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The Constitutional Court’s ruling, that abortion of terminally ill fetuses is unconstitutional, has sparked a nationwide outrage and a wave of protests that has terrified the authorities.

Thousands of people have been taking to the streets of Polish cities since October 22, despite bans and the pandemic. The protest is gaining momentum and the situation developing into a turning point. Demonstrations are not only taking place in large cities, where resistance to the imposition of clerical morality has always been strong, but also in smaller centers. Several hundred gatherings, blockades and marches have taken place, including in cities and towns considered to be bastions of the PiS [the ruling, right-wing populist Law and Justice party]. They have mostly involved young people, who have no experience in similar activities or no specific political views. This is an accelerated course in civil disobedience for them. The slogan “this is war,” adopted as one of the main ones during the social mobilization, shows there is no lack of radicalism. The protests have surpassed the expectations of many left groups.

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In 1972, the impoverished and oppressed people of Nicaragua suffered a terrible crisis when an earthquake struck the capital of Managua. An estimated 5000 people were killed, and the city centre was destroyed. International humanitarian aid flowed to the country, including blood and plasma donations from all over the world. Perversely, then dictator Anastasio Somoza intercepted large amounts of the emergency blood donations, which he then exported from his stricken country, at a huge profit.

Almost 60 years later, Alberta premier Jason Kenney seems to be taking a page from Somoza’s playbook. His government’s Bill 204, The Voluntary Blood Donations Repeal Act, will cast aside legislation that guarantees blood and plasma as public resources and open the field to corporate blood banks who sell blood products for profit on the international market.

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On July 19 in the evening, land defenders moved onto unceded Haudenosaunee lands that were close to being heavily developed. Free, prior and informed consent to develop these lands was not attained. A construction project to be named Mackenzie Meadows would effectively destroy the ability to resolve the disputed status of the land and this heavy land alteration was and is set to begin.

Land defenders stopped this development and have renamed the land 1492 Land Back Lane and intend to keep it as Haudenosaunee territory, in the words of one of the many land defenders Skyler Williams, “forever.”

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It should be a no-brainer. Meng committed no crime in Canada or in the United States (whose government demanded that she be detained in Vancouver). While she stands accused of “illegal” trade with Iran, through Huawei Corporation of which she is CFO, neither Meng nor Huawei nor China have broken any international or Canadian laws in this regard. All international trade sanctions against Iran were lifted with the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – the “Iran nuclear deal” that was reached between Iran and the P5+1 powers (the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China—plus Germany).

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No foreign interference, no imperialist coup!

The Communist Party of Canada denounces the interference in the internal affairs of Belarus, by the United States, European Union and NATO countries. The Party calls on the Canadian government to immediately stop its involvement in the campaign to destabilize the country, and to normalize relations with the elected government of Alexander Lukashenko.

Official reports indicate that the presidential election held on August 9 was clearly won by Lukashenko, who was supported by many progressive forces including the Communist Party of Belarus. Opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya received only 10 percent of the official vote yet has claimed victory and called for a transfer of power. Within hours of the election, Tsikhanouskaya met with US First Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and announced a “Coordination Council” to mobilize anti-government protests.

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On July 19 in the evening, land defenders moved onto unceded Haudenosaunee lands that were close to being heavily developed. Free, prior and informed consent to develop these lands was not attained. A construction project to be named Mackenzie Meadows would effectively destroy the ability to resolve the disputed status of the land and this heavy land alteration was and is set to begin.

Land defenders stopped this development and have renamed the land 1492 Land Back Lane and intend to keep it as Haudenosaunee territory, in the words of one of the many land defenders Skyler Williams, “forever.”

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 Welcome to the People's Voice Podcast. Visit us online at www.peoplesvoice.ca

Until COVID-19 triggered the current economic crisis, the “great economic meltdown” of 2007-08 was the largest, most widespread and protracted capitalist crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In response to that deep recession, ruling circles of finance capital and their governments around the world used state treasuries to bail out corporate losses to the tune of tens of trillions.

In Canada, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper announced it would spend around $30 billion to stimulate the economy, overwhelmingly in the form of corporate bailouts.

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Amid yet another zoonotic disease, COVID-19, it is even more urgent that the public has full transparency and access to information about intensive animal farming. But federal and provincial governments continue to placate the powerful agribusiness industry – which is optimizing profits by further concealing what occurs behind closed doors.  At the behest of lobby groups for agribusiness, the Ontario government has passed Bill 156, The Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act. The bill erodes the rights of investigative journalists and whistleblowers, who have been paramount in exposing animal and worker abuse rights and brings an even greater cloak of secrecy around this exploitative industry.

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The Prime Minister’s decision to prorogue Parliament until September 23 is an effort to position the Liberals as defenders of the 7 million people who lost their jobs this spring, the 8.4 million who needed CERB and the 4.5 million who will still need CERB after it wraps up August 29.

Media reports about job creation and economic recovery are overblown and out of sync with the reality of a 28 percent unemployment rate among women and 24 percent among men. These more than 5 million people include the officially registered unemployed, those who have given up looking for work, and those who are working less than 50 percent of the hours worked before the crisis. Many working people have seen their savings evaporate and are hanging on by a thread.

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In a statement issued August 7, three days after the huge explosion in the port of Beirut which killed scores of people and left 300,000 homeless, the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) called for renewed and escalating protests aimed at bringing down the government, which it holds responsible for the tragedy.

“The national catastrophe which occurred after the destruction of Beirut’s port and many neighborhoods of the capital, resulting in hundreds of martyrs and thousands of causalities, can only be considered a major crime against the nation. This crime is committed by a political authority who has a big record of neglect, corruption and a lack of national responsibility.”

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