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…
Political Philosophy
Corporatism, capitalism and real alternatives: On the power to choose our destiny
Corporatism is simply a more virulent form of capitalism – or a late stage of capitalism: it is what happens when capitalism is left unchecked, to run its own course.…
Ontario’s neoliberalism: Coercive, Intense
Do you ever wonder why policing budgets rise in Ontario when the crime rate falls? At Illuminated By Street Lamps, I argue Ontario has been, and remains, among the jurisdictions…
Ontario’s neoliberalism: Coercive, Intense
Do you ever wonder why policing budgets rise in Ontario when the crime rate falls? At Illuminated By Street Lamps, I argue Ontario has been, and remains, among the jurisdictions…
Toronto’s G20 Summit As A State of Exception
At Illuminated By Streets Lamps, I have posted a paper I have written on the security apparatus put in place for the 2010 Toronto G20 Summit. I argue that the…
Toronto’s G20 Summit As A State of Exception
At Illuminated By Streets Lamps, I have posted a paper I have written on the security apparatus put in place for the 2010 Toronto G20 Summit. I argue that the…
Locating Canada’s State Multiculturalism As A Racist Doctrine
I, like many Canadians, am a product of Canada’s state multiculturalism. My family was permitted to enter and remain in Canada, achieve legal, civil, social and economic rights and ultimately,…
Locating Canada’s State Multiculturalism As A Racist Doctrine
I, like many Canadians, am a product of Canada’s state multiculturalism. My family was permitted to enter and remain in Canada, achieve legal, civil, social and economic rights and ultimately,…
A Few Questions About Toronto’s Relationship With The Province
Since we’re in the midst of an election, I think it’s a good time to ask some ex istential questions about Toronto and its relationship with the province.
A Few Questions About Toronto’s Relationship With The Province
Since we’re in the midst of an election, I think it’s a good time to ask some ex istential questions about Toronto and its relationship with the province.
What can be done?
What can be done? How can we help others? How can one person make a difference? Well, there are many ways, of course. Most people in modern Western society, and…
New studies show babies have basically decent impulses and are strongly driven by moral imperatives
More research shows once again that compassion, empathy and mutual aid, and an instinct toward cooperation, are innate in human beings, confirming what the great Russian biologist and anarchist philosopher…
No more excuses
There is no question: this generation will be held responsible for our actions, and even more, for our inaction. Apathy, complacency and denial are morally unacceptable. In fact, at this…
Simple pleasures and the greatest of treasures
Ok, it’s that time. Time to put down the pen, or in this case, the keyboard; start cooking dinner – very slowly, for maximum flavour – and cut the grass…
Love, sympathy and mutual aid are natural – we have to be taught to be greedy little narcissists
During a California wildfire rescue workers ran out of crates to place rescued animals, forcing them to put a fawn and a bobcat kitten in an office together. When they…
Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Paul Kershaw highlights what’s most needed to support Canada’s younger generations: Even with all this personal adaptation, most in Gen X and…
Top Priorities of the 21st Century
If I were asked what I felt were the top priorities facing human beings today, in the 21st century, I would have to say there are four that top the…
Reflections on democracy
There is a global war on democracy underway, and if it is not addressed, our future will be bleak. But let us start with the ground work of democracy, and…
The Mayans, the ecological crisis and the end of the world: a little sanity please
It seems like a lot of people are going to extremes with regards to the Mayan predictions – and I mean the skeptics as well as the fanatics. Some are…