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National and international groups call for governments to take action against OceanaGold
The statement by seventy-seven human rights and environmental organizations regarding OceanaGold’s activities around the world is an important call for industry accountability and sustainable development in the relevant countries. It is hardly surprising that, so far, nobody in the Trudeau government has acknowledged its publication.
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Busting the rent control myth
Improved rent controls alone will not solve the housing crisis, but they can play a major role. With the evidence on our side, and a rigged market on the other, it’s long overdue for cities and provinces across Canada to pursue improved, expansive rent controls, and help bring the outrageous and unchallenged influence of speculators to an end.
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Broad front or false front?
On February 19, no fewer than 1,000 protestors converged in Washington, DC for the Rage Against the War Machine rally, in opposition to the escalation of US support for the war in Ukraine. Slickly packaged and backed by a motley of reactionary groups and individuals, the event was better marketed than attended, as an attempt at “left-right unity” against a heavily propagandized war.
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The left makes a comeback in Ecuador’s local elections
The February 5 votes confirm that Correísmo is still the most influential political movement in Ecuador. Despite six years of attempted criminalization by the forces of the right, the Ecuadorean left has made an obvious comeback. With the left-wing opposition now calling for early elections, it is uncertain how long Guillermo Lasso will be able to cling to power.
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Climate justice in so-called Canada
A coordinated movement between Indigenous peoples, settler environmentalists, organized labour, and many others is the precise opposite of an apocalyptic scenario. We think it’s the one thing that could bring us back from our current slide into climate collapse, colonial genocide, and extreme inequality, and towards a better world where we live in balance with land and life.
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Iran: Secular revolt against clerical tyranny
What is most certain is that regardless of what happens, the regime is no longer what it was or could have been prior to the present uprising. Even if the regime succeeds in suppressing the movement, this would only be a Pyrrhic victory, having discredited itself nationally and internationally. The present movement is definitely the biggest nail in the coffin of the Ayatollahs’ regime.
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Education workers lead but come up short: What lessons for labour?
At this moment in time, writes author and researcher Sam Gindin, the over-riding political question is how we to organize ourselves so as to build that kind of working class. The Ontario CUPE education workers gave us a glimpse of what is needed and what is possible. Will the labour movement in Canada build on this? There is much more to be done.
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“The voice of Indigenous peoples is the real voice of nature”
Millions of dollars in funding for biodiversity preservation, conservation projects, and “nature-based solutions” have been announced at COP15 by states and philanthropic foundations alike. Yet as business delegates emphasized changing consumer behaviour as a critical condition of meeting lofty targets, a sliver of the market driving energy demand reflects a convoluted picture.
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In Tehran they use batons, in Rojhelat they use bullets
Since the start of the ongoing protests in Iran inspired by the murder of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, observers have emphasized the continuities and breaks with earlier movements. But often the Kurdish story is left by the wayside. Here, Nesi Altaras interviews Kurdish activist and writer Gordyaen Benyamin Jeramyi on the current “revolution” in Iran and the “Kurdish specifics” being erased.
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Biden and the Progressive Caucus smash labour strike on behalf of railway barons
While there is no doubt that Joe Biden, whose administration has already been characterized by high inflation, had plenty of political motivation to prevent an even deeper supply chain crisis by blocking the rail strike, the confidence private capital interests had in his willingness to prevent it from happening exposes the president’s “union-guy” persona as a façade.