Popular groups setting new horizons after NDP election Since the surprise election of the New Democrats in Ontario Sept. 6, activists in the labour and social movements have been meeting, officially and unofficially, to reassess their tactics. It’s smart politics, considering these coalitions were born and raised in an environment of opposi- tion, facing governments where victories Were marked by, at best, minor reforms. Today’s conditions are somewhat dif- ferent. In power with a comfortable maj- ority is a government with a record of Support for many of the concems raised by people’s organizations. And despite the media spin, it does have a mandate. Governments with no more, and often less, voter response than Bob Rae’s are barreling through on agen- das they never touted on the campaign trail. The results are evident in the prime Minister’s 15 per cent support rate. It wasn’t by chance that the pundits tried to brush off the NDP victory as a fluke, or at best as voters tired with the old line parties looking fora change. This was the corporate sector’s first shot at pressing the new government to be careful, urging it not to “scare” them. But the polls indicate the movements Were successful in winning electorate sup- That poses responsibilities for both sides. How well the coalitions conduct their work, to ensure clear and workable alternatives are put forward and popular- ized in society is a major factor. It also depends on how well the government responds to what the movements are pro- posing. The importance of this government’s success should not be underestimated. All over the industrialized world, the elec- torate has opted for neo-conservative par- ties, or watched labour parties adopt reac- tionary polices. How the NDP operates in government will be felt in upcoming elec- tions in both British Columbia and Sas- katchewan, as well as federally. But does the new government call for new tactics? Yes and no. Independent, vi- able movements will be essential to both the success of the NDP fulfilling its man- date, and to the movements winning their demands. The election of the NDP can be used to energize the people’s organizations ex- hausted after a decade of defensive strug- gles. Energies have been directed at trying to stop regressive legislation — with too few successes. Trying to mobilize people around the status quo is difficult, and bur- port for a clean environment, equality and social justice, even if they hadn’t moved previous governments. While Peterson campaigned for more of the same at Queen’s Park the activists who hounded him on the campaign trail were successful at exposing some terrible truths: the poverty that couldn’t be hidden anymore; the plant shutdowns; environ- mental destruction; racist violence; the de- terioration of health, education and social programs; the threat of the then-looming recession. It touched people, making them realize they did want something different. The movements revealed what life really was in “booming” Ontario and in identifying with issues, the NDP produced aresponse on election day. For thatreason, the movements have a right to claim the party’s victory as their own. The composition of the new govern- ment bodes well for its success. It isn’t made up of party hacks. Because the party didn’t expect to form the government, the hacks didn’t run. There is probably not a situation anywhere duplicating the elec- tion of a senior government formed by activists who come directly out of the labour and social movements. But while good people are now inside they are not all politically seasoned, and even those who are, are under pressure to distance themselves from their roots. The question now is: willthese new MPPs get their political education from the pundits and party apparatus, or from the move- _ ments? Since not everyone in the party ap- preciates the role the movements piayed, there will be another task to ensure the government realizes that their election, and their re-election, depends in large measure on those organizing on the out- side. : JCOMMENTARY nout is a common complaint. Too little time has been devoted to thinking about where to go. Now, there is a chance to win at least some long-standing demands. It also pro- vides an opportunity to rethink, modify and add to demands and tactics. Of course there needs to be action on policy demands. As an anti-poverty ac- tivist said in the heady days following the election, “100,000 people who line up at food banks in [Toronto] haven’t stopped lining up just because Bob Rae got elec- ted.” There are problems so pressing and acute that government must take action, and be seen to be taking action, to alleviate some of the real pain people are exper- iencing. But the NDP only has the government. It doesn’t control the state. It can intervene in the economy, but it doesn’t control it, nor does it have a mandate to nationalize the banks or to stop corporations from picking up and moving jobs and capital to the southern U.S. or the Mexican free trade zones. However the government will need these powers to follow through on its pro- gram and prevent the corporate sector from striking against it. Here the move- ments, and socialists in them in particular, have an essential ideological role to play. The reason Bob Rae can today say that regardless of the cost to business, his government intends to extend pay equity legislation, is because the women’s and labour movements campaigned to win not only government, but popular, support for women’s economic equality. Protecting the environment, saving communities and jobs, waging war on poverty will necessitate taking on capital, curbing its power and restricting its “right” to pick up and move wherever it pleases. Here the new government isn’t on firm ground, but such concepts are not beyond NDP philosophy. Anew ideological climate needs to be created, by socialists, to give this govern- ment the political space it will require to even begin to speak about such actions with conviction. But even if the NDP is reluctant, or unable, to take those steps, if the ground- work has been done outside Queen’s Park to convince voters that it was the corpora- tions, and not ineptitude which prevented the government from carrying through on its promises, its chances of re-election will be strengthened. The NDP victory also provides the movements with an opportunity to ap- proach government in anew way. A deficit and recession will restrict its ability to fund programs, but it can act to empower people and their organizations and here new thinking in the movements may be called for. In other words not only to approach government for more program funding but to seek new ways to enable people to relate to government. For example: e There are hundreds of advisory boards appointed by government to criti- que its policies. Rae has said these would no longer be patronage appointments, which is positive. But what if the demand were raised that boards be elected from the movements and users of government ser- vices, and that they not only critique pol- icy but be given the resources to organize their constituents? Or that where coali- tions are already operating, these bodies be abolished and the funding go directly to the coalitions? ¢ The majority of workers do not have the protection of belonging to a union. This government should initiate model labour legislation, removing the road- blocks to organization. e Many other workers, who are or- ganized, do not have the right to strike. That needs to be addressed. e Frontline workers in public and social services should have meaningful input into how hospitals, education, public housing and other services are ad- ministered and services provided. e Current regulations designed to re- quire workers to police users of govern- ment services, rather than serve them should be abolished. The movements have much experience in this regard, because they often provide front line services. Real input into policy formulation would allow the movements to defend the government, rather than apologizing for it or condemning it. Winning these kinds of reforms won’t be easier just because they don’t cost money. In fact they may be the hardest to win. They’re hard to secure because they are about power, about who makes dec- isions and who determines how society operates. It about whether people will be passive users of government or active par- ticipants in governing themselves. If the NDP were to take these steps, it would have left a lasting legacy, one which will be hard for any future govern- ment, regardless of its political stripe, to dismantle. Across Canada DND doors blocked over NATO flights Demanding an end to NATO low-level flights over Innu territory in Labrador, more than 150 people blockaded the entrances to the Department of National Defence offices in Ottawa Nov. 13. The protest, organized by the Committee for Non-Violent Action, was timed to coincide with the first work day following Remembrance Day. It is held annually to dramatize the opposition to the NATO test flights which are used by the military to test the ability of pilots to fly low over Soviet territory in order to avoid radar detection in bombing strikes. Some 130 people were arrested by police when they sat down on the sidewalk outside the DND building. They were expected to be charged with mischief. Among those arrested were several Innu from the village of Sheshatshiu (formerly Sheshatshit), near Goose Bay where the community’s life has been profoundly disrupted by the flights. Also joining the protest were participants in the Walk for Nitassinan, who had arrived in the capital three days earlier. The group left Labrador in July en route to Ottawa and spent four months visiting communities along the way to outline the danger to the Innu people posed by the NATO flights. Court won’t issue logging injunction Members of the Tlowitsis-Mumtagila First Nation were expected to press their demand for a court order against logging in the Lower Tsitika Valley following the decision by B.C. Supreme Court ~ Justice Douglas MacKenzie in refusing to stop forest giant MacMillan Bloedel from logging in the valley. In his ruling, brought down Nov. 9, Justice MacKenzie contended that there was not compelling evidence to show that the area was of sacred value to the band and argued that the balance of convenience and justice dictated that the status quo — the continuation of logging — should prevail over preservation of the old growth forest in the 27-hectare site. But band lawyer David Rosenberg said that an appeal would be launched immediately as well as an application for an interim order to prevent logging until the question of Native rights has been determined. He said that areas of “spiritual or sacred significance should be preserved until their rights can be determined.” The court’s decision is expected to escalate tensions over logging in the area since the Tsitika Valley, a key watershed with old-growth timber that is also close to the unique whale-rubbing beaches at Robson Bight, is a heated point of friction in the province-wide debate over logging versus preservation. Several environmentalists continued their direct action against logging in the wake of the decision. Five people were arrested Nov. 9 following Justice MacKenzie’s decision. Pacific Tribune, November 19, 1990 « 3 — ee ere 1 } i | 1] | i