Strategic Voting in Ontario: An Ineffective Project
This post contends that current, relevant research does not support an argument that strategic voting is an effective way to counter an undesirable election outcome. Two papers — one…
political theory
What Do I Want? (Or, What is to be done, if we are to have any future worth living?)
What do I want? Well, I would like to see us move immediately to a libertarian socialist society, along the lines that Chomsky, Bertrand Russell, Rudolph Rocker, or Murray Bookchin…
A despot in disguise: one man’s mission to rip up democracy
George Monbiot The Guardian It’s the missing chapter: a key to understanding the politics of the past half century. To read Nancy MacLean’s new book, Democracy in Chains: The Deep…
Desmond Cole, the Toronto Star and Another Existential Crisis for Professional Journalism
DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. I see this as a two-fold issue; firstly, actions and secondly, words. I’ll consider both briefly and then…
Notes on the Political Economy of the Hydro One Privatization or: Why Isn’t The Ontario Business Sector Paying Its Fair Share For Infrastructure?
Ontario’s provincial government faces a massive public infrastructure deficit. The province’s own numbers estimate the deficit at “tens of billions of dollars.” Among the high profile components of this deficit…
A Brief Note On #Elxn42 And Moving Toward A New Left
This much is clear: with the NDP’s federal collapse last night, the neoliberal Third Way experiment can clearly be declared a failure. But now what? Now, to build ─ not…
Bernie Sanders: socialism, anarchism, corporatism and democracy
I support Senator Bernie Sanders in his candidacy to become the next US president. I would very much like to see him win, and I think he very may well.…
Bernie Sanders: socialism, anarchism, corporatism and democracy
I support Senator Bernie Sanders in his candidacy to become the next US president. I would very much like to see him win, and I think he very may well.…
On Civil Obedience
“Laws control the lesser man… Right conduct controls the greater one.” – Mark Twain Never be obedient. Obedience is for dogs. No offence to dogs – I love dogs, and…
Reflections on McChesney: Problematics of Media Self-Regulation
FULL DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. News media goes where many cannot or will not. It infiltrates the halls of power, the courtrooms,…
Reflections on McChesney: Problematics of Media Self-Regulation
FULL DISCLOSURE: I worked as a mainstream news reporter between 2003 and 2012. News media goes where many cannot or will not. It infiltrates the halls of power, the courtrooms,…
Reflections on David Harvey: Neoliberalism and The State
For three decades, neoliberalism has dominated the political and economic landscape. Following David Harvey, I contend that neoliberalism depends on the manufacturing of consent to a neoliberal agenda and the…
Reflections on David Harvey: Neoliberalism and The State
For three decades, neoliberalism has dominated the political and economic landscape. Following David Harvey, I contend that neoliberalism depends on the manufacturing of consent to a neoliberal agenda and the…
Rob Ford’s Political Body
Toronto’s Rob Ford lives a political life. Both his bare existence and his public personae have taken on a politicization since he entered municipal governance. Plainly said, his weight and…
The Militarization of Police: But Why?
Since the beginning of the year, several stories in high-profile mainstream media publications have examined what some find to be the increasing militarization of police forces in North America. In…
Needed: A Real Deal For Cities
Over at NinetyTwoPointEight, I have written a post about the need for substantive discussion during the ongoing Toronto municipal election about freeing up the city from the paternalism of its…
Why I Stopped Calling Myself A Progressive
Progress can mean a lot of things. The achievement by marginalized people of social citizenship. Collective movement toward big goals that make life better on a societal scale. State intervention…
IV. Zone of Indeterminacy: Interdiction concerning the enclosure of the Social Commons
Here, I have taken up the enclosure of the Social Commons. And here, I have attempted to locate those shunted aside by the austerity agenda. In this post, I attempt…