Pam Palmater, getting it done! “Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead For three decades of activism I have been inspired by a great number of wise, engaged women. Carleen Pickard, for instance.
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PostArctica: Salt of The Earth
Lets drink to the hard working people Lets think of the lowly of birth Spare a thought for the rag taggy people Lets drink to the salt of the earth Lets drink to the hard working people Lets drink to the salt of the earth Lets drink to the two
Continue readingPostArctica: Bookish Butch
Proud to say my favorite former used bookstore owner has won best blog in the GLBT category! Way to go, Caroline!! Canadian Blog Awards 2014 results Bookish Butch
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Remembering Eric Buckley
My uncle died Friday. His more formal obituaries are here and here. But here are some of my less formal memories, some of which, happily, showed up in the official ones. 🙂 My family spent many vacations with his family at their home in the 1970s. Many of my memories
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: You Have NOT Grown Numb to Crisis
“The goal was to touch upon the fear of becoming numb to crises that don’t affect you directly.” With a myriad of crises in the world, we fear becoming numb to their severity and how they can make us so depressed. I think on a large scale, political, environmental and
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Are You a Consumer, Taxpayer or Citizen?
“Taxes are the way we pay for the things we decide to do together, and we are stronger together.” – Alex Himelfarb Citizen. Period. While we consume and pay taxes, those are activities of our existence. The economy is supposed to serve our social goals as human beings. We are
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: SUPPORT: Auto Unions in the US and Canada are on a Roll
With all the union busting and union bashing going on by the 1% and their compradors in government, it’s nice to see the labour movement getting some traction. The next few days in Tennessee and Ontario could move workplace democracy and the 99% ahead significantly, with thousands of new unionized
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Because You’re Not As Dumb As They Think You Are!
Today is Friday. Let’s make it “think for ourselves Friday.” It’ll work: the government/corporations/1% won’t see it coming! Twitter / occupythemob: http://t.co/doHx1xWO4l. December 17, 2013 Fried Squirrels (0) December 20, 2013 Enbridge: What Now? We Escalate Our Fight (4) January 7, 2012 Day Two of Tragedy of the Market: From
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Capitalism: Swing Your Sledgehammer
It’s all about vision and hope, in an effort to envision how economics and markets can exist after the toxicity of capitalism is gone, gone gone. Are you up for it? Last night, John Holloway, author of Crack Capitalism, was the SFU Institute for the Humanities‘ guest lecturer, skyped in
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Yugoslavia as Science Fiction
Over the past two years, a collection of photographs of WWII memorials from (the former) Yugoslavia has made the rounds on social media. Popular sci-fi and fantasy blog io9 reported on it and this post from Crack Two appears to have been “liked” over 173,000 times on Facebook alone. And here is the same
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How the Occupy Movement is Enriching People’s Lives
Imagine an eco-community of micro-homes designed as a first step out of homelessness. Housing, easy to get into, if people care. Occupy Madison in Wisconsin has come up with an innovative first step of a solution [see below]. These 96 square foot homes are no long term solution, at all.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Greed + Government Cuts Erode Society [Bah, Humbug!]
The greedy and selfish among us are NOT on our side. Happy Christmas Eve! I hope you’re all giving lots of money to charities because ’tis the season and all that. But what happens if generally, as a society, we can’t or won’t give so much? Coupled with public sector
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Fried Squirrels
It’s a crisp, foggy November Saturday morning in the south side of the city. Seventeen people sit in the large open area at the back end of an organic fair trade coffee shop run by a workers’ co-op inspired by the Mondragon movement in Spain. Meet-ups like this are quite
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Absence of Resilience
The city of pain Absorbs your fracturing soul Social fabric frays March 15, 2009 No One Is Illegal – Ignite resistance ~ Canadian multiculturalism is not enough! (0) December 11, 2013 How Harper is Gutting Canada: THE LIST (0) April 23, 2013 Did Earth Day Not Quite Do It
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Practice CrimeStop: You Are the New Terrorist
Balloons are a threat to civil order. The police must protect themselves from you with riot gear. You are a bad person. You. You enemy of the state. You radical environmentalist. Or worker rights advocate. Or whatever cause you are promoting. You. You are a threat to order. When you
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Are We Good Allies to First Nations?
This is what solidarity looks like; make sure it’s authentic! Lots of us care about deepening relationships with and social/economic/political justice for first peoples. It’s hard to come in, though, sometimes as a person from an oppressor or settler class. But there is a good checklist to make sure we’re
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Celebrating History
I’ve got a funny story. A while ago – like months – a colleague asked if I’d do some website or advertising work of some sort for a sesquicentennial event in 2017 crossing Canada and involving high-school history teachers. I’d have to find a way to get high-schools everywhere involved.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Stop Saying Tax “Haven” and Tax “Burden”
The finance minister and his tax evasion buddy. The latest nonsense of the hyper-rich 1% and their political compradors has reminded us once again, that the rich hide their money from government to avoid paying taxes…because they’re rich and can get their way. Part of how they do that is
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Does Racism Motivate Harper’s Aboriginal Education Funding Stance?
The Prime Minister’s slow clap. It could be racism. It could be concern that over time too many first nations citizens may get too educated and start demanding more in terms of inter-national justice. Or… It could be just that he thinks keeping government spending down is good for his
Continue readingYappa Ding Ding: King & University: Density node? Neighborhood? Mess?
The density at King & University has been a long time coming. When I was a teenager in the 70s, there were already large apartment buildings on Regina Street North. University Avenue in the King-Regina area has been steadily growing with apartments and strip malls. WLU is building more and
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