“I don’t want a black history month. Black history is American history,” says Morgan Freeman. This month, you will see no shortage of functions organized by historical societies, libraries and schools. You may even catch the corporate giants sponsoring short vignettes on black history, or perhaps a rerun of Amistad,
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Canadian Dimension Feed: Manifesto for a Doomed Youth
Two things have happened in recent months that have made me think seriously — and somewhat pessimistically I might add— about the future prospects of the next generation (for want of a better word). They also led me to question the recent Global May Manifesto launched as part of the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: My trip to jail for reading 1984 on the metro (First-Hand Account)
Last Sunday, June 10, 2012, I attempted to take part in a protest-action: over the course of a few hours, I would take the metro back and forth from Berri to Jean-Drapeau station to peacefully protest my disagreement with the Formula 1 Grand Prix, which in my opinion promotes sexism.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: What are we to make of 100 days of mayhem in Montreal?
Coddled kids with a mistaken sense of entitlement? Yes there’s some of that. But if it were just that, the strike would have fizzled out long before now. The idea of a free education which has deep philosophical and political roots in France and Québec? OK … but does it
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Appeal from Quebec: Solidarity and legal support needed
Sisters, brothers, We write you during a dark time for democratic, human and associative rights in Quebec with the following appeal for your help and solidarity. As you have no doubt heard, the government recently enacted legislation that amounts to the single biggest attack on the right to organize and
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Charest declares war on Quebec’s students
“It’s a declaration of war on the student movement,” said Martine Desjardins, leader of the FEUQ. “They’ve just told the young people that everything they have done, everything they have created as a social movement for 14 weeks will now be criminal.” “It’s a bill designed to kill the student
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Quebec government bludgeons student strikers with emergency law
Quebec premier Jean Charest announced May 16 that he will introduce emergency legislation to end the militant student strike, now in its 14th week, that has shut down college and university campuses across the province. The students are protesting the Liberal government’s 75% increase in university tuition fees, now slated
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Government ends negotiations with Quebec’s striking students
On Wednesday, April 25, Education minister Line Beauchamp abruptly ended the negotiations with the student leaders to which she had reluctantly agreed two days earlier — before they had even got to the key issue of the $1625 fee hike. She refused, once again, to negotiate with the CLASSE, the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Massive student upsurge fuels major debates in Quebec society
A crowd estimated at 250,000 people or more wound its way through Montréal April 22 in Quebec’s largest ever Earth Day march. They raised many demands: an end to tar sands and shale gas development, opposition to the Quebec government’s Plan Nord mining expansion, support for radical measures to protect
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: The Student Movement: Radical Priorities
The student movement in Quebec is an incredibly important development, with implications that reach well beyond provincial borders. The movement emerged in response to a 75 per cent increase in tuition fees to be implemented over the next five years, but it has quickly evolved into something far more significant.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Why anti-pipeline organizing isn’t just another protest
By now, the details of the proposed Enbridge pipeline (and its disastrous social and ecological implications) are well-documented, so I’ll spare you. Most people reading this are probably convinced that the pipeline is a horrible idea that should be stopped. This article is more about the how than the why
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