You might not like his ideas but they’re well worth airing. Guardian enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, writes that it’s time to ditch capitalism before it puts us in the grave. Capitalism’s failures arise from two of its defining elements. The first is perpetual growth. Economic growth is the aggregate effect of the
Continue readingTag: Socialism
Accidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Paul Krugman duly mocks Donald Trump’s attempt to turn any discussion of social investment into a threat of “socialism”: Some progressive U.S. politicians now describe themselves as socialists, and a significant number of voters, including a majority of voters under 30, say
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Iglika Ivanova discusses how British Columbia can move toward eliminating poverty in its next budget. – Patrick Maze points out the need for Saskatchewan’s education system to be able to rely on stable and sufficient funding. But Alex MacPherson notes that Scott
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The Lesson Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have for the Left: Welcome Their Hatred
Photo by Anthony Green We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace–business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by
Continue readingwmtc: what i’m reading: occupy nation by todd gitlin
Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit, and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street is a history and ethnography of Occupy Wall Street, and the Occupy movement. Author, sociologist, and longtime leftist activist Todd Gitlin has written an account of how a social movement was born, grew, and died. After reading
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Socialism For Realists
I recommend reading Sam Gindin’s paper “Socialism for Realists” to be found in the current issue of the relatively new socialist journal, Catalyst. Sam spent most of his working life as a union economist and assistant to the President of the CAW, and writes often with Leo Panitch, most notably
Continue readingwmtc: harry leslie smith — rest in power, and thank you
Harry Leslie Smith, who sometimes called himself “the world’s oldest rebel,” died in late November 2018. I was unable to acknowledge his passing on wmtc at the time. Smith, a writer and an activist, was a steadfast critic of neoliberal policies, especially the austerity agenda. He spoke out constantly and
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Want Better Sex? Consider Moving to a Socialist Country
Photo by Democratic Socialists of America Young Americans are having less sex than ever. It seems counterintuitive in an age when dates are supposedly available with the swipe of fingertip across a smartphone, but according to a 2017 study from the Archives of Sexual Behaviour, younger millennials—those born in the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The New Deal is Not Enough
Millions of Americans were thrilled by Bernie Sanders’ ringing call for a “political revolution” against the “billionaire class” during the 2016 presidential campaign. Sanders, the independent U.S. Senator from Vermont, also proudly described himself as a democratic socialist, ending the decades-long taboo that forbade any advocacy of socialism in American
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: In and Against the State
Banner at the 2018 World Transformed, a 4-day politics, arts and music festival running alongside the Labour Party Conference. Just a few years ago, it would have seemed most unlikely that developments in the British Labour Party would attract widespread international attention among those looking for the renewal of socialist
Continue readingwmtc: how the media (invisibly) props up capitalism and other hidden biases
I recently read these somewhat old, but still relevant, letters to the New York Times Book Review. Cost of the CrashTo the Editor: In his review of “Crashed,” by Adam Tooze (Aug. 12), Fareed Zakaria asserts that “the rescue worked better than almost anyone imagined.” He notes there was no
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Jason Kenney Calls it Socialist Propaganda, but Mouseland has Abiding Relevance in Canadian Politics
Last week, Alberta United Conservative Party (UCP) leader Jason Kenney took great exception to a children’s story session. Why, you ask? Because Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley chose to read kids the story of Mouseland, which was originally told by Tommy Douglas in the 1940s. The story of Mouseland—which can
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Sam Pizzigati makes the case for an effective maximum wage – and notes that the U.S.’ historical top tax brackets were based on the recognition that excessive top-end income can have harmful effects for everybody: In 1942, shortly after Pearl Harbor, FDR
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The "Perils" Of Socialism
If you have a few minutes, check out the following video. Enlightened, witty and amusing, its message will, of course, be lost on many citizens of the Benighted States of America, as well as those most peculiar denizens of that entity known as “Ford Nation.” Recommend this Post
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The Regina Manifesto (1933): Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Programme
Adopted by the founding convention in Regina, Saskatchewan, July, 1933. The CCF is a federation of organizations whose purpose is the establishment in Canada of a Co-operative Commonwealth in which the principle regulating production, distribution and exchange will be the supplying of human needs and not the making of profits.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Super Marx!
Photo by David Jones Happy Birthday, Karl! Few people in history have had the kind of global impact that Karl Marx has had and continues to have. 200 years after his birth, Marx’ intriguing critiques of capitalism continue to influence economic and political philosophies around the world, with a renewed
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: May Day: Workers’ Struggles, International Solidarity, Political Aspirations
Photo by Soman For more than 100 years, May Day has symbolized the common struggles of workers around the globe. Why is it largely ignored in North America? The answer lies in part in American labour’s long repression of its own radical past, out of which international May Day was
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Revolution in a Warming World: Lessons from the Russian to the Syrian Revolutions
Image by DWF Hardie/ICI/Wikimedia It doesn’t take much imagination to associate climate change with revolution. If the planetary order upon which all societies are built starts breaking down, how can they possibly remain stable? Various more or less horrifying scenarios of upheaval have long been extrapolated from soaring temperatures. In
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Has anybody seen Jagmeet?
This is becoming ridiculous. The New Democratic Party of Canada has to have some leadership. Without leadership, it is going to become the forgotten party and the efforts of many fine people over the last 80 years will be wasted. The party can hardly continue as present with no leadership,
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: The Regina Manifesto at 85: More Relevant Than Ever?
The cyclical crises of Canadian capitalism has brought with it a paralysis of Canadian reformism split between the labour movement and the NDP. It is only natural that this has sparked renewed interest in the party’s founding constitution which offered a program for escaping the horrors of capitalism. But despite
Continue reading