business
- Summer Camp

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=141061995965223

May Day March & Rally!

2011-04-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

We encourage everyone to join in this event being organized by the Vancouver & District Labour Council...

International Day of the Worker
MAYDAY
One Movement - One World

Sunday, May 1
Gather 1 pm
Clark Park (13th & Commercial)
March 1:30 pm

Rally 2:30 to 3 pm
McSpadden Park (5th & Victoria)

Join with unions, community groups and individuals to march and call for the protection and advancement of workers' rights. Bring your banners & signs.

Left Film Night: Inside Job - April 24

2011-04-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

(Urgent note: Stephen Harper is coming to Burnaby on Saturday. StopWar is calling an emergency picket at Harper's campaign rally, 3 pm, Sat., April 16, at 3030 Gilmore Diversion, off Canada Way. Please help spread the word!)

LEFT FILM NIGHT

"INSIDE JOB"
(Written & directed by Charles Ferguson, 2010, 120 minutes)

Sunday, April 24, 2011, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

Inside Job unravels the derelict capitalist morality at the heart of the global financial crisis, and picked up an Oscar for Best Documentary. After opening with Iceland’s disastrous experience of deregulation, the film switches to the USA, examining the get-rich-quick bubble that grew from 2001 to 2007, and the crisis of 2008. From there, the documentary looks at the greedy foxes in charge of the chicken coop - the bankers and investors who benefited from the bubble and the collapse, and still run the financial services sector. Inside Job is a call for action against those who are clearly responsible as they drive the capitalist system towards yet another crash.

"This is a work of sustained, nonpartisan rage. Its anger is always simmering, never all-consuming. Ferguson knows what it is he wants to say, and the movie goes about its point-making with lawyerly precision. The result is a masterpiece of investigative nonfiction moviemaking—a scathing, outrageous, depressing, comical, horrifying report on what and who brought on the crisis." (from a Cascadia Weekly review)

Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Admission free, donations welcome, coffee and refreshments available. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

People Power, Not War!

2011-04-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

forwarded from Stopwar:

People Power, Not War!
Part of a Pan-Canadian Day of Action to End the war in Afghanistan

Every Saturday since January, Vancouver has seen solidarity rallies outside the downtown public library, in support of the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and many other countries in the region. Now People Power is spreading beyond North Africa and the Middle East and it's capturing the world's imagination. Let's help make April 9 a show of People Power across Canada - our own Day of Dissent!

Spread the word and make plans to join StopWar:
Saturday, April 9, starting at 1 pm
outside Vancouver Public Library downtown

YCL BC eBulletin - April 2011

2011-04-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

Check out the April 2011 eBulletin available online here.

On the Announced Increase to the Minimum Wage

2011-04-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Young Communist League BC Provincial Committee
March, 2011

The Young Communist League British Columbia Provincial Committee welcomes the recently announced increase to BC's dismally low minimum wage. At the same time, we note that the increase is far from adequate and does not represent a change in policy or direction on the part of the BC Liberal Party.

Any increase to the minimum wage is undoubtedly positive in terms of the immediate economic situation of hundreds of thousands of workers, many of whom are youth, who are currently working for wages that put them well below the poverty line. We note that action around the minimum wage issue has ebbed in recent times, it was the work of the BC labour movement, especially the young workers movement, which applied pressure to the anti-worker, anti-youth Liberal government around this issue and stimulated public outrage around the Liberal's shameful wage freeze. We are proud that some of our members were part of that work as well.

However, the minimum wage increase is designed to protect the interests of the BC Liberal Party's corporate backers. The increase is much lower than needed and is spread out over the course of more than a year; $8.75 this may, $9.50 on November 1st, and $10.25 in May 2012. But a worker would need to earn no less than $11.11 today to merely straddle the poverty line, and with inflation that number will increase even more by the time minimum wage workers achieve $10.25 next Spring. Keep in mind that this is merely the poverty line. An actual living wage would be around $18.81 in the Metro-Vancouver area, or $18.03 in Victoria. To make matters worse, the Liberal government has introduced a "server’s wage" which will put those who serve liquor on a second wage tier where they will make only $9 by next May. The Liberal strategy is one of keeping BC's workers, youth, and students, at sub-poverty level wages in order to ensure tidy profits to their corporate masters.

In this respect, it is clear that the minimum wage increase is no more than a public relations stunt by a new Liberal leader who is trying to re-brand and re-legitimize her party in preparation for the next round of elections. Clark's wafer-thin claims about a change in Liberal policy and "putting families first" are belied by the fact that she has the very same policies of her predecessor which led to his dramatic decline in voter support and eventual resignation. As the Communist Party's recent statement indicated, Christy Clark merely represents "the same club led by a different smile and a different gender."

The Young Communist League supports the ongoing efforts of young workers to fight for better wages, employment standards, and workplace safety. We demand an immediate increase in the minimum wage to $16 per hour and the elimination of the server’s wage. We oppose all forms of tiered wage systems such as "training" or "student" wages. Ultimately believe every worker deserves a living wage.

The BC Liberal Party will never offer a real alternative to the legacy it has left during the Gordon Campbell era. We call on youth, students, workers, left and progressive forces, and all those negatively affected by the results of Liberal corporate rule to come together and fight for a people's alternative to the anti-worker, anti-youth, and anti-student legacy of the BC Liberal Party.

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land

2011-03-09T20:35:00.001-08:00

LEFT FILM NIGHT and Pasta Dinner

"Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land"
(Directed by Sut Jhally, 2004, 80 minutes)

Sunday, March 27, 2011, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

Our next film night features Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land (directed by Sut Jhally, 2004, 80 minutes). The film looks at how distorted media coverage reinforces false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how U.S. foreign policy interests — oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region — work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies. Scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts analyze the use of language, framing and context to explain how Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is made to appear “defensive” in nature. Interviewees include Seth Ackerman, Mjr. Stav Adivi, Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Hanan Ashrawi, Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Neve Gordon, Toufic Haddad, Sam Husseini, Hussein Ibish, Robert Jensen, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Karen Pfeifer, and Gila Svirsky.

For this Film Night, come early at 6 pm to enjoy our annual Pasta Dinner - tickets $12, vegetarian or non-veg., with refreshments available. Proceeds to the People's Voice 2011 Fund Drive. Free admission to the film at 7 pm. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

South Africa Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

2011-03-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

What was South Africa like under the Apartheid regime? What is it like now? How did it get here? Where is it going?

Join us for a discussion about the history and the future of the national democratic revolution in South Africa and what lessons this provides to those fighting for a better life in Canada.

The event will feature a special guest presenter who was involved in solidarity activities with South Africa during the anti-apartheid struggle, and who knew/knows many others who were involved in that fight directly.

We will also hear a report back about the 17th World Festival of Youth & Students, held last December in Pretoria, South Africa.

Friday, March 11th, 7pm
Centre for Socialist Education
706 Clark Dr (Clark & Georgia)

Winter School Canceled

2011-03-04T11:49:00.001-08:00

Dear friends and comrades,

The YCL BC Provincial Committee regrets that it must cancel the 2011 YCL BC Winter School. We will be looking at other options for providing skills development training to members throughout the year. We will also be holding our annual summer camp later in the year.

However, we will still be holding our discussion group on South Africa Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow on the evening of March 11th, 7pm, at 706 Clark Dr. (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=100374346709564#!/event.php?eid=100374346709564) we will be discussing the situation in South Africa today, how it got here, and where it is going. It will also include a report back from delegates to the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students which was held last December in South Africa.

In Solidarity,
YCL BC Provincial Executive

Same club led by a different smile and a different gender, Communists say

2011-03-03T17:14:00.001-08:00

The new leader of the BC Liberal Party, Christy Clark, may be the only person in BC who believes that Gordon Campbell left the province in better shape at the time of his departure than it was in at his debut. Sam Hammond, provincial leader of the Communist Party points out that, “This is more than naiveté. It is a declaration of more of the same old, same old.”

“Christy Clark claims to put ‘Family First’ but her vision of family values nicely skips over unemployment, homelessness, child poverty, education cuts and impacts of privatization., points out Hammond. “Her vision of family does not include the working people”.

Despite having portrayed herself during the leadership campaign, as an outsider, Christy Clark played a leading role in the first draconian term of the Gordon Campbell Liberals.

Her term as Education Minister was marked with unprecedented conflict and chaos. “Christy Clark made attacking the BCTF one of her main priorities, Hammond points out. “The imposition of collective agreement on teachers is the most glaring example of her hostility.” Clark made legislative changes, and changed the funding formula – the result increased class sizes and decreased supports for all students, but particularly those with special needs. She not only froze education funding, but also announced the government would not pay for the teacher salary increases (agreed to by the previous NDP government). School Boards were forced to cover the increases, resulting in unprecedented cuts. ($25.5 million in Vancouver- Even future Liberal Cabinet Minister, Mary Polak, then a Surrey School Board trustee, expressed anger at Clark’s actions.) She was famous for a flurry of policy announcements that the Board were expected to implement with little or no notice.

Clark’s short term at Ministry of Children and Families, was similarly marked by chaos.

It should also not be forgotten that Christy Clark was Deputy Premier for the scandal-ridden sale of BC Rail. “Clark championed the give-a-way of the publicly owned BC Rail to private ownership”, Hammond stated, despite having helped write the Liberal election platform that promised not to sell BC Rail.” Christy Clark has repeatedly stated her rejected calls for an inquiry into the BC Rail scandal.

“She is not an outsider. She actively participated at the Cabinet table in some of the worst attacks on working families in the history BC – including tearing up labour agreements, reducing welfare, to presiding over one of the greatest transfers of wealth from the public coffers to private hands. It is clear from her record that the family that really comes first for Christy Clark is the ‘Coalition of Corporate Interest’, Hammond says. “The Liberal Party in British Columbia has not changed leadership. It is the same club led by a different smile and a different gender.”

Christy Clark has promised to move the HST referendum up to June 24th. “It is imperative for Labour and its allies – for all progressive voters in BC to give the first signal of resistance to the new Premier”, Hammond states. “Defeat the HST!”

For more information contact Sam Hammond

cpinfo.bc@gmail.com

March eBulletin

2011-03-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

The March YCL BC eBulletin is now available online here.

If you would like to subscribe to the eBulletin, please e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

Discussion Group: Wage Labour & Capital

2011-02-12T16:45:00.001-08:00

We will be hosting a discussion group on Friday, the 18th of February, at 7pm on Wage Labour & Capital by Karl Marx, an important work on Marxist economics. It will be held at 706 Clark Dr.

The reading materials can be accessed for free here: http://www.marx2mao.com/M&E/WLC47.html

or purchased at the People's Co-Op Bookstore on Commercial Dr.

Regarding employment in British Columbia

2011-02-11T14:27:00.001-08:00

February, 2011

In British Columbia, employment is dropping faster than anywhere in the country, save the Atlantic region. Official government figures indicate employment jumped to 8.2% in January, and actual unemployment may be as high as 12%. During the first month of 2011 most other provinces saw an increase in employment numbers over the last month, yet BC continues to slip.

Youth and workers in BC have been told for some time that the economy is in recovery mode. But no recovery has arrived for workers, youth, and students. This "jobless recovery" means a recovery for big business only in a province short on jobs, with the lowest minimum wages in the country, and continued attempts by government and employers to make workers pay for the economic crisis.

The provincial government has made no significant moves to fix the growing problem of unemployment. Unemployment levels of this magnitude or higher suit the political agenda of the BC Liberals, because competition keeps workers divided and facilitates a race to the bottom in terms of wages and working conditions. In BC corporate income taxes are being cut while working people are hit with increases in fares, tuition, and other fees, as well as the hated HST. This trend highlights the anti-worker stance of the BC Liberal government.

The cause of unemployment is fundamentally tied to the mode of production. That is to say, the economy is owned and controlled by private corporations whose interest is in profits, not the people. Furthermore, there is little recourse for working people to have democratic input in the economy. Thus, the economy reflects the interests of the few owners and bosses, not the mass of British Columbians. The BC Liberals are of owners, of big business, which seeks to further the exploitation of workers to the most extreme level.

To ensure total worth-while employment there must be enforced legislation for a living wage for all workers, and abolition of the $6 training wage. Work weeks must be shortened and a ban placed on mandatory overtime. Ban raw log exports, and open publicly run mills in British Columbia. Nationalize oil and gas, end and reverse privatization of BC Hydro, and increase funding to post-secondary education. All of these reforms would create good-paying, secure jobs and increase the standard of living for British Columbians.

Experience over the past ten years of Liberal rule have shown that only a broad, mass, and militant fightback led by labour and joined by, among others, the youth and students, can force change on a government that is unreceptive to the will of the people. The power of mass extra-parliamentary struggle should not be downplayed, as recent events in Egypt and Tunisia demonstrate. We also note that with the potential of a provincial election within the year, the opportunity now exists to ensure the defeat of the Liberal Party as well as to block the rise of new and resurgent forces on the right like the BC Conservatives and BC First Party. But this will only occur if the people of BC, fed up with years of the Liberal's big business policies, are mobilized around not only their discontents, but a progressive alternative.

Ultimately, we know that while the opportunity exists to win many progressive reforms which will improve the lives of working people, youth and students, the capitalist system with its periodic crisis, its need for war and plunder, and its environmental degradation, can only offer increasingly dismal long term prospects. The exploitative capitalist system which produces economic crisis, unemployment, and poverty, must be replaced by a new, socialist, system wherein working people hold all political and economic power and harness it for the benefit of society, not for the profits of a minority.

Build the Trade Unions!

Build the Students' Unions!

Build the Young Communist League!

Better Work, Better Wages!

BC Provincial Committee
Young Communist League of Canada
www.ycl-ljc.ca

YCL BC Winter School - March 11-13

2011-02-09T19:57:00.001-08:00

Dear comrades and friends,

The Young Communist League BC Skills Development Weekend aims to develop the organizing and activist skills of YCL BC members, such as interpreting and communicating political positions and policies, using message boxes, carrying out agit-prop, organizing and chairing meetings, and contributing to Rebel Youth.

The event will take place from March 11-13 at the Centre for Socialist Education, located at 706 Clark Drive in Vancouver.

In addition to skills development educationals and activities, the event will include an exciting and educational discussion on South Africa and its national democratic revolution, a showing of a video report on the 17th World Festival of Youth & Students, and a social event on the Saturday evening. Friends and allies are welcome to attend these events.

This weekend is a very important one for the YCL as it is a rare opportunity for our members around the province to come together to talk politics, learn important skills, and get to know their comrades from other clubs. We strongly encourage all comrades to do all they can to attend.

Registration for the event is now open and is only $20. Meals are provided as well as billets for out of town guests. In special circumstances travel subsidies may also be available. The agenda of the event is attached.

To register, e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

In solidarity,
Young Communist League
BC Provincial Executive Committee

In support of the intifada of the poor!

2011-02-03T21:02:00.000-08:00

In support of the intifada of the poor!
YCL-LJC International Commission
February 2011

The Young Communist League of Canada expresses our solidarity with the intifada of the poor of the popular forces in Tunisia, as well as Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, Sudan, Jordan, Yemen and other Arab countries. We urge youth to join the mobilizations by youth and students across Canada in support of these uprisings. The strength and will of the people is stronger than ever, and is a testament to what the militant and united struggle of the workers and youth can achieve in the current context the economic crisis and the capitalist offensive against the people.

In Tunisia, where the protests were sparked, demonstrations follow more than two decades of the highest level of political repression, corruption, the illegal privatization of public resources, and blatant theft of public funds. The people of Tunisia have demanded change from the staggering unemployment and crippling poverty caused by imperialism and the dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, his wealthiest allies and his political colleagues, including interim prime minister Mohamed Ghannouchi, former minister of International Co-operation and Foreign Investment and from Ben Ali's very own oligarchy. We condemn the continued arrests in Tunisia of progressive trade unionists and students and pay homage to all those protestors killed in the violence.

We alert Canadian youth and student organizations of the hypocritical aspect of Prime Minister Harper’s recent statement on supporting democracy, being made in the Kingdom of Morocco, occupier of the last colony in Africa, Western Sahara. The Harper Conservatives, who until a week ago strongly supported these governments, cannot re-write their history. In the context of the debate about extraditing Ben Ali’s family members, we note that this has exposed the contradictory two-tier racist immigration system which spends most time punishing and deporting immigrant and migrant workers yet allows in Canada super-rich human rights violators from US-backed puppet regimes from around the world.

We urge the youth of Canada to oppose any imperialist attempts to interfere with the sovereign people’s of north Africa and the Middle East and their right to make their own future. For the Arab people, these struggles are only the continuation of a long battle for much needed political and economic reform that must go further; we support the demands for the redistribution of wealth and resources, which previously sat in the private hands.

The uprising has been an inspiration to not only to the Arab National Liberation movement but to all political activists and working people across the globe. Regardless of its outcome, it sends a signal that the people make history. We too, can throw off our chains and fight towards a democratic system that represents our interests, rather than those of our elite oppressors.

Keep the momentum going: you will win!

Left Film Night: Garbage Dreams

2011-02-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

LEFT FILM NIGHT

"Garbage Dreams"
Directed by Mai Iskander, 2009, 79 minutes

Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

**************
The Oscar-nominated GARBAGE DREAMS examines the social inequality which is a key factor driving the current revolutionary upsurge in Egypt and across the Arab world. This documentary sees global issues at the grassroots level, showing how transnational corporate “modernization” fuels the marginalization of the poor. Cairo, a city of 20 million, never had a system of garbage collection. But for about a century it has had the zabbaleen, a 60,000-strong community of people who live in Mokattam, on the outskirts of the city. The zabbaleen recycle 80% of the waste they collect directly from people’s houses, sorting it carefully, cutting off the tops of cans, shredding up plastics, and feeding the edible waste to hogs for sale to Egypt’s Coptic Christians. When multinational companies are brought in by the Egyptian government to collect the trash, turning the zabbaleen into marginal scavengers, three teenage boys born into the trash trade are forced to make choices that will impact their lives and the future of their community.

No charge for admission; donations welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

Canadian Youth: Condemn Harper’s Free Trade Agreement with Morocco

2011-02-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

Canadian Youth: Condemn Harper’s Free Trade Agreement with Morocco
Young Communist League, Central Executive Committee
February, 2011

In late January, Prime Minister Stephen Harper traveled to Morocco where he met with King Mohammed VI to discuss a free trade agreement between the two countries. This agreement has the ignominious title of being the first of its kind between Canada and an African country, and follows on the heels of the Harper Conservative's shameful free-trade deal with Columbia's dictatorship. It is not surprising that the first country chosen for such an agreement would be one like Morocco; a staunch ally of US imperialism, a Kingdom devoid of democracy, and a colonial power.

We draw to the attention of the youth and student organizations of Canada that, since Morocco's decolonization from fascist Spain in 1975, Morocco has held Western Sahara as a colony, brutally suppressed its people, and deprived them of the economic benefits of their own land and resources. They have been embroiled in a struggle with the Polisario Front, Western Sahara’s national liberation movement, since day one, supported by the United States and CIA. This struggle took the form of armed conflict up until 1991, when a UN sponsored cease fire led to a transition towards peaceful means. But the promises of the UN sponsored cease fire have never been kept. A referendum on the independence of Western Sahara has been sabotaged at every turn, and today the fight for independence is beginning once again to heat up.

Late last year 15,000 youth from 156 different countries gathered in Tshwane, South Africa for the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students, the largest anti-imperialist gathering in the world. The Final Declaration of the 17th WFYS demanded that Morocco immediately respect the right to self-determination of the Sharawi, end the blockade of the occupied territories, allow international observers and media in to Western Sahara, release all political prisoners and dismantle the wall which divides the territory.

We also note that the Polisario Front is recognized as the representative of the Western Saharawi people both by the people themselves, and by the United Nations. Over 50 countries recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, including full diplomatic relations with Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, Vietnam, DPR Korea, Palestine, South Africa, and Mozambique.

The Harper Conservative government claims to be “neutral” in this conflict. This attitude effectively means support for the Moroccan occupation since it fails to recognize the rights of the struggling Western Saharawi people, the legitimacy of their state, and their grievances and condones the actions of the oppressor nation.

It should be no surprise that the ultra-right Harper regime expresses no qualms in dealing with the un-elected King of Morocco despite his disregard for democratic, civil and worker's rights. After all, this same government continues to unconditionally support the genocidal and racist apartheid regime of Israel. It continues to support the dictatorial Mubarak regime of Egypt, another ally of imperialism in the region.

It seems that the Harper Conservative government's sycophantic cries about “human rights” and “democracy” only apply when aimed spuriously at countries which are charting a path separate and apart from imperialism and its interests, such as in the case of socialist Cuba, Venezuela, and others.

Harper’s own distain for democracy and human rights has been proven time and time again -- in prorogues, the extension of the occupation troops in Afghanistan, the vicious suppression of dissent during the G20, attacks on women’s rights, and more.

The Young Communist League condemns imperialism, and its neo-liberal, free trade agenda. We condemn the Canadian governments complicity in the colonial occupation of Western Sahara and the brutality inflicted upon its people by the Moroccan state. We call for all progressive and democratic youth and student organizations across Canada to condemn the Canada-Morocco free trade agreement and fight for a foreign policy based on peace, solidarity, and disarmament. Harper and the Conservatives must be exposed for their support of anti-democratic regimes at the polls and in the streets!

Oppose Free Trade with Morocco!

Solidarity with the People of Western Sahara!

Long live the Polisario Front!

Long live the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic!

YCL BC eBulletin - February 2011

2011-02-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

The February eBulletin is available online here. To subscribe, e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

YCL Vancouver - What's coming up?

2011-01-25T16:58:00.000-08:00

Discussion Group

The second to last part of our extensive study groups on historical materialism will be January 30th at 5:30pm, just before the Left Film Night, at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.). If you couldn't make it for previous parts don't worry you can still catch up! Reading material will be Historical Materialism by Maurice Cornforth chapters 7 and 8.

Read Historical Materialism for free online: http://leninist.biz/en/1971/HM147/index.html

Facebook event

Left Film Night

"The Cradle Will Rock"

Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

**************
Directed by Tim Robbins, 1999, 132 minutes

Set in the turbulent 1930’s, The Cradle Will Rock focuses on the National Theatre Company, set up during the Depression to help out-of-work actors present live theatre to culture-starved audiences. The film centers on attempts to block the production of a left-wing musical about union organizing at a steel factory. Director Tim Robbins fills the screen with a rich assortment of characters, from Orson Welles, to Nelson Rockefeller and revolutionary Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, covering the social spectrum from industrialists to union organizers and the unemployed. During this time of escalating state & corporate repression of civil liberties, The Cradle Will Rock is an important reminder that the struggle for freedom must be won again by each new generation.

No charge for admission; donations welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

Skills Development Weekend

The YCL BC will be holding a skills development weekend at the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr., on March 12-13. The event will bring together YCLers and friends for a weekend of education and the development of activist skills. Registration is $20. Billets will be available in Vancouver. Further details including full programme and registration information will be coming very shortly. E-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca for information.

Rally in Solidarity with Postal Workers - January 21st

2011-01-19T18:03:00.001-08:00

YCL Vancouver January meeting and film night

2011-01-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

YCL Vancouver meeting -- January 22

Our first club meeting of the year will be held on January 22 at 6pm. The venue will be our office at the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr. The draft agenda is below. The meeting will be followed at 7:30pm by a continuation of our discussion of Maurice Cornforths book Dialectical Materialism. We will be looking at chapters 5 and 6. You can read it online for free at: http://leninist.biz/en/1971/HM147/index.html

Draft Agenda
Roll call
Previous minutes
Membership

Old Business
World Festival of Youth & Students report back & discussion

Standing Items
Student movement
- Post Secondary
- High School

Peace & international solidarity
- WPF (guest)
- Western Sahara
- Other

Young workers movement
- BCFED Convention/Young Workers Conference report back
- EARN
- Minimum Wage
- Other if any

Rebel Youth
- Discussion of new issue
- Distro plan for new issue
- Subscriptions
- Next issue

Culture & Agit-Prop
- Left Film Night on Jan. 30
- Other

New Business
- Report from Provincial Committee about Winter School and other items

Adjourn

Left Film Night -- January 30

"The Cradle Will Rock"

Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

**************
Directed by Tim Robbins, 1999, 132 minutes

Set in the turbulent 1930’s, The Cradle Will Rock focuses on the National Theatre Company, set up during the Depression to help out-of-work actors present live theatre to culture-starved audiences. The film centers on attempts to block the production of a left-wing musical about union organizing at a steel factory. Director Tim Robbins fills the screen with a rich assortment of characters, from Orson Welles, to Nelson Rockefeller and revolutionary Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, covering the social spectrum from industrialists to union organizers and the unemployed. During this time of escalating state & corporate repression of civil liberties, The Cradle Will Rock is an important reminder that the struggle for freedom must be won again by each new generation.

No charge for admission; donations welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

YCL BC eBulletin - December 2009

2010-12-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

The December 2009 eBulletin can be viewed here

E-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca to subscribe.

On the State of BC Electoral Politics

2010-11-25T14:23:00.001-08:00

YCL BC Executive Committee
November 25, 2010

British Columbians were recently pleasantly surprised when, in an obvious attempt to put the brakes on a popularity free fall, the BC Liberals forced the resignation of their leader, Premier Gordon Campbell. While trying to shake the scandal of undemocratically instating the HST payout to big business this government has publicly flogged and booted the Energy Minister, Bill Bennet, for being critical of the failing regime. But cracks are showing in other areas of Liberal policy, including the question of BCs shameful $8 minimum wage. While we welcome the resignation of the Premier, the firing of the minister, and the possibility of a minimum wage increase, this must not be used as a way to divert public attention from the lies and failings of the BC Liberal government. Full, complete, and immediate, resignation of the entire government is the only remedy to the political problems facing BC.

Meanwhile, the opposition BC NDP has begun to prepare for election. But the division around the leadership of Carole James has broken out into a public fight. While it is not our place to advise our NDP sisters and brothers on who ought to lead their party, we do express concern with James' moves to distance the NDP from labour and to reach out to business. We reject the politics of "fairness" between business and labour and maintain that one cannot represent both the working people and their bosses. Two NDP MLAs have left that party recently, Bob Simpson and Katrine Conroy, in public protest over the unwillingness to hold a leadership convention. We hope for a strong, united, NDP with progressive policies going in to the next election. The danger from the right is too great to risk.

This danger comes not only in the form of the disintegrating Liberal Party which is struggling to find legitimacy in the wake of its own collapse, but also in the increased popularity of both the BC Conservative Party and the BC First Party, both of which have been given increasing media attention in recent weeks. These parties represent the same backwards, big-business interests as the Liberals and will undoubtedly continue their anti-worker, anti-youth, anti-student offensive.

The Young Communist League re-iterates its call for resignation or recall of the BC Liberals. We reject wholeheartedly the Conservative and BC First Parties. Our schools, ours hospitals, our libraries, our collective agreements; our province and everything that working people have fought for in BC are at is at stake. It's time for progressives across the province to unite and ensure that every pro-corporate candidate is defeated in the next election so that our province can begin down a new path. It's up to us as workers, you, and students, to stand up before, during, and after that election and actively make sure that our interests are looked after - no matter what government takes power. The economic hardship of Canada's lowest minimum wage, highest child poverty, and increasing barriers to education must be stopped or BC is in trouble for a generation to come.

Drop the 2010 Olympic Legacy of Poverty!

2010-11-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

Young Communist League – BC Executive Committee

On November 17th it was announced that Millennium Water, the developer responsible for the 2010 Olympic Village, had gone into receivership. This means the value of the frivolous of excessive high-cost condos will be shouldered by the people of British Columbia. Yet another blow to B.C., the fightback must advance to block the further misuse of tax money.

British Columbians cannot shoulder the $750 million dollars for this housing, most of which is out of the reach of regular working people. The Young Communist League demands that corporate taxes be raised to cover the cost of the housing, and the project be transitioned into low-cost units for working class, low-income families.

Furthermore, corporate income tax should bare the complete burden of all low income housing. Dedicated homes for students must be provided at no cost for a truly accessible education system. Instead of paying out for the 2010 Olympic Circus, money must be used to fund real people and their immediate needs.

The fate of Millennium Water proves both that the poor planning of the Olympics is going to leave a lasting economic scar on B.C., and that the interests of working people are not being advanced by the Provincial and Vancouver Municipal governments. Now is the time for change, British Columbians cannot wait until the next election to boot out corporate politicians. Affordable, accessible housing now!

Discussion Group Postponed

2010-11-17T17:44:00.001-08:00

Tonight's discussion group is postponed. Details of the new date and time will be coming shortly.

Upcoming meeting and discussion group

2010-11-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

Historical Materialism Discussion Continued

Part three of our study groups on historical materialism will be November 17th at 7pm at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.). If you couldn't make it for previous parts don't worry you can still catch up! Reading material will be Historical Materialism by Maurice Cornforth chapters 5 and 6.

Read Historical Materialism for free online: http://leninist.biz/en/1971/HM147/index.html

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163933273627200&num_event_invites=0

YCL Vancouver Meeting

We will have a meeting of the YCL Vancouver Club on November 27th, at 1130am. It will be held at our office in the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr. The meeting is open to all members of the YCL and those interested in finding out more/getting involved.

Draft Agenda
Roll call
Previous minutes
Membership

Old Business
- World Festival of Youth & Students

Standing Items
- Student movement
- Peace & international solidarity
- Young workers movement
- Rebel Youth
- Culture & Agit-Prop

New Business

- Next meeting
- Next discussion group

Adjourn

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=179823175365609

YCL BC on Gordo's resignation

2010-11-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

November 4, 2010
STATEMENT OF THE YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE - BC PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The Young Communist League celebrates today alongside our fellow British Columbians. The resignation of Gordon Campbell, anti-worker, anti-youth Premier, has been a long and hard fought campaign of many. For the exiting Campbell we say, "Good riddance".

Working people in British Columbia may have one less corporate lackey in the Legislature, but the fight continues. The BC Liberal government supported Campbell on each and every draconian labour law to come to the legislature in nearly a decade. Within the government there are those equally committed to advancing the interests of the capitalist class as Campbell was - this cannot be tolerated. Now is the time to increase political activity and block the development of the BC Liberal agenda.

British Columbians shouldn't have to wait for a year to abolish the HST. We say the people have already spoken, abolish the HST now! Youth need increased wages, reduced tuition, and better access to education immediately. The YCL calls for the immediate in-statement of a 16$ minimum wage indexed to inflation. Cost for post-secondary education must be halved including tuition, books, dormitories and rent, and food. Grants must take the place of loans, and all student debt must be cleared. Anti-environment schemes like "run of the river" private power must be canceled.

Simply because Gordon Campbell has left office does not mean that the BC Liberal government will abandon its destructive neo-liberal principles. A new Premier with similar goals and politics is certain to replace him as long as the Liberal Party remains in power. Waiting for the next round of elections to take action will mean the continuation of Campbell's hated policies in the interim. The fight must be in the streets to make the changes necessary, British Columbians must vote with their feet!

Statement by the Communist Party of British Columbia on the resignation of Gordon Campbell

2010-11-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

The three terms of the Campbell Liberals have been characterized by implementing the lowest taxes for the wealthy and corporations in North America at the expense of the standard of living, wages and social programs of BC residents. His forced resignation is a compliment to a tenacious and awakened electorate who has had enough.

In his devotion to corporate welfare Gordon Campbell kept the minimum wage at the lowest level in Canada while presiding over an economy where the top ten CEO’s collectively in 2009 earned $70 million dollars. Upon the imbalanced scales of extreme wealth and extreme poverty Gordon Campbell’s weight was always on the side of extreme wealth.

For seven years British Columbia has had the worst child poverty in Canada. After nine years of tuition fee increases BC takes in more from tuition fees than it does from corporate taxation. The massive privatization of Healthcare services, with parallel cutbacks in quality and accessibility, has channeled hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into corporate bank accounts while rolling back healthcare wages 15% and then freezing them at that level.

The Campbell Liberals repeatedly broke election promises that had value to the public and steadfastly adhered to every policy that gave away public resources to private business. They have brought almost every school board in BC into funding crisis that has put 200 schools on the closure list so far. They broke their promise not to privatize BC Rail and in the corrupted bidding process implicated cabinet ministers in a scandal currently hidden behind two scapegoats and a plea bargain that hides the extent and involvement of elected officials in betrayal and corruption.

The Campbell Liberals have gutted the Environmental Assessment Act and created Cabinet powers that overrule municipal by-laws and autonomy to the point that municipalities can only govern if they don’t interfere with corporate interests. They cut the transfer of gambling profits to Charities and the Arts from 33% to 10%. They made massive funding cuts to Women’s Shelters, closed down homeless hostels and cut and slashed their way through almost every social or special needs program in the province.

For Gordon Campbell to whine about a vindictive public and the strain on his family after ruining so many lives is typical of the arrogance and contempt he and his government have exercised. The NDP MLA’s and Party Leader who stroke him on his way out with platitudes about “years of public service” should tell the truth and expose the years of “corporate service” if they don’t want to appear as members of the same club.

Gordon Campbell was not brought down by the parliamentary opposition; he was not brought down by a caucus revolt. He was brought down by massive public rejection of the Liberal Government’s record of lies broken promises and deceit that made it impossible for him to continue. The HST debacle and the transfer of $1.6 billion from the public to the private purse has become the catalyst, the glue of all the diverse forces screaming betrayal. The historic pending referendum is evidence of the public rage.

Gordon Campbell is going, he should be gone and his entire caucus that supported him doggedly should leave with him.

* 30 -

Some November Events to Check Out

2010-11-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

1. YCL Vancouver Meeting
2. Historical Materialism Discussion Continued
3. October Revolution Banquet
4. World Peace Forum Teach-In

1. YCL Vancouver Meeting

We will have a meeting of the YCL Vancouver Club on November 9th, at 7pm. It will be held at our office in the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr. The meeting is open to all members of the YCL and those interested in finding out more/getting involved.

Draft Agenda
Roll call
Previous minutes
Membership

Old Business
- World Festival of Youth & Students
- Club elections

Standing Items
- Student movement
- Peace & international solidarity
- Young workers movement
- Rebel Youth
- Culture & Agit-Prop

New Business

Adjourn

http://www.facebook.com/events/create.php?gid=170610470581#!/event.php?eid=162400957127833

2. Historical Materialism Discussion Continued

Part three of our study groups on historical materialism will be November 17th at 7pm at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.). If you couldn't make it for previous parts don't worry you can still catch up! Reading material will be Historical Materialism by Maurice Cornforth chapters 5 and 6.

Read Historical Materialism for free online: http://leninist.biz/en/1971/HM147/index.html

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163933273627200&num_event_invites=0

3. October Revolution Banquet

The annual October Revolution Banquet will be held this year on Saturday, November 13th, at the Peretz Centre (6184 Ash St.) in Vancouver. The event will be a celebration of the struggle against fascism and war.

Features will include guest speaker Roger Keeran, Professor of Labour Studies at Empire State College in New York and co-author of the book "Socialism Betrayed". There will also be an international buffet, audio-video presentation, live music, door prizes, and book displays.

Doors at 6pm, dinner at 7pm. Call 604.254.9836 for information or e-mail cpbc@telus.net

4. World Peace Forum Teach In

This years World Peace Forum teach in will be held at Langara College on November 11, 13, and 14.It will focus on the decade and a half between the end of World War Two and the 1960's. The YCL encourages participation in this event and will be participating in the teach in. The following is from the teach in website:

The ‘Fifties’
Reconstruction vs Revolution
and the First “War on Terror”
November 11, 13, 14
Langara College

The decade and a half between the end of World War II and the 1960’s is full of lessons that resonate strongly in the world we live in today. While it is regarded by some as a period of grey and repressive reaction, where any nails that stood out were hammered down, it was far from that. Revolutions rocked the colonial world and shook the old order from China to Algeria, Egypt to Cuba. Cultural rebellions–rock and roll, folk music and the beat generation; feminism and the beginning of the ecology movement- changed what we read thought and heard. The ‘Quiet Revolution’ transformed Quebec and Canada. From the first cracks in the ‘socialist’ world to the unprecedented boom in the capitalist, the fifties was a time rich in struggles that shape the world we live in. Both the victories and defeats of movements against war and oppression and for a socially just and sustainable world have much to teach us. That is exactly what the World Peace Forum is planning. The third Teach-In will be held on Nov. 11 and 13 and 14 at Langara College. Details will be available in September. Keep your eye on www.peaceforumteachin.org or get on our mailing list by contacting us at info@worldpeaceforumbc.ca

November eBulletin

2010-10-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

Check out the November eBulletin here. To subscribe, e-mail us at ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

YCL Vancouver Upcoming Events!

2010-10-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

1. World Festival of Youth & Students Fundraiser
2. Communism 101 Educational
3. Historical Materialism Discussion pt. 3
4. Left Film Night: Occupation 101
5. October Revolution Banquet
6. World Peace Forum Teach-In

1. World Festival of Youth & Students Fundraiser

The Vancouver & District Labour Council Young Workers Committee is hosting a fundraiser this Wednesday, October 13th, at 9pm. All money raised will go to help send young workers to the 17th World Festival of Youth & Students this December in South Africa. The YCL supports all efforts to organize and fundraise for the festival and encourages everyone to check out this event.

Tickets are $10 and include VIP entry and a free drink. DJ's will be providing entertainment throughout the night. The event will be held at The Cellar in downtown Vancouver.

Check out the Facebook event here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=117473434977919
Learn more about the Festival here: http://www.wfdy.org/tag/17-wfys/

2. Communism 101 Educational

On September 17th we will be hosting an introductory educational on communism at our office in the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr. All YCL members are strongly encouraged to attend and all those who are interested in learning more and warmly invited to join us. The educational will begin at 6pm.

3. Historical Materialism Discussion pt. 3

Part three of our study groups on historical materialism will be October 26th at 7pm at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.). If you couldn't make it to part one, fear not, you can still join us for part three and get caught up. Reading material will be Historical Materialism by Maurice Cornforth.

Read Historical Materialism for free online: http://leninist.biz/en/1971/HM147/index.html

4. Left Film Night: Occupation 101

"OCCUPATION 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority"

Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver
...Donations will be accepted for the Canadian Boat for Gaza

**************
Directed by Abdallah Omeish and Sufyan Omeish, 2006, 90 minutes

Occupation 101 is a powerful documentary on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The film presents a comprehensive analysis of the facts surrounding the issues, and dispels many long-perceived myths and misconceptions. Occupation 101 also details life under Israeli military rule, the role of the United States, and the major obstacles that stand in the way of a lasting and viable peace. The roots of the conflict are examined by leading Middle East scholars, peace activists, journalists, religious leaders and humanitarian workers whose voices have often been suppressed in North American media outlets. The film covers a wide range of topics - the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880’s, the 1920 tensions, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, Settlement expansion, the second Intifada of 2000, the separation barrier and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza - as well as heart-wrenching testimonials from victims of this tragedy.

COLLECTION FOR THE CANADIAN BOAT FOR GAZA! At the conclusion of the film, donations will be accepted for the Canadian Boat for Gaza project. This cross-Canada campaign aims to raise $300,000 to send a Canadian boat as part of the next international flotilla to break the Israeli siege of Gaza. For more information, visit canadaboatgaza.org.

No charge for admission; donations welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

5. October Revolution Banquet

The annual October Revolution Banquet will be held this year on Saturday, November 13th, at the Peretz Centre (6184 Ash St.) in Vancouver. The event will be a celebration of the struggle against fascism and war.

Features will include guest speaker Roger Keeran, Professor of Labour Studies at Empire State College in New York and co-author of the book "Socialism Betrayed". There will also be an international buffet, audio-video presentation, live music, door prizes, and book displays.

Doors at 6pm, dinner at 7pm. Call 604.254.9836 for information or e-mail cpbc@telus.net

6. World Peace Forum Teach In

This years World Peace Forum teach in will be held at Langara College on November 11, 13, and 14.It will focus on the decade and a half between the end of World War Two and the 1960's. The YCL encourages participation in this event and will be participating in the teach in. The following is from the teach in website:

The ‘Fifties’
Reconstruction vs Revolution
and the First “War on Terror”
November 11, 13, 14
Langara College

The decade and a half between the end of World War II and the 1960’s is full of lessons that resonate strongly in the world we live in today. While it is regarded by some as a period of grey and repressive reaction, where any nails that stood out were hammered down, it was far from that. Revolutions rocked the colonial world and shook the old order from China to Algeria, Egypt to Cuba. Cultural rebellions–rock and roll, folk music and the beat generation; feminism and the beginning of the ecology movement- changed what we read thought and heard. The ‘Quiet Revolution’ transformed Quebec and Canada. From the first cracks in the ‘socialist’ world to the unprecedented boom in the capitalist, the fifties was a time rich in struggles that shape the world we live in. Both the victories and defeats of movements against war and oppression and for a socially just and sustainable world have much to teach us. That is exactly what the World Peace Forum is planning. The third Teach-In will be held on Nov. 11 and 13 and 14 at Langara College. Details will be available in September. Keep your eye on www.peaceforumteachin.org or get on our mailing list by contacting us at info@worldpeaceforumbc.ca

YCL Vancouver meeting

2010-10-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

We will have a meeting of the YCL Vancouver Club on Friday, October 8th, at 7pm. It will be held at our office in the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr. The meeting is open to all members of the YCL and those interested in finding out more/getting involved.

Draft Agenda
Roll call
Previous minutes
Membership

Old Business
- World Festival of Youth & Students
- Central Convention
- Club elections

Standing Items
- Student movement (including high school and campus work)
- Peace & international solidarity
- Young workers movement
- Rebel Youth
- Culture & Agit-Prop

New Business

Adjourn

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, check out our October eBulletin at http://yclbc-lowermainland.blogspot.com/2010/10/ycl-bc-ebulletin-october-2010.html

YCL BC eBulletin - October 2010

2010-10-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

Check out the October edition of our eBulletin at http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/445432/c982086e64/1623006065/6c0c9d641e/

If you would like to received the eBulletin by e-mail please e-mail us at ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

YCL Vancouver meeting - Sept. 16th

2010-09-13T18:36:00.001-07:00

The YCL Vancouver (Red Star Club) will meet on Sunday, September 19th, 6pm, at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.).

Draft Agenda
Roll call
Previous minutes
Membership

Old Business
- World Festival of Youth & Students
- Central Convention

Standing Items
- Student movement (including high school and campus work)
- Peace & international solidarity
- Young workers movement
- Rebel Youth
- Culture & Agit-Prop

New Business

Adjourn

YCL Vancouver meeting/Convention report back tomorrow

2010-08-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

The YCL Vancouver will hold a meeting/Convention report back tomorrow night, 7pm, at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.)

Greeting from CEC to Convention

2010-08-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the Central Executive Committee to the YCL BC 2010 Convention.

Dear comrades, members of the BC YCL Provincial committee, friends and allies,

It is a pleasure to be greeting you on the occasion of your two important meetings this weekend, the BC Provincial YCL Convention and your annual summer school.

We would like to comment on the political context of your meetings. Across Canada this summer, we have entered ‘round two’ of the economic crisis. The economic crisis, which we did not create, has deepened the misery and suffering of the working people. The corporate media, however, is claiming that this crisis is over. This is not true.

In fact, the capitalists find themselves facing a volatile situation. Take the debt crisis in Greece, for example. This is now a Europe-wide problem. Big business is trying to save capitalism through aggressive austerity measures. We have seen this across Canada. The Federal and provincial budgets are vicious attacks. They attack labour and worker’s rights – and the youth.

It is time to say: Enough is enough! We must stand up, and fight back!

The fight-back in Canada has been uneven, but not silent. And two protests have seen significant mobilizations by the youth and student movement: The recent G20 meetings in Toronto and the anti-Olympic demonstrations in Vancouver.

In Toronto there was a mass-march. 25 thousand people hit the streets. This included a YCL and Party delegation of over a hundred comrades. But the corporate media did not focus on the mass action. The corporate media focused on the burning of police cars, and the ‘black-bloc’ direct actions that confronted the fence.

There are two main stories here. First, the secret, anti-people, decisions within the G20 meeting. Secondly, the historic mass arrests.

Over 1,000 people were arrested. This was a violent, historic and dangerous attack on democratic rights. People were arrested for simply walking on the street, people who did not even know what G20 stood for.

Three of our comrades were arrested just after the mass action. The police tried to intimidate and break them. They assaulted them, breaking one comrades ribs. They whispered in the ear of a young woman comrade: ‘don’t worry, we are taking you to a place where there are no video cameras.’ They denied them a toilet. They held them for over 24 hours and prevented sleep. They mocked them.

Now we are fighting back through the courts. We are supporting our comrades. The YCL Ontario has joined the campaigns against the mass arrests and charges, demanding a full public inquiry!

But there is also a concrete question here for the youth and student movement: what strategy and tactics are better?

The mass united march which the YCL participated in? Or the ‘diversity of tactics’ with the ‘black-bloc’ direct action?

There is an excellent article about this in the latest People’s Voice. It has been revealed that many of the anarchist groups were infiltrated by police. Many of the ‘direct actions’ featured provocateurs. The point here is NOT that organizations were infiltrated. Any organization can be infiltrated. The point is that the anarchist direct action tactics leant themselves to provocation; while mass action builds the powerful unity necessary for social transformation.

This is not to close a discussion but to open a debate.

The discussion here is, in our view, very relevant to the last two chapters of our Central convention documents. As those documents say, the unity of the youth and students is essential for revolutionary struggle. The unity of the youth and students can not be formed just out of fear – for our jobs, our right to education, for our future. It must be placed in the positive, in terms of a youth and people’s agenda. Our proposal is for a Charter of Youth Rights.

There is a reflection, also, of this question of tactics into alliance building – like we are doing with the Youth festival project.

In closing we would like to salute the YCL BC Provincial Committee for its work on developing the BC School into a special event. This year the YCL is also holding schools in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec. We regret that more members of the Executive can not attend the BC school, as in past years.

Good luck and may your debates be successful and build your struggles!

See you in September, in Toronto!

Johan Boyden

Gen. Sec., YCL-LJC CC

LEFT FILM NIGHT - CRUDE: The Real Price of Oil

2010-08-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

LEFT FILM NIGHT

CRUDE: The Real Price of Oil

Directed by Joe Berlinger, USA, 2009, 100 minutes

Sunday, August 29, 2010, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

In the wake of massive oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and Michigan,
this month's Left Film Night is particularly timely and relevant. CRUDE
is the story of a landmark case in the Amazon jungle, pitting 30,000
rainforest dwellers against the U.S. oil giant Chevron. The plaintiffs
claim that Texaco -- which merged with Chevron in 2001 -- contaminated
one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, creating a "death zone",
resulting in cancer, leukemia, and birth defects. Chevron charges that
the case is a fabrication by "environmental con men". The case takes
place not just in a courtroom, but in a series of field inspections at
the alleged contamination sites, with the judge and attorneys for both
sides trudging through the jungle to litigate.

No charge for admission; donations welcome. Coffee and refreshments
available. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist
Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero
Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email
for further information.

August 2010 YCL BC eBulletin

2010-08-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the August 2010 YCL BC eBulletin. E-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca to subscribe.

A couple of events coming up from the Fraser Valley Peace Council.

2010-07-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of events coming up from the Fraser Valley Peace Council.

CELEBRATING PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP
Commemorating Lost Lives and Hopes

On the anniversary of the independence of Pakistan and India

Fraser Valley Peace Council (FVPC) and South Asian Network for Secularism
and Democracy (SANSAD)

Present a two-day event

Public Educational Forum on South Asia Today
Talk by Dr. Hassan Gardezi

"Discovery of Independence: South Asia at 63"

August 14, 2010 (2.00 pm-5.00 pm)
Newton Library Hall
13795-70th Avenue, Surrey, BC

Dr. Hassan Gardezi, is a political activist, sociologist and
anthropologist, a well known writer and an intellectual. He earned his PhD
at Washington State University, USA and has served as Head of Department
of Sociology, Punjab University, Lahore. He wrote several journal articles
and books on the political economy of Pakistan and South Asia and also
published translations of and commentaries on Sufi poetry written in
Punjabi, Siraiki and Sindhi languages. Hassan has taught and lectured at a
number of North American colleges and universities as well as Pakistani
institutions.

Also
THE SKY BELOW

A Best Film Debut Award winner documentary on the Partition of India and
Pakistan by
Sarah Singh
August 15, 2010 (2.00 pm-5.00 pm)
Simon Fraser University-Surrey Campus (SUR 2600)
13450 102 Avenue, Surrey, BC

Sarah Singh will be present at the screening to introduce the film and
conduct a discussion with the audience.

Sarah Singh was born in Patiala, Punjab and now living in US since 1974.
She is an artist, filmmaker and an accomplished photographer. Much of her
fine art from the last 15 years is included in private collections. Sarah
has worked in the film and television industry in New York for over 5
years. Her work as a cinematographer, editor, director, and writer has
been featured on MTV, Showtime, and the History Channel, along with many
independent films

Admission by donation

This screening is organized by South Asian Film Education Society (SAFES)
and supported by SFU, Surrey Campus and Simon Fraser Public Interest
Research Group (SFPIRG) and co-sponsored by SANSAD, Pakistan Action
Network, Fraser Valley Peace Council (FVPC) and Progressive Intercultural
Community Services (PICS).

For more information contact: Chin Banerjee 604-421-6752 or Supriya
Bhattacharya 604-937-396 or Shahzad Nazir Khan 604-613-0735

Info session on WFYS

2010-07-19T18:26:00.001-07:00

Join us for an info session on the 17th World Festival of Youth & Students which will be held in South Africa this December! The Festival is the largest international youth gathering and the largest expression of youth resistance in the world. At the last Festival, over 16,000 youth and students from around the world attended. You're invited! Come find out more on Saturday, July 24th, 7pm, 200-5118 Joyce St in Vancouver.

Also check out the Festival website at http://www.wfdy.org/17wfys/

Let’s defeat imperialism, for a world of peace, solidarity and social transformation!

Let us work for a successful 17^th World Festival of Youth and Students in South Africa.

YCL BC July eBulletin

2010-07-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

Click here for the YCL BC July eBulletin. To subscribe, please e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

Two important events tomorrow (June 23rd)!

2010-06-22T16:14:00.001-07:00

First - A one-hour picket at the Polish Consulate from 11 am to noon. This will protest the new law in Poland which bans any symbols associated with communism. Similar protests have been held across Europe and in Toronto. Organized by the Communist Party in solidarity with the Polish communists and others in eastern Europe who are facing growing repression.

The address is 1177 West Hastings - this is between Bute and Thurlow. We will have leaflets to hand out, and some of the "illegal" symbols. Please Kimball know (by email or 604-255-2041) if you can join us.

Second - the International Trade Union Confederation is holding its global conference this week at the Convention Centre. This will include a rally starting at 12:30 tomorrow, on the theme "Now the people - from the crisis to global justice." The Communist Party/Young Communist League will be present with a banner and materials. It's just a couple of blocks from the Polish Consulate to the Convention Centre.

Defend Public Education! Oppose Bill 20!

2010-06-22T15:44:00.000-07:00

Young Communist League of Canada, BC Committee

As students are beginning their summer break the B.C. Liberal government is hard at work to further strip them of privacy and proper education for the next semester. Bill 20, which had its first reading on April 30, would allow individual School Boards the ability to mandate surveillance equipment such as cameras in public schools. This comes as part of a larger attack on the democratic institution of School Boards and the entire public school system.

This carte blanche dictate is limited by very few rules. No restrictions on where cameras are deployed, how they should be used, how students' privacy rights will be safeguarded, and in which places they are inappropriate. There is no requirement to limit access to the images caught on school cameras.

All this expensive surveillance equipment has been given the green light at a time when School Boards face serious budget limitations due to inadequate provincial funding. In most schools in British Columbia text books have gone over twenty years without being replaced. Also, school councilors and support workers have been cut out of the budget which means that real problems, which a camera will not catch, will go unresolved.

The Vancouver School Board has come under heavy fire from the B.C. Liberal government for its vocal refusal to compromise standards to pay for tax breaks and the Corporate Olympic Circus. An expensive inquiry into the governance practices of the VSB by the Provincial Government accused the School Board of poor planning; however, the budget suggestions from the B.C. Liberals include only negative reactionary cuts such as layoffs and privatization.

Educators are taking a stance against the bill as well. The BC Teachers Federation has slammed the bill saying it doesn’t address the learning needs of students and further undermines the democratic governance of public education. Teachers are also concerned about the privatization of public schools, as the bill allows for the collection of user fees and even the conversion of schools into “specialty academies” by a vote of as few as three parents and the Principal.

The attack on students and School Boards is another step towards the privatization of schools that has always been the goal of the B.C. Liberals. Reduction of provincial funding is intentional to stress the ability of democratic bodies to govern the education system. Moves such as Bill 20, in which students are put under heavier surveillance, are intended to force resolvable school issues into the public eye in attempts to slander the public education system, and violate the rights of students and staff alike.

Support the Vancouver School Board!
Demand fully funded public education!
No surveillance cameras in our schools!

RAISE THE RED FLAG OF RESISTANCE! FOR A YOUTH AND STUDENT AGENDA

2010-06-22T15:26:00.000-07:00

RAISE THE RED FLAG OF RESISTANCE! FOR A YOUTH AND STUDENT AGENDA

CALL TO ACTION BY THE YOUNG COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF CANADA

"Bloodsuckers, pirates, cannibals, murders, psychopaths, traitors, thugs, vultures, gangsters and terrorists!"

For centuries, these labels have been placed on everyone -- aboriginal peoples, workers, youth, women, racialized communities and countless more -- who dared resist the agenda of the ruling class. But isn't the truth the opposite from what we have been sold?

These words best describe the G8 and their host -- the Harper Conservative regime, the bankers, big business men, government leaders and the imperialist system they represent, meeting behind billion-dollar iron bars.

FLASH-POINT

The G8-G20 is flash-point for the peoples resistance. We fully support all those seeking to expose, denounce, confront and overcome the plans of the G8-G20 -- and bring about an alternative agenda for the people, by the people!

The capitalists’ plans are secret. They could not even stand the heat of public, democratic review. Unprecedented costly security operations hide the proceedings. We condemn the shut-down of the University of Toronto and the use of the "sonic cannon" weapon. And there is no such thing as a "Free Speech Zone" -- other than the world itself.

Major topics of discussion and the full decisions will likely never be revealed. Yet these decisions will impact millions across Canada, and billions of people around the world. These dangerous measures show imperialism’s fear of the people.

FOR A YOUTH AND PEOPLE'S AGENDA

The G8-G20 police brutality, the lack of democracy -- this is a crime. It is only one crime in many. Consider the Harper's remarks that global warming is a 'side-show' ; or Canada's decision to exclude abortion
from its global maternal health commitment and the Conservative Senator's "shut the fuck up" response to dissent.

In our view, this meeting has a special context, 'Round two' of the economic crisis: giant transfers of wealth to the corporations are now being paid for by the people. This is the main attack on the youth and the people today. Therefore we call for a youth agenda:

1. Books not bombs!
- No more $22 billions for the war in Afghanistan
- Troops out now, cut the military budget by half
- Ban military recruitment from schools

2. Make a job a right!
- No more poverty wages and union busting
- Raise minimum wage to $16, for shorter work week
- Massive job creation for youth -- start with build affordable, green housing

3. Climate justice
- No more supporting the tar sands
- Legislate emergency action to surpass Kyoto
- Nationalize energy -- shift to conservation and renewables

4. Free Education
- Eliminate tuition fees, grants not loans
- Reverse all school privatization and cutbacks
- National public, accessible childcare
- Protect free speech on campuses

5. Full equality now!
- Strengthen employment equity for Aboriginal youth, young women, racialized youth, youth with (dis)abilities
- Enshrine a women’s right to choice, close the wage gap
- Restore and expand all funding to programmes for women and girls
- Ban neo-fascist groups

6. Sovereignty and self-determination
- Justice for Aboriginal peoples and Quebec
- For a foreign policy of peace and disarmament

7. Democracy!
-
- No One Is Illegal -- democratic immigration policy
- Defend and expand the right of youth to leisure, sports and recreation

Now is the time to make a sharp break with the agenda of the Harper Conservatives and imperialism. If these meetings had even an ounce of integrity, the world ’leaders’ would redirect their energy and trillions (our trillions!) to the global crisis of unemployment, food, health care, education and childcare and ending imperialist war. They would immediately condemn the brutality of the Israeli regime and support a Palestinian state.

But capitalism is fundamentally driven by profits. Therefore all its activities will forever be morally bankrupt by any humanist measure. More and more youth will continue to reject capitalism and imperialism.

YOUTH RISE UP!

We appeal to all young people to join the mobilizations against the G8-G20. The YCL denounce Harper’s so-called 'youth-summit' of careerist children and stand with all our courageous sisters and brothers on the streets, who represent the real spirit of our generation. The fear-tactics of the Toronto police -- who have told parents "Your parenting has to be a key role" against demonstrators, "Ask your children to avoid the downtown core" -- will fail, rejected by the youth and parents together.

For inspiration, we look to Cuba and Latin America, and to the resistance in Greek workers today. The needs of the broad majority of the youth can never be divided from those of the working class and the people on the road to a better world. Provocation and other attempts to fracture the vital militancy and unity of the people can not reverse the fact that, on a global scale, the working class and progressive forces are strengthening.

These meetings are a historically developed strategy of imperialism, especially US imperialism. History, however, is not on the side of the oppressors. It is on the side of freedom, peace, ecology, and the people. We remain committed to joining with all those in the struggle on the streets, in our workplaces, schools, and communities, today while bravely championing a better future.

THE YOUTH ARE THE FUTURE, THE FUTURE IS SOCIALISM!

Central Committee, YCL-LJC
June 2010

YCL events this month

2010-06-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

1. Red Star Club discussion of Provincial Convention documents
2. 17th WFYS meeting
3. Historical Materialism Pt. 2 - CHANGED DATE!
4. YCL BC Summer Camp
5. Strike solidarity
6. Slam the Gate on the G8
7. Left Film Night: Plunder, The Crime of Our Time

1. Red Star Club discussion of Provincial Convention documents - TONIGHT

The Vancouver YCL (Red Star Club) will meet on June 21st to discuss the documents of the upcoming Provincial Convention which will be held on July 30th.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126087964092238

Convention Documents: http://www.ycl-ljc.ca/images/bcconvention2010/bulletin1.pdf

Facebook Convention event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=109441745747202

2. 17th WFYS meeting

The 17th World Festival of Youth and Students will be held this December 13-21 in Pretoria, South Africa!

The World Festival of Youth and Students is the biggest gathering of anti-imperialist youth in the world. It is organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth and the International Union of Students. The last festival brought together over 16,000 youth for a week of workshops, forums, cultural performances, music festivals, and more.

The second meeting of the Vancouver Festival Preparatory Committee will be on June 24th, 7pm, at 706 Clark. Dr.

If you are interested in attending the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students this December in South Africa, please attend, or contact us for more information.

3. Historical Materialism Pt. 2

Part two of our study groups on historical materialism will be June 25th at 7pm at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.). If you couldn't make it to part one, fear not, you can still join us for part two and get caught up. Reading material will be Historical Materialism by Maurice Cornforth.

Read Historical Materialism for free online: http://leninist.biz/en/1971/HM147/index.html

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=events&s=1#!/event.php?eid=119955984703471

4. YCL BC Summer Camp

Once again this year the YCL will hold its annual summer camp on the sunshine coast, from July 31-August 2. Last year the camp was the largest yet since efforts began to re-found the YCL several years ago.

The camp is open to both YCL members and other youth who are interested in learning about the YCL, and about socialism. Participants will enjoys both education and fun at our beautiful Sechelt location near the beach.

This year the camp will be preceded by our BC Provincial Convention (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?invites&eid=109441745747202) at the same location on July 30th. All members are encouraged to attend and guests are welcome.

Educational topics this year include:
- Capitalism, the environment & climate change. Why working class power is the only solution to environmental crisis.

- Racism & the national question in Canada.

- Reform & revolution: what is social democracy, communism, revolution, and the role of the state.

Further information including camp program will be available shortly. If you would like to attend the camp or want more info, e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126087964092238#!/event.php?eid=104877929547930&ref=mf

5. Strike solidarity

The Vancouver & District Labour Council Young Workers Committee is planning another strike solidarity events this month. We encourage young workers including our members to attend and show solidarity with their sisters and brothers on strike at Extra Foods in Maple Ridge. Please see the link below for details.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=126087964092238#!/event.php?eid=106541796059751&ref=mf

6. Slam the Gate on the G8!

The YCL endorses the following event:

A Rally & March in Opposition to the G8/G20 Summits

******************************************
Saturday, June 26th, 2010 @ Noon
Grandview Park

(Commercial Drive, between William and Charles St.)

Bring noise makers, banners, water and friends!
******************************************

Come join us as we march in solidarity with the thousands protesting the G8/G20 Summits in Toronto and around the world. Let’s send a loud and clear message to the G8/G20 elite that we wholly reject their unaccountable meetings. We know their decisions will only lead to further economic and social disparity, promote exploitation environmental degradation and colonization.

From June 25 to 27th, the so-called ‘leaders’ and bankers of the twenty richest countries are gathering in Huntsville and Toronto for closed door meetings. The outcome of this summit is predictable: more of the same. More trade deals that benefit only multinational corporations. More threats to the existence of the worlds most vulnerable. More impoverishment. More addiction to the consumption of energy – dirty or clean. More economic policies that value profit and expansion over community and health. These are the policies that brought us to the crisis now facing the world economically, politically, environmentally and socially.

We say NO! We say that a better world is possible, there is an alternative! Add your presence and voice to the thousands in Toronto and millions around the world demanding a new vision of social and environmental justice. Change the System, not the Climate!

Organized by the Vancouver Community Mobilization Network Contact: van.mobilize@gmail.com

On the web: http://vcmn.resist.ca/

SEE OUR PROMOTION VIDEO here: http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/video/3636

Endorsed by: Friends of UBC Farm, UBC Social Justice Center, Vancouver Climate Justice, Purple Thistle, Justicia for Migrant Workers, No One Is Illegal - Vancouver, Ugnayan ng kabataang Pilipino sa Canada (Filipino-Canadian youth alliance), SIKLAB (Overseas Filipino workers organization), Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group, Council of Canadians - Delta Richmond chapter, Streams of Justice, VANACT, Solidarity with Anti-Olympic Convergence Arrestees, Young Communist League.

7. Left Film Night: Plunder, The Crime of Our Time

Next Left Film Night: Sunday, June 27, 7 pm, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

"Plunder: The Crime of Our Time" (directed by Danny Schecter, USA, 2010, 100 minutes) explores how the financial crisis was built on a foundation of criminal activity, uncovering the connection between the collapse of the housing market and the economic catastrophe that followed. It argues that the wrong doing committed by a few individuals distracts from the real story, implicating the institutions that financed and profited from fraudulent sub prime lending. These firms recklessly put trillions of dollars and the world economy at risk.

No war with Korea! For a made-in-Canada foreign policy of peace!

2010-06-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

Central Executive Committee, Young Communist League of Canada
May 2010

Canadian youth and students should be quick to reject and denounce the war mongering stance taken by the Harper Conservative government with regards to the crisis forming between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and South Korea since the Mach 26th sinking of the Cheonan naval vessel.

In a statement released on May 24th, Harper announced the government’s intention to impose harsh sanctions, to support South Korea in a “decisive response,” which did not rule out military action. The statement also condemned the DPRK for “egregious violation of international law,” and “blatant disregard for international law,” statements are darkly ironic coming from a Prime Minister and a government implicated in war crimes and torture in Afghanistan.

Harper’s hypocrisy becomes further evident when considering the recent attack by apartheid Israel against the Freedom Flotilla which left several dead and dozens more wounded. The attack on the Flotilla, a group of unarmed boats bringing desperately needed humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, has incited no condemnation from the Conservative government. While quick to condemn supposed attacks and violations of international law by the DPRK, Harper is unwilling to criticize violations by Israel against the Palestinian people or their supporters.

Little evidence exists to implicate the DPRK in the sinking of the Cheonan. In fact South Korean sources, including the Defense Ministry, have made statements that no North Korean vessels in the area at the time of the attack. Despite this, the South Korean regime, backed by Washington, have presented the case as open and shut with the DPRK implicated in the crime.
The current Korean crisis is part and parcel of the cold war waged by US imperialism, South Korean ruling class, and their allies against the DPRK since the armistice which “ended” the Korean War in 1953. The demonization of the DPRK as part of an “Axis of Evil,” and as a “threat,” is ludicrous when placed beside the reality of the DPRK, a poor country struggling for survival against hostility and economic sabotage by the US and its allies. The goal of this campaign is to achieve the total collapse of the socio-economic system in place in the DPRK and the reunification of Korean on a capitalist basis under US hegemony. It is also interesting to note that fortunes are to be made in arms contracts by keeping tensions high in the region, and that these tensions provide the only excuse for the presence of thousands of US troops in the region including in South Korea and Japan.

Harper’s slavish parroting of Washington’s warmongering threatens to entangle Canada in a new military conflagration on the Korean peninsula. Such a conflagration would be an imperialist war for the benefit of multinational corporations and arms dealers which could cost innumerable lives.

The Canadian working class, youth and students, must categorically reject Canadian involvement in aggression towards the DPRK as they rejected Canadian involvement in the invasion of Iraq. What is needed is an independent and made-in-Canada foreign policy based on peace, disarmament, friendship, and sovereignty. It’s time to run the war mongering Harper Tories out of office and to fight for a new future for youth which is not based on imperialist war and plunder.

YCL BC eBulletin June 2010

2010-06-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

To read the June 2010 eBulletin click here.

To subscribe to the eBulletin e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

YCL BC Convention 2010 - Discussion Bulletin #1

2010-05-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

The first discussion bulletin for our upcoming BC Provincial Convention is out now! Check out the following link to read the bulletin. In this bulletin you will find the Call to Convention and other convention discussion documents such as the Political Report and the Plan of Work.

The Provincial Committee encourages all YCLers to read these documents, to discuss them in
their clubs, and to submit to the upcoming bulletins. Submissions to the discussion bulletin can be changes, or additions to the convention documents, resolutions for discussion/adoption at convention, or simply your thoughts on a topic that you would like to see League.

Submissions should be sent to ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

Finally, now is the time to start thinking about your attendance at convention. This year convention is followed up immediately by our annual summer camp at the same location. Members are encouraged to do whatever they can to make sure they are able to attend these events. E-mail us if you have concerns or need assistance to help ensure you can attend. Guests are also welcome to attend both events by invite. If you are interested in attending, please contact us to register.

Read Bulletin #1 here!
http://www.ycl-ljc.ca/images/bcconvention2010/bulletin1.pdf

May 2010 eBulletin

2010-05-01T10:48:00.001-07:00

Follow the link to this months YCL BC eBulletin. So be added to the list, e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/445432/1adc218ff5/1623005193/6c0c9d641e/

Militant Greetings for May Day 2010

2010-04-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

Central Executive Committee, Young Communist League of Canada

The Young Communist League of Canada extends greetings of solidarity to the working people of Canada, and especially to young workers, on May 1st – International Workers Day, which commemorates the anniversary of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, when police opened fire on workers protesting for an eight hour working day.

Today young workers must consider what kind of future is offered to them by our current capitalist socio-economic system.

Late last year, youth unemployment hit a 30 year high. While media reports trumpet “economic recovery,” in reality there is recovery for the capitalists but not for the vast majority of youth, women, aboriginal peoples, and workers. Unemployment remains high and those jobs which do exist are increasingly “McJobs” with minimal pay, no benefits or job security, and part time or casual hours. The process of deindustrialization is worsening this situation rapidly, while eroding Canadian sovereignty. Major ecological problems, especially global warming, are getting worse. And if the solution gets in the way of the drive for profits, it is not considered.

To the unemployed and underemployed youth, the government offers no jobs except the dangerous lure of military recruitment for education or a career. Canadian involvement in the disastrous imperialist occupation of Afghanistan has cost well over $18 billion dollars while Canada’s military budget is expected to run over $21 billion this year alone. 142 Canadian soldiers have died as have well over 32,000 Afghans. War is no solution to the problems faced by young workers.

Meanwhile, Federal and Provincial governments continue to carry out an all-out offensive on working and living conditions at the behests of their corporate masters. The recent Harper budget is a case-in-point. The Harper Conservative budget, passed with the complicity of the Liberals, provides for more of the same – tax breaks for the rich, and more spending on war, while cutting social programs, and ignoring the need for spending on education, environmental protection, job creation and other needs of working people.

All this part of a general offensive of capitalism against the interests of the working class, aimed at maximizing profits and salvaging this decrepit and crisis-ridden system through imperialist adventures abroad, lowering of working and living conditions at home, and eliminating the hard won victories of the past. In other words, this is an offensive against the future of the youth.

As in 1886, today the only path forward is struggle. All other paths lead only to an ever-worsening future for the country, and the world, that today’s youth will inherit. We salute the struggle of workers and students in Quebec, where protests have sprung up against the reactionary Charest Liberal budget, including one demo of 75,00 workers and another of 15,000 people including many students. We support the growing demand for a general strike. We stand in solidarity with workers who are fighting for their livelihood, such as the Sudbury Steelworkers who are defending their jobs from the union breaking efforts of Vale Inco. We note the efforts of young workers who have fought in campaigns for increased minimum wages, better on the job safety, and more.

What is needed is to unite all the various threads of resistance against the anti-worker offensive, to defeat it, and to reverse it in order to go on the offensive for progressive reforms which will benefit the working class including young workers.

Ultimately, we stand firm in our analysis that the capitalist system cannot be made to serve the interests of working people. It cannot cherish nature. Only socialism, a system in which the working people hold all economic and political power, can provide a real future for youth and students in Canada and the world. This is the future we fight for.

Jobs not bombs!
People not profits!
The youth are the future, the future is socialism!

YCL BC eBulletin April 2010

2010-04-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

To read the April 2010 eBulletin online, visit http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/445432/1f210aafcf/1623005047/6c0c9d641e/

Please e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca to subscribe.

Reject the 2010 BC Liberal budget! Raise the minimum wage and reduce tuition fees!

2010-03-18T11:38:00.000-07:00

March 2010

The BC Liberal government released its budget on March 2nd, a budget that leaves much to be desired from the working people of British Columbia. Finance Minister Colin Hansen’s remark that “This budget is about families” must have been referring to their disenfranchisement at the hands of the most destructive Provincial government in the lifetime of young people today. Young families, students, and young workers all face a heightened financial threat because of the backwards fiscal planning of Gordon Campbell and his cronies.

For families already pushed well below the poverty line there are spending cuts across the board from low-income housing to medical services. BC Hydro rates will go up 9.11 percent this year and are scheduled to increase by similar amounts over the next three years regardless of the fact that the BC Liberal government sells energy the United States of America for a reduced rate. With the incoming HST working families cannot escape massive cost increases, cost increase which will sink the people of BC into further debt. The privatization of power must be reversed and Oil and Gas must be nationalized for the benefit of all British Columbians!

Young workers continue to see no movement on the minimum wage. BC now has the lowest minimum wage of any province or territory in Canada. Increased user fees in transit and other government programs further push the cost of the capitalist economic crisis and the Olympic party for the rich onto working people. The YCL calls for reduction of user fees and increased transit services!

Students saw a 28% hit to StudentAid BC after BC Liberal election promises not to do just that. This year the government revenue from tuition fees will exceed corporate income tax by 200 million dollars. BC was already ranked the lowest for non-refundable student financial assistance in the country. Drop fees, education shouldn’t be a debt sentence!

The Young Communist League calls for the immediate reversal of the imposition of the Harmonized Sales Tax and the BC Hydro rate hikes. Minimum wage must be set to $16 and marked to inflation to ensure a living wage for all British Columbians. The so-called training wage must be abolished. Tuition fees must be reduced and a provincial system of grants must replace the backwards student loan system costing Canadians over 13 billion dollars in debt.

These policies are not just pipe dreams if workers, youth, and students are willing to stand up and fight to make them reality. The massive resistance to the anti-people measures of the social democratic PASOK government in Greece, which have included cuts aimed at workers wages, holidays, bonuses, and other benefits, demonstrate the way forward for all those who wish to protect and improve the quality of life of working people. The global offensive aimed at making us pay for the global capitalist economic crisis can only be stopped by mass, united, militant struggle in which youth and students must be a key component.

YCL Vancouver upcoming events

2010-03-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

1. Anti-Racist Demo March 21st.
2. Left Film Night - Capitalism: A Love Story
3. Discussion meeting for 25th Central Convention documents
4. Cultural Night Fundraiser
5. Educational: Historical Materialism

1. Anti-Racist Demo March 21st

For the first time in almost a decade neo-nazi racists will attempt to hold a march in the lower mainland. The YCL adds its voice to all those who are calling for participation in a counter-demonstration against this despicable affront to the rights and interests of our multi-national, ethnically diverse people. The YCL will be participating in the demonstration against the nazis and will be issuing a statement on the issue. For more information please read on. The first message below is from local anti-racist activists while the second one is the call to the neo-nazi march from Tavis Annan of "Advocates for White Civil Rights."

------------------------------------------

For the first time in about ten years, a white racist neo-Nazi group is
planning to hold a public march in the Vancouver area. This "White Pride
March" will take place on Sunday, March 21, which is also the
International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The
United Nations declared this date in 1966, to mark the sixth anniversary
of the Sharpeville massacre of anti-apartheid demonstrators by South
African police and troops. White racist groups in North America have
tried in recent years to claim this date for their own purposes. In
Calgary, the "Aryan Guard" group has held rallies on this date for the
past 3-4 years, usually with a couple of dozen participants. Opposing
groups have been much larger, but the Aryan Guard has been protected by
the Calgary police at these rallies. The Aryan Guard is linked to
serious crimes, such as an attempted firebombing of the home of two
leading Anti-Racist Action members in Calgary, physical attacks against
members of racialized communites, etc. The Aryan Guard has recently
divided; one leading member (Kyle McKee) is charged with attempted
murder after throwing a pipe bomb into the home of two other members.

Here in the Vancouver area, there have been several recent cases of men
wearing Nazi and racist items who have attacked people on the street. It
is possible that these incidents are linked to the sudden emergence of
this "white pride" group.

The first message below is from a neo-Nazi Facebook group which is being
used to organize the racist march. Anti-racists are seeking more
detailed information about the exact times and places. But it appears
that the "White Pride" event will begin at 11 am, March 21, from the
Braid Skytrain station in New Westminster.
The message at the bottom is from a local Anti-Racist Action Facebook
group, giving details of a "fun, safe and positive"
counter-demonstration at the same time and place.

***********
White Pride Day March Through 3 Cities
Take part in the biggest White Pride March BC has ever seen
Date: Sunday, 21 March 2010
Time: 12:00 - 22:00
Location: Coquitlam-Burnaby-Vancouver BC Canada
Email: travis_annan@live.ca l.peacock@live.ca

We will march through Coquitlam, Burnaby and Vancouver on MArch/ 21st/
2010. This has never been done before, so we will make it an event to
remember. Everybody who believes in White Civil Rights are welcome to
join in on the beginning of the revolution. There are far too many
details for me to list on the group page, some I dont wish to divulge on
the internet, so e-mail me and I will make certain that you receive all
the information you require. After the March we will feast and celebrate
The one holiday devoted to the Beautiful, Wonderful, Masterful White Race.

For more info, Check out our website http://webstarts.com/WalkforWhitePride

Thank you Ahead of time.
Our Race Needs you.
Travis Annan

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=left+film+night&init=quick#!/event.php?eid=361527732338

2. Left Film Night - Capitalism: A Love Story

LEFT FILM NIGHT

Sunday, March 21, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver
(Note: Pasta Dinner at 5 pm, see below for details)

"CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY"

In Michael Moore’s latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story, political, corporate, and financial elites combine forces to channel obscene wealth to the rich at the expense of the working class. Moore focuses on the bailout of the U.S. financial sector by taxpayers, and scandals such as “dead peasant” life insurance policies taken out by corporations on their own workers. The pillaging by the U.S. ruling class is revealed in bleak, stunning, even hilarious detail. Those who missed the film during its short run in the theatres last fall have another chance to catch it at Left Film Night.

No admission charge, but contributions towards our costs are welcome. Coffee and refreshments available.

Our annual Left Film Night Pasta Dinner will take place before the Left Film Night on Sunday, March 21 (not the last Sunday of the month, for a change). Doors open at 5, dinner (vegetarian option available) will be served at 5:30, tickets $12, proceeds to the People's Voice Fund Drive. The film will be screened at 7 pm following the dinner.

Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Latino and Vancouver East Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=left+film+night&init=quick#!/group.php?gid=8947029929&ref=tshttp://www.facebook.com/search/?q=left+film+night&init=quick#!/group.php?gid=8947029929&ref=ts

3. Discussion meeting for 25th Central Convention documents

Join us for a special meeting of the Vancouver YCL aimed at opening up discussion on the documents of our upcoming 25th Central Convention to be held this May in Toronto.

March 26th, 6pm, Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.)

For the full draft political documents please visit: http://www.ycl-ljc.ca/index.php/en/ideas/central-convention/25th-central-convention.html

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/edit/index.php?eid=368683309783#!/event.php?eid=368683309783

4. Cultural Night Fundraiser

Come join us for a night of working class culture and fun at the Centre for Socialist Education on April 16th. Live music, food, drink, and good company!

A fundraiser for the Young Communist League of Canada, Vancouver Club. More details to come as they are finalized closer to the event.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=170610470581#!/event.php?eid=365693458193&ref=mf

5. Educational: Historical Materialism

Join us for the first of our upcoming sessions looking at historical materialism. Reading material will be Historical Materialism by Maurice Cornforth.

Read Historical Materialism for free on line: http://leninist.biz/en/1971/HM147/index.html

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=170610470581#!/event.php?eid=365078538223&ref=mf

All out to stop fascism in BC!

2010-03-14T14:21:00.000-07:00

YCL BC Committee, March 2010

On March 21st, 1960, South African police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid pass law. Sixty nine protesters were killed. In 1966, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination was established by the United Nations General Assembly and has been observed around the world ever since on March 21st.

This year, a white supremacist neo-nazi group calling itself “Advocates for White Civil Rights” will attempt to hijack this day for the purposes of purveying their racist ideology. For the first time in almost a decade, fascists will be marching in the lower mainland. The YCL BC calls attention to the dangerous precedent that may be set if this despicable display is not stopped resolutely. For example, in Calgary, another racist organization call the “Aryan Guard” has been responsible for hate demonstrations and even violence against anti-racist activists, Communist Party members, and its own former members. We call on youth and students to join in the counter-demonstration being organized against this affront to the rights and interests of the people of Canada, a multi-national, ethnically diverse country.

The YCL opposes all manifestations of racism, national chauvinism, and xenophobia. We recognize that these manifestations are part and parcel of the capitalist system which perpetuates and utilizes these and other divisions within the working class to maximize profits and maintain their class rule. We fight for a socialist Canada where these social ills can finally be eliminated once and for all. We also call for the following immediate reforms:

• A ban on racist, chauvinist, and xenophobic propaganda

• The enactment of legislation to outlaw neo-nazi, white supremacist and fascist organizations

• Ensure the enforcement of affirmative action programs in employment and education

• Provide employment for all, regardless of nationality or ethnicity

• Eliminate racist immigration and temporary foreign worker policies

• All government agencies and businesses which turn a blind eye to, or promote, discriminatory practices must be severely punished

This March 21st, the YCL BC remembers the many young Canadians who courageously fought against racism, national chauvinism, and fascism both here at home, and overseas in conflicts such as the Spanish Civil War and World War Two. We note the efforts of youth and students across Canada who campaigned for an end to the apartheid system in South Africa, and who fight today against Israeli apartheid and for freedom for the Palestinian people. It is clear that the struggle against racism and fascism has not yet been won and must go on. All out to stop racism and fascism! For unity of the working class, youth, and students, across all national and ethnic lines!

In solidarity with the Okanagan Indian Band blockade

2010-03-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

Young Communist League BC Committee, March 2010

In a heroic attempt to defend their territory, on February 22, 2010 the Okanagan Indian Band established a blockade of the Brown Creek watershed. The Brown Creek watershed is the OIBs fresh water supply which has been affected negatively from clear cutting. Tolko Industries Ltd is the logging company responsible for the blockade as it has been in legal battles for the past seven years to secure logging rights to the previously protected watershed.

The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs has supported the OIB, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip saying, “The Courts failed to deal with the proprietary nature of Aboriginal Title to the lands and resources within the territory. With this decision, third party interests are protected at the expense of the community’s drinking water, archaeological history and their constitutionally protected rights. Consequently, the UBCIC will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Okanagan Indian Band to ensure their community’s water, history and rights are defended.”

Much of the OIBs territory has already been sold off to corporate interests, leading to fish bearing streams running dry in the summer. OIB Chief Fabian Alexis has said that this was not an action the band took lightly, but had no choice to defend itself against the advancement of devastating logging practices.

The situation is made all the more tense by Tolko’s continued lying in the media. Tolko has said that its mill will be forced to shut down due to a lack of available logs from the Brown Creek area. This tactic, meant to pit worker against band member, is pure dishonesty. The fact is that Tolko released a statement on January 19th saying the mill might have to shut down periodically due to market fluctuations surrounding wood prices. Also, OIB members have photographed stockpiles of wood at the Tolko mill, adequate to keep production up during the blockade. Tolko has sought court injunctions to have OIB members jailed so that the company can move along without the hassle of respecting human rights.

The OIB blockade is an example to us all of the need for militant struggle in defense of our rights and interests. Clean drinking water is a fundamental right which is being increasingly intruded upon by corporate interests internationally. The OIB is right to stand up against such an injustice.

This struggle highlights the genocidal colonial history of capitalism in BC and of Canada towards First Nations people. The actions of the BC government and the courts make clear the continuing racist nature of the capitalist system and its willingness to sacrifice the interests of the people for the interests of corporate profit. The Young Communist League of Canada calls for youth and students to stand in solidarity with Okanagan Indian Band! Stop Tolko! Protect Aboriginal Rights!

Oppose the Fare Hike! For an Affordable, Quality Transit System!

2010-03-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

YCL BC Committee, March 2010

The YCL BC expresses its firm opposition to the 10% price increase for FareSaver tickets and monthly passes on Translink services scheduled to become effective April 1st.

The cost of transit fares in the lower mainland has skyrocketed out of control, particularly in the last few years. Far from a luxury, the public transit system is a necessity for thousands of working people and for the majority of youth and students. Increased fares continue to make the transit system less accessible for young workers and students. Already a trip to work and back for a young worker costs between $5 and $10 while minimum wages sits at $8 for over eight years. Monthly passes will now cost from $81 to as much as $151. Many students are not covered under the various pass programs which offer lower rates.

We can’t continue to pay the endlessly increasing costs of Translink operations. The YCL demands:
- A publicly owned and operated transit system
- Meaningful public input in transit expansion decisions
- Democratically elected governance and the right to recall
- Expansion of transit services to meet the needs of those who use it; working people, youth, students, and the poor
- Funding through progressive taxation, not through high fares. This means taxing the rich and the corporate elite, not regressive taxes like the HST
- A system of reduced fares for ALL students
- Reduction and eventual elimination of fares to make transit accessible for all

In the long term, our struggle is for a socialist Canada where the working class, including youth and students, democratically own and control the wealth of society which they alone produce. When society’s wealth is put to work improving the lives of the people rather than enriching a small group of elites, all manner of public services including public transit can be funded at never before seen levels to serve the needs of society as a whole.

YCL BC March 2010 eBulletin

2010-03-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

To read the March eBulletin visit: http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/445432/8fed4b0a50/1623004971/6c0c9d641e/

To subscribe to the eBulletin e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

Reinforce the struggles of young women for full freedom and equality!

2010-02-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

Young Communist League of Canada, March 2010.

The Young Communist League celebrates International Women’s Day and calls on youth and students, regardless of gender, to unite against the Harper Conservative anti-women agenda.

For around 100 years International Women’s Day (IWD) has been celebrated across the globe. In many places, including the socialist countries, it is celebrated as an official holiday. IWD is a time to celebrate the heroic struggles of women, including young women and girls, across the planet throughout history for equality and freedom. It is also a time to renew these struggles as they are still needed so long as patriarchy and capitalism exist.

The Harper Conservative government represents an immediate threat to the rights of women in Canada.

In 2008, the Tories proved their continued opposition to women’s reproductive rights by introducing the “unborn victims of crime act,” which would have opened the door to further laws limiting or prohibiting access to abortion. Young women need a pro-choice agenda which provides education and access to both birth control and abortion free and without harassment by anti-choice forces.

Harper has attacked women’s shelters and advocacy groups with funding cuts which have resulted in, among other things, 12 out of 16 regional offices of Status of Women Canada being closed, and the elimination the Court Challenges Program.

Pay equity is also under attack. Women in Canada still only make about 70% as much as men for comparable work. The governments has ignored and rejected recommendations, including those from a federal task force, to introduce pay equity legislation. In fact, Harper took steps to deepen pay inequity when he introduced the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act which allows public sector employers to use “market demand” in determining compensation to public sector workers.

Young women typically remain stuck in low paid work of a part time or casual nature with no benefits or job security. Low minimum wages, which is some instances come in below the poverty line, limit the economic independence of young women and are a barrier to young families. Many young women are forced to work multiple jobs to get by and face harassment on the job.

The inequity of pay means an unequal ability to pay the crushing debt sentence imposed on students when they leave campuses and enter the work force. Current student debt in Canada runs over $13 billion and much of this is carried by young women. Young women face sexist barriers in education and are streamed into traditionally female roles in high schools.

Prostitution and trafficking of women and children continue to be serious issues and were worsened by the recent Olympic Games which saw an influx in the sex trade aimed at wealthy tourists attending the Games. The majority of women entering the sex trade are youth.

The brutal and unjust occupation of Afghanistan is another tragedy for women. Thousands of Afghan women and girls have been among the civilian casualties. Afghan Parliamentarian Malalai Joya was suspended from office and met with threats of rape and murder when she criticized the warlords now ruling the country with the backing of Canadian and other imperialist troops. She continues to receive threats to this day. In 2009, Afghan Parliament introduced a bill which would legalize rape within marriage. The current troop surge is intensifying violence in the region and worsening the situation for women and girls.

While the Tories represent an immediate danger to women’s rights, the capitalist system itself is fundamentally patriarchal in nature. Patriarchy is not only a development of the class system but a tool of the capitalist class. Sexism is used to divide the working class, youth and students and create conflicts based on gender in order to obscure the fact that the true enemy of working men and women is not the opposite gender, but the capitalist class. Inequity increases competition between workers and reduces co-operation. Sexism is not just a gender issue, it’s a class issue.

One of the most disturbing aspects of this sexist system is violence against women. 51% of Canadian women have faced physical and/or sexual violence since the age of 16. 31% of sexual assaults are reported as being perpetrated by a date or acquaintance. Many more are carried out through the use of date rape drugs. The majority of victims in these crimes are young women between the ages of 16-24. Every minute of every day, a woman or child is being sexually assaulted. In poor communities like the Vancouver Downtown East Side, one of the most impoverished areas in North America, women are particularly vulnerable. Over 3000 Aboriginal women are known to have been murdered or disappeared since the 1980’s. At least 18 women have gone missed or been murdered on the “Highway of Tears” in BC and Alberta.
The majority of these cases go unreported and almost all of them go unpunished. Violence against women is the natural outgrowth of the sexism inherent in the capitalist system which defines women as weak and helpless, as sex objects, as second rate people.

While there is never any excuse for rape or other violence against women, we must recognize that it is not only individual men who commit these crimes that are to blame, but the patriarchal capitalist system itself. The system that dehumanizes women, turning them into sexual objects while promoting the cult of male dominance and female subservience every day through the media, entertainment industry, pornography and even the education system. It’s on the cover of almost every magazine at the grocery store, in the lyrics of every song on MTV that described women as “bitches” and “hoes,” it’s in the 1.5% rate of eating disorder amongst young women.

Women who fit these stereotypes and play into the patriarchal capitalist system are promoted as role models while women who courageously stood up for their sisters and their class are forgotten or condemned. Real role models can be found all throughout the history of the working class movement in Canada and the world; like Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Annie Buller, Becky Buhay, Celia Sanchez, or Angela Davis.

The YCL fight for a socialist Canada where patriarchy will be ended and true equality will flourish. We also fight for changes that will strengthen women’s rights and equality in the present, such as:

1 Stop and reverse Harpers anti-equality agenda
2 Troops out now! End the occupation of Afghanistan. Solidarity with the women of Afghanistan and the world
3 Safe, public, accessible abortion clinics across Canada.
4 Affordable housing for all
5 Protect and expand LGBT-Q equality
6 Equal access to education. replace the student loans program by student grants; eliminate post-secondary tuition fees and pay students a stipend; massively expand trade programmes, including young women
7 A universal, affordable, non-profit childcare system with Canada-wide standards
8 A 30 hour week with no loss in pay and no reduction in public services; full benefits for part-time workers; raise the minimum wage to $16 an hour
9 Restore and extend employment and pay equity legislation; expand job creation programs, especially for disadvantaged young women; remove barriers to EI coverage; expand parental leave benefits to 52 weeks
10 Reinstate and expand core funding for equality-seeking women's organizations, including NAC; full funding for grassroots, feminist services to deal with violence against women
11 Enshrine within the constitution the rights of Aboriginal peoples, Quebec, and Acadians to self-determination and self-government, and guarantee the full economic, social and political equality of Aboriginal women
12 Restructuring of the way the legal system deals with violence against women, rape, and prostitution to better protect women from abuse

Capitalism is the root cause of the current attack on women’s rights. Corporations have everything to gain by paying women less, keeping working people divided, and promoting sexism and misogyny. Under capitalism, women face double oppression – as workers, and as women. Women work, study, and when they come home they do the majority of the housework. But they get the minority of the pay and recognition.

There is a strong need for a pan-Canadian women’s organization with a strong youth presence. Young women today can say “We won’t take it anymore!” and fight to end the oppression that their mothers and grandmothers fought against before them when they won such basic rights as the right to vote. We call for broad participation of youth and students in IWD demonstrations and activities as well as support for the World March of Women being held internationally from March 8-October 17. We look forward to a strong young women’s component to the Canadian delegation to the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students this December in South Africa. The oppression and inequality directed at women can only be ended once and for all by ending the capitalist system and building a new society where the working people, men and women together, call the shots in their common interests.

Upcoming Vancouver events

2010-02-23T08:54:00.000-08:00

1. Discussion Group: Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State
2. Left Film Night: Aristide and the Endless Revolution
3. YCL Vancouver (Red Star Club) Meeting

1. Discussion Group: Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State

This month our educational session will be a discussion group on The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State by Frederick Engels. The Origin of the Family... explores the disintegration of the primitive communal society and its replacement by class based societies. It looks at the origin of the state, patriarchy, and the modern family unit as a result of this. We will have discussion around these concepts and what it means for our struggle in the current context. Join us on February 26th at 6pm for the discussion. If you would like a PDF of this book e-mailed to you, please contact us at redstar@ycl-ljc.ca It can also be purchased affordably at the People's Co-Op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=284158189826&ref=mf

2. Left Film Night: Aristide and the Endless Revolution

Sunday, Feb. 28, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

"ARISTIDE AND THE ENDLESS REVOLUTION"

Shortly before the tragic earthquake which devastated Haiti on January 12, the political party of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was banned from elections which had been scheduled to take place on the same date as this film night. Since the earthquake, the US-dominated client government of Rene Preval has refused to allow Aristide to return to the island, where he is held in high regard by poor Haitians as the only president who ever put their needs first. Aristide and the Endless Revolution documents the story of imperialist subjection of Haiti from the time of its independence struggle, up to the 2004 coup backed by France, Canada and the United States, which removed Aristide from elected office for the second time.

Donations will be collected for grassroots relief work in Haiti.

No admission charge, but contributions towards our costs are welcome. Coffee and refreshments available.

COMING IN MARCH: Our annual Left Film Night Pasta Dinner will take place on Sunday, March 21 (not the last Sunday of the month, for a change). Dinner (vegetarian option available) will be served at 5:30, tickets $15, proceeds to the People's Voice Fund Drive. The film will be screened at 7 pm following the dinner; we'll announce the details shortly.

Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Latino and Vancouver East Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=8947029929&ref=ts

3. YCL Vancouver (Red Star Club) Meeting

Join us for our monthly meeting on March 11 starting at 6pm. The meeting is open to members and those interested in finding out more about the YCL. It will be held at our office located in the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.) This is also a great opportunity to come get your copy of the new issue of Rebel Youth Magazine, or pick up a subscription!

Draft Agenda:

Roll call
Adopt agenda
Membership, voting in of new members

OLD BUSINESS/STANDING ITEMS
- Peace & International Solidarity
- Young Workers & Labour
- Student Movement
- Culture & Agit Prop
- Education
- Rebel Youth
- Fundraising
- Olympics
- Flags / silkscreening

NEW BUSINESS
- Summer Camp & BC Convention
- Any other new business

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?invites&eid=367820579697

Statement of WFDY On the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada

2010-02-19T10:53:00.001-08:00

The opening of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games has been met with a wide-range of protest in the streets of Vancouver, Canada. The World Federation of Democratic Youth expresses its solidarity with the popular opposition to this corporate circus.

The Olympic Games are supposed to be about peace and friendship. The Canadian government has no mandate to host the Games. It is implicated in operations to destabilize African countries like of the coast of Somalia. It has deployed thousands of police and troops into Haiti. It is providing vocal diplomatic support to the Apartheid regime of Israeli. It is engaged in an imperialist war in Afghanistan. In a reactionary affront to democracy, Canada’s Conservative government dissolved the current parliamentary session because of the Olympics - although in reality parliament was shut down to avoid a growing torture scandal involving Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

The 2010 Olympics are racist and dishonorable towards Aboriginal nations. For example, the symbol of the games is an Inuit sculpture, a people whose territory is thousands of kilometers away. But “branding” can not hide the long genocidal history of the Canadian state and ruling class towards the Aboriginal nations. Despite public pressure, the Canadian state refuses to sign the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Games will be held on unsurrendered Aboriginal land where no treaties have been signed and resistance continues. Today, one-in-two Aboriginal children, including First Nations and Metis people, live in poverty. On many Indian Reserves there is no clean drinking water. The opening of the Games coincides with a Canada-wide day of action for the over 3000 Aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered since 1980. As aboriginal peoples and their allies have said, big business and the government have no respect for aboriginal sovereignty and self-determination, no money to ‘pay the rent.’ But there are billions of dollars to spend on Olympics.

In fact, just the ‘security’ bill for the Olympics - involving US and Canadian military, as well as thousands of para-military police - is $1 billion. This is an attempt to prevent people’s democratic right to protest, free speech and association. Striking workers have been legislated back to work for the Olympics. Thousands of poor people made homeless and criminalized. Environments and ecosystems have been destroyed. The recent border interrogation of progressive US radio host Amy Goodman has brought into the public spotlight the aggressive police harassment and repression of anti-Olympic activists.

The Olympic Games have transferred billions of dollars from the working people to corporate coffers. The immense public debt generated by the Olympics represents money that should have been spent on people’s needs, like job creation, more accessible education, housing, health care, libraries, child care, and affordable transit. The WFDY salutes those who opposed this injustice, particularly sister Harriet Nahannee who died from pneumonia afflicted while unjustly jailed for protesting. WFDY calls for sports to cherish fair-play and cooperation and promote peace, internationalism and solidarity - not militarism, elitism and consumerism.

No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!
Sports for people, not profit!

Protest is not a crime! The 2010 Games are!

2010-02-14T12:11:00.001-08:00

Young Communist League, BC Committee, February 14th 2010.

The Young Communist League, BC Committee, condemns police violence and harassment of anti-Olympic demonstrators and demands the immediate release of imprisoned activists.

While demonstrations against the Olympics have been largely peaceful, it is clear that it is the desire of VANOC and the police to shut down peoples democratic rights to freedom of speech and assembly by whatever means possible. Particularly on February 13th aggressive tactics were used by police in riot gear. Reports indicate that there were thirteen arrests and that more protesters were rounded up by police after the demonstration had ended. No serious injuries were reported.

We also condemn the attempts of the corporate media to paint anti-Olympic protesters and activists as violent thugs and to dismiss the legitimacy of peoples grievances against the Olympics. Implicit in this is an attempt to create a rationale for the removal of the peoples rights to protest during the Olympic period. While it is true that a minority of protesters have engaged in the destruction of corporate property, it has been police who have resorted to physical violence.

Protest and opposition to the Olympics is not a crime. The theft of the peoples tax dollars, homes, rights, and sustainable environment in the interests of the rich is. Resist the 2010 corporate circus! Whose streets? OUR STREETS!

Condemn the Olympic police state! Resist the 2010 corporate circus!

2010-02-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

Young Communist League of Canada, BC Committee, February 2010.

The Young Communist League, BC Committee, condemns the continued and intensifying police repression aimed at those critical of or actively opposed to the 2010 Olympic Games. On Saturday, February 6th, independent journalist Martin Macias Jr. arrived in Vancouver from Chicago to cover the games. He was detained for several hours and interrogated before being placed on a flight to Seattle. At no time was he allowed to contact legal counsel.

This incident is just one example of efforts aimed at curtailing democratic rights during the games. Visitors coming to Canada to participate in anti-Olympic activities have faced interrogation, detention, and rejection at the border. Meanwhile those involved in Olympic resistance have been subject to visits by the Vancouver Integrated Security Unit (VISU) at their homes and workplaces. Protests outside of established “free speech zones” have been declared illegal.

Attempts like these to suppress dissent reveal the anti-people nature of the Olympic Games and the anti-democratic nature of the Canadian state, which is no more than an instrument to protect the interests of the capitalist class at the expense of the working class, youth, and students.

Visit the Olympic Resistance Network Website

February events

2010-02-04T13:21:00.000-08:00

1. Button & Banner Making
2. YCL on Campus @ UBC
3. Take Back Our City!
4. 2010 Heart Attack
5. 19th Annual Women's Memorial March
6. Discussion Group

1. Button & Banner Making

Join us on Friday, February 5th, 6pm at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.) for button and banner making in preparation for upcoming rallies and other activities. A great opportunity to meet the YCL in a fun, social atmosphere.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=170610470581&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=471221585225&ref=mf

2. YCL on Campus @ UBC

The YCL will be on campus @ UBC on Thursday, February 11th talking with students and distributing free copies of our magazine, Rebel Youth. If you are on campus and would like to meet up with us please e-mail redstar@ycl-ljc.ca

3. Take Back Our City!

On Friday, February 12th, there will be a Take Back Our City festival and parade starting at 3:00pm at the Vancouver Art Gallery north side (Georgia, between Howe and Hornby). The YCL will be participating in this event.

For more information visit: 2010 Welcoming Committee http://2010welcoming.wordpress.com/

4. 2010 Heart Attack

Saturday, February 13th there will be a march to "clog the arteries of capitalism" starting at 8:30am at Thornton Park (corner of Main St. and Terminal Ave. beside Main St SkyTrain). The YCL will be participating in this event. For more information, visit: http://olympicresistance.net/content/2010-heart-attack

5. 19th Annual Women's Memorial March

Saturday, February 14th, 12 noon, the 19th Annual Women's Memorial March will begin from Carnegie Community Centre, 401 Main St. (at Hastings St.). The YCL will be participating in this event. For more information visit: http://womensmemorialmarch.wordpress.com/

6. Discussion Group

This month our educational session will be a discussion group on The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State by Frederick Engels. The Origin of the Family... explores the disintegration of the primitive communal society and its replacement by class based societies. It looks at the origin of the state, patriarchy, and the modern family unit as a result of this. We will have discussion around these concepts and what it means for our struggle in the current context. Join us on February 26th at 6pm for the discussion. If you would like a PDF of this book e-mailed to you, please contact us at redstar@ycl-ljc.ca It can also be purchased affordably at the People's Co-Op Bookstore, 1391 Commercial Drive.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=284158189826&ref=mf

*** Please note that Take Back the City and 2010 Heart Attack are only two of many Olympic related events. If you would like a full list of anti-Olympic events coming up in the Vancouver area, please e-mail redstar@ycl-ljc.ca

Let history remember the real legacy of the 2010 Games! No Olympics on stolen native land! Resist the 2010 corporate circus!

2010-02-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

Statement issued jointly by the YCL-LJC CEC and BC Provincial Committee

The YCL-LJC re-affirms its opposition to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games being held in Vancouver and Whistler starting this February, and expresses solidarity with the cross-Canada youth resistance to the Games. The Games are a massive party for the wealthy on the backs of the poor. They should be opposed by all progressive youth and students.

The 2010 Olympics are not just a bad decision by a bad government. They are part of the continued corporate offensive, led by the BC Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government on behalf of the capitalist class, against the working class, the youth, and the students. The Harper Conservatives use of the Olympics as an excuse to prorogue federal parliament further exposes this corporate circus.

These governments have no mandate to host a sports event claiming to be about peace and friendship. The Harper Conservatives are at war in Afghanistan. The preparations for the Games have left thousands of BC resident’s homeless and many criminalized by various bylaws and Olympic "security." The goal is to untruthful present Canada as a society without poverty. To the contrary, working class families, including unionized workers, are under attack.

Bill 21 forced striking Paramedics back to work without a negotiated collective agreement, attempting to legislate "labour peace" before the Olympics. Many Olympic projects are P3 privatization scandals. Workers must now pay billions of dollars for money wasted on the Games while public services suffer further cuts. The Games are too expensive for most workers to even attend.

The tokenism in Olympic advertising (such as the Inuit inuksuk mascot) fails to obscure the anti-First Nations nature of the Games. The Games will be held on unsurrendered Aboriginal land, where no Treaties have been signed. Olympic security costs are reportedly over $1 billion, while one in two off-reserve Aboriginal children live in poverty. Aboriginal nations, including First Nations and the Métis people, face a racist colonial legacy, including the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in British Columbia, not addressed by the Games.

While global warming is causing international alarm, the Olympics have destroyed forests, fish and wildlife habitats. The Eagle Ridge Bluffs was ruined for an unnecessary highway. We salute those who opposed this injustice, particularly sister Harriet Nahannee who died from pneumonia caught while unjustly jailed for protesting.

Any opposition to the Olympics is being met with harassment, intimidation, threats of violence and arrests. The Vancouver/Whistler area has been transformed into a militarized police zone, including 4,000 US and Canadian troops, to suspend the people’s democratic rights to protest, freedom of speech, expression, and association.

The Olympic Games have transferred billions of dollars from the working people of BC to corporate coffers. The immense public debt generated by the Olympics represents money that should have been spent on people’s needs, like job creation, more accessible education, housing, health care, libraries, child care, and affordable transit.

The YCL-LJC calls for participation in demonstrations being planned in the lead up to, and during the Olympic Games. Provincial infrastructure development must honour aboriginal nation’s right to sovereignty and self-determination. We demand that recreation, leisure time and a democratic culture including sports is a right – not a privilege. Women’s participation in sports should be encouraged, not excluded. Sports should cherish human qualities of fair-play and cooperation and promote peace, internationalism, solidarity – not militarism, elitism and consumerism. We fight for this better future and call for all like-minded youth to join the struggle!

Read more about the Olympics on the Rebel Youth Blog

Visit the Olympic Resistance Network online

YCL BC eBulletin - February 2010

2010-02-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

To view our February eBulletin visit the following link: http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/445432/7bc940fce7/1623004869/6c0c9d641e/

To subscribe please e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

Oppose Harper's Undemocratic Prorogue!

2010-01-26T20:17:00.001-08:00

YCL members in BC joined in rallies against Harper's undemocratic prorogue last weekend. Check out this Facebook group and follow the Rebel Youth blog for updates and analysis on the prorogue and be sure to join in future rallies against Harper's attack on democracy!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=260348091419

http://rebelyouth-magazine.blogspot.com/

Education is a right! Take the fight to the street!

2010-01-14T18:29:00.001-08:00

As the danger of privatization and cost continue to threaten public post-secondary education there are new threats from both within and without of the student movement.

Right wing Conservative and Liberal governments continue to increase tuition and ancillary fees. The majority of post-secondary students come from working class families and refusing even a moderate increases in minimum wage or any other relief has pushed student debt well above 13 billion dollars.

Students must stand up against these attacks and fight for a better education system, including:

- The reduction and elimination of tuition fees.
- Accessible post-secondary education funded by a progressive tax system.
- The opening of public apprenticeship programs with a guarantee of work.
- Increasing the minimum wage.
- A living stipend for students.
- The cancellation of student debt.
- Research directed by the people, not by corporate investment interests.

These and other progressive demands can only be won through mass, united mobilization and fight back. Victory is in the streets!

But the right also has more devious and destructive tactics on campus. Progressive student organizations are harassed constantly by Conservative Party activists intent on disrupting and destroying the student movement. Some even pose as progressives to confuse and destroy the unity of youth and students.

Students can’t wait for the next election. Immediate change is needed to relieve the massive costs and escalation of debt. Real, lasting political results must come from the democratic expression of protest in the street. Lobbying is not enough, and concessions cannot continue. Students have nothing more to give but to further go in debt!

Unwillingness to take action can only hinder the fight of students. Young progressives must take it upon themselves to bring fellow students together against regressive government policies and cuts. Inaction only aids these government as well as the dangerous anti-CFS campaigns which have reared their the past few years and especially in recent months.

Recently, a group called Progressive Students 4 CFS has publicized a letter calling for a more active student movement. The letter, which was signed by over 60 progressive students from across the country, also describes some of the issues facing students in Canada and the actions of the right on campus. Other active online student progressives can be found at campusconservativewatch.ca or Rabble.ca.

Soon the massive, nationwide campaign to defederate schools from the Canadian Federation of Students will come to a head. If these destructive campaigns are successful the students of Canada will be left with no united representation, and will be vulnerable to attacks from the far right. The fight for free, universal, accessible post-secondary education cannot be won without the voice and movement of students. The YCL-BC opposes the defederation campaigns and the attacks from the Conservative Party on campus.

Another tactic of the upper class in disrupting the student movement is enforced inactivity. Schools like Kwantlen Polytechnic, where defederation campaigners hold seats or maintain control of the students union, have seen a marked decrease in political activism. At Kwantlen, student elections have dramatically lower turnout then schools with active, progressive student leaders.

Strangely, the activity of campus conservatives is in some places defended by confused left wing students. Whether the case is that these students reject the CFS because it is not a revolutionary organization, or feel that some of the services or campaigns go beyond the mandate of student representatives, they fail to understand the issue at hand. There is a real threat to post-secondary education in Canada, and now is not the time to tear down all that students have worked for.

The questions of direction and unity in the student movement are serious ones. The CFS is not only a unified voice for post-secondary students, but is often quick to support international struggles including the fight of the Palestinian people. The YCL-BC calls on students to support the CFS against these defederation campaigns. Progressive students must be active in this struggle. Nothing is perfect, but we must work to build and strengthen a united student movement, not to destroy it.

It is important that post-secondary students question their elected leaders on this issue. A united student movement is the only thing preventing the complete deregulation or privatization of schools. As the fight goes on these right wing forces will further attempt to disrupt and corrupt student politics. The only way to reverse these attacks is to stand united against the defederation campaigns, cuts, and tuition increases.

- YCL BC Committee, January 2010

January events and meeting

2010-01-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

1. People's Co-Op Bookstore 65th Anniversary Party

The YCL supports the People's Co-Op Bookstore and invites you to join us in attending this important event to celebrate its 65th anniversary.

People's Co-op Books - the oldest and "hardest working" bookstore in the city - is well known as a community hub, a supporter of local writers, and a great place to buy books you often can't find anywhere else. This is your chance to support the store, and have a really good time.

January 22nd - 7:30pm - Wise Hall (1882 Adanac St.) - Tickets $10 in advance $15 at the door.

People's Co-op Bookstore turns 65 this year and will be holding series of events to celebrate. Join us!

More info on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/event.php?eid=235143019009

2. Young Workers Social

The Vancouver & District Labour Council Young Workers Committee is holding a Young Workers Social on Sunday, January 24th, 6pm, at the Railway Club (579 Dunsmuir Street).

The YCL supports the work of the VDLC Young Workers Committee and encourages young workers across the Vancouver area to attend the social and get involved.

More info on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/share.php?appid=2344061033&src=box&tid=246934534554&u=www.vdlc.ca#/event.php?eid=246934534554

3. Red Star Club YCL Vancouver meeting

The YCL Vancouver will be meeting on January 25th, 7pm, at our office in the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.) Interested in joining the YCL? Come on our and meet us!

Draft Agenda:

Roll call
Adopt agenda
Membership, voting in of new members

OLD BUSINESS/STANDING ITEMS
-Peace & International Solidarity (reports, WFYS)
-Young Workers & Labour (reports, next steps)
- Student Movement (reports, recent YCL BC statement, UBC)
- Culture & Agit Prop (Buttons, distro of environment leaflet, other)
- Rebel Youth (distribution, next issue)
- Fundraising (report, next fundraiser)
- Olympics

NEW BUSINESS
- Flags / silkscreening
- Plan next educational/discussion group
- Any other new business

More info on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/editevent.php?eid=292379600808&step=1#/event.php?eid=292379600808

January 2010 eBulletin

2010-01-07T18:32:00.001-08:00

Visit the following link to view the January 2010 eBulletin online. E-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca to subscribe!
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/445432/e4dc46aac9/1623004789/6c0c9d641e/

December 2009 eBulletin

2009-12-01T18:06:00.000-08:00

View the December YCL BC eBulletin online by clicking here.

To subscribe to our monthly eBulletin e-mail ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

2009-12-01T18:05:00.001-08:00

FYI this invitation from the Communist Party includes YCL members and friends.

ANNUAL WINTER SOLSTICE OPEN HOUSE

Sunday, Dec. 13, 2-5 pm
At the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

All comrades, friends and supporters of the movements for peace, democracy, equality, and socialism are invited to join the Communist Party for the annual Winter Solstice Open House at the CSE. We'll have refreshments (by donation), snacks, music, and fabulous prizes for winners of a special quiz about major events of the past year! HINT: the quiz questions will be based on facts and figures from 2009 issues of People's Voice.

For information, call Sam Hammond (604-254-9836) or Kimball Cariou (604-255-2041).

YCL Vancouver December events

2009-11-30T21:17:00.000-08:00

1. YCL Dinner & Movie Night Fundraiser

Come support the ongoing work and growth of the Young Communist League!

A night of good food and good, working class, cinema. We will be showing the famous film Salt of the Earth, the true story of miners’ strike in New Mexico.

The film was banned and those involved in its production were blacklisted during the anti-Communist terror of the McCarthy period.
An inspiring story of working men and women uniting to militantly fight for a better life, Salt of the Earth, brings forward many important lessons for working people today.

We will also be showing a variety of show videos produced by the YCL.

All funds raised go towards the publication of Rebel Youth magazine and travel costs to our 25th Central Convention in May, 2010.

Saturday, December 5th, 6pm. Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr. Tickets at the door. $25, $15 for low income.

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/event.php?eid=183256741269&ref=mf

2. YCL Vancouver meeting

Our next meeting will be on December 5th, at 1:30pm, prior to our evening fundraiser. The location will be our office in the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr.

Agenda:

Roll call
Adopt agenda

OLD BUSINESS/STANDING ITEMS
-Peace & International Solidarity
-Young Workers & Labour
- Student Movement
- Culture & Agit Prop
- Rebel Youth
- Pro-Choice demo report back
- Silk Screening report back
- Planning for tonight's fundraiser
- Any other business arising from minutes

NEW BUSINESS
- Review of 2009
- Discussion of 2010 (Conventions, WFYS, Low Paid Workers etc.)

http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/event.php?eid=218564630287&ref=mf

Protest the Bigoted Anti-Woman, Anti-Choice Agenda!

2009-11-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

The following is a re-print of a 2008 pro-choice statement issued by the YCL-BC. It will be used at our upcoming pro-choice demo.

Protest the Bigoted Anti-Woman, Anti-Choice Agenda!
Protect Women’s Right to Chose!
Demand Free, Safe and Public Abortion Clinics, Accessible to all Women!
Stop the Harper Conservative Anti-Choice, Anti-Sex Agenda!

Every year, around the world thousands of women are forced to undertake illegal, unsafe and unhealthy abortions due to bans imposed by the state in their given country. Many die; others suffer severe health issues as a result. Yet, science has long disproved the old arguments which attack abortion with such absurd slurs as “murder” and “genocide”. Women around the world, with their allies, are fighting for their rights; they are fighting for control over their own bodies!

Throughout Canada, abortions have been legal since 1988. Yet, today women’s right to chose are under attack! The Harper Conservative regimes reactionary social policies are anti-women, anti-sex and anti-abortion although their minority position has thus far halted the implementation of many of their policies. Through the continued privatization of health care access to abortion is become eroded, therefore violating the rights of Canadian women.

We need a free, public health care system which includes access to abortion not based on the requirement of a health care plan or payment. Women are also often harassed and intimidated by goons and bullies of the religious right at clinics and hospitals. At the same time, the youth are given inadequate information on birth control options and abortion in schools. Sex education is becoming increasingly fear driven and anti-sex. This continues to help lead to increased teenage pregnancy and violates the separation of church and state since anti-abortion arguments are based solely on religious arguments and are scientifically disproved.

All of this makes up only one component of the over all systematic degradation of the democratic rights of the youth and the people in our country being carried out under slogans of “Free Trade”, the “War on Terror” and so forth.

In contrast, socialist Cuba guarantees the right to abortion to all women as a component of its free, public, universal health care system. Under socialism, social policies are based on scientifically ascertained knowledge and the interests of the masses, not on the petty fringe interests of a hateful minority. It’s time to fight back! Oppose the corporate anti-choice, anti-sex agenda! Oust Harper! Fight for change!

The YCL Demands:
• Free and safe abortions accessible to all women, on demand and without apology
• A ban on anti-choice demonstrations at and around clinics and hospitals
• A ban on all “Crisis Pregnancy Centres” that operate in the interests of the anti-choice agenda
• Sex education including information on birth control options and abortion in schools, no to “abstinence only education”
• Complete gender equality

Vancouver Event Reminders/Updates

2009-11-09T17:35:00.001-08:00

1. Silkscreening Party 2

Since we unfortunately had to postpone our silkscreening party this weekend we will be holding in November instead on the 14th starting at 11:00am. We are currently working on a simple, but attractive design for some flags which we will be silkscreening. These will be a great way to make the YCL visible at rallies in the future. This is our first trial run with silkscreening but we plan to do many bigger and better things, like t-shirts, once we get practiced up. Come join us, it will be a lot of fun. Wear expendable clothes as we will be dealing with ink and other materials which could stain fabric.

NOTE: The time of this event was previously 1:30pm. It is now 11:00am.

2. Take Action to Defend Women's Right to Chose!

The YCL, along with members of the Communist Party, will be taking action in defense of women's right to reproductive choice on November 13th at noon. A group of YCLers and friends dressed in medieval/feudal garb will gather at Commercial & Broadway along side the group of anti-choice demonstrators who inhabit the corner each Friday afternoon. We will be drawing attention to the absurdity of the archaic, anti-women ideas they espouse but also to the danger they pose to womens rights. It won't be the first time we have taken these people on, but the creative twist of the event is sure to get some attention. Some will be just holding signs and leafleting, so feel free to join us even if you don't have a costume.

3. YCL Study Group - Dialectical Materialism Pt. 2

This month we will complete our discussion of Dialectical Materialism, led by Paul Bjarnason of the BC Committee of the Communist Party. It will be Wednesday, November 18th, 7pm at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.)

Suggested reading: Materialism and the Dialectical Method by Maurice Cornforth. If you would like a .PDF copy of this material, please e-mail redstar@ycl-ljc.ca

Celebrate the October Revolution

2009-11-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

The BC Committee of the Communist Party of Canada extends an invitation to members and friends of the Young Communist League to their annual celebration of the October Revolution which led to the establishment of the worlds first socialist state, the Soviet Union. This year is the 92nd anniversary of those "ten days that shook the world."

The event will take place on Friday, November 6th, starting at 7pm. It will be held at the Chilean Housing Co-Op meeting room, 3390 School Avenue in Vancouver.

The featured guest speaker will be Miguel Figueroa, leader of the Communist Party of Canada.

This is a free event (donations welcome). Refreshments and a light meal will be available. For details, contact the BC Committee of the Communist Party at 604.254.9836.

YCL BC November eBulletin

2009-11-01T19:11:00.001-08:00

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/445432/012bd57cf4/1623002805/6c0c9d641e/

November YCL Events in Vancouver Area

2009-10-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

1. LEFT FILM NIGHT

Sunday, October 25, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver
(corner of Clark & E. Georgia)

FROZEN RIVER

Written and directed by Courtney Hunt, USA, 2008, 97 minutes

Just before Christmas near a border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec, two women - one white, one Mohawk - are faced with desperate circumstances. Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) is struggling to raise two sons alone after her gambling-addicted husband disappears with the family’s car. Working part-time for minimum wage at the Yankee Dollar store, Ray witnesses a Mohawk woman driving the missing vehicle. When she tries to retrieve the car from Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham), Ray is drawn into helping smuggle immigrants into the U.S. across a frozen river. Nominated for two Academy awards, Frozen River raises crucial questions: Does the river mark a genuine boundary between Canada and the U.S., or is it simply part of the Mohawk Nation geography? Can the common struggle for economic survival overcome historic barriers of racism and prejudice? Can a human being be “illegal”?

A collection will be taken during this Left Film Night towards the legal defence of indigenous environmental campaigner John Graham. Accused in the 1975 murder of American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash, John Graham was extradited from Vancouver to stand trial in South Dakota, despite the lack of any credible evidence against him. For updates, visit www.grahamdefense.org.

No charge for admission; donations welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

2. BBQ & Rally for Striking Maple Ridge Extra Foods Workers

Show your support for striking Maple Ridge Extra Foods workers by attending a Barbeque Rally on Saturday, October 31.

These UFCW 1518 members are going into their tenth month on the picket line having been on strike since December 2008. At this point, talks have stalled with Westfair/Loblaws. The main issues are wages, benefits, and job security.

The New Westminster & District Labour Council and the Fraser Valley Labour Council are sponsoring the rally. All union members and affiliates are urged to attend.

The BBQ will be held at Extra Foods at the corner of Dewdney Trunk Road and 224th in Maple Ridge from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM on October 31st.

The YCL supports the struggle of the Maple Ridge Extra Foods Workers and will be attending the rally. Please come join us and show your solidarity.

3. Leafleting at Big Box Stores

The YCL will be lending a helping hand to the efforts of union organizers to take on big box stores in BC. On November 1st we will be taking part in direct leaflet drops at big box stores in the Vancouver-Burnaby area. Since we plan to take the owners and management of these stores by surprise we will provide further information like the meet up place, stores we will visit etc. to you if you contacts us to say that you are attending. It will take place on November 1st starting at 1:30pm.

4. World Peace Forum Teach-In

The YCL will be participating the in World Peace Forum teach-in this year. Details are below. November 11th will be a special series of panels for youth and students. There will also be an activist career fair at which the YCL will be one of the featured organizations. We encourage all of our members and friends to attend.

The World Peace Forum Society presents
1929-1939- FROM CRASH TO CATASTROPHE
A TEACH IN ON WHAT HAPPENED AND ITS LESSONS TODAY
NOV. 7, 8 & 11
MARITIME LABOUR CENTRE
1880 Triumph Street

http://www.peaceforumteachin.org/ or www.worldpeaceforumbc.ca

The 'Great' Depression, the rise of fascism, the debates that shook the workers' movement, the Spanish Civil War, the transformation from coal to oil, the rise of the American Empire, the origins of mass media, the birth of mass industrial unions, youth, anti-war and solidarity movements and much more- the 'thirties' were a decade that had a huge impact on the world we live in today and the tasks that face activists.

Following the success of the first World Peace Forum Teach In in 2008 which looked at the impact of World War I this gathering of academics, artists and activists will discuss and debate the decade between the great 'crash' of October 1929 and the official beginning of the Second World War in September of 1939.

With the goal of supporting peace, economic and social justice and ecological sustainability, the World Peace Forum is creating a program featuring speakers from across North America who will shed light on the roots of the present in the past. In plenary sessions and smaller workshops the lessons of history and the tasks of today will be discussed and debated. On Remembrance Day- November 11- there will be a special series of panels for young people- the generation who will decide what the future of humanity will look like and whether there will be one.

Program information available at http://www.peaceforumteachin.org/
To get involved- info@worldpeaceforumbc.ca

5. Pro-Choice Action - November 13th

The YCL will be taking action in defense of women's right to reproductive choice on November 13th at noon. A group of YCLers and friends dressed in medieval/feudal garb will gather at Commercial & Broadway along side the group of anti-choice demonstrators who inhabit the corner each Friday afternoon. We will be drawing attention to the absurdity of the archaic, anti-women ideas they espouse but also to the danger they pose to womens rights. It won't be the first time we have taken these people on, but the creative twist of the event is sure to get some attention. Feel free to join us.

6. Silkscreening Party 2

Since we unfortunately had to postpone our silkscreening party this weekend we will be holding in November instead on the 14th starting at 1:30pm. We are currently working on a simple, but attractive design for some flags which we will be silkscreening. These will be a great way to make the YCL visible at rallies in the future. This is our first trial run with silkscreening but we plan to do many bigger and better things, like t-shirts, once we get practiced up. Come join us, it will be a lot of fun. Wear expendable clothes as we will be dealing with ink and other materials which could stain fabric.

7. YCL Study Group - Dialectical Materialism Pt. 2

This month we will complete our discussion of Dialectical Materialism, led by Paul Bjarnason of the BC Committee of the Communist Party. It will be Wednesday, November 18th, 7pm at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.)

Suggested reading: Materialism and the Dialectical Method by Maurice Cornforth. If you would like a .PDF copy of this material, please e-mail redstar@ycl-ljc.ca

8. Fundraising Dinner & Movie Night

We will be holding a Dinner & Movie Night fundraiser in late November to raise funds for our upcoming Convention and for Rebel Youth Magazine. Details TBA shortly.

LEFT FILM NIGHT: FROZEN RIVER

2009-10-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

LEFT FILM NIGHT

Sunday, October 25, 7 pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver
(corner of Clark & E. Georgia)

FROZEN RIVER

Written and directed by Courtney Hunt, USA, 2008, 97 minutes

Just before Christmas near a border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec, two women - one white, one Mohawk - are faced with desperate circumstances. Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) is struggling to raise two sons alone after her gambling-addicted husband disappears with the family’s car. Working part-time for minimum wage at the Yankee Dollar store, Ray witnesses a Mohawk woman driving the missing vehicle. When she tries to retrieve the car from Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham), Ray is drawn into helping smuggle immigrants into the U.S. across a frozen river. Nominated for two Academy awards, Frozen River raises crucial questions: Does the river mark a genuine boundary between Canada and the U.S., or is it simply part of the Mohawk Nation geography? Can the common struggle for economic survival overcome historic barriers of racism and prejudice? Can a human being be “illegal”?

A collection will be taken during this Left Film Night towards the legal defence of indigenous environmental campaigner John Graham. Accused in the 1975 murder of American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Aquash, John Graham was extradited from Vancouver to stand trial in South Dakota, despite the lack of any credible evidence against him. For updates, visit www.grahamdefense.org.

No charge for admission; donations welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East and Montivero Clubs of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

YCL Vancouver Event Updates and Reminders

2009-10-15T19:14:00.001-07:00

1. Red Star Club Meeting - POSTPONED

The meeting that was scheduled for Saturday the 17th is being postponed in order to ensure that the majority of members are available to participate. See below for details.

2. Left Film Night: Cocalero & Libertarias

Left Film Night presents a double feature on Saturday, Oct. 17:

COCALERO

(Director Alejandro Landes, 94 minutes, Argentina, 2007, English subtitles)

Starts 7:00 pm

A cocalero is a coca leaf grower from the Andes region of South America. In this documentar, Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian cocalero and trade union leader, travels through Bolivia in his historic 2005 bid to be elected the first indigenous president in the Americas, 500 years after the arrival of Cristopher Columbus. Cocalero documents Morales on the campaign trail, from formal fundraising dinners to mass rallies. It also shows the personal side of Morales, speaking about his life and the reasons for his entry into the political arena.

LIBERTARIAS (“Freedom Fighters”)

(Director Vincente Aranda, 125 minutes, Spain, English subtitles)

Starts 8:50 pm

An emotional film shedding light on the lives of six members of a women’s brigade in Barcelona fighting for the country’s left wing Republican government in 1936.

Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

No admission charge, but donations towards our costs are welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

Details: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=656850401&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=8947029929

3. Silk Screening Party/Red Star Club Meeting

Join us for a Silk Screening Party on Saturday, October 24th, 11am, at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.) The YCL has recently acquired a large amount of Silk Screening materials and plans to get together on October 24th to take our first shot at putting them to use. We plant to make several flags to be used at future rallies and protests and practice our skills for eventually making t-shirts and other items for use in our activities and for fundraising.

We will also have our meeting this day. Here is the draft agenda:

Role Call/Membership
Minutes of September 12th

OLD BUSINESS/STANDING ITEMS

-Peace & International Solidarity (Honduras, WPF Youth Day, Fraser Valley Peace Council, Stopwar Youth etc.)
-Young Workers & Labour (Minimum Wage, On to Ottawa Trek, Wal Mart etc.)
- Student Movement (Campus work, new leaflets, etc.)
- Culture & Agit Prop (Left Film Night, new poster etc.)
- Pro-Choice demo
- Fundraising
- Silk Screening
- Any other business arising from minutes

NEW BUSINESS

- Central Convention
- YCL BC Convention

YCL BC eBulletin October 2009

2009-10-02T18:47:00.001-07:00

Check out the October edition of our monthly eBulletin online at the following link and subscribe to receive the eBulletin to your e-mail every month.

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/445432/e744d376d0/1623002805/6c0c9d641e/

What's the YCL up to in October?

2009-09-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

1. Demand $10 NOW

The Vancouver & District Labour Council' Young Workers Committee is organizing a campaigning blitz at Oakridge Mall on Saturday, October 3rd at 1pm. The event is for the $10 NOW campaign which demands an immediate increase to $10/hour for the minimum wage, a subsequent increase to $11, indexing to inflation and abolition of the "training wage." They will be bringing their demands directly to the mall, where many employer who pay the minimum wage are, and most importantly to the workers at the mall who need this the most. We urge our members and friends to participate in this action.

Details: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=656850401&ref=profile#/event.php?eid=169708145378

2. YCL Discussion Group - Dialectical Materialism

Our next discussion group will be on dialectical materialism, led by Paul Bjarnason of the BC Committee of the Communist Party. It will be Wednesday, October 7th, 7pm at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.)

Suggested reading: Materialism and the Dialectical Method by Maurice Cornforth. If you would like a .PDF copy of this material, please e-mail redstar@ycl-ljc.ca

Details: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=656850401&ref=profile#/event.php?eid=149267372237&ref=ts

3. Red Star Club Meeting

This months Red Star Club meeting will be held on October 17th at 5pm, before the Left Film Night. It will be at our office in the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr.

Here is the draft agenda:

Role Call/Membership
Minutes of September 12th

OLD BUSINESS/STANDING ITEMS

-Peace & International Solidarity (Honduras, WPF Youth Day, Fraser Valley Peace Council, Stopwar Youth etc.)
-Young Workers & Labour (Minimum Wage, On to Ottawa Trek, Wal Mart etc.)
- Student Movement (Campus work, new leaflets, etc.)
- Culture & Agit Prop (Left Film Night, new poster etc.)
- Pro-Choice demo
- Fundraising
- Silk Screening
- Any other business arising from minutes

NEW BUSINESS

- Central Convention
- YCL BC Convention

4. Left Film Night: Cocalero & Libertarias

Left Film Night presents a double feature on Saturday, Oct. 17:

COCALERO

(Director Alejandro Landes, 94 minutes, Argentina, 2007, English subtitles)

Starts 7:00 pm

A cocalero is a coca leaf grower from the Andes region of South America. In this documentar, Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian cocalero and trade union leader, travels through Bolivia in his historic 2005 bid to be elected the first indigenous president in the Americas, 500 years after the arrival of Cristopher Columbus. Cocalero documents Morales on the campaign trail, from formal fundraising dinners to mass rallies. It also shows the personal side of Morales, speaking about his life and the reasons for his entry into the political arena.

LIBERTARIAS (“Freedom Fighters”)

(Director Vincente Aranda, 125 minutes, Spain, English subtitles)

Starts 8:50 pm

An emotional film shedding light on the lives of six members of a women’s brigade in Barcelona fighting for the country’s left wing Republican government in 1936.

Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver

No admission charge, but donations towards our costs are welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

Details: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=656850401&ref=profile#/group.php?gid=8947029929

5. Silk Screening Party!

Join us for a Silk Screening Party on Saturday, October 24th, 11am, at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.) The YCL has recently acquired a large amount of Silk Screening materials and plans to get together on October 24th to take our first shot at putting them to use. We plant to make several flags to be used at future rallies and protests and practice our skills for eventually making t-shirts and other items for use in our activities and for fundraising.

Labour Day Greeting from the Young Communist League of Canada

2009-09-08T17:36:00.001-07:00

On the occasion of Labour Day the Young Communist League of Canada greets the young workers with solidarity and militancy. Canada is one of the few countries in the world that does not celebrate the workers holiday on May 1, but every holiday we have fought for and deserve.

On Labour Day 2009 we view the situation of the young workers as very dire. Across our country minimum wages are poverty wages, youth unemployment is the highest since figures began to be recorded, tuition is on the rise, and social services and union contracts are under attack. This is taking place in the context of the sellout of our jobs and our countries sovereignty through de-industrialization, free trade pacts, and deep integration with the United States.

All of this is part of the offensive of capital aimed at making the working people, including young workers, pay for the deepening global economic crisis that they created. This economic crash, which is the worst of its kind since the Great Depression of the 1930’s, is merely a symptom of a system in crisis.

Today the ruling class and its governments and political parties in Canada and around the world are scrambling to find new ways to patch up their crisis ridden system. This Labour Day, while we celebrate the struggles and the victories of Canada’s working class movement, we should do so with a consciousness of the need to continue that movement in a united and militant way today.

Together, the working class, youth, and students, could defeat the anti-worker Harper Tories. Together, we could put an end to this capitalist system and to the exploitation, poverty and misery that is breeds.

We won’t pay for their crisis! Let’s unite a fight back!

Upcoming Events in the Lower Mainland!

2009-09-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

1. Labour Day @ Trout Lake

The BC Federation of Labour and Canadian Labour Congress are holding a Labour Day celebration at Trout Lake (John Hendry) Park on September 7th from 11am-2pm. There will be entertainment and food (hot dogs, corn, and drinks for 50 cents each).

The YCL will be present, talking to young workers and distributing leaflets. If you want to meet up with us, e-mail redstar@ycl-ljc.ca

For more information about the event, visit www.bcfed.ca

2. Red Star Club meeting

Our next Club meeting will be Saturday, September 12th, 5pm at our office in the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.)

DRAFT AGENDA
-Roll Call
-Previous minutes

Old Business/Standing Items:
-Peace & International Solidarity (Honduras, WPF Youth Day, Stopwar Youth etc.)
-Young Workers & Labour (Minimum Wage, On to Ottawa Trek etc.)
- Student Movement (UBC, new leaflets, etc.)
- Culture (Concert, Left Film Nights etc.)
- Pro-Choice demo
- Any other business arising

New Business:
- Silk screening
- Fundraising (50/50, other?)

3. Left Film Night: CHE

Join us on September 12th, 7pm, at 706 Clark Dr. for CHE, the 2008 film about the revolutionary Che Guevara best known for his participation in the Cuban revolution, who was murdered by the CIA in 1967 in Bolivia where he was helping to lead a guerrilla struggle against the militarist government of that country.

This is a free event organized by the Montivero Club of the Communist Party of Canada and supported by the Young Communist League.

4. Rally Against HST!

On Saturday, September 19th from 12-3pm there will be a rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby St.) against the HST. Gordo and company are feeling the heat and opposition is growing to this massive corporate handout and attack on the working people. The YCL will be present with copies of our statement against the HST. To join the YCL contingent at the rally, respond to this e-mail or call Stephen at 778.231.4635.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=109299859454&ref=ts

5. Chilean Independence Day Dinner and Fundraiser

Part of the larger South American Wars of Independence against Spanish colonialism, the Chilean War of Independence began on September 18, 1810, when a national junta was established to govern Chile. The war included the period known as the Reconquista of 1814-17, when Spanish loyalists regained power, punishing rebels and driving more Chileans into the insurrectionary camp. Returning from exile in Argentina, the combined forced of Bernardo O'Higgins and Jose de San Martin freed Chile with a daring assault over the Andes, defeating the Spaniards at the Battle of Chacabuco on February 12, 1817.
After defeating the last large Spanish force on Chilean soil at th Battle of Maipu on April 5, 1818, San Martin led his followers north to help liberate Peru, a key to hemispheric victory over the Spanish which was finally accomplished by Simon Bolivar's forces in 1824.

Each year Chilean Independence Day is celebrated by Chilean-Canadians in Vancouver. The YCL is invited again this year to participate in the event and to fundraise for our political work via a 50/50 draw. Come join us and enjoy delicious South American food and wine, as well as live entertainment. Tickets are $20. For reservations, call 604.436.5599 or 778.216.0407.

The event is on Saturday, September 19th, 6pm, at the Peretz Centre (6184 Ash St.)

To volunteer to help with the YCL 50/50 draw, respond to this e-mail or call Stephen at 778.231.4635.

6. Left Film Night: Peter Seeger - The Power of Song

On September 27th, 7pm, 706 Clark Dr. join us for The Power of Song, a film about the famous progressive folk musician Pete Seeger. The film uses interviews, archival footage and home movies to illustrate the social history of Pete Seeger. A fascinating film and a must see for those interested in folk music and peoples culture.

7. YCL Discussion Group - Dialectical Materialism

Our next discussion group will be on dialectical materialism. It will be Wednesday, October 7th, 7pm at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.)

Suggested reading: Materialism and the Dialectical Method by Maurice Cornforth. If you would like a .PDF copy of this material, please e-mail redstar@ycl-ljc.ca

WFDY salutes KSM achieving legal status once again!

2009-09-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

The YCL in BC held a number of demonstrations demanding a the reversal of the ban on the Czech Communist Youth (KSM) and helped circulate a petition to that effect. Today we received this news from the World Federation of Democratic Youth that our Czech comrades have succeeded in overturning the ban!

______________________________________________________________________________________________

WFDY salutes KSM achieving legal status once again!

The Supreme Court of Czech Republic has, today, decided to cancel the ban that over the last years has the Communist Union of Czech Republic (KSM) to face the situation of being an illegal organization, deprived from the basic rights that any democratic organization should have.

WFDY considers this a major development and a historical moment. We reaffirm now that, as in the past, this is not an administrative or even legal matter, but a deeply political matter. In the same way KSM was not being made illegal by the pretense “legal” matters in its program, the decision of today is not at all a strict court decision.

This decision is the result of KSM and Czech youth’s struggle, as well as of the intense and worldwide solidarity expressed by the youth of all corners of the world. WFDY and its member and friend organizations have, from the first moment, developped countless demonstrations, petitions and many other means of solidarity, which were surely an important support to the Czech youth.

WFDY considers this moment of victory as another proof that, despite the obstacles, difficulties and attacks, the struggle is the way for victory against imperialism and urges its member and friend organizations to spread the news that will let all anti-imperialist people organizations happy and even more motivated for the struggle for social and democratic rights, freedom, justice and peace, against imperialism and all its expressions!

The CC/HQ of WFDY

Budapest, September 3
www.wfdy.org

Important Updates to Upcoming Events

2009-08-26T18:36:00.001-07:00

1. POSTPONED Discussion Group: The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism

Join us for our monthly discussion group. This month we will discuss Lenin's article The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism. This article, which outlines the basic origins and fundamentals of Marxism, was first published in1913 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of Karl Marx.

We will be joined by a special guest speaker, Paul Bjarnason (CPC BC Committee), for a presentation followed by discussion. Pre-reading optional but suggested. The discussion group will be followed by the Left Film Night.

Wednesday, September 2nd, 7:30pm
Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr.

To read the article for free online, visit http://www.marx2mao.com/Lenin/CPM13.html
Or, look for a copy at the People's Co-Op Bookstore.

http://www.facebook.com/share.php?appid=2344061033&src=box&tid=122761566586&u=http%3A%2F%2Fyclbc-lowermainland.blogspot.com%2F#/event.php?eid=122761566586

2. Left Film Night: Milk

LEFT FILM NIGHT presents:

MILK

Sunday, August 30, 7 pm

at the Centre for Socialist Education
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver (corner of Clark & E. Georgia)

If you missed MILK in the theatres earlier this year, here's your chance. Sean Penn deservedly won Best Actor at the 2009 Academy Awards for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to a major political position in the United States. MILK (directed by Gus Van Sant, 128 minutes) presents a fascinating look at two worlds - the flourishing gay and lesbian communities of San Francisco during the 1970s, and the complex and difficult struggle to win progressive reforms through the electoral process at the municipal level. Harvey Milk succeeded in bringing together a broad coalition of gay activists, trade unionists, Latinos and other oppressed minorities, small business owners, tenants, homeowners and other San Franciscans. United, they challenged the city's entrenched elites and undemocratic political structures to bring a powerful voice for the people into City Hall. His tragic assassination sparked a huge upsurge in the struggle for full equality for the LGBT community, a struggle which continues to this day in California and around the world. MILK is both a stunning artistic achievement and a timely political statement.

No admission charge, but donations towards our costs are welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East Club of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8947029929&ref=ts

3. Labour Day @ Trout Lake

The BC Federation of Labour and Canadian Labour Congress are holding a Labour Day celebration at Trout Lake (John Hendry) Park on September 7th from 11am-2pm. There will be entertainment and food (hot dogs, corn, and drinks for 50 cents each).

The YCL will be present, talking to young workers and distributing leaflets. If you want to meet up with us, e-mail redstar@ycl-ljc.ca

For more information about the event, visit www.bcfed.ca

Stop the HST!

2009-08-24T17:57:00.001-07:00

As the economic crisis continues to endanger jobs and force down wages British Columbians are faced with another attack. On July 23th, 2009 the right-wing B.C. Liberal government announced its intention to implement a Harmonized Sales Tax by July 1st, 2010. Despite explicit promises not to introduce such a tax during the last provincial election in May, the Liberal government persists in forcing working class British Columbians to pay for the failing capitalist economy.

The Harmonized Sales Tax combines two taxes, the Provincial Sales Tax and the federal Goods and Services Tax, into one federally administered sales tax. When this takes place, almost everything which PST does not apply to will see a 7% increase in cost. Among these are some of the most important parts a working class family's budget such as: residential fuels (electricity, natural gas) and heating, food products, non-prescription medication, work-related safety equipment, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, and household maintenance such as renovations and painting. Even grieving families will now pay 7% more at a funeral home.

The Harmonized Tax system puts a massive weight on working people in British Columbia. Northern B.C.ers who are seeing forestry jobs lost and already pay far more for many essential products will now see home heating costs increase dramatically. Commuters in urban areas will see bicycles and bicycle repairs jump in price, which continues the B.C. Liberal policy of profits before people and the environment.

Youth will be affected drastically by the new system. Movies and theatre tickets, repairs for home appliances, and other costs often born by young people will increase substantially. Even school supplies will see a 7% increase in cost when students already pay a criminal tuition fee to attend college or university. While the Liberals refuse to raise minimum wage or legislate a living wage system they continue to increase taxes on those who fall below the poverty line.

To add insult to injury the B.C. Liberal government will receive a 1.6 billion dollar payout from the federal Conservative government to implement this system. As working people try to balance meager budgets the provincial sellout continues. If it was not clear before, British Columbians now know exactly how much they sell for in the capitalist market.

- Interim BC Provincial Committee, August 2009

YCL BC Summer Camp a Big Hit

2009-08-22T11:07:00.001-07:00

The Sunshine Coast was a little more Red than usual this BC Day long weekend as the Young Communist League (YCL) held their annual Summer Camp in Sechelt.

Over 20 youth from across the province attended the camp this year where they learned, discussed, and had fun. It was the largest event of its kind held since the YCL began to re-organize in BC over five years ago.

“It can be hard to get young people out to a four day long event,” said YCL BC Organizer Stephen Von Sychowski. “I think the growth can be attributed to the increase in size and activity of the League in BC as well as to the radicalization of youth in the face of war, student debt and the capitalist economic crisis. Capitalism is again producing its own gravediggers.”

At least years Summer Camp, Trail was the newest addition to the list of YCL Clubs being built up across Canada. This year it was Kamloops. Both Clubs sent delegations to this years Summer Camp.

Under the scorching hot sun the attendees studied a variety of topics including the economic crisis and the fightback, the environmental crisis, what socialism is and why it is necessary, current events in Latin America, and more.

But it wasn’t all study, there was also lots of time for fun. After educational sessions were finished it was off to the beach to relax, swim, and enjoy the rest of the day.

“I came here to learn about Marxism,” said one camp attendee, “but I left not just with new knowledge but also with new friends and memories of an awesome weekend.”

The YCL will hold its annual Summer Camp again next year and invites youth and students to contact them for more information at ycl_bc@ycl-ljc.ca

Minimum Wage Fight Must Go On

2009-08-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Minimum Wage Fight Must Go On
by Stephen Von Sychowski

On November 1st, 2001, BC’s minimum wage increased to $8 per hour. I was working that day. It was at my first job, Super Save Gas. We were minimum wage workers with no benefits, no job security, no paid vacation, and all things considered, this was the best news any of us had heard since we entered the workforce.

Almost eight years later, the wages of BC’s lowest paid workers haven’t increased a single cent. In fact, with inflation sitting just under two percent, their real wages in terms of buying power have plummeted significantly leaving over 350,000 working for poverty level wages.

It’s no wonder that the $10 NOW campaign, which calls for an immediate increase to $10 per hour, a subsequent increase to $11, indexing to inflation, and abolition of the “training wage,” has garnered the support of 80% of British Columbians. Already over 70,000 people have signed the petition for $10 NOW and young workers have organized rallies, pickets, petitioning sprees and other actions to voice their demands.

On May 12th, as the polls closed on another provincial election, minimum wage workers watched in horror as their impoverisher, Gordon Campbell and the Liberal Party, returned to power aided by immense corporate funding, dismal voter turnout, and a weak campaign by the opposition New Democrats characterized by tame, toned-down policies hopelessly aimed at trying to please both the workers, and their bosses.

During the election campaign the $10 NOW campaign was effectively put on hold while the majority of its volunteers flocked to electoral work for candidates who pledged to support their demands. Without the backing of a mass movement of young and underpaid workers demanding an increase during the election the debate was quickly portrayed as an abstract debate between two political parties. Meanwhile Gordon Campbell was represented by the media and the Liberal Party as the candidate to be trusted on economic issues like minimum wage because, ironically, of his business experience. The issue was thus largely disarmed during the election period and was not effectively used to rally anti-Liberal forces to fight back or even simply to vote.

Since May 12th, the $10 NOW campaign has been slow to recover its pre-election energy and exuberance. Yet it is necessary now even more than before to fight for BC’s low paid workers. BC, like the rest of Canada, is in the midst of a global capitalist economic crisis. The temporary boom caused by construction and development for the 2010 “Five Ring Circus” is dissipating, and homelessness is increasing dramatically. There’s no doubt that those living on poverty level wages desperately need an increase.

In four years it will be too late for many of these workers. Furthermore, in four years the powerful corporate forces that Gordon Campbell’s Liberal Party represent may succeed in returning him to office yet again if a mass, militant movement against their policies can be built in advance of the election. One of the most important lessons of this provincial election for young and underpaid workers is that elections are not the be all and end all of political struggle. It’s true that we must fight to elect a progressive, anti-Liberal majority in the next election. But we can and must put political and economic pressure on the Campbell Liberals now in order to force progress on the immediate needs of working people for work and wages. Nobody is going to hand it to us, but together we could take it.

Lower Mainland August Events

2009-08-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

1. Under the Volcano Festival
2. Annual People's Voice Walk-A-Thon
3. Global Day of Action for Honduras
4. Red Star Club monthly meeting
5. Red Star Club monthly discussion group
6. Left Film Night

1. Under the Volcano Festival

Join the Red Star Club of the YCL at the 19th annual Under the Volcano "Festival of Art and Change" in Cates Park (North Vancouver) on Sunday, August 9th.

We will be sharing a table in the info fair with the CPC starting at noon.

For more information on the festival check out http://volcano.resist.ca/

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: If you can help staff the table even for only 1 hour please let us know asap.

2. Annual People's Voice Walk-A-Thon

A fundraiser for the People's Voice (www.peoplesvoice.ca) newspaper, Sunday, August 9th at Bear Creek Park in Surrey. The walk starts at 11am and is followed by a potlatch lunch and cultural program.

For more information call Krishna: 604.940.0420 OR Harjit: 604.543.7179

3. Global Day of Action for Honduras

The Coalition Against Intervention in Latin America, of which the YCL is a member organization, will be holding a picket on Tuesday, August 11th, which has been named a Global Day of Action for Honduras.

The picket will start at 5pm at 666 Burrard St. (across from Burrard Station).

The YCL demands an end to the military coup regime in Honduras and the return of the democratically elected President, Manuel Zelaya.

4. Red Star Club monthly meeting

Our next Club meeting will be Saturday, August 15th at 5pm. It will be held at our office in the Centre for Socialist Education, 706 Clark Dr.

DRAFT AGENDA

Roll Call
Adopt Agenda
Minutes of July 12th/25th

OLD BUSINESS/STANDING ITEMS

-Young Workers movement
- Peace movement
- Student movement
- Cultural work
- Summer Camp report back

NEW BUSINESS

- Pro-Choice action
- August 30th Left Film Night

5. Red Star Club monthly discussion group

Our monthly discussion group will be held on August 30th at 5pm. It will be at the Centre for Socialist Education (706 Clark Dr.). It will be followed by the Left Film Night. Topic TBA after the July 30th meeting.

6. Left Film Night

MILK

Sunday, August 30, 7 pm
at the Centre for Socialist Education
706 Clark Drive, Vancouver (corner of Clark & E. Georgia)

If you missed MILK in the theaters earlier this year, here's your change. Sean Penn deservedly won Best Actor at the 2009 Academy Awards for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to a major political position in the United States. MILK (directed by Gus Van Sant, 128 minutes) presents a fascinating look at two worlds - the flourishing gay and lesbian communities of San Francisco during the 1970s, and the complex and difficult struggle to win progressive reforms through the electoral process at the municipal level. Harvey Milk succeeded in bringing together a broad coalition of gay activists, trade unionists, Latinos and other oppressed minorities, small business owners, tenants, homeowners and other San Franciscans. United, they challenged the city's entrenched elites and undemocratic political structures to bring a powerful voice for the people into City Hall. His tragic assassination sparked a huge upsurge in the struggle for full equality for the LGBT community, a struggle which continues to this day in California and around the world. MILK is both a stunning artistic achievement and a timely political statement.

No admission charge, but donations towards our costs are welcome. Coffee and refreshments available. Left Film Nights are presented by the Centre for Socialist Education, Young Communist League, and the Vancouver East Club of the Communist Party of Canada. Call 604-255-2041 or email for further information.

Groups protest Harper in Surrey

2009-08-05T19:45:00.001-07:00

http://rebelyouth-magazine.blogspot.com/2009/08/groups-protest-harper-appearance-in.html

August 2009 eBulletin

2009-08-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Check out the August YCL BC eBulletin online!

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/445432/c16310457a/1623001961/6c0c9d641e/

Statement in Solidarity with the People of Honduras, by Vancouver based Latin American and allied Organizations

2009-07-27T18:35:00.001-07:00

Statement in Solidarity with the People of Honduras, by Vancouver based Latin American and allied Organizations

We express our collective outrage and condemn the coup d’état that has taken place in Honduras by leaders of the right wing military junta-that have been trained as mercenaries and dictators in the School of the Americas.

We express our deepest sentiments of solidarity with the people of Honduras, who have taken to the streets to demand their democratically elected president José Manuel Zelaya be allowed to return and finish his term in office. Taking the lead from the people of Honduras, who are defending their democratic rights and the depending of their democratic process, we demand the following from the international community and the Canadian government:

-That they refuse to recognize the de-facto government of Roberto Michelletti or any other government of a similar character.

-That coup leaders recognize President Zelaya as the constitutional president of Honduras and accept his return. If this
does not occur, Canada must withdraw its ambassador, following the example set by Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua.

-The immediate lifting of the State of Emergency and the end to all acts of repression again the Honduran people. Canada should demand the liberty of all the democratic leaders that have been detained illegally.

-That Canadian companies active in Honduras, like Gildan Activewear, Goldcorp Inc, Breakwater Resources, and Yamana Gold halt all operations in Honduras until the democratically elected president returns to his post.

- That Canada immediately halt all Free Trade Agreement negotiations with the Central America Four (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador)

Endorsed by La Surda Latin American Collective, Canada-Bolivia Solidarity committee, Café Rebelde Collective, Coalition against Intervention in Latin America, Hands off Venezuela, Code Pink, Vancouver Socialist Forum, stopwar.ca, Communist Party of Canada, Young Communist League

Celebrating 50 Years of Cuba Revolution!

2009-07-26T09:59:00.001-07:00

Celebrating 50 Years of Cuba Revolution!
Moncada Day Celebration TODAY!
Sunday, July 26
2 pm
Chilean Coop
3390 School Ave
Vancouver

Speakers:
Jim Sinclair, President BC Federation of Labour
Frank Kennedy, Secretary Treasurer ILWU Retirees
Ray Viaud, Canada Cuba Friendship Assoc.

Entertainment:
No Shit Shirleys
Tom Hawkins
Hugo Rojas

Food & Cash Bar
-----------------------------------------------------
Celebrating 50 Years of Cuba Revolution!

This July 26, the Young Communist League of Canada - la Ligue de la
jeunesse communiste du Canada, sends its greetings and stands in
solidarity with the people of Cuba. This "Moncada Day" has special
meaning for Cubans and friends of Cuba everywhere, as it is the 50th
anniversary of the victory of the Cuban Revolution. The movement that
grew into the triumphant Revolution was born on the 26th of July, 1953
when Fidel and Raul Castro and around 160 other brave revolutionaries
attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. This was the first
armed resistance to the corrupt and brutal, US-backed, Batista regime,
carried out by the "Movimiento 26 Julio".

The YCL-LJC Canada wishes to send a special greeting to the Youth of
Cuba and to the Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas. We acknowledge the
vanguard role the youth play in the Cuban Revolution and the Cuban
people's struggle for socialism and against imperialism. This was no
different 56 years ago when the attack on the Moncada barracks was
carried out. The revolutionaries that participated were
overwhelmingly young farmers, workers and students and in unity with
the working-class. The average age was 26, the same age as their
leader Fidel Castro. Today we salute the example set by those brave
revolutionaries.

The Moncada attack was not an immediate victory for the Movimiento 26
Julio, but it was the first battle in a long people's struggle against
the strangle-hold of imperialism. After Fidel was arrested and
imprisoned, he published his famous defence speech entitled "History
will Absolve Me". With 50 years of history written about the heroic
Cuban Revolution, Castro and his Moncada comrades have been absolved
one-thousand times over. By continuing to maintain friendly relations
with Cuba, Canada affirms its sovereignty in foreign policy (which in
all other areas is authored by Washington -- like Palestine, Colombia
or Canada’s imperialist war in Afghanistan).

The bravery and heroism of their people continues, symbolized by the
Cuba Five – five men unjustly imprisoned in US jails for fighting
CIA-backed terrorism on their Island. We salute the Five, reaffirm our
demand to free them, and cheer-on Cuba's achievements in education,
health care and international solidarity which have shown the world
that socialism is both possible and necessary to end war,
environmental destruction and economic injustice.

The Young Communist League of Canada joins the friends of Cuba from
around the world in saying:

"VIVA LA REVOLUCION CUBANA Y EL MOVIMIENTO DEL 26!"

July 26, 2009
YCL-LJC CEC