Rally for Pay Equity
In front of the Legislature, 12:30 pm, Thursday, May 25th.
Show your support for proactive pay equity legislation.
For more info, contact: 506 458-7378 or visit: http://www.equite-equity.com

A lawsuit charging Drummond Mining, a US coal company, with complicity in the killing of the union leaders is currently being heard in U.S. federal courts. A former Colombian intel has claimed that he saw the head of the Colombian branch of Drummond hand over a suitcase full of cash to pay for the assassinations of two labor leaders. Drummond denies any involvement in the 2001 murders of the president and vice president of one of the labor unions representing workers at its coal operations in north central Colombia. Many more mining union leaders have been assassinated in recent years including twelve in the year 2002 alone.

–Development economics is that branch of policy that, at its core, assumes that it is the poor peoples’ of the world that are to blame for their poverty. As such, the rise of this idea, again, in the halls of the power elite should not be something that is celebrated and must be opposed. Have a read about this racist and a-historical type of analysis and some ways to respond to it.

–Well, we made the media but it was, of-course, without any indepth analysis or explanation. We have to continue to get the message out to the working people of this province. The idea that the media gives “equal time” to the Chamber of Commerce than it does to the people of this province is not what I call balance… but it is what we have come to expect from the media in this region.

–”May violate”? Is there any question that access to abortion in a hospital is part of the health act? We are slipping back into the dark ages.

–There is no more clear assault on workers than in the sports wear and general garment industry. How long can the world accept the working conditions of third-world factories just so we can wear brand-name running shoes. We must support increased labour standards not a rush for the bottom.

–So much for the image of Canada being a nice place and treating its labour force well. Canada is now in the bad books of the UN in the way our country’s elite exploit the workers that make this country work.

–The Public Service Alliance of Canada has released this article denoucing the Conservative government’s lack of commitment to Aboriginal issues. It is hard to imagine a more oppressed group in Canada and yet there seems to be no interest from this government in addressing the real issues.

–You can see the danger that Chavez is to the West just by the way that the media treat anything that he does. Have a read of what the New York Times is writing lately.

–Whenever Bush says “it is a last resort” you can basically read “that’s what we are going to try next”. This does not bode well for the Palestinian people.

–Still trying to patch the problem than deal with the causes. We must not treat innocent civilian families looking for work and safety as if they are common criminals. There is a reason that the people of these countries are trying to leave blocking them with more guns is not going to stem the flow.

–I am not sure this sounds like much in the way of funding for affordable housing when you look how far the funding has to go…

–Abortions are too expensive for the average New Brunswicker. We must demand public funding for the programs or we risk people injuring themselves. We must demand that the rights of women be protected with more than just words.

–We must all support the workers’ right to strike and collectively bargain. Scab labour is not justified in any situation and signals that the employer is not taking its workers’ seriously.

–Blatant lies show up in our news papers all the time (especially the National Post) but this takes the cake. There is nothing true in these statements about Iran that were published in the National Post and other newspapers. One does not need to look far to find out why they were printed though. Keep the Imperialists Out of Iran!

–As is pointed out here, imperialism is not a new response to capitalism in crisis. Death is something that the capitalist imperalist machine sows when ever it needs more land, resources, or a greater number of oppressed people to give it cheap labour. It must be opposed and we must do it united.

–Howard Zinn still writes about history from the peoples’ view. Have a read of who he is and what he has to say on the current state of the world.

–Chavez has everything that the US President doesn’t: charisma, truth, the majority of his people behind, justice, and a will to help those most in need. It is not a surprise that the US government fears him so.

–Rick Salutin does some analysis of the current “debate” in the media about the war. The Canadian government is taking its lead from the US Republican Party.

–We must let the war resisters stay in Canada and we must fight to bring our own troops home.

–The PM of Australia comes to Ottawa. Seems like there are somethings to show opposition to here. See more from the World Socialist Website

–So not only will the earth warm more than we thought, we are going to even less about it. We must take action on the environment now. We must confront the system that is causing this.