Engaging the United States did not work for Iran: Trump unilaterally and illegally withdrew from the JCPOA nuclear agreement. Engaging the US did not work for Canada: it did everything the Trump administration asked for, virtually eliminating the fentanyl crossing the border; yet it will now feel the harsh pain of 25 percent tariffs. Iran learned its lesson. Will Canada do the same?

As the Cuban Revolution enters its 66th year, the country is still in a difficult position, perhaps its most difficult since the overthrow of the Batista government in 1959. Many of the struggles of the Special Period remain, not to mention a migration crisis, hundreds of thousands of Cubans having left recently and more attempting to leave through various channels, some dangerous.

I was recently arrested for social media posts critical of Israel and spent five days in jail to win the right to respond to Dahlia Kurtz, the Zionist influencer who pursued harassment charges against me. My experience fits in with a long history of Canadian police and intelligence services targeting critics of Israel—and includes close ties to their Israeli counterparts.

A weak labour market is always bad for workers. But it is an even bigger problem as we deal with Trump’s attacks on Canada’s economy. Canada’s current unemployment rate is 6.6 percent, down from a recent high of 6.9 percent. However, it is well above the 4.8 percent achieved in 2022, or even the 5.5 percent reached in 2019.

Carbon pricing is far from an ideal policy, but the shift away from directly challenging any part of Canada’s emissions-intensive mode of living may be disastrous for achieving our already weak international climate commitments. The government’s focus on “big polluters” conveniently ignores the urgent task of widespread decarbonization for crude political gain.

The confiscation of Russian funds in not only legally dubious, it is risky for Canada. The freezing of Russian assets at the start of the war demonstrated just how quickly finances could be weaponized. If countries can be coerced by having assets they have invested in other countries frozen, then, perhaps, they shouldn’t invest their assets in those countries.

Canada has a choice to make. We can continue to let the wealthiest among us hoard resources while ordinary Canadians struggle with rising costs, or we can take bold action to build a fairer, more just society. It’s time for Canada to ditch the excuses and implement a wealth tax and other progressive tax measures. The future of our economy, and our democracy, depends on it.

Those who stand up for just social and economic causes have long faced repression by the Canadian state. In this moment, the struggle for Palestinian liberation is the most unifying cause for people who want to build a better world. For this reason, it is no surprise that anti-genocide activists like Yves Engler are being targeted.

The usual list of the Left’s corporate enemies, just like the list that was on my t-shirt, never includes multinational book publishing corporations. Lefties generally give Big Book a free pass. As politically savvy consumers grapple with overlapping calls for boycotts and buycotts, it seems like a good time to talk about this blind spot.

At Berkeley, while in his mid-40s, Michael Burawoy would deliver his talks wearing the same red shirt. He would walk briskly across the podium full of passion for what he was about to discuss. On his office door, he proudly displayed the logo that marked the relaunching of the South African Communist Party in 1990, a testament to his unwavering commitment to social change.