Author: brian gibb

Apparently, what I want, I can’t have.  I would like to live in a democratic state where I could participate meaningfully in the political decisions to be made. Living in Quebec, however, the most corrupt province or state in North America, my democratic dreams are just that, wishful thinking totally

At the outset, when I first began this blog, I wanted to bring to the reader’s attention some of the cultural myths arising from our political economy that we usually take for granted and, as a result, don’t give much thought to, ascribing to them instead, the status of received

The news coming out of the USA last week was pretty bleak: another senseless act of indiscriminate violence at the Boston Marathon, where two home-made bombs were detonated amongst the spectators, killing three, including a young child, and maiming hundreds. Yet, against this backdrop of blood running in the streets,

I get democracy.  It is a set of political institutions that allows the demos, otherwise known as the multitudes, otherwise known as the people, to self-rule.  By its very nature it is opposed to the rule of the one (monarchy, dictator, emperor) and the rule of the many (aristocracy, oligarchy,

Enthralled by Mammon, the tellers of the Hell-monger’s Tale seek to turn the planet from an earthly paradise into a living hell.  In fact, burning up the world’s stock of fossil fuels would make most of the earth inhospitable for humans. Spurred on by their insatiable greed, they spread their

Observing what’s happening in the US as Americans are only six weeks from electing their president, I am struck by a society in complete disarray. A stalled economy, more than 40 million people living on food stamps, the lowest labor force participation rate since the end of the second world war,

Calling a general election during the summer months in order to avoid the anticipated turmoil of a government commission mandated to investigate corruption in the construction industry and dragging out the student strike so to make it a campaign issue didn’t go very well for the former Premier of Quebec,

Before I start my rant, it should be known that I have been a candidate for political parties that wanted to change the voting system on four occasions.  I have also been a militant for civic organizations that shared the same aim.  I have even gone as far as to organize

It’s a funny thing living in the second decade of the twenty-first century.  There’s such a wide gap between our technological reach and our social institutions. On the same day, I can view the latest images beamed back from the planet Mars and learn that the young women from the

Politics is all about who decides on whose behalf. Inevitably, political decisions entail winners and losers.  In an ideal world, political decisions would be made by inclusive institutions that allow for a thorough analysis of the substantive issues in which the will of the majority prevails. Sadly, this is not

Slowly but surely democracy is spreading and finding roots around the world. The latest countries to begin their path towards democratic governance are Tunisia and Libya. In both countries, democratic elections were held to fill the void left by the toppling of a tyrannical dictator. Looking at a map of

When I was a kid growing up, I thought Canada was cool. Canada’s centennial celebrations made me believe that as a young country we were just coming into our own. A few years later, Paul Henderson scored the winning goal to beat the Soviets, which proved we were the best