The fact that the retail sector is one of the largest employers in Canada today, and yet the majority of retail workers remain unorganized, speaks to the need for workers and their allies to look to the past when developing new tactics and strategies to improve retail jobs. This holiday season let’s learn from the ghosts of labour’s past as we work toward a better present and future.

Indeed, Rhymes for Young Ghouls is less about reconciliation, per se, and more about vengeance as a means to deal with colonial trauma; its Fanonian “the last shall be first” energy offers a unique perspective.

Following in the footsteps of recent allegorical and dystopian films such as The Hunger Games and Elysium, Bong Joon-Ho’s summer blockbuster Snowpiercer offers a scathing critique of today’s status quo.

Amidst much Criticism and controversy, Joseph Boyden’s newest novel, The Orenda, was recently crowned winner of the 2014 Canada Reads competition. Boyden’s book, which explores French colonialism and its role in the collapse of the Wendat confederacy in the 17th century, beat out other excellent works of fiction. However, despite winning the prize, The Orenda has received a rocky reception and continues to be the subject of significant popular debate.

We would do well to add If I Had a Hammer to our political playlists and to learn from David Rovics’ songs generally as we build our movements to bring about social change.

Elysium’s conclusion closes off the channels of mass social action and wrongly suggests that the dirty work of changing the world is best left to white men with rebel backup.

Man of Steel falls far short on its promise to deliver hope for humanity and instead can be viewed as yet another capitalist superhero film. And with more caped crusader films already in the works and the new golden age of the superhero just dawning, now is the time to establish a critical conversation about these films. While blockbuster superhero movies are, of course, intended to be fun escapes, it is important that we don’t ignore their problematic politics that normalize the status quo.

Stompin’ Tom Connors tried to “lift up” the “soul” of his country and, through upbeat and often humourous songs, he sang about the working lives of the people who make it run. As a result, Connors carved out a place, however controversial, for himself as a voice of working people in Canada.

As Parliament resumes, Stephen Harper has made it clear that he remains committed to implementing Bill C-45 in the face of widespread social protest. But thanks, in part, to Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike, Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples are now working together, through the Idle No More movement, to grow a strong oppositional alliance against the Harper government, and Bill C-45 has become something of a lightning rod for criticism.

It must also be recalled that Indigenous peoples’ struggles for land, dignity, and greater autonomy are not just recent developments. Those involved in the #IdleNoMore movement will do well to closely examine the history of Indigenous resistance in the Americas generally and in Canada specifically