write for rights 2023: my fifteenth year #w4r2023
2023 marks the fifteenth year that I have participated in Amnesty Interntional’s Write for Rights. Fifteen years ago, I chose one case, one person. I wrote to officials about them,…
human rights
from the archives: my journey to palestinian solidarity and the myth of the self-hating jew (a three-part story)
This seems like a good time to re-post this three-part series. It remains one of the best pieces I’ve written. Part one, my Jewish identity: my journey to palestinian solidarity…
The Collapse Of The West: Chapter One: The Global Tectonic Shift
By J. Todd Ring Preface: I wrote this essay in January of 2020, then the covid crisis hit, and it was shelved for over a year. The macro-scale patterns have…
a genocide is happening right now and nations are doing nothing to stop it
Right now the State of Israel is committing genocide against the people of Gaza. Many humans around the globe are horrified, grieving, raging. But people with the power to stop…
Winnipeggers mark the 50th anniversary of the Chilean coup
On September 11, 1973, Popular Unity Government of Salvador Allende was overthrown in a violent coup d’état carried out by the Chilean military with the backing of the government of…
A Winnipeg Vigil for Palestine
On August 12, 2023, supporters of Palestinian liberation in Winnipeg held a vigil across from the Israeli Folklorama Pavilion to raise awareness of the suffering of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
Affirmative action—race or socioeconomics?
The US Supreme Court recently struck down race-based affirmative action as a basis for college admissions. Americans are now busy entertaining new ideas about how to account for historical disadvantage…
in which an email reminds me to resurrect a very old post: join athena to change amazon
Do you support Athena? Athena is a broad coalition of people and organizations who seek to change Amazon’s practices through a variety of tools and tactics, including from the inside.…
A Lesson For All Of Us
Some ‘religious’ people will undoubtedly find this teaching from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hard to accept. Republicans have good reason to fear this woman, because her ability to cut through their BS…
Republican trans phobia
People generally like to keep things simple. Black and white, right and wrong, men and women. But of course things generally aren’t all that simple. More often than not there…
Africa’s anti-gay madness—the Christian connection
Uganda recently passed an anti-gay law described by United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk as “probably among the worst of its kind in the world.” Anyone engaging in gay…
Africa’s anti-gay madness—the Christian connection
Uganda recently passed an anti-gay law described by United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk as “probably among the worst of its kind in the world.” Anyone engaging in gay…
You Do NOT Roll Over For Fascists
So, on Saturday, Jen Gerson published a column in the Globe and Mail titled “The Backlash Against Drag Artists Is Unfair, But It’s No Mystery Why It’s Happening”. I read…
judy heumann, rest in power
Judith Heumann, one of the founders and primary movers of the disability rights movement, died recently at the too-young age of 75. Judith Heumann was a force of nature. She…
Justice for Hassan Diab
Professor Hassan Diab is a Canadian citizen and academic who is facing extradition to France to stand trial in connection with the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue. This even…
What about the atheists?
We hear a great deal about religious bigotry these days. Islamophobia so concerns the federal government that it recently appointed an anti-Islamophobia representative—Amira Elghawaby. (Ms. Elghawaby immediately got into hot…
Will Frances Widdowson get her job back?
Frances Widdowson was not Miss Popularity at Mount Royal University in Calgary. Over 6,000 people signed a petition calling for her firing. They wanted her gone. And gone she was.…
Conservatives Are Dismantling Western Democracies
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind lately, but there are some very disturbing patterns emerging in the politics of western democracy these days. At the top of the list,…
The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism: a viable way forward for anti-racist action
The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism accomplishes the task of clearly identifying antisemitism in such a fashion that it is unlikely to upset anyone, writes Taylor Noakes. Photo by Ted Eytan.…
in which i have nothing new to say: just write for rights #w4r22
It’s that time of year again: time to Write for Rights. Looking back on my write for rights posts for the last several years, it appears that I’ve been recycling…