Author: Matt

On Wrestling, Politics and Other Musings of the Mind's Eye: Human Rights Violation in Algeria

Here is another injustice that needs to be rectified! Activists and union members are being arrested in Algeria and I don’t think we should stand for this sort of thing. Read more below and I will post the link to click if you want to get involved in an email campaign to protest this injustice after the blurb. Cheers.

Human Rights Activist, IUF representative in Algeria abducted

01-10-2012

On 1 October, Algerian IUF representative and human rights activist Yacine Zaïd was picked up off the street in Hassi Messaoud in the Ouargla province by unidentified men in a white Nissan 4×4 vehicle and has not been seen since. His location at this time is unknown. Zaïd had earlier been beaten upon being taken into custody by Algerian police prior to his release and subsequent abduction.

The IUF believes that Yacine Zaïd’s well-being and perhaps even his life is at risk because of his outspoken work in defence of human rights in Algeria and his long-standing defence of workers’ rights, now as an IUF representative in that country.

The IUF calls on the Algerian authorities to act immediately to secure the release of Yacine Zaïd, guarantee his security and restore his full rights. We also call on authorities to investigate the matter fully and bring those responsible to justice.

You can help. Please send a message to the Algerian Government immediately to secure the safe release of Yacine Zaïd.

Continue reading

Pample the Moose: What’s wrong with this sentence?

The following sentence appears in a recently-published book about Canadian history:

“After Ontario, Québec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick became provinces within the new Dominion of Canada in 1867, after the federal government purchased Rupert’s Land in 1869, and after British Columbia became a Canadian province in 1871, Canada became a coast-to-coast political entity encompassing a vast array of geographies and cultures.”

This book was short-listed for a number of awards, so it will likely attract a reasonable-sized readership among the academic community.  I’m not sure who should be most embarrassed by this rather glaring error – the scholarly press, the copy editor, the peer reviewers, or the author – all of whom should have had at least a passing familiarity with the Confederation-era development of Canada.

I started off by reading the introduction and conclusion, and so I have yet to make my way through the main chapters of the book to get into its main subject matter (which is not about Canada’s political development, thank goodness), but this has left a rather bad first impression.

Continue reading