It’s kind of like watching a slow-motion train wreck, but here’s something intriguing to note in terms of spin. The BC Liberals social media team seems to have handed out talking points critiquing the members of the party who are now expressing discomfort and dissent with the Premier’s handling of
Continue readingAuthor: kevin harding
Politics, Re-Spun: We don’t want your dirty gold: corporate donations and the university
The following is a piece written by contributor Kevin Harding and guest contributor Natalie Gan. The piece was written in 2010, but is being published on Politics Respun for the first time. The issue of controversial corporate donations to public universities is a live one, with the Munk School at
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: There are no words.
There are insufficient facts today to accurately tell what has happened at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut today. Even worse, there are no words to describe what has happened. Someone has taken a gun into an elementary school and shot people inside. There are no words. The
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Art for Impact presents: Ou(x)po, Dec 8
If you live in the Vancouver area and enjoy arts of all flavours, and contributing to amazing causes, you will absolutely want to check out Ou(x)po, Art for Impact’s ninth show, upcoming on December 8. Here are some details: Join Art for Impact at Ou(x)po What: Art for Impact’s ninth event – Ou(x)po ! (oo-EX-poh) Where: Russian Hall […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Dulce et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to […]
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Media Democracy Day 2012
The Politics, Respun crew is at Media Democracy Days today – we’ll provide some ongoing updates through our liveblog below. 11.55 Hello all – we’re setting up at MDD, and we’ll send more updates as the event goes on. Already a huge amount of people and awesome groups at the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: To my friends at SFU – a message about the strikes
To my APSA, TSSU, and SFUFA friends at SFU: Today, CUPE 3338 is picketing Burnaby Mountain. They’re doing so because they’ve been trying to bargain with SFU for two years, with not much success. They’re picketing because they feel they deserve a fair collective agreement, and they see no other
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Worth Sharing: A Special Olympian Calls Out Ann Coulter’s Choice of Insults
Via the Special Olympics blog: Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult? I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: WTF, UBC? – University says it’s easier to cross picket lines with friends
Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Teaching Support Staff Union, COPE 378, and other unions are escalating job action at universities across British Columbia because of bargaining impasses and refusals on the parts of universities to budge on any items. Today, six unions engaged in job action
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: BC Court of Appeal strikes down the “Gordo/Christy Clark Wants you to Shut Up” Law, Again
Way back in Gordon Campbell’s reign, the BC government tried to ban third-party election advertising or communications with a law so broad that it would effectively prohibit anyone from publicly expressing a political opinion in the sixty days before an election. The BCTF and other public sector unions contested this
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Call for Artists – Art for Impact 9: Ou(x)po
Art for Impact is a volunteer-run organization established in 2008 that raises awareness and funds for humanitarian and environmental issues, both local and international, through interdiscplinary art events. Art for Impact aims to bring wider community support for the arts while promoting and celebrating art’s capacity for social change. Art for
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Casseroles Continue
This is a beautiful video: People who read this page, also read: The Right to Seek Refuge in Canada: The Implications of Bill C-31 Quebec’s Minister of Justice on civil disobedience: “it’s synonymous with vandalism” May 22, 2012 — A cacerolazo in Montreal? (0) May 22, 2012 — Quebec: Art,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: A cacerolazo in Montreal?
There have been a huge amount of reports on Twitter of people grabbing pots and pans and heading to the streets to bang them around and make noise in Montreal. While it’s impossible to immediately compare the student fees protest with the Argentine economic collapse, it is perhaps poetic that
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Quebec: Art, Manifestation, & Protest
Photo via Justin Ling, @justin_ling Watching the Quebec student protests over the past few weeks has been kind of amazing, especially from the Vancouver viewpoint. While the protests have been going on for more than three months – today is the 100th day of protests – they have not really
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Quebec’s Minister of Justice on civil disobedience: “it’s synonymous with vandalism”
Per Radio Canada reporter Julie Dufresne, the Minister of Justice of Quebec has decided that civil disobedience is merely a synonym for vandalism. His quote: «la désobéissance civile, c’est un beau mot pour dire vandalisme» In English: “Civil disobedience,” that’s a nice way to say “vandalism.” People who read this
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Quebec singer Ariane Moffat releases single against Bill 78
Via OpenFileMontreal: Quebec singer Ariane Moffat has released a song, entitled “Jeudi 17 mai 2012″, which is targeted squarely at the Charest government’s emergency law Bill 78. Chanteuse québécoise Ariane Moffat a lancé une chanson, “jeudi 17 mai 2012.” Cette chanson est contre la Loi 78, enactée en réponse des
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Key measures of Quebec’s Bill 78 Anti-Protest Law
Important to note: The provisions against ‘inciting protest’ would apply to tweets and posts online. For background, via StudentActivism.net: Key provisions of the bill as presented to the legislature: All classes at campuses currently participating in the student strike will be immediately suspended, with the remainder of the spring semester delayed until
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: “Please be kind enough to let us know the number of plainclothes officers who will infiltrate our event so we can order the appropriate catering.” – Gatineau Chamber of Commerce on Bill 78
Hot off the Twitter presses, courtesy of @NieDesrochers of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, comes this letter from the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce: NOTICE OF A GATHERING OF MORE THAN 10 PEOPLE The letter is a notice to the Gatineau police force, pursuant to the Special Law that the Quebec
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Quebec Law Seeks to End Student Strikes, Prohibit Protests with 10+ People Without Notice
Tonight in the Assemblée Nationale, Quebec Premier Jean Charest is pushing through a law that would seek to end the Quebec student protests (the #GGI, or the #manifencours). The law would prohibit “demonstrations” in a “venue accesible by the public” unless the organizers of the demonstration had provided at least
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: School employers seek to force BCTF members to volunteer
This is kind of amazing – the BC Public Schools Employers’ Association (the arms-length thing the government created to manage negotiations with the BCTF) is going to the LRB to try to have the withdrawal by teachers from voluntary activities declared illegal. Uhh, what? So the BC government thinks that
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