Thursday, November 17 saw a Liberal opposition day turned into a discussion about the sad state of water supplies to Canada’s First Nations. But while all parties were able to support the motion, there was plenty of room for contrast as to who was most interested in dealing with the
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Round-up Ready Radicals*
I was rather charged up by the Joe (McCarthy) Oliver letter last week. Though I don’t define myself as radical, I know some do simply because I think about and act on issues. To me that’s engaged citizenship; to them it’s radicalism. Says a lot about our society, doesn’t it?
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – Trish Hennessy points out that Rob Ford’s contemptuous attack on the idea of secure employment may offer an ideal contrast between the right-wing view of the economy and the stability citizens actually want for themselves: Remember when holding down a job for life
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Enbridge Gateway JRP Hearings Broadcast (Kitimat/Kitamaat) – January 10, 2011
Hi! My name is Tia! I’m a radical, eco-terrorist, and enemy of the state now! Whee! (This is almost as random as the people Harper appointed to the senate the other day, and makes just as much sense.) Due to my fervent opposition to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, I can now add these spiffy
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Galling Hypocrisy of EthicalOil.org
Mordor It’s really very simple. A front group for tarsands polluters is accusing opponents of being puppets of foreign interests. EthicalOil.org thinks only Canadians should be permitted to take part in the tarsands climate debate, which would exclude anyone or any group involving foreign resources or money. An organization called
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Day Three of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here. Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: My notes are here. Sunday: Opening Panel Radical Squares: Reflections on
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Day Two of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here: Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: Opening Panel A Global Tradition: History of the Commons Silvia Federici
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Opening Panel from the Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
This weekend I attended Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons community gathering in Vancouver and Burnaby, sponsored by these groups and people. The basic premise is not so much that capitalism is broken, and we just need to fix it, but that neoliberal market fundamentalism is inherently broken
Continue readinggay persons of color: Book Review: Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature
Cover, Miss Chief: Shadow Catcher © 2008by Kent Monkman and Christopher Chapman “Sovereign Erotics is for those who—like so many of us—had no role models, no one to tell us that we were valuable human beings just as we are. This project is by and for the People. Our hope is that
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Vancouver Sun practices conscious deceit
Elmer Derrick and Enbridge VP Janet Holder IS IT TRUE ELMER DERRICK IS “THE” GITXSAN HEREDITARY CHIEF? Commentary by Merv Ritchie, Terrace Daily, Dec. 11, 2011 This is the claim recently made in a commentary Elmer Derrick submitted and had published in the Vancouver Sun, “Elmer Derrick is the hereditary
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How You Can Support the Gitxsan Blockade
Photo courtesy of Gitxsan Against Enbridge website. Despite very public chest thumping, trumpeting and proclamations by Enbridge, mainstream media and Hereditary Chief Elmer Derrick, the song remains the same: the Northern Gateway Project is unwelcome in Northern B.C. As the angry, indignant and brave members of the Gitxsan Nation
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – The Edmonton Journal makes it clear that the Cons’ efforts to stymie any global climate change agreement aren’t without some serious controversy even in the party’s Alberta core: The year 2011 had better not go down in history as one in which Canada
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: More Enbridge mischief exposed
From: guujaaw [mailto:guujaaw@haidanation.net] Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 2:46 PM Subject: Enbridge December 20, 2011 Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel 444 7th Avenue S.W. Calgary, Alberta T2P 0X8 Attention: Secretary to the Joint Review Panel Re: statement contained in Volume 5A: Aboriginal Engagement, Appendix D: National and Regional
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – If there’s a more accurate description of the Cons’ entire political strategy than “taking advantage of the prejudice that’s already there”, I haven’t heard it yet. And Chris Lawson is rightly frustrated that Canadian politics are being dominated by such cynical and destructive
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Evening Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Lawrence Martin notes that the Cons’ push for yet more layers of bureaucracy is based purely on a desire to cater to prejudice rather than any intention to improve the lot of Canada’s First Nations: Shortly after Stephen Harper’s Conservatives came to power
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: Attawapiskat: could economic sanctions against Canada work?
Recently the James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, issued a statement Tuesday saying he wrote to the Harper government Canada to express my deep concern about the dire social and economic condition of the Attawapiskat First Nation, which exemplifies the conditions of many aboriginal
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: Attawapiskat: could economic sanctions against Canada work?
Recently the James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, issued a statement Tuesday saying he wrote to the Harper government Canada to express my deep concern about the dire social and economic condition of the Attawapiskat First Nation, which exemplifies the conditions of many aboriginal
Continue readingCrazy Bitches R Us: Attawapiskat: could economic sanctions against Canada work?
Recently the James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, issued a statement Tuesday saying he wrote to the Harper government Canada to express my deep concern about the dire social and economic condition of the Attawapiskat First Nation, which exemplifies the conditions of many aboriginal communities in the country." More NDP MP Charlie Angus has urged that Anaya
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Occupy #Attawapiskat, Phase Two
Clearly, the people living in Attawapiskat are existing in a crisis that represents Canada’s dysfunctional relationship with the first peoples. How can we truly “fix” Attawapiskat? By fixing the underlying broken relationship. Occupying #Attawapiskat in Twitter two weeks ago was a great start to engaging in serious improvements. Phase two
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Mia Rabson comments on the dangers of eliminating any public debate over Canada’s future direction – as the Cons are trying to do: This is one of the most important committees in Parliament. It looks at all government operations and examines spending estimates
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