Prominent sociologist and Kremlin critic Boris Kagarlitsky was detained in Russia for allegedly calling for ‘terrorism’ online, a charge that could result in a seven-year prison sentence. Photo courtesy AFP. Distinguished Russian left-wing sociologist and dissident Boris Kagarlitsky has been arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on trumped-up
Continue readingAuthor: Editorial
Canadian Dimension: CD stands with the Wet’suwet’en
Along with many other progressive forces in the settler community, CD stands in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en and their struggle to exercise their sovereignty and protect their land. Image by Canadian Dimension. On the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation last September, Denis Coderre, former Liberal MP and cabinet
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: CD editorial board: Statement on the resignations
This is a statement by a majority of the members of the Canadian Dimension editorial board regarding the resignations of several members last month. A dissenting view by CD founder Cy Gonick is also published here, followed by an addendum composed by longtime CD editorial collective member Paul S. Graham.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Dimitri Lascaris is the best choice to the take the Green Party forward
Dimitri Lascaris is one of eight people seeking to succeed Elizabeth May as leader of the Green Party of Canada. Photo courtesy of the Team Dimitri campaign. Few party leadership contests in recent years have been as critical for the left in Canada as the current race for the leadership
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Resisting “The Resistance”
Photo by Graham Hughes/CP Ander, hatred, and bigotry are finding expression in mainstream provincial politics these days, as witnessed by the recent conservative victories by Doug Ford and Jason Kenney in Ontario and Alberta respectively. Although Ford and Kenney grab most of the headlines, we must not forget that Saskatchewan,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Injustice at Unist’ot’en
Photo by Yellowhead Institute Since 2009, members of the Unist’ot’en (C’ihlts’ehkhyu / Big Frog Clan) have been re-occupying Wet’suwet’en territory – in the northwestern part of what is known as British Columbia – to affirm their sovereignty and block any oil and gas development on their unceded lands. They are
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Child-separation: an ugly Canadian tradition
Photo from U.S. National Archives and Records Administration “Obviously, this is not the way we do things in Canada,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said to reporters on June 20, responding to the anguish and outrage sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s widely condemned and subsequently abandoned “zero tolerance” policy on
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: NDP falls far short of needed leap to the left
Canadians hoping to see bold ideas and a more radical orientation emerge from the federal New Democrats’ February convention in Ottawa are surely feeling disappointed. Four months after Jagmeet Singh’s first ballot victory, a party still struggling to regain its balance following electoral demolition in 2015 again failed to capitalize
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Unhappy birthday
Illustration by Inori Roy As Canada commemorates its sesquicentennial with a festival of propaganda, the gulf between this country’s reality and its image — prettily packaged at home and exported around the world — has perhaps never been wider. For evidence, we needn’t look further than the August cover of
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Canada in the age of Trump
Image from Bidnessetc.com The election of Donald Trump is giving the sane world a collective anxiety attack. While we know it will turn out badly, we aren’t sure exactly how. Trump’s utterings (they lack sufficient coherence to be called a program) go off in many different directions — an expansionary
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: What’s left of neoliberal globalization?
Photo by Josh Edelson/Getty From a Canadian vantage point, it is easy to lose track of the sheer volume of discontent, if not outright resistance, around the world to the structures and policies of neoliberal globalization. People everywhere are chaffing at the limits imposed on their capacities to democratically shape
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Indigenous nations lead opposition to pipeline development
With the plans for an Enbridge pipeline linking
the tar sands in Alberta to the West Coast temporarily
blocked, activists are mobilizing against TransCanada’s
proposed 4,600-kilometre Energy East
pipeline. If built, the pipeline would be the largest in
North America and would see 1.1. million barrels of
tar sands oil shipped each day from Western Canada
to New Brunswick.
The pipeline is disingenuously being promoted as
a job creator and a way of reducing Canada’s dependency
on imported oil, but make no mistake about it:
Energy East is simply another “rip it and ship it”
resource development scheme designed to make
fast money for Big Oil by getting tar sands oil onto
the international market.
Although many Canadians and Quebecers have
voiced concerns about the environmental impacts of
the proposed pipeline, Indigenous Nations are leading
the opposition to Energy East. In New Brunswick,
Grand Chief Ron Tremblay recently declared: “As
members of the Wolastoq Grand Council we unanimously
oppose the Energy East Pipeline project in
order to protect our non-ceded homeland and waterways,
our traditional and cultural connection to our
lands, waterways, and air. The Wolastoq Grand
Council has serious concerns for the safety and protection
of the animals, fish, birds, insects, plants
and tree life that sustains our Wolastoq Nation.”
Other Indigenous Nations feel similarly. In January
2015, Anishinaabe Grand Chief Warren White stated,
“I do not want to be the grand chief who consented
to a pipeline that’s going to destroy 30 per cent of
the fresh water in Ontario, in Treaty 3 territory … We
will be the ones to stop this. Our communities, our
youth, our leadership are being called on by other
nations.”
Haudenosaunee peoples are also taking a stand
against Energy East. Grand Chief of the Kanesatake
Mohawk community, Serge Simon, said that “The
Mohawks of Kanesatake were inspired by the efforts
of First Nations out West like the Yinka Dene Alliance
who successfully built a wall of Indigenous opposition
to halt the threat posed by the Enbridge Northern
Gateway pipeline. We are now working to extend
that wall of opposition out East to stop the TransCanada
Energy East tar sands pipeline.”
On March 8, 2016, Grand Chief Simon sent an
email to Québec Premier Philippe Couillard (which
was posted on cbc.ca) in which he explained that the
pipeline “threatens Kanesatake’s lands, waters and
our people’s very survival as a result of setback the
project represents in the fight against climate
change,” of which Indigenous peoples are the first
victims. He also pointed out that there are “few longterm
jobs associated with the project, but many
more associated with clean energy, healthy communities,
energy conservation and efficiency.” Simon’s
declaration won support from other Indigenous
groups, including the Iroquois Council and the
Assembly of First Nations Quebec and Labrador.
Canadian Dimension stands in solidarity with
Indigenous peoples opposing Energy East and fighting
for environmental justice. From the fight against
fracking waged by the Elsipogtog First Nation in
New Brunswick to the struggles of recently murdered
activists Berta Cáceres and Nelson Garcia in
Honduras, Indigenous peoples are championing the
defence of their land and the protection of the entire
planet from environmental destruction. But this burden
should not fall on Indigenous peoples alone. It
is a heavy responsibility that must be more equally
shouldered by Canadians and Quebecers. Labour
and activist groups from coast to coast should rally
to support Indigenous land defenders. Because we
share the Earth, we must also share in the struggles
to defend it against the depredations of colonialism
and capitalism.
This article appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Canadian Dimension (Childhood).
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Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Stop Harper
Photo by Peter Blanchard It’s hard to recall as divisive a figure in recent Canadian political history as Stephen Harper. Few prime ministers have provoked as much animus among Canadians. Of course it’s not just Harper himself who elicits such enmity, but his corporate and wealthy allies and their political
Continue readingCanadian Dimension | Articles: Alter Summit: A People’s Manifesto
Europe stands on the edge of a precipice, looking into the abyss. Austerity policies drive the people of Europe into poverty, undercut democracy and dismantle social policies. Rising inequalities endanger social cohesion. Ecological destruction is worsening while acute humanitarian crises devastate the most affected countries. Women and young people are
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Alter Summit: A People’s Manifesto
Europe stands on the edge of a precipice, looking into the abyss. Austerity policies drive the people of Europe into poverty, undercut democracy and dismantle social policies. Rising inequalities endanger social cohesion. Ecological destruction is worsening while acute humanitarian crises devastate the most affected countries. Women and young people are
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Defeating Harper from Below
Fast-paced changes over the previous four elections have transformed Canada’s federal political landscape. The Liberal Party’s vote has been halved and the Bloc Québécois suffered nearly as badly. The NDP made spectacular, if still precarious, gains under Jack Layton, with a historically unprecedented showing in Québec. Only the Conservatives’ advance
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Chávez No se Va
As the entire world held its breath over the outcome
of this year’s US presidential election, the most
important election of 2012 was already in the books
— and the Left won.
On October 7, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
was re-elect…
Canadian Dimension Feed: Québec: From Student Strike to Social Upsurge
By passing Bill 78, a law designed to curb freedom of assembly and the right to strike, Premier Jean Charest expected to quell the three-month-old Québec student strike against tuition fee hikes. But this authoritarian gambit only galvanized the student movement and summoned a wave of support which transformed the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Rogues Like These
It has the makings of a B-grade political thriller: a mysterious “Pierre Poutine” uses a disposable “burner” cell phone and an anonymous prepaid credit card to buy a series of automated outbound phone calls designed to harass voters in key ridings and mislead them about where they should vote in
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Leading questions
As the NDP chooses a new leader , more than a decade after Seattle, a new era of global protest has dawned, from the Arab spring to anti-austerity protests in Europe, and the global Occupy movement, which has put the issue of growing economic inequality squarely on the table. Years
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