At a time of ecological and political crises, the left can ill afford denialism, nor the energy absorbed by playing rigged intra-party games. Once the emotional shock has worn off, it is time for cool and clear analysis of the obstacles, and the opportunities, for broader action combining electoral and extra-parliamentary avenues.

The following eleven examples are just a few of the common mistakes to avoid. These are assertions of a very diverse nature: some are real manipulations, fake news, lies, mystifications; others are half-truths, or a quarter of the truth. Many of them are full of good will and good intentions—the road to hell, as we know, is paved with them.

Thomas Sankara’s vision of an independent, socialist, pan-Africanist model of development⁠—one in which wealth produced in Africa remains in Africa to develop the majority of the population⁠—was not buried with him. As CD columnist Owen Schalk writes, he remains an inspiring symbol for people in Africa and beyond.

Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg discuss the significance of the life of Mikhail Gorbachev and what the deconstruction of the Soviet Union means for today’s world. Noam and Daniel join Paul Jay on theAnalysis.news. Paul Jay is the founder and host of theAnalysis.news, a news analysis service. He was the founder, CEO and senior editor of The Real News Network (TRNN).

Despite recently electing Chile’s most progressive president in the shape of former student protest leader Gabriel Boric, voters in the country have now rejected his most important reform. A plebiscite held on September 4 to replace the constitution imposed during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet with a progressive new one led to a solid no vote. This has effectively halted Boric’s agenda for reform.

It is incumbent upon us as a species, especially us in the Global North, to seriously consider alternative futures from an anti-capitalist, dialectical, ecological point-of-view, writes CD columnist Owen Schalk. This will unavoidably entail challenging the ideology of growth that pervades the political institutions of Northern countries.

Mikhail Gorbachev meant well. An idealist, he believed in communism’s humanist potential. Realizing that communism’s practice fell short of its promise, he sought to do something about it. In the process, he unleashed hidden forces that destroyed the system he hoped to revive. For better or for worse, we are still living with the consequences today.

While most Canadians recognize that Holocaust denialism is wrong, commemorations such as Black Ribbon Day are designed deliberately to relativize the Holocaust and even the entirety of the Second World War. At a time when hate is growing in our society, we need to ask ourselves whether blurring the historical record is making things worse.

Half-Earth Socialism by Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese sets forth a unique ecosocialist vision that centres the preservation of the fullness of the natural world at a time when the dawning Holocene extinction, driven primarily by capitalism and consumption patterns in the Global North, is putting life on the line.

It is incumbent upon Canadians to learn from Cuba’s sustainable and democratic agricultural transition and implement its principles however they can, be it through organizing or lobbying campaigns or direct agroecological action. Only then can we begin to recuperate Canadian agriculture for the people who reside in these borders.