BASICS Free Community Newsletter BASICS AND ILPS IN THE PHILLIPINES SPECIAL •
• BASICS IN THE PHILLIPINES >>PG.7 • CALI PRISONERS HUNGER STRIKE>> PG. 4 • NEPAL REVOLUTION >>PG. 4 • SCOTIABANKS OWNS CARIBANA , LEAVING COMMUNITY DRY >>PG. 8
basicsnews.ca
By Kabir
by SKS
The Shock Doctrine, Toronto
is about “using the public’s disorientation following massive collective shocks – wars, terrorist attacks, or natural disasters -- to achieve control by imposing economic shock therapy.” Starting with Pinochet’s coup in Chile in 1973 (the CIA assisted overthrow of the socialist government of Salvador Allende) and covering the Falklands War in 1982, the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Asian Financial crisis in 1997 and Hurricane Mitch in 1998, Klein documents how economic and social crises have become moments of opportunity for right-wingers to attack the welfare state, social programs, trade unions, and the social movements that have pushed for greater economic democracy. Take the case of post-Katrina New Orleans. In the wake of the
disaster, think-tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute (Canada’s equivalent to the Fraser Institute) and Republican politicians descended on the city pushing the f*ckery of privatization of public housing and public education, dismantling what little of a welfare state New Orleanians had. This served their ‘free market’ ideology, most clearly articulated by American conservative Grover Norquist, who once said “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag in into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” But it also served the corporate interests close to the Bush administration who made millions from taking over what were once public assets. New Orleanians, displaced and distraught, >> continued, PG. 3 or in a
London Burns
London is a lot like Toronto. Both are among the wealthiest cities on the planet, the bases for some of the biggest and
BASICS #26, AUG/SEPT 2011
Norway Attacks: Breivik is Not a Fundamentalist; He’s Something Worse
By Simon Black For those of you who haven’t read the book, here’s a one-paragraph breakdown: Beginning in the 1970s, Klein observes, neo-liberals and neo-conservatives (those who believe that free markets and less government is the answer to everything) have exploited crises to advance their agenda of deep cuts to social spending, government deregulation and privatization. Cuts have been made to health care, welfare, public pensions, unemployment insurance, tuition subsidies and about every program or benefit you can think of that makes capitalism a little bit nicer a system to live under. Privatization of things like health care, roads, public housing, and libraries has meant windfall profits for big corporations as what were once public goods get bought and sold on the market like any other commodity. As Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman notes , this “agenda that has nothing to do with resolving crises, and everything to do with imposing their (the right’s) vision of a harsher, more unequal, less democratic society.” Crises are essential to the shock doctrine because they create a climate in which the public supports, or just passively accepts, an agenda which is counter to their interests. As Klein puts it: the shock doctrine
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most notorious corporations in the world, the financial heart for both their respective nations. And at the same time, they are places of enormous
inequality. Like Toronto, London’s poorest neighbourhoods are highly racialized, & infected with crooks and thieves- harassing residents
The New York Times has repeated the lie that Anders Behring Breivik, the butcher of Oslo and is a fundamentalist Christian. He is not. The New York Times‘ thesis is that he is somehow a mirror image of Al Qaeda, a disaffected Christian turning the tables on Islamic fundamentalism. He is not. He is the vivid, brutal, expression of a bubbling rightwing political movement of the post 9/11 era, emerging not from fascism or neo-fascism or from “revolutionary nationalism”, but from the unholy marriage of Austrian School economics and paleoconservative cultural identity Romanticism – think Goethe, Scifi/Fantasy novels, and von Mises spawn a child. Those of us who follow the right, the real right, the ideological right, not the administrative right or the hooligan right, not a single word of what Breivik wrote in his manifesto or his video comes as a surprise. It is part an parcel of this world-wide scene of pan-nationalists, who decry “hate ideologies” like Nazism, Islam, and Marxism, while speaking of a common, mildly anti-racist, pro-Zionist, politically incorrect world of “European and plundering what meagre resources they have. And, like in our city, these criminals even engage in outright murder. On the evening of August 4th a 29-year old father of two was executed by the uniformed thugs of the Metro Police in Tottenham (a borough in North London), after his mini-cab was pulled over. The initial claim by officers was that the black victim, Mark Duggan, was a gang suspect who had first fired at them. However a civilian witness maintains Duggan was shot four times while he was facedown on the ground; and the bullet lodged in a police radio, that Duggan supposedly fired, was found to be from an officer’s weapon. On August 6th hundreds peacefully marched from the housing projects Duggan resided-in to the local police station demanding justice. But after a 16-year old female >> continued, PG. 7
tolerance in isolation” – yet harboring violent fantasies of retribution and domination. Fantasies Breivik has merely acted upon, but are not unique to himself. A well known, and not by coincidence Norwegian, blogger by the pseudonym of Fjordman has been giving expression to these ideas since the early part of the last decade. He was widely read in those circles, and even quoted by “respectable” figures of the right. His preocupations were the same as Breivik (multiculturalism, imperialism, islam), and a chilling fact emerges: Breivik’s manifesto’s title is “2083 A European Declaration of Independence“, while a widely circulated islamophobic article by Fjordman from 2007 is titled “A European Declaration of Independence“. I know the connection is hard to make, but give it some thought… Glenn Beck, in the United States, has used formulations from this scene, in particular when he decries “progressives of both parties” and talks of “political correct multiculturalism” and “cultural marxism” and adopts the liberalleft’s mis-guided ideas on totalitarian equivalencies of Fascism and “Communism” to use them against neo-liberal globalisation, “cultural suicide” and multi-cultural nanny states. The difference between the populist libertarianism of Beck and the ideology which Breivik represents is that in the United States, this movement is indeed fundamentalist Christian, populated by sects of millions that would seem strange to an Europeanist of the sort Breivik is. Those people are the actual mirror image of Al Qaeda, or more correctly the Taliban, and they don’t need to go around putting car bombs and driving planes into buildings because they have the US Armed Forces do that for them. They do find themselves allied against the common enemy of Islam and share economic values to an extent, but are very much different ideologically. (When going incognito on the right-wing IRC channels and message boards a >> continued, PG. 5
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LOCAL & PROVINCIAL Migrant Workers Deserve Better: Youth Program Offers Food for Thought: UFCW Members Investigate Conditions
Migrant worker rights, climate change explored in El T.O.mate project
By Barrio Nuevo Tomatoes are one of the most commonly consumed fruits in the world. However, when we buy them, do we consider how they get to our local market? This is the main question behind the Centre for Spanish Speaking People’s ‘El T.O.mate’ project. The project works with a group of newcomer and marginalized youth examining the practices of agricultural production in Ontario and promoting local food production. Although tomatoes are grown within Ontario, Canada imports a considerable amount from places as far away as California and the Netherlands meaning that many tomatoes consumed have a considerable carbon footprint due to the transportation involved. The youth have not only been learning how to grow food in urban settings, but they have also assisted in facilitating gardening workshops and distributed over 100 tomato plants and seeds to tenants and others. Moreover, the youth have also been learning about another important aspect of agriculture in Canada – migrant workers. Every year, hundreds of thousands of workers from the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico come to
Canada through temporary worker programs in order to pick the fruits and vegetables grown on farms in Canada. Aside from the low wages and hard labor that many of these workers are subjected to, many of these workers are subjected to inhumane work and living conditions and are deprived of many of the rights that Canadian workers have. “While the main aspect of this program has involved learning about, teaching and promoting urban agriculture as a way that anyone can contribute to reducing carbon emissions, we felt that it was very important to also show how most food is actually grown in the province” said Santiago Escobar, Project Coordinator. In conjuction with the United Food and Commercial Workers and Dignidad Obrera Agricola Migrant (DOAM), the project has brought youth to meet with migrant workers and see their working and living situations. The project received partial funds from the Livegreen Toronto fund, which is also one of the grants that Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is looking to cut as part of their proposed cuts and privatization package. For more information contact Santiago Escobar at green@ spanishservices
By SK & MB In the capitalist system labour is viewed as yet another commodity that can be traded and exploited. Wages are paid for labourpower and hours worked but in some circumstances, like the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SWAP), contracted wage agreements and working conditions are not a guarantee. As participants in UFCW Canada’s Youth Internship Program we were part of a contingent who went to Simcoe, Ontario to learn more about the SAWP. We visited farms, talked to workers and farm owners, with an objective of investigating the issues and introducing workers to the Agricultural Workers Alliance (AWA) action centre in Simcoe. As a union contingent we organized a BBQ to celebrate the workers struggles and get more information into the hardships of the work, abuses in the SAWP program and generally agitate workers to organize themselves and talk about their working-conditions. We wanted to highlight workers’ value to the region, and to bridge the gap between the migrant workers and the larger community. The information in this article is based on our investigations. Some of the issues we uncovered while visiting workers at their homes, meeting them in the community and visiting their workplaces are how employer friendly the program is. Some of the daily abuses include: workers being frequently repatriated for demanding their rights. No enforced third-party regulatory system for health, safety, and labour regulations. Workers pay their em-
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ployers rent for housing that is usually substandard and overcrowded. Stories from the workers we met show that we cannot depend on individual farm owners to ‘do the right thing.’ We need to create a system of fairness where standards are regulated and monitored. Migrant workers are not familiar with Canadian laws and are given no paths to educate themselves. Through investigation, we discovered many workers who took home only $5 of the $10.25 per hour they are told they will receive. Furthermore, many of the Latin American workers are not fully confident in the English language which means they can’t read WSIB and caution signs in their workplaces. It requires a huge effort for them to educate themselves on the rules, regulations and rights of agricultural workers in Canada. When a worker attempts to educate themselves, or inquires about the many deductions on their paychecks, they are putting their jobs at risk. When workers turn to organizations that will assist them with their issues consulates from countries like Jamaica and Mexico often warn workers that the people at the Agricultural Workers Alliance (AWA) are dangerous and only intend to take their money. In reality the AWA helps workers apply for the benefits they contribute to and also assists the workers with ESL courses so they can better understand their rights. This program is further evidence of the growing systemic pattern where the race to the bottom is both legislated and supported by governments. Workers are eas-
ily replaced by the millions of other workers all over the world who are just waiting to be picked, and are just as quickly disposed of. If an individual proves to be vocal, entitled, or motivated they are easily replaced and forgotten. The union compares the SAWP to the indentured labour practices of the 19th century but even worse in this program there is no pathway to citizenship. Agricultural work is not valued by the Canadian immigration system and when workers in the program apply to immigrate they find that the point system values education, and capital for investment, not the time and sacrifice farm workers have already made. The fight against the current SAWP program is a fight for good jobs and for sustainable communities. There are organizations fighting to improve standards and to eliminate the systemic circumstances that allow violations to occur. Good jobs in sustainable communities that respect workers are rare in most sectors and employees must race to the bottom simply to ensure they are employed and hopefully in a slightly better financial situation. Organizations like SAME (Students Against Migrant Exploitations), AWA (Agricultural Workers Alliance), Migrante, and the Workers Action Centre are all part of this battle for improved standards. We encourage you to find out more about these organizations and assist them in their struggles for justice.
BASICS #26 AUG/SEPT 2011
Black July: the War is Over, the Struggle for Justice Continues By Pragash Pio On July 23rd thousands from the Tamil community of Toronto gathered in pouring rain at Queens Park to remember the 1983 anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka. In July of 1983 antiTamil Pogroms swept through the island of Sri Lanka killing thousands of Tamils while the Sri Lankan government stood idly by. The Black July riots, as they came to be known as, were the culmination of decades of growing persecution of the islands minority Tamil community by the majority Sinhalese community that controlled the Sri Lankan government. The riots stemmed from the denial of the Tamil communities’ rights to linguistic, cultural, and political freedoms. Black July is especially poignant for the Toronto Tamil community because it was the event that sparked the mass exodus of Tamils from Sri Lanka to the West. The riots also marked the beginning of the Sri Lankan civil war and the ascendency of Tamil militant groups such as the Tamil Tigers. The violence was sparked off by an attack on Sri Lankan soldiers by Tamil militants, but the riots only managed to popularize Tamil militants such as the Tamil Tigers. The 27 year old civil war ended in 2009 with the complete destruction of the Tamil Tigers and deaths of thousands of Tamil civilians. While the international community has begun to demand an investigation into to the deaths of thousands of Tamil civilians during the final months of the civil war, Black July is the reminder to the community that
Tamil civilians were attacked in Sri Lanka since long before. Several speakers at an event put together by the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) and the Tamil Students Association (TSA) at University of Toronto recounted their own personal experiences of Black July. Anton Philip, a speaker at the July 28 event, recounted surviving the massacre of Tamil political prisoners detained by Sri Lankan authorities during the riots. Mr Philip watched as a mob of Sinhalese prisoners were given access to the segregated cells of Tamil political prisoners while guards watched. Many of the Tamil prisoners had been detained under Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The internationally condemned PTA allowed Sri Lankan authorities to jail Tamils for up to 18 months without trial or due process. As the mob of Sinhalese prisoners came for Mr Anton Phillip’s cell, he and the other men in his cell had to break a table into pieces to defend themselves while guards stood by and did nothing. In total 53 Tamil political prisoners were massacred and mutilated during Black July. Another survivor recounted her experience as a Tamil child in Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka, during the Black July riots. The principal at her school let all the classes out early because of the rumors of possible violence. As a child she had been oblivious to the tense atmosphere before the riots, unaware anything was wrong until her Tamil neighbors grabbed her and hid her inside the house as mobs started roaming through their neighborhood. One of the most trau-
Despite Cutbacks, Police Pay Set to Increase By Louisa Worrell
matic elements of the experience was seeing the very neighbors, store clerks, bus drivers that she saw everyday and lived beside roving in mobs attacking Tamil houses and businesses. Through government collusion the mobs received voter lists for neighborhoods and were able to identify each Tamil home and business. As one of these mobs approached the house, the family had to jump a fence in the backyard into a Sinhalese neighbors house. She and a young Tamil boy had to hide in their neighbors closet for 3 hours. After which she had to stay in a Police station which had been turned into a temporary refugee camp for Tamils. She spoke on the striking realization that all the families hiding in the police station were Tamils. It took her another month to be reunited with her family who had all been dispersed in the chaos of the violence. The haunting part of her remembrance was the realization that the continuing violence targeting the Tamil community
taught her at a young age the Sri Lankan state’s intent to drive the Tamil community from the island. All these first hand accounts of the Tamil experience during the riots made me return to my own family’s experience of Black July. My father still carries the police report he submitted when our family’s home was burnt down and looted by mobs like other Tamil families. No one was ever apprehended for that attack against our family. This is the same for the thousands of other Tamil families that lost loved ones, homes, and their livelihoods from the violence. This impunity with which perpetrators can commit violence against the Tamil community haunts Sri Lanka even 2 years after the end of the civil war. Perpetrators of violence, even those accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes sit in seats of power in Sri Lanka while Tamils flee and rebuild their lives in places like Toronto.
dren or green energy initiatives as wasteful spending; many agree that such programs are the marks of a world-class city. And yet the public is rightly pissed off when councillors casually spend tax-payers dollars on crazy expenses or when a public agency is careless with its budget. But actual instances of this are few and far between; Ford’s strategy has hinged on reframing most if not all government spending as inherently wasteful. To his chagrin, potential allies on council like Mary-Margaret McMahon have discovered, “The gravy’s not flowing through city hall like originally expected.” The second crisis opening the door for Ford’s agenda is the crisis of confidence in public institutions. The garbage strike, the media hammering of errant TTC employees and the events at Toronto Community Housing have all played into the Mayor’s hands. In this context, the Mayor looks for scapegoats and it really doesn’t matter who fits the role; it could be graffiti artists, left-wing pinkos, the home-
less, black youth, environmentalists, just fill in the blank. But with the economic crisis, TTC and garbage strike affairs, the city’s unions have become public enemy number one. Union-busting is at the center of the shock doctrine as public-sector unions are the first line of defence against cuts, deregulation, and privatization. As Klein points out, in post-Katrina New Orleans the introduction of charter schools (effectively privatizing public education) broke the back of the teachers union. Facing a fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, the Republican governor has rolled back the collective bargaining rights of almost all public sector employees. This is what lies behind Ford’s successful effort – with a complicit provincial government – to have the TTC deemed an ‘essential service’ and plans to privatize garbage collection, effectively firing the city’s unionized employees. The Toronto Community Housing ‘scandal’ has provided the Mayor with the necessary excuse to review the City’s roll in public housing,
The blocks all over the city are hot this summer, and I’m not talking about temperature. Police surveillance and harassment seems to be at an all time high in some areas. Maybe it’s because the Toronto Police just got richer. “It’s like they are picking us off one by one” said one resident of Vaughn and Oakwood who wished to remain anonymous. Despite Rob Ford’s policies to “stop the gravy train” and having all city services to cut their budgets by 5%, the police budget continues to grow. In January 2011, the police budget was given a 3.8% increase. The $905.9 million police operating budget makes the Toronto police force the largest single expense on the city budget. On top of the increased police budget, the Toronto police officers were given 11% raise, which will make them the highest paid officers in the province. That means that a first- class constable earning $81,249 in 2010 will make $90,623 in 2014. The increased police budget is allowing for a larger police presence in Toronto’s hoods, the communities that face the highest unemployment rates and will be most affected by the Ford cuts. Rather than providing people with employment and public services, the Ford government is committed to criminalizing >> continued, PG. 7
« ROB FORD from PG. 1 state of ‘shock’ as Klein puts it, had little say in the matter. Canadian neocons have long-casted an envious eye at their US cousins. Harper, Mike Harris, and Rob Ford have sweated US Republicans like tweenage girls sweat Drake at Summer Jam. Now Toronto’s Mayor has surrounded himself with strategists and backroom players whose membership in the Conservative Party, the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation, and think-tanks like the Fraser Institute neatly overlap. The Common Sense Revolutionaries (if you’re too young to remember, they ran Ontario from 1995 to 2003 and brought us the Walkerton water crisis, the assassination of First Nations activist Dudley George and the death by heat exhaustion of Kimberley Rogers, a young single mom who was trapped in her sweltering apartment under house arrest for ‘defrauding’ welfare), many of whom cut their political teeth in the downloading and amalgamation years of the Mike Harris Tories have reappeared in urban guise, finally having
won control over a much sought after prize: the left-leaning City of Toronto with its myriad social programs and ‘big government’. Yet in adherence to the shock doctrine, Ford’s team needed a crisis to push through their agenda. With only 25% of eligible Torontonians voting for Ford, a full-scale assault on the City’s social services would not be popular. Ford’s rise to office happened within the context of the world economic crisis that left many Torontonians more economically insecure and wary of tax increases and ‘misspent’ tax dollars. From Europe to North America, governments are calling for ‘austerity’ in the name of debt reduction and fiscal balance. Ford won the election by articulating a simple narrative of what was wrong with the city: too much wasteful spending; city hall’s socalled ‘gravy train’. Ford named lavish retirement parties and councillor’s penchant for taxis, but cleverly avoided labelling the City’s social services ‘gravy’. Why? Because most Torontonians do not see nutritional programs for low-income chil-
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again with an eye to privatization. Look for Ford to shed the City’s unionized public child care centers in the next round of budget cuts, contracting care to non-union for-profit providers. Libraries and their unionized employees are also being considered for privatization. For the Ford agenda has very little to do with resolving a ‘crisis’ real or perceived and everything to do with remaking Toronto in a right-wing image: A leaner, meaner city, where the market is to be free and the public sector and its unions are to be disciplined. If we don’t fight back, Toronto Inc., the city of corporate rule, will become a reality. http://www.torontostopthecuts.com/
INTERNATIONAL Barrick Caught With Blood on Its Hands By Sakura Saunders A rare moment happened last month at a Barrick mine site in Tanzania. In one day, at least five people were shot and killed by a Barrick-paid police force known for wide-spread corruption. At least four of these people were shot in the back while fleeing an onslaught of bullets that injured at least a dozen more within a largely unarmed crowd. The attack was not an isolated incident - community members report similar killings in the past. What set this incident apart was that Barrick was actually caught trying to cover it up. Jocelyn Edwards from the Star happened to be near Tarime, Tanzania when news first hit that seven “aggressive intruders” had beenkilledatBarrick’sNorthMara mine. The company claimed that the killings were the result of 1,500 local people storming the mine with machetes and stones, looking to steal gold ore. When Edwardsarrived,shefoundtrucks of police in full riot gear patrolling the streets, while relatives of the deceased were huddled together in a compound. The police then raidedthemortuary,stealingfour of the victim’s bodies and arrestinganenvironmentallawyeranda MemberofParliament,alongwith seven other people who had been guardingthebodies.Theywerearrested, beaten and put in the back of a truck while the bodies were dumped on the side of the road. Edwards was soon deported from Tanzania and formally chargedwith“engaginginjournalismactivitieswithoutpermission”. Next, the Globe and Mail’s AfricanBureauchiefGeoffYorkarrived on the scene. Despite being hostedinpartbyBarrickinTarime, he couldn’t avoid being confronted by a reality that was much different than the story that Barrick tried to convey. He found that
far from a raid on the minesite, hundreds of villagers were regularly allowed on the site to take bags of crushed ore in exchange for bribes. Violent confrontation would occur, he found, when the police would try to extract more money from the scavengers. Even in York’s interview with Constantine Massawe, the regional police commanderinTarime,hewastold that nobody attacked the police with machetes, and the seven injuries among the police were all caused by stones. The Globe and Mail veteran described the area surroundingBarrick’smineas“an atmosphere of conflict and intimidation” and questioned Barrick’s decision to continue “operating in theanarchicconditionsaroundits mining site, where violent confrontations are common, allegations of police abuses are frequent and deaths are inevitable.” After relaying the details of the corruption and violence near the mine site – including fresh allegations of gang-rape by Barrick security – York expresses skepticism that Barrick’s promises of investigatingthematterwillbring justice.“Ineachcase,however,the police will be investigating themselves,”hewrites,“somethingthat is unlikely to reassure the 68,000 people in the villages around the mine.” When considering that 40,000 small-scale miners were forcibly displaced to make way for the large-scale gold mine, it is no surprise that conflict continues at this site, alongside widespread poverty in the region. And while Barrick profits and the local community is criminalized, Barrick’s chairman Peter Munk is honored in Canadian society for his philanthropy. Hopefully, as news spreads beyond the control of Barrick’s spin masters, Canadian society will wake up to the harsh reality of this vanity industry.
People to People, Canada to Palestine
By Pragash Pio The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people is symbolic of the failings of the current model of international politics. Even though the international community has called on Israel to respect and honor the basic rights of the Palestinian people, Israel has simply ignored the international outcry and gone on bombing, ethnically cleansing, and starving the Palestinian people with impunity. As the inaction of countries like the United States and Canada to Israeli crimes has shown their complicity in the situation, ordinary people and activists have decided to bypass their governments altogether and directly confront the cruelty of Israel’s Apartheid state. There already is a large body of research and analysis of the special relationship between Israel and the United States. Academics such as Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein have outlined how Israel, as a colonial base of American Imperialism, dominates the Middle East and its oil fields. Israel’s military and economy are heavily subsidized by America so that Israel can play the role
of regional “guard dog” for American oil interests. In return Israel is given free reign to attack, obliterate, and occupy Arab and Palestinian lands at will. Palestinians and their supporters have come to realize that they can’t depend on a fair resolution from the political negotiations controlled by the very powers that are funding Israel’s attack on the Palestinian people. This realization has led to a shift to direct international solidarity actions such as the Boycott-Divestment-Sanction (BDS) campaign, Sea & Air Freedom Flotillas, and preparations for a unilateral declaration of Independence at the UN. These actions directly confront the different facets of Israel’s illegal practices: BDS attempts to obstruct the illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land; the Freedom Flotillas attempt to break the illegal siege of Gaza; and the coming unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood hopes to finally readdress the dispossession and Apartheid faced by the Palestinian people. All this has come at a high price though. 9 activists of the first Freedom Flotilla were killed by an Israeli commando raid last year. Rachel Corrie was killed trying to prevent the bulldozing of Palestinian
homes in Gaza. Canadian members of the Freedom Flottila 2 have been arrested in Greece. Palestinian solidarity activist and radio host Jesse Zimmerman describes how “[Palestine is] the only humanitarian crisis in the world where people actively try to shut your freedom of speech down. Whether it be University administrators canceling Israeli Apartheid Week, government “representatives” condemning pro-Palestinian activism, or hardcore Zionist activists harassing you and making threats against you or your family...” Krisna Saravanamuttu, President of York University’s Federation of Students (YFS), was attacked nationally and internationally when YFS passed a motion condemning Israel’s bombing of Gaza schools in the 2009. There was even a failed attempt at impeaching the popular YFS President. Saravanamuttu’s responds that the experience of oppression that Palestinians face is one that is shared by his own Tamil community and other oppressed minorities the world over. Palestine is a symbol of hope, and the growing solidarity movement represents a turning point in achieving justice the world over.
“Victory or death”: California Prisoners Hunger Strike Against Torture By Sara Falconer Beginning July 1, several prisoners at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) began an indefinite hunger strike to protest and expose the brutal conditions in the solitary confinement unit, known also as the SHU (Security Housing Unit). First-hand reports came in indicating that there are aver 6000 participants, in at least 11 different prisons across California. Although the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) originally claimed that fewer than two dozen prisoners were part of the strike, on June 5 a spokesperson reluctantly admitted, “There are inmates in at least a third of our prisons who are refusing state-issued meals.” The Bay Area-based group Prisoner Hunger Strike Soli-
darity learned that prison officials had attempted to head off the strike by promoting a Fourth of July menu that included strawberry shortcake and ice cream. The wife of one SHU prisoner said her husband had never had ice cream there and “has never seen a strawberry.” There are 3,500 prisoners in SHUs across the California. Although they are supposedly sent to security units for participating in “gang” behaviour or misconduct, it’s often a punishment used against any prisoners who dare to organize with others or to engage in civil disobedience. Prisoners are held in extreme isolation in windowless, soundproof, 6 by 10 foot cells, 23 hours a day, for years at a time. Human rights organizations have condemned torturous conditions, which often lead to mental illness. “It’s been a difficult and up-
hill battle, a lot of brow-beating and direct debate, but as it stands all are participating on a limited basis,” writes hunger striker Chad Landrum from PBSP. “Some, including myself, are going ‘indefinitely’… victory or death!” Landrum, who is known to friends as “Ghost,” has end-stage liver disease,
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was hospitalized almost immediately – which also means that he was isolated. “If the demands have been met in whole, [or] negotiated part, I will not take the cops’ word, for the pigs have proven their word to be hollow,” he explains.” I will need the word of you or your outside support.” One of the strategies used for
the strike the CDCR used was to announce that the strike was over in an attempt to confuse the already strained lines of communication between striking prisoners. This was minimally successful because or the well organised and co-ordinated nature of the strike and the outside solidarity group. At a well-attended rally in Oakland on July 2, supporters chanted, “Pelican Bay brothers: we hear you, we’re with you!,” according to Revolution newspaper. “I stand here with a mixture of excitement and horror.,” said Laura Magnani of the American Friends Service Committee. “Horror at the conditions faced by 1,200 prisoners at Pelican Bay and over 3,500 prisoners insecurity housing units throughout California. Excitement that the prisoners have >> continued, PG. 7
INTERNATIONAL
BASICS #26 AUG/SEPT 2011
Nepal’s Revolution in Crisis as Leaders Debate Strategy By Derek Rosin The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which for the last two decades has been leading the revolutionary movement of Nepal, is currently in a deep crisis. A struggle has recently erupted withintheirleadershipoverwhich direction to move. The differences are substantial enough that their resolution will essentially set the course for the future of the movement. One faction, led by Mohan Baidya, aka Kiran, calls for a mass insurrection to institute a People’s Federal Republic and break the current political stalemate by completing the anti-feudal, anti-imperialist revolution. The other faction believes it is now possible to forge a ‘historic compromise’ with the other major parties of the country in a way which will consolidate the gains of the revolution thus far and write a new, progressive, constitution. This latter faction is usually associated with Baburam Bhattarai and the Party’s chairman, Pushpa Dahal, aka Prachanda. The differences of opinion within the leadership are based on real problems that confront the revolutionary movement in Nepal.
For example, there are currently no socialist countries in the world today, or at least none that Nepal’s Maoist movement considers genuinely socialist and revolutionary. In such a situation, could a newly-formed revolutionary state survive, or would it be quickly isolated and crushed? Also, Nepal is extremely poor and uneducated, with relatively few skilled professionals like doctors and engineers. In order to develop and improve the country, they will need expertise, and there is concern that they are not sufficiently able to ‘go it alone.’ So here the very causes that sparked the rebellion become an impediment to its growth and success. The ‘historic compromise’ faction points to difficulties such as these to argue for the need for consolidation. Kiran, however, says that this faction is essentially pessimistic and capitulationist, because they are only seeing the strengths of the revolution’s enemies, and not their weaknesses. To bolster his case, Kiran argues that “revolution is the principal trend in the world at present.” For his part, Bhattarai argues that the Maoists are in an unfavourable military situ-
ation, with about twentythousand People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers compared to over over one-hundred-thousand better equipped soldiers in the National Army (NA) and Armed Police Force of the state. Others in the prorevolt camp, however, point that despite this the Maoists were able to seize two-thirds of the country during the civil war. Moreover, they say that the NA is not a reliable force that the enemy can count on to fight for them, made up as it is of Nepal’s poor who have come to be the strongest supporters of the Maoist revolution. These differences have recently come to a head on the subject of army integration. The Maoists have yet to disarm their PLA after the peace accords of 2006. Prachanda and Bhattarai have recently
been pushing for the PLA to be integrated with the old National Army against whom they fought the civil war. Kiran however, has warned that the manner of integration they are proposing would amount to a liquidation of the PLA and would place it under the command of the NA. For Kiran, this amounts to disarming the people and the revolution, according to the Maoist dictum that “without a people’s army, the people have nothing.”
This line-struggle is ongoing, and both sides hope to avoid splitting the party. Kiran, for his part, says that he is willing to go and take his faction within the party and go for insurrection without Prachanda, while at the same time acknowledging that only with the unity of their party and its chairman will the revolution be able to succeed.
evidence. Breivik embraced the lie: clearly a smart person, he willfully ignored any other explanation for the ills of the world than Islam and its “Cultural Marxist” enablers, and he embelished this lie with a mythology of knighthood, literally quixotic, and more tragically into a justification for his murder. And the lie he believes in is no different than the lie many of his generation have killed, maimed, and been killed and been maimed for in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even the embelishments are not unique. Breivik is figthing for the clash of civilization ideas that same system he attacked fed him. The New York Times is, not surprisingly, unwilling to accept its responsibility in that system – in their view only a “fundamentalist” could do such an atrocity in the name of politics – it seeks to continue framing the debate in a modified version of the clash of civilization, one were us moderates have to fight “fundamentalists” of both reli-
gions. Yet, Breivik’s heinious crime is no different than what the New York Times asked that American soldiers do in Iraq when it beat the loudest drums of war in its history. He is not the chicken coming home to roost. He is the chicken who never left home. We are yet to see if this iceberg means something worldchanging, or if it will remain in the sub-surface only to give us a murderous jolt. After all, I am sure Geert Wilders abhors this crime as much as the next person. What is clear is that the same problems that affect and preocupy the radical left in the Western world are being felt by the ideological right, and that their response will not always come packaged in the usual packages of State collusion, fringe parties and street hooliganism, but might take forms such as Breiviks, and perhaps even other forms of violence. It is too early to tell if this action will have a cooling effect in this particular ideological space – similar to what McVeigh unwittingly did to the then exploding militia scene – or if it will be a spark that lights a prairie fire. What is clear is that we have to sit down and think long and hard about how to respond to these movements, now that they have shown their teeth…
« NORWAY ATTACKS from PG. 1 few years ago, a regular told me that he loved European anti-islamic sites because “they were liberal[meaning left-sounding] but not pussies against the hajjis” and so “they made for great stuff to go for Christian moderates”, when I commented they had nothing against gays, I got a smug “nobody is perfect”.) This is what the New York Times misses, even if it has it right in their face: Breivik self-describes as a moderate Christian. In this temrinology, what this mean is that while he is a believer, he is not a theocrat. The concept would be familiar to Catholics world-wide, because it is the tradition of being a sinner knowing full well that your sins will be forgiven. It is was what allowed Central American death squads to murder a Bishop and then go to mass the next Sunday, for example. This is a clear break with fundamentalist Christians, steeped in Calvinistic theocratic values as they are. Breivik preoccupation with Christianity is as a force against Islam, who he sees as the main enemy. His Christianity is contingent to its ability to deliver Europeans (and he widely construes the European identity, including Jews and Browns – unthinkable in most neo-fascist circles) from the new horde of Eurabia. In his video and manifesto, he clearly identifies with the
figures of the Crusades, in particular the early figures that actually fought a Muslim invasion of Europe. That is why even being a Protestant, he calls for Catholicism, not out of religious fervor, but because last time the Church of the Pope stopped Islam in its tracks (unlike, say, the Orthodox patriarchs). He doesn’t use fascist imagery, nor does he use any source commonly identified with the far-right. His sources are pedestrian conservative and small business capitalist. He even used the infamous The Economist “Eurabia” cover. This is him telling us: I am not a facist. I am normal. I am you. I have brown friends. I have gay friends. I defended them from bullies. But I am mad as hell, and I can’t take it anymore. He is the crisis of the neoliberal State, and its imperialist project, in its reactionary terrorist expression. He is the voice of the white male who finds himself a minority, and losing not just the percieved privileges of gender and race, but the very real privileges of being in the center of an imperial world. The New York Times‘ declaration exposes the failure of social-liberal thought to explain the contradictions of the world. When we need to describe someone as something he is telling us he is not, it usually means that there is not space for that identity
in our carefully constructed worldview. The New York Times needs to tells us he is a “christian fundamentalist” to avoid the real questions his action raises. Questions such as the emergence of a new reactionary wave in Western countries, the effects of the moving of the centers of economic growth and development from the West to the East and the North to the South, the peril of the White supremacist empires of the 20th century… more importantly, the boogieman Islam, that sedative that the international bourgeoise feeds as placebo to its formerly well-fed and pacified working classes so that they don’t realize that capital has pulled the rug from under their feet, and all these mythologies about patriotism and common struggle against foreign perils were all lies – the bosses are quitely shipping their capital to what we are told are our mortal enemies. When a lie cracks open, you can either see it and respond against it knowing it a lie, or we can zealously embrace it against all
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SPECIAL FEATURE: BASICS NEW ILPS 4th International Assembly: Build a Bright Future! Mobilize the People to Resist Exploitation & Oppression!
By M. Cook The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) held its Fourth International Assembly (in Manila, Philippines from July 7 to 9, 2011. The theme of the assembly was “Build a Bright Future! Mobilize the People to Resist Exploitation and Oppression Amidst the Protracted Global Depression, State Terrorism and Wars of Aggression”! Marking its ten years of existence, the fourth assembly was by far the biggest ILPS assembly to date. The assembly was attended by more than 430 delegates and
By M. Cook
observers from 200 organizations. The recently formed ILPS-Canada chapter was able to send over 20 delegates to attend the historic assembly, with BASICS Community News Service sending 3 delegates. The assembly was also the most represented with delegates and observers from 43 countries, territories and autonomous regions; namely, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong (SAR), India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, Manipur, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palestine,
Philippines, Puerto Rico, Senegal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Venezuela, West Papua and Zimbabwe. The Chairperson of the ILPS, Prof. Jose Maria Sison proposed the important tasks in Political Education, Organization and Mobilization. The ILPS calls on its members to intensify political education among the individual members of all the member-organizations of the League on the need for a broad antiimperialist and democratic united front and international people’s solidarity. Malcolm Guy, of the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal
and the General Secretary of the ILPS, called for the consolidation and strengthening of the League by doubling its forces within the next three years, paying particular attention to Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, and the establishment of more ILPS chapters worldwide. “This growth is a good start but we need to expand even more boldly and widen the anti-imperialist united from into a truly global force capable of organizing against imperialism on all fronts”, said Malcolm Guy. The general declaration of the ILPS assembly states “we must further develop our capacity to hold globally coordinated actions
on major global issues as well as specific regional or national issues that have global implications.“ “We have had a number of positive experiences where a local struggle initiated or participated in by our member-organizations was augmented or bolstered by supportive actions by our member-organizations in other countries, thereby visibly manifesting the breadth and strength of our League and attracting more organizations to join us.” While the assembly ended on July 9, those present know that the bulk of the work lays ahead in the countless grass roots organizers working to build a worldwide antiimperialist united front.
MUSTAD Workers on the Picket Line
The workers outside of the Mustad factory have been on the picket line since late May, 2011. They set up the picket line the day after the company supposedly illegally closed its gates on the workers. Theworkersareprimarilywomen in their 30s to 50s. Many had worked at the plant for over 20 years. They had built up a strong union affiliated with Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and had won many rights for their workers. Theclosureoftheplantwillhave a particularly devastating impact on these workers, as not only is there an extremely high unemploymentrate,mostcompaniesdo not higher people older than 25 years of age. The workers are determined to challenge the company’s decision to close the factory and they have stayed on the picket line for over a month now. The workers used to hand knit
the nylon bait to the fishing hooks forMustad’s“bestselling[fishing] hookbrandontheplanet.”Mustad is a Norwegian company with sale centres in 160 countries. When the workers approached Mustadabouttheclosure,Mustad claimed they could no longer keep the plant open because of the losses at the factory and provided the workerswithafinancialstatement showing their losses. Buttheworkersremainedskeptical, and for good reason. First off, the workers say that the company continued to receive production orders. The workers also question the financial statements provided by the company, as the workers say that many companies operating inthePhilippinesarenotoriousfor fixing the books. AndthenthereisKrexim,acompany that is supposedly in competition with Mustad. However,onelookattheMustad compound would have you question that story. Both the Mustad
andtheKreximfactoriesarewithin the same compound, behind gates withtheletters“M””U””S””T””A””D” written on them. In addition to fixing the books, companies also change their names quite often. The original factory operated under the name of Krexim, and was later changed to Mustad, and now we have/had Mustad and Krexim as two separate companies. Why all the name changes? The name changes are ways of using changes in the Filipino laws to further extract profits. At one point companies had a 5 year grace period before they would be required to pay taxes. All you had to do was change your name and thenyouhadanother5yearswithout taxes. Currently, a new law (or loop hole) has made it easier to contractualize the workforce. Here comes Krexim with a new organizational design to maximize profits. Krexim has 20 sub-contractors who in total
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hire 300 workers. These workers work from their home. At home, the work conditions are more hazardous, not only for the worker but also their family. Remember, these workers are producing fishing lures. Each Mustad worker had numerous stories of puncture wounds from the lures, but at least they had won the right to have a health worker on staff. The workers at Krexim and their children have no access to health and safety services. The pay is worse. Workers at Mustad were getting paid 464 php a day ($10). While its
still hard to live on 464 php, its much harder to live on 80120 php the workers at Krexim make. They get paid for piece work; 1 peso per finished product. There has been a significant decline in unionization (and with it a decline in workers’ rights) alongsidetheincreasingcontractualization policies implemented by the government and corporations. Unions like KMU and the workers on the Mustad picket line have been fighting for the rights of all Filipinos workers
WS IN THE PHILIPPINES 3 Victims Add to List of Political Killings By Ronalyn V. Olea
MANILA – A few days before President Benigno S. Aquino III delivers his State of the Nation Address (Sona), three more victims add to the growing list of political killings. Roque Laputan, 59, a member of Anakpawis partylist, Davao del Sur, was murdered by unidentified men, July 10. Laputan, was at the forefront of protests against the operation of Xstrata-owned Sagittarius Mines Inc. in Davao del Sur and the company’s plan to put up a coal-fired plant here. Laputan was in a store in Tagansuli village when two masked men on a motorcycle arrived, one of whom alighted, grabbed Laputan by the neck and shot him twice in the head. He died instantly. Two residents of Pangarap Village in Caloocan City were killed when security guards opened fire at a vigil site set up by residents protesting against the demolition in the area. Soliman Gomez and Rommel Fortadez died and six others were injured. The guards, who were allegedly drunk, were guarding
the property owned by Gregorio Araneta III, a relative of newly-appointed Department of Transportation and Telecommunications secretary and Aquino’s running mate, Manuel “Mar” Roxas III. “Killings continue just before Aquino delivers his second Sona. Does this tell us that the same policy of extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary killings would continue for the next years of Aquino’s term?” Cristina Guevarra, Hustisya secretary general, said. “We ask him, how many more?” Reacting to announcements made by Malacañang that Pres. Aquino’s SONA will focus on his anti-corruption campaign report for the past year, Hustisya, an organization of families of victims of human rights violations, asked whether human rights is not an alarming issue for the Aquino administration. “Didn’t he mention an end to extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in his straight path? If this is so, why do killings continue?” Guevarra said. During his first Sona, Aquino vowed to resolve cases of
« VICTORY from PG. 4 successfully organized across racial groups to take this action. This is a tremendously courageous action—to go on hunger strike, when people are virtually on starvation diets to begin with—to deprive themselves of food indefinitly. And it is extremely important that we be here to support them and show our solidarity.” Unprecedented support is being shown around from around the world, with actions planned in dozens of cities including Toronto, Montreal, Kitchener, and Vancouver. Toronto Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) held a letter-writing night on July 1 and sent letters to the authorities as well as messages of solidarity to several of the hunger strikers. On July 9 we observed a 24-hour fast, and we are encouraging others, wherever they are, to participate to the extent that they are able. In Montreal, actions include a picket line in front of the American Consulate as well as letter-writing. Messages are also expected from as far as Ireland and the Basque regions. Most recently more than 150 religious communities of Roman Catholic nuns mailed in letters of support of the prisoners’ requests to the governor of California. Finally on July 20th, after 4 grueling weeks, the leaders of the hunger strike at Pelican Bay confirmed that the strike was over. They confirmed that the CDCR has agreed to make immediate concessions as an act of good faith to address the longer term 5 core demands of the hunger strikers. This is why support is still needed: to
keep the pressure on CDCR, who have made it clear that the demands of the prisoners will be adressed and implemented in a timely fashion. The leaders of Pelican Bay released a statement saying that the strike will resume if the CDCR does not fulfill it’s end of the agreement. This is in light of the new California legislation that requires prisons to eliminate overcrowding. Todd Ashker, one of the hunger strike leaders, writes: “It’s very important that our supporters know where we stand, and that CDCR knows that we’re not going to go for any B.S. We...mean what we said regarding an indefinite hunger strike peaceful protest until our demands are met. I repeat–we’re simply giving CDCR a brief grace period in response to their request for the opportunity to get [it] right in a timely fashion! We’ll see where things stand soon enough!” There are still hunger strikes going on in Corcoran and Tehachapi Prisons, protesting their own horrific living conditions. Landrum and thousands of other prisoners carried on their slow, painful act of resistance, waiting for their demands to be met at any cost. “Hopefully the situation doesn’t deteriorate,” he writes.” I end this letter with the words of Ulrike Meinhof [of Germany’s Red Army Faction], ‘Protest is when I say I don’t like this or that. Resistance is when I see to it that things I don’t like do not occur.’” http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
extrajudicial killings, citing the murder of Fernando Baldomero, a local councilor in Lezo, Aklan, among others. One year after, the case was recently archived because the arrest warrant issued in January this year had not been served, according to Ernan Baldomero, son of the victim and Hustisya vice chairman. The suspect, Ernan said, has eluded arrest. “We are raising the alarm not only because victims under the past administration have not been given justice, but most especially, killings continue under Aquino. Until when shall we wait for concrete action to stop the killings?” Guevarra asked. According to Karapatan, there have been 48 victims of extrajudicial killings, not yet including the recent cases. Congressional probe Meanwhile, Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said they are seeking an inquiry into the incident in Pangarap Village, adding that the this is not the first time that security guards of Araneta-owned Carmel Development Inc. (CDI) indiscriminately fired at the
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residents. On April 28, three were injured in the shooting. Carmel Development is claiming ownership of the7,008hectare area where the community is located. The area, almost half the size of Caloocan City, includes Pangarap Village that is part of “Tala Estate,” historically a leper colony as determined by Commonwealth Act 161. Anakpawis said the Aranetas want to clear the area, demolish the urban poor community and develop the area into a commercial center. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) filed a case (GR No. 187876) against CDI for illegally claiming the land. According House Resolution 1236 filed by Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela Womens Party, Act Teachers Partylist and Kabataan Party, the DENR said CDI had failed to prove that it had fully paid for the land, which is supposedly
« LONDON from PG. 1 demonstrator was beaten by cops, the fury of the masses erupted- two police cars were torched, and responding officers were pelted with rocks & bottles. Within hours the youth of Tottenham were in full out rebellion, and after a few days the insurrection spread to not only other impoverished & working-class areas of London, but cities across England including Liverpool, Nottingham, and Bristol. While British politicians rave about “monsters taking over [the] streets”, and their corporate/state media lament burnt buildings & repair costs the real crimes and criminals fail to be pointed out. Duggan lives in a community with the fourth highest child poverty rate in London, where over half of black youth can’t get a job. Throughout the U.K. unemployment has nearly dou-
bled in the past three yearswhile the current regime of PM David Cameron engages in a campaign of economic terror; gutting social programs and tripling tuition fees. Never mind the 333 people in England killed in Police custody since 1998, for which a single officer has never been convicted. Our local thugs have a similar rap sheet, one that has left 30% of Toronto families in poverty, communities mired in unemployment and significant numbers of black and other disenfranchised youth pushed out of the legal economy altogether. As Ford eagerly prepares to gouge out more of our services and structures, he, along with the bandits at Queen’s Park & Parliament Hill, should be feeling the heat from London’s flames: There’s only so much the people will take!
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part of the “Friar Lands,” “over which the Government holds the title and are not public lands but private or patrimonial property of the Government and can be alienated only upon proper compliance with Act No. 1120 or the Friar Lands Act.” Mariano said the violence at Pangarap Village adds to the series of bloody demolitions against urban poor communities. Other incidents of violent demolitions also took place in Sitio San Roque in Quezon City, Barangay Corazon de Jesus in San Juan City and Laperal Compound in Makati City. “Aquino’s neglect on the plight of the urban poor is evident in the series of violent demolitions under his watch.”
« POLICE from PG. 3 these communities. The police are expanding their presence in the Davenport-Perth area. They are constructing a new police station where an elementary school benefited the local children only a few years ago. Even a smaller building complex like Martha Eaton Way, near Tretheway and Black Creek, is seeing daily visits from the bike cops, who roll up and proceed to interrogate the closest young black man in a fitted baseball cap, asking him for identification, phone number and occasionally searching him, not to mention the frequent cursing and insulting. The long record of deaths at the hands of the on-duty officers is no secret to anyone from these areas. So watch out for the heat waves and most importantly the hot blocks, because with all this un-employment, someone has to be paid to contain the people’s dissatisfaction. Stay alert and organise your area, these are the only real options for working and unemployed people.
ARTS AND CULTURE Scotiabank Pimps Caribbean Carnival By L.W.
This year’s Caribana was anticipated with mixed emotions. People throughout the city were discussing the festival’s name change to “Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival”, possible route changes and entrance fees. Now it seems that all we can
remember is the shooting; the wounding of 2 people and the death of one man at the hands of an officer. On the day of the festival, as people walked into the festival grounds, most people were relieved to see that they didn’t have to pay entrance fees. However, the festival was
not free for everyone. Scotiabank’s efforts to introduce an entrance fee were partially successful, as some people had bought their “tickets” online. Another noticeable change to this year’s festival was the large absence of Caribbean food vendors. The usual endless strip of food vendors, most of whom were people from Toronto’s Caribbean community, were almost entirely absent. The only food in sight at the end of the Parade were hot-dog vendors, which were few and far between. Apparently, any element of culture that the food brought was not important to the new Scotiabank owners. The food stands were a family affair, with entire families cooking jerk chicken, ox tail, rice and peas under a tent. They were often family-run operations with cousins and sisters on the side eating and at least 2 people serving food and/
Saying Goodbye to Gil ScottHeron, Godfather of Hip Hop By Makaya Kelday June 2nd, 2011, the legendary Riverside Church in Harlem. A few hundred of us solemnly make our way to the pews. The man we came to honor, the man whose voice was far from beautiful but never failed to reach the darkest depths of the listener’s soul, the man whose library of music is fifteen albums deep, the man who turned political subjects into dance floor jams, the Godfather of hip-hop, the legendary, the one and only, Gil Scott-Heron –who left us on May 27th. Gil’s first album Small Talk at 125th & Lenox, was released in 1969, and his last, I’m New Here, in 2010. From “The Bottle” to “From South Carolina to South Africa”, “We Almost Lost Detroit” and the anthem, “The Revolution will not be Televised”, he created music that remained relevant 40 years after it was created and will remain relevant for
long after. Before Kool Herc brought us the 1s and 2s, Gil gained the title “The Godfather of Hip-Hop”, from his rhythmic poetry spoken over beats. His music has been sampled and his name mentioned in songs by Kanye West, Common, Mos Def, De la Soul, Freeway, DJ Honda, the Game, Tupac, K’Naan and Grand Puba, to name a few. His influence cannot be debated. But it was a disappointing day for hip-hop. The Godfather died and no one came to the funeral, except Kanye. Now, how can the biggest superstar from the above-mentioned list, with undoubtedly the busiest schedule find the time and heart to, not only attend but also to perform at the funeral but none of the other artists can? Kanye’s honest performance of “Lost in the World” ended as he let Gil’s voice on “Who Will Survive in America” ring throughout the church. He hugged Gil’s family and disappeared somewhere in the
church. This, along with the musical tribute by Astro, Vernon and Bilal, were the highlights of the celebration–as Gil would have wanted it. The music that Gil gave us was “left here for us to learn,” as quoted in the Spirits liner notes. And the most amazing thing about music is that it outlives its creator and our children’s children will be able to know the man through his songs. Those of us fortunate enough to have seen him live, witnessed his genius first hand; half politician – half-comedian; all artist. His warm-hearted nature and genuine character, coupled with his long-time struggles are what made him human, one of us, fighting our struggles. We all thought he had more time, but there were greater forces at work. BASICS says thank you to Gil ScottHeron, the Godfather of HipHop. You will forever remain in our hearts and headphones. R.I.P. Brother Gil. The Revolution will be live!
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or taking money at all times. Portions were always generous and food was cooked from scratch to give you energy. Behind these stands was giant lawn space where kids would run around and people would sit and eat before heading back into the parade festivities. The food stands were also one of the only places where Caribbean families made any money from the festival. The over $400 million that the festival generates is almost entirely directed into clubs, hotels, stores, and restaurants in downtown Toronto. This situation is in stark contrast to the times when the parade actually served the community. Over 40 years ago, the parade used its revenue to build a community centre for newly arrived immigrants. It’s infuriating to see Scotiabank taking over the festival, appropriating the culture, making people pay entrance
fees, and blocking families from selling Caribbean foods. Scotiabank’s only interest in the festival is to make money for itself. It was quite amazing to see how quickly Scotiabank’s name was detached from the festival after the violence of this year’s festival. The bank has no interest is assisting the working-class Caribbean community, a community that faces some of the highest unemployment rates in the city. Instead, Scotiabank , a bank so rich that it continues to profit throughout the recession and didn’t even need a bailout, is pimping the Caribbean community. It is all the more enraging considering the origins of the parade are in the celebration of emancipation of slavery, an element of the history of the parade that Scotiabank has no intention of promoting.