The Green Party has always been a mix of conflicting politics and their statement on their own political place on the left-right continuum often reinforces this understanding. Photo courtesy of the Green Party of Canada. There has always been a gap between how the Green Party of Canada is framed
Continue readingAuthor: John-Henry Harter
Canadian Dimension: Heritage Minutes: history, culture, and propaganda
Still image from “Jacques Cartier” (1991), part of Heritage Minutes, a collection of sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history. The Minutes integrated Canadian history, folklore and myths into dramatic storylines. “I smell burnt toast.” For those of us of a certain age we remember these
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Remembering Seattle: Class, Globalization, and the State
Protester Douglas Mackar, right, with a copy of the U.S. Constitution in his hand, and Seattle Police Lt. Daniel Whelan deliver conflicting messages on their bullhorns during the WTO protest on Nov. 29, 1999. Photo by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Very early in the morning on 30 November 1999, I climbed
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Lessons from Strikes Past
Direct Action Gets the Goods: A Graphic History of the Strike in Canada Graphic History Collective Between the Lines, 2019 Direct Action Gets the Goods is the latest graphic novel from the Graphic History Collective along with artists Althea Balmes, Gord Hill, Orion Keresztesi, and David Lester. It is slim
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Colonization, resistance and popular culture
From Katherena Vermette’s graphic novel A Girl Called Echo On January 7, 2019, the RCMP raided the Gidimt’en checkpoint and the Unist’ot’en blockade that was set up to protect traditional Wet’suwet’en territory from those wanting to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline through their territory. Days later, both the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The politics of the popular
Photo by Justin Sullivan When pop star Taylor Swift took to Instagram and endorsed two Tennessee Democratic candidates in the U.S. mid-term elections, it had an immediate effect. Swift encouraged all of her eighty-two million followers living in the U.S. to register to vote in midterm elections, and, according to
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The cautionary tale of Superman
The Joe Shuster Story: The Artist Behind Superman Julian Voloj Super Genius, 2018 Superman has always been identified as representing truth, justice and the American Way. He was an unambiguous superhero, no hints at darkness, not a trace of the anti-hero. Certainly, Superman has never been identified with any type
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Walking Dead abandons progressive potential of horror
Image by AMC Networks Inc. The Walking Dead, the surprise hit for AMC when it premiered, has just concluded its seventh season. As a long-time horror fan, I was excited at the initial promise of TWD. A weekly national stage for a genre that has a tradition of progressive politics
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Undercover Boss: disciplining workers for fun and profit
Image from PogDesign.co.uk Undercover Boss, the U.S. version of the hit TV show (a Canadian version lasted five seasons) is entering its eight season. The show is predicated on a CEO going undercover in their own company to understand their business and workers better. Superficially, Undercover Boss is a feel-good
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