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(These editorials are from the Feb. 15-29/2000 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, Canada, V5L 3J1.)
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
CANADA'S MEDICARE system has been in critical condition for several years; now it's on life support. Hospital closures, lengthy waiting lists for urgent operations, and overflowing emergency departments are already costing lives across the country. By suggesting that Medicare should be scaled back to insure only "basic" medical services, the ten premiers have started yanking on the plug. It won't be long before working class and poor Canadians get a couple of pain-killers and a band-aid for serious medical problems, while the wealthy get gold-plated treatment for their hangnails. Unless we rise up in anger, we can say goodbye to the system of universally-accessible medical care won through the struggles of Norman Bethune, Tommy Douglas and many others.
Without a doubt, the worst villains in this situation are the two "ReformaTory" premiers. Ontario's Mike Harris helped get the ball rolling with his government's savage health care cutbacks. Ralph Klein did likewise in Alberta, then started to privatise big chunks of the province's hospital system.
But nobody should let the rest of the anti-Medicare gang off the hook. The Chretien Liberals slashed billions of dollars from spending on health care, social programs and education, then did nothing to block provincial attacks on hospitals and health care workers. By caving in to this Liberal/Tory alliance, the NDP premiers of BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are selling out their own party's proudest historical achievement. Behind these politicians are the corporate interests carving out the most profitable chunks of the health care system.
The Canadian Health Coalition did a useful job of raising this crucial issue at the Quebec City meeting of the premiers in early February, but the outcome of that gathering shows that mass action is necessary. Every people's organization should get into this struggle - union locals, student unions, seniors' organizations, the women's movement, anti-poverty groups and others. Warn the federal and every provincial governments that we simply will not accept the destruction of Medicare! Every possible tactic should be used to drive this message home: letters, petitions, demonstrations, occupations of government offices.
CHILLING NEWS FROM AUSTRIA
HISTORY NEVER repeats itself in precisely the same ways, but events in Austria are cause for considerable alarm. It may be the case that Joerg Haider is no Adolf Hitler, but the Nazi leader also made promises to preserve democracy... until he was in power. It's also true that Austria today has less potential to launch a devastating war than the Germany of the 1930s, but this is no reason to be complacent.
The chilling fact is that Haider's ultra-right "Freedom Party" is now part of the government in a European country, controlling the ministries of defence, finance, justice and social affairs. For the working people of Austria, especially immigrants and minorities, this can only mean serious trouble. Racist, neo-fascist, and anti-immigrant parties in other countries will certainly be encouraged to step up their own campaigns to win power, posing enormous dangers for Europe and the entire world.
There are two ways to fight the neo-fascist menace. One is to expose the modern day followers of Hitler whenever they crawl out from under their rocks, before they gain substantial voter support, and while they are in office. Since fascism thrives on cynicism and despair, the second imperative is to campaign for genuine people's alternatives to unemployment and declining living standards, based on the needs of working people and the environment, not corporate greed.
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