Nothing excuses the murder of innocent civilians. But if that is true for Hamas, it is also true for the IDF. The numbers of dead prior to Hamas’s violent incursion speak volumes. Palestinians who live in Gaza and in the West Bank have been systematically murdered by a state that is determined to cleanse its lands of Palestinians and build a nation only for the Jews. Who will stop Israel?

Israel’s policies and practices have sought to erase the presence and the lives of Palestinian children (and adults). In the last two decades, some 2,171 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli military actions. As Or Kashti writes, Israel continues “to plaster over any crack in the dehumanization of the Palestinians, from the first grade to the grave.”

Unions have given us the weekend. They have fought for the eight-hour day. They have agitated for improved health and safety laws. They have eradicated child labour. They have managed to get us paid holidays and six paid public holidays each year. Here in Nova Scotia, unions have given 25 percent of workers a voice in what is going on in their workplaces.

For two days beginning on July 3, Israeli helicopter gunships pulverized dozens of buildings, storefronts, and homes in Jenin’s refugee camp—an area half a kilometre square with more than 11,000 residents in the Occupied West Bank. Armed drones fired missiles on the Palestinian inhabitants, and many civilians had to run for their lives.

Investigative journalist and author Paul Palango has written an excellent book, 22 Murders: Investigating the Massacres, Cover-up and Obstacles to Justice in Nova Scotia, documenting the Portapique massacre, the deadliest killing spree in Canadian history. As Judy Haiven writes, the book presents what might be the strongest argument for defunding and disbanding the RCMP.

Rather than treading over ground that other journalists and writers have covered, Nora Loreto has done something very different with her new book, Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 Pandemic. Loreto writes about work and workers and what has happened to them during the pandemic. She writes well, with her eyes open and fueled by a wry sense of humour.

Thanks to writer and activist Nora Loreto’s solid research, journalism and activism, her new book, Take Back the Fight: Organizing Feminism for the Digital Age, manages to investigate what has happened to the feminist movement in Canada and beyond, and demonstrate what it will take for it to become a major force in Canadian society. This work could not be more urgent.

Miles Howe broke the story about fracking and showed how far the New Brunswick government, the US company SWN Resources and the police were willing to go to open the province to fracking. Howe also demonstrated the commitment of Aboriginal people, and some white settler communities in the poorest province in Canada, to fight the destruction of their land and water.

More than 70 years have passed since that class photo was taken. I look at it now and wonder if those male graduates would have posted their misogynist comments, jokes and photos to Facebook.

Now that Jian Ghomeshi has been charged with five criminal offences, including sexual assault and choking, what can we learn from this case, and more importantly – what can we do to make sure this does not continue to happen?