Treat the Tamil Refugees with Humanitarian Respect & Dignity, Not Smears and Innuendoes

August 17, 2010
For Immediate Release



The Communist Party of Canada demands that the Harper government cease its verbal attacks on the unfortunate refugees who arrived on the ship MV Sun Sea in British Columbia. These Tamil people are the victims of the ravages of war. The unsubstantiated claims of terrorist elements and criminalization without investigation or proof of any kind are beyond irresponsibility.
Over the past several years the increasing vilification of selected immigrant groups and nations, war resistors and refugees exposes a dangerous element of racism and reaction that typifies the Harper Government’s foreign and domestic policy. The actions to make difficulties for the Roma people and even tourism from Mexico are indications of these tendencies.
The Communist Party is not aware of any terrorist attacks carried out in this country by refugees. We are aware that these Tamil people arrived here openly without subterfuge and presented themselves properly to Canadian authorities for processing under Canadian law. We are also aware that their actions as asylum seekers are in line with international law which our government must recognize.
The Federal government spokespersons who are whipping up racism, xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments are doing so to hide the real agenda of a government that is leading our country to de-industrialization, massive unemployment, environmental disaster and deeper involvement in imperialist wars on behalf of global capital.

The threat to the Canadian working people is in Ottawa not on a ship in a British Columbia naval base. The Communist Party urges all concerned labour and democratic organizations to speak up on this issue now.

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For more information, contact Miguel Figueroa, CPC leader at

Treat the Tamil Asylum Seekers with Humanitarian Respect and Dignity Not Smears and Vilification

The Communist Party of Canada demands that the Harper government cease their verbal attack on the unfortunate refugees that arrived on the ship the MV Sun Sea in British Columbia. These Tamil people are the victims of the ravages of war. The unsubstantiated claims of terrorist elements and criminalization without investigation or proof of any kind are beyond irresponsibility.

Over the past several years the increasing vilification of selected immigrant groups and nations, war resistors and refugees exposes a dangerous element of racism and reaction that typifies the Harper Government’s foreign policy and domestic policy. The actions to make difficulties for the Roma people and even tourism from Mexico are indications of these tendencies.
The Harper government is seeking to revive the shameful racism of Canadian immigration policy that has had only a brief respite over the last thirty years. It has also continued the shameful legacy of racism in the relations between the First Nations and the Canadian State.

Prime Minister Harper might well refer to current actions and advocacies of the government of Australia. He should remind himself, if he has the capacity to read history, that the government he is quoting until 1972 had a “whites only” immigration policy. It is not the numbers or the politics of immigrants that underscores the reactionary policies brewing in many countries it is the colour of their skin and the origin of their culture.
The story of the Chinese workers who built the railroads from the west saddled by unfair racist head taxes, brutal and deadly working conditions and finally mass deportations bridged the British colonial period and the Dominion of Canada and set the stage for the anti-Asian policies that barred Asian immigration until the early 1950’s.

Presently the Punjab state government in India is seeking close to $150 million dollars of reparation for the 350 Punjab immigrants who were forced pay $15,000 entry fees into Canada in 1914. When they arrived aboard the ship Komagata Maru they were not allowed to disembark, were kept aboard for two months in Vancouver harbor, interrogated, abused, robbed of their entry fees and sent back to India where many of them died at the hands of the British military.

There were Jewish people fleeing the Nazi holocaust that were also turned

away and sent back to certain death in the extermination camps.

Domestically, while all this was happening to immigrants, the First Nations children were being forcibly seized from their families and forced into boarding schools where they were victimized and subjected to ethnic cleansing. Respected researchers and Native spokespersons say that over the years there are many thousands who entered these “Christian” hell holes and never survived, they are the “ Canadian Disappeared”.

The Communist Party is not aware of any terrorist attacks carried out in this country by refugees. We are aware that these Tamil people arrived here openly without subterfuge and presented themselves properly to Canadian authorities for processing under Canadian law. We are also aware that their actions as asylum seekers are in line with international law which our government must recognize.
The Federal government spokespersons who are whipping up racism, xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments are doing so to hide the real agenda of a government that is leading our country to de-industrialization, massive unemployment, environmental disaster and deeper involvement in imperialist wars on behalf of global capital.

The threat to the Canadian working people is in Ottawa not on a ship in a British Columbia naval base.

The Communist Party of British Columbia urges all who live here to stand in solidarity with those who wish to live here and not to be divided by race, colour or class into pro and con groups against immigrant people who are the present versions of our own parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.
We call on all British Columbia labour and democratic organizations to stand in solidarity and speak up on this issue now.



Issued by:

The Asian Solidarity Bureau of the Communist Party of British Columbia

For more information contact Sam Hammond cpbc@telus.net , 604-254-9836

Consumers now owe more on their student loans than their credit cards.

By Mary Pilon,
The Wall Street Journal.


Americans owe some $826.5 billion in revolving credit, according to June 2010 figures from the Federal Reserve. (Most of revolving credit is credit-card debt.) Student loans outstanding today — both federal and private — total some $829.785 billion, according to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com.


Bloomberg News
Students are becoming more heavy debtors

“The growth in education debt outstanding is like cooking a lobster,” Mr. Kantrowitz says. “The increase in total student debt occurs slowly but steadily, so by the time you notice that the water is boiling, you’re already cooked.”

By his math, there is $605.6 billion in federal student loans outstanding and $167.8 billion in private student loans outstanding. He estimates that $300 billion in federal student loan debts have been incurred in the last four years.

Partially, this is a story about Americans paying down credit card debt. Some are seeking a new frugality, but many credit card companies are raising minimum monthly payments or cutting off new and existing lines that consumers in the past may have turned to during tough times. Revolving credit, the majority of which is credit card debt, reached a high in September 2008 of $975.7 billion, according to Fed data. A consumer who juggles both credit-card and student-loan debt is likely to pay of the credit-card first, as that debt tends to carry a higher interest rate.

In terms of volume, a person is likely to borrow more money to go to school today than, say, spend on necessities using a credit card during a patch of unemployment. Tuition at public and private four-year universities last year went as high as $26,000, with additional fees for housing and books not showing any signs of letting up either. It’s no surprise that many parents, reeling from the downturn, would turn to borrowing to make up the difference. With the cost of education increasing rapidly and the duration of unemployment increasing, perhaps the surprise is that this turning point didn’t hit earlier.

Student Loan Justice, a Washington State-based student loan advocacy group issued a statement on the student-loan eclipse, estimating that media coverage of credit cards exceeds coverage of student loans “by a factor of approximately 15-to-1 based on unscientific news surveys conducted since 2007.”

But student loan debt, in many ways, is different than credit-card debt. These loans typically can’t be discharged in bankruptcy. They have different repayment terms, some of which can catch some have heavy consequences for borrowers who miss payments and borrowers’ families.

SASCO:Demand more pay – demand an end to capitalism!

18 August 2010

We support, unreservedly, the COSATU led public service strike. It is about time that the working class demands to be compensated for its worth by the capitalist state. It is not only mischievous but irresponsible for government to continue to offer peanuts to workers whilst often lazy public representatives continue to rake hundreds of thousands in undeserved salaries.

It is a shame that workers continue to stay in shacks and cannot afford basic necessities whilst some Ministers stay in expensive hotels at the taxpayer’s expense. We call on government not only to increase the salaries of workers but to considerably decrease salaries earned by Ministers, Director Generals, including those in the Presidency. The elite cannot continue to feed on the carcass of a poor nation so as to live as though oblivious of the untold suffering endured by the working class.

Our government should also increase corporate tax in order to ensure that the profits raked by businesses at the expense of workers are directed to the national fiscus and are used to reproduce and develop the nation. We call on COSATU and its affiliates not only to direct this protest at increasing wages but to mount a campaign against capitalism and its stratification. We further call upon the minister of Public administration to stop behaving like a CEO of a profit thirsty company and give workers what is due to them.

We also call on workers to remember that after the protest is over, they should be ready to redouble their efforts to ensure that whatever services were lost are made up for.

For details Contact:
Mbulelo Mandlana (President)
071 879 3408

Report about National Seminar on The problems of Youth and the Role of Trade Unions on 12th August,2010

On the occasion of the UN international Youth Year day 12th August Pakistan Labour Federation (PLF) Affiliated with World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) organized a National Seminar on 12th August, 2010 at PLF Office Lahore with the collaboration of World Asian Workers Organization (WAWO)

70 participants including 30 women’s were participated.

Waheed Ahmad Ch President Youth Wing PLF presided the Seminar

Main Muhammad Ayub Advisor to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Youth Affaires was the Chiegf Guest

While addressing the Seminar Haji Muhammad Saeed Arian Founder/Secretary General PLF/WAWO said that according to ILO report the Global youth unemployment has reached its highest level on record, and is expected to increase He said that 620 million economically active youth aged 15 to 24 years, 81 million were unemployed at the end of 2009 -- the highest number ever. This is 7.8 million more than the Global number in 2007. He said that the youth unemployment rate increased from 11.9 percent in 2007 to 13.0 percent in 2009.
It adds that these trends will have “significant consequences for young people as upcoming cohorts of new entrants join the ranks of the already unemployed" and warns of the "risk of a crisis legacy of a ‘lost Generation’ comprised of young people who have dropped out of the Labour market, having lost all hope of being able to work for a decent living"
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Mrs Atia Saleem Chairperson said that According to the ILO projections, the Global youth unemployment rate is expected to continue its increase through 2010, to 13.1 per cent, followed by a moderate decline to 12.7 per cent in 2011. She also points out that the unemployment rates of youth have proven to be more sensitive to the crisis than the rates of adults and that the recovery of the job market for young men and women is likely to lag behind that of adults.

Waheed Ahmad Ch Advocate President Youth Wing PLF said that in developed and some emerging economies, the crisis impact on youth is felt mainly in terms of rising unemployment and the social hazards associated with discouragement and prolonged inactivity. He said that The ILO report points out that in developing economies, where 90 per cent of young people live, youth are more vulnerable to underemployment and poverty. , in the lower income countries, the impact of the crisis is felt more in shorter hours and reduced wages for the few who maintain wage and salaried employment and in rising vulnerable employment in an ‘increasingly crowded’ informal economy. He said that The report estimates that 152 million young people, or about 28 percent of all the young workers in the world, worked but remained in extreme poverty in households surviving on less than US$1.25 per person per day in 2008. He said "The effects of the economic and financial crisis threaten to exacerbate the pre-existing decent work deficits among youth. The result is that the number of young people stuck in working poverty grows and the cycle of working poverty persists through at least another Generation.

Moaz Ahmad Ch Secretary Youth Wing said that The ILO report explains how unemployment, underemployment and discouragement can have a long-term negative impact on young people, compromising their future employment prospects. The cost of idleness among youth, Governments fail to receive contributions to social security systems and are forced to increase spending on remedial services.

Mian Muhammad Ayub said that Youth are the drivers of economic development, The crisis is an opportunity to re-assess strategies for addressing the serious disadvantages that young people face as they enter the Labour market. It is important to focus on comprehensive and integrated strategies that combine education and training policies with targeted employment policies for youth. He said that the present Government is working for the welfare of youth. And solve their problems on priority through mutual understanding, He said that Government will be providing better placed to shape viable policies that respond to the need and aspirations of young people for decent work, He said that the number of unemployed youth increased. In terms of unemployment rates, however, the impact on youth has proven to be greater than that of adults. He said that Young women have more difficulty than young men in finding work. The female youth unemployment rate in 2009 stood at 13.2 per cent compared to the male rate of 12.9 per cent. He said that unemployment numbers and rates are expected to decline only in 2011. Main Muhammad Ayub Advisor appreciated PLF Efforts for holding this seminar on very important issue.

Ms Rizwana Yasmin Advocate Senior Vice President said that In Pakistan young women continued to be the hardest hit by unemployment. She said that in developing economies, the crisis adds to the ranks of vulnerable employment and informal sector employment. The region also experienced an increase in the share of teenagers engaged in informal sector employment during the crisis.

Rana Muhammad Akram Dy Secretary General Said that the youth has faced tough times for Education when the military operation was intensified against the Taliban in Waziristan. Many Schools were destroyed

Mrs. Shumalia sadiq,Mrs Samia Gul Khan, Ms. Semi Chanan Din, Rana Shahid Anjum,Eshan Elahi,Qasair Mahmood Sarfraz Ali,Malik Latif,Amar Jutt.Sohaib Ahmad also addressed the Seminar


(Haji Muhammad Saeed Arian)
Founder/Secretary General
Website www.plfpk.com