Francisca Linconao is a healer and a spiritual leader of the Mapuche, the largest of the indigenous peoples of Chile. On March 30, 2016 she was arrested along with ten others in connection with the killing of an elderly couple that had occurred January 4, 2013 in the midst of
Continue readingAuthor: Paul S. Graham
Paul S. Graham: Reclaiming socialism for this new millennium
L. B. Foote / Winnipeg Free Press Archives1919 StrikeCrowd gathers at Victoria Park Sometime in the 1990s, it became fashionable for many socialists to refer to themselves as “anti-capitalists.” I’m not sure why this was the case, but I suspect it involved a large measure of opportunism; socialism (at least
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: The “12 basic needs of Christmas”
Today (on the 13th day of Christmas), Make Poverty History Manitoba rallied at the Manitoba Legislature to call on the provincial government to ensure that the basic material needs of every Manitoban are met. Despite the -20 C weather, the mood was upbeat and the music merry. Specifically, the coalition
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Tell Trudeau to reject the Trans-Pacific Partnership!
Photo by Lorie Shaull Winnipeg, Nov. 23, 2016 – Winnipeggers attended a townhall meeting at the University of Winnipeg about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral trade agreement that threatens our jobs, our environment and our sovereignty. Hosted by the Canadian Labour Congress, the panel included President Hassan Yussuff, Canadian Labour
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Maude Barlow: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada’s Water Crisis
Photo from Millstonenews.com Winnipeg, Nov. 24, 2016 – Council of Canadians Chair Maude Barlow discusses her latest book, Boiling Point: Government Neglect, Corporate Abuse, and Canada’s Water Crisis with Paul Moist at McNally Robinson Booksellers. Barlow is one of the world’s foremost water activists and she has been on the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The making of Lia Tarachansky’s “On the Side of the Road”
Photo by Cindy Boyce Winnipeg, Nov. 9, 2016: Israeli filmmaker and correspondent for the Real News Network Lia Tarachansky screened and discussed the motivation for and the making of her documentary film On the Side of the Road. The former West Bank settler examines Israelis’ unwillingness and/or inability to look
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Yves Engler: A Propaganda System
Screenshot from YouTube Winnipeg, Nov. 2, 2016: Author/activist Yves Engler was at the University of Winnipeg to promote his most recent book, A Propaganda System: How Canada’s government, corporations, media and academia sell war and exploitation. Yves has published eight other books: Canada in Africa — 300 Years of Aid
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Celebrating the Little Stars Playhouse
North End Stay and Play, a program for infants and young children and their families in Winnipeg’s North End, is getting closer to the day it can move into new digs on Selkirk Avenue. For the past seven years, it has been running on a modest budget and has only been able to operate one […]
Paul S. Graham: Bringing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to life in Canada
On April 21, 2016, NDP MP Romeo Saganash (Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik-Eeyou) introduced legislation (Bill C-262) that will ensure that Canadian law is consistent the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007, the declaration was initially opposed by the Harper government but eventually endorsed by Canada in 2010. […]
Paul S. Graham: What’s a Manitoba Lefty to do?
Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives won a majority government last week, leaving many left-of-centre citizens feeling somewhat shell-shocked and adrift on a sea of uncertainty after 17 years of predictable but increasingly unsatisfactory NDP government. Even though the outcome had been foreseen for many months by all but the most optimistic Dippers, many professed shock that the […]
Paul S. Graham: Manitoba Election 2016: Why I’m supporting Dave Nickarz in Wolseley
Next April, Manitobans will elect a new government. Based on recent polling, if that election were held today, the winners would likely be the Progressive Conservatives. A September 2015 poll of 1000 Manitobans by Probe Research indicates 45 per cent of decided voters province-wide would vote PC; the governing NDP was tied for second place […]
Paul S. Graham: Video: Manitoba government urged to recognize the genocide and help heal the trauma
Winnipeg, June, 5, 2015: At the Manitoba Legislative Building, Maeengan Linklater answers journalists’ questions about his proposed Manitoba Indian Residential Schools Genocide and Reconciliation Memorial Day Act. Photo: Paul S. Graham Now that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has completed its work, and the major federal political parties
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Introducing the Phoenix Sinclair Little Stars Playhouse
Who, aside from the occasional professional grump, has not taken delight from the sound of children’s laughter and marveled at their ingenuity as they play at being pirates and princesses, artists and acrobats, witches and warriors? Child’s play is fun to watch and fun to join in (even with the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Maude Barlow: Harper won’t be PM after the next election
Photo by Caelie Frampton Winnipeg, May 12, 2015: Council of Canadians Chairperson Maude Barlow predicts that Stephen Harper will cease to be Prime Minister of Canada following the federal election that is expected this October. Barlow was speaking at “Winnipeg: A Public Forum on our Democracy” that was held at
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Stop Bill C-51 #StopHarper
Introduced into Parliament on Jan. 30, 2015, Bill C-51 is an omnibus bill that will undermine constitutionally protected rights and freedoms of Canadians in the guise of combating terrorism. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s bombastic, saber-rattling YouTube video, published 2 days before the bill was tabled, set the tone. Essentially, Canada
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video: Coalition challenges NEB to consider the climate impacts of the proposed Energy East Pipeline
Map of Proposed Energy East Pipeline route. Source: National Energy Board Energy East Pipelines, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of TransCanada Oil Pipelines (Canada), has applied to build the Energy East Pipeline, a project that will use aging natural gas pipelines along most of its route to move explosive, toxic
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Harper’s war on the environment: 3 new videos
It has been said of Stephen Harper that he never saw a war he didn’t like. So it should be no surprise that he has been unabashedly at war with the environment since gaining power in 2006. Whether it has involved shutting down world class environmental research, muzzling scientists, gutting
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Canada continues to occupy stage right
Canada’s position on the world stage continues to embarrass and disturb. On Nov. 4, Canada, along with Ukraine and United States, voted against a draft resolution entitled “Combating glorification of Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.” It’s a
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video – Dancing Tragedies and Dreams
From the video “Dancing Tragedies and Dreams.” Photo: Paul S. Graham Art, culture, dance and politics blended seamlessly in Winnipeg on September 21, 2014, with the performance of Dancing Tragedy and Dreams, a production of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba, at Prairie Theatre Exchange. Dancing Tragedies and Dreams featured
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Lest we forget
Sixteen million people died as a result of Word War One. Of these, as many as 64,990 were Canadian. One of them, a Manitoban named Sidney Halliday, was recently identified as being among the remains of five dead Canadians located in Hallu, France in 2006-07. One suspects the efforts of
Continue reading