Today marks 20 years since the Progressive Conservative Party foisted its so-called “Common Sense Revolution” on Ontario. Former PC Ontario leader Tim Hudak took to Twitter this morning to extol the virtues of this full-throated neoliberal experiment, declaring it “the most effective, courageous gov[ernment]” in his lifetime. Some remember those days
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Joe Fantauzzi: Reflections on McChesney: Problematics of Media Self-Regulation
FULL DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. News media goes where many cannot or will not. It infiltrates the halls of power, the courtrooms, protest sites, war zones and scenes of tragedy. It is, unquestionably, the source of much of the information used to
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Reflections on McChesney: Problematics of Media Self-Regulation
FULL DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. News media goes where many cannot or will not. It infiltrates the halls of power, the courtrooms, protest sites, war zones and scenes of tragedy. It is, unquestionably, the source of much of the information used to
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne Blasts Harper New Anti-prostitution Law
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says Harper’s new anti-prostitution law, Bill C-36, will protect neither exploited sex workers nor communities. The post Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne Blasts Harper New Anti-prostitution Law appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Post-Democratic Trend Lines in Etobicoke
Since news broke of the decision by Toronto mayor candidate Rob Ford to step away from the mayor’s race and be replaced by his brother Doug the term “feudal” has been thrown around a lot. The argument quite often associated with the use of this term generally appears to be that the
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Rob Ford’s Political Body
Toronto’s Rob Ford lives a political life. Both his bare existence and his public personae have taken on a politicization since he entered municipal governance. Plainly said, his weight and other biological issues have become just as political as his public life as “mayor” of the City of Toronto. The Ancient
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: The Militarization of Police: But Why?
Since the beginning of the year, several stories in high-profile mainstream media publications have examined what some find to be the increasing militarization of police forces in North America. In March, The Economist wrote a feature on the phenomenon noting that the use of tactical units, which are often armed with
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Needed: A Real Deal For Cities
Over at NinetyTwoPointEight, I have written a post about the need for substantive discussion during the ongoing Toronto municipal election about freeing up the city from the paternalism of its relationship with and dependance on the province of Ontario. Here is the link: Election 2014: A Lost Opportunity To Push For
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Why I Stopped Calling Myself A Progressive
Progress can mean a lot of things. The achievement by marginalized people of social citizenship. Collective movement toward big goals that make life better on a societal scale. State intervention with the aim of lessening the burden caused by the market. Smoke from an oil field and tailing ponds as the economy chugs
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Ontario’s Early Economic Development: A Political Economic Analysis
When writing about her adopted home of Ontario in Roughing it in the Bush, settler Susanna Moodie recalls penning a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Sir George Arthur requesting that he continue her husband’s service in the militia in the aftermath of the Upper Canada Rebellion, so that the family could pay
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Good Reading: Kwe Today On Sex Workers As Persons
In the context of ongoing debate over Bill C36, the so-called Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, @Kwetoday has crafted a powerful personal post urging an understanding that sex workers exist in many more dimensions than merely their occupation: they are family and friends ─ and that’s very important. Here is the
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Good Reading: Kwe Today On Sex Workers As Persons
In the context of ongoing debate over Bill C36, the so-called Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, @Kwetoday has crafted a powerful personal post urging an understanding that sex workers exist in many more dimensions than merely their occupation: they are family and friends ─ and that’s very important. Here is the
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: IV. Zone of Indeterminacy: Interdiction concerning the enclosure of the Social Commons
Here, I have taken up the enclosure of the Social Commons. And here, I have attempted to locate those shunted aside by the austerity agenda. In this post, I attempt to describe the zone of indeterminacy into which those cast aside by austerity have been and are to be consigned. The point,
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: IV. Zone of Indeterminacy: Interdiction concerning the enclosure of the Social Commons
Here, I have taken up the enclosure of the Social Commons. And here, I have attempted to locate those shunted aside by the austerity agenda. In this post, I attempt to describe the zone of indeterminacy into which those cast aside by austerity have been and are to be consigned. The point,
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Open Letter To Council Requesting Affirmation Of Toronto As A Sanctuary City
Dear Deputy Mayor, Councillors and city staff. My name is Joe Fantauzzi. I’m a resident of Toronto and first generation Canadian. My family immigrated to this country from Italy in 1957, fleeing a region of that nation torn by the Second World War. My family was lucky. Low-skilled urban labour was
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: Open Letter To Council Requesting Affirmation Of Toronto As A Sanctuary City
Dear Deputy Mayor, Councillors and city staff. My name is Joe Fantauzzi. I’m a resident of Toronto and first generation Canadian. My family immigrated to this country from Italy in 1957, fleeing a region of that nation torn by the Second World War. My family was lucky. Low-skilled urban labour was
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: III. Austerity and The Blocking of Social Citizenship In Ontario
When the Social Commons are enclosed, the state has decreed there are those inside and those outside the political order. I took up the issue of the Social Commons and its enclosure in Part II. This post will attempt to locate those excluded from social citizenship when the Commons is enclosed. I put
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: III. Austerity and The Blocking of Social Citizenship In Ontario
When the Social Commons are enclosed, the state has decreed there are those inside and those outside the political order. I took up the issue of the Social Commons and its enclosure in Part II. This post will attempt to locate those excluded from social citizenship when the Commons is enclosed. I put
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: The Ontario Election, Austerity and The Social Commons
In his Second Treatise of Government, John Locke argued that land, when Common, was fallow and unproductive. Mixing one’s labour with the land, such as growing grain or picking an apple, however, privatized the land and allowed access to the fruits of the labour.[1] Eventually these private, “productive” lands were enclosed, most
Continue readingJoe Fantauzzi: The Ontario Election, Austerity and The Social Commons
In his Second Treatise of Government, John Locke argued that land, when Common, was fallow and unproductive. Mixing one’s labour with the land, such as growing grain or picking an apple, however, privatized the land and allowed access to the fruits of the labour.[1] Eventually these private, “productive” lands were enclosed, most
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