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No more middle road
There is no way for the moderate, left-of-centre approach to work within the larger neoliberal world economy. Unless the latter is subverted, or challenged with a new political project, the kinds of alternatives proposed in Andrew Jackson and Scott Sinclair’s article (including an expanded social safety net and caring sector) cannot come to be.
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How is the Canadian labour movement responding to Israel’s attacks on Gaza?
Since Israel began its brutal siege of the Gaza Strip, Canada’s labour unions have come out in vocal support of the Palestinians. Ranging from calls for an immediate ceasefire, to opposition to Canadian arms sales to Israel, and statements opposing violence “on both sides,” unions have increasingly lined up to call out Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza and the West Bank.
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Building a labour movement to take on the billionaire class
Joe Burns’ new book, Class Struggle Unionism, reads like pamphlet, with a clear call to transform the union movement. The model for change is one that has deep roots in the radical socialist and anarchist traditions of working class movements from early in the 20th century that has continuously raised it head over the past 120 years.
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A first post-pandemic political victory—hardly a ‘general strike that could have been’
Moments of struggle always provide openings to build and move forward, and for workers who are participating, to learn key lessons and develop deeper consciousness and understanding. But every struggle and every moment aren’t necessarily similar. As a socialist, one has to look at the particularities of the experience and the potentials, and build on them.
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Shaking up the status quo in the NDP
Assessing Avi Lewis’s run for a parliamentary seat and possible longer term ambitions must be put into context if it has any meaning for the left other than to shake things up a bit. The real question is whether this can be seen as part of a larger effort to radically transform Canadian politics and the New Democratic Party, and whether such a project has any real prospects.
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US election: What could it mean for Canada and the Canadian left?
One can go on ad infinitum to list the issues with Trump, his coterie and hangers-on in the Republican Party, and his supporters. But while Trump’s administration and domination of one of the two major political parties in the US is horrible enough for the American people—especially working class folks—his power, ideology, policies and social base threaten people in other countries, particularly Canada.
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Reform and transform: Police abolitionism and sloppy thinking
James Wilt’s basic argument—that the cumulative effects of social inequality, racism, colonialism, gender inequality make the Winnipeg Police Department (and possibly, the criminal justice system it is attached to) so hopelessly repressive and authoritarian, that they need to be abolished, rather than replaced, transformed or reformed—is simply wrong.
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The NDP and the election
Whatever the outcome of the election, we have to move beyond acceptance of social democracy as the face of the ‘left’ in Canada. We have to contribute to the eventual creation of a socialist political presence, in the larger working class, and eventually as a participant and reference point in the electoral and larger political system.
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Ambitious effort to map future of Canadian progressive movements falls short
Alan Sears’s Next New Left presents a unique analysis of the past, current and possible future Left, post social democracy. There are thoughtful and constructive components here, but there are also profound weaknesses. It comes out of a post-Trotskyist political milieu centred on organizing on campuses, set apart from unions, mainstream political parties and engaging with the state.
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Toronto Labour Council Organizes Stewards’ Assembly
In an environment where working people in Ontario have suffered major setbacks, organized labour’s response has so far been disappointing. The May 7 coming together of over 1,600 stewards, staff, and other union reps in Toronto around the necessity of fighting against attacks by employers and governments was an unprecedented and impressive exception that brought some hope for forward motion.