International Women’s Day: Women unite! Fight against patriarchy, exploitation, imperialism and the ultra-right

On March 8, we are called to action to advance the women’s movement for equality. We celebrate and reflect on the revolutionary women who struggle against the patriarchal capitalist system, the women who have made history, and those who carry this tradition today. Capitalist countries either fail to recognise women struggles on International Women’s Day or co-opt these struggles in order to make of this day an inoffensive one that is rooted in the celebration of femininity as opposed to being rooted in the decades-long movement for women’s liberation. This can be seen in the popular idea that women are oppressed because there are less women CEOs than men.

The fact is that , International Women’s Day has always been and will continue to be a day of action for women’s struggles, for true personhood, for full equality in the workplace, in the home and in the streets. As Young communists, we also take pride that the deep root of International Women’s Day comes from the communist movement: it is Clara Zetkin and Alexandra Kollontai who took the initiative of celebrating March 8th as a day to honour women’s struggles across the world.

All out on November 29th for Democracy on Campus!

With Doug Ford’s so-called “Free Speech Directive”, democracy on Campus is under severe attack.

Despite its name, purposely chosen to confuse people, this directive has little to do with freedom of speech. Instead, it is crafted to open universities’ doors wide open for ultra-right forces to propagate their bigoted and inflammatory speech, targeting progressive student groups and people, including student and labour unions on campus, and jeopardizing the independence of universities.

Doug Ford’s “Free Speech” directive is a severe attack on students and progressive peoples’ rights!

The YCL-LJC joins forces with organizations across Ontario to denounce the so-called “free speech” directive passed by Doug Ford’s provincial government and urges all progressive and democratic students to oppose and resist this directive by all means possible. We encourage young people across Canada to express their solidarity with students in Ontario.

Passed in August, this directive purports to defend freedom of expression in Ontario universities by denying funding to those who, by January 1, have not complied with the directive through bylaws, policies, or other mechanisms designed to counter any restrictions on this right; a fundamental principle already protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Those deemed to have violated said policies would also be subject to individual punishment by the school. The HEQCO (Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario) is tasked with auditing the performance of this resolution – if the school is deemed not to have sufficiently enforced these policies, the HEQCO may report this to the Ontario government, which will then threaten their funding. This use of funding as leverage for compliance with government policy is undemocratic and unconstitutional.

La directive de Ford sur la “liberté d’expression” est une attaque contre les droits des étudiant.es et des progressistes

La YCL-LJC joint sa voix aux organisations dénonçant la directive sur la « liberté d’expression » votée par le gouvernement conservateur de l’Ontario et enjoint tous les étudiant.es et jeunes progressistes et démocrates à s’opposer et à résister contre cette loi par tous les moyens possible. Nous encourageons également les jeunes du reste du Canada à exprimer leur solidarité envers leurs confrères et consoeurs de l’Ontario.

Votée en aout dernier, cette loi feint défendre la liberté d’expression dans les universités ontariennes en sanctionnant financièrement celles qui, d’ici le 1er janvier prochain, ne se seraient pas dotées de règlements ou autres mécanismes destinés à contrer toute restriction à ce droit fondamental pourtant déjà protégé par la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés. Ceux et celles qui l’enfreindraient seraient également susceptibles de sanctions individuelles par leur établissement. Le Conseil ontarien de la qualité de l’enseignement supérieur (COQES) aura pour tâche de s’assurer de la bonne application de cette directive. Un établissement qui serait considéré comme ayant appliqué la directive de façon laxiste serait dénoncé auprès du gouvernement et son financement s’en retrouverait entamé. Cette utilisation du chantage financier est antidémocratique et anticonstitutionnelle.

After the 27th Central Convention of the YCL-LJC, now is the time to organize!

May, 2017

Last week, the Young Communist League of Canada held its 27th Central Convention, the largest of the four conventions since its re-founding in 2007. From May 19 to 22, thirty-five delegates, plus alternates and observers attended from Montréal, Toronto, Guelph, Hamilton, London, Windsor, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria to reiterate our commitment to working class struggle and move forward with our strategies to build socialism in Canada. We dedicated these three days to exchange, discuss, debate and learn from the struggles carried out by young communists throughout the country.

United against patriarchy, hate, austerity & war!

Central Executive Committee, YCL-LJC

March, 2017

International Women’s Day in 2017, the 103rd anniversary of the first IWD, is characterized by rising misogynist danger but also renewed resistance.

Not one more life to white supremacist and imperialist violence!

Central Executive Committee, YCL-LJC

It is with mourning and indignation that we greet the news of the mass shooting at a Quebec mosque. With love and rage we stand with the families who have lost their loved ones and the Muslim community in Quebec and across Canada, who are the target of this attempt to terrorize.

An Injury to One is an Injury to All: Unite to Defend and Strengthen LGBTQ2SI Rights!

Joint statement from the Young Communist League of Canada and the Communist Party of Canada

June, 2016

The massacre in Orlando at the Pulse gay night club makes it clear that the struggle for the rights of LGBTQ2SI people is far from over. (NOTE: In this statement, the acronym “LGBTQ2SI” and the term “Queer” refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, gender variant, two-spirited, queer, questioning, intersex and others.)

We march in memory of missing and murdered Indigenous women

Women’s Commission, YCL-LJC

February, 2016

This February 14th, like years prior, marches will be held across Canada to commemorate missing and murdered Indigenous women. Since 1980, nearly 1200 women’s names have been added to the growing list of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Despite the horror of these lost lives, the media and the police have largely ignored the cries for help from the families of these women. Their murders continue to create an atmosphere of impunity and indifference. The march to commemorate these women was founded in 1991 in Vancouver to demand an end to this silence. This February 14, the Young Communist League will join others in marches across Canada in remembrance of these stolen lives.

End Islamophobia & War

Central Executive Committee, YCL-LJC

November, 2015

The Young Communist League of Canada mourns the lives of all civilians killed in the latest wave of mass shootings and bombings in Paris, Beiruit, Yola, Suruç, and elsewhere. Attacks targeting civilians, whether committed by individuals, sectarian groups or imperialist states are terrible crimes. We must also condemn the government of Canada’s participation in the latest bombing campaigns in Iraq and Syria which have only served to further destabilize these countries.