This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Kevin Young, Tarun Banerjee and Michael Schwartz discuss how capital uses the exact tools it’s working to take away from labour – including the threat of strikes – to impose an anti-social agenda on the public: Capitalists routinely exert leverage over governments
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Politics, Re-Spun: Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day!
I so hope you had a wonderful Indigenous Peoples’ Day yesterday! In “America” there is a movement to replace the systemically racist Columbus Day. It’s spreading briskly; soon it may reach the 100th Monkey and spread across Turtle Island. In Canada, we had Thanksgiving Day, for all the cornucopia reasons
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Columbus Day is Institutionalized Racism
In Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day today, a slight improvement on Columbus day, which institutionalizes systemic racism. Columbus Day celebrates white supremacy. It’s time to stop that now. If you need some elaboration, read this. Seattle did it 2 years ago. Now Vermont has figured out a first step in
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Trudeau Spins the Royals
If you’re wondering about what kind of spin cycle Trudeau [#TheNewHarper] put the Royals through to smooth over First Nations discontent with the 21st century version of settler imperialism? Read this: Justin Trudeau’s relationship with indigenous people and the politics of William and Kate’s Canadian Royal tour A cynic might question
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: “Indian Givers”: New Neil Young Song Honors Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance
Canadian rock legend Neil Young just unleashed “Indian Givers”, a new protest song honoring the ongoing Standing Rock Sioux Tribe-led protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The post “Indian Givers”: New Neil Young Song Honors Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: No, BC Actually Mentored Saskatchewan’s Poor-Bashing
Despite being Metro News, Emily Jackson’s great piece yesterday [below] about how brutally cruel the Saskatchewan government is should make us mindful of a number of issues. Not the least of which is that the neoliberal Saskatchewan Party has been photocopying many of the worst of BC’s regressive and anti-social policies. That makes the BC … Continue reading No, BC Actually Mentored Saskatchewan’s Poor-Bashing →
Politics, Re-Spun: 11 Weeks of Daily Harper Protests
The Harper Re-election Disaster Bus Totalitarianism: daily, for 11 weeks! Get used to this. People hate Harper and his Conservatives. We will see through his weak attempt to wedge oppositions parties by running a long election campaign because he has more money to spend. Saturation will come fast. We will
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – PressProgress weighs in on corporate Canada’s twelve-figure tax avoidance, while noting that the Cons’ decision to slash enforcement against tax cheats (while attacking charities instead) goes a long way toward explaining the amount of money flowing offshore. And Oxfam is working on its
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Looking for Heroes?
I’ve been watching The Book of Negroes this week. I have no words. I only recognize justice, integrity, brutality, acknowledgement, witnessing, story telling and a myriad of other foggy responses. It’s easy to also ponder qualities of heroes. Then I read this from earlier this week, and nodded. Do you
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Shhh, The Bold Revolution Has Started
We live in tumultuous times: Ferguson and other non-indictments of white police who murdered people of colour ISIL and other extremism Stephen Harper’s continued assault on democracy and embrace of soft fascism [has he had CRA audit YOUR favourite progressive group yet?] Accusations against Jian Ghomeshi Accusations against Bill Cosby
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: More of Harper’s First Nations Racism
The federal government tells CBC News that 84 First Nations have until Wednesday to post their audited financial statements for the last fiscal year, including the salaries and expenses of their chiefs and councillors. Pam Palmater is one of the most important voices in Canada in this young century so
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Are Your White Male Entitlements Maiming Your Vote this Month?
I’m not going to argue that using an Intersectionality lens in the municipal election in 2 weeks will make your voting choices perfectly easy. But I will say that your white male entitlements have likely contributed to worse choices in the past. Including not voting. When you read this entire
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What I Am Thankful For
This weekend, I am thankful for folks in Seattle who know how to transform the imperialist Columbus Day into Indigenous Peoples’ Day. May we all learn this for next year! “We are all citizens in a democracy, we are all here to work with each other, and by making this
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Industrious immigrant vs idle Indigenous meets reality
Here’s a familiar trope: immigrants are industrious and hard-working. Here’s another, opposite trope: First Nations are idle and lazy. And here’s a graph that beautifully calls into question this neat pair of stereotypes. Source: Angella McEwen, Progressive Economics Forum. It turns out that off-reserve First Nations workers and recent immigrants
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Class Warfare CAUSED Income Inequality, Not the Opposite
Horatio Alger mythology is designed to make us leave the 1% alone and shut the fuck up. If you haven’t yet seen John Oliver’s amazing rant about the perils of inequality and how the rich shame us out of talking about it by suggesting we’re trying to invoke class warfare,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Occupy Movement Has Changed the Narrative, But We’re Not Done
Recently, with the WEF spending the last few years acknowledging global income inequality is a problem, I’ve declared a kind of victory for the Occupy Movement: getting the lexicon on the 1% and inequality on the tongues of the sly gazillionaires who rule the world, and into mass consumption. Now
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How the Tsilhqot’in Land Title Ruling Can Help Kill Enbridge
Watch Pam Palmater’s response to the SCC ruling. Click above. Stephen Harper had about a week to enjoy the glory of his remarkably understated whispery notification that the Enbridge climate killing pipeline will proceed. Yesterday the Supreme Court shut down the prime minister, which they have a tendency to do
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Neera Tanden points out that a wide range of citizens rely on a strong safety net at one time or another – and suggests that it’s long past time to start discussing how important social programs have been in our own lives: I
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Does Soft Fascism Look Like These Days?
We don’t see brown shirts and jackboots, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t seeing the de-democratization of our society. In Vancouver this month, armed police with guns drawn, raided a house because they suspected people inside not of being terrorists, but of spray painting “No Pipelines” all over the place.
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Control Freak PM Steve Harper Is Monitoring Anti Fracking Protesters
Richard Hughes With our paranoid PM Steve Harper it is all about control and with this reality in mind we head into what promises to be a hot summer of discontent. He has empowered his ‘Government Operations Centre’ to monitor all anti fracking protests. Monitoring is really just a
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