Who Commanded the G20 Commander?

It's time for the Prime Minister to take responsibility for the G20 fiasco.

Paul Jay





A room filled with police officers stare at pulsing screens; feeds from 85 cameras cover most of Toronto's downtown core. This was the command centre for the G20 Integrated Security Unit (there was another ISU command centre in Barrie). In charge was the RCMP Chief Supt. Alphonse MacNeil.


Command centre for the G20 Integrated Security Unit.

It may have been Toronto police on the streets, but the Feds ran the show. It had been that way from the start. It was the Prime Minister that insisted, over Toronto's objections, on holding the G20 at the Convention Centre. It was the ISU that wanted the Public Works Protection Act. [Toronto Police chief Bill] Blair is wearing it, but operational command was MacNeil's.

At some point over the weekend the Operational Commander of the Integrated Security Unit watched the action unfold and made two fateful decisions. The first was not to immediately move some of the thousands of available police officers into position to stop a hundred or so people from breaking store windows. More importantly, not to quickly stop the trashing of several police cars.

CSIS had decided there was no credible terrorism threat. The whole rationale for all the security was that a small segment of protesters would cause some property damage and might try to storm the security fence. Yet when the windows broke and police cars burned, for perhaps as long as an hour there were no police in sight.

Watch the CP24 coverage of police cars on fire Saturday night on Queen Street. The journalists ask over and over again, where are the police? One says the police were here and then they left, leaving the cars to be torn apart and torched. Read the Toronto Sun reports on embarrassed police who say they were told to stand down.

MacNeil told his hometown paper, the Cape Breton Post:

“'We have the ability through our video feed to see everything that is going on'”

“...there are even helicopters and planes providing video feed.”

“'We can see them from the air, we can see them from the ground, if there is anyone trying to interfere, we would see that.'”

We know the police had infiltrated the Black Bloc, we know they had cameras that could see “everywhere,” so why couldn't they defend their own vehicles? Was this part of a plan or a “lack of available resources” as we have been told? Only a public inquiry can answer the question.

Television images of police cars ablaze set the stage for mass arrests.

The decision to order the arrests of around nine hundred peaceful protestors was the second major decision by the Operational Commander. It was clear to everyone who watched the television coverage (never mind the police cameras), that the actions against property were isolated incidents and did not involve the vast majority of protesters and onlookers.

What was the reason for such a blanket attack on the freedom of assembly, one of the Charter's fundamental rights?

Not only were there mass arrests, but the culture of brutality exhibited by police was extraordinary, given they knew that every move was being watched and taped by their command.

Who ran the training programs that led up to the weekend and created such a sense of impunity?

Who decided that journalists were fair game? Journalists were punched, shoved, arrested, and told they would be arrested if they didn't clear the scene. Having G20 press accreditation was no protection.

What meaningful right to a free press will there be if journalists can't report on how the state exercises its authority? If the government is going to have a legal monopoly on the use of violence, then the public must have the ability – and for this they rely on journalists – to witness, investigate and report on how the machinery of coercion is wielded. There is nothing more important in maintaining some level of democracy.

A month before the G20 I wrote a commentary that said this:

“Is it possible at a time when Canada's government debt is reaching European levels – and we are sure to hear another round of 'deficit mania' that the banker's political and 'journalistic' representatives are fanning from Athens to Washington – that a massive investment in Canada's police force would be a hard sell?”

So, we get back to the one billion dollars (ok, to be exact according to the PBO it's $929,986,110). If Toronto police spent $122-million (that included their own men and all the city police who travelled from across Canada, airfare, hotels and overtime), and the OPP bill for the G8 in Huntsville was around $35-million, how much of the remaining $840-million or so was actually for the G8/G20 weekend?

National Defence got $77-million and CSIS $3-million, but the Mounties received the lion's share – at least $500-million. They did have to guard the foreign guests, deal with the major meeting sites in Huntsville and Toronto, and coordinate the overall security. But given how much more this is than the cost of thousands of men paid out of Toronto's much smaller budget, it's hard to fathom that this was mostly manpower cost.

Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, in a report roughly breaking down the costs says, “It is still unclear how the RCMP will spend its sizeable share of incremental costs.” So, where did the money go? It's just way too much security for a city that has a history of peaceful protest. So what's it really all about?

One is forced to wonder if a hidden agenda of the government was to build the RCMP's technical and surveillance capacity. Are they preparing for the kind of social unrest that might develop in the future if Canada is serious about meeting its G20 pledge of halving its deficit by 2013 – at a time when the world seems heading back into recession? Do our security forces look at the rising tide of strikes and protests in Europe and decide to get ready here?

Ok, a lot of questions and speculation, but some of it is easy to answer with a full and unrestricted report from the Auditor General.

But here's the big one, in terms of accountability, and only a public inquiry with the powers of subpoena will get at this.

Who gave Supt. Alphonse MacNeil his marching orders? Who gave him the green light to violate the Canadian Charter of Rights? Who wanted the Public Works Protection Act? Imposed on the Convention Centre and covertly served up by the Ontario government, it was a test of what civil rights lawyers are calling a form of martial law.

It's not too many degrees of separation to get to the real man in charge – The Prime Minister. This was his show from the start.

Should not Mr. Harper step forward and straightforwardly defend his decisions? If he thinks Canadians should be willing to support and pay for a massive investment in more policing aimed at domestic dissent, and be willing to compromise basic charter rights in the process, then say so. Let's have a proper public debate about it.

And for that matter, shouldn't Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty join him? He went along with the imposition of the archaic 1939 PWPA meant to stop German agents from attacking public buildings.

Only a public inquiry, with subpoena power, led by a person of courage can really get to the bottom of this. But that’s not likely to happen, unless dear readers, you raise your voices and demand it so. [Ed. see July 10 rally on events page.]

Note #1: The Toronto Police Services Board said Tuesday they would create an independent review into police conduct during last month's G20 summit. It will not have subpoena power. Much will depend on who the Reviewer is. If it's someone with guts and wide respect, it could make a contribution.

Note #2: The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has a petition going in support of:

An independent inquiry into the actions of the police during the G20, including:
The dispersal of protestors at the designated demonstration site in Queen's Park late afternoon, Saturday June 26th;
The detention and mass arrest on the Esplanade on the night of Saturday, June 26th;
The arrests and police actions outside the Eastern Ave. detention centre on the morning of Sunday, June 27th;
The prolonged detention and mass arrest of individuals at Queen St. W. and Spadina Ave. on the evening of Sunday, June 27th;
The conditions of detention at the Eastern Ave. detention centre;
Repeal or amendment of the Public Works Protection Act to meet basic constitutional standards; and
Law reform to ensure that the Criminal Code provisions relating to “breach of the peace,” “unlawful assemblies” and “riots” are brought in line with constitutional standards.

Paul Jay is the CEO and Senior Editor of The Real News Network. He is an award-winning filmmaker, founder of Hot Docs! International Film Festival and was for ten years the Executive Producer of the CBC Newsworld show counterSpin.

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New issue of World Youth magazine

The newest version of World Youth is out, click here to check it out!

World Youth is the magazine of WFDY, dedicated to a deeper analysis on several issues that affect the youth and on the developments of the struggle!

Don’t miss it!

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Sticking the public with the bill for the bankers’ crisis

How else can we interpret the G20 communiqué that includes not even a measly tax on financial transactions?

Naomi Klein

Toronto — From Monday's Globe and Mail

My city feels like a crime scene and the criminals are all melting into the night, fleeing the scene. No, I’m nottalking about the kids in black who smashed windows and burned cop cars on Saturday.

I’m talking about the heads of state who, on Sunday night, smashed social safety nets and burned good jobs inthe middle of a recession. Faced with the effects of a crisis created by the world’s wealthiest and most privilegedstrata, they decided to stick the poorest and most vulnerable people in their countries with the bill.

How else can we interpret the G20’s final communiqué, which includes not even a measly tax on banks orfinancial transactions, yet instructs governments to slash their deficits in half by 2013. This is a huge andshocking cut, and we should be very clear who will pay the price: students who will see their public educationsfurther deteriorate as their fees go up; pensioners who will lose hard-earned benefits; public-sector workerswhose jobs will be eliminated. And the list goes on. These types of cuts have already begun in many G20countries including Canada, and they are about to get a lot worse.

They are happening for a simple reason. When the G20 met in London in 2009, at the height of the financialcrisis, the leaders failed to band together to regulate the financial sector so that this type of crisis would neverhappen again. All we got was empty rhetoric, and an agreement to put trillions of dollars in public monies onthe table to shore up the banks around the world. Meanwhile the U.S. government did little to keep people intheir homes and jobs, so in addition to hemorrhaging public money to save the banks, the tax base collapsed,creating an entirely predictable debt and deficit crisis.

At this weekend’s summit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper convinced his fellow leaders that it simply wouldn’tbe fair to punish those banks that behaved well and did not create the crisis (despite the fact that Canada’shighly protected banks are consistently profitable and could easily absorb a tax). Yet somehow these leaders had no such concerns about fairness when they decided to punish blameless individuals for a crisis created by derivative traders and absentee regulators.

Last week, The Globe and Mail published a fascinating article about the origins of the G20. It turns out the entire concept was conceived in a meeting back in 1999 between then finance minister Paul Martin and his U.S.counterpart Lawrence Summers (itself interesting since Mr. Summers was at that time playing a central role in creating the conditions for this financial crisis – allowing a wave of bank consolidation and refusing to regulate derivatives).

The two men wanted to expand the G7, but only to countries they considered strategic and safe. They needed tomake a list but apparently they didn’t have paper handy. So, according to reporters John Ibbitson and TaraPerkins, “the two men grabbed a brown manila envelope, put it on the table between them, and began sketchingthe framework of a new world order.” Thus was born the G20.

The story is a good reminder that history is shaped by human decisions, not natural laws. Mr. Summers and Mr.Martin changed the world with the decisions they scrawled on the back of that envelope. But there is nothing tosay that citizens of G20 countries need to take orders from this hand-picked club.Already, workers, pensioners and students have taken to the streets against austerity measures in Italy,Germany, France, Spain and Greece, often marching under the slogan: “We won’t pay for your crisis.”

And they have plenty of suggestions for how to raise revenues to meet their respective budget shortfalls.

Many are calling for a financial transaction tax that would slow down hot money and raise new money for social programs and climate change. Others are calling for steep taxes on polluters that would underwrite the cost of dealing with the effects of climate change and moving away from fossil fuels. And ending losing wars is always a good cost-saver.

The G20 is an ad hoc institution with none of the legitimacy of the United Nations. Since it just tried to stick us with a huge bill for a crisis most of us had no hand in creating, I say we take a cue from Mr. Martin and Mr.Summers.

Flip it over, and write on the back of the envelope: Return to sender.

Naomi Klein is the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

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Our duty is to save lives

Interview with Dr. Armando Caballero, chief of the Intensive Care Unit at the Arnaldo Milián University Hospital in Santa Clara, on the health condition of patient Guillermo Fariñas, one of the few super-publicized 'Cuban dissidents' the capitalist media is infatuated with -- and an employee of the U.S. interests department.

By Deisy Francis Mexidor Francis_mexidor@granma.cip.cu


Science, humanism, professionalism and the most advanced and costliest treatments have been used to save the life of patient Guillermo Fariñas. Science because sophisticated treatments have been applied in his case; humanism and professionalism because giving back health to human beings is the top aspiration of the prestigious specialists who are caring for him; and the most advanced and costliest treatments because the Cuban government has spared no effort to ensure this person the latest generation medications, the same used in other well-known healthcare centers, many of which must be bought from other countries.

On March 11, Fariñas was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Arnaldo Milian University Hospital in the city of Santa Clara. The voluntary fasting he started more than 120 days ago has now become a threat to his life.
To inquire about his health, we traveled to the healthcare center in the central Cuban province and interviewed Dr. Armando Caballero, chief of the Intensive Care Services in the hospital.

First, we wanted to hear from this experienced Second Degree Specialist and founder of that special unit, how is it possible for a person to survive four months of fasting.
“Everybody is asking that,” he said, “because a person can’t live that long without nourishment; but that is not the case of Fariñas.”
Dr. Caballero explains that “this patient refuses to take food orally. He has been in this situation for 125 days, since he says he had spent two weeks in his house without eating before he was admitted to our services, where he has spent 110 days. On admission to the hospital, he showed some physical deterioration. He was conscious and he agreed that we provide him parenteral nourishment, that is, intravenously.
The patient is receiving amino acids that make up the proteins required by the body. He is also provided lipids, vitamins and minerals, “everything necessary in a balanced diet for any human being,” the doctor says. Then he adds that “Fariñas’ weight was 63 kg when he was admitted to our services, and at this moment it moves between 67 and 69 kilograms. He has recovered body weight during his hospital stay and this is due precisely to the parenteral nourishment he is receiving.”



How compromised is the patient’s health at this moment?

Parenteral nourishment requires that certain (osmolar) nutrients of high molecular weight pass through the central ducts of the human body. I mean, you need to catheterize major veins of the upper part of the body such as the subclavians and the internal jugulars, which can be hazardous and lead to complications, particularly when hyperosmolar nutrients, like amino acids and hypertonic dextrose, must pass through these catheters.
The risk of blood infections increases as time passes and the patients continue receiving this kind of nourishment. The tendency is for contamination and infection with bacteria and fungi or they develop other complications like we see in this patient now.

But, are these complications related to medical procedures or the care provided to this patient?

Absolutely not. These complications are a common occurrence in patients receiving this kind of nourishment. For example, in the 110 days that Fariñas has been our patient, we have had to change the catheter ten times. During his 251 days of fasting in 2006 –when he was also treated in our unit— he required 37 catheters. In my 37 years of experience in intensive care services, I never had another patient who required this procedure so many times.

In this case, four timely-detected infections were successfully treated with the corresponding medications for the type of staphylococcus that develops in the blood. In very instance, the germ was immediately isolated and efficiently combated with antibiotics and other specific measures.
But, from last week, the patient has developed another complication, which is not only an infection but something more serious. This time it’s thrombus phlebitis of the jugular-subclavian component in the neck veins. This thrombus or clot is very dangerous because it could detach and move toward the heart and from there to the lungs giving rise to a deadly pulmonary thromboembolism.

Such health condition is a relatively common occurrence in the hospitals and one of the causes of sudden death, when the thrombi are large. But sometimes they do not detach and can be dissolved with antibiotics and anti-clotting medications like we are applying to this patient. This time again, we have isolated the germ that caused the phlebitis of the central veins, which in this case is associated to the presence of the venous thrombus in the jugular-subclavian segment.

From last Sunday until today we have seen a slight improvement although we can’t say for sure that a more serious complication has been averted. No one can say here or anywhere in the world whether or not that thrombus will detach.

We have all the necessary medications. Last Saturday, when the complication was detected and the pathology confirmed with cutting-edge technology, we discuss collectively the diagnosis and treatment.
Is this the limit of what medicine can do in trying to save the life of this patient?

This is an extreme situation, mostly at this point. Since our patient-doctor relations are very good, we have discussed with him at length about abandoning his voluntary fasting and starting to take food orally in order to recover the energy he needs to fight the temperature caused by the infection.
It’s almost impossible to feed him through another catheter because new complications could arise when one is already developing. In his case, taking food is a crucial element in his fight for life.

What could happen if Fariñas insists on this behavior?

We feel that his condition could worsen, particularly the nutritional aspect, although until now we have been able to keep him stable despite his refusal to take nourishment orally.

And, what if he decided to eat?

The patient is perfectly prepared to take food orally. There is no contraindication in this regard. Simply his wish could be a major medical factor in the solution of his health condition.

What is the established medical procedure to deal with a patient who has decided not to ingest food?

As I said before, in my 37 years of experience in intensive care I have seen almost 20,000 patients, but Fariñas is the only one I’ve had here twice for voluntarily refusing to take food orally for a long period of time. This is not common. I’ve seen many patients in this unit; I’ve even treated persons who had tried to commit suicide for a certain reason, but at the end most want to live. That is what the doctors in this ward are asking Fariñas: that he helps us to save his life.
As to your question, there are no rules, but there is medical ethics. And, one of its basic principles is autonomy, that is, not to apply any procedure without the patient’s consent. We abide by that principle.
Fariñas is a patient who is conscious of his situation. He is not disoriented, he is in full command of his mental faculties, therefore, it is his right to accept or not, of his own volition, the application of any medical procedure. In my view, it is the wrong right a person has to kill him or herself. I have said to Fariñas that he is acting against his own physical integrity.

A doctor’s mission is to save lives; however, in a case like this we must respect the patient’s will. We can’t go against his will unless he is unconscious and his close family approves.

Could you offer more details about the care provided to Guillermo Fariñas?
This person, like every other patient here, is privileged. He is accompanied by a relative around the clock. He has a TV set where he is watching the Football World Cup, which he likes. He also has a direct telephone line, the same as every other patient in this ward. Beyond what medicine can do, these amenities are important to the spirituality of the patient.
The intensive care services are expensive worldwide. Thanks to our healthcare system, Fariñas, like every other Cuban who requires these services, is not paying a penny.

I’ve had the opportunity of working in other countries, both in underdeveloped and developed nations. I spent one and a half year in France and I could see how costly it is to keep a patient in an intensive care unit. It’s very expensive.

And, what can you tell me about the medical expertise, the equipment available and the additional tests he has had?

At this moment, the entire team of the intensive care unit is available to him. These are ten specialist doctors, half of them Second Degree Specialists in Intensive and Emergency Medicine. They are all working with Fariñas. Every day we meet and discuss his case, his condition and evolution, what to do and what may be needed in order to get it.
You have just said “what may be needed in order to get it,” and I ask you, to get it where, in this country or in other countries?
Here and in other countries. We have bought medicines for this and other cases because many medicines we need to buy from other countries.
For instance, all of the parenteral nutrients that Fariñas receives –amino acids, lipids, vitamins and trace elements—are coming from Europe. Cuba buys them not only for this patient but for other Cubans who need it. However, Fariñas is the only one that requires them because he refuses to eat.
Do you have an idea of how much the treatment provided to this patient is costing the country?

It’s practically impossible to compare the costs in Cuba with any other place. Cuban medicine is perhaps the cheapest in the world and probably the most efficient because healthcare services are not designed for profit.
What I can tell you for sure is that, in any developed country, one day in an intensive care unit costs no less than $1,300, and this does not include complementary tests and medicines. In this case, we are talking of 110 days in the unit and over 300 lab tests.

For example, we check this patient’s glycemia almost on a daily basis; 96 tests until today.

We have already treated him for four serious bacterial vascular infections which have required such antibiotics as vancomicyn, ciprofloxacin, gentamicyn and rocephyn. We have practiced 66 ionograms to measure electrolytes in blood and correct any imbalance. We calculate his 24-hours urea almost every day to assess the nitrogen used by his body and ensure an adequate balance.

We constantly monitor his system to prevent imbalances. This is what has enabled Fariñas to have a rather acceptable nutritional condition after 125 days of fasting, although the danger persists because this is not physiological, eating is.

This patient has had electrocardiograms, X-rays, ultrasounds, and multi-slice tomographies. We have conducted all the necessary studies.

You said before that the doctor-patient relation has been good. How would you describe the doctor-family relation?

I’ve talked to his mother, his wife and an uncle, as well as to some of his friends. There is a good doctor-patient relation that makes practically everything possible but eating. That is our constant request.
In sum, I think Fariñas’ and his family’s relation with the team of doctors and nurses in our services has been good. For as long as he has been here, I have not received any complains about the way he is treated. On the contrary, he always speaks of the professionalism of the doctors and he says he doesn’t want to go anywhere, although he says he has received offers to treat him abroad. However, he says he won’t go because here are the people who have saved his life. He trusts our healthcare services.
How do you describe Guillermo Fariñas’ condition at this moment?
Today, the patient faces a potential danger of dying. It depends on the evolution of that thrombus located in the jugular-subclavian left confluent, for which he is being adequately treated. I wish it dissolved; that would make it one more complication solved by our team of doctors and nurses. We shall continue doing our best to preserve his life.

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G20 - First hand reports

RY will be featuring a series of first-hand reports from the G8-G20 protests.

Events witnessed between 12:35-1:45 June 27th 2010 at the corners of Elizabeth and Dundas by the Bay Street Bus Terminal.

By Kate Garvie - Graduate of Environmental Science and International Development Studies at Trent University and member of the Sierra Youth Coalition.

While walking to the Bus terminal to leave Toronto I saw a man being thrown to the ground and hit by 4 police officers with several other officers present. Another citizen was being pushed into the street by an officer. The man was clearly upset that his friend was being assaulted by the police so I stopped to speak with him to see if I could help.

According to this man he and his friend had been walking down the street after eating lunch. (They were attending a conference connected to their PhD research as far as I understood.) They saw a man being pushed around and searched by police across the road and the man's friend had gone across the road to ask if they were inside the security perimeter and if they man was in trouble because as far as they could tell he was getting in trouble for just taking pictures.

As soon as the man asked if they were inside the security perimeter he was thrown against the wall of a restaurant. he tried to pull away and four officers jumped on him. This is when I started watching. The man was handcuffed with a plastic zip tie and was kept lying on the ground for several minutes. He appeared to have injuries on his knees and head. A police officer kept his foot on his back with significant pressure even though he wasn't resisting.

When an officer saw us across the street he came over and asked if we knew the man being arrested. The friend explained that they were just staying in Toronto for a conference. When I asked the police officer what had happened he started yelling in my face "What's in your purse? What's in your purse?" and made me open it. He then said that "This is never going to happen again in this city." I told him that this man appeared to have nothing to do with the protests, peaceful or otherwise. He replied "you're all responsible for this."

A man then came across the road and asked us if we knew the man being arrested. He had been sitting inside the restaurant when the assault took place and had taken pictures of the man on the ground surrounded by police. He had his camera taken and the pictures were erased. When he protested the police response was "this is a whole new world today."

Another officer then came over and started telling us that the man was being charged with assault and resisting his arrest. He would spend the night in prison and maybe get bail. He couldn't promise this though because "Harper is pissed." He then went on to say that we were dressed just like the black bloc. The man who had been arrested was wearing a polo t-shirt and cargo shorts. I was wearing jeans, and a green t-shirt. He then said like the other officer that "this would never happen again in Toronto." When we said we had nothing to do with the black bloc he said that the terrorists were in the sewers and were going to contaminate our water system and we would all die. He also said that yesterday during the protests on Saturday that they had no idea what people were doing behind the big banners and people could have been heating up super glue to produce cyanide and killed everyone.

They then took away three people in a police van. The second police officer came back over and said that they were going to take him to a holding centre and not to worry because they weren't going to "beat the crap out of him." He then told all of us to leave or we would be searched. Right when he was telling me that if we didn't leave I would be searched another officer started yelling "down run from me" and I saw two girls who had been walking away stop and wait for four to six police officers to come over and ask to see their bags. The police proceeded to open all of their bags, take everything out. They appeared to turn on their computer and go through pictures on a camera. One girl was put in hand cuffs. She was just standing talking with them. they were detained for about twenty minutes. I recognized her from peaceful protests the previous day so I stayed to make sure she was alright. The eventually released her and she left with her friend.

During the hour that I was on the corner of Elizabeth and Dundas I saw three people arrested, 5 people searched and 1 person beaten by police. Several people were yelled at for taking pictures and had pictures deleted from their cameras.

For more information about this eye witness account contact Gtwentyresponse@hotmail.com

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Take Pride in Solidarity!

Pride 2010 statement from the Communist Party of Canada and the Young Communist League

The YCL-LJC is proud to celebrate the acceptance by the Toronto pride parade of the Anti-Israeli Apartheid contingent after a long hard fight, which happened after this statement was written.



This summer, millions of people from the LGBT communities and their allies across North America will fill the streets for Pride parades. On the 40th anniversary of the first gay pride celebrations, held in 1970 in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Communist Party of Canada and the Young Communist League send warmest greetings, and pledge our solidarity to the ongoing struggles for full equality.



The controversy around this year's Pride Parade in Toronto highlights the true meaning of these struggles. By trying to ban reference to Israel's apartheid policies, the parade organizers have committed the tragic mistake of sacrificing the rights of one group of oppressed people for the alleged protection of another.



We recall the words of Pastor Martin Niemoller regarding the rise of Hitler fascism: "First, they came for the communists, but I was not a communist, so I said nothing. Then, they came for the social democrats, but I was not a social democrat, so I said nothing. Then they came for the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist, so I said nothing. Then they came for me, but there was nobody left to speak out."



Fortunately, many are speaking out today, within the queer community and far beyond, in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in defense of free speech. These voices remind the world that Pride is about the right of individuals and peoples to live free from oppression, whether this takes the form of brutal homophobia or war crimes committed against the Palestinians.



In fact, the dynamic response of the LGBT communities to the banning of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid has mobilized wider international solidarity with Palestine. Many leaders of the LGBT communities have returned their Pride Parade honours, calling on Pride Toronto to reverse this censorship, a demand which we whole-heartedly support.



Forty years after the first Pride Parades, we welcome the expansion of more queer-positive environments in the public realm, the growing numbers of trade unions with active Pride and LGBTQ caucuses, and the increase of gay-straight alliances, safe school spaces and "Pride proms" in our schools. These and other legal, political and cultural victories are the hard-won results of decades of efforts by the LGBTQ community and allies.



But much more remains to be achieved. The burning issue today is not how to sweet-talk corporate donors or pro-Israeli politicians, or to raise the visibility of the military in Pride events. The issue is the ongoing violence and hatred directed against gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and trans people, and those perceived as such by homophobes and gay-bashers.



Alarmingly, police-reported hate crimes are up sharply, according to a new Statistics Canada report. Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation more than doubled from 2007 to 2008, a much greater increase than crimes based on religion or race/ethnicity. Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation were also more violent, and took place most often in cities such as Vancouver, Hamilton, London and Guelph. This report confirms the anecdotal evidence of a rise in gay-bashings in recent years.



We also know that same-sex marriage gains are threatened in the United States, and that the Harper Tories still hope to reverse queer rights if they win a majority government. Right-wing forces continue to scapegoat the LGBTQ community and racialised groups, to divide working class resistance against finance capital, corporate bailouts and global environmental plunder.



Despite Canada's welcoming image, queer youth seeking asylum from persecution in other countries are still being extradited. Most LGBTQ students still report feeling unsafe at school, and prosecutors are often unwilling to prosecute vicious gay-bashings as hate crimes.



Globally, violent expressions of homophobia are on the rise, sometimes in response to courageous attempts by gay-rights groups to hold public events like our Pride Parades. The struggle to end the criminalization of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression faces stubborn resistance in many countries. Working class queer people suffer vicious discrimination, along with women and racialized communities who bear the brunt of neoliberal economic and social policies.



ILGA, the association of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersexed peoples, reports that 76 United Nations member states still criminalize consensual same-sex acts among adults. In seven countries, punishment for homosexuality still includes the death penalty.



But progress for equality is being achieved in countries such as Cuba, South Africa and Nicaragua. The myth that queer rights can only be won in wealthy capitalist countries is shattered by these advances, and by the reality that homophobic and racist concepts are exported from North America and Europe. We also note that Canada is one of only 15 countries which shamefully legislates a higher age of consent for homosexual activities.



Despite the cultural and legal shift in favour of equality and diversity, homophobia and transphobia remain entrenched within the Canadian state.



Stephen Harper voted against same-sex marriage, and has left his options open on abortion if he wins a majority. He snubbed the 2007 international AIDS conference in Toronto, and appoints anti-choice, anti-gay judges to the courts. "Focus on the Family" zealots are found among top Tory advisors, who promote the patriarchal family model.



At a time when the so-called "war on terror" is used to remove civil liberties for racialized communities, we must always remember that "an injury to one is an injury to all." Just like racism, sexism, and national chauvinism, homophobia and transphobia are weapons to divide working people. Equality and human rights must be expanded to include full legal and political protections for sexual orientation and expression, and gender identity.



This demand is not "divisive." It is a vital part of the wider movement to drive the Harper Tories out of power. Today the ruling class is using the economic meltdown to carry out a vicious assault on all hard-won social equality gains. A broad democratic and social resistance is needed to block and reverse this corporate agenda. Together, we must build a powerful coalition around a genuine people's alternative to this crisis - a common front of Aboriginal peoples, youth and students, women, seniors, immigrant and racialized communities, environmentalists, labour, peace activists, the LGBTQ community, farmers, and many other allies.



Ultimately, this struggle in our communities and workplaces, and at the ballot box, will defeat the right and open the door to a people's coalition government. The goal of the Communist Party is to win fuller social freedom and genuine people's power in a socialist Canada, where our economy will be owned by all and democratically controlled. It will then become possible to eradicate the intersecting forms of exploitation and oppression which we face today, while defending our sovereignty and protecting our common environment.

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