By Emily Griffiths In the wake of the oil spill a few days ago, I set out this morning with my partner to see the aftermath first hand. I really didn’t want to go, because I don’t enjoy feeling depressed or enraged, but denial isn’t a healthy choice, either. We
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Politics, Re-Spun: Pink Washing: Does This Pink Shirt Really Say Enough?
By Emily Griffiths Pink Shirt Day is almost upon us. The annual campaign to raise money and “awareness” on the issue of “bullying” takes place on February 25. As this date approaches, I’m sure you’ve noticed an inundation of bright pink. Even at this very moment, I am sipping my
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The So-Called Transit Referendum: Don’t Be Duped!
By Emily Griffiths The Transit referendum “Yes” campaign has been asserting itself all over Facebook, Twitter, neighbourhood news boxes, and I can’t help but ask myself, Since when is increasing a flat tax a leftist thing to do? Oh! The word “transit” has been attached to the newest proposed consumer
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: When Shaming Survivors is Not Enough: Police-State Motives Behind Sexual Assault Transit Ads
Photo credit Instagram: @the_noush. Permission to use granted. By Emily Griffiths The Transit Police got burned in the media recently, when rad feminist transit riders called them out publicly for their summer-line of sexual assault ads. These ads use language that shames the survivors of sexual assault, stating, “the real
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: We Support The Veterans Transition Program
Submitted by Robin and Stewart on Mon, 10/07/2013 – 12:59 1999 saw the rise of the Veteran Transition Network (VTN) through the sponsorship of BC/Yukon Legion Branches and the University of British Columbia. Its mission is to help Canadian Veterans across the nation re-integrate into society, local communities, and with
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Robin & Stewart – Our Veterans
Robin & Stewart – Our Veterans Submitted by Robin and Stewart on Mon, 09/23/2013 – 14:40 “Canadian soldiers bravely put themselves in harm’s way, prepared to sacrifice for their country. By some estimates one in five will return with the invisible wounds of PTSD” (War in The Mind). The complexities
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Pidgin Picket, the Housing Crisis and the State
The Role of The State in Gentrification, the Housing Crisis, and its Ability to Relieve or Maintain the Current Situation by Rachel Goodine Pidgin, a new fine-dining restaurant located on Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, moved in to the neighbourhood on February 1 of this year, prompting plenty of controversy. It’s
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Foundation Skills Assessment: Another Dirty Trick
By Rachel Goodine The FSAs, or Foundation Skills Assessment tests, administered annually in British Columbia since 2000 to students in grades 4 and 7, are once again under way. They began on January 14 and will continue until February 22, 2013. In the meantime, the debate is on. For many,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: No, Taylor Swift. No.
[Here is what some of us have been wanting to say about Taylor Swift, but didn’t because A. Lynn did it first, and perhaps best, reposted her with her kind permission. Thanks to Jarrah Hodge for pointing us to this piece of brilliance! Enjoy! – seb] I’ve been mentally composing this blog for forever and […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Has Changed Since September 11, 2001?
What Has Changed Since September 11, 2001? W2 Media Cafe and Siraat invite you to a public forum on Monday, September 10, 2012, looking at Canada’s racist legacy, as we mark 11 years after the events of September 11, 2001. 7pm at 111 West Hastings Street, Vancouver. Invited Panellists: Kat
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Balkan Voices: Anti-Austerity Protests in Montenegro Heat Up
Translation and contextual information by Konstantin Kilibarda Montenegro has been ruled by the same political party, the Democratic Party of Socialist (DPS), for the past 23 years. Along with the government of Belarus, Montenegro has the dubious distinction of being the only country in Europe that hasn’t seen a change in
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Undermining Solidarity in the Balkans: Reviewing Boris Malagursky’s “The Weight of Chains”
Reviewed by Konstantin Kilibarda Independent Vancouver-based filmmaker Boris Malagursky’s The Weight of Chains is the latest in a long line of misguided attempts to give an ‘alternative’ account to the wars in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. This review seeks to directly address some of the more flawed accounts
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: SFPIRG: We stand in solidarity with CUPE 3338 and oppose the “reprehensible” recommendation to evict SFPIRG
The following is a quote from SFPIRG’s announcement to students, members, and supporters, posted on its website at www.sfpirg.ca. It is republished on PoliticsRespun.org in solidarity and to spread the word. SFPIRG stands in solidarity with and extends our full support to SFSS staff, members of CUPE 3338, who have been locked out of their […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: SFSS CUPE 3338 Lockout “either ignorance or malicious denigration of their vital work”: SFU student
The following open letter to the SFU community was written by SFU student Emma Noonan, originally titled “In Support of a Livable World” and originally published here. It is republished on PoliticsRespun with permission. On Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 2:13pm, the SFSS Board of Directors issued notice that they were locking out the staff […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: We are “refusing to cross picket lines”: Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Student Union and the SFSS CUPE Lockout
This open letter was originally written by Chelsea Mackay and the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Student Student, published originally here and republished on PoliticsRespun.org with permission. Dear SFSS Board Members and President Jeff McCann, The Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Student Union (GSWSSU) has been blindsided by the recent lockout of CUPE 3338 workers […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: “Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose”; or, how to ideologically re-structure your student society: a beginner’s guide: the SFSS CUPE Lockout
By Joel Blok, originally published here. This summer five years ago, the Board of Directors of the SFSS suspended its office staff, barring them from entering their offices and sending them home. This past Thursday, a different board issued a lockout notice to its office staff, preventing them from work. In 2006, the rhetorical justification […]
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