Volume 48, Issue 6: November/December 2014
Stephen Harper has thoroughly restructured the Canadian state, both its image and its reality, including its budgetary priorities so that it can suit-ably fulfill its duties as “empire’s ally,” to use the phrase coined by political economist Greg Albo. Albo contributes the lead article in this special issue of CD. Lorne Brown counters the “orgy of propaganda glorifying” WWI and gives a realistic account of that war, the labour resistance and military mutiny it spawned, and the permanent changes it brought to the Canadian economy and politics. yves engler reports the real underside and hypocrisy of Canada’s weapons trade and of Canada’s nefarious foreign alliances. emily gilbert writes of climate and milita-rization, especially focusing on the Arctic. For the larger weapons picture of missile “defence” and nuclear weapons, of Canada and its participation in Full Spectrum Dominance, we have expert articles by Bruce Gagnon and Gordon Edwards.
In this issue, the article by Sam Gindin and Michael Hurley, “Working-Cass Politics After the NDP,” is one attempt to answer the challenge from Montréal. CD is inviting responses to this article. Readers may wish to join the conversation.
In recent months CD friends in Montréal, including the ecosocialist network and Québec Solidaire, have been urging the left in English Canada to organize itself while building ties with the left in Québec. See andre frappier’s Québec column in this issue of CD. This is a remarkable new development, reflecting a growing connection between the lefts of our two nations that is also extending to the indigenous left. Small groups in cities across English Canada are meeting to discuss this challenge.
Judy Deutsch coordinated this issue’s special focus section on militarism. A longtime member of the CD collective, Judy authors Dimension’s “The Emperor’s new Clothes” column on big questions, from war and peace to climate change. She has a long history as an outspoken opponent of israel’s relentless dispos- session of the Palestinian people. Judy lives and works in Toronto; she is a pyschoanalyst by profession and serves as a vice-president of Science for Peace.
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