https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/podcast-141001-kshama-sawant.mp3 Last year, Kshama Sawant shocked the continent by winning a seat on Seattle’s City Council. She defeated an incumbent Democrat to become the first openly socialist city councillor in Seattle in a century. Sawant, an immigrant from India with a background as a software engineer and an economics professor,
Continue readingTag: class
Political Eh-conomy: The lament for Canada’s middle class
I’ve been posting more sparsely lately for a number of external reasons but this should change soon I hope. For now, here is the first major piece I wrote for Ricochet. In some ways, it’s the obligatory piece on Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century, but really it’s my way of
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Protecting the Public Trust? – Intersectional Analysis of Police Behaviour
Two very interesting articles about police conduct came out this week, particularly interesting if you juxtapose them. Ferguson and the cult of compliance In cases that seem very different, separated by factors such as age, race, gender, sexuality, geography, class and ability, police explain away their actions by citing noncompliance.
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: EU Advisors Advocate use of Military Against Strikes and Protests | Global Research
EU Advisors Advocate use of Military Against Strikes and Protests | Global Research. Experts at a European Union (EU) think-tank are demanding that the EU prepare to put down strikes and protests with military force. Due to the deepening social inequality in a globalised economy and growing military conflicts
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Rich people rule!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/04/08/rich-people-rule/ Filed under: Class, Democracy, Political Science, The State
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Things I realize after getting many hater-comments & trolls: On #Intersectionality, #oppression & other stuff
Things I realize after getting many hater-comments and trolls: 1) The world is not ready for Critical Race Theory or talking about the process of “Whiteness” and “racialization”. I thought […]
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Working class disarmed, Canadian redux
Looking at the prevalence of strikes in the US over the past six decades, Doug Henwood writes, Second Amendment fetishism aside, there’s an old saying that the working class’s ultimate weapon is withholding labor through slowdowns and strikes. By that measure, the U.S. working class has been effectively disarmed since
Continue readingMelissa Fong: DTES Local Area Plan- Speaker #5, on Amendments
We need to respect the experiential knowledge of DTES residents that understand how the plan violates their security. Not fundamentally opposed to Vision- but you have to realize reality. If you insist on the ideology of “social mix” you also have to set up the circumstances for dignity of all
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan- Summary
Like last time, I did some LiveTweeting of the evening- My strategy is to summarize the main point of all the voices; add in my OWN commentary (I can be […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: #25KLunch WINNERS Announced! Who said there’s no free lunch?
Other than the fact that I should win the best prize for dragging out a meme that would have otherwise had the life-span of a fruit fly… I’ve got some […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Top 25 of #25KLunch Meme Finalists Announced!
Okay, folks! The moment has come to see your Top 25 Finalists for the #25KLunch meme competition! I can’t even tell you how many messages I’ve received telling me […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Financial reform: Taking responsibility as public servants and otherwise…
Facts: I don’t hate Vision Vancouver. I’m indifferent to the overall career of Gregor Robertson. I actually like Andrea Reimer, from what I know of her. (Confession: I really like […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Admitting to not knowing until it was too late: The DTES Local Area Plan implications
…I admit that I didn’t know how REAL it was until the 3 days came to an end and even after it passed…. After that the reality sunk in, I got more and more angry as I realized the implications of the plan. The fact is that poor people LIVE
Continue readingMelissa Fong: #25kLunch Meme Competition Update #1
The #25KLunch meme has received more press than I would have ever imagined! Amazing what a group of really dedicated “mockticians” can do to bring the issues out there. #25KLunch […]
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape – NYTimes.com
Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape – NYTimes.com. CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — At 7 in the morning, they are already lined up — poultry plant workers, housekeepers, discount store clerks — to ask for help paying their heating bills or feeding their families. And once Metropolitan Ministries opens at
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Britain’s five richest families worth more than poorest 20% | Business | The Guardian
Britain’s five richest families worth more than poorest 20% | Business | The Guardian. The scale of Britain’s growing inequality is revealed by a report from a leading charity showing that the country’s five richest families now own more wealth than the poorest 20% of the population. Oxfam urged the
Continue readingMelissa Fong: #25kLunch Meme Competition to shame Mayor Gregor Robertson’s partnership with Developers & Condo King Bob Rennie
So I’ve started a #25kLunch tag – the good people on twitter who have engaged throughout this whole process have kept spirits high and helped suggest a meme competition. 1) Create your own meme http://memegenerator.net/ 2) Upload your meme to twitter images (make sure you save image & upload to
Continue readingMelissa Fong: DTES LAP Amendments that Cllr Carr shuts down: Watch the speech & Read the full document by Reimer
I already posted snippets of the full documents (4 separate PDFs here). This post is specifically the first pdf Amendment doc from Reimer and the speaking points Cllr Carr was […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Sneak Peak!: AMENDMENTS to DTES LAP- DRAFT sent to my by Andrea Reimer
Councillor Andrea Reimer was kind enough to send me the DRAFT of Downtown Eastside Local Area Plan Amendments. *OFFICIAL copy posted on website by staff tomorrow. This is a sneak […]
Continue readingMelissa Fong: DTES LAP Part 3- Residents’ Losses & small victories
…Councillor Adriane Carr was the only one who wanted to refer the plan back to staff to ensure an acceptable definition of Social Housing (due date for end of May). The rest of City Council seemed fairly confident that that could be defined as we went along and the plan
Continue reading