I first met André Frappier in the late 1970s, when we were members of the Revolutionary Workers League, a pan-Canadian Marxist cadre organization. When the league decided to hoist its banner in the 1980 federal election campaign, André was chosen as our candidate in a downtown Montréal riding. For André, this was by no means the end of his political activism, quite the contrary, as this recent interview by Pierre Beaudet shows.

What are the prospects for peace at what appears to be the beginning of a protracted civil war in Ethiopia? What can be expected from other Horn of Africa countries? Canadian Dimension put these questions to Eritrean human rights activist Paulos Tesfagiorgis, who has been carefully observing the situation by keeping in touch with many of his former comrades and friends in Ethiopia, Tigray and Eritrea.

Although the historic alterglobalization moment has now passed, its ideas and achievements continue to inspire and we can detect its legacy in new forms of resistance and networking, such as the Great Transition conference and the World Social Forum on Transformative Economics, among many other events and developments. It is still too early, however, to hail the rise of an Alterglobalization 2.0.

Is it time to declare “the party is over” and find ways to begin anew in building a broad anticapitalist left? Easier said than done. At present the Canadian left is fragmented and seems more inclined to focus on organizing and campaigning around particular issues rather than attempting to build a united radical left alternative.

In 2002, a seismic shift occurred with the election of a working-class president from northeast Brazil, the poorest part of the country. At the same time, a strong wave of mobilization was sweeping Argentina, Ecuador, Venezuela, as well as Bolivia, where an unprecedented indigenous movement had taken centre stage.

In recent years, the WSF has been buoyed by the popular demands for social justice and democracy in Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and even the United States (Occupy Wall Street). There is a growing awareness of the need to consider alternatives to policies that primarily benefit elites, as was evident in the U.S. with the Bernie Sanders campaign.

Paul Cliche presents his analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each of these experiences, and discusses in particular detail the lengthy process that led to the founding of Québec solidaire, which currently has three members elected to the Quebec National Assembly.

The planned merger is the death sentence for an agency that obviously has no place in the vision of a (neo)conservative government

The blossoming of the Idle No More movement signals the return of native resistance to the political and social landscape of Canada and Quebec.

For Quebec Inc., the PQ remains an implacable enemy. The rulers, all tendencies combined, think it must be eradicated. This reality leads to the end of the dream of Jacques Parizeau, who tried to convince at least some section of Quebec Inc. to come on board the sovereigntist project.