Gerry Caplan is a former CUSO field officer, author of The Betrayal of Africa, a weekly, online columnist for The Globe and Mail, a featured television political commentator and a veteran CCF-NDP war horse. He was also my boss at CUSO for a brief period in the late 70s, something
Continue readingAuthor: Paul S. Graham
Paul S. Graham: Video: Violence is not child’s play
Making war has been a human pursuit for thousands of years. Playing at war, it would seem, is at least as old. This ancient Greek toy, a model of a war chariot, fashioned from clay, has survived the millennia to bear witness to our enduring attachment to violence and domination.
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Stop the CBC Smackdown – Stop Harper!
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting continues to raise the alarm over threats to our nation’s public broadcaster and well they should. While Heritage Minister James Moore promised in May to maintain and expand support for the CBC, Tory antipathy to the CBC is well known. Recent initiatives, such as the petition
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Coalition to Harper: Let farmers decide fate of Canadian Wheat Board
An open letter to Canada’s Prime Minister, Members of Parliament, and Senators, from a broad and diverse coalition of 46 organizations representing millions of Canadians – Support Canadian Food, Canadian Farmers, and the Canadian Wheat Board Bill C-18, if passed, will destroy the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB). Agriculture Minister Gerry
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: 10 Reasons to Oppose Bill C-10
Occupy Winnipeg took its opposition to Bill C-10, the so-called Safe Streets and Communities Act, to Winnipeg’s West End Library and then proceeded to occupy the constituency office of Manitoba’s Justice Minister, Andrew Swan for 24 hours. Before doing so, an Occupy Winnipeg spokesperson read the November 17, 2011 statement
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Lock up Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives like to present themselves as tough on crime, committed to accountable government and respectful of the rule of law. Given their record, we have to ask ourselves, when will we march them off to the nearest penitentiary to begin serving the mandatory minimum sentences they so richly
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: 7 reasons city slickers should support the Canadian Wheat Board
I received this letter from the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board. I think it speaks for itself. The Attack on the Canadian Wheat Board: Seven Reasons Non-Farmers Should Care … and Act On October 18th, Prime Minister Harper introduced legislation, Bill C-18, to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board. The majority of farmers oppose the […]
Paul S. Graham: Bill C-10: Time Does Not Stop Crime
Nov. 8, 2011: 300 Winnipeggers demonstrated at the Manitoba Legislature and the Winnipeg Remand Centre to urge the Manitoba Government to join Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador in opposing the Harper government’s omnibus crime bill, misleadingly titled the Safe Streets and Communities Act (aka Bill C-10). Their key message, “time does not stop crime” […]
Paul S. Graham: Kill the Tory Crime Bill
The John Howard Society of Manitoba estimates Canadians will pay $2 billion annually to cover the costs of Stephen Harper’s omnibus crime bill. Bill C-10, which calls for mandatory minimum sentences for a wide range of crimes regardless of individual circumstances, will trigger a huge increase in the number of inmates and a requirement to […]
Paul S. Graham: Video: Winnipeg Save the Canadian Wheat Board Rally
Against the wished of most western farmers, and in defiance of laws that they are sworn to uphold, Stephen Harper and his Conservatives are poised to destroy the Canadian Wheat Board. In truly Orwellian fashion, the Tories describe this as “democracy,” all the while invoking closure on Parliamentary debate and refusing to hold the farmers’ […]
Paul S. Graham: Video: Four Directions Walk to End Poverty
Despite its well established habit of electing social democratic governments, Winnipeg has claimed some dubious honors — “Murder Capital of Canada” and “Child Poverty Capital of Canada” to name two of the most disturbing. Even though we have had 11 years of NDP government to undo the damage of Gary Filmon’s Conservatives, both poverty and […]
Paul S. Graham: Arrest George Bush
On Thursday, George W. Bush and former U.S. president Bill Clinton (himself an accomplished war criminal) will be attending the Surrey Regional Economic Summit at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel. Here’s some information from the Canadian Peace Alliance on what you can do to support Bush’s arrest for war crimes. » Report George W. Bush […]
Paul S. Graham: Occupy Winnipeg Scrapbook II
Oct. 15, 2011: Scenes from Occupy Winnipeg – and a reminder that what is now called Canada was occupied long before by the aboriginal peoples of this part of the world. It is time the descendants of the Europeans who took the land from the people who were here first do a much better job […]
Paul S. Graham: Occupy Winnipeg Scrapbook
Winnipeggers took to the streets October 15, 2011 as part of the international outcry against corporate greed that began with Occupy Wall Street. The Flaming Trolleys provided just the right musical foundation, and, as usual, I took my video camera al…
Continue readingPaul S. Graham: Video: Israeli privilege is unsustainable – Amira Hass
“Inhuman, immoral and unsustainable” are the words used by Amira Hass to describe what she terms “the State of Israel and the privileges it endows to Jews only, at the expense of Palestinians.” Hass was at the University of Winnipeg Sept. 30, to provide a unique perspective on the Palestinian struggle, that of an Israeli […]
Paul S. Graham: Afghanistan: 32 years of Western-sponsored genocide
As the world marks ten years of war in Afghanistan, it is instructive to remember, as Michel Chossudovsky has observed, that the war started long before, in 1979, when the United States sponsored an insurgency against the Afghan government. Chossudovsky calls it “genocide”; I think he’s understating the situation. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter, known […]
Paul S. Graham: The Curious Case of Canada’s Missing Cholera Treatment Camp
Cholera kills. Since the UN brought the disease to Haiti last year, 6,000 have died. Because this disease thrives in countries that lack potable water and sewage treatment infrastructure, it is unlikely to be eradicated soon in that country. Cholera treatment facilities are likely to be an ongoing need in Haiti for some time to […]
Paul S. Graham: David McNally on Global Crisis and Global Resistance
David McNally teaches political science at York University in Toronto and is active in many social justice movements in that city. On Sept. 24, 2011, McNally spoke at the Mondragon Bookstore and Coffee Shop as a featured presenter at Winnipeg Radical Bookfair and DYI Fest. His topic: Global Crisis – Global Resistance. Length: 60 minutes […]
Paul S. Graham: Manitoba Election: Tory drops the nuclear ball; Green kicks it out of the province
When asked if her party would support a moratorium on transporting radioactive nuclear fuel waste through Manitoba, Progressive Conservative candidate Heather Stephanson equivocated, saying she would not answer a “hypothetical question.” By contrast, Green Party Leader James Beddome answered with a thunderous denunciation of allowing nuclear waste on Manitoba soil and declared the possibility of […]
Paul S. Graham: Video: 2011 Manitoba Election Environment Forum
Manitoba citizens will elect a new provincial government Oct. 4, 2011 and environmental issues will play an important role in determining which political party forms that government. Where should Manitoba Hydro construct its planned Bipole 3 transmission line – or should it be built at all? How should we save Lake Winnipeg from choking to […]