Blog
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Lighten up? Canada’s perilous and intolerable apathy
Conversation gets cut short virtually every time I try to initiate some form of serious discussion with friends. The Canadians I know are some of the most complicit, laissez-faire bunch I have ever met, and they’re only part of a larger national apathy that corrodes any illusion of democracy. I was utterly outraged - on the verge of tears - when a newfound friend of mine told me he had to drop out of school because the provincial government deleted records…
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Movements, Debates and Struggles in Latin America
A Report by Leo Panitch on the International Seminar organized by the Brazilian Landless People’s Movement (MST) in honour of Che’s 80th Birthday. The last year has seen enormous political turmoil across Latin America. Political and social advances for the Left in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela continued to be wracked by civil conflicts. In other countries, strikes, peasant organizing and dissent against neoliberalism continues to grow. In Brazil, the landless movement is in the midst of a militant wave of occupations,…
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An Open Letter to Barack Obama on Iran
Dear Senator Obama, We the undersigned may have different views on U.S. foreign policy with respect to Iran. We all, however, are deeply concerned about the stories in the press in the past few weeks suggesting that the Bush administration might be considering a military strike on Iran, that it might give a green light to such an attack by Israel, or that it might engage in other acts of war, such as imposing a blockade against Iran. We welcomed your…
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UK to Deport 11,000 Zimbabweans
This report from the Guardian illustrates the double-standard British PM Gordon Brown practicies in his foreign relations with Zimbabwe. With G8 meetings in full swing, and a focus on ‘helping Afgrica,’ it’s likely that we’ll see more imperialist head shaking over what to do about Zimbabwe. Perhaps they’ll agree on tougher sanctions, but after the criticism Mugabe recieved at last week’s African Union summit, he doesn’t seem to be fazed by much except what he calls a “British Colonial threat.” Attempts…
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“Japan’s About-Face” premieres on July 8
In the aftermath of World War II, Japan’s new pacifist constitution renounced the right to wage war and maintain military forces. Instead, Japan created the Self-Defense Forces with a strictly defensive mandate. In recent years, though, the line between defense and offense has blurred. In 2004, Japan sent its Ground Self-Defense Forces to Iraq — the first deployment of Japanese soldiers in an active combat zone in over 60 years. With North Korea test-launching ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan…
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Protestors Target First Day of G8
Protesters and police engaged in a stand-off at the G8 summit in Japan today. Around 50 anti-globalisation protestors, mostly from abroad, marched towards the Group of Eight leaders’ hilltop hotel in Toyako but were stopped by more than 100 riot police before they could get close. After half an hour, the activists retreated to their campsite. On Saturday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in the city of Sapporo, but no protestors have been able to get near the isolated venue where leaders…
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Wal-Mart Defender To Direct Obama’s Economic Policy
(By Josh Gerstein, The New York Sun) Just days after clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Obama is naming as his economic policy director an economist who has clashed with critics of Wal-Mart by defending the company as a boon to poor Americans.0610 05 1 The appointment of Jason Furman, 37, a former Clinton administration official who is a visiting scholar at New York University, immediately met with skepticism from some who have faulted Wal-Mart for being stingy toward its workforce.…
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Hey Strombo, where’s the Canadian content?
(By Madeline Bruce) Hmmmm, what’s on CBC’s The Hour this week…WOW - a rerun of Barbara Walters plugging her new book. We learn of her affair with a prominent married man. Ich! Why should Canadian air time be given to this immensely wealthy woman to plug her new book? What about showcasing interesting Canadians, and giving some new Canadian talent a break. How about having the brilliant Nanaimo filmaker Paul Manly on this show? I DARE YOU. Okay then, go and…
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Canada Day and the foreign policy myth
The number of polls informing Canadians of their Canadianisms is remarkable. Polls on Canadian icons, polls on Canadian values and even a poll on “what makes a Canadian pizza, Canadian.” So it was refreshing to see a mildly critical headline in the Globe and Mail titled “The foreign policy myth.” Now that readers know what makes a Canadian pizza, Canadian, the Globe asked what makes Canadian foreign policy, Canadian? Don’t expect an answer from the article. Globe reporter Michael Valpy has…
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The Harper “Apology”—Saying “Sorry” with a Forked Tongue
By Mike Krebs Mike Krebs is an Indigenous activist in Vancouver and a contributing editor of Socialist Voice. On June 11, 2008, Stephen Harper, prime minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party, issued an “apology” for the residential school system that over 150,000 Indigenous children were forced through. The hype before and after the statement was enormous, with extensive coverage in all major media. In trying to understand the responses of Indigenous people across Canada to this “apology,” it…
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