C-FAR #325 July, 1998
Have a Safe and Pleasant Old Age
"Indians in Honduras say they will stage
a symbolic trial and execution of Christopher Colombus, whose discovery
of America opened the New World to Spanish conquest more than 500 years
ago. The trial of the Genoese explorer would begin on July 20 when Honduras
celebrates Lempira Day, honouring an indigenous leader who fought Spanish
colonisation, said Salvador Zuniga from the Council of Popular Organisations
and Indigenous People. It will culminate in the execution of the explorer
with bows and arrows on Colombus Day on October 12. ... 'We are going ahead
with the trial of Colombus above all because of the conquest, and a tribunal
of indigenous people will hand down their [predetermined] decision,' Mr.
Zuniga said." (South China Morning Post, June 24, 1998)
Learning From Diversity: 10,000
Die & India Shrugs
" Saira Ahemad stood barefoot in the muck,
kicking with her leathery toes at the shards of bones left over from the
cremation of her neighbor's children. It was almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit
and the sky hissed with hot little pellets of rain, but Mrs. Ahemad, 56,
had no shelter except the dirty shawl she pulled tighter over her head.
All around were the shattered remains of the Shirwa Labor Camp, a city
of shacks where thousands of impoverished migrant workers lived until June
9, when a cyclone roared across the tidal flats with 100-mile-an-hour winds
pushing a wall of water at least eight feet high. As many as 10,000 workers,
most of whom earned a living scraping sea salt from the sun-baked flats,
were swept away in India's deadliest natural disaster in five years. But
this country of 950 million people has absorbed the loss of life in stride.
Even as bodies still wash ashore, to be doused with kerosene and cremated
on the spot to fend off disease, new workers are traveling here to take
their place, and slums dangerously close to the water's edge are being
rebuilt.
The tragedy in Kandla, India's busiest industrial
port, 560 miles southwest of New Delhi, illustrates a sad truth about the
poorest people in one of the world's poorest nations. Drivers who hit a
cow on the streets of New Delhi face the very real threat of being attacked
by a mob furious over the death of a sacred animal. But when thousands
of people from society's flimsy bottom rung die in a place like Kandla,
there is a collective shrug of resignation. Tjabhai Desai, a local development
official, said recently: 'No one bothered about these people when they
lived. Now who cares once they're dead?' Suhas Chakma, of the South Asia
Human Rights Documentation Center, said: ''If you are poor, basically your
life has no value here; a cow would get more importance than a human being.
There is no sense of moral outrage against injustices like this that take
place in India. People just say, 'That's the way it is.''
Trying to save the millions of Indians in poverty
is like standing under a waterfall with a spoon. ... Bottom-line business
owners have no incentive to do Mother Teresa's work, and they argue that
they are helping simply by giving jobs to the poor - even if those jobs
eventually kill them. ... India has been criticized by the United States
and other nations for spending billions to develop nuclear weapons rather
than to improve education, health and welfare for millions who live in
poverty. Last week, the government turned down Japan's offer of about $300,000
in humanitarian aid for the cyclone victims, citing its anger over economic
sanctions imposed by Japan after India conducted nuclear tests on May 11
and 13. ... Many of those who died here had traveled halfway across the
continent to find jobs in Kandla's salt pans: vast, low-lying tidal flats
where sea salt, baked dry in the blistering sun, is scraped by hand from
the rocks and mud. Salt workers go blind from the reflected sun and suffer
skin disease and gangrene at alarming rates from wounds constantly exposed
to brine and filth. An entire family might work for days to collect a ton
of salt, for which they would earn less than $4" (International Herald
Tribune, July 7, 1998)
All of It for Nunavut
Less than two weeks before the stunning electoral
debut by Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, she called Aboriginal land
claims "'A preposterous sell-out of the Australian people. ... Native
title is just a precursor to the establishment of a taxpayer-funded Aboriginal
state. It will tear the heart out of our country and deliver that heart
to one of our very smallest minority groups.'" (Reuters, June 2, 1998)
A look at Canada's newest, neediest, foster-child is not especially reassurring.
On April 1, 1999, "a quarter of Canada's land mass" (Globe and
Mail, July 4, 1998) will be ceded away, and Nunavut will become "Canada's
poorest jurisdiction. ... The federal government could pay at least $21,700
a year to support each person living in the new territory. [That's optimistic,
given the range of social ills] ... There is excessive substance abuse.
Marijuana use is four times as high as the national average; LSD, speed
and cocaine use is three times as high; abuse of aerosols and solvents
is a shocking 26 times the national rate. ... The rate of heavy drinking
is three times the figure for Canada. ... The suicide rate is almost six
times the national average. ... Tuberculosis ... occurs at eight times
the national average, and hepatitis A occurs 18 times as often. ... About
one-third of the Nunavut population was living on social assistance in
March of 1996 -- more than three times the national average -- and 38 per
cent of residents have less than a Grade 9 education." (Globe and
Mail, June 5, 1998)
Although Nunavut's prospects fall well short
of bleak, taxpayers will no doubt caper with glee to know that Ottawa's
footing 90 per cent of the bill! The article prompted Inuit leaders to
remind us that, here we have a yet another chance to atone for "colonial-era
mistakes". A June 13 letter in the Globe and Mail fumes, "Canada
is our country and it is our money and we will not allow anyone to make
us feel guilty about taking our rightful share of it." (John Amagoalik,
Chair, Nunavut Implementation Commission) Another letter writer puts it
into Hanson-clear perspective: "Run by southerners? No; God forbid.
But paid for by southerners? No problem." (J.R.A. Ball, Toronto) "The
new deal will increase the overall spending to about $1.28-billion -- $587-million
for Nunavut and $690-million for the [as yet unnamed] western territory.
... [That] does not include $150-million in one-time transitional funding
under a deal signed in 1996 to help establish Nunavut." (Globe and
Mail, June 25, 1998) It's our guess that in the fullness of time, many
opportunities to help establish Nunavut will present themselves.
Indian-Jewish Alliance Forged
At a time when aboriginal groups demand semi-autonomy
from the federal government, Quebec natives resist the idea of a separate,
sovereign (less accomodating?) French Canada; clinging instead to Ottawa,
the wicked step-mother. Last September the premiers of "the nine other
provinces" concocted something called the Calgary Declaration on national
unity, "marrying 'the unique character of Quebec society' to the equality
of all Canadian provinces. ... [This was rejected outright by native leaders
until the premiers added] a companion document saying that natives constitute
a distinct society and a separate order of government within Canada. [Isn't
that precisely what Quebec was denied?] They also agreed that aboriginals
should be included in any further constitutional and social-policy talks
that directly affect them [wouldn't it be nice if the majority of Canadians
were extended the same courtesy?] ... The Canadian Jewish Congress and
Assembly of First Nations have agreed to pursue common strategies to advance
the federalist cause in the unity debate. ... 'Aboriginal people as well
as Jewish people have been denied the right to be self-determining peoples,
and both have survived in spite of these incredible odds,' said Phil Fontaine,
Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
The keynote speaker at the CJC annual meeting
yesterday, Mr. Fontaine said natives 'have been very interested in pursuing
this relationship [with the CJC] and now we have what I take as a formal
invitation. I think it's going to be very beneficial not only for Quebec
but for our struggle nationwide. We see the Jewish community as having
a formidable presence in Canada.' ... About 500 delegates to the CJC meeting
formally endorsed the Calgary Declaration. ... Montreal's Jewish community
took an active role in the last referendum campaign." (Globe and Mail,
May 26, 1998) "The Assembly of First Nations, which represents Canada's
Indian chiefs, voted last week to raise Phil Fontaine's salary from $85,000
[to $125,000]. ... As a status Indian, Mr. Fontaine does not pay federal
tax on his salary, which means $125,000 is equivalent to a taxable income
of about $240,000. ... But some chiefs are questioning the raise because
of both its size and the small percentage of chiefs who actually endorsed
it. About 30 of the 200 chiefs registered were on hand when the salary
vote was held." (Globe and Mail, July 2, 1998) Many hard pressed Canadian
workers would like the tax exempt perk afforded to Mr. Fontaine's "self-determing
people."
Teaching Red China Democracy Is
No Easy Task
Interparliamentary exchanges between Chinese
and Canadian elected representatives have been conducted for years by means
of the Canadian-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association and its counterpart
in the Republic of China on Taiwan. Apparently, some people in the Canadian
government think that this situation is not satisfactory and that the People's
Republic of China (PRC) must be integrated into this type of political
activities, notwithstanding the fact that no bona fide parliamentarians
are to be found in the land ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. According
to a press release from Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade, dated March 30, 1998, this strange idea was first floated last fall:
"The proposal to create the Canada-China Interparliamentary Group
arose during discussions between Prime Minister Jean Chretien and President
Jiang Zemin at the time of the President's state visit to Canada in November
1997." Suddenly, Canadian decision-makers resolved that a parliamentary
caucus dealing with Red China had to be set up. An announcement to that
effect was made in the PRC's capital city by the International Trade Minister,
Sergio Marchi, the substance of which was conveyed through the aforementioned
press release.
"The Canada-China Interparliamentary group
will provide a forum for dialogue between Canadian parliamentarians and
members of the National People's Congress (NPC)," the document read.
It also revealed that Mr. Marchi spoke about the new body "following
meetings with the Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, Li Peng"
and other PRC officials. Furthermore, "Canadian companies were represented
at a number of these meetings." In the current decade, critics of
Canada's foreign policy have maintained that it is too narrowly concerned
with economic matters, particularly trade. That a major political initiative
had to be advanced by the head of International Trade, accompanied by business
executives, appears to be a caricature of a policy which is already questioned
in well-informed circles. However, this curious story would lead on to
an even odder development, since the Canadian Parliament was involved.
Marchi's whole scheme collapsed three weeks after his pronouncement in
Peking. The Speaker of the House of Commons let it be known that the minister
had taken steps without any mandate from his fellow parliamentarians. Gilbert
Parent was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying that he was "disappointed
a minister of the Crown, acting with such haste, may have prejudiced the
very outcome he wished to bring about."
Added the House's supreme authority: "Such
disregard for the administrative competence of Parliament does nothing
to enhance its prestige on the international stage." Having to handle
Peking carefully, an embarrassed Parent felt obliged to underline the following:
"I trust our Chinese friends will understand this situation is strictly
an internal Canadian matter relating to the basic tenets of our primary
law." Surely, it is unfortunate that the Speaker's opportune intervention
focussed on form rather than content. If he had discussed the nature of
the NPC, then the underhanded attempt of the Canadian government would
have proved perfectly understandable. Advocates of political reforms in
mainland China know very well that the NPC leaves much to be desired. For
instance, the figurehead of the so-called "Democratic Faction"
within the Chinese Communist Party, Fang Jue, issued a paper last November
which called for radical change in the communist-controlled Congress. Fang
stressed that the NPC has yet to be "transformed into a modern legislature
that truly and independently exercises its power to legislate, to determine
the composition of the government and to supervise the executive administration."
He urged "the election by universal suffrage of NPC representatives
above the county level" and challenged its members to enact "an
Election Law that would reflect the desire of the Chinese people."
Simply put, the NPC is presently looked upon
as a "rubber stamp" institution. With a good sense of timing,
its leading office bearer, Li Peng, in late April confirmed its being subject
to the party, discounting any desire his predecessor, Qiao Shi, may have
entertained. A man notorious for his role in the blood bath at Tiananmen
Square, Li pointed out that the NPC stood out in contrast to legislatures
in democracies. The mainland's laws, which the NPC approves, "give
forms to the party's line, guiding principles and policy," he bluntly
explained. The NPC has always been a mere state organ in a country where
the state is the plaything of a single, totalitarian party. Nevertheless,
in a press release dated April 4, 1996, Canada's Department of Foreign
Affairs described it in this fashion: "The NPC is the body within
the Chinese system that most closely resembles Canada's Parliament."
It is true that that statement -- not exactly flattering for the Ottawa
legislature -- was published during the tenure of Mr. Qiao, a politician
whom the Canadian government saw as "committed to the development
of the rule of law" in the PRC.On second thoughts, however, it is
quite conceivable that Canada's Parliament do resemble the NPC -- at least
in the opinion of those who rule the Ottawa government. Then they behaved
in a logical manner when they tried to establish an interparliamentary
group over the heads of their own MPs and Senators. And this is why the
Canadian way to democracy may not be the right one for mainland China.
-- Gilbert Gendron [Gilbert Gendron is author of Feeding the Red Dragon
- The Case Against Canada's Aid to Communist China ($15) and Pol Pot's
Own: The Joy of Being a Former Comrade of the Fallen Cambodian Dictator
in Today's Canada ($4) -- available from C-FAR.]
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