Dismantling the cult of Churchill
Winston Churchill. Illustration by Lyn Ott (1942). Image from Wikimedia Commons. Winston Churchill: His Times, His Crimes Tariq Ali Verso, 2022 When I was about 10 years old, my first…
reviews
“If there is to be a livable future, it will be a future offline”
Scorched Earth: Beyond the Digital Age to a Post-Capitalist World Jonathan Crary Verso, 2022 At this point, it is a commonplace that the techno-optimist promises of the Internet’s early proponents…
‘Triangle of Sadness’ is a flawed rebuke of the billionaire class
Sunnyi Melles aboard Triangle of Sadness. Still image courtesy of Cannes Film Festival. Triangle of Sadness Ruben Östlund Imperative Entertainment, 2022 “I am more interested in when we are failing.…
Planning our way out of poverty: Racism and Toronto’s housing crisis
Kensington Market, Toronto, Canada. Photo by Dan D./Unsplash. Fearing the Immigrant: Racialization and Urban Policy in Toronto Parastou Saberi University of Minnesota Press, 2022 The cities of Europe are in…
Building a labour movement to take on the billionaire class
In October 2021, 10,000 John Deere workers struck plants and warehouses in Iowa and Illinois, as well as smaller facilities in Kansas, Georgia and Colorado. Photo by Jordan Chariton/Twitter. Class…
Bread Machine Cookbooks
Among my shelves of books on baking bread by hand, is a smaller selection of books about using a bread machine to craft loaves and other items. I admit I’ve…
The power of peasant farmers
A large farm growing a variety of foods in Vietnam. Photo by Dennis Jarvis/Wikimedia Commons. Tiny Engines of Abundance: A History of Peasant Productivity and Repression Jim Handy Fernwood, 2022…
Paul Palango’s ‘22 Murders’ paints a bleak picture of RCMP inaction
The Portapique sign on Highway 2, which runs from Halifax to Fort Lawrence, was adorned with a Nova Scotia tartan sash following the mass shooting that began there on April…
Still hopeful after all these years
Still Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism Maude Barlow ECW Press, 2022 Hope is a multi-faceted phenomenon. In some situations, it can be vital in coping with, and improving…
The impasse of the Latin American left
The Impasse of the Latin American Left Franck Gaudichaud, Jeffery R. Webber, and Massimo Modonesi Duke University Press, 2022 Can the firebrand Hugo Chávez, with his embrace of ”21st century…
Atlantis, Ukraine
Scene from Valentyn Vasyanovych’s Atlantis. Photo courtesy Grasshopper Film. Atlantis Directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych Grasshopper Film, 2019 “I’d rather take pictures than use weapons.” —Valentyn Vasyanovych Warning: This review contains…
Nora Loreto’s ‘Spin Doctors’ is a book everyone in Canada should read
Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic Nora Loreto Fernwood, 2021 Rather than treading over ground that other journalists and writers have covered, Nora Loreto has done…
Caroline Elkins explores the ruthless violence and ideology of the British Empire
“The Battle of Isandlwana” by Charles Edwin Fripp (1854–1906), depicting one of the worst disasters suffered by the British Army in the late nineteenth century. Image from Wikimedia Commons. Legacy…
Canadian internationalists and the people’s war against apartheid
Vigil for the victims of apartheid in South Africa, 1988. Photo by Peter Power, Toronto Star Archives. Courtesy of Toronto Public Library Digital Archives. International Brigade Against Apartheid: Secrets of…
Every weakness is claimed as strength
Worker in protective gear near the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Photo courtesy Chinatopix/AP. Social Contagion: and Other Material on Microbiological Class War in China Chuang Charles H.…
‘Don’t Look Up’ or: How Adam McKay learned to keep worrying and love the nihilism
Leonardo DiCaprio as Dr. Randall Mindy in Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up. Still image courtesy Netflix. Don’t Look Up Adam McKay Netflix, 2021 “Everyone, deep in their hearts, is waiting…
Cheri DiNovo reflects on life as a queer evangelist
The Queer Evangelist: A Socialist Clergy’s Radically Honest Tale Cheri DiNovo Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2021 Cheri DiNovo is a well-known figure among activists, including the queer community, progressive religious…
How to steal rides from winter part 1: hands
I like to keep riding outside as long as I can. Road salt, snow and ice-covered roads are hard limits for me. But temperature is a moveable one. It’s quite…