Once upon a time on the bald prairie
In 1935 a group of farmers in Regina, Saskatchewan pooled their savings, re-mortgaged their farms and build the Consumer Co-operative Refinery Limited (CCRL). CCRL is the oldest and largest co-operative…
Activism
Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading.- John Allemang's profile of Jack Layton is well worth a read in full. But after a campaign where any show of support can easily…
The system is broken: strategic voting, coalitions, and the political regime under which we live
While I can of course see the rationale for strategic voting, there is much to be said for voting with one’s conscience. When we consistently choose the lesser of two…
Watch Iran short documentary: Interrupted Lives
Since the Iranian Revolution (also known as the Islamic Revolution) of 1979, at least 1600 students have been executed in Iran for their ideas, thoughts, speech, beliefs, and social activism.…
Anonymous: The Commons and the Last of the Outlaws?
The ongoing attacks on net neutrality constitute a new round of enclosures of the modern commons. If the original enclosure movements during 16th and 17th centuries in England signified the…
Harper, Hypocrisy, Syria, and Degrees of Freedom
Yesterday I lifted my head from some work to watch the Ottawa journalists in Twitter filling us all in on John Baird’s first press conference as the majority Conservative government’s…
Building the Iceberg — New Liberals, Clear Grits, and Phoenixes
Almost two weeks ago I wrote a blog post about the challenges that face the Liberal Party of Canada. It received a small bit of media attention and more. In…
Tonight, Live-Blogging COPE’s Re:Imagine Schools
I’ve already written about how much I’m looking forward to COPE’s Re:Imagine Schools event tonight. I’ll be live-blogging the event as well. You can scroll down to watch or participate…
The Positive Women’s Network Enriches Community Fabric
I’m constantly impressed with the caliber of community cooperation in Vancouver. The Positive Women’s Network is holding a film screening fundraiser on May 26th at 7pm at Vancity Theatre. VIFF…
How Can We Get Better Public Schools?
Well, the first thing we can do is carve out some time to ponder, imagine, dream, inhale, exhale, chat, brainstorm, breathe some more, and forget for a minute that we’ve…
Giving Birth to Your Activist Self: Finding Your Voice as a Mother Activist
Workshop Handout for Giving Birth to Your Activist Self: Finding Your Voice as a Mother Activist International Conference on Motherhood Activism, Advocacy, Agency May 13-15, 2011 - Toronto, Ontario Presented…
We Who Feel Differently
People are not provoked by those who are different. What is more provoking is our insecurity: When you say, “I am so sorry but I am different.” That’s much more…
Working against a permanent Conservative majority
This originated as a comment over at Thwap's place, but perhaps I should expand on it a bit.Call me a hair-splitter if you must, but while certain individual Liberal activists…
Leash Laws are for Chumps: The Credo of the Dog Owning Sociopath
Over the course of the last decade, I’ve allowed myself to become something of a chubby haus frau. I derive considerable pleasure in planting myself in front of the computer…
Did Democracy Just Break Your Heart?
If democracy just broke your heart, this post is for you. Sometimes democracy can do that to a person. And when it happens, it feels like you've just been betrayed…
The Political Economy of Professional Wrestling: Capital, Unions and Spandex
Wage Labour on the Fringes For all the attention it received, to my knowledge, no one provided much of a political analysis of Darren Aronofsky’s 2008 award-winning motion picture The…
A Compendium of My Prime Minister Layton Posts
I’ve enjoyed writing four pieces about the Prime Minster Layton concept in the last 2.5 years. Originally, it was a wishful thinking hyper long-shot in a prorogation crisis at a…
You Were Asking? About Volunteer Work and Citizen Smear Campaigns
I've never had so many people express so much interest in my volunteer work as they have in recent days -- and I've been an active and committed volunteer for…
How I Expect Journalists to Behave During #Elxn41
The short answer is: just as they are. I think they’re doing a great job, especially with the kind of contempt Harper has shown them for years. By the way,…
How Stephen Harper Changed My Life — And How Ursula Franklin Spoke to My Heart
I never intended to become politically active. But after Stephen Harper was elected in 2006, Canada didn't feel like Canada anymore and I felt compelled to start taking action. For…