Managing Occupy protest cost city $1-million, city says – The Globe and Mail: ‘via Blog this’ It’s masquerading as “objective” “news,” but in fact it’s anything but. Note how Canada’s National Fishwrap steers the discourse: the whole story is about how much money the city of Vancouver had to spend
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Canadian Progressive World: Jack Layton, Canadian Newsmaker of the Year
It’s a fitting tribute to a fine Canadian and global citizen. In 2011, no other Canadian dominated the news headlines like the late NDP leader, Jack Layton. Editors and news directors participating a Canadian Press …Read More
Continue readingwmtc: "are there terrorists? i just see kids!": police vs ows continues
This is happening in my hometown. The cops chased us into City Hall Park. They followed us on their motorcycles as we ran into City Hall Park. Please keep in mind, we are a group of twenty people that were walking up the street. The only thing that separates us
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Quote of the year: “We are the 99 per cent”
Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School has declared “We are the 99 per cent”, the political slogan of the Global Occupy movement, the heavy weight champ of the quotes for 2011. It’s another unavoidable …Read More
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2011-12-12 21:57:00
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: 2011: A YEAR OF REVOLUTION: 2011 was a remarkable year. As revolutions sparked throughout the Arab world the “lower” classes of many other countries also rose up as evidenced in Europe, North America and South America and now even in Russia. In sum there hasn’t been so much
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Contemplating the future, Occupy Ottawa hints at political role
Occupy Ottawa activist, Andy Wilson, sees a future political role for the movement. During Occupy Ottawa’s November 28 General Assembly, Wilson proposed the creation of a Political Action Committee for the movement. During its December …Read More
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2011-12-06 23:58:00
PERSONAL: WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT PART FIVE: One thing I am certain of about the Occupy Movement (much more certain than how it will all end up) is that it has finally leapfrogged over the leftist concerns of the last few decades and their petty territorial politics.
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Economics 101: The Reality of Canadian Capitalism
In More Academic Terms
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Measuring the success of social movements: Occupy, Arab Awakening, the Tea Party, and Keystone XL
How do we measure the success or effectiveness of a social movement? Ultimately we probably wish to change our society in some way, or perhaps to resist the changes that are occurring. Sometimes these changes can be very targeted such as implementing a specific government or corporate policy. And sometimes
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Chris Hedges and Christianity
Echoing the thesis from his book, Death of the Liberal Class, a work that excoriated traditional liberal institutions for their failure to hold true to their values, instead essentially selling out to the corporate agenda, Chris Hedges, in his latest column, reminds us of the core message of Christianity, and
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Focus and determination required:A call to all progressive organizations to unite under one big umbrella
The mainstream media’s largely negative portrayal of the Occupy Movement in Canada illustrates once again the need for the creation of a large progressive cooperative movement in the country – a cooperative venture that would include hundreds of groups. “The Canadian media really dropped the ball on this one,” says
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2011-11-30 22:34:00
PERSONAL: WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT PART 4: As the various Occupy camps fall one after another (a proof of the need for organization ?) to the various authorities it is perhaps about time to reflect on why these protests have gathered the sort of support that “the
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Emphasizing neutrality with respect to the progressive/regressive spectrum
Deficit neutral bills are a stalwart tool of the savvy politician. They allow for the sidestepping of the often raucous and partisan debates about the size of government and the size of deficits. With deficit neutral bills, there is a sense to which the policy can be considered on its
Continue readingwmtc: naomi wolf: violent crackdowns on occupy are orchestrated at federal level
Naomi Wolf in The Guardian: US citizens of all political persuasions are still reeling from images of unparallelled police brutality in a coordinated crackdown against peaceful OWS protesters in cities across the nation this past week. An elderly woman was pepper-sprayed in the face; the scene of unresisting, supine students
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Power of Non-Violence
Never an advocate of violence, I have been recently thinking of the power of its opposite, non-violence or passive resistance, especially in light of the contemptible yet very casual pepper-spraying of University of California – Davis students by campus police. For me, the various pictures and stories circulating on the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Occupy Movement: More Wisdom From Star Readers
I wrote the other day that I normally refrain from excerpting large chunks of text from other sources, but here I go again, this time a reproduction of letters from perceptive Toronto Star readers on why we should be thankful for the Occupy Movement. I was especially struck by B
Continue readingA Different Point of View....: Occupy Movement a valuable partner:Your chance to show support for creation of a united Canadian progressive movement
Adbusters magazine is at it again!The radical Vancouver-based periodical that launched the Occupy Wall Street Movement wants people to boycott shopping on November 25 and 26 – the days when Americans and many Canadians traditionally rush to stores to stand in lengthy line-ups to grab Christmas season bargains.“Let’s take the
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Media Coverage of Occupy Wall Street and Wikileaks
There are two major ways that the Occupy movement can be covered in the media. One can either tell stories about the movement itself, or one can tell stories about the ideas and concepts raised by the movement. In the former category we have things like talking about police clashes,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Today’s Globe Editorial on Occupiers
Ever the arbiter of all things significant, it is hardly surprising that in its latest editorial, The Globe and Mail has the arrogance to assume to speak for all when it says that “the [Occupy] movement has tried everyone’s patience.” Nonetheless, it should put aside its very conservative prejudices to
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