La YCL-LJC est solidaire des jeunes défenseurs des terres! L’État canadien doit reconnaître le droit à l’autodétermination!

Comité exécutif central, 15 novembre 2020.

La Ligue de la jeunesse communiste du Canada est solidaire des jeunes autochtones et de leurs alliés dans la lutte pour le droit inaliénable à l’autodétermination de leurs peuples. Au cours des dernières semaines, de la nation Secwepemc à la Confédération Haudenosaunee, en passant par les Mi’kma’ki et au-delà, les jeunes ont bravement résisté aux assauts continus de l’État et des sociétés d’exploitation des ressources et de développement des terres.

Au cours de l’hiver 2019-2020, une série d’exemples réussis de résistance aux projets impérialistes canadiens se sont transformés en manifestations de solidarité à grande échelle dans presque toutes les grandes villes.

La pandémie COVID-19 a mis fin aux nombreux blocus et aux mobilisations de solidarité, cependant, la pandémie n’a pas empêché le Capital et son appareil répressif de continuer sa quête incessante du profit en exploitant à la fois les ressources et les personnes. Le soulèvement spontané contre le racisme anti-noirs et la brutalité policière à travers l’Amérique du Nord a tissé des liens dans la lutte pour la paix, la justice et a apporté un renouveau plus large au mouvement de solidarité.

À l’heure actuelle, il existe plus de 100 plaintes concernant la qualité de l’eau potable dans les Premières nations du Canada. De plus, les logements et les infrastructures insalubres pour les communautés des Premières Nations continuent d’être une lutte permanente pour ceux qui vivent à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur de leur communauté.

Compte tenu des taux élevés de maladies infectieuses dans les communautés des Premières Nations, des Inuits et des Métis, il est très possible que le COVID-19 puisse être dévastateur, selon un rapport du Yellowhead Institute rédigé par Hayden King, le directeur exécutif de l’organisation, avec le soutien de Ryerson Josephine Slaughter, étudiante.

Le déni de la souveraineté, de l’autodétermination et du bien-être social et économique des peuples autochtones au nom de l’État canadien et des intérêts des entreprises a commencé bien avant l’éclosion du COVID-19. Cette «nécessité» s’est toujours exprimée depuis la Confédération.

Le coût de la mise en œuvre de la construction du gazoduc Coastal GasLink sur des terres souveraines non cédées entre janvier 2019 et mars 2020 était de plus de 13 millions de dollars , selon des documents obtenus par CBC News. Cependant, sur la côte Est, la GRC (Gendarmerie Royale du Canada) est restée sur place pendant que des foules violentes attaquaient et tentaient d’intimider les communautés Mi’kmaq pour les empêcher d’utiliser leur souveraineté.

Telle est l’approche du capital canadien: l’extraction des ressources pour le profit privé sous la menace d’une arme.

Un rapport de 2019 sur le Canada au Conseil des droits de l’Homme des Nations Unies par la Rapporteuse spéciale des Nations Unies sur la violence contre les femmes Dubravka Šimonović mentionne spécifiquement les taux élevés d’arrestation d’enfants par la police, la sur-incarcération des femmes autochtones, la stérilisation forcée et la violence sexuelle par la police et les services correctionnels comme des problèmes liés à ce qu’elle appelle la «colonisation sexuée».

Toutes les tentatives de violer la souveraineté des peuples autochtones doivent cesser. Le Gouvernement fédéral doit négocier la reconnaissance de la souveraineté des peuples amérindiens ainsi que la Déclaration des Nations Unies sur les droits des peuples autochtones. Le gouvernement fédéral doit négocier une résolution juste et pacifique de toutes les revendications territoriales.

Il existe des rapports clairs contenant des recommandations qui sont négligées par le gouvernement fédéral, notamment les 440 recommandations de la Commission royale d’enquête sur les peuples autochtones, les 231 appels à la justice dans l’enquête sur les femmes et les filles autochtones assassinées et disparues, les 94 appels à l’action de la Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada, et d’autres et nombreux rapports. Il est maintenant temps d’agir.

D’un océan à l’autre, tous les jeunes ont un ennemi commun: la classe capitaliste au pouvoir. C’est la base de l’unité dans la lutte pour une société socialiste où le bien-être de toutes & tous et de l’environnement est la priorité et non l’accumulation privée par une minorité exploiteuse.

La YCL-LJC appelle à l’unité la plus large possible en solidarité avec les jeunes défenseurs des terres.

La YCL-LJC se bat pour un Canada socialiste, basé sur un partenariat égal et volontaire de toutes les nations, y compris les Premières Nations, les Inuits, les Métis, le Québec, le Canada anglais et l’Acadie. Cela ne peut être réalisé que par la lutte pour la pleine souveraineté et l’autodétermination de toutes les nations.

Merci beaucoup à Nicolas Maury pour la traduction.

YCL-LJC Stands in Solidarity with Youth Land Defenders! The Canadian State Must Recognize the Right to Self-Determination

YCL-LJC Central Executive Committee, November 15, 2020

The Young Communist League—Ligue de la jeunesse communiste stands in solidarity with  Indigenous youth and their allies in the struggle for the inalienable Right to Self-Determination of their peoples. In the past weeks, from the Secwepemc nation to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, to Mi’kma’ki and beyond, young people have bravely stood up to the ongoing assault by the State and exploitative resource extraction and land development corporations.

Over the winter of 2019-2020, a series of increasingly successful examples of resistance to Candian imperialist projects exploded into unprecedented large-scale demonstrations of solidarity in nearly every major city.

The COVID-19 Pandemic shuttered the many solidarity blockades and mobilisations; however, it did not stop Capital and its armed apparati from its relentless drive for profit through exploiting both the resources and people. The spontaneous uprising against anti-Black racism and police brutality across North America has forged links in the fight for peace and justice and has brought renewal to the broader solidarity movement.

Currently there are more than 100 drinking water advisories in First Nations across Canada. Further to that, substandard housing and infrastructure for First Nations communities continues to be an ongoing struggle for those living on and away from their community.

Given the history of high rates of infectious disease in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, it is very possible that COVID-19 could be devastating, according report from Yellowhead Institute authored by Hayden King, the organization’s executive director, with support from Ryerson student Josephine Slaughter.

The denial of the sovereignty, self-determination, and social and economic well-being of Indigenous peoples in the name of Canadian state and corporate interests began long before the outbreak of COVID-19 — in fact, this “necessity” has expressed itself consistently since Confederation.

The cost of enforcing the Coastal GasLink pipeline construction in Sovereign unceded land between January 2019 and March 2020 was more than $13 million, according to documents obtained by CBC News. However on the east coast, the RCMP has stood by onsite while violent mobs have attacked and attempted to intimidate Mi’kmaq communities from enacting their Sovereign rights.

This is the approach by Canadian capital: resource extraction for private profit enforced at gunpoint.

A 2019 report on Canada to the UN Human Rights Council by the UN Special Rapporteur for Violence Against Women Dubravka Šimonović specifically names high rates of child apprehension by police, the over-incarceration of Indigenous women, and coerced sterilization and sexualized violence by police and corrections officers as issues related to what she refers to as “gendered colonization”.

All attempts to violate the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples must stop. The Federal Government must negotiate with the recognition of the Sovereignty of Indigenous peoples as well as the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Federal Government must negotiate a just and peaceful resolution with all land claims.

There are clear reports with recommendations that are being neglected by the Federal Government, including the 440 recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the 231 Calls for Justice from the Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, among numerous other reports. Now is the time for action.

From coast to coast, all young people have one common enemy: the ruling Capitalist Class. This is the basis of unity in the struggle for a Socialist society where the wellbeing of all people and the environment is the priority instead of the private accumulation of property by an exploitative minority. 

The YCL-LJC calls for the broadest possible unity in solidarity with Youth Land Defenders. The YCL-LJC fights for a socialist Canada, based on an equal and voluntary partnership of all nations, including First Nations, Inuit, the Métis, Quebec, English Canada, and Acadia. This can only be achieved through the struggle for the full sovereignty and self-determination of all nations.

75 Years of the World Federation of Democratic Youth: A Legacy of Peace, Anti-Imperialism, and International Friendship

YCL-LJC Central Executive Committee, November 10, 2020

November 10th, 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY). Taking place in Budapest, Hungary among the still-burning embers of the Second World War, the 1945 World Youth Conference sought to unite youth against the forces of fascism and war, and to fight for a brighter future for the young people of the world. This initial conference, just a small taste of what was to come, included representatives across ethnicities, nations, religions, and backgrounds from 63 different countries. Pledging to fight for peace and international solidarity, WFDY quickly expanded, earning itself consultative status with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council, being presented with the Peace Messenger Award by the UN General Secretary in 1987, and soon representing youth and students from nearly 100 different countries. 

WFDY has also organized the World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS) since its inauguration in 1947. Held regularly since its debut in Prague, Czechoslovakia, the Festival has historically served as a meeting place for progressive youth from around the world, hosting participants from all corners of the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia and organizing large cross-cultural actions against imperialism and for peace. WFYS, like the World Federation of Democratic Youth, was built from young peoples’ commitment to peace and class-conscious solidarity following the global devastation of WWII, and has always sought to reject war, fascism, and racism, and to forge strong connections across the world. The most recent WFYS took place in Sochi, Russia, in 2017 and included 30,000 participants from 185 countries; it carried the slogan “For peace, solidarity and social justice, we struggle against imperialism. Honouring our past, we build the future!” Before 2017, the biggest Festival by countries participating was the 13th, which took place in Pyongyang, DPR Korea in 1989, and included 22,000 participants from 177 different countries, including a large delegation headed by the YCL-LJC.

Five YCLers hold up the banner of the Pan-Canadian Delegation at 2017's World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi. General Secretary Ivan Byard raises his fist. The banner is blue and reads "19th WFYS/19e FMJE: Délegation Pancanadienne" Behind them are many young people, most holding red flags. Also in the background are a large group of Cuban and Vietnamese flags and a mountain range.
YCLers at the 2017 World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi, Russia

As a long-time member of WFDY, the YCL-LJC has been responsible for organizing a Pan-Canadian delegation to the World Festival of Youth and Students. These Pan-Canadian delegations are, crucially, representative not only of Anglo-Canada, but of the numerous national minorities within Canada: from Indigenous and First Nations to Franco-Canadian minorities and Quebec. These broad delegations have sought to unite youth from all nations across Canada who strive for peace, international solidarity, and justice, and to exchange knowledge with other international delegations at the Festival. This long-standing YCL-LJC tradition has, at each Festival, made its impact: in the Rebel Youth report-back from the 1989 WFYS in Pyongyang, one Canadian delegate noted that, of the 20,000 delegates to the Festival, the largest, loudest, and most visible centre of Indigenous participation was the Pan-Canadian delegation. Of course, YCL-LJC participation extends far outside the scope of the WFYS: most recently, at WFDY’s 20th Assembly in Cyprus (2019), the YCL-LJC was elected as sole representative from North America on the Federation’s General Council, joining 35 other progressive youth organizations from across the world.

Member organizations of the World Federation of Democratic Youth have been making great strides in the realm of peace and solidarity. Over the past few months, youth in Bangladesh, India, and elsewhere have been securing and distributing food and PPE to those affected by COVID-19, and have even been working in healthcare. Recently, comrades in Lebanon, Turkey, Britain, and elsewhere have been fundraising and participating in on-the-ground relief work following the explosion in Beirut and the earthquake that shook Greece and Turkey. These actions are in addition to the regular schools, local actions, and solidarity efforts undertaken by young comrades worldwide.

The World Federation of Democratic Youth continues to be an essential force in today’s international political landscape. As the forces of imperialism, racism, and capitalism grow stronger, WFDY youth band together to strengthen the call for peace. The YCL-LJC is proud to be a WFDY member, and to work with a diverse, unified, and bellicose group of youth carrying the banner of peace, justice, and solidarity. We, along with the progressive youth of the world, affirm our commitment to anti-imperialism and peace on this 75th anniversary of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, and look forward to a future of further WFDY work, more militant and joyous meetings at the World Festival of Youth and Students, and many more years of fighting for a better future for young people. Youth unite for lasting peace!

To celebrate their 75th anniversary, the World Federation of Democratic Youth hosted an online panel and webinar. It can be watched in full here.