Interview with a Security Certificate Detainee (People's Voice)

Interview with a Security Certificate Detainee
by Saleh Waziruddin
(People's Voice, March 16-31 2013)

PV's Saleh Waziruddin recently interviewed Mohammed Mahjoub, the "security certificate" detainee who was finally freed from having to wear a GPS bracelet. Mohammed Mahjoub, a refugee from Egypt, was arrested in 2000, without being charged with a crime or given access to evidence against him. Mahjoub has been on a speaking tour about his case after being released from having to wear a GPS. He claims he has found evidence that Canada has spent over $1 billion on all security certificate cases, and that CSIS had used criminal records of five people with his name in Egypt who were convicted of various crimes to confuse the justice system.

     Although cleared of any charges in Egypt, Mahjoub has been unable to find out why he was arrested in Canada, other than the possibility that another security certificate arrestee, unknown to him, may have mentioned his name in a phone call. His house arrest conditions were so onerous and invasive that he initially went back to prison on his own, and his wife divorced him in 2011 when he was going to be released back into house arrest. His defense committee's website is www.supportmahjoub.org/. 

People's Voice: What would you say to someone who thinks what happened to you could never happen to them?

Mahjoub: I have never thought it will happen to me, but it happened.  It can happen to anybody here in Canada. My advice to them is: don't take everything granted forever. It happened to me today, it can happen to anyone else, especially minority people.

What have you found was most effective for the victories you've won in your struggle, such as being free from the GPS bracelet?

     The most thing effective in my case is speaking out, raising my voice, sharing my story with Canadians. Find other Canadians who have hope in their life to assist you.

What are things people in Canada can do to help win justice for you?

     They can do a lot of things. They can share the story in the internet, they can write to their MPs, they can share this information with human rights organizations. There are many, many things they can do, not only one thing. (They) can make events such as what happened today for instance here in St. Catharines.

What changed in your opinion about Canada after your experience?

     Again, the law is (supposed to) apply to every individual, whether they are citizen or non‑citizen. If someone commits a crime, he or she should face a fair trial, but in the security certificate cases there are no charges laid on me or any other security certificate individual. We didn't have a fair trial in the first place. We have to fight hard. Why there is (such a situation in) Canada? I am not angry, but I have to fight hard to clear my name. The individual who put me in this position, should be held accountable for what they did to me and my family as well.

Do you have advice to anyone facing a similar situation?

     My advice to them (is) to be patient, to fight through legal avenues, not do anything to make their case more miserable or more difficult. There are many ways to fight through the law, to hire a good lawyer to speak out, to have contacts with organizations (which) can raise your voice. They can share your story with other organizations - human rights groups, parliament, media.

(The above article is from the March 16-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive,Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

In defence of Walberg article (letter to People's Voice)

In defence of Walberg article

(Letter to People's Voice, Feb 1-14 2013)

A letter to the editor (“Article gives wrong impression of the Iran regime”, People’s Voice, Dec. 1- 31, 2012) complains that the article “Canada’s toxic spill of anti-native racism” by Eric Walberg from November, about Canadian native activists getting a voice in OPEC, portrays Iran “in a very positive light and characterizes it as democratic.” But the article doesn’t anywhere call Iran democratic. Rather, the article exposes the imperialist double standard in calling Iran undemocratic while Harper suppresses Native voices and the EU bans Iranian television, something very different from characterizing Iran as democratic.

Further, the letter-writer mischaracterizes “vilayet-e-faqih” (vice-regency of jurists) as being appointed by “fellow mullahs” and above parliament. In fact the Assembly of Experts is directly elected by the voters, and while there is a law specifying they have to be religious scholars, this is not in the Constitution and is being legally challenged. There is also a Guardian Council, which is above parliament, but only half the members are appointed religious scholars, the rest are lawyers with secular specialties elected by parliament itself.

The letter-writer expresses concern about communists losing credibility, but surely credibility requires being accurate about facts? Inaccurate information does not serve the cause of international solidarity with the Iranian people. Rather, both international solidarity and our credibility are best served by countering imperialism’s propaganda, as Eric Walberg has done.

The letter-writer suggests that Walberg and others have joined “that league of the enemy of my enemy is my friend” because they are bribed by Iran’s public relations budget. Perhaps instead of speculating about Walberg’s motives we should pay more careful attention to the suppressed information he is bringing us. This is why I hope you print more articles by Walberg and PressTV.

Perhaps Walberg was right the first time, that Iran is not the enemy the demonization of war propaganda would have us believe.

S. Saleh Waziruddin,

Niagara Falls, ON

Anger about Malala Yousafzai should not be used for more war (Letter to Globe and Mail)

Anger about Malala Yousafzai should not be used for more war

(Letter to Globe and Mail, from Rebel Youth blog)
October 11, 2012

We reprint this letter to the editor calling for the deplorable attack on young Pakistani woman Malala Yousfzai to not be an excuse to whip up war fever by imperialism.


Dear Editor,

Your editorial (Why the Taliban are afraid of a 14 year-old girl, Oct 10th 2012) perversely exploits the attack on Malala Yousafzai by calling for "overwhelming force to bear" on the Taliban.  Malala herself in an interview with CNN last year said deal with the Taliban through talks and building more schools.  Using force has only lead to killing more young women, not making them safer.  For example in May a New York Times article described how President Barack Obama hand-picked a 17 year-old girl to be killed by drone without a trial.  The UK Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates about 175 children have been killed by drones, and says the US sends a 2nd round of drones every attack which kills rescue workers.  Last month NATO admitted its bombs killed 8 Afghan women and girls collecting firewood.  Anger at the attack on Malala should not be used for more war which will kill more girls and women, that is senseless and not what Malala stood for.

S. Saleh Waziruddin
Niagara Falls, Ontario

Communist Parties win 11 Seats in Syrian Parliamentary Elections (MRZine)

Communist Parties win 11 Seats in Syrian Parliamentary Elections

MRZine June 18, 2012

(Published with edits in People's Voice June 16-30, 2012)

By S. Saleh Waziruddin

The first Syrian parliamentary elections under the new constitution, passed by 90% of voters in a referendum with 57% turnout, concluded in May with seat gains for Syria’s Communist Parties. The elections had a turnout of 51% (active duty military and police were ineligible) and voters elected 250 representatives from 16 geographic constituencies. The majority of seats are reserved for category “A”, required to be workers or peasants as defined by Labour laws, and the remaining representatives are elected as category “B” from the other classes.

The Communist Party of Syria (Bagdash) ran 30 candidates (13 in category A) in 15 constituencies and elected 8 (3 from category A), an increase of 3 from the previous parliament, while the Communist Party of Syria (Faisal AKA Unified) elected 3 representatives, reporting that its candidates’ individual votes amounted to 13% of the total, with the most popular candidate winning 300,000 votes. Voters voted for individual candidates but were provided with a list at the polling station called the “National Unity List” with candidates from parties in the National Progressive Front (NPF), which includes the two Communist Parties as well as the Arab Socialist Ba’ath (Renaissance) Party and 8 other parties. Only 41 of those elected were incumbents from the previous parliament, and more than 80 independents were elected.

The results announcement was delayed in some areas because of appeals filed about violations of the election law, and re-counts were conducted in some polling stations. The Communist Party of Syria (B) reported over 21 violations in Aleppo including the names of Communist candidates being crossed out from the National Unity List at one polling station. The CPS(B) filed two appeals to the Supreme Constitutional Court about these violations, one of which challenged the right of a winning candidate to be classified in category A because he was a lawyer, although a law professor.

The Communist Party of Syria (F-U) criticized the new parliament for having only 12% (30) women, whereas previously women made up 18% of the legislature, and said it would have preferred the elections to be held under better circumstances because of the violence in the country which it said limited the turnout. The CPS(F-U) criticized some parties for boycotting the election, saying that it was an inappropriate tactic based on a miscalculation that the government would fall from the boycott and criticized these parties for continuing to take positions which “hinder every effort to resolve a consensual peaceful solution to the crisis, and encourage terrorist acts and calls for foreign intervention in all candour.” The Party also criticized the process of forming the joint electoral list, which in the past included consultation between the parties in the NPF and had the Front's name instead of "National Unity List", but said that it expects the new parliament to be a tool for progress.

A rival coalition to the NPF called the Popular Front for Change and Liberation (PFCL) is lead by Qadri Jamil who was one of the drafters of the new constitution. Jamil was elected as an independent but leads the People's Will Party (also the name of a 19th century Russian terrorist organization), which is the legal name of the National Committee for the Unity of Syrian Communists, formed after they were expelled from the CPS (B) under accusations of Trotskyism. The PFCL also includes a 1957 split of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party ("Intifada" or uprising), whose parent party is an NPF member, as well as independent legislators including some trade unionists. The PFLC appealed election results across Syria and has called for nullifying the vote. At the opening of the first session of the new parliament Jamil rose to a point of order and lead a walkout/boycott by the PFLC.

Six parties in neither the NPF or the PFCL ran 81 candidates but did not win any seats.

The first Communist to be elected in an Arab parliament was Khalid Bagdash in 1954, a Kurd who was a delegate to the Communist International (Comintern). During World War II Bagdash lead the national resistance against the Vichy French occupation of Syria. While many Communist Parties experienced splits in the 1989-1991 period of counter-revolutions in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, uniquely this division happened much earlier in Syria. In 1986 Bagdash, who was the leader of the Communist Party, criticized Gorbachev’s policies and what they meant for socialism including in Syria, and subsequently lead a split from the Party as the majority of the Central Committee under Yusuf Faisal agreed with Gorbachev's policies.

Nothing "Sticky" About Religious Accommodation (letter to People's Voice)

Nothing "Sticky" About Religious Accommodation 

(letter to the People's Voice editor printed May 16-31, 2012 issue)

In your May Day 2012 issue letters section, Wayne Madden writes that a flawed on-line CBC poll aligned him with the Wildrose Party on one question because he believes “giving extra protection to certain religious groups, whether that group is a minority or a majority in society” amounts to the state establishment of religion and somehow puts religious rights over other rights.

The actual question on-line is not about protection but accommodation: “How much should be done to accommodate religious minorities in Alberta?” It’s revealing that the question was misinterpreted this way. There is a reason why we need extra efforts to accommodate faith-based minorities but don’t need more efforts to accommodate faith-based majorities, similar to why we need efforts to accommodate LGBT2SQI and not heterosexuals, why we need extra efforts to accommodate women but not men, and why we need extra efforts to accommodate oppressed peoples but not their oppressors. This is because of the existence of patriarchy and racism, which are historical oppressions tied to systems of production that pre-date capitalism but have become interconnected with capitalism.

Attacks on faith-based minorities are often really racism-driven attacks. After all no one administered theology tests trying to distinguish a Sikh from a Muslim during the vigilante attacks which followed in the wake of 9/11, such as firebombing mosques and Gurdwaras (Sikh temples), assaulting men with turbans or women wearing veils. Religion may or may not have been an important part of the victims’ lives, but that was no protection from the racists. The reason faith-based minorities are attacked are because of fears of losing WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) supremacy, and if we don’t protect the minorities we leave the working class and its allies open to divide-and-conquer.

This is similar to why we need laws protecting the rights of workers and the poor but don’t really need laws protecting the rights of the bosses. We can say that a law forbidding anyone from sleeping under a bridge is equal, but the truth is that under capitalism the rich have plenty of homes whereas the working poor and unemployed need the bridge for shelter. Similarly, faith-based minorities don’t have access to most of the capital in this country (contrary to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories) and need to be protected from those who do.

There is much institutionalization of some religions over others many of us take for granted, such as why our weekends are on Sundays and Saturdays, why statutory holidays coincide with Judeo-Christian ones, as well as bias in school textbooks.

Religion is not something that exists independent of the historical processes behind patriarchy, race, and class. It’s no accident that people in some parts of Europe are Catholic whereas others are Protestant, while others still are Muslim, Jewish, pagan, etc. Religion is interconnected with ethnicity, culture, and race, and so religious rights don’t exist in isolation from other rights.

Unfortunately there is a big blind spot not just in Canada generally but within the left in particular which ignores the realities of patriarchy and racism when opining on issues that only from the surface seem unrelated, such as religious accommodation. In particular Islamophobia operates by painting Muslims as a threat to secularism, whereas Muslims don’t have the power to threaten secularism here but the capitalists behind WASP supremacy do. Bogus campaigns in Ontario and in the United States against non-existent Shari’a courts gain acceptance from the left by re-branding racism as secularism, when in fact there has never been a proposal to establish Shari’a courts in North America.

My recommendation to People’s Voice readers is that if you ever find yourself on the same side of an issue as the Wildrose Party or other bigots, even if it is on an on-line poll however flawed, you should reconsider your views, repeatedly if necessary! The issue of accommodating minorities, even faith-based ones, is not “sticky” or complicated after all, any more than racism and patriarchy are. 

S. Saleh Waziruddin,

Niagara Falls, ON

Shirley's Story (The Spark! #23)

Shirley's Story

interview by Asad Ali

as published in The Spark! #23, December 2011

90th Anniversary of the Communist Party of Canada

  

Through much of the 1970s the progressive movement in Canada was lead by the labour movement, driven largely by the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), and in the CAW's forefront was Local 199 in St. Catharines, which in turn was lead by the Unity Caucus influenced by the local Communist Party club. 

The Spark! interviewed Shirley Hawley, an Aboriginal woman who was a rank-and-file autoworker and a Communist Party member who fought first-hand in many of the battles that laid the basis of strength for the Canadian left in the 1970s. Shirley currently is an active CAW retiree and is also the Secretary-Treasurer of the Communist Party's Eric Blair Club in Niagara.

Background: Early Years of the Communist Party in Niagara

  

Prior to the strategic role in the CAW in the Canadian left, Communists had been active in Niagara since the early 20th century. Newspaper accounts show how in 1930 eleven party activists were arrested in Niagara Falls for attempting a peace march in coordination with comrades from the CPUSA across the border. In the summer of 1935 unemployed workers went on strike at relief camps in Welland, organized by Communist Frank Haslam among others, for the second time in order to get charges withdrawn from strikers arrested earlier and also for the right to use their vouchers at stores nearby instead of having to hike just to cash their pay. Haslam and four others had been arrested after the provincial police threw tear gas bombs at the unemployed. In December of 1936 Local 199 of the United Auto Workers (UAW, now CAW) at the McKinnon (now GM) plant in St. Catharines was founded with the leadership of Haslam and the help of the unemployed workers movement.

 When the Communist Party of Canada was banned in 1941 Niagara communist Charlie Weir had been arrested in Windsor by the RCMP and accused of being both a communist and a union organizer. He was successfully defended on most of the charges by David Goldstick, the father of the current editor of The Spark.

In the summer of 1946 striking Canadian Seamen's Union (CSU) sailors had to fight scab ships on the Welland canal, defended by police on-board. The CSU strike, lead in part by communists such as Mel Doig who was in his late 20s, was assisted by UAW and International Chemical Workers Union (ICWU) locals, the latter lead by George Gare. This was followed by a summer-long auto workers strike in 1948 in St. Catharines to get the same pay as Windsor and Oshawa workers, lead in part by communists such as Local 199's vice president Lloyd Hawke. The CCF, forerunners of the NDP, were criticized publicly by both the Labor Progressive Party (LPP, Communists) and the union for urging a settlement and collaboration with management. 

Management had declared the strike illegal and, as with USW 1005 Hamilton steelworkers today, tried to get the membership to bypass the elected leadership and vote on the offer. The leadership rejected this trick, and even when the union did later vote on the offer, only one member voted to accept it. In the fall, the Labour Board allowed the company to prosecute the union for the strike. The next year two party members, activists in the United Electrical workers (UE) and CSU, were elected to the municipal councils of Crowland and Humberstone, now part of Welland.

In the Red Scare years many Niagara communists were purged by social-democrats in collusion with management and right-wing politicians. In 1949 George Gare was fired in-person by the International (i.e. US) President of the ICWU for connections to local communists. In 1957 the ICWU raided Niagara Falls chemical plants from the UE. However, from 1953 to to 1971 communist Gordie Lambert was GM plant chair and Unity (left) Caucus leader for the CAW's local 199 in St. Catharines. In 1973 Port Colborne union activist John Severinsky successfully fought his expulsion from the Steelworkers for handing out a supplement on food prices of the Canadian Tribune, forerunner of the People's Voice newspaper, a month after his election to the Inco local's office. These latter incidents were contemporary to Shirley Hawley's working life at the St. Catharines GM plant.

Interview with Shirley Hawley

Spark: How did you join the Communist Party?

  

Shirley Hawley: I was involved with the NDP and I didn't like it: didn't like their ideas, theory, and what they thought the future should be. I remained in the NDP for less than a year. I was elected as my riding's financial secretary. The riding association was split. There was a left and a right. My way of thinking was always to the left. I had no political education up to this time. I became a single mother and had three children to look after and was out in the labour force. I knew things weren't right. Then I got a job at a union plant, GM was then McKinnon with local 199. I was still involved with the NDP and not happy with the way they were going. I started in the foundry. There was a strong left caucus there. I got involved with them. I liked the way the committee men represented you and I felt comfortable with them. I attended a few of their meetings and got involved. They could depend on me when they wanted to take action.

I got involved with the party. I wasn't a member but I was very close to them. I belonged to the CCW (Congress of Canadian Women). I was selected to be one of 120 women from Canada, we were invited to a women's conference in the Soviet Union, Moscow. 

My eyes were opened up to women's rights and things like that. It was put on by the women's part of the Communist Party. There were a lot of professional people there and academics. I felt quite comfortable there and attended all their sessions. I could not go to all of them, there was not enough time. The ones I did go to I spoke at. They claimed to be interested in me because I was on the floor in the labour movement, working at an auto plant.

The conference was 2 weeks long. I was invited to stay over for another week by the women's committee and tour auto plants there. They wanted me to tour and give them an idea of our plants and what differences there were. I was quite impressed with how the Soviet Union was running at that time. I came back in '87 I think it was, and I joined the party. I was very close to the party in the Niagara region. A lot of it had to do with Eric Blair (the organizer). I've been a member ever since.

What impressed you about what you saw in the Soviet Union?

Their education. Women working alongside of men at the same wage. You could do anything, any work that you wanted to do to better yourself. Medical things were open for women there. I was very impressed with their day care at work and a lot of it was in their community. You could drop your children off on your way to work. Daycare was quite convenient for you, not a long way to go for daycare and then a long way to work. Quite different from what we have here!

Most women still had to buy their daily groceries to make their meals, (the) only negative thing that I saw for women. Housing was adequate, great programs for their youth, sports activities, in the music field, (public) palace of this palace of that, social participation of children learning. Kids were allowed to go to the ballet and the opera. Most of our youth can't afford that and it's not available for them. Always had a good sports program. You could see that in the figure skating and hockey, I imagine all the other sports too. That's what I was really interested in

Can you tell us about the illegal strike or walk-out you were a part of?

  

The Unity Caucus - Left Caucus - we were in the foundry and an employee got disciplined from higher up because something went wrong and it wasn't this employee's fault at all. It was a supervisor (at fault) but he was covering up his mistake by getting rid of this employee. This happened on the midnight shift. When we came to work in the morning, all the union left-wing delegates, they spread the word and they said that they were going to take action around 11 O'clock in the morning. When you get the word, you spread the word and you talk all morning and when the time comes you get the people to follow you. We had a great attendance of the people, almost all the people walked out. We kept them almost 24 hours, nobody coming in, no deliveries trucks or parts. We caught some of the supervisors (at the entrance) and told them what was happening. Some turned around and went home, and some didn't.

Early morning one supervisor wanted to go in and I asked them not to and explained everything. He said I'm going in (anyway). I just got in front of his car and laid down in front of it. He waited a while but he turned around and went home. It was something that I did out of reflex, on the spur of the moment, and after I realized what I did I was really scared and frightened. I was just so much into what I was doing, it was automatic.

 Did you win on the issue?

I got served by the labour board. Several people did. The employee that was fired wasn't fired, he got his job back. The whole story came out, the supervisor was reprimanded. He didn't get fired, didn't lose any time. Didn't lose any management. Almost everyone (on strike) that they caught on camera lost a day's a pay, lost some money. But I got wrote up and it was on my record. I think I lost a day's pay and all. That was it. The employee kept his job. We won but it was an illegal strike and the union had to pay some money.

I obeyed them and (CAW) 199 got that all squashed. I was served so many papers, boxes (full). I never did read it. One of the main fellows in our left supporters, he told me “Shirley you've done your job, now go home.” Anyone that got served, the union could be liable $1000 a day. Quite high. I obeyed them and the union didn't have to pay anything. There was some settlement, it was an illegal strike.

All strikes used to be illegal. It's coming back in Canada. Some unions don't have the right to strike yet. We've got this government that will legislate you back to work. Its not good for the union. What power does the union have? That was one of their main strengths was to strike, that was a landmark for the union when they got it. When the contract is up (and) you can't come to a settlement, you have the right to strike. 

When that's taken away from you, your rights are being eroded, taken away. It has been going on for quite a few years. The unions are losing ground and losing power, conceded for different wage scales. With the job loss and downsizing of our industries, it's a way of keeping the ones that are there still working. Don't blame the union, the union has had to make a lot of concessions for 10 years or so but it's slowly breaking up the unions.

Can you tell us about how the Unity Caucus (left-wing) lost influence to the Blue Slate (right-wing, within the union local), and the influence of the Communist Party?

It was the early 80s that they (the left) lost the power. There was some building of egos, an ego fight within the caucus. Someone who was a protege of Gordie Lambert, he sold Gordie out and went the other way. It made a big rift in the caucus, it lost strength then. Because of the infighting and the disagreements, they couldn't operate with these two ideas of how to handle a problem. And then what really put the kibosh on the unity caucus was when one committee man during a shut down agreed to, not sure just exactly what, but it was classifications right in the contract. He agreed to give these up. So when the workers come up to work, this agreement was in place. We didn't know how it was possible: it wasn't even negotiation time, but it turned out that it was. I really don't know how. People lost faith. 

This committeeman who did this was supposed to be a unity slate guy . Turned out he sold us out, the deal was for him to give up this classification of certain areas and he had quite a easy way at work. A lot of times he wasn't there and still got paid. People seen that. The only thing they had (in response) was to withdraw their support. Very few of the unity slate guys got elected the next time around. It just went from bad to worse.

We had a left-wing plant chairman, Gordie Lambert, but that as high as the unity caucus went. There wasn't that much Party influence. We did as much as we could with the members we had, helped on the picket line and different protests. We did march with our banner “Communist Party of Canada” for the first time in the 1995 labour and community groups' Days of Action against Ontario Tory Premier Mike Harris, that to me was a big thing. Eric Blair (club organizer) was invited out to speak at different things. He was well respected, he was awarded from the labour council a plaque. I also was, from the labour council, awarded for being an activist. I've been active in my community and the peace movement. Eric Blair had been around for many many years and this the first award he ever got. It was delivered on his death bed! Took a long time. He was well respected. We all were. So many people agreed with us but just couldn't vote for us.

I ran for school trustee and got a very good reception. There was a spot open as I was told he (the incumbent) wasn't going to run anymore, and I started with my literature and going door to door which was something that wasn't heard of for school board trustee. On local cable TV they all didn't show up (for a debate). It was a given that the same people over and over would get elected. It's still like that, “old blood.” I started with my partner Don Quinn and Toronto helped us, the Provincial Party Office. This fellow that was going to not run, all of a sudden decided he's out there (running). I got a very big vote but didn't get elected. I got invited to all the meetings where the candidates speak. When I was canvassing I had people say “you're the first school trustee to come to my door.” They just assumed they got elected. I never followed that before I got involved, didn't know that's the way it was. These same people had been in for years.

The Eric Blair Club was the first communist club that went into the union hall on different days there was a public event, such as International Women's Day. When the notice went up that you could rent a table and came, I applied and we got it. We were quite visible, right around our table “Communist Party of Canada.” People were shocked but they were interested too, had a lot of inquiries.

Our downfall was we didn't have a lot of people. I guess we didn't interview them enough, talk to them enough to see if they were real (communists). Didn't know just who was honest.

What is some advice you would give to new members?

Get yourself educated and find out really the background, the struggle of the party and what we really stand for. A lot of people that come in think they have a lot of action, marches and protests, but that isn't all that's there do. I think the best thing is get yourself educated and really know what the party's all about.  No one knows now with the struggles that we have, this is the only party that's going to help the people out of the situation . The era that we're in, all the issues that the other parties have they don't take in the working class people that are working, struggling, lost their jobs working for minimum wage or low wages, two and three jobs to support their families . Everything (prices) is going up, there just aren't enough jobs around. The govt has allowed this. You have to really get yourself educated and understand. I picked the women's issues. I worked on that. I organized women in my union on the women's committee.

I think picking an issue to find out what you really want to work in, it would be more effective that way. Join a club, find out what your club is doing and how you can help. One other thing is we have to distribute our paper, the People's Voice, that's very important.

The people that are involved that are communists, comrades, I've never met more hard working, sincere people in my life. There are so few of us and they work so hard, whether it's when an election comes up or it's a protest or getting out to support a strike, delivering the paper. I don't think the history is much different (now), we don't have the people and the people really don't realize what's happening to them. When that happens and they realized what happened, we'll have history in this time. We'll have more communists and more history. People have to start to fight back. It's gotta happen with what's happening now, especially the young people and I think the party sees that with the YCL'ers (Young Communist League). It's growing in different provinces. Right here you've (to interviewer) had some success. These are the people that's going to make some history.

Can you tell us about your plant experiences as an Aboriginal women?

I haven't really worked on that. In the area I am living in (retired) now, I have been asked to come out to their meetings and get involved with them. The President of the Native association here just left my house, I get a lot of info from him. It's quite a highly populated area of Aboriginal people. I was very proud of my mother, I got my bloodline from my mother. I was proud of that that. I didn't like it when people characterized people like being a “drunken Indian”, (I would say) “but I've seen a drunken white person,” things like that. “They don't work,” (I would reply) “if you were taken out of your environment and way of life you might be acting like that too!.” They have problems but we're coming a long way with addressing their problems and educating.

I knew I had to got involved. Some organization had to fight for women. I had three children and had to get a job. I had to show I was in the process of getting a divorce as they wouldn't hire a married woman (on the production line)! Office staff could meet someone at the plant and keep their job. In 1964 they had a two-tier wage scale. I worked beside a man, we ran a machine together and he got a dollar an hour more than I did. He did one end, I ran the other end. That changed, that was one of the reasons really I got involved. Things weren't right for women. I was a woman with kids, wanted to have a future for them and support them .

As for the NDP, they weren't going to do nothing for us. That's the way I went. I drifted and I met communists and liked them, and their way of thinking. I knew I'd found my place.

(online at http://niagaracommunists.blogspot.ca/2012/05/shirleys-story.html)

Coverage of St. Catharines Communist Party candidate in Vapaa Sana, a Finnish-Canadian newspaper

SALEH WAZIRUDDIN - NIAGARA COALITION FOR PEACE, CANADIAN PEACE CONGRESS, COMMUNIST CANDIDATE FOR ST. CATHARINES

by Sofia Vuorinen for Vapaa Sana

I first encountered Saleh Waziruddin at a luncheon meeting of the Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association.  I took particular note of him because he was carrying an armful of People's Voice.  He is the co-convenor of Niagara Coalition for Peace and a member of the Canadian Peace Congress executive council.  There are occasional Niagara News Bulletins in People's Voice.  In the November 1-15, 2011, Saleh wrote an article titled in the paper entitled "Canadian Peace Alliance campaign for "Peace and Prosperity, not War and Austerity."  

The Canadian Peace Alliance held its bi-annual convention in Toronto on October 14-16 this year.  The theme of the convention was on "Peace and Prosperity not War and Austerity."  They were agitating for shifting public money from militarism and war into public services, jobs, and the environment.  Postcards can be signed on-line at www.acp-cpa.ca/en/Peace and Prosperity.html.

Several resolutions were passed, including support for the campaign to let U.S. War Resisters stay in Canada, helping students counter military recruitment, and participating in elections by encouraging peace candidates and clear anti-war positions.

I was particularly interested in getting in touch with Saleh when I was informed that he was going to run as a Communist candidate in St. Catharines in our October provincial election.  He had been campaign manager in 2008 in the federal election and in 2007 in the provincial election.  He also ran as a candidate in both the federal and provincial elections this year.

Saleh was born in Montreal to an Indian father and a Pakastani mother.  He lived in the U.S. for 12 years and has now returned to reside in Niagara Falls, Canada.  I wanted to know how he was received in the election as a Communist candidate.  He gave me some very interesting information.  He was approached by different people before the debates who had recognized him from his previous federal candidacy.  After the debate, one individual who was actually working for the Progressive Conservative party told Saleh that he made the most sense of all the candidates!

One of the major issues that he addressed was about the situations in local hospitals in the Niagara area.  The Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) has been cutting emergency rooms in favour of  P3 (public-private partnership) hospitals and mismanaging a bacteria outbreak linked to over 30 deaths.  

Niagara Falls residents have protested three bacterial outbreaks including C-Difficile with several deaths where the outbreak was declared late. The Health Minister Andrews denies that the  cause is funding cuts but adds that they will have to find money to deal with the outbreaks and added housekeeping staff.  

Saleh felt he did very well in certain high schools.  In one, he had the second most votes of any party.  Keep up the great work you are doing in many aspects of your life. Further details of "A People's Agenda for Ontario" is available at www.votecommunist.ca.