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Manitoba NDP doubles down on failed ‘tough-on-crime’ agenda
One policy terrain on which Wab Kinew’s NDP has been unambiguous is law and order. Building on its already dubious legacy on this file—both during its time in power between 1999 and 2016 and while in opposition between 2016 and 2023—the Manitoba NDP is accelerating a reactionary program of policing and jailing driven largely by the interests of cops and the city’s business community.
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LCBO strike is also about public health
Reducing alcohol harms is about recognizing that risk exposure exists on a spectrum, with even marginally less regular consumption leading to significant health improvements. Conversely, further unleashing the rapacious forces of capital through this massive privatization scheme will only increase alcohol consumption and resulting harms.
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The Manitoba NDP’s quiet privatization reversals
During the lead-up to the last Manitoba election in October 2023, the provincial NDP consistently and correctly attacked the reigning PC government for its countless privatization efforts. Yet, as James Wilt details, there are now troubling warning signs that the New Democrats are opting for their own covert privatization agenda in important areas.
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Manitoba NDP’s ‘tough on crime’ pledges will not keep people safe
Greater numbers of police will not improve public safety and will further destabilize the lives of people targeted by police for surveillance, intimidation, harassment, and formal criminalization. The Manitoba NDP’s public safety strategy does not take into account the fact that the same people who are most vulnerable to violence are also most vulnerable to criminalization.
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Governments are to blame for the Winnipeg landfill blockade
This intensifying conflict can only be resolved by reversing course, calling off the injunction and police, and committing to fully fund the landfill searches as an initial step towards justice for the families of MMIWG2S. Failing to do this will mean that any ensuing impasse falls at the feet of Mayor Gillingham, Premier Stefanson, and Prime Minister Trudeau.
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Imperialism is inscribed in the very DNA of capitalism
John Smith’s Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis argues for a theory of contemporary imperialism grounded in super-exploitation, outsourcing, and global labour arbitrage. It is a highly readable and clarifying text that offers a comprehensive analysis of the global shift of production to the South in recent decades.
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Yes, city councils can cut the police budget
Police possess unique and extreme powers, however the only reason they can deploy such powers is because governments consistently award them more and more funding. Despite the real mediating roles of police boards and provinces, city councils retain significant powers to reduce police budgets and reallocate resources to life-sustaining services.
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Making the invisible visible: an interview with Megan Linton about the harms of the institutional system, COVID-19, and disability justice
Canadian Dimension spoke with Megan Q. Linton, a disabled and mad studies researcher and writer, and creator of the Invisible Institutions podcast. Megan’s research on institutionalization and disability has appeared in Canadian Dimension, Briarpatch magazine, the Disability Visibility Project and the CBC. Megan is currently a doctoral student at Carleton University.
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The case for smashing Big Alcohol and reclaiming working class joy
Despite the ubiquity of a legal and safer supply of alcohol, beverage alcohol contributes to the deaths of some three million people around the world every single year via traumatic injuries, chronic diseases, self-harm, cancers, and alcohol use disorders, including alcohol dependency. Countless more people live with alcohol-related diseases, chronic pains, mental health issues, and various disabilities.
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Fighting for a world beyond war
World Beyond War is a vital force in the global anti-war struggle, helping organize campaigns against military bases, the arms trade, and imperialist trade shows. Canadian Dimension spoke with Rachel Small, the Canada Organizer for World Beyond War, about Ottawa’s escalating funding for the military, recent direct actions against weapons manufacturers, and the upcoming global #NoWar2022 conference.