2012 Socialist Youth Conference notice

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

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

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

When: The conference will be July 28, 2012.

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

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

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

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

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

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Support BC Teachers: Fight Bill 22!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Occupy Everywhere!

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"

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.

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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

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

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

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

CHEVOLUTION

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

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

March, Rally, Meeting, and Fundraiser!

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!

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

(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!

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

Check out the April 2011 eBulletin available online here.

On the Announced Increase to the Minimum Wage

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

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

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

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

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

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